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kazledazzel · 4 years

Note

Hi! I was wondering, for the au + trope + prompt game: can I request the Merry thieves in the hogwarts au? I can totally see them as marauders! Maybe prompt 23? but honestly any one of them would be cool 💕💕💕

Thank you for the prompt! I hope you like this. I tried to stick to the Merry Thieves as much as I could, but I did end up wandering to Thomastair... so I’m sorry about that, but I have been wanting to do a Shadowhunters Hogwarts Au for ages, so I plan to do a series of one shots for this au. (I want to do more Thomastair, Blackdale, The Merry Thieves, Gracetopher, etc...). Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. I have a part two of this if anyone is interested.

Click here to read on Ao3 or keep reading below :)

“Are you sure this is legal?” Thomas asked, peering down at the quidditch field from where he sat on the bleachers next to James Herondale. The two gryffindors sat together, supervising the other half of the friend group.

The pitch was empty, and the group had taken this opportunity to sneak down and test out Matthew’s new broom. Matthew Fairchild was a Slytherin who was as ambitious as he was cunning, and had jumped at the opportunity for a better broom. His old one, though a cleverly crafted broom made by Matthew’s father, had suffered a rather disastrous encounter with Alastair Carstairs, and was long in the bin. It had just so happened that Christopher had been in the process of making a broom, better than any Nimbus or Firebolt. He had accomplished one of his lifelong goals; to combine magic, science and mechanics.

Only Thomas seemed to be worried about this experiment. He was proud of his cousin, but there was often a thin line between success and disaster when it came to Christopher’s inventions. However, Christopher did seem utterly and completely focused on his latest invention. He was so lost in his work, he seemed to have failed to noticed that he was wearing the wrong tie. Grace Blackthorn was probably in the castle somewhere, searching her room for a green tie and instead finding a Ravenclaw blue one.

“I am sure-,” Matthew started, giving Thomas false hope. “- that what the Ministry of Magic doesn't know won't kill them,”

Thomas frowned. He turned to James for backup, but he had his head in his book. Thomas scowled, and returned to his babysitting.

“It’s almost done,” Christopher said, raising his voice loud enough so that both guys on the bleachers could here. He raised his wand and cast a silent charm. He cleared his throat. “Matthew and Gentlemen-,”

“Kit!” Matthew demanded. “Are you implying that I do not qualify as a gentleman?”

Christopher shrugged, but James took this opportunity to poke at his best friend.

“Anna told me otherwise,” James called down. “Did you or did you not have a rather scandalous encounter with a Hufflepuff prefect last week?”

“Hufflepuff? Alastair Carstairs’ house? Really, Jamie? I would never,” Matthew lowered his voice. “It was a Ravenclaw,”

James laughed, while Thomas only smiled. Although the situation was funny, he was getting rather tired of Matthew’s hatred for Alastair Carstairs. Was all this nonsense really over a broken broom, or did it run deeper? Thomas didn’t know, but he needed an explanation before he could hate Alastair Carstairs. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as James and Matthew thought.

Then again, maybe Thomas was just being silly. If he was honest with himself, he’d admit that he had strong feelings for Alastair Carstairs. Strong feelings that caused great confusion, and Thomas couldn’t tell if those strong feelings were born out of love or hate. He’d thought about talking about it with Christopher, but Kit hadn’t really picked up on the fact that Thomas may lean more towards boy, nor the fact that his science goggles were upside down. God bless Christopher and his obliviousness.

Then again, Christopher may have been oblivious, but he wasn’t stupid. In fact, he was one of the smartest people Thomas knew. The sorting hat had known it when placing him in Ravenclaw, and even the Slytherin prefect Grace Blackthorn had known it. Not only did Grace seem to be aware of Christopher’s genius, she seemed to be falling in love with it. Grace Blackthorn, who was so set on maintaining her reputation of being sensible and too mature for love in all its silliness, had fallen for a softie like Christopher. Thomas often found it funny; plenty of quidditch stars from all the different houses fancied Grace Blackthorn, but she was too busy looking at Christopher with cartoon hearts in her eyes to notice.

Thomas was constantly seeing romantic love. He saw it every time Cordelia Carstairs had walked past, making James blush red like a tomato and leaving him stutter for five minutes as he tried to remember his own name. He saw it every time he went looking for Lucie only to find her writing her manuscript with I heart Jesse Blackthorn and Lucie Blackthorn written around the edges. He saw it most of all in the way Anna and Ariadne talked about each other. Thomas was constantly surrounded by his friends and their lovesick hearts, and yet he couldn’t figure out his own.

“James, and Matthew,” Thomas said, glaring at both boys harmlessly. “Let Kit finish,”

“Thank you, Thomas” Christopher began again. “As I was saying, I present to you all, The Lightwood Flamethrower,”

James chuckled softly. “Lightwood. I get it. Light-wood. Brooms are made from wood,”

The rest of the group turned to look at James, who was slowly realising the obvious. He slouched, as if he was trying to make himself smaller.

“Come on then. Let’s try it out!” Christopher said enthusiastically, gesturing for Matthew to get on the broom. He rambled on excitedly. “It should go faster than any Nimbus or even Fire Bolt, and it has a spacial awareness feature so that you’ll be able to tell if there are any bludgers coming your way. It started producing sparks last night, but that probably won’t happen anymore-,”

“Probably?” Thomas asked worriedly. “Have you ran any safety tests?”

Matthew grinned with bright green eyes. “What do you think we’re doing now?” He began to mount the broom, and Thomas felt he might go into cardiac arrest. Matthew picked up a helmet and put it on his head. “Besides, I’m wearing a helmet,”

“That’s great Math, but you haven’t strapped it on right,” James pointed out.

“Oh dear god,” Thomas said, exasperated. He buried his face in his hands, while James patted his shoulder.

“Don’t look now,” James said, his voice low. Thomas heard Matthew give an annoyed groan, and he looked up from his depressed state. He spotted the cause of Matthew’s annoyance right away.

At the entrance of the quidditch pitch was the entire Hufflepuff team. Leading the team was Cordelia Carstairs, in full quidditch gear and carrying her broom, the Cortana two thousand, as if it were a mighty gold sword. To be fair, it was the greatest broom one could buy. They were extremely rare, and had been discontinued. Thomas recalled how Christopher hadn’t compared his own broom to Cordelia’s. The Cortana two thousand was faster than any other broom, and could change direction easier than even a Fire Bolt. With Cordelia as their Captain, Hufflepuff was a hard team for any house to beat. It didn’t matter if the weather was against them, Cordelia flourished in rain, hail, sleet and snow.

Next to Cordelia was Lucie, who stuck out like a sore thumb in her Ravenclaw robes. She didn’t really need to be there, but she often went along anyways to support Cordelia.

“And to look at Jesse Blackthorn,” James had once said to her, with both the disapproval of a protective older brother and with the satisfaction of teasing on a sibling.

“Very funny, Jamie. How long did it take for you to form a full sentence the last time Cordelia spoke to you?” Lucie has snapped back, while Matthew burst out laughing.

Alastair Carstairs wasn’t far behind his sister. Being the older sibling, some might have thought Alastair would be annoyed that the position went to his younger sibling. If he was, he didn’t seem it. He seemed perfecting content being Head Boy. Not that Thomas payed much attention to Alastair’s behaviour, or the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed, or the way he-

“I’m going to do it,” James whispered to Thomas, interrupting his thoughts. James closed his book and practically bounced out of his siting position. “I’m finally going to talk to Cordelia Carstairs,”

“Okay, Jamie,” Thomas said, standing up and following his friend down the bleachers. “Just remember that your name is James Herondale, not-,” Thomas made a series of spluttering noises. James blushed.

“What’s all this about, Carstairs?” Matthew demanded, glaring at Alastair. Cordelia didn’t seem to realise the question wasn’t directed at her. She seemed a little hurt.

“Quidditch practice,” Cordelia replied, eyebrows raised. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Oh, sorry, I-,”

Cordelia had her head held high as Matthew struggled to explain he was speaking to her brother. Alastair looked amused, as Thomas tried to rip his gaze away from him. He often found it amusing how Matthew could hate one Carstairs so much, and be fighting with his best friend over the attention of the other.

By now James was my Matthew’s side, and had gained a new confidence from Matthew’s humiliation.

“That wasn’t very nice, Matthew,” James gloated. He was looking at Cordelia hopefully. Cordelia broke away her gaze, and Thomas could see the scarlet colour against her brown skin. Cordelia Carstairs was blushing over James Herondale.

Maybe Thomas wasn’t as fluent in love as he thought he was.

“We booked the pitch,” Alastair said, moving to his sisters side. Matthew seemed to have forgotten his desire for Cordelia immediately, and was now looking at Alastair as if he was the Devil himself coming to drag Matthew back to Hell with him. Not that Cordelia noticed. She and James were both stealing glances and giving each other soppy looks. It truly was a wonder that they didn’t know their love was requited. Lucie was making her way towards Thomas and beaming. No doubt she was about to write James into her newest chapter of the Beautiful Cordelia.

“It’s true,” Lucie said, rolling her eyes at Matthew and Alastair’s petty feud. Her and Thomas had discussed it often, but neither of them knew the root of the rivalry other than the fact that Alastair had once broken Matthew's broom after they both collided in a quidditch match, but that had been an accident. Perhaps their hatred had always been there, and this had just triggered it. Still, even that didn't add up. Matthew wasn't a hateful person. That was something all the Merry Thieves were aware off, especially James. All of Thomas' friends were like little lights in his life, and Matthew was sometimes the shiniest. Despite coming across as overly charismatic or vain, Matthew never failed to radiate what good was in him. He was constantly willing to be the guinea pig in Christopher's experiments, and never let his obvious crush on Cordelia get in the way of his friendship with James. Thomas sometimes wondered if James was even aware of Matthew's feelings for Cordelia.

Then there was Alastair. Mysterious Alastair, whom Thomas had never cared for until his fourth year at Hogwarts. Up until then, Thomas had known nothing of the other boy save the fact that he was a fifth year Hufflepuff with a repuation, that his friends with Clive Cartwright and Charles Fairchild, Matthew's annoying older brother, and that he and his posse sometimes liked to pick on first years. It wasn't until that one day in Third Year, when James had been locked up in the infirmary with a broken leg and Thomas had been sent on the Honeydukes run while Christopher, Matthew, Lucie and Cordelia had stayed behind to keep James company that Thomas even spoke to Alastair. It had been snowing outside and it had been difficult for Thomas to see where he was going. He accidentally walked straight into Alastair as he entered the shop. Thomas had been almost terrified; Alastair had been so intimidating when he'd had his two friends by his side before. He hadn't seemed intimidating that day in Honeydukes, though. He'd seemed lonely, and as Thomas bent to help Alastair pick up his chocolate he could see that Alastair's dark brown eyes were brimmed with red. Sometimes people weren't scary; they were just sad.

Thomas, being Thomas, had asked the other boy if he was alright. Instead of brushing him off, Alastair had admitted he needed a bit of a distraction. This led to casual conversation, and eventually the two ended up chatting over chocolate cauldrons and fudge flies. They parted on friendly terms, and had a few encounters after. These encounters were a secret, of course, and mostly accidental. Still, Alastair seemed to enjoy Thomas' company. Thomas couldn't help but feel a glimmer of satisfaction every time Alastair laughed at something he said.

These accidental encounters became less frequent when Alastair and Charles became a couple. Thomas tried not to feel annoyed that he'd barely spoken to Alastar all year. It wasn't like he was in love with Alastar, was he? Besides, Alastair was a year older. There was no point in falling for someone who was going to leave Hogwarts in a year.

"We just wanted to try out Matthew's new broom," Thomas said, trying to avoid an argument. "We didn't realise the pitch was booked,"

"The Lightwood Flamethrower," Christopher said proudly. Cordelia's eyes widened slightly.

"Does it work?" Cordelia asked, making her way towards the broom. Alastair looked a little put off, but then his eyes met Thomas'. Thomas could have sworn that Alastair's expression softened.

"We don't know yet," James and Matthew said, simultaneously. Both boys blushed. Cordelia smiled.

"Well," Cordelia said, her smile radiant. "Shall we try it out and see?"

