St. Anthony's Church - Jan Baster
Each year we celebrate the anniversary of something; birthdays, deaths, anniversary, national holidays and each year I find new meaning in these celebrations and pause for thought. A few days ago we celebrated the 176 anniversary of the emancipation of slaves. Now questions are erupting in my consciousness and about the land of my birth.
On the 1 August 1838, two years after the Emancipation Day Proclamation was passed, in thanks to God the freed slaves in Montserrat gave a silver communion cup to St. Anthony’s church. They would have seen that very same church with a sign that previously read “No slaves or dogs allowed.” In fact they were relegated to sit under a large tamarind tree while their owners worshipped.
St. Anthony’s Anglican Church was/is the oldest Anglican/Episcopal church in the Church of the Province of the West Indies (The Anglican Church of the Caribbean) built in 1636. The church was abandoned in the danger zone in 1995, due to volcanic activity. For me the church held such significance as I recall with accuracy that last time I entered and left that church. I was a teacher and my farewell was held in St. Anthony’s. I left the church with a remarkable enthusiasm for life some seventeen years ago as I embarked on my journey to the Bahamas. As an Anglican who now resides in another country in the same Province; I beam with pride to know that my island was on record of having the oldest Anglican Church in the Province.
I walked in that church yard many times and stood where the same tamarind tree was unaware of such a history with an unforgettable message. I now ask myself, did I drink from that cup when I last received Holy Communion there? Did the slaves go on to build the faith of others in the island, even the faith of my ancestors? The sign outside the church “No slaves or dogs allowed.” was taken down shortly after emancipation. The sign positioned approximately 3km from the church (not in the church yard) now reads; ‘No entry beyond this point.’
I now ask myself, where is the cup? as I retrace the steps of the former slaves in my mind. It brings to mind the fact that we have to be careful what signs we put up now, because in years to come the situations of life may force us to wear different signs. I also reflect on the fact that our past is all around us and what our ancestors did still affects us in subtle ways today. Do we realize this as we live out our lives now? I concur with a writer that once wrote the past do lingers in the present.
Do you know and understand what happened around you?
Her gaze…
Turns inward
Increasing wisdom
Yet still searching
Hitting her stride
Evolving
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
- Image taken from Corbis
This week many children will return to the classroom after a lengthy summer break. Most schools in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas opened last week. In Montserrat we would say ‘their free paper burn,” which means their leisure time was now limited to the rigor of school. In Montserrat as it with most of the Eastern Caribbean school starts today the 6th of September. When I was younger and a child was slow in learning (slow) we would say they went to August school. So, needless to say we did not want to go back to school in August.
Recently, after much debate and an apprehension to enroll my daughter in a certain school, I conceded and registered her at the school. At this point Uncle Gerald would have had a good laugh as he ragged me before now that my daughter would not go to school because I would have to go with her and that was not possible. Monday morning all the children were well clad, every pleat in line, everything was new; uniforms, ,bags, lunch boxes, shoes. The returning students seemed to beam with joy. I must admit I had a different level of respect for the school just walking through. Parents of first time attendees showed up with a joyful expectancy. Of course for the younger ones (pre-school age) there were in tears they wanted to go back home – they wanted their mothers.
As I entered my child’s class room the teacher was enthusiastic and had a certain degree of dignity in her attitude and by the way she carried herself. Later in the evening my three year old daughter came home with a schedule of subjects for each day, something I did not see until I was in High School. Also there were two letters one from her class teacher and the other from her assistant introducing themselves. As I said before I was not sure I would let my daughter attend so I did not attend Parents teacher’s conferences held in June. To my surprise, I learned that her teacher, whose deportment was that of a first time teacher keen to exercise the knowledge she had garnered, was a seasoned teacher of sixteen years. I was taken aback, I breathed a sigh of relief and was reassured then that my child was in capable hands because she took pride in her appearance and strove to develop her field. So far my daughter likes it and now I see why this school has one of the best reputations on the island.
