In this case, the rest of the phrase ... "plus c'est la même chose" [the more it remains the same] doesn't apply.
"Disgusted with Third World Government Services" in today's Nassau Tribune writes that even his electric bill takes 20 days - 20 days! - between postmark and placement in his Post Office Box.
For those readers who are not familiar with the way things work here ... there is no home delivery of mail in the Bahamas. You either rent a box at the main post office or one of the satellites, or you get your mail via General Delivery. In either case you have to schedule mail pickup into your routine.
This is not necessarily a bad thing all around. My dad used to love his regular "hails" on his morning rounds downtown and as a boy I remember being with him as he and his friends exchanged updates about family, politics and even religion while clutching a handful of bills, letters and postcards.
It was a slower time, and "going to the post" was almost a social activity for some men. I guess the women visited at the grocery store - when men never ventured!
But I digress ... the point here is that there is no excuse for mail which is dropped off at the main post office - already franked - to take 20 days to make it from one part of the building (which ain't too big, folks) to the mailboxes.
I don't understand. The rest of the world has speeded up but what we now call "snail mail" has indeed slowed down.
35 years ago at college in Massachussets my Mom wrote a couple pages every Sunday afternoon . Dad mailed it on his Monday morning rounds before 7 a.m. and I got it on Thursday or Friday OF THE SAME WEEK!! I specifically remember being desperate for funds once, calling home on Saturday. Dad went to the Royal Bank of Canada Bay & Vic on Monday morning, bought the draft, mailed it and I got it on Friday.
Try that now.
When I was studying in Madrid letters from home took exactly a week. What was mailed here on Monday, reached there the next Monday. And I was living on the northwest outskirts of the city in the middle of the scrub.
[A funny aside ... my sister was also studying in Mass. at the time, so my mother wrote essentially the same letter to both of us using carbon paper ... added a personal note at the end, and mailed two separate letters. Kids today won't easily relate - as their mom's would likely type it into the PC and print out two crisp copies.]
The US isn't much better at this mail thing by the way. At work we get correspondence from mainland Europe or the UK within about a week. From Miami we're lucky to get it within 3. It just seems to hit the skids once it reaches MIA and "mañana" takes over!
So much for progress...
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Predestination and Starbucks.
OK. So Nassau has about 200,000 plus residents.
The new NAD airport authority wants to host two specialty coffee shops at NIA. (Kudos by the way for what's been done out there so far).
Today's Request for Proposals ads reads like a prescription for Starbucks:
- Proponents must have at least two (2) current locations similar to the proposed operation, which they have operated within the last three (3) consecutive years
- At least two of the proponent's current locations have to have generated at least $500,000 in average gross sales in the last two years
I don't actually know if the Starbucks operation here (essentially a locally owned franchisee) can meet those standards or not. But no-one else can for sure.
Caffè Caribe at Logos Bookstore was doing specialty coffees long before Starbucks moved in - since 1996 actually - and we did it with our own experience, capital and sweat equity - a fully Bahamian operation in every way. But we'd not qualify under NAD's RFP. Not that we'd be interested, but still ...
Do these guys think they're still in Vancouver - area population about 2 million?
Why bother to RFP if you write the thing at all if you have a predestined winner?
This is NOT a realistic background proposal if you're looking for local participation - I see there's nowhere in the RFP where it says the experience must be either local or Bahamian.
So folks ... my prediction, FWIW: look for a "Toomanybucksforme" at NIA soon - one in the US Departure Section and one in the Domestic / International Terminal.
The new NAD airport authority wants to host two specialty coffee shops at NIA. (Kudos by the way for what's been done out there so far).
Today's Request for Proposals ads reads like a prescription for Starbucks:
- Proponents must have at least two (2) current locations similar to the proposed operation, which they have operated within the last three (3) consecutive years
- At least two of the proponent's current locations have to have generated at least $500,000 in average gross sales in the last two years
I don't actually know if the Starbucks operation here (essentially a locally owned franchisee) can meet those standards or not. But no-one else can for sure.
Caffè Caribe at Logos Bookstore was doing specialty coffees long before Starbucks moved in - since 1996 actually - and we did it with our own experience, capital and sweat equity - a fully Bahamian operation in every way. But we'd not qualify under NAD's RFP. Not that we'd be interested, but still ...
Do these guys think they're still in Vancouver - area population about 2 million?
Why bother to RFP if you write the thing at all if you have a predestined winner?
This is NOT a realistic background proposal if you're looking for local participation - I see there's nowhere in the RFP where it says the experience must be either local or Bahamian.
So folks ... my prediction, FWIW: look for a "Toomanybucksforme" at NIA soon - one in the US Departure Section and one in the Domestic / International Terminal.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
How NOT to get your way?
Two stories in today's local papers ... and a third that ties in nicely ... have me wondering if there are lots of folks in our society who are a bit like tone-deaf candidates at an "American Idol" audition. They just aren't reading the feedback they get from reality.
Tying all this together ...
In dealing with yesterday's stabbing of a student at a local school the police spokesman restated the need for us to provide training in alternative forms of conflict resolution. Anger management, if you will.
Yes and No ... what we do need is some basic instruction in "brought-upsy" to use a good Bahamian term! This stuff has to be learned at home ... that beating someone up doesn't get your way. That killing them certainly doesn't.
But then you have ... The adults who don't seem to know any better ...
A father is now in a very public fight for custody of his son [while never making clear why the mother is not deserving].