#asks #prompt #the last hours #the shadowhunter chronicles #tlh #tsc #chain of gold #hogwarts au #fanfic #el writes #el writes fanfiction #thomastair #jordelia #blackdale #gracetopher #thomas lightwood #alastair carstairs

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moostaronce · 3 years

Text

Make You Mine

Sei

Pairing: Sei x Fem reader

Request: hi can u pls do a scenario for weki meki’s sei where the reader is the 9th member of weki meki and sei has always been too shy to talk to her alone so she always gets nervous and like runs away but one day the rest of the members know about her crush so they leave the house with just sei and the reader being left alone and sei is rly shy but she confesses to the reader and they kiss uwu ahhh i hope this makes sense!!! thank u for ur hard work i love ur blog 💙

A/N: This made perfect sense! Thanks so much for a WEME request, I hope I did it justice.

“Has anyone seen Sei?” Ji Leader calls out into the full practice room.

You all look around at one another and shrug a little until Lucy chimes in.

“She was here a second ago. Maybe she went to use the bathroom.”

She had gone to the bathroom. She needed to collect herself a little and now Sei was peeking through the window on the door to make sure everyone else was also in the room.

“I’m here! Sorry unnie it was an emergency.”

Suyeon gives her a nod and officially begins practice. You were great as usual. You hadn’t debuted with the other members for “I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend”. You came in during “Crush” but the girls always treated you like you were always around. The members you are the closest with were Rina and Lua so being in 00 line was pretty fun for you. You always wanted to be close with Sei since you were also same year friends with her and Lua but she seemed to dislike you, maybe even hate you. When you really think about it, you can’t recall ever having a one on one conversation with her, ever.

As your practicing you feel like someone is watching you like a hawk. You think about checking to see who it is in the mirror, but you brush it off and assume that it’s Yoojung or Doyeon making sure you’re doing alright. This assumption was partially right because those two always watched all of you during practice, however neither of your members were watching you. Instead, they watched Seojeong watch you. In fact, all of the members had begun to notice over time how she looked at you. She was much more obvious than she wanted to admit, but she also couldn’t look you in the eye and get through a full coherent sentence.

Once it was time for your first break of the practice, you found yourself going to get a snack with Rina. Little did you know that behind you Sei was slowly being cornered by the remaining members and there would be no escape until you and Soeun returned from across the street.

“Why are you avoiding Y/N unnie so much?“ Hyojung practically shouted as soon as she thought the coast was clear.

“What? I don’t avoid her.” The tone is as unconvincing as her stance when she says it. Her arms fold over each other at her chest and perhaps her most prominent pout ever etched on her face.

“Really? What about yesterday when she and I were walking towards you and you threw yourself into the first room you saw. You’re lucky she didn’t see you otherwise it would have made her sad.“ Doyeon chimed in.

“I... needed to go in that room.” Sei tries to stand her ground but from the look on Doyeon’s face she knew she didn’t stand a chance.

“It was a cleaning supply closet. What could you possibly be doing in there right before practice?“

"...Taking inventory?" Even she knows that that's the dumbest excuse she could have given.

"Okay look you clearly aren't ready today but tomorrow you need to at least apologize for avoiding her. It's your business whether you confess or not but you can't treat a member this way." The way Suyeon speaks leaves no room for more discussion, least of all arguments.

-----------------------

The next day you wake up early as always but find that Lua and Lucy aren't in your shared room. You're a little confused because they are almost always still asleep when you get up. Then you leave your room and can't help but notice the lack of coats in the closet and shoes in the cabinet. You scratch your head and walk into the kitchen to make breakfast.

You hear a door open elsewhere in the dorm and quickly come face to face with a clearly flustered Sei.

"Ah Sei ssi~ did you want some eggs"

"Sei winces at the formality in your words and the tension riddling your body language."

"Y/N just call me Seojeong. We're the same age you know."

You're startled by her actually speaking to you so all you can do at that moment is nod.

"Hey, so I'm sorry for not being welcoming. It’s not that I don’t like you.” She clearly hesitates to to speak. Her mouth opens and closes before she looks down.

“Sei, it’s alright take your time. I promise you I’m listening.”

“It isn’t that I don’t like you Y/N. More like I may like you too much.”

Her last sentence came out so quiet you almost missed it. Even once it registered you were frozen in shock.

“Ar- Are you confessing to me right now?”

She flinches at your question, fearing the worst. Once you come to your senses again you step forward. You hold her hands in your own with a tender smile on your face.

“Let’s go out today. Have lunch, just us two.”

Sei’s eyes widen in surprise at your words.

“You want to have lunch with me today? For real?”

“Yes. Let’s get to know each other better. I think that what you’re trying to tell me is that you’re interested in me. Well, I’m interested in you too. Like a lot, Seojeong.”

Sei’s smile starts to surface and she shifts on her feet, looking down at her hands being held in your own.

“If it isn’t too sudden can I um... can I kiss you?“

Instead of a verbal response from you she receives a soft warm sensation against her lips. It was a quick closed mouth kiss but not short enough to qualify as a peck. Both of you stand close together avoiding eye contact with rosy cheeks.

“We’ll take it slow. Just one step at a time, okay?” You speak without meeting her eyes in a pure display of shyness.

“Yeah, one step at a time.” She smiles at you brighter than you knew possible.”

When the members return in the afternoon, they find a note stating your whereabouts and are pleased to see you two had gone out together for the day.

“Told you it would work if we just left them alone.” Doyeon smirked at her members.

“Well I mean we did threaten Sei unnie so it’s not like that was much of a choice.“ Lucy speaks up with a laugh

“Alls fair in war Hyojung. Alls fair in war.” Yoojung pipes up.

“Don’t you mean lo-”

“I said what I said.” Yoojung cuts Lua off abruptly with a sassy but playful flip of her hair.”

The members all giggle amongst themselves before slowly roaming off to lounge about.

When you return to the dorm with Sei you are both met with the creepily excited faces of your other members and take your teasing session like the embarrassed babies you both are.

#girl group scenarios #Weki Meki scenarios #Sei scenarios #Lee seojeong scenarios #fluff #MooStarOnce

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pinkysfaultorbrainsfault · 4 years

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pinky and the brain - s1e2: of mouse and man

episode summary: brain needs money to build a perpetual answering machine to occupy everyone in the world for long enough for him to take over. to do that, he needs an absurd amount of money, so he decides to get a job in an office!

and then fake a nondairy creamer accident that turned him into a mouse, because as we all know, brain has to take the most dramatic path he possibly can in life, or he dies.

the rundown:

we open with pinky showing off his ass.

PRODUCED BY PETER HASTINGS. i assume that means the episode, and not the ass. the ass was initially produced by pinky’s parents and then helped along by the warner brothers’ dietary experts for their. mouse actors.

brain isn’t feeling it right now.

instead, as he plucks a rib from the lab’s anatomical model of a human being, and uses it to unpick his cage, he angsts - WRITTEN BY PETER HASTINGS - he angsts over the Dark Side Of Man, that has built war machines and pollution spilling factories and

VOICEMAIL.

😱

as pinky continues to stick his ass out (though onlyfans wouldn’t be launched for another twenty one years) brain runs through his latest plan, which, of course, involves voicemail.

look at those wiggles. this is a rough draft episode.

anyway brain intends to reroute all telephone conversations into his confusing, recursive, voicemail service that, he claims, will keep the human race occupied for “at least seventy two hours.”

“more than enough time for a well prepared mouse to seize control of the planet.”

“i see! so all we need now is a well prepared mouse.”

I???????

HOLY FUCK

brain is unhappy. i am not surprised.

“i am a well prepared mouse, pinky.”

“oh. well. there you are, then.”

unfortunately this plan comes with the pitfall that it will cost.... one million, six hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. which is a lot of money, or, as pinky puts it, “a lot of money!”

as brain wonders about how to raise these funds (”without running for congress”) pinky pinkys off to watch some tv.

HAVE YOU BEEN INJURED IN AN ON THE JOB ACCIDENT

YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS, EVEN ONE MILLION SIX HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS IN COMPENSATION

LENNY PARVIK GOT ME TWO HUNDRED AND ELEVEN DOLLARS

EVEN THOUGH I’M NOW NINETY PERCENT FUDGE, IT’S OKAY BECAUSE LENNY PARVIK GOT ME ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTY TWO DOLLARS SIXTEEN CENTS AND SOME CHANGE

<LOUD, INCREDIBLY DISTRESSED CRYING>

hm.

“pinky, are you pondering what i’m pondering?“

“i think so, brain, but i get all clammy inside a tent.”

anyway so brain’s new plan is to get a job, stage a

HIDEOUS ACCIDENT

and then sue them for one million, six hundred and fourteen thousand dollars in workers compensation.

this episode also has a lot of faces. god, but these mice are so bloody cute. youtube has not yet been invented, but one day it will be, and all brain has to do is sit in front of a camera and nom some corn and go O:O with his face, and everyone will be crying over him within minutes.

it’s so sad that he doesn’t know that.

but for now, he has a job interview to go to. good luck, brain! can’t be any worse than that time allsaints forgot about me and the manager acted like it was my fault.

“impressive credentials. you’re certainly qualified. are you married?”

“oh, yes, i have a lovely wife and two beautiful young children.”

“oh that’s too bad. we’re looking for someone who has no life. thank you.”

as family man walks off, dejected, in comes a completely unsuspicious fellow looking for an honest living honest living, just like in rent the musical.

his arm is acting up, a bit, but it’s fine.

“very impressive resume. princeton, harvard, six years in the industry-- tell me, mr brain, what are your long term career goals?”

“i plan on taking over the world.”

“you have drive! i like that! but confidentially, taking over the world is my job, hahahaha.”

”yes. haha. ha.”

”now. brass tax - are you married?”

“i do have a roommate. but he’s very busy with his own activities.”

HA HA HOO HOO HOO

<muah>

HAHA

“but. one more thing. about your head. isn’t it rather small?”

“no. not for my race.”

“no! no, of course not-- and your people are such... good... cooks... with their tiny heads, uh. please. excuse me for one second.”

“carol! send everyone else home! i got myself a minority person!”

BRUH I?!??!?!?!?!

anyway. brain gets the job.

“mr brain! welcome to the world of re-reinsurance!”

he’s delighted.

back at the labs, he plots his untimely demise at the hands of re-reinsurance,

stating the accident “could be bluffed by altering the mollecular matrix through a substrate platform of microwaves.”

pinky’s response to this is “look brain, i made a choo-choo.”

“oh, and me without my video camera!”

in simpler terms, he explains to pinky that he will stage an accident, “utilising the microwave oven and the non-dairy powdered creamer.”

“because”, to pinky’s apparent horror, “nobody really knows how a microwave works.”

“but why the powdered creamer, brain?”

“nobody knows how that works either.”

(and then, i guess, there’s a scene where some guys jump him on the train for some reason,

i’m only putting it here because this guy is like “oh, you’re funny, you’re a regular gallagher”

and brain’s like “you think gallagher is funny?”

anyway then he ties the dude into a pretzel and throws him off the train.

bonk. it adds nothing, but it’s very funny.)

“this is your cubicle right here. if you need any office supplies, ask the office manager and she should have them over in two or three months.”

it’s brain’s first day at work! his boss reads him the company policy on

vacations, personal phone calls,

and sexual harassment.

“don’t worry about it. you’re safe if you avoid all contact with other humans.”

“my goal in life.”

as brain unpacks the things that pinky has packed for his “home away from home,

awwwww.

his nosy cubicle neighbour inquires about brain’s “pet mouse,”

elaborating that he keeps mice! haha! to feed to his pet snake!

to be fair this is also me around snake people. more understandable in brain’s case, being that he is, actually, a mouse, and i am a human person who may be slightly obsessed with tiney small flofys.

;u;

(they play tennis on their lunch break and brain sets him on fire, so it’s not too bad.)

upon his return from the office, pinky, who has dolled himself up to the nines, presents brain with a Yummy Dinner of Food Pellets With Food Pellets.

i will say i think it’s really cute how this show keeps pushing the narrative that pinky just really, really wants to be an old timey housewife. he just spends his time watching i love lucy (when Fish TV isn’t on) and stuff like that and he’s just obsessed with the idea of dusting something alluringly but ineffectively and making brain little dinners.

and it’s so fucking cute!!! what??? it’s adorable. as soon as they get the world pinky better get a little dollhouse kitchen room with lime green everything and a functioning oven.

“please, pinky. i’ve had a very tough day.”

“oh, you have? you’ve had a tough day?”

“what about my day, brain? we always hear about your day, but what about mine?!”

“DO YOU EVER ASK WHAT I DID TODAY???!”

“very well pinky. what did you do today?”