As our children, grandchildren, friend’s children, niece’s, nephew’s, sisters, brothers, cousins God children return to the classrooms let us support the teachers whom we have entrusted with our children. They too have taken the time to be experts in their fields so that they can groom our children when they are away from us. Let us encourage and support them by putting in those additional hours outside school so that their loads may be a little lighter.
Image Taken from MACO Caribbean Living
Feather touch eyes pare
A preserving indulgence
The searing ache
Methylated Spirits
An iridescent stillness
Wildly beautiful
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Poem by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Brenda L. McCartney
I remember watching my then two year old serenade her grandfather, as he taught her to curtsy. She would read and sing to him as if she was beyond her years. He would talk to her as if he was speaking to an older child. They had a connection and her behavior around him was somewhat surreal. There are times she would cry, “I want to be with grandpa,” A few weeks after he passed away unexpectedly. At the repast she sat in the yard, where she spent so many times with him, with her hands under her chin. While sitting she shook her head and made an open hand gesture and said “Grandpa is gone.” This father’s day would be my husband’s first father’s day without his father but we know that he is with us in spirit. To paraphrase the poet, David Harkins ‘we can smile because he lives.’ We are full of the love he shared, we will cherish his memory and let him live on and we will open our eyes smile, love and go on. For those who facing this sweet sadness of a deceased father or grandfather cherish their memories because indeed they are living in our memory.
A Father’s issues tangle with life
Patchwork of sweet sadness
Weighted memories – fragile
Eclipse a strong sense of you
Connect with essence
Steadfast replay of moments
Reserve – vacant space
The familiar territory
An ideal crafted, enchants
Pure spirited
Infinitely charming
Rich and self contained
Things noticed in the dialogue of life
Engaging open and compressed
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Poem Written By Brenda L. McCartney
To all fathers Happy Father’s Day! Enrique my love, friend, husband and father of our beautiful daughter, Happy Father’s Day.
Photographed by G. Bowater
Untamed emotions
Weave into
Tantalizing anticipation
The lost of self
Beguiling between thoughts
Achingly perfect
Unfathomable beauty
Pink smiles of bougainvillea
Lofty clandestine escapes
Burst of brilliance
Heart soar embracing knotted secrets
Melting with inspiring pleasure
Under inky skies on shady terrace
Overlooking aquamarine seas
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Bettmann CORBIS
Yesterday from “sunrise to sunset” I constantly thought about and noticed things about the life of the elderly. It started out with British Broadcasting Services (BBC) who featured a team of grandmothers in a community in South Africa playing football (soccer). The eldest member of the team is eighty three years old. Later in the morning I was given a gift of a magazine featuring Dominica’s recorded centenarians. The portraits of the people portrayed in the magazine have travelled the world, featured at various exhibitions and have thus created awareness, admiration, and respect.
I was filled with nostalgia as I read the article about the centenarians and as the reoccurring broadcast replayed in my head of the grandmothers playing football in South Africa. Many of my dearest memories was spending time with my ninety five year old great grandfather in the eighties learning bible verses and realizing that my ninety eight year old great grand aunt had jump through a window as she was as sprightly as we (then) teenagers after we had locked her in for the night. I remembered watching our family prepare to celebrate a cousins hundredth birthday which he never lived to see. My most recent memory about the elderly in my family was making a special trip to London for my ninety five year old grandmother (who is still alive) to see and hold my then ten month old daughter (she is now three years old). There was and is now a glow, a joy and a privilege that comes with spending time with them. Today I want you to think about the eldest person in your family and think about;
- How do you feel about their age?
- What you remember about them?
- How does it make you feel about yourself and family history?
- What emotions stir in you when thinking about them?
Maybe you can start a dialogue with the younger members of your family about this.
I hope your spirit has been lifted in this exercise, as you went through the questions, as we think about the people who have brought us together.
Photographed by John Smith
It is the middle of the week and many are burdened by the maelstrom of every day activities. Some even refer to Wednesdays as “Weary Wednesday.” It is a must that we create and inspire others as well. I encourage you to take a pause/break to be quiet and reflect so you can connect to your spiritual thoughts and be more productive in whatever your goals are today.