A family already well known for conflict in public has sued the local and international arms of UPS and everyone remotely connected therewith.
These folks don't seem to understand that the court of public opinion can be a very harsh judge indeed.
I just don't understand why, as a society, we seem to think that arguing with the public and suing the pants of anyone who walks will somehow get us what we want. Notice I said what we want. Not necessarily what we need. Not what's best for everyone involved. No. I want what I want and I want it now and someone else better fix it for me!
"Of all my mother's children ..." You know the rest.
I don't know, perhaps we are indeed unduly influenced by North American media, where it seems so much more important to people to argue in the court of public opinion than where it really matters. Natalie Holloway's mother proclaiming "Joran did it" doesn't make it so, though it seems somehow she thinks constant repetition might indeed change reality. I understand the pain involved, but still ...
Uh Uh. Repeating a statement ad nauseum doesn't increase its veracity. The principle of "innocent until proven guilty" is disposable as long as it is inconvenient? Or is it only true for me? People don't seem to see how illogical it is to insist that others cut us slack while we keep the leash as tight as possible.
Aaargh! This feels like a rant. I guess it is. I shouldn't do it.
But everyone else is ranting!
Perhaps what's important to most of us is just what "makes me feel better" ... and ranting or stabbing or suing may do just that. But only short term.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that there are long term implications to whatever we do today:
Kids will remember if we "dis" their mother in public.
People will avoid doing business with you if they come to know (as they will in this tiny country, folks) that you will try and remedy even human mistakes by harassing them to death publicly.
Solve a disagreement with physical violence and you can end up in Fox Hill.
Write weird observations in a blog and they can come back and bite!
Logical conclusions, all, but too easily forgotten in the "heat of the moment".
OK ... so none of this is new and I'm certainly not the one who invented it, but some things just need to be repeated until they do become reality. (See Aruba rant above)
CALM DOWN, FOLKS!!
p.s. By the way ... I'd love to be able to hyperlink to articles from The Tribune. No can do yet.
Tying all this together ...
In dealing with yesterday's stabbing of a student at a local school the police spokesman restated the need for us to provide training in alternative forms of conflict resolution. Anger management, if you will.
Yes and No ... what we do need is some basic instruction in "brought-upsy" to use a good Bahamian term! This stuff has to be learned at home ... that beating someone up doesn't get your way. That killing them certainly doesn't.
But then you have ... The adults who don't seem to know any better ...
A father is now in a very public fight for custody of his son [while never making clear why the mother is not deserving].
A family already well known for conflict in public has sued the local and international arms of UPS and everyone remotely connected therewith.
These folks don't seem to understand that the court of public opinion can be a very harsh judge indeed.
I just don't understand why, as a society, we seem to think that arguing with the public and suing the pants of anyone who walks will somehow get us what we want. Notice I said what we want. Not necessarily what we need. Not what's best for everyone involved. No. I want what I want and I want it now and someone else better fix it for me!
"Of all my mother's children ..." You know the rest.
I don't know, perhaps we are indeed unduly influenced by North American media, where it seems so much more important to people to argue in the court of public opinion than where it really matters. Natalie Holloway's mother proclaiming "Joran did it" doesn't make it so, though it seems somehow she thinks constant repetition might indeed change reality. I understand the pain involved, but still ...
Uh Uh. Repeating a statement ad nauseum doesn't increase its veracity. The principle of "innocent until proven guilty" is disposable as long as it is inconvenient? Or is it only true for me? People don't seem to see how illogical it is to insist that others cut us slack while we keep the leash as tight as possible.
Aaargh! This feels like a rant. I guess it is. I shouldn't do it.
But everyone else is ranting!
Perhaps what's important to most of us is just what "makes me feel better" ... and ranting or stabbing or suing may do just that. But only short term.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that there are long term implications to whatever we do today:
Kids will remember if we "dis" their mother in public.
People will avoid doing business with you if they come to know (as they will in this tiny country, folks) that you will try and remedy even human mistakes by harassing them to death publicly.
Solve a disagreement with physical violence and you can end up in Fox Hill.
Write weird observations in a blog and they can come back and bite!
Logical conclusions, all, but too easily forgotten in the "heat of the moment".
OK ... so none of this is new and I'm certainly not the one who invented it, but some things just need to be repeated until they do become reality. (See Aruba rant above)
CALM DOWN, FOLKS!!
p.s. By the way ... I'd love to be able to hyperlink to articles from The Tribune. No can do yet.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Accusations of Sensationalism don't equal Censorship!
So I find myself a bit at odds this morning with several things in the newspapers, a couple of them related in a rather strange way.
Paco Nuñez takes exception in the Tribune (and reproduced in the letters section of the Guardian) to the Prime Minister's observation that the local press seems sometimes a bit too preoccupied with crime and those are the headlines that seem most days to figure most prominently at the top of the front page.
I must be getting old or something ... I find myself pretty well in agreement with the PM - at least on the observation that the Press sometimes sensationalises.
And if the Press pretends it doesn't, it loses credibility all on its own.
Certainly a response which essentially cries "Censorship" is taking the "best defense is a good offense" truism a bit too far indeed.
As much as I would champion the role of the press and value its freedom I said a couple weeks ago that headlines are sometimes a bit out of hand.
Many many years ago a couple kids at a school pretty close to the the Tribune dropped a couple cherry bombs in the boys toilet and blew it to high heavens. As far as I can remember it didn't make it to the newspapers, as messy as it was!
