We call it a "Rage". Descriptive indeed.

Just to "prove" it's not always idyllic on the bay ... this is a photo taken this afternoon of the waves crashing on the barrier islands about 5 miles north of us here.

Truly spectacular. And unusual indeed for April.

Bahamas Bucks what??

Larry Smith writes some thoughtful, researched and sometimes ROTFL funny columns in The Tribune. This is one of them: A Bahamian Political Review

This one kinda starts off in the same vane, but then veers into some rather currently conventional comments on Brokeback Mountain, Censorship, Religion, "Gayness" etc.

OK ... no real bone to pick with the column (any more than normal!) apart from the rampant generalisations - but they're equal opportunity generalisations, so we'll let 'em pass.

But a couple thoughts and comments about the whole Brokeback/Censorship/Gay Agenda controversy:

First ... Pastor Lyall Bethell, Apostle [??] Cedric Moss and Pastor Allan Lee wrote a letter to the editor which missed the point on censorship by a mile. In comparing the voluntary restraint of the Tribune in not printing pornographic photographs with the coercive imposition by government of a movie ban, they really don't quite get the point.

No matter what one's views on morality, the example of Jesus ... the really Christian approach to these things ... doesn't even come close to what I see the established church trying to do in the Bahamas today with marches on cruise ships and an extremely narrow focus on only ONE aspect of sexual sin. (To his credit, Cedric Moss has been very vocal in recent years about other condemnable aspects of the films passed for viewing).

I simply don't see anywhere in Holy Writ where Jesus used - or recommended the use of - civil government to impose an agenda on society. Matter of fact he ate with tax collectors and sinners without condemning them beforehand ... it's what got him trouble with the established clergy of his day.

It is not ... repeat NOT ... the Church's job to change society in any other way than by the attempted persuasion (dare I say conversion ?) of one person at a time ... and that, largely by example (see John 13 guys).

NOW ... to the point of the latter part of Larry's current article: While the Western press would have us believe that "gayness" is innate, the science is still not clear. Indeed, accompanying the original study noting the brain differences between gay and straight men was the qualifyer that it was not certain which came first ... that brain differences may indeed develop as a consequence of a lifestyle (as it does with other learned behaviours).

But be that as it may ... what REALLY concerns me ... is suppose we find (as studies have already shown) that criminals have brain differences. Do we then excuse criminal behaviour?

The horror of this scenario is that rapists, murderers and plain old "tiefs" would have to be excused by the justice system, wouldn't they? Not their fault!

So ... IF a behaviour is wrong (and I'm not pronouncing on gayness here, understand - it's immaterial to the essence of the question) it's wrong. PERIOD.

Don't people have ANY control over their impulses? Do we HAVE to always give in? Do we have no responsibility for our actions?

Again, I want to make it clear I am not pronouncing here on my personal view of a particular aspect of morality. But the questions need asked.

And there are serious implications in the answers which various societies eventually reach by consensus.

I see what they mean ...

From The Nassau Guardian's website today: www.thenassauguardian.com

A kinder komment on Kerzner

I sometimes get very tired of Atlantis bashing.

The Royal Towers certainly isn't the prettiest thing to ever grace a skyline ... at least from the New Providence side of the bridge.

But there's no denying that the Bahamas of the last 13+ years would not have been possible without the Kerzners.

I see and hear sooooo many negative remarks ... including one pseudo Bahamian poster on the Cruise Critic website's boards who said, in as many words, that [she] wished the man's island would sink into the sea!

Sweetie ... there wouldn't much of a tourism infrastructure left in place if it hadn't been for the "Russian Jew from South Africa" to quote from Larry Smith's "Tough Call" of Dec. 2005 (click on the text of the paragraph to see the whole hilarious article).

"Of course, we had to find a Russian Jew from South Africa with the smarts to build a replica of an Out Island village on Paradise Island, where a single drink costs $14 plus tip. But we managed to do it, and now tourists can safely browse the marina shops and listen to Bahamian music without fear of being harassed, cursed or spat upon."

And just in time to put the lie to those who continue to say the Kerzners give little back, Butch and co. donate $250,000 for a swimming pool/facility at St. Anne's - one of the local Anglican secondary schools.