In a noisy busy world
A sensation to escape
The hubbub of digital technology
Coaxed instructions encroach
Passing moments
Eat into every sphere of our lives
Eyes closed
Seeking still moments
between sound and silence
Stillness flourishes
Like a well rehearsed silence
Relish, re-attune, reconnect
to deep lying emotions
Day dreaming – still moments
A settling inner peace
Stimulates in a piercing world.
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Chandler
As individuals we are placed on this earth to progress in all areas; mentally, spiritual, physically etc. When we learn we move forward. I hope that what you have learned recently, whether through experience, proxy or in written form that it transports or even transform you to a position to further progress.
Golden thoughts breaks upon your
Words, phrases, sentences, titles
Outline my thoughts
Seals vivid memories
Devour emotions
Reflects moods
Drapes vision
As it resonates with significance
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Incredible silence achieve
Epitomize lifestyles
Monologue between covers
Layer on sheets
Metamorphosis begins
As I think, see and dream
In opulent spaces
Influenced enriched
By the reverence of time spent
Talent treasured and nurtured
Patterned in expressions on pages
Framed in a collection…
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Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
Ever since I can remember I have always loved books. I remember going to the library at school and I also remember waiting for the yellow mobile library to show up in the field above my primary school once a month on Thursdays. Both then and now, books have given me insights into other worlds.
In my home, my living room is set up as a library with works from my favorite authors whom tell my story and reflect my interests. I have always made it a practice not to give away or sell books even my text books from college and university. I am obsessive about this point. I loaned a psychology book to a friend in college and it has almost been twenty years but every time I see her I asked her for my book. No I am not a mean spirited. Let me explain the way I see it. As we know text books are revised all the time and that particular edition is special to me as I am familiar with it and can find exactly what I am looking for in it. I know my college textbooks very well. In college I never skipped a page as I read my books from cover to cover for fear of something that I might miss. As I get older I feel uncomfortable in loaning out my books any more because I have a phobia of my books not been returned.
There is a television commercial for the 2011 Kia Sorento. I always get excited when I see it as on the commercial books are everywhere even around a tree. To me it seems like paradise. The writer and essayist Jorge Luis Borges agrees with me, as he says “I had always imagined paradise as a kind of library.” I also always recall Carl Gustav Jung acknowledging in his book Memories, Dreams and Reflections that when he was growing up he had always like the idea of books but he did not read much. I guess most of us are like that to a certain degree. But as one notable person once said it is not how many books we have that is important but it is how many books we read. To me there are so many more books to read. Let us make a resolve to read at least one book a week or no less than a chapter a night.
Image taken from Blog Skins
There are certain terms, inflections, idioms, colloquialism, slang, buzz words, expressions specific to islands or countries. At this moment I am thinking about the colloquial words that abound in our native island’s speech. Sometimes it maybe difficult to decode and these expressions are literally and hardly ever found in the dictionary. Yet we know our own particular slang patterns very well.
I remember one Christmas Enrique and I went to Montserrat and he ran to me and said that the girl sitting on the stools at the bar is from The Bahamas. I told him no way, I asked why did he think so. He said her accent, what she said. He also noticed the distinct design of her jewelry, which looked to him to be Bahamian bought, particularly the design of her wedding band. At that very minute my brother who came in on a flight with her told Enrique that the girl at the bar was a Bahamian. Yes, Enrique gave me the look; how dare I do not believe that he did not know his own people.
Okay, so I called my Aunt late one night hoping she would be up, she said she just finished washing her dishes and “lock off de light” and why am I calling her this ‘odd hour of night’ I recalled for years I could not stop using the term when I was going to turn off the light.
The other day, my friend was saying to me she will never forget when she visited Cat Island and she asked a lady how may children she had. She said “I been behind that door five times” which means she had five children. I have heard the term “coat suit” which is a sometime used Bahamian expression for a “three piece suit” several times and each time it brings the same chuckle as it did the first time. Often it is used as an outright joke when someone is dressed up as in “Why you so dress up in your coat suit?”
I hope that you can share a light moment with your friends or co-workers the slang terms, colloquialisms even idioms that you may find of interest. Enjoy your day or what is left of it my friends!
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