I can see the headlines today ... "Messy explosion at private school places children's lives in danger!" In bold 48 point type.
Paco Nuñez takes exception in the Tribune (and reproduced in the letters section of the Guardian) to the Prime Minister's observation that the local press seems sometimes a bit too preoccupied with crime and those are the headlines that seem most days to figure most prominently at the top of the front page.
I must be getting old or something ... I find myself pretty well in agreement with the PM - at least on the observation that the Press sometimes sensationalises.
And if the Press pretends it doesn't, it loses credibility all on its own.
Certainly a response which essentially cries "Censorship" is taking the "best defense is a good offense" truism a bit too far indeed.
As much as I would champion the role of the press and value its freedom I said a couple weeks ago that headlines are sometimes a bit out of hand.
Many many years ago a couple kids at a school pretty close to the the Tribune dropped a couple cherry bombs in the boys toilet and blew it to high heavens. As far as I can remember it didn't make it to the newspapers, as messy as it was!
I can see the headlines today ... "Messy explosion at private school places children's lives in danger!" In bold 48 point type.
Close to Censorship?
According to the first paragraph of a piece by Taneka Thompson in today's Tribune, Dame Joan Sawyer is supposed to have warned that "Those who publicly bad-mouth the judicial system 'impinge upon the respect' of the Court of Appeal or any court of justice and can be cited for contempt of court ..."
If that's what she said, and assuming that's what she really meant, one hopes the eminent justice is cognizant of the fact that those words can easily be interpreted as a threat to freedom of expression.
If that's what she said, and assuming that's what she really meant, one hopes the eminent justice is cognizant of the fact that those words can easily be interpreted as a threat to freedom of expression.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Larry Smith on Crime - I've got an easy solution, but Pardon me, Larry, is that a bias showing?
Larry Smith writes, as usual, an eminently well considered article on the subject of crime. Read it here: What to do About Crime in the Bahamas
We flap our gums a lot about all this, and there is just too much navel gazing (Larry quotes the repeated commissions and study groups).
All that is needed is to enforce the law. Period. It's one thing that is not done in the Bahamas.
Last week heading to the Airport took us from 7:50 am to 9:20 am to travel about 13 miles. During that drive we watched repeatedly as cars pulled out from the lines and flew up the right hand lanes. In one instance when they reached the intersection there was a policeman there directing traffic. All he did was come over and speak to the driver, who was then allowed to peel off into the traffic to repeat the offense once more.
That's just one example. Most of my Bahamian readers can reel off countless others.
So I repeat ... unless and until we are willing to enforce the law AND to allow ourselves to be subjected to said enforcement, we can forget about all the other theoretical solutions out there.
What reduced crime in New York? Zero tolerance. What will reduce crime in the Bahamas? Same t'ing bro'!
By the way ... Larry quoted a pretty shaky statistical correlation in his article between Societal Health and Popular Religiosity from the Journal of Religion and Society. Wasn't it Mark Twain who quoted Disraeli as saying there are three types of untruth - lies, damn lies, and statistics? (Check out this book from 1954 updated in 1982: How to Lie with Statistics )
Unfortunately, as usual, even the most basic of personal experiences can counteract their implied claim that religion is somehow detrimental to society. As much as one might want to malign the correlation between crime and "fundamental" religious belief, in my experience the most religious areas of, e.g., the US are the safest. Iowa, anyone?
Is there perhaps something else at play which is not even detected due to the established bias of the "statisticians"??
Let's not forget, please, that much of what we take for granted in modern society is the result of "religious" campaigning.
Go no farther than the influence (sadly unheralded as it still is) of William Wilberforce. Where would we be in terms of crime if we didn't have universally free education, for just one example.
Check out these books by Rodney Stark for an alternate view:
The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and
Western Success
and
For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations,
Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery
We flap our gums a lot about all this, and there is just too much navel gazing (Larry quotes the repeated commissions and study groups).
All that is needed is to enforce the law. Period. It's one thing that is not done in the Bahamas.
Last week heading to the Airport took us from 7:50 am to 9:20 am to travel about 13 miles. During that drive we watched repeatedly as cars pulled out from the lines and flew up the right hand lanes. In one instance when they reached the intersection there was a policeman there directing traffic. All he did was come over and speak to the driver, who was then allowed to peel off into the traffic to repeat the offense once more.
That's just one example. Most of my Bahamian readers can reel off countless others.
So I repeat ... unless and until we are willing to enforce the law AND to allow ourselves to be subjected to said enforcement, we can forget about all the other theoretical solutions out there.
What reduced crime in New York? Zero tolerance. What will reduce crime in the Bahamas? Same t'ing bro'!
By the way ... Larry quoted a pretty shaky statistical correlation in his article between Societal Health and Popular Religiosity from the Journal of Religion and Society. Wasn't it Mark Twain who quoted Disraeli as saying there are three types of untruth - lies, damn lies, and statistics? (Check out this book from 1954 updated in 1982: How to Lie with Statistics )
Unfortunately, as usual, even the most basic of personal experiences can counteract their implied claim that religion is somehow detrimental to society. As much as one might want to malign the correlation between crime and "fundamental" religious belief, in my experience the most religious areas of, e.g., the US are the safest. Iowa, anyone?
Is there perhaps something else at play which is not even detected due to the established bias of the "statisticians"??
