Something to think about

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While the media/church/politicians/whoever determines what governs people's opinions talk about homosexuals and same-sex unions, stepparents are being left behind, according to this article in Time.

While we closely monitor how gay rights are granted and taken away, we pay almost no attention to the fact that stepparents are in the same legal limbo. Despite being ubiquitous, step-relationships are rarely recognized by the law. In most states, stepparents are considered "legal strangers" even if they have cared for and supported a stepchild for years. They have almost no official responsibility and barely any rights.What kind of rights are they deprived of? Some are remarkably banal. For instance a stepparent can't sign a child's school report card or field-trip permission form. Others are significant. A stepfather can't include his stepdaughter on his family health insurance plan, for example. And she can't inherit from him when he dies.In the last few years, state family courts have tried to accommodate the stepparents and stepchildren who appear before them, without granting so much that it subtracts rights from a biological parent. In Colorado a stepparent can now sign the form that allows a minor to apply for a driver's license. And in Oregon, a stepparent can petition the courts for visitation of former stepchildren, if that marriage has ended. In Arkansas, it's even theoretically possible now for a stepparent to win custody over a biological parent. But in each state it's a different story, and many states are still in denial.So a stepmother can take a month off work to care for her sick stepson, thanks to the federal law on Family Leave. But if she has to take her stepson to the emergency room, state law might prevent her from authorizing medical treatment. And if her son ends up dying due to hospital negligence, she can't sue.

Where do stepparents stand here in The Bahamas?  Anybody know?

On Instant Information

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In November of last year, my husband was offered a short-term job in Michigan as a guest director at a small liberal arts university. He went, of course. I stayed behind; I have my own job. But while he was gone, we were in communication on a daily basis – and we didn’t break the bank. The internet has made instant communication over huge distances possible, affordable – and commonplace.We live in the Information Age. The ability to communicate instantly and cheaply over huge distances has revolutionized the way in which human beings relate to one another, and has revolutionized the way in which societies interact. These days, it is possible to link to other human beings anywhere in the world by using satellites, cell phones, and the internet. The world has changed, and – without realizing – we have changed with it.But it appears we haven’t noticed this change. That this applies to us here in The Bahamas is not something that we talk much about. We conduct our business as though radio is the most efficient method of getting the word out, and appear completely to ignore the revolution going on around us.But the in-your-face power of the airwaves pales in comparison to the internet, which is the most radical form of communication there is. It’s radical because nobody owns it. Yes, people (mostly Americans) own the access to it; in order to get online, you have to open the portal provided by the computer, your Internet Service Provider (a.k.a. ISP), and do a bunch of things that some people find intimidating. But once you have done these things, you will find yourself in the biggest democracy on earth.It’s a democracy without borders. It’s a place where people who think alike can meet and discuss ideas without worrying about the kinds of things that people normally worry about – like where you’re from, which party you support, what skin colour you happen to wear – and for that reason it’s a place where it’s possible for petty barriers to melt away and for minds to meet.And for that reason it’s a place where revolutions take place, quietly.Let me illustrate, just briefly. In the 2004 Presidential Elections in the USA, a new power base made itself known: the world of blogs and blogging. Simply put for those people who have no idea what I’m talking about, a web log is a place on the internet where an individual can make his or her opinions known in an instant. It’s like a journal or a diary, but with one big difference: journals and diaries are traditionally private, and blogs are public. They attract readers and they start conversations.And the blog is only one place in which people make their opinions known. There are also chat rooms and internet forums and countless cyber-places where people can go and hang out, anonymously if they choose, and say what they think. The very facelessness of the internet makes it possible for individuals to say what they think without fear of reprisal. And there’s something else, too. The newness of the technology involved means that young Bahamians – those people who will be ruling this country when those of us currently in power are hoping to retire in comfort and to age in peace – are more familiar with cyberspace communication than they are with almost any other kind. They’re certainly more familiar with it than we are.So let me share a few truths about the Bahamian internet interface that might surprise those of us who were born before 1980.Bahamians are talking in cyberspace. They’re talking about politics, about culture, about race, about development, about all kinds of issues that we have developed the (erroneous) habit of imagining that Bahamians aren’t interested in. And the opinions expressed are varied, thoughtful, and sometimes revolutionary. An afternoon spent on a forum like (say) Bahamians Online will reveal more about current Bahamian thinking than any radio talk show. There are no borders to our thinking, no limits on what we discuss.But our institutions have not changed to reflect this fact.The recent furore over the banning of the movie Brokeback Mountain is a good example of that fact. That a handful of individuals can imagine that it is even possible in this twenty-first century to prohibit the showing of a film in the public interest demonstrates how out-of-date our governing philosophies are. The advent of cable television, which is not governed by the Theatres and Cinemas Act, made that action obsolete; the fact that over half of our population has direct access to the internet through their homes, and that those who can’t get online in their homes can do so in any number of cybercafes (and yes, I do know that they were established for another purpose) renders the banning ridiculous. Theatre and film are the mass communication forms of yesteryear. If we imagine that censorship is the way to protect the morals of the general public, we are losing the battle before we begin.The time has come, I believe, to face the fact that mass communication is no longer controllable, if it ever was. If we are to affect the way in which our children think, we have to engage our rusty reasoning skills and teach them, and ourselves, how to engage critically with information. It is no longer possible to imagine that public morality can be upheld through its control. No. The unbridled democracy of the World Wide Web means that our future relies – shock! surprise! – on our mastering the lost art of thought.