Here's the article from the archives of the Nassau Guardian: Kerzner gives to St. Anne's

Say whaaaaaat?

Wow! I'm still trying to digest *** this article *** in today's Nassau Guardian by former policeman, politician and leader of the Abaco Resistance, Errington Watkins.

This is pure claptrap, born of ignorance [i.e. a lack of knowledge] of the outside world.

Father forgive him, for he knows not what he says.

¡Basta ya!

Read it and weep.

Hyprophetically Speaking ...

This could actually be a fun thread here, if anyone else jumps in.

Given that our population is scattered over so many islands ... and that for years individual settlements on some of those islands were so separated from each other physically ... different dialects and accents grew naturally.

When I was a boy I could tell which settlement someone from Eleuthera was from just by their accent, and sometimes by word usage. I always used to think the folks from Point (that's Palmetto Point to the uninitiated) sounded so erudite ... they'd never say "I got your letter." It was "I received your letter." People from the Current were ever so sing-songy and "chile" was thrown in every other word, pronounced "choile".

'Conians (Abaconians) dropped the "H" off of ham and added one to "eggs" for "'am 'n' haigs" ... and they still do today. Some, as do Eleutherans, switch "v" and "w". Indeed we had a recent Prime Minister who always spoke about how important the "vimmen" were to his party! (Still does)

Besides that there are some phrases which we just seem to have a ton of fun messing around with.

"Old timers disease" ... when you forget a lot.
"High precious blood" can be really serious.
"Very close veins" are uncomfortable for some women. And some men, too.
How about "he spent three successful days in the intensive care unit"? I dunno ... maybe he did.

Today I heard a frequent caller on the noon-time call-in show begin a question with "hyprophetically speaking". I couldn't help but think that may even be something close to a true true "freudian slip".

In church I've heard of the "whale in the temple" and the "cup a rat" (Oh yeah, "th" often becomes just "t" ... like an old friend of Norwegian extraction used to say, too. He was right at home speaking to Bahamians.) How about "the hodour of the erntment filled the room"? (prounouncing "oil" as "earl" is not a Bahamian exclusive!) And the fact that the three wise men brought "gold, frankenstein and myrrh"?

Leave a note with translations, if you can.

It'd be fun to see what others have heard and experienced (and say themselves ...)

All of this reminds me of a pastor from California who couldn't say "wash" for the life of him. It always came out "warsh" or "warshed".

Kind of hard on a preacher, dontcha think?

For some wonderful exposure to things culturally Bahamian read here about Patricia Glinton Meicholas.

Roll over DaVinci

.
O.K.

The paperback of the DaVinci Code is now available, so all those folks who didn't want to spend the money for the hard cover can now spend less for a great fiction read.

But ... be not mistaken ... that's all it is.

In keeping with my contrarian bent ... check out this site:

www.thedavincidialogue.com

And hold your breath for more noise with the release of the movie later this month. If it's as good as most of Ron Howard's stuff it'll be well worth the ticket.

Oh ... and if you haven't read any of Dan Brown's other books, a fave is Digital Fortress. Tons of fun ... and it helps that a huge chunk of the book is set in Sevilla.

Oh ... and why would DaVinci roll over? OK .. so people don't really roll over in their graves. But I bet if he were here the so-called "code" named after him would have him doubled over with laughter. The man was way too smart to skate on ice this thin.

Enough mixed metaphors for one post ...

Look out for ...

One of the things which always fascinates me is the accuracy of what I'll call "received wisdom" ... what we see on TV, hear on the radio, see in the newspapers, etc.

This is kinda consequential to my last post. In hopes that people will stop and think when they hear things like "worst hurricane ever" attached to Katrina, or the continuing bugaboo that somehow religion is for people who don't/can't think, or that Christianity has been destructive for society, etc.

So over the next few weeks I want to look at a couple things.

First will be Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John Barry. That one beat Katrina by a country mile.

Next, I came across a provocative title while reading Books & Culture Magazine (one of Christianity Today's titles) - Lamin Sanneh's Whose Religion is Christianity?: the Gospel Beyond the West. Take a look at some of his other titles by clicking here

By the way, the article which quotes from that book is fascinating in and of itself: Saints Rising Is Mormonism the first new world religion since the birth of Islam?