Let's not forget, please, that much of what we take for granted in modern society is the result of "religious" campaigning.
Go no farther than the influence (sadly unheralded as it still is) of William Wilberforce. Where would we be in terms of crime if we didn't have universally free education, for just one example.
Check out these books by Rodney Stark for an alternate view:
The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and
Western Success
and
For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations,
Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery
Monday, October 22, 2007
A marvellous play on words ...
This post really is about the Bahamas and Books:
THIS looks like fun this weekend: http://soularize.net
N. T. Wright, Brennan Manning, and one of the bunch whose "Divine Nobodies" I really enjoyed: Jim Palmer.
As much as we have a tendency to complain about how little there is to do in Nassau besides sand, sun and sea, these things do come along and we really ought to make the most of them!
This is an incredible range of authors and subjects, each of which is worth your while in some way or another. It's not a question of feeding on your usual fare 'cause there are no alternatives. Man!
THIS looks like fun this weekend: http://soularize.net
N. T. Wright, Brennan Manning, and one of the bunch whose "Divine Nobodies" I really enjoyed: Jim Palmer.
As much as we have a tendency to complain about how little there is to do in Nassau besides sand, sun and sea, these things do come along and we really ought to make the most of them!
This is an incredible range of authors and subjects, each of which is worth your while in some way or another. It's not a question of feeding on your usual fare 'cause there are no alternatives. Man!
Friday, September 07, 2007
All'Italia
So we're off to Italy for two weeks ... land of the leaning tower of Pisa, pizza and pasta. Don't forget risotto, gelato and vino, either.We'll fly in to Milan, head off to Florence, then a couple days in the Chianti hills, down to Rome, maybe hit Pompeii, possibly over to the Adriatic to visit Moana Higgs Carminucci who grew up with us here, then on up to Venice and back to the Cinque Terre (Vernazza) before heading up to Lugano, Switerland for business.
Hopefully we haven't bit off more than we can chew.
Watch here for photos and updates ...
Friday, August 17, 2007
BC's Brilliant!
If ever a comic tickles my funny-bone it's likely to be BC.
Hart plays with words like a consummate juggler with 5 knives in the air at the same time!
Today's strip is incredible ... it needs to be read and re-read to catch all the twists.
Only comic strip I ever enjoyed more was "Snake Tales". Here's the Wikipedia entry (very minimal): Snake Tales Wikipedia It's another of those strips you just have to "get" to get. Does anybody know if this guy is still drawing? Haven't seen any for ages.
Hart plays with words like a consummate juggler with 5 knives in the air at the same time!
Today's strip is incredible ... it needs to be read and re-read to catch all the twists.
Only comic strip I ever enjoyed more was "Snake Tales". Here's the Wikipedia entry (very minimal): Snake Tales Wikipedia It's another of those strips you just have to "get" to get. Does anybody know if this guy is still drawing? Haven't seen any for ages.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Apostle Paul Rejection Letter
Jan and I are here in Atlanta for the Logos Bookstore Association annual general meetings and then a booksellers convention and the Atlanta Gift Show.
More about all that later ...
In the meantime, I ran across this hilarious link which has personal significance for me:
http://jimost.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/apostle-paul-rejection-letter
Many years ago I did my master's thesis at Middlebury/Instituto Internacional in Madrid on the Spanish Law of Religious Freedom of 1967 and its effect on non-catholic Spaniards ("La Ley de Libertad Religiosa del 1967 y su efecto sobre los acatolicos Españoles¨). As part of that process I got excited about what I saw in a couple of evangelical churches there and was challenged by some of the folks I met to work among them. I wrote off to a prominent Stateside mission board, offering that I intended to attend Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (I had attended Gordon College) and then I would be available for training and eventually for the mission field, hopefully in Spain.
I got a letter back saying they were concerned about the fact that it had come to their attention that there were professors who held to a "post-millenarian view of eschatology", and steering me to Columbia Bible College instead.
Ooops ... end of interchange with those folks.
And here I am 33 years later in banking and bookselling in the Bahamas (love that alliteration!).
Must have been a God thing!
More about all that later ...
In the meantime, I ran across this hilarious link which has personal significance for me:
http://jimost.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/apostle-paul-rejection-letter
Many years ago I did my master's thesis at Middlebury/Instituto Internacional in Madrid on the Spanish Law of Religious Freedom of 1967 and its effect on non-catholic Spaniards ("La Ley de Libertad Religiosa del 1967 y su efecto sobre los acatolicos Españoles¨). As part of that process I got excited about what I saw in a couple of evangelical churches there and was challenged by some of the folks I met to work among them. I wrote off to a prominent Stateside mission board, offering that I intended to attend Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (I had attended Gordon College) and then I would be available for training and eventually for the mission field, hopefully in Spain.
I got a letter back saying they were concerned about the fact that it had come to their attention that there were professors who held to a "post-millenarian view of eschatology", and steering me to Columbia Bible College instead.
Ooops ... end of interchange with those folks.
And here I am 33 years later in banking and bookselling in the Bahamas (love that alliteration!).
Must have been a God thing!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
It's still Rosie!
It's been a looong time since an update.
But ... the more things change in some areas, I guess the more the stay the same.
Ah, Rosie, Rosie, Rosie ...
But ... the more things change in some areas, I guess the more the stay the same.
Ah, Rosie, Rosie, Rosie ...
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Rosie logic ... ???
