An unparalleled imagination!

I have really heard some convincing ghost stories in my time, but despite growing up scared as hell that I will one day run into one, I still remain unconvinced that they exist.

Some of my fellow Jamaicans have the greatest imagination in the world, and the most convincing story tellers have no hesitation in insisting that it’s their personal experiences, even when the same story had been around for decades!

Now why as a mature adult, would I be now addressing the issue of ghost stories you may very well ask.  So, I’ll tell you.

The fact is I recently visited the Institute of Jamaica and was confronted by a reminder of one of the most intriguing ghost stories ever spread in my wonderful country.

Posing with Hon. Vivian Crawford

For those not familiar with that invaluable institution, let me inform you that this is East Street based organization, is Jamaica's foremost repository of all information about our country.

This is a place I physically visited for decades, long before google was heard of. For there is no question relating to Jamaica’s literature, history, culture etc. that you can’t find answers to there.

 And if you can’t find what you want in the documents, the long-standing head, Mr. Vivian Crawford who I only recently had the honor of meeting, but whose writings I have learnt so much from over the years, is a one-man encyclopedia!

So, what at the Institute, you may very well ask,  could have inspired this topic? 

This picture- is prominently displayed in their  foyer.

It brought back memories of Jamaica’s greatest duppy story ever.

This was the tale of an illusive and  mysterious Mr. Brown, who three crows carrying a coffin, were flying around and looking for!

This was in early 1970 and believe me, that ghost story not only caused national hysteria and excitement but also drew overseas interest as well.

I was living in Canada at the time, but got such arresting information about their appearance all over the island, that it is still firmly etched in my memory, even today.

Even the late great Bob Marley got caught up in the excitement, for he dropped the tune written by Glen Adams called “Where is Mr. Brown.”

The lyrics begun:

 Woo, ooh, ooh, ooh)(Is Mr. Brown?) Mr. Brown is a clown who rides to town in a coffin

(Well, he be found) In the coffin, where there is three crows on top and two is laughing

Oh, what a confusion! Ooh, yeah, yeah

What a botheration! Ooh, now, now

 

Who is Mr. Brown? I wanna know now

He is nowhere to be found

From Mandeville to Slygoville, coffin runnin' around

Upsetting, upsetting, upsetting the town

Asking for Mr. Brown

From Mandeville to Slygoville, coffin runnin' around

Upsetting, upsetting, upsetting the town

Asking for Mr. Brown

I wanna know who (is Mr. Brown?)

Is Mr. Brown controlled by remote?

It was a most amazing period, for a simple rumor that the coffin was seen or expected in a town or village would cause people from near and far, to drop what they were doing to converge on the venue in anticipation of seeing the ghostly figures!

And stories of the sightings and all the excitement lasted for months.

An old gramaphone on display at the Institute

I understnd a major spreader was radio call-in programs, for numerous individuals would call in to say that they had just seen the flying trio or that it was on its way somewhere. They were aided and abetted by one newspaper publication too, which on occasion, would come out with announcements about where the crows would be appearing.

An old record player on display too

Not to be left out, some individuals would add their personal spin. I was especially amused when it was reported that someone described as being in the car racing business, was even reported as being passed by the coffin and the crows while driving his Jaguar at top speed along the Ferry Road! (At that time, this was the straightest and smoothest road in the island!)

Yes, I guess we have all heard scary or imaginative ghost stories during our lifetime, but I am prepared to bet that nowhere in the world will you find a story that could equal or surpass that of the crows with the coffin flying around Jamaica, asking for Mr. Brown.

Whoever came up with that story had/has an imagination equal to none other! Since no one knows who started that rumor, we will never know what happened to that person. But I hope he/she became a great author, movie director or playwright and did not simply bury that talent.

For that story came from an unparalleled imagination!

 (260) Talk Jamaican: ghosts - YouTube

Talk Jamaican: Duppy story - YouTube

Joan Williams, author - YouTube 

A great tour

 

On a recent trip to Naples, Florida with an old schoolmate, we decided that we had to go dolphin watching, as they are such graceful creatures. And there was no end of companies offering those tours.

I chose Banana Boat tour company, for, guess what? Their brochure said that if you did not see any dolphins, you would get a free ticket to do the tour another day. 

Well, if that did not sell me on the company, when they mentioned that we might also see manatees, they had my business right away.

You see, I had fallen in love with manatees many decades ago and had longed to get close to them again.

That encounter was at a place called Alligator Hole in central Jamaica. 

This is the name of a conservation area there (I dont know why for we have no alligators in Jamaica, just crocs!), where a family of near-extinct manatees were being cared for. 

This was a nuclear family with two young calves. I had visited with my two young children and was overwhelmed when the keeper said we could swim with the manatees! 

And swim we did, even playing with the gentle animals. I can never forget that inspiring experience and although I know it can never be replicated, have always wanted to see manatees up close again.

So, although the company is based in Cape Coral, around 30 miles from where were staying, to me the guarantee plus the possibility of seeing manatees close up, more than sealed the deal.