Midnight Robber

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Flying back and forth from New Orleans (for the Jazz and Heritage Festival) gave me the opportunity to read the second of Nalo Hopkinson's books, Midnight Robber.A couple of years ago I bought and devoured Brown Girl in the Ring, her first book, highly acclaimed. I loved it, mainly for personal reasons, but also for political ones: she's a hybrid West Indian (Guyanese and Trini roots mainly, but Canadian by residence and pan-Caribbean in interest) who writes what's now called speculative fiction (but which is known by its trade genre as Science Fiction and Fantasy). Now I don't mind telling you that I was a big SFF fan growing up. I leaned more to the Fantasy side, once I discovered it, but I cut my adolescent teeth on writers like John Wyndham, Madeleine L'Engle, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and then moved on to Herbert and Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke.Then two things happened. First, I ventured into more contemporary (i.e. post-war, post-sixties) SF, and hated most of it; and second, I began to notice that most of the time SF featured white people only. So then I retreated into fantasy, getting hooked by Brooks and eventually working my way to Tolkein. But when I became politically aware I gave it up as a genre. There were two reasons for this (and they only partly explain why I didn't give up classic English mysteries). The first was political -- many of the contemporary writers seemed to be misogynistic and racist, and I couldn't be bothered to trawl through all of them to get to the ones who weren't. Having been lucky to discover L'Engle and Le Guin early, I couldn't find any writers who had the same scope. And the second was -- well, political. The big difference for me was that the classic mystery writers, like the early SF writers, were bound by their time. Yes, Sayers and Christie and others are racist, almost fascist, but they were defined by their societies and their political incorrectnesses are reflections (as are Tolkein's and Lewis' -- and Orwell's and Wells's for that matter) of their time and place, and interesting in themselves.But the later SF writers were replicating those incorrectnesses, perhaps feeling safe about it because of the fantastic nature of their writing. And then there was the fact that fantasy writers all seemed to follow Tolkein by drawing upon the mythology and history of Europe in their worldmaking; nowhere was Africa or Asia or the Caribbean represented. So I left the genre.(I had the great fortune to read, through Nalo Hopkinson's blog, this account of another woman-of-colour's experience with SF, which resonated so fully with me it's worth reading; I can't say anything Pam Noles doesn't say).And then I found Nalo. I can't remember how. I was searching for something on Amazon, I imagine, or -- no -- I was reading Donald Maass' books on novel-writing, and noticed that he represented a young Caribbean writer from Toronto who was writing speculative fiction. That was how I came to do the Amazon search, and how I came across Brown Girl in the Ring. What hooked me was that it was Caribbean, it was spec fic, and it was set in Toronto, which I know well enough to get excited about. And it was written with Caribbean nation-language.Once I got my head around that, I invested in some Hopkinson. And began reading SF again.Well, to be fair, I have only read Nalo's work, and through her have discovered Octavia Butler. I think Nalo's better -- or more accurately, perhaps, Nalo's world resonates more with me than Butler's does, although Butler's work is African-American and female.So I recommend that people read Hopkinson. It's spec fic and more than spec fic; it's the new wave of Caribbean fiction, and it's finally breaking the coming-of-age mould that, despite every effort and every disguise of language and structure, still dominates the genre, together with magical realism so dense that it needs a ray-gun to cut through it.Brown Girl in the RingMidnight RobberThe Salt RoadsThe New Moon's Arms (not yet out)The other stuff written and edited by her can be found here. Or check out her whole website, here.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