After all that I want to take a look at a couple of sociologist Rodney Stark's books: the provocatively titled For the Glory of God How Monotheism led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts and the end of Slavery and The Victory of Reason How Christianity led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success.

The common thread here is that there are alternative views to the "big voices" out there, and we ought to give them serious consideration.

Religious racism?

.
Looks like I'm on a roll with the newspaper thing. Didn't intend it that way.

Today it's the Tribune's turn. I wish I could direct you to the articles itself on their web site, but as far as I know, they still don't have an active one. www.tribunemedia.net is empty.

Anyway ... today's Religion Section sports an article by Petura Burrows which in essence is about racism in religion here. And it's obvious that the background premise came out of one corner only: that there are - somewhere in the Bahamas - white churches who exclude ... or simply don't have ... black members. Never mind the wealth of unintegrated black churches.

Why would someone start out with such a misconception in the first place? Is this the Bahamas - with an 85/15 black/white split? Or the US? Can't we tell the difference between media coverage of "reality" Stateside vs. life here in the Bahamas?

Where I worship, my experience is that black and white have always shared values, the same communion loaf and the same communion cup. Since forever. At least as long as I can remember. Black and white all minister, participate, sing and pray together.

The point is not that it's perfect. It's not. I'm not saying it always was or is as it should be. The culture at large - and it's shifting emphases and acceptabilities - has always played a part in how people get along. Once upon a time in Bahamian churches, ladies sat on one side, and men on the other.

It's been a looooong time since there were any exclusively white churches in the Bahamas. Maybe never in living memory. And yet we still waste ink and paper writing about phantom concepts borrowed from someplace else - some other time. And "yuck up people wexation" over nothing.

On the other hand, it would never occur to anyone - would it? - that any of the vast majority of Bahamian churches which have no whites in attendance are "racist".

How balanced - how thoughtful - is that?

"Guardian" of Goof ... ooops - Good ... Grammar ?

.
I don't know who the headline writer is over at the Nassau Guardian, but every now and then there's a confusing-slash-hilarious twist to some of them.

Today's paper had two marvels:

1) The front page of the business section screams out "Chickens come home" in, like, 42-point type.

Well ... the story ain't about chickens or coops. Nor my first reaction: bird flu. It's something about some companies which used to be based here but owned by Canadians and run from Canada. I guess their [ex] CEO or someone is wanted for assault in Canada. What???!!??

2) Even better ... "Officers fight to be scrutinised" has to be one of the most confusing headlines ever when one reads the opening paragraph: "Two female officers caught in fight [sic] at the East Bay police station could face disciplinary action."

And here I thought they just really, really, REALLY wanted to be looked at closely !!

But it didn't stop there ...

3) This is just bad grammar ... in the Lifestyles section, about the book "Boy Crazy!", the headline "Boy-crazy girls? If your [sic] a parent, you need help". Yup ... Mr./Ms. Headline-writer, "your" in need of a different spell-checker.

4) And in an article on the passing of Oleg Cassini he apparently underwent a sex-change operation in the first two paragraphs - being referred to several times as "she" - but I guess the operation was reversed for the rest of the piece! Apparently he did die a "he".

Merry Monday everybody ... check your spelling! Peruse your proclamations!

Oceans Digital from Cable Bahamas (click for more info.)

__________________________

I read an article in one of the newspapers earlier this week about Cable Bahamas' new digital service. I couldn't tell by the end of it whether they had found three people who didn't like it, or just "spun" what their interviewees said to make it sound like criticism. In either case, it seems like scraping the bottom of the barrel to me.

For anyone reading this overseas, understand we have one local television channel ... the unfortunately named ZNS-13. Miami VHF stations can be pulled off over-the-air with a huge deep-fringe aerial antenna and super-booster ... but only on good days, when the wind is blowing west to east! UHF stations are even harder, and since High Definition/digital services are carried on that band, there's not a lot of hope for direct transmission. Enter Cable Bahamas.