“i don’t remember.”

“anything?”

“not a thing.”

“well, now i know how american gladiator stays on the air.”

the next day, at work, brain is vexed by the fact that nobody has refilled the coffee machine.

“sorry. that’s my fault. hey, you’re cute.”

“you know what they say. big ears. big earmuffs.”

.....okay.

unfortunately brain’s mechanical arm chooses now to malfunction.

she’s into it?

brain maintains that it was a mistake, and he doesn’t find her attractive at all, because brain knows how to talk to women.

she is no longer into it.

horrified by his semi-accidental fuckboy behaviour, brain heads out as quickly as he can, only to be immediately called into his boss’ office.

despite brain’s claims that “the young lady appears to have misunderstood me,” which i’m sure will hold up well on twitter,

mr boss man reveals that he has done some fact checking, and there is no record of brain attending harvard or princeton.

“oh.”

he is given the ultimatum that he either produce his diplomas, or HIS CAREER IN RE-REINSURANCE IS OH OH OVER!!!

very sad!

looks like it’s time to stage a workplace related accident.

he pours the creamer everywhere, discards his suit, and runs up to plonk himself merrily into the pile.

ahem.

HELP, HELP. A TERRIBLE OCCUPATIONAL DISASTER. I’VE BEEN MAIMED BY AN ON THE JOB ACCIDENT REQUIRING MASSIVE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION.

as others in the office crowd around to look, brain makes his dramatic reveal.

“i’ve been turned into a mouse!”

COLLECTIVE GASP.

obviously mr boss man won’t pay that kind of money.

so, as brain emphatically tells him, I’LL SEE YOU IN COURT.

conclusion:

as the goodfeathers sit on justice’s head, and bitch about jury duty,

The Man From Washinton asserts that brain’s claim that he is a mouse is preposterous.

good thing brain has xrays to prove it! they “clearly” define his “mouse skeleton!” wait a sec and he’ll grab them.

oh shit! where they go?

(”there really is only one conclusion here.” says a local doctor.

“this man is a mouse.”

“then i’m afraid the only conclusion here, doctor,”

“is that you have never seen these.”

“i trust this might keep you quiet.”

“it might.”)

(BRUH/???????????????) (if boss man is out here bribing people with lingerie, he could have tried that way before this got to court.)

egged on by the lack of evidence in Mouse Corner, christopher walken produces the artefacts from brain’s office cubicle.

“i ask you, when was the last time you heard of a mouse winning a bowling trophy?”

“ugh. pinky.”

“yes?”

turns out pinky is here because “they’re not covering this on court tv,” but does advise brain that “it’s a good thing they didn’t find the mechanical suit, eh, brain?”

oh shit.

“pinky, you must go to the office and get that suit from the kitchen closet. do you understand? if they find that we’re sunk.”

“oh! brain! you want me to help!”

off he goes!

fall mouse. bonk.

(he sneaks into the snack delivery.)

(poit.)

(unfortunately, he gets delivered straight to the vending machine.)

(”narf? ):”)

“well. yes. i had noticed his... small, furry head, but i assumed that was normal for his people.”

“and what people would that be.”

“i’m not sure? i think they’re from europe?? maybe france.”

“the size of my head and whether i was a man before the accident is not the question, here. the fact is i am now a mouse.”

(meanwhile, at fiero:

“try the fruit rollups. they’re yummy.”

“oh, i am doing well. poit.”)

“so how exactly did the accident happen, mr brain?”

“some bizarre thing involving a microwave oven? i don’t know exactly-- no one really knows how they work.”

“incorrect! in the oven, a magnetron produces microwaves which cause water molecules to align, and reverse alignment, producing heat, and not mice.”

“the accident also involved a.... nondairy powdered creamer.”

“ah. um. oh.”

(meanwhile,

pinky attempts to drive.)

“mr brain, in your experience with other mice, are they intelligent?”

“no.”

“exactly. your honour, i contend that mr brain is simply too intelligent to be a mouse.”

oh dear.

(meanwhile,

pinky tries not to get hit by a car.)

“but-- no, noo, i’m not intelligent.”

“i am a simpleton! yes. like any average mouse!”

“um. narf.”

that’s mean, brain, considering the aforementioned narf is on his way to save your gay little ass right now, but whatever.

“so you would have no problem with me saying that albert einstien was a champion surfer.”

“what-- i mean, no.”

“or that the temperature of the sun is a comfortable seventy degrees fahrenheight.”

“i wouldn’t know--”

“or that the fermi-dirac’s distribution function is a soup kitchen?”

“that’s preposterous! your honour, the fermi-dirac's function is, for any system of identical fermions in equilibrium,”

“the probability that a quantum state of energy -- E -- is occupied!”

“my word, man! don’t you know your quantum statistics!”

heck.

bonk.

“oh, blunder.”

and what a blunder indeed! the judge decides to rule that brain’s intelligence proves that he is “not a mouse, and that being the basis for your claim, i now dismiss charges against fiero and company.”

“.....very well. i’ll go now.”

“i’m afraid not. i find you guilty of fraud, perjury, and appearing naked in a public place. take him away.”

good thing they have human man sized handcuffs for this human man! brain looks incredibly perturbed, despite the fact he could probably swim in them. and also that he... kind of lives in a prison anyway, if you think about it. oh, cool, can’t wait to evade that cage so i can go live in my other cage.

hm.

luckily, pinky arrives to save us all from that particular moral quandry.

“i got the suit, brain! i got it!”

“pinky--”

the police attempt to intercept pinky,

so he knocks them over. hoo hoo.

brain falls over,

attempts to enter the suit through the shoe,

and is squoshed for his crimes.

faced with a veritable army of police, at this point,

pinky activates the emergency protocol,

says blue lives scatter,

and fucks off out of the courthouse.

we stan a legend.

unfortunately brain got a fair few ouchies during his prison break, so pinky bandages him up. it’s very cute.

anyway, i’m giving this one to brain, on account there were, yknow, a fair few ways that could have been mitigated. fiero fucked him over, though, so i’ll give him that.

brain: 5 ½ pinky: 6 ½ outside influence: 10

“egad, brain! brilliant!”

“but isn’t that horribly illegal?”

“............yes.”

#patb #pinky and the brain #this took so long lol #BUT THIS EPISODE WAS REALLY GOOD #IT GOT AWAY WITH SO MUCH BRO I ....

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quinntessentiallyglee · 4 years

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Alright, since none of you seem inclined to talk me out of it, perhaps you can help me kick my D.E.B.S. verse off on the right foot by providing a little feedback before I finally cave and make this a reality.

For anyone not familiar with D.E.B.S. (and I can not recommend the movie enough if you fall into this camp), the basic premise is that there is a secret test embedded in the SAT that determines aptitude for espionage. Women who score highly on the test are recruited into D.E.B.S. (Discipline, Energy, Beauty, Strength), a clandestine paramilitary academy.

Question the first:

Should I go all D.E.B.S. or a mix of D.E.B.S. and Villains? without spoiling too much for those of you who haven’t seen the film, half the reason I love D.E.B.S. as much as I do has to do with the Lucy Diamond character, a villain, and I think having a few OC villain’s built into the Verse from the start to go with my OC D.E.B.S. might not be the worst idea.

Question the second:

While I will almost certainly add my Glee three, and probably my OCs (I’m not sure Mal fits, so she might be left out) to the Verse, I have a very, very, long list of potential FCs, and even whittled down to the ones I think might best fit, which ones would be the best to start with? (This is by no means a complete list of FCs I would like to see in this verse, let alone of FCs I’d like to play--so if you have any you’d like to suggest, please do.)

Anna Kendrick -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Graduated) / Villain: I can sort of see her as a Villain, but only just. Primarily, I see her as a D.E.B.S. in a mentor/handler role.

As a D.E.B.S., She’s someone who’s been out of the academy for a few years and has a bit of a rep, both at the Academy and among Villians as a no-nonsense, get-the-job-done (by-the-book or not) type, which she is, but unbeknown to most, she’s fairly laid back when not on the job.

As a Villain, She’s more of a Lena Luthor type; someone who’s inherited the family business--and drama--and is suspect more for her family name than anything she’s done... while still morally and ethically ambiguous enough that those keeping an eye on her feel justified in keeping an eye on her.

Ashley Tisdale -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Graduated) / Villain: I see her more as a Villain role, but I can also see her as a D.E.B.S.

As a D.E.B.S., she’s been out the Academy for a while, probably the same class as Anna (and always in Anna’s shadow... not that she’s bitter about that or anything). Unlike Anna, she’s very by-the-book.

As a Villain, I see her as less of a ‘world domination’ type, and more of an ‘I just want money’ type. She tends to draw the line at any real violence and prefers to use her wiles to lure her marks into giving her whatever it is she’s after, be it cash, cars, gems, or government/business secrets she can auction off to the highest bidder.

Brenda Song -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Graduated) / Villain: I see her more as a D.E.B., but I can see her as a Villain.

As a D.E.B., she’s also likely from the same class as Anna and/or Ashley, but unlike them, she’s not a field agent (usually). Primarily she functions as an Analyst/Case Officer with a bit of a “Mother Hen” attitude when it comes to her agents. While not top of her field, she’s solidly in the top third.

As a Villain, I’m seeing her as a mercenary-for-hire. Not the Big bad, but works for--and has inside knowledge on--a lot of them. While competent in hand-to-hand, her primary skills lie in assassination, both subtle and direct.

Charisma Carpenter -- Status: Academy Faculty: Charisma specializes in Negotiation and Seduction. She has a storied career and is something of a legend among the D.E.B.S. (and among a few of the older Villains), some of which might have to do with rumours that she may have started for her own amusement.

China Anne McClain -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Recent Graduate?)/ Villain: While China makes an excellent Villain, I see her primarily as a D.E.B.--if one on the border of switching sides.

As a D.E.B.S., she’s an expert in bladed weapons, always carrying at least one on herself at all times. When she first came into the D.E.B.S. program, China had a bit of a patience/temper management issue but has improved on both over the course of her training and is now a highly valued agent... if a little direct in her solutions at times. Her class is a few years behind Brenda/Ashley/Anna’s.

As a Villian, she broke away from the D.E.B.S after a mission gone south and, like Brenda, is now a mercenary for hire. Unlike Brenda, China has aspirations to be more than just ‘a fucking minion’ and is biding her time until the opportunity presents itself to become one of the top dogs.

Demi Lovato -- Status: D.E.B.S. / Villain: I’m fifty-fifty here, I can see both fitting her equally well.

As a D.E.B.S., She’s still a year shy of graduating, and already a little disillusioned with the life of a spy. This might have something do with the fact that outside of a few special cases, she’s rarely called on to put her specialty in explosives to use in the field, leaving her feeling like a bit of a fifth wheel. Or it could be the fact that she’s never really clicked with the other D.E.B.S.

As a Villain, she’s started out as a small-time grifter before catching the eye--and wallet, of the local Crime Boss’ Consigliere. A few years later, and Demi was sitting high, heiress apparent to the whole organization. This did not sit well with some of the longer serving members, and shortly before her twenty-first birthday, several of those members decided to take her out of the running.

They failed. After that, no one questioned her claim to the throne. Especially after rumours of her ‘souvenir collection’ started to circulate.

Emily Osment -- Status: D.E.B.S.: While she could possibly work as a Villian too, I don’t see her as one.

As a D.E.B.S., She’s known best for her oddball sense of humour and ‘distractability’, often bouncing between several subjects in the span of a conversation. Some describe her as ‘an excited little puppy’, others as ‘a wash-out waiting to happen’. Either way, no one can deny her test scores which are consistently in the top fifth percentile across the board. Despite her test scores, Emily has failed to shine in any one particular specialty, proving instead to be a middle-of-the-road jack-of-all-trades.

Emma Watson -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Graduated) / Villain: Another one I’m split fifty-fifty on.

As a D.E.B.S., She excels at languages. Much to her disappointment, this has led to her playing more of a support role--translating intel, acting as a liaison between D.E.B.S. and foreign agents/agencies, etc--with little to no Fieldwork since her graduation.

As a Villain, she comes from old money, and while the initial deposits all those years ago might not have been ill-gotten, enough of the ones since have arrived under questionable circumstances (and often in disguise). Not one to hide from--or be hidden from--the truth behind her family’s wealth, Emma has apprenticed under her parents for the last several years in those borderline illegal activities that help to keep the coffers full while dabbling in a few over-the-border ones on her own.