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This week had its own interesting stuff. On Monday and Tuesday I was involved in meetings with experts brought to Nassau by Daniel Glaser, NESTA Fellow who worked with Winston Saunders during the latter part of 2005 and the beginning of 2006, and who co-wrote with me the Draft National Cultural Policy.  Meetings were held regarding the creation of a Junkanoo Museum, and regarding arts and business in The Bahamas, and they were very good meeting indeed.  Then on Wednesday I flew off to Crooked Island, Long Cay and Acklins for Festival adjudications.  I returned yesterday.Hope to be grounded for a week or more at least.  Need to be grounded.  Need to set up new offices in a semi-permanent space, and to get my head around the big things that should be happening this year.Need to write some more Essays on Life, too, egad.

Happy May

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So the lights have been out on Blogworld for a week or so.  Reason?  Business travel.  Not a good reason, you say; you can carry the computer with you when you go, you say.  And I say, true.  But I can't carry the internet.You see, the travel has mostly been to other islands in the archipelago.  I would've said Family Islands, except that one of the islands was Grand Bahama and Grand Bahamians seem to take offence when they're called Family Islanders, especially those who reside in Freeport.The schedule went like this:Monday - Long IslandTuesday - Long IslandWednesday - ExumaThursday - Grand BahamaAnd then I left the country and flew off to New Orleans to attend the Jazz and Heritage Festival.  Came in this afternoon.Not much time to think, let alone write.  So there that is.But happy Maytide anyway.

What Andrew Allen says about immigrant labour

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is very interesting indeed.  I would not argue this point, nor have I ever done so, but it's worth a close look.  He has a point, and it's worth paying attention to it.

... Haitian labour actually retards our workforce and economy in a number of ways, none of which are good for the long-term development of The Bahamas ...The point at which a society undergoes genuine embourgeoisement (its labouring class, through movement up the skills/income ladder, is transformed into a recognizable middle class) is generally reckoned to be when its per capita income reaches $10,000.00 – a point which the Bahamas, with a PPP per capita income of $23,000.00 today, passed in about 1983.In an ordinary setting, given the increased spending power of Bahamian businesses and homeowners, as well as the increased opportunity for small business development, the use of unskilled Haitian peasant labour for landscaping, for instance, would long ago have been replaced by the more widespread use of landscaping companies.For not only can a landscape company (which benefits from economies of scale) compete well in price terms with a full time Haitian gardener who needs to be compensated, fed lunch and have his work permit paid for, but it can be held to a more consistent standard of service by the pressure of maintaining business goodwill.Yet as a matter more of culture than anything else, many Bahamian employers continue to opt for a form of labour that resembles slavery in every respect except cost-competitiveness. The supine Creole-speaking labourer being ordered about one’s lawn simply seems more in tune with the Bahamian idea of labour than the educated landscape specialist making his rounds.

The man has a point.

The Palm Tree Lined Prison: More fallout from the Mountain

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It's not unusual for the rest of the Caribbean to be judged according to Jamaica. After all, to those people north of our sea-borders, we are all the same; we're all not-white (and presumably one step removed from savages as a result), we're all islands, we're all kinda pretty, quaint and laid-back.These days, we're also all haters of homosexuals too.Now I'm not normally the kind of person who gets worked up about bad publicity. That's because most of the time it's not entirely true; things are blown out of proportion further north, and there's little real basis for their fears.There are times, however, when we go too far. And the current climate of hate, where we collectively seem to believe that it's all right to perpetuate physical violence against Haitians and prisoners and criminals, and to perpetuate verbal and constitutional violence against homosexuals and things that speak about them, I'm wondering if people are not fearful enough.So, in the hopes of sparking a little concern, here's what they're saying about us north of the seaboard.

