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

Jamaica 2021, what a blast!

 As much as I love the convenience of living in the USA, nothing can equal my annual visit to my homeland, Jamaica.

 To begin with, I always try to coordinate these visits with mango season, especially when East Indian mangoes are coming in, as that is my top favorite. Boy, did I ever get a whole heap this year. I was tempted to smuggle some in but luckily, I didn’t as I traveled through Miami airport and they dug up my luggage on my return.

Ass holes.

This year was extra special though, since it was the first time in years that my visit coincided with that of my daughter and granddaughter. Naturally my brother and sister-in-law were already there, so we all stayed with them at their home in  Silver Sands most of the time.

We had a wonderful time using Trelawny as our base. As usual going fishing was on the top of our list of activities and for the first time in my life, I caught a fish that was probably close to a pound!

We didn’t stray much from Silver Sands, as it has the best beach in the island, in my book. Before the younger ones arrived, my brother, sister in law and I journeyed over to the center of the island to the world famous mineral spa at Milk River, as some of us not so young ones were having some aches and pains. 

Milk River spa

We didn’t know it before we drove there, but it had just reopened after having been flooded a few days earlier when the country was inundated with rains. As a result, the water was not as hot as normal, but soothing none the less.

Milk River bath was established some 300 years ago, after a runaway slave who had been beaten half to death by his wicked slave master, found a stream in the hills, bathed his wounds and was miraculously healed. Subsequent tests revealed that the stream coming out of the hills, 

had one of the highest radioactivity levels of any mineral spring The water is promoted as being good for a long list of ailments and although the pool is closed, there are six private baths open for use. 

After leaving there, we headed along the South Coast highway (built in the 1970’s) which is almost impassable today, to visit the manatees, called sea cows locally.

They are endangered, and a family is kept at Alligator Hole but unfortunately, we never saw them as the keeper said they were up river.

Incidentally, Alligator Hole is in a swampy section of the Milk River and there are crocs in it but they don’t interfere with the gentle manatees. 

A correction though, for while the sign there says Alligator Hole, there are no alligators in Jamaica, only crocs!

From there we wended our way gingerly on the badly

 deteriorated South Coast highway over to Little Ochi where the food was great as usual.

A few days later, I jumped on the convenient Knutsford Express to visit friends and family in Kingston. 

Thanks to my knowledgeable cousin Dor, I was introduced to some marvelous improvements taking place in downtown Kingston.

These range from strategically placed info boards on many historic buildings to a sculpture of two important founders of our nation, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley  and the unbelievable transformation of Water Lane. 

For blocks intersecting with that street, outstanding Jamaican artists have given their skills to create murals depicting Jamaican life all around.

A dramatic and most welcome turn around in the entire area.

When the kids arrived, we visited the Puerto Seco beach and although it has been nicely upgraded and child-friendly, it’s just not as lovely as the good ole Silver Sands beach.

They being adventurous, visited Mystic Mountain, but because of my dislike of heights, I hung out with my friend Chris at her beach house nearby, until time to pick them up. 

They had a ball there and at Dunn’s River falls before joining us on the lyme by Chris.

Silver Sands beach

We separated for a few days as Michele and Maddy wanted to hang out in Kingston with the Williams clan who celebrated her recent milestone. That was her earning a PhD  after many years of dedicated study and sacrifice. While in Kingston they boated over to Lime Cay to swim before returning to the country to join me for a few days a Bahai Principe in Runaway Bay. It’s not a bad hotel but boy do they need a good chef or two!

While they were away, we journeyed to Seaford Town in the hills of Westmorland, a place I had always wanted to visit. This settlement is called locally, German Town as after the Abolition of Slavery (Aug. 1, 1834), many planters had a shortage of labor so imported indentured workers.

A section of Seaford Town

One was the establishment of a European settlement by Lord Seaford, then owner of Montpelier Estate and Shettlewood Pen which were located in St. James. Over one thousand Germans were brought to Jamaica with the promise of being granted accommodation, land, and employment. 

This township was entrenched on five hundred acres of land. However, over the years, through assimilation and migration mostly to Canada, (I understand they left in droves during the turbulent 70's when the communists tried to take over Jamaica), there are no more true blooded Germans there anymore and the use of any German language has virtually disappeared. 

When I asked a young lady at the gas station there where the Germans were, she pointed to the burial ground beside the Roman Catholic church there.  😅

A  visit to the cemetary and a cursory glance at the tombstones, definitely confirms that this area was once inhabited by Germans, due to their names. 

That is the only evidence that this rural middle-class village was ever populated by those nationals.

As usual, this visit home was as interesting and invigorating as expected and I cant wait for the next East Indian mango season.

 Talk Jamaican: Milk River - YouTube

Memorie

Milk River where the manatees are kept

DON'T DILUTE OUR CULTURE!

I couldn’t agree more with the late great Marcus Garvey more, when he said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."

 One’s culture is the sum of the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements and cannot be revised or changed willy nilly.

 A lot of our Jamaican culture has been solidified and expressed through Mento/folk music.

 Mento is Jamaica's first recorded music and it evolved from the musical traditions brought by enslaved West African people. The lyrics of mento songs often deal with aspects of everyday life in a light-hearted and humorous way. They were put to catchy tunes and sung by the slaves or those who did backbreaking labour in the fields during the brutal Colonial British colonial period, to make their chores feel less onerous.

 I am on this topic, as I noticed recently that some Facebook users are determined to dilute and change one aspect of our culture. That is, how land was obtained and farmed immediately after slavery was abolished. This they are trying to do by changing some words of a popular mento song "Sammy Dead."

 This song begins; “Sammy plant piece a corn dung a gully, an it bear till it kill poor Sammy.” However, modern-day the revisionists have been changing it to “Sammy plant peas an corn dung a gully…….”

 They almost had me convinced too, until I fact-checked it with an expert in the field of Jamaican culture. That is Colin Smith, a foundation member of Jamaica Folk Singers and currently leader of Tallawah Mento band.

 Smith, spent many years at the feet of the late, great social anthropologist, Dr. Olive Lewin, OD OM, studying Jamaica folk music and literature. She died in 2013.

 Wikipedia describes her thus; "Lewin was the author of several books and has made numerous recordings of folk music, performed by the Jamaican Folk Singers, which she founded. She was honoured by the Government of Jamaica, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Government of France and by academia for her outstanding lifelong contribution to the arts. In 2001 she was awarded the Jamaican Order of Distinction."

 Regarding whether Sammy planted piece a corn or peas and corn, Smith was emphatic. “It was piece a corn.”

He then went on to explain the conditions that prevailed when that song was written. In those days, freed slaves who wanted to farm, had no land of their own, so they had to rent/lease piece a land from their former slave/colonial masters. On this small holding, they would plant, piece a cane, piece a pumpkin, piece a cane, piece a yam, etc. (In some areas small yam holdings are known  as yam grung) Those who planted tree crops described their holdings as walk. Hence you have walk mango walk, orange walk etc.

On the other hand, large land barons planted fields or plantations, so their holdings were called cane plantations, banana plantations etc.

This other folk song called “Missa Potta” confirms the use of the word piece in reference to small farming Smith.:

 He sang;

“Good mawning Missa Potta ,good mawning to yu sah,

A plant a piece a red peas a Red Sally Lan

Mary Jane an Pidgen cum eat it aff sah

Cum out a mi yaad  mi  nebba call yu yah

Fa yu house rent money no dun pay fah.

Smith, a St. Elizabeth farmer in his own right, also explained that it is not unusual to plant peas and corn together as red peas has an excessive amount of valuable minerals mainly- magnesium, calcium, sodium, potassium and iron, hence the trash is used to fertilize the corn which matures later. Corn and gungo are also planted together, as St. Elizabeth has always suffered from chronic water shortage, so the trash from the corn which matures earlier, is used to mulch the gungo.

Anyway, if this was the aspect of farming that was being referred to in the song Sammy Dead, the lyrics would be; an dem bear till dem kill poor Sammy, for the plural of it is dem!

Talk Jamaica • A podcast on Anchor

Talk Jamaican: our culture - YouTube

(268) JAMAICA'S cultural music - YouTube