The boat was skippered by captain JR and captain Anya. Anya said she was from Germany but relocated to Florida to be closer to dolphins so she could study them.

Once on board, captain JR explained that we would most likely not see manatees on that trip because of the high tide. But can you believe that as we headed up Caloosa Canal, towards San Carlos Bay before reaching the massive Hotchi River, a huge manatee surfaced? 

It was quite large, about 10 feet long.  As we hung around excitedly, another appeared. We were informed that we could wait for them to reappear soon, as they needed to come up for air every 4 or 5 minutes. We did.

Although we never got too close to them, I could feel my heart rate soaring to new heights right along with my level of excitement, every time one surfaced.

After some twenty minutes or so, we headed out into the Hotchi river to see the graceful dolphins. And we surely did see singles, pairs and even a mother and child. Both captain JR and Anya provided us wth a world of information about these creatures and their lifestyles, as we moved around slowly and stopped, based on where they would surface and disappear quickly. There were quite a few boaters around, but many were speeding carelessly, which caused the dolphins to have to dive as quickly as they surfaced.

We saw people fishing near Pine Island as dolphins hovered around hoping to get free food. We took a trip up Pine Island canal where many, including the Bush’s have vacation homes.  

Next, we headed to Picnic Island where our boat docked for a while so we could walk around a bit and even swim if we so desired. However, as the water was brown in color, so I certainly did not.

There are many small islands/cays between San Carlos Bay and Sanibel island (close to the Gulf of Mexico) and one rookery we passed by was teeming with pelicans of all sizes and shapes. We learnt a lot about their lifestyles from our captains and even drew close to another cay where eagles had set nest.

That eco tour far exceed our expectations and made the extra miles we had to travel to get there, more than worth the effort.

MEMORIES

                                       A horde of pelicans

A pair of eagles that have built their nest on the cay

View from Caloosa Canal

Joan Williams, author - YouTube can be contacted at gratestj@gmail.com

Naples, Florida

 My interest in nearby Naples, Florida, stemmed from the fact that I love the beach and had heard they had wonderful beaches there.

Wonderful is relative though, for what is wonderful to North Americans is certainly not wonderful to people from the Caribbean, who are accustomed to white sands beaches with clear, warm, beautiful waters. So, although the sands are pretty and widespread, the water there just does not meet our standards.

Nevertheless, like much of southern Florida, Naples, (a Trump city (?) an assumption made because no business requires masks!) is a playground for snowbirds and persons with many vacation homes. And the city caters for them with some 450 restaurants to suit every palate and more than 100 golf courses.

 On a tour, some prominent names of home owners were floated as having homes there. Among them was the famous Judge Judy, who we were told was often seen driving around in her convertible Bentley.

A view of Naples from the roof of Baker Museum

It wasn’t only the beach I had a misconception about, but also the city itself, which I thought was a huge metropolis with high rise buildings like many other Florida cities. However, it proved to be quite delightful with attractively designed neighborhoods, moderately tall buildings, with a green and lush environment.

We enjoyed touring the Baker Museum which has some really good art, the luxuriant botanical gardens and the Zoo.

This amazing work of art at Baker Museum looks like a bunch of wires until you see the shape of the mosquito beneath!

I was particularly impressed with the zoo, where I saw an anteater in the flesh for the first time and was introduced to the Gibbon.

Seeing this particular ape in a tree at first, I thought it was hanging upside down, as its arms are so large and strong, that I thought what I was seeing were legs.

I so fell in love with this creature that I had to do further research in “Monkeyworlds” and learnt ;

Anteater

·     *  A Gibbon is often described as a Monkey but most classify them as Apes. The controversy often continues and so you will find information out there about them in both categories. You may hear them called the Lesser Apes at times too. They are smaller than Apes and they don’t have the size differences.

·      *  The Gibbon is the fastest of all mammals that live in trees for they have a body that is designed for speed and movement.

·        *The molars are sharp which can help them for fighting off predators and for food. Some species have two fingers on each hand that are stuck together.

·      *  Northeast India, Indonesia, and Southern China are home to the Gibbon. They live in both the tropical and sub -regions. They are arboreal which means that they only live in the trees.

From Naples, we journeyed over to nearly Ave Maria town which we were told, was built around a cathedral constructed in the shape of a bishop’s miter.

It is a new clean, attractive town which already has a university by the same name. Interestingly too, every business has incorporated the name Ave Maria, so if you want coffee, you go to the Ave Maria café etc. The town is undergoing massive development and I suspect it will be considered a major city soon.

From there we also visited nearby Immokalee, a Seminole reservation in the Everglades with casino and all.

Now that was a surprising experience, since I have always found casino food reasonably priced as that is one means of ensuring that the patrons stay inside. Not here though, for it was the most expensive menu I have ever seen outside of a gourmet restaurant!