I for one appreciate what they have done for in-home entertainment in the Bahamas. Others may have done as well, but what continues to please is that they do try and stay "cutting edge".

Back to their digital offering ...

It's good stuff. A great selection of channels. Top quality picture overall. Price in-line with satellite and many stateside providers.

But a few "observations":

1) TV sound in a modern home is as important as the picture. Too many channels don't re-transmit the sound correctly. Some carry only the left stereo channel, some the right, some don't seem to be tuned in properly at all.

2) It's disconcerting to try watching some channels where it seems they're pulling in the picture from one satellite/service and the sound from another. I've seen PBS-NY out of phase by at least two seconds on occasion. Weird.

3) Drop-outs. Picture-freezes. 2-5 second interruptions. I know in the digital world you either have a signal or you don't. There's no such thing as fade. But I've heard enough people comment about this that maybe it should be looked in to. I've watched digital TV for hours stateside with nary a ripple, so it's not inherent in the transmission system.

And now in April we have High Definition to look forward to. I'll sign up if I'm convinced that it won't be that in name only. We'll have to receive at least a 720p resolution (when available) and the sound has to be fixed.

Keep up the good work guys ... and I'll start saving for my super-flat widescreen.

Hey ... before I invest too much, will Oceans Digital ever retransmit 1080p?

Gilead

Marilynne Robinson's fantastic little Pulitzer Prizewinning book retelling a 76 year old Iowa country reverend's written legacy to his six year old son of his second marriage, is riveting.

It's a whole ton of other things too.

I guess I picked it up in part because, being married to an Iowan, I love the State. The rolling [NOT flat, despite popular misconception], bucolic farmland, charming small towns and civilized "big cities" are so unlike what Hollywood and TV portrays of the US that it's mind boggling. In part it's my knowledge of Iowa that made "Gilead" such a surprise. Or should I say it's what I thought I knew of Iowa.

But - of course - Gilead may be in Iowa, but it's not about Iowa at all.

This book breaks misconceptions of many different kinds ... Iowa wasn't always a bastion of "conservative" political values; a female author can't adequately or believably voice the feelings and concerns of caring fatherhood; that theology can't be fascinating and motivating; that people don't change, just to name a very few.

At the turn of every page the encounters with unexpected life insights make one sit up, find a scratch pad and pencil and write things down.

At this particular point in my life, I found this paragraph particularly deep:

"So my advice is this - don't look for proofs. Don't bother with them at all. They are never sufficient to the question, and they're always a little impertinent, I think, because they claim for God a place within our conceptual grasp. And they will likely sound wrong to you even if you convince someone else with them. That is very unsettling over the long term. 'Let your works so shine before men,' etc. It was Coleridge who said Christianity is a life, not a doctrine, words to that effect. I'm not saying never doubt or question. The Lord gave you a mind so that you would make honest use of it. I'm saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own, not, so to speak, the mustache and walking stick that happen to be the fashion of any particular moment." p. 179, emphasis mine

I know too many people who are "fashionably agnostic"; whose politics is class or race related rather than rational or considered. For whom peer pressure trumps good sense.

What I find so absolutely wonderful about Gilead is that a 76 year old man, whose first impulse is conservative, judgemental and fearful faces his demons, his past and pre-conceptions and passes on to his son a remarkable record of growth and positive advice.

So I guess there's hope for me ... there's another 20-odd years to go ... LOL!

Ethereal Evenings

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It's only fair to balance the morning sunshine with some evening moonshine, don'tcha think?

Here's a shot taken tonight as the moon rose over the same scene looking east from the balcony. The little light on the horizon is a passing yacht.

Sooooo peaceful.

Morning Matters

_______________


One of the net positives of the unexpected blessings of the home by the sea that we found ourselves in three years ago is that we get up and get going a lot earlier than we used to in Blair.


The motive? To avoid the incredible mess of traffic along Eastern Rd. which doesn't clear up until nearly 9 AM ... a subject for another time, I guess. But the "commute" which used to take 5 mins. and should take about 10 mins. often extends to 45 if one doesn't pull out early enough.

So we get to see the sun rise.