Hayley Atwell -- Status: D.E.B.S. Dean/Director / Villain: Another fifty-fifty. I can easily see her in both a white hat and a black one.

As D.E.B.S. Dean/Director, She’s held the position for several years and, unlike the rest of her faculty, remains something of a mystery to the Agents and Agents-in-training serving under her--all of which she knows by name (as well as knowing them better than they suspect, or she lets on). Like Brenda, she has a bit of a ‘Mother hen’ attitude when it comes to the women under her command but where Brenda’s comes in the form of bordering-on-annoying-at-times check-ins both on and off the clock, Hayley’s is decidedly of the tough-love variety.

As a Villain, She’s one of the big ones. Years of experience have taught her all the tricks in the book on both sides of the battle between good and evil, and she’s invented a few more along the way. Her criminal syndicate is a sort of Anti-D.E.B.S., though nothing as formal. Most of her recruiting is based on gut instinct and necessity rather than tests (secret or otherwise). A careful look at the files for her recruits would turn up a common element, though: Almost all of the women in her organization were victims of one form of abuse or another before they were recruited. It might come as no surprise then to learn that Hayley’s criminal endeavours have a bit of a Robin hood flavour, tending to target the corrupt regardless of their public perception--a fact which has pissed off more than one government who had their hands caught in the cookie jar--with a fair portion rumoured to be passed along to the Poor. It should be noted that while numerous charities and foundations have received sizable donations after one of Hayley’s heists, there has been no confirmed connection between Hayley or her syndicate and any of the organizations in question.

Salli Richardson – Status: D.E.B.S. Dean/Director / Other: I'm leaning more towards "Other" but in any verse where Hayely is a Villain, I see Salli as her D.E.B.S. counterpoint.

As D.E.B.S. Dean/Director, much like Hayley, Salli has held the position for several years, and like Hayley, Salli remains something of a mystery to her students/agents. Unlike Hayley, however, the question mark hovering over her past is more the result of security clearances and protocol than a deliberate attempt to create an air of mystery around herself. Despite this, She is not a stickler for the rules and values results and competence over blindly following orders (a trait she shares with her Other self).

As Other, She fell just shy of a qualifying score for D.E.B.S. recruitment on the secret test--a fact that, should she ever learn it, would annoy her both because she came as close as she did to becoming a D.E.B.S., and because she wasn't considered good enough to become one. Either way, the same skills and inclinations that almost made her a D.E.B.S. candidate led her in to law enforcement (C.I.A. or F.B.I, I'm not sure which) where she managed to work her way up the ladder with surprising speed despite the 'Boys Club' mentality she faced, both as a woman and a POC. Not long after one of her operations crossed paths with D.E.B.S., she was officially read in on the D.E.B.S. program and named the official liaison to the D.E.B.S.. A position she resents, considering it a career dead end, and a particularly galling one given that whenever she has to deal with "that bunch of fetish costume-wearing, Jane Bond wanna be's", her official contact is someone half her age. While not a Villain, she definitely counts as an Antagonist to the D.E.B.S. as a whole.

Selena Gomez -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Graduate [?] ) / Villain: While I can see her as both, I’m leaning more towards her as a D.E.B.S.

As a D.E.B.S., she has a much more laid back attitude than most of her fellow Agents(-in-training). At least when it comes to spycraft. Get her started on anything Tech (where her own talents shine) or anything pop-culture, and she can be almost overpoweringly enthusiastic. Unlike most of her Class, Selena is hoping for a support role once she Graduates (or is very happy she got one after graduating, grumbling only when necessity forces her into the field).

As a Villain, she still has those mad Tech skills, putting them to use as the notorious hacker, Conchita, infamous for raiding servers for whatever catches her eye before leaving behind her calling card, an eight-bit, animated, laughing clam.

Tessa Thompson -- Status: D.E.B.S. (Graduated) / Villain: I see her more in the Villain role, but it’s a close contest.

As a D.E.B.S., she’s a few years ahead of Anna/Ashley/Brenda. At best, Tessa was in her final year at the Academy when they were fresh recruits, but more likely she was a year or two graduated herself by that point. Known best for her resolute calm in the face of danger, she’s a veteran of several of the more action-oriented missions of the last few years. She is rarely seen on campus and tends to spend most of her time in the field. The general consensus is that she’s being groomed for a leadership position down the line, possibly even for the Dean/Director’s chair.

As a Villain, She retains that calm-under-fire demeanour and is most likely someone’s right-hand/second in command (Hayley’s if she’s also a Villain, With Emma as second choice, likely as Bodyguard). She has no desire to take the top spot and prefers to spend her downtime alone (when she’s not in the mood to relieve a little stress with the help of a one-night stand or two, that is. She doesn’t do long term.)

Zendaya Coleman -- Status: D.E.B.S.: Again, I can see her as a Villain, but I feel she fits best as a D.E.B.S.

As a D.E.B.S., she’s something of an outcast in her class, but not because she’s not likable. On the contrary, she’s very likable. That’s part of the problem; she has a way of getting a person to drop their defenses around her. A trait that plays largely into the main reason why her fellow D.E.B.S. avoid her when they can; her PsyOps Specialty.

Question the third:

Do I add the D.E.B.S. verse to this blog, or make a new blog for it? Either way, I will likely test out one or two D.E.B.S. verse characters here to gauge interest before setting up another account, but in the course of writing this, it has occurred to me that I might be better off making the whole thing its own thing in the long run.

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landoftheway · 6 years

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GUESS WHO’S DOING A SUPER-PREEMPTIVE WRITEUP ON THE NEW STRANGE JOURNEY REDUX CHARACTER~

So yeah, fucking massive spoilers below the cut for Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux, mostly but not exclusively related to the new character Alex:

Putting some space here for anyone on mobile who doesn’t want to see the details.

Okay, so assuming you’re reading this you either don’t care about spoilers or you’re already somewhat in the know, so let’s get some basic plot points out of the way:

Alex is from the future, though it appears to be the potential future of all 3 original endings to SJ.

Basically, humanity gets fucked in all 3: in Law they all get brainwashed into slaves, in Chaos they get brainwashed into barbaric animals, and in Neutral they fail to stop their destruction of the Earth and bring about another Schwarzwelt, which succeeds where the first one failed.

Alex manages to get enough future tech and resources to makeshift a time travel device, with the help of an AI partner she’s had since birth named George.

Said AI is very clearly a more advanced version of the same type as Arthur.

Her mission is to kill the protag and (depending on the route) Jimenez/Zelenin. This will give humanity a chance to actually get its shit together at the last minute and hopefully survive.

By completing the new dungeon in Redux and helping her out, you convince her that you can be trusted to help make a better future, thus the new endings.

However, these new endings retcon Alex out of existence since the future she was born in no longer exists. She’s pretty cool with it, though.

BIG REVEAL: Alex is Lucifer’s daughter. Specifically, the daughter of his Louisa form and an unknown human man.

Alex doesn’t appear to know most of the details about this: she has a hologram of Louisa that she knows is of her mother, but she makes no mention of her father and seems to believe that she is entirely human.

So what I wanted to go into was her being Lucifer’s daughter, since him having a kid is kind of a big deal. I’m willing to bet there’s a fair number of people who think this is a stupid plot-point, but I think it fits pretty well with his MO that’s been established since Nocturne: give power to someone with potential, present opportunities to make use of that power, and then let the cards fall where they may. It also fits with what Louisa says on the Chaos route: “Humans, born of God’s madness, belong to me. I have no love for them. But neither will I abandon them. That is freedom.” There’s also the fact that he had two kids in Devil Children, but whether we’re counting those as relevant to SMT canon is debatable.

Another question is how much present-Louisa is aware of her situation and what her thoughts on the matter are, but I think it’s safe to assume that she’s up to speed on everything since demons basically exist outside of normal time and space anyway. Plus, she does very briefly assist the protag with carrying out Alex’s mission once she’s gone, so she seems down for Alex’s plan even if it results in a world that isn’t Chaotic. My best guess based on Luci’s established attitude is that he sees any world that falls outside of what is desired by YHVH and his associates as acceptable, and even the new Law ending for Redux qualifies in that regard.

However, this brings up a more interesting question: Lucifer worked to make the original Chaos ending for SJ, but Alex comes back in time in order to work against that and Luci seems totally okay with Alex’s actions. So does that mean Luci was okay with the original Chaos plan but would prefer alternatives, is just prioritizing whatever Alex decides, or something else entirely? It’s a bit too early to say one way or another for sure since I haven’t found any versions of the new Law and Chaos endings in english yet, so I’mma wait for those to come out before weighing in more on Lucifer. Though I will say based on who you fight in each path and how the situations look in japanese that Luci is okay with the New Law world pissing off the Three Wise Men and Mastema, while she’s also okay with the New Chaos world still enabling mankind to live among demons.

For now, I do want to point out one interesting fact: when choosing to fight Alex on any of the new paths, she activates a plot device that amplifies the wielder’s latent powers (while also sharing that power with the wielder’s demons) and her appearance changes to this:

While it’s possible a similar effect might be noticed in a human, we don’t see anything of the sort when we see a post-New Neutral protag who’s been powered up by an exponentially stronger version of that item, so I’d like to think this transformation is due to her being half-demon.

Putting some space here for anyone on mobile who doesn’t want to see the details.

#megaten #shin megami tensei #strange journey #spoilers

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lawrencedienerthings · 4 years

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An open letter from an early career Colorado journalist Your weekly roundup of Colorado local news & media

#thehope🎓 👩‍🎓 🎓 📮 🙏

Colorado News

For the first item in this week’s column, I’m turning the mic over to Lucy Haggard, a born-and-raised Coloradan and recent graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. We overlapped at The Colorado Independent when she interned there while in college, and she offers this open letter in the hope it might spark a conversation:

I don’t know about you, but I’m struggling to get a job right now.

You could chalk it up to an unprecedented global pandemic, the effects of which we’ll likely feel for years as it facilitates layoffs and the closure of more than 50 newsrooms. You could blame it on the ever-shrinking budgets of so many publications nationwide, thanks in large part to foolish hedge fund owners. Perhaps you might think I was a lazy college student who went to classes, wrote a little here and there, and now expects a career handed to me on a silver platter.

The thing is, I did everything I thought I was supposed to do.

Hustling my way to the top of multiple student news outlets in the first two and a half years of college? Check. Unpaid internships juggled with paid jobs? Check. Networking at as many career fairs and on-campus events as I could manage? You bet. Though I admittedly didn’t major in journalism, I did get a minor, and studied a content-heavy major (human geography) that could prove useful for almost any beat. I turned down some would-be-useful opportunities that weren’t the right place or time, but I found ways to freelance in an effort to get a foot in the door. And by the time I graduated this past May, I had a solid portfolio of clips that I had already used to apply for multiple jobs and fellowships, trying to minimize the amount of downtime I had between school and work.

And I consider myself lucky that I’ve gotten this far.

Sure, of course I could have done more, but I was lucky to be able to take on unpaid internships in the first place; so many who are in college do not have that luxury. I was lucky to go to college at all; there are so many talented, motivated would-be reporters who have to pursue better-paying, more consistent careers instead. Take a wild guess at the demographic of students that get to pursue journalism. (Spoiler: it’s usually reflected in the mostly white makeup of our newsrooms.)

Let’s consider, step by step, some of the barriers to entering the journalism industry.

Even if a student can afford to go to college, if they have to work to get themselves through school, they might not be able to join the student paper; few papers pay their writers and editors more than gas money, if that.

If a student doesn’t join the campus paper, they’ll struggle to build a portfolio of published clips for internship applications; in my experience, very few journalism classes encouraged pitching class assignments for outside publication.

If a student doesn’t have the clips needed for an internship, or they can’t afford to do unpaid work that’s so common for interns, then they’ll lack the resume lines necessary to show experience for an entry-level job, regardless of how well they report and write.

And even if someone has done everything “right,” there’s no guarantee they’ll get hired.

This doesn’t just affect new grads, either; it’s tricky and self-perpetuating for the whole industry. If a newsroom doesn’t make space for young journalists to join its ranks, it risks losing touch with the largest generation since the Boomers. Yet with ever-tightening budgets and a need to do more with less, veteran reporters and editors are getting laid off in droves, wiping out institutional knowledge that can be so valuable to pass down for beat- and-location-specific reporting. When a newbie does land a job, there can be no time for mentorship from seasoned staffers.