Jamaica's curious anti-gay fixation is spreading to other parts of the Caribbean. In St. Maarten, two producers for CBS News were gay-bashed last month by thugs wielding tire irons. The attack occurred outside the nightclub Bamboo Bernie's, where Richard Jefferson, 51, and Ryan Smith, 25, were harassed for being gay earlier in the evening by the assailants. The victims were airlifted for medical treatment to Miami. Jefferson, who has been released, said Smith was being treated for brain damage.Additionally, Jefferson told the Associated Press that local authorities had not spoken to witnesses the night of the crime, nor had they pursued leads. Instead of St. Maarten's CSI, the police were MIA."The people who harmed us are well-known punks," Jefferson told the AP last week. "People in the community know who these guys are. They are not talking to the police. The entire island is watching something bad happening."Two men were finally arrested a few days ago (one has already been released), but their cowardly actions seem to have won the approval of a local newspaper, Today, that derisively referred to gay people as "faggots" and "homos." According to the paper's unfathomable April 11 editorial:"During and after World War II, it was considered common sport for military guys to let themselves be picked up by a faggot in a bar in Los Angeles or San Francisco. The one who was picked up would pretend to go along for the ride, only to turn around and beat up or rob the homo who picked him up, leaving him without wallet and sometimes teeth."All that has changed, of course, largely due to American laws that are being spread around the world. Gay bashing is now a no-no. Slurs against homos, a no-no. And beating a person over the head for flagrant public behavior that once was considered criminal misconduct is a no-no."

In a comparatively minor but no less telling cultural barometer, the Bahamas banned "Brokeback Mountain." It seems Nassau must decide if it is an island chain open to the world or a palm tree-lined prison whose pristine waters are merely a moat to drown tolerance and diversity.Unlike in homophobic hotbeds in the Middle East, our community can exercise considerable leverage over these human rights abusers. While few Americans are going to spend a holiday in Jeddah or Tehran, we are frequently visiting the Caribbean. Many of our allies would gladly vacation elsewhere if they were aware that their gay friends and family members were being brutally attacked. It is time for Americans to reassess their relationship with islands such as Jamaica, St. Maarten and the Bahamas. Either they welcome all of us, or none of us. But these "paradises" can no longer be playgrounds for heterosexuals and hunting grounds for homosexuals.Here is a message that Jamaica might understand: "Aloha, mon, friend of batty boy going to Hawaii."

(my emphasis)

Larry Smith on the so-called Gay Agenda

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Over on Bahama Pundit, Larry Smith responds to a letter from a trio of pastors published in the Tribune in response to the media firestorm about Brokeback Mountain.Here's an excerpt:

Pastor Lyall Bethel (of Grace Gospel Chapel) and others recently drew our attention to the "Homosexual Agenda" to take over the world.After much research we were able to confirm that this master plan does exist. Here’s an excerpt from the document that we were able to pull down from a secret web site:6am - Gym8am - Breakfast (oatmeal and egg whites)9am - Hair appointment10am - ShoppingNoon - Brunch2pm - Convert all straight youngsters to homosexuality, destroy all heterosexual marriages, establish a global chain of homo-breeding prisons where straight women are turned into artificially impregnated baby factories to produce prepubescent love slaves for the gay leadership, and secure total control of the Internet for the exclusive use of child pornographers.2:30pm - 40 winks of beauty rest to prevent facial wrinkles from stress of world conquest4pm - Cocktails6pm - Light dinner (soup, salad. with Chardonnay)8pm - Theatre11pm - Bed (du jour)Actually, Pastor Bethel’s remarks are not as silly as the above parody makes out. They are drawn from the strong views of powerful religious and social groups in the United States, led by conservative preachers like Jerry Falwell (of Moral Majority fame) and Pat Robertson (of the Christian Broadcasting Network).

What's really interesting about that post is the discussion that follows.  It's well worth a look.