Besides the two occasions we've seen dolphins swimming east (the last was about a week ago ... and they were no more than 200 feet out ... indeed the dogs next door were barking at them) we often want to just sit and drink in the beauty of the early morning over the sea. Every day it's different - stormy, calm, turquoise, orange, rose - never the same two days in a row.

This is the time of year when the sunrises are the most spectacular for some reason ... I guess it's about halfway through the winter to summer arc travelled by old sol.

Here are three samples of the view looking east ... click on them for full size images ... well worth the effort.

Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________

Why take the whole box when you can just pick and choose?

____________________________________

What follows is a post I couldn't help but make over on Bahamapundit. It's a bit out of context here, so go take a look at the full post, which is more than interesting. Click the title to go straight to it.

QUOTE:

This is all fascinating, especially when tied to Nicolette Bethel's recent Guardian article asking whether "Wendy's" is "a part a we cultcha". (Is spaghetti Italian? Or Chinese?)

Much of the present discussion seems coloured by contemporary fashion which does not smile on anyone in the "intelligentsia" speaking positively of Christianity - or colonialism. There can be nothing positive in either, can there?

Both the pessimistic "any time in the past was better than the present" and the incredibly arrogant "we are living in the most enlightened times in history" are patently wrong. The latter seems to be what drives much of the condemnatory comments in this discussion. The former is behind a lot of the rebuttal.

One of the main reasons Christianity was so successful in the first century C.E. [trying hard to be PC here!] was that it blasted through the social restrictions on slaves and women among other things (just to narrow the range down a bit) which were a huge part of the Greco/Roman civilization of the day.

And there is soooo much more to consider before casting our views in concrete ...

Can we really equate "judeo-christian" culture with "Christianity"?

Does "colonialism" really equal Christianity?

What part did William Wilberforce play in the abolition of slavery? What absolutely DROVE him to his position? Was there anything "colonial" about what he did ... how he worked out his convictions?

What about Shusako Endo's take on on Christianity in Japan? Read "Silence" and "Deep River" (among others) by Japan's leading modern (Christian!) novelist.

Why are various branches of Christianity growing so quickly in parts of Africa, Korea, China, Latin America? What do they offer that their new adherents crave? Is it simply neo-colonial or something much deeper?

To be intellectually honest we must consider the other side of the question where one can find historical sociologist Rodney Stark's very accessible body of work. He began his career from a decidedly agnostic position on religion (though I don't know if that's where he's at today - he teaches at Baylor FWIW). Some of his books include "THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY"(quite old), the fascinatingly titled "FOR THE GLORY OF GOD: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery" (can anyone say "even-handed"?) and "THE VICTORY OF REASON: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism & Western Success" (which kind of flies in the face of some of the back and forth in this discussion).

As to cultures which have been transformed by [non-culturally specific] Christianity, I would prefer to leave judgement in the hands of that culture itself as to whether it is a net positive or negative. We might well lament the passing of certain elements of an imagined idyllic existence in the Amazon rain forest ... but if you've lost your husband/wife, child, mother, father, etc. to inter-tribal warfare, you might have a different take on things!

And don't let's start on why most indigenous Latin Americans so quickly fed at the "colonial" trough! Suffice it to say it wasn't the size of the invading armies.

Bottom line: If what one wants is an amorphous entity on which to attach all the evils of society as well as the personal suffering and discontent of one's own life and that of everyone else, Christianity is a great target! It doesn't fight back nowadays, and it's not fashionable to defend it. So is "Colonialism". These are wonderful wellsprings for the nihilistically inclined.

On the other hand, none of it explains the ills, attitudes or mores of contemporary Bahamian society - which as Mr. Allen makes clear, is NOT a monolith by any means.

If we remain ignorant of history ... the WHOLE story ... we are indeed condemned to re-live it.

UNQUOTE

Counting Potcakes instead of Mittens!

____________________________________________

Christine Aylen was reading to her son from a British counting book. "What are those she asked?", pointing to some mittens.

"Hands", says he.

So ... "My First Bahamian Counting Book" was born. And now our kids can count things they're familiar with.

Neat book.

Ironically, the picture of Christine signing her book at Logos Bookstore on Saturday March 4th is taken with a refugee [tourist] from Minnesota! Wonder what her kids (she's got 5 of them) will make of the coconut palms?