These days, amid furloughs and layoffs of so many journalists at all stages of their careers, there’s a glut of qualified candidates vying for a dwindling number of positions. Young journalists are often expected to head for the coasts or some small town, but that’s not always a reasonable request — whether it’s because of the current pandemic, the economics of moving, or a need to stay near aging family members. As fast as Denver and Colorado are growing, our news industry is concerningly small, and arguably shrinking, despite a few new publications emerging in the past few years. This void hurts journalists and citizens alike.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m asking too much, but again, this is not just about my career; it’s about an entire generation of this industry, and especially those who have historically less privilege than people like me. And this pandemic, plus the renewed urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement and similar reckonings with inequality, can be a unique opportunity to rebirth our industry. We can diversify our newsrooms in every sense of the word: more people of color; more queer, trans, and disabled journalists; more reporters from low-income and rural backgrounds; and especially more young voices. How do we do this? I’m not quite sure, but we need to figure it out somehow — and fast.

Are you a college reporter, recent graduate, or early-career journalist? Did this resonate with you, or have you experienced something different? Do you have any ideas to address it (or the means to do so)? I want to hear from you. Drop me a line at lucychaggard(at)gmail(dot)com. And feel free to join this new Facebook group, Emerging Colorado Journalists, to keep the conversation going.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Did COVID-19 hamper coverage of a big election?

Last week, we looked at how local and national reporters were handling how to report on a conspiracy theory in a Colorado congressional race. (NPR’s “On The Media” had more about that over the weekend.)

This week, Columbia Journalism School’s Bill Grueskin authored a piece for CJR headlined “A Colorado race offers lessons for national political reporters.” In it, he surveyed some Colorado sources, including journalists, about the upset defeat of Republican Congressman Scott Tipton who had spent a rather unmemorable decade in Congress and for the most part ignored his challenger, Lauren Boebert, who stunned some observers when she whooped him in the June 30 primary.

Some of the blame in media failing to capture the mood on the ground in a large swath of Southern and Western Colorado, Grueskin writes, could come from COVID-19. “Boebert’s growing fame presents problems for the state’s press corps, hobbled by COVID-19 restrictions and staff cuts —particularly given her reliance on talk radio, social media, and conservative national outlets like Breitbart,” he wrote.

Here’s more:

As the campaign geared up in early 2020, reporters faced problems. COVID-19 restrictions kept them glued to their computers and spurred additional newsroom cutbacks. So while Boebert could command attention with her growing national prominence, the state’s press corps was less equipped than usual to scrutinize the candidate. The Third Congressional District “is far away from Denver,” said Ernest Luning, a reporter for Colorado Politics who has been covering the state for a dozen years. “Since March we haven’t been out traveling at all. It’s all done remotely.”

Grueskin, whose brother Mark is a high-profile Denver lawyer who often represents Democrats and isn’t involved in the 3rd District race, also notes how one Colorado reporter, Charles Ashby of the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, “is hard on himself — offering the kind of candor and self-reflection we rarely see in political journalism.”

From the story:

Speaking of Boebert, he says, “I didn’t do enough in the primary to vet her. That’s partly because of COVID. And I had the legislative session going on. We’re short-staffed. I just don’t have the wherewithal to do everything I’d like to do.” Still, he adds, “I should have done more to know more about her. What I did was poor, given hindsight.” Ashby said that won’t affect how he’ll cover the race between now and November. “My intent is to cover it straight,” he says. Boebert’s national stature “doesn’t have any impact on me. You’re a candidate, and now I get to do my job.”

This isn’t the first time an insurgent GOP candidate confounded the pundits and observers who tend to inform much political coverage (especially in the absence of polling). Remember when Dave Brat knocked off Eric Cantor in Virginia five years ago? There were lessons in that, too, including the power of talk radio.

The general election should be easier to get a read on. There will certainly be more attention to it. Hopefully closer to the ground.

What you missed on the Sunday front pages across Colorado

The Denver Post found the ranks of judges and prosecutors in Colorado are overwhelmingly white. The Summit Daily News reported local real estate is strong despite the pandemic. The Loveland Reporter-Herald ran the AP’s “Remembering John Lewis” above the fold. The Longmont Times-Call wrote how the city is revisiting short-term rentals. The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel wrote how new Parks and Wildlife rules could hurt low-income families. The Gazette in Colorado Springs investigated allegations of potentially improper backdoor lobbying to halt a local mine quarry. The Coloradoan in Fort Collins reported how the local police force is changing amid national calls for reform. The Durango Herald reported how Colorado’s new mask requirement works. The Boulder Daily Camera found local residents skeptical of CU’s plans for re-opening. The Colorado Springs Independent’s cover story this week explains how a “Colorado Springs company Lead Stories is fighting the spread of misinformation on the internet.” Westword’s cover story reports how kids of color can find their way through Outward Bound. Boulder Weekly reports how “Not even COVID could stop sports books from flooding Colorado.”

The Mountain Gazette’s new owner has a plan

You might recall how a millennial media entrepreneur from California bought the venerable and offbeat Mountain Gazette magazine with a dream to relaunch it. The Colorado Sun’s Jason Blevins reported on the plans in June. This week, the man behind it, Mike Rogge, wrote a first-person piece on the magazine’s website about how his deal to purchase the beloved publication came about after an aborted first attempt, and what he hopes to accomplish.

From the column:

But this time, I was going to do it without investors, without the pressure of delivering quick returns. My hope is that I am right and that all of my research leads me to a mellow, fun slope instead of a devastating business avalanche of shit. People, maybe even you reading this, are tired of the bullshit and general crap out there. If you are, a subscription to MG is the cost of a night of take-out. We will deliver it to your door twice-per-year in a large format print edition that will last a lifetime. Inside will be filled with the spiritual editorial of the magazine’s past, written by a new generation of hungry, bright-eyed folks who believe in the richness of going outdoors. I want to find the next Edward Abbey and Hunter S. Thompson.

“This morning I sip coffee which is an outdoor writing trope I promise won’t be in the magazine,” Rogge goes on. “For the first time in months I smile at the prospect of [bringing] back to life the legendary Mountain Gazette. Together, we are going to do this. I read every single one of your emails, tweets, DMs, and text messages about what this magazine means to you. I won’t let you down. This isn’t my magazine, it’s yours.”

Follow along here to see how that goes or to get involved in the journey.

A national group is helping Colorado newspapers with tax-deductible donations

Since the pandemic hit hard in mid-March and severely cut into traditional advertising, this newsletter has been tracking how some of the state’s print newspapers have been asking for money, spending the new money, and reporting on the levels at which they’ve been disclosing who gives.

Some newspapers are now able to accept tax-deductible donations from readers and supporters even though they are for-profit companies. They’re doing so with help from the Local News Association, a national group that “assists local media companies with their transformation strategies via cutting-edge programs, conferences, webinars, research and training.” Through its COVID-19 Local News Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the group is offering local newspapers help so donors can write off their giving as a charitable donation.

Here’s how The Aspen Times is asking for donations through the program, which also offers a window into how the virus has specifically affected business for a resort town print newspaper in Colorado:

In a community with only 6,000 year-around residents, we rely on a strong economy to drive marketing messages to visitors. COVID-19 changed our economy overnight. Public health officials not only shuttered businesses, but also ordered non-residents to return home and asked that second homeowners stay away until the pandemic is under control. The Governor ordered all Colorado ski resorts to close on March 14. Our town’s economy came to a standstill and so did our main revenue stream – small business advertising.

The solicitation goes on to say how the paper’s journalists are working to report on the virus during the pandemic, and “We are asking our readers to consider making a tax-deductible donation earmarked for our coverage of this ongoing health crisis.”

‘Next’ host Kyle Clark is (his words) spending more time with his family

When a politician, celebrity, or corporate CEO says they are stepping aside to “spend more time with my family,” it usually means one of two things. A.) They’re actually being sincere; or B.) It means something beyond that.

Shortly after popular KUSA 9News anchor Kyle Clark, who hosts the innovative nightly broadcast show “Next,” made headlines for being furloughed, he made them again when he wrote this message to his audience: “Hi all. I’m stepping away for a bit to spend more time with my family. I expect to be back on 9NEWS in early August.” When Westword’s Michael Roberts checked in with him to get the scoop, Clark gave a similar response: “I’m stepping away from the news and social media grind for a little bit to spend more time with my family.”

More from Westword:

More details will have to wait for now — and a knowledgeable source suggests that we’ll learn more soon. In the meantime, though, Clark says he tweeted about his impending absence and his expectation about returning to 9News in early August at 10:37 p.m. on July 17, in an attempt to squelch at least some of the speculation that would arise from a temporary departure so soon after the furlough.

Keep an eye out at Westword and here for #ClarkWatch. Or follow his Twitter feed where he’s still somewhat active.

More Colorado local media odds & ends

Former Colorado reporter Nic Garcia, now at The Dallas Mornings News, caught COVID-19.

”As a journalist I could be part of the institution that they feel has been targeting them,” writes a reporter about police on a ride-along with a Pueblo officer.

Poynter reports “buying your local newspaper out from a chain: attractive in theory, tougher in practice.”

Google wants to help you with your own local news site.

Editor & Publisher took a brief look at COLab.

Denver’s Suspect Press needs your help to make sure it can put out its final issue.

Some noteworthy open records issues in an eye-opening Gazette probe into alleged “backdoor” lobbying.

Local broadcasters across the country are asking Congress for COVID-19 relief.

The Salt Lake Tribune is “finding success as a non-profit.” (Hint, hint, nudge, nudge.)

Construction has “wrapped up” at the Buell Public Media Center in Denver’s Arapahoe Square.

This Colorado columnist seems to have a thing for UFOs (and I’m into it.)

Report for America, which has a reporter at The Ouray County Plaindealer, is in the running for a $100M grant.

A Colorado Springs reporter dug into a century-old ax murder … in her own neighborhood.

*This column appears a little differently as a published version of a weekly e-mailed newsletter about Colorado local news and media. If you’d like to add your e-mail address for the unabridged versions, please subscribe HERE.

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 24/10/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Thursday, October 24th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Daily Nation Newspaper (DN).

QEH MONEY PROBE – An investigation has been launched to discover where millions of dollars belonging to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) have ended up. This was revealed by Leader of Government Business Senator Jerome Walcott, who told the Senate yesterday the last qualified audit of the hospital was done in 2011 and there was currently “an additional $7.1 million that cannot be explained in terms of where it has gone; what it has purchased; who it has paid”. He also highlighted a situation where there was a gap of $13.1 million between an actual stock count and a matching book value of inventory that has to be written off. These were among several troubling issues at the main health care institution voiced by Walcott while leading off debate on the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which is intended to institute a new management structure at the institution. (DN)