A little something for non-conservative Christians to think about

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I just discovered this post, by Amy Sullivan. Though it's nearly two years since it was posted, it's still a good read.I specially liked this bit (read all the way to the end to find it):

... when the only Christian-themed entertainment in the marketplace is laced with conservatism, Christianity itself will increasingly take on a conservative cast. The faith of Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King Jr. and Reinhold Niebuhr is not the faith of Tim LaHaye and Mel Gibson. Yet the more that single interpretation of Christianity dominates airwaves and bookshelves, the more people of faith are tempted to believe that the only way to be a "good" Christian is to be a conservative.

Conservative is not the only way to worship Christ. And anyway, in Roman Judea, He wasn't conservative at all.

How do we know what we've done for forty years ain't working?

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Because we have to do it again and again.I've already linked to the question of how we've responded to our Haitian immigrants. Our governments are bankrupt of ideas, and, predictably, they resort to what every person can understand: violence and persecution.Here's what the Miami Herald has to say:

NASSAU, Bahamas - Nearly six decades ago, Valentino O'Bainyear's father moved to these sun-bleached shores to start his new life as a Bahamian. He became William Bain, a new name for a new beginning. He passed that new life to his son, who grew up thinking most of his identity was rooted in the Bahamas. Then he realized it wasn't. ''I didn't know anyone who was a Bain,'' said O'Bainyear, 48, a telecommunications expert who in 1984 reached into his father's past and changed his name back to its Haitian roots. ``I consider myself 75-percent Bahamian, 25-percent Haitian.'' Therein lies the struggle of the Haitian-Bahamian community: Many feel unable to celebrate fully who they are in a country where Haitians remain marginalized.

There's a reason I referred to Rwanda, below. Here on this side of the world, where hate so often wears a face that's different from ours, we need reminding that it's not the sole provenance of paleskin people.We need reminding that civil war isn't just the provenance of people on the other side of oceans.We need reminding that to turn against "immigrants" is to turn against outselves. The O'Bainyard in the Herald article isn't the only Bahamian whose roots are planted in Haiti. Until we remember we are all immigrants, we are all vulnerable.

Trinidad

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In addition to sitting in meetings for three days, and then sitting on planes for two more, we were treated to a number of activities (in the evenings, natch). They were all related to culture, and they were all stimulating in different ways.On the first night, the members of the Interim Festival Directorate of CARIFESTA were taken to the National Museum and Art Gallery for a tour and a reception. I'd been there before -- my sister-in-law Tammy's sister, JoAnn, took me there two years ago. The lower floor is the museum, which is efficiently arranged, with a variety of exhibits in different rooms, and the upper floor is the art gallery. Last time I went, I saw what I can only presume was a sample of the national collection, which included paintings from a number of Trini luminaries. But as it was Holy Week, there was a special exhibition on, called Christ in Trinidad. The artist, Jackie Hinkson, was there to meet us. More on that later.On the second night, we (now all the members of the Regional Cultural Committee) were given what was called a "Window on CARIFESTA", at which the Trinidadian logo was unveiled, the jingle was played, and some taste of the kind of show that we might see in September was shared. The evening was a multidisciplinary event, though the disciplines were primarily theatre and music. More on that later.On the third night, we were treated to seats at a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Queen's Hall, courtesy of the Minister of Culture, and then we were further treated to a visit to the All Stars Pan Yard. That was the highlight of the evening. After that we were taken to dinner and were returned home in the wee hours.More on that later.

Where I don't want us to go

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This report, lodged in TIME, calls Jamaica "the most homophobic nation on earth", but observes that the Caribbean doesn't do very well on the whole with homosexuality and homophobia.And I quote:

Brian wears sunglasses to hide his gray and lifeless left eye—damaged, he says, by kicks and blows with a board from Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton. Brian, 44, is gay, and Banton, 32, is an avowed homophobe whose song Boom Bye-Bye decrees that gays "haffi dead" ("have to die"). In June 2004, Brian claims, Banton and some toughs burst into his house near Banton's Kingston recording studio and viciously beat him and five other men. After complaints from international human-rights groups, Banton was finally charged last fall, but in January a judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence. It was a bitter decision for Brian, who lost his landscaping business after the attack and is fearful of giving his last name. "I still go to church," he says as he sips a Red Stripe beer. "Every Sunday I ask why this happened to me."Though familiar to Americans primarily as a laid-back beach destination, Jamaica is hardly idyllic. The country has the world's highest murder rate. And its rampant violence against gays and lesbians has prompted human-rights groups to confer another ugly distinction: the most homophobic place on earth.