Sometimes I think logic should still be a part of standard school curriculum everywhere.
Some people really, really seem to need it.
Rosie O'Donnell, the liberal equivalent of Mel Gibson (though she didn't seem to be drunk at the time), up and says on her new gig ... The View, on US network ABC ... "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." [click on the quote for an excellent link on the subject in the Say Anything blog]
Last time I checked "just as" is still a statement of equivalency. Unless of course it depends on what the meaning of "as" is.
Who knows?!? These types of idiotic statements by people who never switch on their reflective genes are what's dangerous to civil discourse in the U S of A. And of course they're equally dangerous here in the Bahamas. Or anywhere, for Heaven's sake! [sorry, Rosie]
My recommendation? Forced reading of
"Don't Believe Everything You Think".
Here are the 6 things Kida says are dangerous about what we think:
- We prefer stories to statistics.
- We seek to confirm, not to question, our ideas.
- We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events.
- We sometimes misperceive the world around us [and don't even realise it]
- We tend to oversimplify our thinking.
- Our memories are often inaccurate.
Some people really, really seem to need it.
Rosie O'Donnell, the liberal equivalent of Mel Gibson (though she didn't seem to be drunk at the time), up and says on her new gig ... The View, on US network ABC ... "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." [click on the quote for an excellent link on the subject in the Say Anything blog]
Last time I checked "just as" is still a statement of equivalency. Unless of course it depends on what the meaning of "as" is.
Who knows?!? These types of idiotic statements by people who never switch on their reflective genes are what's dangerous to civil discourse in the U S of A. And of course they're equally dangerous here in the Bahamas. Or anywhere, for Heaven's sake! [sorry, Rosie]
My recommendation? Forced reading of
"Don't Believe Everything You Think".
Here are the 6 things Kida says are dangerous about what we think:
- We prefer stories to statistics.
- We seek to confirm, not to question, our ideas.
- We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events.
- We sometimes misperceive the world around us [and don't even realise it]
- We tend to oversimplify our thinking.
- Our memories are often inaccurate.
Monday, August 28, 2006
An almost amusing quote ...
No matter your opinion of the men, this is intriguing ... and were it not for the circumstances, it would be beyond hilarious:
"It is very sad to be dying, and on top of that, be visited by Hugo Chávez."
(From today's Miami Herald column by Carlos Alberto Montaner, about Castro)
"It is very sad to be dying, and on top of that, be visited by Hugo Chávez."
(From today's Miami Herald column by Carlos Alberto Montaner, about Castro)
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
What the h... is Bahamianisation? Really?
So ... this subject continues to leave me perplexed rather than anything else. OK ... maybe sometimes a little bit upset. OK ... it makes me mad!!!
I just don't know what it's all about, unless it's simply and only for political consumption. It's certainly not reality. And it won't help anyone get or keep jobs.
Sometimes I wonder if the people who "shoot out the lip" about having been victims of discrimination against Bahamians by employers ... particularly foreign employers ... can see beyond the end of their noses.
If they would only stop focusing short, they'd know about all the Bahamians who have been sent abroad by those same employers. I'm one. And I can name any number of others without even trying hard. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count those I know personally who have benefited from postings abroad by their accounting firms, banks, trust companies, etc. And those are only the ones I know about. And to kill that other bugaboo ... they're every colour in the spectrum.
One guy has held two positions in Nassau that were the result of "work permit" ads - one quite senior. In one case the Englishman's personal effects - labelled for Nassau - were stopped on the docks in Manila. Years later he was still upset! Just to show that foreign employers are more than willing to save money by hiring a Bahamian rather than swing for the rent and vehicle allowances, etc. they have to pay the "import". And before you say it ... this company has a fixed pay scale worldwide for each executive grade. So no savings on that score by hiring a "cheaper" Bahamian.
Not saying there aren't exceptions to this stuff ... but good policy - let alone life decisions - should never be based on the exceptions.
Instead of constantly crying "woe is me" the short sighted naysayers should ask themselves if maybe ... just maybe ... they are not employable for reasons other than the fact that they are Bahamian. They could perhaps change those aspects of personality - their basic aproach to life - that deny them what they consider to be the "good positions".
One [white] Bahamian aquaintance of mine years ago made a career of alienating pretty well every potential employer. If he considered himself capable of handling a job, then it should have been his. Said he. And he threatened lawsuits. 'Cause after all he also had a law degree. And in this little town pretty soon every human resource professional around had heard of him and avoided him like the plague. If he was willing to be belligerant before getting hired, it was a pretty good bet he'd be a "problem employee". Eventually he moved to the US ... and got treated pretty much the same, for what it's worth.
So ... it's not about nationality, is it? It's about character and ability and potential and willingness to learn and work one's way up.
Some of us went overseas low on the totem pole. We could have taken the tack that, after all, we had degrees ... MAs, even PhDs. But we learned the ropes ... did what we were asked. And we went beyond that. And pretty soon we had bosses that didn't want to see us go. We got promoted up against others who appeared to be better qualified on paper. And we were in somebody else's country. And we waited for work permits. And they were granted fairly. In part because each of those governments knew that part of the "tit-for-tat" was that their nationals were being sent abroad to other places for training and experience which would later be valuable to them.
The only influence we could bring to bear was who we were. What we could do. How hard we were willing to work.
We've received training in countries both more and less developed than our own. We've been away for short periods and long ... and we've been everything from trainees to management. Some of us got language training. Some of us got further education at our employers' expense.