NAKED NEPOTISM – Three senators have blasted the Mia Mottley-led administration for the proposed changes to the structure at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). During the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Amendment) Bill 2019 debate in the upper house today, senators Caswell Franklyn, Toni Moore and Crystal Drakes questioned the changes that will see a number of major appointments including that of an executive chairman. Last week in the House of Assembly, Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic announced that Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland was appointed executive chairman of the QEH. The two trade unionists and the Opposition Senator were highly critical of that particular post above all the others. Franklyn, head of the Unity Workers’ Union, lambasted the Government for what he described as a “shameful” act. “It seems as though this Government has no shame. How can you sit on a board and come up with these grand ideas for yourself? It looks bad. It is shameful that Government continues to find jobs for its friends, family and party hacks. And for what purpose? Not for the benefit of the organisation that they are staffing but to give jobs to their friends. This nonsense has to stop. The opposition senator continued: “You did not form a Government Employment Agency but that seems to be what is happening. If that is what you are about put it in your manifesto and say so we will get you jobs. Every person who campaigned for the Barbados Labour Party now getting a consultancy or getting some high profile job…. and a lot of things they can’t handle…” A passionate Franklyn said what made the appointment look so egregious was the fact that it was the spouse of a sitting Government minister. “She is the wife of the Government minister, it looks bad. You can’t just jump in and start taking the Government positions. It is wrong. The people you used on the call-in programmes to harass the last administration they have now become consultants. You are talking about the money you are putting in to the hospital but a lot of it going into unnecessary salaries…” Meanwhile, general secretary of the Barbados Worker’s Union Toni Moore said there were too many unanswered questions and that some aspects of the legislation did not sit well with her. “I would not deny that I have serious reservations around the discussion of the appointment of an executive chairman. When we hear that an executive chairperson is going to be appointed by the Cabinet, but that executive chairperson is going to be an employee of the QEH it leaves those of us – even those of us that have had as few years as I have had in industrial relations – wondering where is the transparency and is that going to impact when one is potentially governing oneself.” Moore said the proposed changes also had serious implications for industrial relations at the QEH. The senator also said that the appointment raised the question of transparency. “Wearing another hat I wonder what implications it has for industrial relations and interactions. The executive chairman under the provisions that have been set out can potentially be a person that ends up being a power unto himself, herself and the Cabinet of Barbados. It raises too many issues around transparency and when issues are raised around transparency questions of trust and intent come into the fore. “An act should not be amended to address current day players because when changes are made to address A and B today how can we be sure that even where there is doubt and things work out for person A and B that when person C and D comes tomorrow that it will have the same effect… “If a person is appointed by a Cabinet and Government changes hands, does it mean that the next Cabinet is responsible for appointing a person? What happens when Government changes? Is this position tied to a term of Government?,” a puzzled Moore asked. The other Opposition senator Drakes warned Government that any appearance of wrongdoing could be costly to them in the long run. “The Barbadian public was at the mercy of what was considered extremely poor management. I want to warn this Government anything that you do that can be perceived as having any untoward intent, it may even vaguely look like corruption, it may vaguely look like favouritism, it may vaguely look like nepotism it will be at their own detriment….” Drakes reminded Government that while in Opposition they were the ones who made corruption a campaign issue and they were the ones who brought new legislation to Parliament in order to weed out perceived corruption. “We have to make sure that transparency and accountability is the order of the day. In the last election that was one of the key things this current administration from St Lucy to Christ Church they touted it because of the perceived mismanagement by the former administration. It was so important to this administration that they quickly tabled the Integrity In Public Life Bill which is still a Bill…,” she said. The senator questioned the “new hiring practice” and cautioned Government that the proposed changes to the QEH is a step in the wrong direction. “The executive chairman can only be dismissed from the post based on the approval of the Minister. Is that the commonplace hiring practice of a staff member of a statutory corporation? I am not satisfied that we are doing this the right way. I am asking if this process is transparent, is it fair and does it adhere to good governance principles? This legislation muddies the waters. You are facilitating an abuse of power. I am not satisfied with the justification for these changes. It is a step in the wrong direction….” (BT) ‘

FAMILY PLANNING BOOST – A United Nations agency will be pushing the work of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA) during a major population summit in Nairobi, Kenya next month. Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Dr Natalia Kanem, who was recently in Barbados for consultations with Government officials, the BFPA and a number of young female entrepreneurs, lauded the social work being done among girls and women here. And she has pledged to “noise it abroad” when she attends the global leaders’ conference which will discuss a previously unfulfilled pledge by heads to end gender-based violence and the idea that women and girls must be at the centre of any strategy to improve the world and reach the various sustainable development goals. “We also are very pleased that the Population Commission in Barbados is going to be looking at the policy issues which we feel are part of the success stories of the girls I have met here. They are making jobs for themselves. They are getting the vocational training the BFPA provides,” Dr Kanem said in an interview at UN House, Hastings, Christ Church. “These are the types of positive things…when I go to Nairobi next month I want to make sure the world knows what’s happening in Barbados,” she added. The UNFPA Executive Director also praised Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley for her leadership here and on the world stage, describing Mottley as an icon, referring to her recent speeches at the UN General Assembly. While commending the country for the socio-economic progress it is making, Dr Kanem believes much more can be done. “I see a lot of opportunity to accelerate the progress…all of us working together as the United Nations to make sure none of us is left behind. When I think of the sustainable development goals, they belong to young people of this country, of this region, really, all around the world,” she said. The UN official noted that those goals must occur in a climate of peace and of human rights. She contended that the goals do not reside on paper, but in small communities across Barbados where all are equal. (BT)

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS – Leader of Government Business in the Senate Senator Jerome Walcott has expressed concern about financial improprieties at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, although the establishment of a board of directors in 2005 was expected to alleviate some of those issues. Speaking at the introduction of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Amendment Bill 2019into the Upper House, Senator Walcott said: “The hospital was given $129 million in this year’s Estimates, and the levy we established for the QEH through NIS managed to raise $39 million between January and August this year. It has also received assistance from a number of philanthropic organisations such as the Rotary clubs, the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust and Rihanna’s Clara and Lionel Foundation, and another $10 million was allocated in June to upgrade the Accident and Emergency department.” Despite all this, Walcott added, there have been significant discrepancies in the QEH’s books. “You have a situation where there is a lot of work to be done in terms of managing finances. For example, there was a gap of $13.1 million between an actual stock count and the matching book value of inventory, an amount that has to be written off. A significant difference between what you have and what you say you have. The last qualified audit is 2011, and currently there is an additional $7.1 million that no one can explain where it has gone, what it has purchased, or who it has paid. This is being investigated.” He also spoke of the sudden disappearance and ultimately resignations of some of the senior officials of the hospital, including former CEO Dr. Dexter James, following the Estimates debate. “All I can say about the past CEO is that he was invited and indeed participated in the Estimates debate on the Friday, he was questioned on the Friday evening, he did not come back the Monday because he was ill, then he proceeded on sick leave for some substantial time after that and subsequently he resigned and the matter has been settled.” He added: “The procurement manager was at the Estimates on the Friday, resigned on the Monday, and the Director of Finance resigned a couple of weeks ago. When the auditors were doing the audit the person called in sick a week after the individual resigned. Clearly all was not well in finance and procurement in the QEH and this has to be addressed, and the changes will address this.” In terms of the nurses, one of the problems related to the fact that there was a high failure rate when it came to the regional nursing qualification, which all nurses working in the CARICOM region needed in order to become registered nurses.“When we first set up the board, we were bringing on 30 nurses who had completed the Barbados Community College programme each year, and the failure rate for the regional qualifying exam was 60 per cent. That meant only 10 or 12 nurses would pass the regional exam, so they would come on as registered nurses while the others would be nursing assistants. So we increased the intake of graduates from 30 to 100 taking into consideration the failure rate, and the fact that nurses would migrate.” Senator Walcott noted that the Ministry of Health had entered discussions with the Ministry of Education to address the high failure rate when it came to the regional qualifying examination, and said the decision to change the managerial structure of the hospital came about after “the board was given 16 months to review its systems, have its retreats, and come to grips with some of the major issues the hospital was facing.” Senator Walcott, who formerly worked at the QEH in several capacities as a medical doctor and was the Minister of Health when the decision was made to change the management structure of the QEH in 2005, expressed disappointment that the institution was facing the same problems it faced in those days, and in some cases things had grown worse. (BT)

CALL MADE TO HELP QEH – Corporate Barbados is being encouraged to give more support to the island’s lone public hospital as officials there continue to work towards improving service and meeting the demands of the public. This appeal came from Director of Regulatory Affairs at CIBC Firs tCaribbean International Bank Joannie Worrell, as she made a donation to the health institution during the opening ceremony for the fifth Infectious Disease Week at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) office in Barbados on Monday. “We encourage other corporate entities to give in a similar fashion to our hospital,” said Worrell. “Indeed, this donation is not the end for us as my team has committed to giving of our time to the children’s ward at the QEH and they will be hearing from us very shortly,” she said. Through a partnership with equipment suppliers Servall Inc, the financial institution donated three cordless electrostatic sprayers and a supply of tablets to the hospital’s infection control unit. Worrell said it was an easy choice for the bank to make the donation to the QEH through the bank’s Adopt-A-Cause programme. “Servall, having being informed of our intention, willingly agreed to collaborate with us and matched our contribution. This positioned us to do more and make the contribution more meaningful,” said Worrell. “The effectiveness of the work of infection control professionals has a direct relationship on overall staff and patient wellbeing and we are happy to contribute to your efforts,” she said. The next generation cordless disinfection systems will be used to sanitize and disinfect all touch points in a room after a patient is discharged and prior to a new one entering. (BT)

300 0N DIALYSIS – Kidney disease has now been described as an epidemic in Barbados, but plans are afoot to address the situation. Consultant nephrologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Nerissa Jurawan, said she was deeply concerned there were about 300 patients on dialysis treatment between two and three times per week at the Martindale’s Road, St Michael facility. She revealed that people as young as 25 years old were on dialysis. “For the size of the population, 300 patients is a lot,” she told the Daily Nation, shortly after the QEH Kidney Unit accepted a donation from the British Women’s Club of Barbados of two i-STAT Creatinine test machines designed to enable early detection of kidney disease. (DN)

282 JUSTICE OF THE PEACES SWORN IN – Justices of the Peace (JPs) will have a significant role to play as Barbados continues to rebuild its communities. Both Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Attorney General Dale Marshall reminded them of this fact as an unprecedented 282 men and women of all ages and backgrounds hailing from communities all over Barbados took their oaths of office at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre this evening. Prime Minister Mottley described the position of Justice of the Peace as “a noble tradition, where people who are held in high esteem by their peers within their communities have a role to play in maintaining law and social stability.” She noted that the selection process was an arduous one, and some of their responsibilities included signing search warrants, signing of documents and photographs for those applying for passports or citizenship, among other things. The Prime Minister also said: “Peace, stability and prosperity begins in the community, so we must look at strengthening the institutions that help to build this. Our legal framework was premised on an adversarial basis, wherein we look for victory from the party that best articulates their case, but JPs can help us as we look towards alternative dispute resolution methods on the community level.” Attorney General Dale Marshall said there was no statute governing the appointment of JPs, but it was done by “exercising royal prerogative”, and he reminded them that they were not expected to charge money for the services they provide to the people they serve. He urged them: “You have to become the centrepiece of your community and we urge you to join us as we rebuild this country.” Justices of the Peace were first appointed in England in the eleventh century, where they were described as “Men appointed to guard the peace of the King”, and they have served in many different judicial capacities over the centuries. (BT)

CADDLE: REEVALUATION OF WOMEN’S WORK NECESSARY – Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Marsha Caddle says there needs to be a rethink of the value of jobs towards which women currently gravitate. She contended that the traditional yardstick for valuing these roles are out of whack with the current reality and this has led to economic disparities between the sexes, even though more women graduate from institutions of higher learning. The minister made the remarks during the launch of a report by UN Women, which was held at UN House, this morning. The report entitled, Status of Women and Men Report: A Gender Analysis of Labour Force Data and Policy Frameworks in Six CARICOM Member States, provided insight into progress made with regards to achieving gender equality in the world of work. The minister said that while in Barbados women are close to parity with men when it comes to wages for performing the same duties, society does not ascribe high value to a number of the critical jobs in female-dominated fields. “Men tend to occupy positions where they operate heavy equipment and machinery while women tend to be in service and care work in the informal and formal economy. This fact is mirrored across all sectors of the economy. This is in part one of the reasons for the disparity in women’s income because we know that these professions where women tend to be focused, somehow tend to attract a lower level of wages,” said Caddle. She added, “The conversation for equal pay for equal work of equal value is very important. Those last three words [of equal value] are important because it is about how we value the work that is done in our communities and in our economies.” Caddle argued that the care industry, both formal and informal, remains one of the roles which is grossly undervalued, even though its existence facilitates all other jobs. “Care work has to be seen as more valuable than it currently is. It has to be remunerated practically. This field is responsible for the population of entire civilizations and entire workforces. We know the value of unpaid care work; we know the value of care work in the formal and informal sector and it is time that the remuneration of the work reflects that value,” Caddle stressed. She revealed that to this end, Government was seeking to change the work culture in order to have more flexible work environments, such as, working from home, creating spaces for children at the office and childcare facilities at industrial complexes. “We are promoting breastfeeding and feed management arrangements in the workplace. This is just one of the areas of flexibility that we are working with and is required. Breastfeeding must not be seen as one of those things that must only be done at home because the rearing of entire generations of people certainly cannot be a private matter. We have to open up the workspace to be able to account for and allow for all of these arrangements,” Caddle explained. (BT)

