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EDITOR: This school year that is ending has been very disruptive and it is time to return to whatever semblance of normalcy we can muster. Too much has been lost in terms of time and learning. We have been accustomed to a certain rhythm and there are periods when learning can take place and times when it is a difficult task to get students to be attentive.
Our situation is dynamic but we must adapt quickly and think on our feet. We have missed our Easter and July Festivals. Perhaps we can have a shortened version of these during the Independence periods. We can set aside two weeks there. Schools can have their internal sports meeting then. If the cultural activities cannot be held in person, then a Virtual Festival can take place. School can end at the end of November to give way for the Nine Mornings Festival. Some schools prefer to have their sports meeting at the end of the term. The first two weeks of December can be used for this also.
The last two years have been very challenging for most groups and organisations. The Corona virus pandemic and the eruptions of La Soufriere volcano made it almost impossible to function. Notwithstanding that fact, RESISTANCE HEARTBEAT DRUMMERS has kept the flame of progressive engagement burning. The group has been able still do some events to keep drumming afloat. Although it was in a limited way, we participated in Nine Mornings and …
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The massive outpouring of national grief, respect and tributes after the passing of Bro. Parnel Campbell provides us with an opportunity to reflect on his legacy and those aspects of his work still left unfinished through no fault of his. If we were inclined to dodge that responsibility, his son Daniel did not mince words during the funeral service by throwing out an open challenge to his listeners to complete the constitutional reform process to which PR was so firmly committed.
Much as he would have appreciated all the tributes, this call to action must have warmed the heart of the patriotic warrior. For all his impressive accomplishments, PR must have yearned for a revisiting of the constitutional review if only to finally sever the umbilical cord which continues to bind us as subjects of the British monarchy. He is not alone in that desire.
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Last Wednesday, January 13, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus had a virtual ceremony to honour Vincentian musical genius Franklyn ‘Frankie’ McIntosh for his outstanding contribution to regional and international development He was among a number of outstanding regional cultural icons to be so honoured and received an honorary doctorate, the Doctor of Letters (DLitt).
It is a recognition of his outstanding talent and brilliance, which shone from his native St Vincent and the Grenadines to illuminate the entire Caribbean and a substantial part of the world as well. He is a product of perhaps the most outstanding musical family from our country, spanning generations of musical McIntoshes who have individually and collectively made their mark as well.
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I had planned this week to do a tribute to the second of our “Golden Generation of Broadcasting”, Ferrand “Randy D” Dopwell, to depart within the past year following Evans Bernard “E B” John last year. However, so critical is the crisis facing our country, the Caribbean and the world, a crisis in health and the economy in particular, that space available dictates that I give our collective well-being the priority and write about “Randy D’ next week, the week of his burial.
The COVID pandemic has cast a huge and deadly shadow over the entire world, enveloping millions in misery and death. The Caribbean has not been spared, given our open economies and ties with the countries from which the virus has been mainly spread, the USA, UK and Canada mainly. However, we here in SVG have had our troubles multiplied by an outbreak of dengue fever replete with fatalities, and now the looming threat of an explosive eruption of the