Milo & Reba

So it's been a while...

I've been wanting to introduce our eclectus parrots on here ... and this is as good a time as any, I guess.

Reba MacLectus (she's a redhead, whadya want!!) will be 3 years old April 1. She's fearless and alot of fun. She's an eclectus roratus vosmaeri ... see the characteristic yellow strip on her tail feathers?



Milo (short for Milagro) will be two in September this year. He's a Solomon Island eclectus ... alot smaller than Reba. In some ways sweeter, but as is typical for eclectus males, not as confident as the females (read: "he's nervous").

They both talk a little ... and whistle a lot.

Dontcha love 'em??

Mystery of Christmas?

____________________

Of course TV isn't reality. Thank God!

But two things I've seen lately have struck a chord.

The first was the Christmas episode of 7th Heaven, where a character - a college student even - demonstrates an almost chilling lack of knowledge about the roots of Christmas. To the point that when the 6 year old twins ask her if she knows the difference between Santa Claus and the Christ Child, she is befuddled. If it hadn't been so plausible it would have been sad. Wait ... it was sad!

Everyone gets the commercialism, but there's a whole chunk of civilization out there that doesn't get the roots.

It seems that Maureen Maher on CBS's 48 Hours Special last night "The Mystery of Christmas" either falls into that category of ignorance, or came at the subject from a decidedly skewed point of view. Or maybe, she was just narrating what was written for her without any critical analysis. In either case, the contents of that program were absolutely inexcusable coming from the news division of a major [US] network.

One would think that this kind of reporting would approach the subject matter from the majority scholar view and then counterbalance with fringe elements like John Dominic Crossan. Instead, as usual in TV "journalism" they go for the colorful & photogenic and then perhaps sprinkle in some actual facts. Crossan is "cute" and has a wonderful accent. Never mind that his "scholarship" has been repeatedly discredited and that he ALWAYS comes out of left field.

Sorry CBS ... but you've given me one more reason to not trust the media.

I know there are elements of the nativity story that aren't easy to digest. There are indeed parts that don't hold up to the scrutiny of the [current] historical knowledge of the subject. But guess what ... the Gospels have been "harmonised" more times than you can count (most "scholarly" objections do not honestly look at explanations which don't fit their prejudices), and the more we discover about history, the more it tends to confirm, rather than refute, scripture.

Why not report that?

I can deal with balance. I can't deal with analysis - especially journalistic analysis - that deliberately hides parts of a story which don't fit the spin.

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble. Spew??

Well now ...

Some days you'd just like to spew.

This is one of them for me ... and it's not that there's a dearth of things to spew about in this Bahamaland.

But I've resolved to be as positive as possible here, so let's see how this comes out.

1) Can someone please reset the traffic light at the corner of Shirley St. and Fowler St/Kemp Road? It'd help an awful lot with the "rush" hour [a misnomer if ever there was one!] traffic into town.

2) Please Lord, make the Unions of this country less selfish. And please help us/them to provide for those who have suffered the wrath of Wilma, for next year, it may be us.

3) When, oh when !?! will our politicians (Potcake and Poodle), commentators, reporters, etc. ... indeed the proverbial "person on the street" in the Bahamas realise that the population of this country can fit into 3 (three ... count 'em, three!!) large football stadia?? To continue to pretend that we should have the structure & institutions of a nation of millions is sheer lunacy. Heavens ... in its heyday, IBM had more employees that this country has citizens!

Better stop while I'm ahead.

Sunday School Picnic 2005

It was a gorgeous day ... Friday Oct. 14th 2005.

We took off on the Majestic Lady from the Paradise Island ferry dock for Robinson Crusoe Beach on Rose Island. The view back at the fantasy of Atlantis was spectacular ... the rose tinted stucco against the robin-egg blue of a wispily-clouded sky.

Fantastic October weather.


When we got there, the views were well worth the trip.

The kids had a blast in the

sawdust ... it was a mad grab
for candy & cash...








When you're homeless,
any port'll do!
Why conform??






On the way back, some of the adults were NOT on their best behaviour: