Bahama Pundit

The Twisted Face of Prejudice

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected]

A dear friend recalls a revealing story an acquaintance witnessed some years ago on a Family Island. Upon hearing considerable commotion outside an older white Bahamian woman rushed to her window to see what all the fuss was about.

Confronted with two of the local boys fighting, she jeered: “Only black people carry on like that!

A Balanced Moral Framework

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected]

Genuine insight requires context. Its companions include discernment, nuance, balance, prudence, humility -- and scepticism. It counts as its enemies cynicism, sensationalism and prejudice.

Like a counterfeit Blue Marlin, pseudo-intuition is eventually unmasked by its own pretensions. From afar a Gucci knock-off seems appealing. But upon closer inspection its poor workmanship can no longer be disguised by its borrowed brand name.

Much of the journalistic bloviation that passes for analysis usually has more to do with the bloviators than the subjects of their misperceptions and checkered judgement. Lazy journalism usually reaches for stock answers and stock figures

During the run up to the current US presidential primary season, scores of broadcast and print pundits used near flawless language skills to produce highly flawed analyses of the race to come.

Who is Making the Grade?

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected]

The recent release of the BJC and BGCSE results, including the accompanying national grade averages for these exams, was followed by the usual arguments, wailing and gnashing of teeth, surface analysis, finger-pointing and spin.

The results do tell us something about the teaching and learning in our schools, particularly in our public schools.

They are symptomatic of a rusting and outdated assembly-line system that has produced tens of thousands of students who lack basic competency in the most basic subject matters.

Tough Call on Vacation

by Larry Smith

I will be on vacation for the next three weeks to re-charge my batteries. Look forward to your visits in October.

The New Normal—High Prices Are Here To Stay

by Craig Butler

I know what you must be thinking. 'The new normal', what in heaven’s name is Craig talking about? Well, the other day I was in Florida listening to talk radio.

There was a director from the International Monetary Fund, an economics professor, and a few others. They were talking about the global economy and what the future holds. The professor was the one who used the ‘new normal’ phrase, and he did so in reference to the high prices that we are experiencing worldwide.

He said that, as he did not expect a significant strengthening of the dollar any time soon; coupled with the fact that the price of oil was likely to remain high and the war in Iraq was ongoing, he believed that the current high prices are going to be the norm.

Explorers Club Flag Expedition to Peterson Cay National Park in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

In the early years of the 20th century the Explorers Club was one of the hottest gigs around.

Back then its membership included men like Robert Peary and Matthew Henson - the white and black Americans who first reached the North Pole in 1909 (with the help of a few eskimos).

Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who was the first to climb Mt Everest in 1953 with the Nepalese sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the club's honorary chairman for decades.

And astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the Explorers Club flag with them on their trip to the moon in 1969.

In fact, a good number of the 20th century’s most influential adventurers were members of this society, whose New York headquarters contains a treasure trove of exploration artifacts and memorabilia.

Over the years the Explorers Club has sponsored hundreds of expeditions. And one of the most recent was to the Bahamas - to Peterson Cay National park off the coast of Grand Bahama to be exact.

Give Our Kids A Chance

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at [email protected]

Liz Frogan, Chair of the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund, offers a down home definition of heritage. She has little patience for those superficial and cocktail party explanations that tend to equate heritage with works of art or artefacts under a spotlight in a museum.

“Heritage … can be beautiful but it is often ugly. It can induce pride but quite often shame. It is not just soothing; it is also toxic and troubling. It is not just ancient; it is also contemporary. … And it is not just buildings; it is landscape and natural species and industrial structures and intangible things. …Our heritage is what makes us distinct.”

This distinctiveness combines a sense of place and identity, the two being as intimate as the pulp and the seed nestled together in a guinep pod. Bahamians do have an appreciation for much of our heritage.