In due time we came back home to contribute. To raise our families. To do what we could for our little corner of the universe.
I ask myself where I would be today had I been treated by my host countries overseas the way Bahamian politicians seem to be proposing. You just can't have it all. As much as you'd like to. If we're going to treat others this way, we shouldn't expect much better ourselves.
In my humble opinion, in one short month the politicians have managed to pretty well kill any hope we might have had of becoming a serious international finance centre.
Think it through, folks. There are consequences to all this.
And why doesn't the story of Bahamians overseas get told more often? Hunh? Why? Is it only politics? Or does the media love to feed only on the negative? 'Cause it gets people worked up? Why not tell the good stories. Of the Francises, the Wells, the Fountains, the Havens, etc. etc. etc. who have been away, done the hard time, and come back. Of the others that are still there, learning, accumulating experience.
Where's that story??
I just don't know what it's all about, unless it's simply and only for political consumption. It's certainly not reality. And it won't help anyone get or keep jobs.
Sometimes I wonder if the people who "shoot out the lip" about having been victims of discrimination against Bahamians by employers ... particularly foreign employers ... can see beyond the end of their noses.
If they would only stop focusing short, they'd know about all the Bahamians who have been sent abroad by those same employers. I'm one. And I can name any number of others without even trying hard. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count those I know personally who have benefited from postings abroad by their accounting firms, banks, trust companies, etc. And those are only the ones I know about. And to kill that other bugaboo ... they're every colour in the spectrum.
One guy has held two positions in Nassau that were the result of "work permit" ads - one quite senior. In one case the Englishman's personal effects - labelled for Nassau - were stopped on the docks in Manila. Years later he was still upset! Just to show that foreign employers are more than willing to save money by hiring a Bahamian rather than swing for the rent and vehicle allowances, etc. they have to pay the "import". And before you say it ... this company has a fixed pay scale worldwide for each executive grade. So no savings on that score by hiring a "cheaper" Bahamian.
Not saying there aren't exceptions to this stuff ... but good policy - let alone life decisions - should never be based on the exceptions.
Instead of constantly crying "woe is me" the short sighted naysayers should ask themselves if maybe ... just maybe ... they are not employable for reasons other than the fact that they are Bahamian. They could perhaps change those aspects of personality - their basic aproach to life - that deny them what they consider to be the "good positions".
One [white] Bahamian aquaintance of mine years ago made a career of alienating pretty well every potential employer. If he considered himself capable of handling a job, then it should have been his. Said he. And he threatened lawsuits. 'Cause after all he also had a law degree. And in this little town pretty soon every human resource professional around had heard of him and avoided him like the plague. If he was willing to be belligerant before getting hired, it was a pretty good bet he'd be a "problem employee". Eventually he moved to the US ... and got treated pretty much the same, for what it's worth.
So ... it's not about nationality, is it? It's about character and ability and potential and willingness to learn and work one's way up.
Some of us went overseas low on the totem pole. We could have taken the tack that, after all, we had degrees ... MAs, even PhDs. But we learned the ropes ... did what we were asked. And we went beyond that. And pretty soon we had bosses that didn't want to see us go. We got promoted up against others who appeared to be better qualified on paper. And we were in somebody else's country. And we waited for work permits. And they were granted fairly. In part because each of those governments knew that part of the "tit-for-tat" was that their nationals were being sent abroad to other places for training and experience which would later be valuable to them.
The only influence we could bring to bear was who we were. What we could do. How hard we were willing to work.
We've received training in countries both more and less developed than our own. We've been away for short periods and long ... and we've been everything from trainees to management. Some of us got language training. Some of us got further education at our employers' expense.
In due time we came back home to contribute. To raise our families. To do what we could for our little corner of the universe.
I ask myself where I would be today had I been treated by my host countries overseas the way Bahamian politicians seem to be proposing. You just can't have it all. As much as you'd like to. If we're going to treat others this way, we shouldn't expect much better ourselves.
In my humble opinion, in one short month the politicians have managed to pretty well kill any hope we might have had of becoming a serious international finance centre.
Think it through, folks. There are consequences to all this.
And why doesn't the story of Bahamians overseas get told more often? Hunh? Why? Is it only politics? Or does the media love to feed only on the negative? 'Cause it gets people worked up? Why not tell the good stories. Of the Francises, the Wells, the Fountains, the Havens, etc. etc. etc. who have been away, done the hard time, and come back. Of the others that are still there, learning, accumulating experience.
Where's that story??
Monday, August 07, 2006
Finally: "Rising Tide. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America"
It was my frustration with the US media's nonsense over hurricane Katrina last year that got me to dive in to this. I got to the point that if I heard another "worst natural disaster in American history" or "storm of the century" remark I just knew I'd throw something at the TV or radio or rip up the newspaper or magazine or whatever.First up ... "American history"? What's that? We've got like 200 years or so of the kind of presence on the continent that might be capable of recording this kind of information for posterity.
Second ... the idea that the kind of mess that was Katrina needed to be reported in superlatives is beyond me.
I can't pretend to be aware of the whole panoply of history, but I was aware (partly because it happened around my birthday) that the Galveston hurricane of 1900 was horribly more deadly. See "Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History".
"Rising Tide" is a hard slog. I won't try and convince anyone otherwise. On the other hand, it's worth every re-read of a pithy comment, or double-take at a surprising fact. And if when you're done you want to learn more, there's an excellent bibliography at the back.