BARBADOS CLOSING WORKPLACE GENDER GAP – Barbados has been recognised as one of the Caribbean countries leading the charge in closing the gender gap in the workplace, which has fueled the equal pay for equal work discord. This is according to a just released report by UN Women, entitled, Status of Women and Men Report: A Gender Analysis of Labour Force Data and Policy Frameworks in Six CARICOM Member States. In the summary of the report delivered by Deputy Representative of the UN Women Multi-Country Office, Tonni Brodber, it was noted that despite significant investments in education, structural barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment persist in the labour market. The report provides a gender analysis of the labour force in six CARICOM Member States, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. However, Brodber revealed that Barbados and Jamaica were the two countries where the hourly rate for women is almost at the same level as their male counterparts. She also revealed that 49 per cent of the managers in the Barbadian workforce are women. “Barbadian women earn on average 95.4 per cent of what Barbadian men earn. But when controlling for education, Barbados women who are educated up to the primary level earn four dollars less than their male counterparts; those who are educated up to the secondary school level earn $1.67 less; and 63 cents less than men if they are educated up to the university level. Women comprise 49 per cent of managers in Barbados,” Brodber revealed. Barbados has also bettered the international averages when it comes to closing the gap between men and women finding employment after completing their university degrees. It was revealed that globally 41.5 per cent of women with a university degree are outside of the labour force or unemployed, but only 17.2 per cent of men are in this situation. In Barbados, 38 per cent of women are educated up to the tertiary level compared to 31 per cent of men. But the employment rate for Barbadian women, based on 2017 data, is 55 per cent compared to 63 per cent for men. In the report, the island was praised for its initiatives in subsidizing nursery care, as unpaid care work was still one of the factors which kept women out of the workforce. In addition, it was revealed that Barbados was among a handful of countries, which have implemented sexual harassment legislation, an area which has also been identified as a major hindrance to women in the labour force. “Globally, several research studies have confirmed that unpaid care work was the main reason women were outside the labour force. Universal access to day care from birth to three years old is therefore vital. Barbados, with its subsidised nursery programme, has and can continue to lead the way in reaching universal access to this key service,” Brodber pointed out.” She added, “Data on the prevalence of sexual harassment in Barbados is not available. However, sexual harassment and violence do hinder women’s employment prospects and their productivity while at work. Barbados is one of a handful of CARICOM countries with sexual harassment legislation. More robust enforcement of this legislation can create a more enabling environment for women in the world of work.” However, it was made clear that Government could not rest on its laurels, as there was much more work still to be done, if total gender equality is to be realized within the workplace. Among the key recommendations coming out of the report were for the establishment of an ‘equal pay for work of equal value legislation’; the alleviation of the burden of unpaid work in the home through policies that enable women to reconcile paid and unpaid care responsibilities; improvement of access to quality, affordable childcare facilities; improvement of access to productive resources and an investigation of what can be done to expand entrepreneurial opportunities.” (BT)

MINISTER SILENT ON ATTACK AGAINST WORKER – Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson is remaining mum regarding yesterday’s alleged attack on a female worker of the state-owned correctional institution for juveniles at Barrows, St Lucy. Police are currently investigating the alleged assault against the employee of the Government Industrial School (GIS) by a 13-year-old inmate in which the worker claimed that she was “cuffed” at the back of her head. However, Hinkson, whose ministry is responsible for that institution told Barbados TODAY this morning it would be improper for him to comment now that it is a police matter. “It would be improper for me to do so when the matter is under investigation,” he said. Police confirmed to Barbados TODAY yesterday evening that they received the report from an employee of the alleged assault on the staff member at around 9:50 in the morning. It was revealed that the employee was temporarily stunned by a blow and sought medical attention at a private doctor soon after speaking with the police. But while declining to speak on yesterday’s incident, Minister Hinkson referred Barbados TODAY to pending Child Justice legislation, which among other things, will give magistrates a significantly wider discretion to impose community-based, restorative justice or correctional supervision sentences rather than confinement to the GIS. He explained that the Child Justice Bill, which he expects Parliament to debate by April next year, would most probably, with some amendments, fundamentally change the manner in which matters that go before the Magistrates’ Court involving an accused child will be dealt with. “Emphasis will be on diversion in order to enable the court to remove the case from formal judicial proceedings and to consequently be able to adopt informal procedures for punishment and rehabilitation of the child,” Hinkson said. He said there would also be a greater and earlier involvement of probation officers than is presently the case, and Magistrates would be liberally empowered to halt the initial inquiry into a criminal offence in order to deal with the child’s care and protection. He noted that because of the “revolutionary alteration of the present system,” detailed consideration is required on how best to implement and operationalize the Bill. “As such, a sub-committee of the Cabinet was formed to make recommendations on this area to the Cabinet. UNICEF is also providing its expert advice in this regard, free of costs to the Government, Hinkson stated. He pointed out that the number of girls and boys confined to the correctional facility has fallen from between 50-60 when he became minister almost 17 months ago to 31 now, comprising 16 girls and 15 boys. “Furthermore, as authorized by legislation, I recently gave early release to eight juveniles who had been sentenced to the institution for offences such as refractory behaviour, wandering, breach of probation and assault and who had already been confined for over 21 months in each case after being sentenced to three-year terms in some cases or until their 18th birthday in others,” he announced. “This has provided one of them with the opportunity to return to secondary school while two or three of them have been provided with employment opportunities. I will personally intercede on behalf of the others to have them placed in the near future in the Youth Advance Corps programme initiated last month by the Government,” the Cabinet Minister said. (BT)

NOT GUILTY – “Just stay out of trouble!” Attorney-at-law Arthur Holder gave that advice to his client Anderson Busby, moments after he walked out of the Supreme Court a free man after beating a manslaughter case today. At exactly 5:38 p.m. this evening, Justice Randall Worrell told the 34-year-old Busby that he was free to go after a 12-member jury unanimously found him not guilty of unlawfully killing Devon Taylor, formerly of Gills Road, St Michael, on October 13, 2012. The jury deliberated for two hours and eight minutes before bringing back the decision. “Madam foreman and all your members, I thank you,” Busby said as he stood in the dock. When asked by members of the media for a comment, a smiling Busby replied, “I don’t want to talk, I just want to spend some time with my family”. He then walked out the courtroom and the Supreme Court embraced by two women, said to be family members. Busby then stopped for a short while to shake hands with Arthur and Rhea Layne, his legal representatives, before being hugged by a male who was on the outskirts of the court. But his road to freedom today was not before a question by the jury to clarify their seeming uncertainty. Before giving their verdict, the jury sought the direction of Justice Worrell after they were unable to unanimously agree after deliberating for two hours. They queried if they should be guided by whether the prosecutor had proved its case or whether it was a case of self defence. Justice Worrell advised them that their decision should be based on all the evidence that had been presented during the three-week long trial. “If you find based on the evidence that he was acting in lawful self defence then you cannot find him guilty and if you have any doubt then you have to find him not guilty,” Justice Worrell said. “If you find that he did not need to defend himself then self defence does not arrive. If the force was more than reasonably necessary then he was not acting in self defence and you have to return a verdict of guilty.” At that point, Justice Worrell said the court would accept a majority verdict. Five minutes later the jury returned with their verdict. Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale appeared on behalf of the Crown. The court had heard during the trial that Taylor who was 16-years-old at the time, died after sustaining six stab wounds to the left side of his body and lost eight litres of blood after being involved in a brawl. Throughout the trial, Busby had maintained his innocence, claiming that he had acted in self defence after being attacked by Taylor. Dr Margaret O’Shea, part of the medical team that performed surgery on Taylor at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) testified that there was a laceration to the deceased’s chest, a major vein was totally cut in his chest and there were four litres of blood left in his chest cavity. Dr O’Shea, who performed two surgeries on Busby, also testified that Busby received life-threatening injuries. She said Busby had sustained injuries to his stomach, pancreas and kidney and had lost 3.5 litres of blood. (BT)

EDWARDS: A GUILTY CALL GIRL – A non-national who stole a cell phone belonging to a ‘client’ after he refused to pay her for sexual services provided will have to wait until Friday to learn her fate. Just as Magistrate Joy-Ann Clarke was about to fine Tiffany Maria Edwards after she pleaded guilty to stealing a $600 cellphone belonging to O’Brien Weekes on May 25, 2018, the court was alerted to the fact that the accused had not regularized her status on the island. Sergeant Vernon Waithe revealed that Edwards has arrived on the island on March 18, 2018 as a visitor. Additionally, he said the accused also had two other matters before the court, one of which was indictable. He asked the magistrate to remand her until Friday when a decision could be made on how to proceed. (BT)

ABUSER JAILED – For stabbing his lover in a fit of rage after she threatened to leave him, Andre Jamal Henry will spend the next six months incarcerated at HMP Dodds. That was the sentence handed down by Magistrate Joy-Ann Clarke, when Henry reappeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates Court today. The 37-year-old of St David’s, Christ Church, had been remanded last Wednesday pending sentencing. On that appearance he had pleaded guilty to unlawfully and maliciously wounding Ashaki Williams on October 3, 2019. As he stood in the dock, the magistrate told him that his actions had resulted in Williams suffering serious injuries to her left hand, including an injury that required 20 stitches. She then told him that only a term of imprisonment would suffice. “A crime like this, especially stabbing someone with a scissors is a very serious offence. “Unfortunately, I will have to sentence you to imprisonment because this crime is just too serious,” the magistrate told him moments before imposing the sentence. On hearing the news a tense looking Henry bowed his head and released a loud gasp. According to the facts of the case, the accused and complainant were in a relationship and have a two-year-old daughter. They lived at the complainant’s residence at Lower Collymore Rock, St Michael. However, the relationship was rocky and the two frequently had arguments. Around 6:20 a.m. on October 3 an argument started and the complainant told the accused she wanted to leave the relationship. She then left the residence and got into her car and tried to leave but the accused ran in front of the car blocking her path. The complainant then opened her door for her mother and the accused used the opportunity to jump into the car. After locking the doors of the car he took a scissors out of his pocket and stabbed at her. She used her hands to shield herself and as a result received injuries to her left palm and left index finger. The complainant’s sister eventually came to her rescue by using a brick to break the driver’s side window which allowed her to escape. The injured woman sought medical attention and received the stitches to her hand. The accused subsequently turned himself into police on October 15. (BT)

KING: TAP INTO THE NCF – The National Cultural Foundation, the biggest event planner in Barbados, should not be seen as the organising body for just NIFCA and Crop Over but an entity that could be utilised by national sporting federations in the island. Minister of Sport, Culture and Creative Economy John King expressed this view during a media conference held today by the Barbados Amateur Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation, after questions were raised about the standard of the annual schoolboy bodybuilding and schoolgirl body fitness competition organised by the National Sports Council. There were queries about whether the sound system would be improved for this year’s competitions scheduled for November 15 and about the late entries of competitors that often forced the show towards a 10.p.m. finish. “I sit and often wonder on the sidelines of sport and working outside of this job why a lot of government entities and sports council and federations would not use the National Cultural Foundation as part and parcel of being able to help them to organise a lot of stuff that they do. If you talk about creating a new culture or a healthy lifestyle – that is culture. So, I will implore you to seek out the National Cultural Foundation and see if their events planning department can help you with these things. Because it cannot be that all we see the NCF as doing is NIFCA and Crop Over. It cannot be. There is a lot more that we can do if we just begin to reach across borders and work with each other. “I don’t see why you should even have a problem with sound systems and all these kinds of things. Not when you have a National Cultural Foundation sitting down there which is responsible for all of these things. So, I am saying to you reach out to the NCF or reach out to the ministry itself and if we have to give the instructions from there to make it happen we are willing to do that, “ King said. Meanwhile, assistant director at the National Sports Council Mona Alleyne in response to those questions said screening would be done this year. She also added that even though there was no sponsor at this point in time for the bodybuilding and fitness competition, the NSC would ensure that competitors from first to sixth place got prizes for their participation. (BT)

PUMP IT UP – The Barbados Amateur Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation (BABBFF) has plans to attract more individuals into the sport next year as they aim to target more young people within the schools and the wider community, says president Dr Alfred Sparman. Sparman spoke of those plans this morning at the Wildey Gymnasium where the eight-member team that represented Barbados at the just concluded Central American and Caribbean Championships held in Santo Domingo earlier this month, were celebrated by the association for their performances. According to Sparman, the BABBFF has ten to 11 professionals and the intention going forward was not only to host the Diamond Cup in Barbados every year but to make it a high class event. The local federation also hopes to develop bodybuilders in Barbados the size of the Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dexter Jackson and Phil Heath, some of the world’s greatest to ever grace the stage. Sparman emphasised that Barbados which has produced outstanding bodybuilders over the years will continue to maintain a clean slate and he encouraged this current generation to build a brand considering the scandals surrounding drug use in the sport. “We want to advocate a very clean sport, but there are rules for bodybuilding. As a matter of fact, we just heard about something coming up in 2020 where they will have lots of money out there for clean bodybuilders. So there are places out there for clean pros. “They are lots of events and competitions all over the world in the United States, Canada, everywhere, and now that they have become pros all they have to do is get there and of course there are monetary rewards… So, if you work very hard and you can compete at the international level that is how you get your finances. (BT)