A quick drive around the town, indicated why this was so though. For the fact is that it seemed to be the only decent place in town to grab a meal. So, what do you get when there is no competition? Ridiculous prices.

This is clearly a farming community though with a high percentage of persons who looked like Caribbean farm workers and very few Native Americans in sight.

Even in the casino, the workers appeared to be Afro Americans.

The trip to Immokalee was the only disappointment, for although Naples was not what I imagined it to be, the surrounding areas were really interesting and pleasant, including nearby Cape Corral where we had the most wonderful eco-tour.  

 

                                                                            The Gibon monkey on the move

 OTHER MEMORIES

Immokalee hotel and casino

Louise Bennett-Coverly, a true revolutionary.

 The entire month of September every year, should be dedicated to honor the late Hon. Louise Bennet-Coverley O.M., O.J., M.B.E. D. Lit. For not only was she Jamaica’s first recorded artist, a literary genius, comedienne, actress, teacher, poet and dramatist, but also a true revolutionary.

Naturally, I am not using the term revolutionary in a political sense but with respect to the fact that she, brought about complete and dramatic change to the Jamaican cultural landscape.

 It was by no means an easy task at all!

For she was born in 1919 (September7th) and started appearing on stage from 1929. This was at the height of the British colonial period. At that time, most still took umbrage at their subjects communicating with each other in a language they could not understand.

Stop and think therefore about the fight she must have received in the early days, in promoting the use of the Jamaican language which is today so widely loved internationally and even being taught at York University in Canada and Harvard in the USA.

I remember well, being a child in the 50’s and 60’s, and being prohibited from speaking 'Patois '(Patwah) both at home and school. In those days, our native language was disparaged by the British colonial establishment and their hangers-on’s, as being broken English which only the uneducated used.

Miss Lou however set the record straight and restored our pride in our African ancestry, when she taught us that our language was mostly derived from TWI, a West African language. Like all other major languages throughout the world, it also adopted a springling of words from other languages like English, Spanish etc.

If the backward attitude towards our native language prevails to some extent even today in some quarters, can you imagine the fights and condemnation Miss Lou had to face when she went on stage in the early days to recite her poems and perform in the skits she wrote in Patwah?

 According to Enclycopedia.com, in the 1930’s and 1940’s, “Some criticized her ‘improper’ manner of speaking—a stark contrast to the Oxford English spoken by educated Jamaicans—but her poems instantly became popular among Jamaicans on the island and abroad. The island's newspaper, the Gleaner, initially refused to publish her work.”

Hers must have been a lonely journey, but she was unfazed and soldiered on.

Despite her best efforts though, as a young Jamaican girl, I still was not able to speak my native language comfortably until I migrated to live in Canada in the late 60’s. It was wonderful, to, like the myriad of other immigrants there, have my ‘own language,’ Better yet, being able to communicate freely with my Jamaican friends while totally discombobulating outsiders, was priceless.

Not only was she outstanding in the dramatic arena, but when you listen carefully to her work, whether done comically or seriously, I dare say she was one of Jamaica’s most thoughtful and profound political commentators. I opine that her most impactful work is to be found in the series “Aunty Roachy Seh” where our social consciousness as a nation was being awakened, through her inimitable humor.

Miss Lou’s entire contribution has been so ground-breaking that it needs to be fully analyzed, appreciated and widely disseminated for the entire month of September each year.

Statue of Miss Lou in Gordon Town where she lived for years

In explaining her early immense interest in language and culture, in an interview entitled “Miss Lou and the early Jamaican Theatre” produced by the National Library, she explained that it was her exposure to women from all walks of life from an early age, which stoked her passion.

Her mother had been a dress-maker with clients ranging from the wives of governors and other “top a naris people” to those from the humblest circumstances. To her mom though, everyone was a lady, from “coal lady” to “governor wife lady.”

What she observed early from their interaction with her mom and each other, was how important humor was to conversation and most importantly, how everybody was speaking the language of the common people when they became comfortable.

In 1948, when the national pantomime was being staged by expatriates in Kingston and performed in the queen’s English, she wrote Bluebeard in patois and acted in it.

That totally revolutionized the theatre landscape in Jamaica. However the prejudices against our own language have persisted among some colonial minded individuals even today.

It is important to note that although promoting respect for and the use of Patwah, Miss Lou has never discouraged us not to learn and use other languages. That would have been an imbecilic attitude and she, being a great believer in each of us acquiring the widest education possible never trod that path.  

She spoke English flawlessly and I dare say if she was around today, she would encourage us all to.at the very least, get a working knowledge of as many languages possible, including Mandarin!

Her contribution to knowledge and culture and her role in opening the doors so that persons like myself can even be doing commentaries today in Patwah on You tube, (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj0wewemvZosv5SQNO3vnlw) demonstrates how far we have come from the days when I could neither speak my native language at home nor at school!

Thank you, Miss Lou.

 Talk Jamaican: Louise Bennett - YouTube

(160) Joan Williams, author - YouTube

https://youtu.be/EG_UIhU0uac