Barry's epic - and it is just that - covers not just the flood which dispaced almost a million people (in a nation 1/3 of it's current size) and inundated many times more millions of acres in up to 30 feet of water. It's an incredible commentary on the national society of the day, on New Orleans politics and personalities (the "Big Easy" was by far the most influential city in the South at the time and was, essentially, the cause of much - if not all - of the upstream disaster). This alone is worth the price of the book. Was it ever more colorful or interesting anywhere else? Still is.
Barry gives insight into the national politics of the day (and I had forgotten - or never knew - that the Republicans owned the black vote back then). The disaster was the launching pad for the presidential ambitions of Herbert Hoover (and many think he would never have been president without it). He's a terribly interesting recurring character, by the way.
Sometimes there are flashes of brilliance in the way Barry turns a phrase or expresses a concept. But at other times the text is about as clear as the Mississippi mud of which he writes. Never mind. You'll learn of the engineering history of the Mississippi, and of the fascinating personalities who fought over their theories, sometimes in the most incredibly violent of ways.
The economy of the South and integration of ex-slaves is given a rather different treatment by Barry than what one is accustomed to in popular films and media. The thought comes across quite clearly that were it not for the 1927 flood, integration - at least in the Mississippi Delta states - would have taken a much different turn. Many assume that the black exodus from the South to the North had to do with the Civil War or, later, the legal racial discrimination which was so prevalent. Not the vast majority. It was the 1927 flood, which left a devastated economy and destroyed the infrastructure in the Mississippi Delta, and particularly on the east bank all the way up beyond St. Louis. No houses, no jobs, no home-town - why hang around?
So ... dive in. I don't think I've ever felt more educated by a book. Take it in small doses if you will, but you'll end up knowing a heck of a lot more than virtually every news anchor out there, as far as I can tell!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Happiness is ... the Bahamas??
Say what?Yup ... according to the University of Leicester, as reported in the Nassau Guardian yesterday and splashed on TV screens everywhere, we're no. 5 in the world "league table" of content.
Do these guys listen to the same talk shows we do??
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Back to Books
For those who read this for the books ... hold on a coupla three days.
First, I want to post a piece on our cruise.
Then, I'd like to write a couple notes about our trip to Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver.
The first stop was to visit Susie P, a missionary to South Africa who was a friend of ours in Quito. We've maintained contact ever since.
We also stopped to visit a childhood friend of Jan and myself, Janice M who lives with hubby Geoff in Littleton, CO.
Then Boulder for the Logos Association Conference. Lots of great book stuff there. It'll probably be a long post ...
And on to Denver for the ICRS, formerly known as CBA ... the Christian Booksellers Association convention.
So ... stay tuned. There's good stuff ahead.
First, I want to post a piece on our cruise.
Then, I'd like to write a couple notes about our trip to Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver.
The first stop was to visit Susie P, a missionary to South Africa who was a friend of ours in Quito. We've maintained contact ever since.
We also stopped to visit a childhood friend of Jan and myself, Janice M who lives with hubby Geoff in Littleton, CO.
Then Boulder for the Logos Association Conference. Lots of great book stuff there. It'll probably be a long post ...
And on to Denver for the ICRS, formerly known as CBA ... the Christian Booksellers Association convention.
So ... stay tuned. There's good stuff ahead.
Another one off the payroll ...
Well, a happier theme to this post.Son Brendan graduated from Gordon College on May 13th.
It was a day to remember for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which was the incredible rain and floods. The ceremony had to be moved from the usual Quad to the Bennet Center (gym) which didn't do a bad job of accomodating the majority of celebrants.
Besides the rain, we had to deal with a couple other screwups to the schedule.
Neil couldn't get there Friday night thanks to the weather, so I had to get my mother and Jan to the Bennet Center early, get down to Logan Airport for Neil and back to campus before 9 AM ... so of course we didn't get to check out of the hotel until after graduation.
And after graduation my mother had a terrible time in the pouring rain trying to rush over to Lane Student Center for the reception and a chance to meet the profs. and Brendan's fellow grads. In the rush Mom's athsma got the best of her and she had to stop off in the lobby of Wilson Hall, I had to rush for the car and get her. By then we knew we had to get back to the hotel to finish packing and check out.
Through all this our friends, the Pomazons (we go back to the early 80s when we lived in Malden and
then Salem, MA) were trying to put together some sort of lunch encounter before we had to get to Logan for a 6:30 flight to LA.After about a dozen phone calls they graciously offered to go get some Quizno's so we would be a bit less anxious. Meeting somewhere was out of the question given the pelting rain, which just wouldn't give up.
In the end Pomazons and Roberts had a marvellous visit and enjoyed a great cake in the warm, dry Pomazon kitchen. And 90 minutes of breathing time before the madness of the airport.
Long story short ... we made it to Logan, flew uneventfully to LAX, boarded the Carnival Pride for Mexico on May 14th ... and while we were waiting to pull away from the pier Amalia Pomazon called to update us on the flood. It ended up invading their basement and it turned out we got out of there just an hour or two before the roads became impassable.
So, Brendan. What for most graduating classes is a rather unremarkable day turned in to something unforgettable.
We'll make it up to him with a visit to Homecoming in October ... Gordon is "alma mater" to both of us.
Colyn Roberts, '72
Monday, July 17, 2006
A Paul for All ...