CARIFESTA

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The Caribbean Festival of Arts was established in 1972 to celebrate the Caribbean arts. There have been eight of these so far, held throughout the region. Until this point, it has been primarily a governmental exercise, but in 2003 a proposal to revamp the festival has recommended that it be opened up to the wider public. The new proposed festival makes room for a fringe (i.e. individuals who wish to attend outside of their governments' official contingents) and for more open attendance.CARIFESTA moves, like the Olympics, from territory to territory. This year it's to be held in Trinidad and Tobago. There's a website here:http://www.carifesta.netMore later.

Please bear with me

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I'm playing around with themes. I haven't quite mastered code yet and so my attempts at customizing them are clumsy at best. The result is that I'm trying different things and checking out different themes.I have a secret blog on wordpress.com, which is a blog-hosting site not unlike blogger (but smaller) and I use this theme, Contempt, on it. I liked the look and thought I'd try it on something bigger.Here's what I like about it. I like the page tabs at the top, though I'm only using one of them. I like the way the theme displays categories etc down the side. I like the fact it's not dark like the last theme.The only thing I don't like but can live with is the fact that when you go to categories you get truncated, not full posts.If anybody has feedback, let me know what you think.

So here I am in Trinidad

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I'm on business -- attending a regional cultural meeting (the official title is the XVII Annual Meeting of the Regional Cultural Committee of the Council on Human and Social Development (COHSOD) of Caricom).This day's business has been discussing the Caribbean Festival of the Arts, otherwise known as CARIFESTA.  It's supposed to be held in Trinidad and Tobago in September 2006.Exciting stuff. More on it later, when I have more.

A story of hope

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Imaculee(for Ruse)Imaculée Ilibagiza, who survived the Rwandan massacres and forgave the perpetuators of the genocides.We in The Bahamas can learn something from her story -- as much from the hate that made her who she is as from her reaction to that hate -- a reaction that is far more Christian, to my mind, than anything I hear coming out of the mouth of pastors, the saved, and other so-called godly Bahamians.

Sir Arthur on Censorship

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On Bahama Pundit, Sir Arthur Foulkes writes about censorship.The most interesting bit is the part about the sweeping social change that took place the last time an arbitrary decision of this kind -- an arbitrary decision that challenged the democratic principles of The Bahamas (or of the free world) -- was made.In his words:

A half century ago – in December 1950, to be exact – the arbitrary banning of a movie by the Censorship Board caused an uproar in the Colony of the Bahama Islands and unleashed a chain of events that helped to change the social and political history of the country. The movie, No Way Out, was about racism in America and featured black Bahamian actor Sidney Poitier in his first major role. It was a performance that launched the brilliant career of the 22-year-old from Cat Island.[...]The local Censorship Board, the white owners of the leading movie houses and the political establishment known as the Bay Street Boys regarded No Way Out as a dangerously inflammatory movie for a society in which blacks were routinely discriminated against socially, economically and politically. So even if black Bahamians desperately wanted to see their boy Sidney in an important role on the silver screen, the Bay Street Boys decided they could not risk showing a black actor in such a performance, particularly one dealing with strong racial themes. That was a mistake.The protest spread and a group of black Bahamians including Dr. Cleveland Eneas, Maxwell Thompson and Kendal Isaacs started an organization to campaign not only for a reversal of the ban but for social and political reform in the colony. The Citizens Committee achieved its immediate objective and the movie was finally shown. Although it never became a full-fledged national political party the Committee is regarded as the forerunner of the Progressive Liberal Party which was established three years later.Six years later discrimination against blacks in public places – hotels, restaurants, movie theatres – came to an end when Sir Etienne Dupuch moved his antidiscrimination resolution in the House of Assembly. Then in 1967 the Bahamas got its first government reflecting the black majority.