It's been a couple months.
My absence from here began with a graduation and a family trip. More about those later.
During our trip, though, we got the devastating news that Paul Cartwright had passed at 58.
It's hard to write about Paul without hyperbole ... he was special in just about every way that matters. And he had a great voice. And a screwey sense of humour. And he was a natural mimic who could "put on" just about any accent he'd ever heard ... including some foreign languages he didn't know!
But what I will forever remember about Paul is his faithfulness to his calling.
Paul was one of the most natural counsellers that God ever put on the face of the earth. People from all walks of life, colours, creeds and origins found in him someone who could relate to them and offer appropriate advice.
Paul was convinced that he was called to help those who didn't have an obvious financial access to counselling, and he served at the Christian Counselling Centre, a ministry of Calvary Bible Church here in Nassau.
He could have had great financial success in private practice, but Paul (and wife Priscilla, too) was convinced that if he bloomed where he was planted, his needs would always be supplied.
And that was true. We've lived close enough to them to know it is. We've seen it.
Paul was one of the "Divine Nobodies" that Jim Palmer talks about in an upcoming book by that name. Someone who's a bit of an unsung hero. The best kind, in my opinion.
His blessings weren't necessarily financial or material. At Paul's funeral a packed church and a quiet undercurrent of assurance were testimony, though, to just how blessed he really was.
And in a strange way ... and I don't know exactly how to express this ... Paul's legacy will make itself manifest.
Look forward to it.
Count on it!
My absence from here began with a graduation and a family trip. More about those later.
During our trip, though, we got the devastating news that Paul Cartwright had passed at 58.
It's hard to write about Paul without hyperbole ... he was special in just about every way that matters. And he had a great voice. And a screwey sense of humour. And he was a natural mimic who could "put on" just about any accent he'd ever heard ... including some foreign languages he didn't know!
But what I will forever remember about Paul is his faithfulness to his calling.Paul was one of the most natural counsellers that God ever put on the face of the earth. People from all walks of life, colours, creeds and origins found in him someone who could relate to them and offer appropriate advice.
Paul was convinced that he was called to help those who didn't have an obvious financial access to counselling, and he served at the Christian Counselling Centre, a ministry of Calvary Bible Church here in Nassau.
He could have had great financial success in private practice, but Paul (and wife Priscilla, too) was convinced that if he bloomed where he was planted, his needs would always be supplied.
And that was true. We've lived close enough to them to know it is. We've seen it.
Paul was one of the "Divine Nobodies" that Jim Palmer talks about in an upcoming book by that name. Someone who's a bit of an unsung hero. The best kind, in my opinion.
His blessings weren't necessarily financial or material. At Paul's funeral a packed church and a quiet undercurrent of assurance were testimony, though, to just how blessed he really was.
And in a strange way ... and I don't know exactly how to express this ... Paul's legacy will make itself manifest.
Look forward to it.
Count on it!
Saturday, May 06, 2006
"To Own a Dragon" and a word or two about life without rules.
I didn't warn anyone this one was coming, but it got to the top of my reading pile and just kinda of leaped into my hands ... and then I couldn't put it down.
Donald Miller is one of my favourite authors these days.
Between the verbal ADD of "Blue Like Jazz" and the depth of "Searching for God Knows What" there's his marvellous way of communicating life - and life-lessons - in "Through Painted Deserts" (previously published as "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance") and now this easily digestible treatise about boys growing up without a father's input "To Own a Dragon", focused on how maybe God "as father" fits into that picture.
But don't be fooled into believing this isn't for girls or women or guys whose dads were around. There's so much universal truth told - in Don's inimicable simple, straightforward, often ROFL funny style. Man, I wish I could write like this!
In general, though, I love Don's approach to life as a Christian. Here's a special quote from his website donmillerfans.net that puts into words - in a way anyone can understand - what it must mean to approach life as a Galatians Christian:
Wow! Think about that. 'Tain't simple. But it sure is profound.
PS ... I'm heavily in to Lamin Sanneh's "Whose Religion is Christianity". Deep. Brainy. Such a different approach. Stay tuned ...
Donald Miller is one of my favourite authors these days.Between the verbal ADD of "Blue Like Jazz" and the depth of "Searching for God Knows What" there's his marvellous way of communicating life - and life-lessons - in "Through Painted Deserts" (previously published as "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance") and now this easily digestible treatise about boys growing up without a father's input "To Own a Dragon", focused on how maybe God "as father" fits into that picture.
But don't be fooled into believing this isn't for girls or women or guys whose dads were around. There's so much universal truth told - in Don's inimicable simple, straightforward, often ROFL funny style. Man, I wish I could write like this!
In general, though, I love Don's approach to life as a Christian. Here's a special quote from his website donmillerfans.net that puts into words - in a way anyone can understand - what it must mean to approach life as a Galatians Christian:
I am not a “how” guy in any way. this is a constant criticism of my work, because so many want steps on how to live based on my perceptions. i’d rather live in the tension than have the false comfort that i am “doing life right.” for what ever reason, i perceive “steps” and “points” as a mental trick, to get me to “do” something so i can feel like I actually understand an issue, rather than grapple with the tension the actual question entails.
Wow! Think about that. 'Tain't simple. But it sure is profound.
PS ... I'm heavily in to Lamin Sanneh's "Whose Religion is Christianity". Deep. Brainy. Such a different approach. Stay tuned ...
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