TAKE A BREAK SUKI – Barbados draughts champion Ronald “Suki” King should recharge his batteries before re-entering the arena. That’s the advice being offered by arch-rival Jack Francis following King’s humiliating 8-1 thrashing by Sergio Scarpetta during the recently concluded Three Move Restriction title challenge played at various venues here. “What I feel Suki should do now is to hang up his gloves for at least two years and come back in 2022. If he does that, then I believe he will be able to recharge his batteries. He has been playing world-class draughts for so long now that I could understand where his so-called tiredness would be coming from mentally, physically, emotionally and psychologically,” he told NATIONSPORT. (DN)

NOT ON TRACK – United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Didier Trebucq is not convinced that Barbados and other countries are on track to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they are aiming for by 2030. And he is calling on young people to help drive the necessary change. Trebucq was addressing the Take #Oneaction for the SDGs Media Zone and Spoken Word Challenge at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) today, to mark United Nations Day, which is in its 74th year. UN Day is officially October 24. “Today we wanted to hear from you about the future that you want, and what better way to do this than to talk about the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said. “We know that we are not on track, and that is our main message. We are not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if we continue on the path we are on,” Trebucq insisted. While congratulating the Mia Mottley led administration for its policies and progress being made in the area of youth development, and pledging continued support from the UN, the official said a lot more effort was needed. “The work requires further action. The world requires, and each country requires the action of young people. So we need you to foster changes. And of course, the UN as an organisation is with you,” he said. The SDGs are a set of targets agreed to by countries around the world in 2015 as it relates to human and country development. They include the alleviation of poverty and hunger, gender equality, clean water and sanitation for all, good health and well-being, quality education, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, climate action, justice and strong institutions. Minister of Youth and Community Empowerment Adrian Forde agreed that young people had a major role to play in the country achieving the SDGs. “As a country we cannot have a sustainable development goal and a policy unless it involves our young people. Whenever you talk about sustainable development you have to talk about our young people being the active players,” said Forde. He said it was for that reason that Government has been developing and implementing various youth policies as it focused on tackling a range of social issues as well as challenges associated with climate change. Pointing to the devastating impacts of climate change, Forde said it was critical that Barbados reduce its carbon dioxide levels and fossil fuel use, a mission he said government was working towards under the National Energy Policy for 2030. He said government was keen on protecting its oceans, since this could affect the island’s bread and butter tourism industry. “All of these things must inform how we as young persons threat to climate change,” said Forde, who put aside his prepared speech to “speak from the heart”. “I know that the young persons we have in Barbados will do everything to protect the environment, their country. And I want to recommit as a government that we will also play our part.” Director in the Office of Student Services at the Cave Hill campus Dale Lynch said global warming was threatening the existence of small economies in the region, adding that despite efforts, some gains were being eroded. She said the university was playing its part in helping to ensure the sustainable goals were achieved through its education and social programmes and developing well-rounded individuals. “The role of faculty in supporting national efforts to address societal concerns through research and projects is high on our performance agenda,” said Lynch, adding that the UWI’s social programmes provided a platform for students to give back to their communities. Through the spoken word, representatives from the various organisations at the UWI shared their vision and put forward recommendations on how individuals, businesses and governments can take action against climate change and other issues in order to achieve the SDGs. The Association of Bahamian Students emerged the winner in the spoken word challenge. (BT)

UP TO PAR – Hoteliers are being reminded of the importance of continuous training and upgrading of skills of their workers if they are to adequately compete with the rest of the world for tourism dollars. This message was hammered home on Wednesday at the Barbados Hilton Resort, as six individuals from five hotels across the island were awarded with scholarships to study revenue management and digital marketing. Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Senator Rudy Grant congratulated the scholarship winners, while disclosing that he was in discussions with the Ministry of Education and representatives of the Hospitality Institute at the PomMarine to see how best they could enhance the programmes there. “As we seek to compete with the rest of the world, and we accept that the world is now a small global village . . ., we need to ensure that we have all of the relevant skills, the competencies, the knowledge in order to facilitate a phenomenal experience for our visitors when they come to Barbados. That is very critical,” said Grant. “What will distinguish Barbados is not necessarily the type of marketing we engage in although that is extremely important. It is not necessarily what we have to offer naturally although that is important as well. It is not necessarily the airlift capacity, and that is critical. But what will distinguish Barbados relates to our individuals – Barbadians and their warmth, love, sincerity and the genuine manner in which they deliver service,” he concluded. Grant did not give details, but said discussions on the enhancement of the programmes at the Hospitality Institute were in the early stages. “We have to ensure that we are relevant for the times, and we have to ensure that our training institution is fit for the purpose of providing the skills necessary for us to globally become competitive in this very important industry,” he said. It was back in May last year during an education fundraiser event dubbed Paint and Groove that the idea of offering educational opportunities to workers in the tourism industry came about. It was then decided that training and development in the areas of revenue management and digital marketing needed to be enhanced. As such, Expedia, through a partnership with the BHTA and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), decided to offer part scholarships for studies at the eCornell University for a number of local hotel workers. Marketing Manager for Expedia in Barbados Josea Browne said during the Paint and Groove event last year some $10,000 was raised for the grants. “We got it matched by a corporate sponsor. So then we were able to double the number of scholarships that we were able to offer. We originally wanted to do three, but we were able to do six in the end,” reported Browne. The six scholarship winners came from a field of 15 applicants. Each scholarship is worth US$1,800, a 50 per cent value of the total cost for the studies. The scholarship winners are Natalie Franklyn from Dover Beach Hotel, Melissa Defreitas of Ocean Hotels, Kyle Callender of Infinity on the Beach, Tanya Broomes of Royal Glitter Bay Villas, Sheena Goodridge of Cobblers Cove and Krystal Griffith of Infinity on the Beach. Congratulating the hotel workers on their latest achievement, president of the CHTA Patricia Affonso-Dass said she was delighted at the opportunity to provide educational support with the help of the Expedia Group. “Also, we have begun wider discussions at the regional level between CHTA and Expedia Group with respect to people development and human resources management. We are excited by that,” said Affonso-Dass. (BT)

STUDENTS TO TRACE THEIR ROOTS – Students in Barbados can now get to work to creating their family trees. The Genealogy Schools Project has been sanctioned by the Ministry of Education to encourage students at both the primary and secondary level to create their own family trees. The competition which will have various categories and students will be encouraged to be as creative as possible in their presentations, was launched at the Archives Department, today. It will also coincide with Barbados’ Vision 2020:We Gathering celebrations, which will seek to invite the Barbadian Diaspora back home. Giving an overview of the competition, manager of innovation and strategy at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), Terry Vanterpool-Cox, said BTMI and the Department of Archives and COPA Airlines were working collaboratively to bring more awareness to the topic of genealogy, a niche market for the tourism industry worldwide. “For decades Barbadians and visitors have expressed an interest in their ancestral heritage and so we would also wish to awaken this same enthusiasm in the children of Barbados,” Vanterpool-Cox said. The competition will be conducted in two age categories, including a Junior Division and Senior Division. According to the rules of the competition, which will climax in October 2020, students must submit one family tree representing both sides of their family, and each tree must be accompanied by a summary in English. The presentations should be on a standard 22”x28” Bristol board. While presentations must be printed or handwritten, pictures will be an asset and entries will be judged on creativity, content and quality. The prizes include trips to Panama, tablets and cash. (BT)

CURTAIN CALL – Students of St Leonard’s School were among the first to watch the pilot of Barbados’ first musical film You Never Know when it was launched at their school today. Writer and director of the short film, Jade Gibbons, told Barbados TODAY that the production, which is rated G, sends a message to viewers. “The composer Shakiel Stoute is actually a former St Leonard’s boy and our lead actor Dario Squires is also a former St Leonard’s student, so they felt that this would be a fitting place for us to just show the film and launch it just to get the feedback from the students. “We are using the session as a workshop, so it is not just about showing the film, but we want to have a holistic message. So we began with Mr Squires who is a professional swim coach and he is also certified in first aid and counselling. “He gave them a brief introduction about himself and about his experiences working in the prison and what prisoners say in terms of the choices that they made and what landed them in the position that they are in,” Gibbons said. As it relates to making choices, the filmmaker shared that the message behind the film was that choices an individual makes today impacts the future he or she has tomorrow. The film which will be officially available online from November 15, stars Dario Squires, Dereja Mason, Donna Gibbons-Browne, Jamal Dawe, Abigail Gall and Ki’ann Browne. Gibbons, a graduate of Harrison College, Winchester University, Hampshire, and the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, said those interested in the film would be able to purchase it on jadegibbons246.com. “To rent the film is going to be US$4. Rental means you have 30 days to start watching and once you start watching it you have 24 hours to watch it as much as you want. Or alternatively, you can buy the film for US$5.99 which means that it is yours forever. You can use any credit card or visa debit card or master debit card,” she said. The writer and producer of Gibbons Creative Education also indicated that she was now exploring the possibility of having a school tour where students would be allowed to watch the film at a discounted rate. “If there are any schools out there who wants us to come you can contact us through our website. We are also looking into doing an official screening next year January for Errol Barrow Day,” Gibbons said. Following the launch, some students said they were impressed with the high quality of the film and called for more to be added to it since they considered it to be too short. (BT)

SWINGING & SWAYING – The elegant waltz, precision-focused paso doble and fast-paced quickstep were among the dance styles featured in the 2019 edition of the Livy and Betty Alleyne Ballroom Dance Centre Stars of the Future competition. Founders of the group, husband and wife duo, Livingstone and Betty Alleyne, have dedicated their lives to teaching the artform. They have received international acclaim, being awarded the Dancesport International Award by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) in London for their continued contribution to dance. Their inaugural local contest took place in 2001 and they have been churning out award-winning dancers since then. For the past three years, they have copped the highest awards at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England. Last year, Shane Alleyne and Aleksandra Przybylak won the Gold Star and Above Level; Zachary Hamid and Ambia Paris were the Gold Latin winners and Cherise Rollock won gold in Bronze Latin. They are determined to show that a small island like Barbados can continue to be a force to be reckoned with in dance as they are soon set to return to Blackpool for this year’s contest. Betty confirmed, “We have a high achieving team as usual. We normally place in finals of most categories we enter, and I expect the same thing this year. We not only place in finals annually, but we are triple gold winners in some categories.” She added, “We look forward to the exciting atmosphere in the large hall filled with over 5, 000 persons and the competitions, one at a time.” Dance Stars for the Future, which was hosted on Saturday evening in the auditorium of the St Leonard’s Boys’ School, is part of the preparation process to assist the 30-member strong contingent get ready for their trip. This international competition will see the delegation competing with dancers from across the United Kingdom as their quest for more medals continues. Every effort is being made to ensure that they are competition-ready and in prime form to make their mark on the world stage. Competitors squaring off before the judges ranged in ages from under 8 to over 65 and competed in categories spanning from pre-bronze, which is the beginner’s level, straight up to the gold level. Many of the competitors pulled out all the stops, donning vibrant eye-catching costumes to match their style of dance. Though some of the divisions only had one entrant, that did not deter the dancers from putting their best foot forward. In some instances, multiple age categories took to the dance floor once they were performing the same dance style. This atmosphere of having to manoeuvre around other dancers was optimum to prepare them for the international realm. Also, in preparation for the stringent guidelines at that higher-level, participants were summoned only using the numbers they received at registration. Among the myriad of dancers who excelled were Alexander Price-Greaves and Daniel Jones winning Youth Silver/Gold and Youth Gold for Ballroom. Though just 17 and 15 years old respectively, they will show their mettle as they face off in the adult category in Blackpool. Alleyne said: “Stars of the Future competition went really good on Saturday evening. I think more supporters and competitors of the dance form would have added to the night. The competition was very warm, competitive and filled with excitement on a whole.” (BT)

FLAIR, STYLE, SOCA –Jodie Williams was made for the stage. Writing skills? That’s a check! The ability to sing and act? Big check! Good looks? That’s a plus as well! From the age of 14 he was putting in the effort penning his own poetic works and songs. He told Bajan Vibes that he has no favourite genre to perform or write as he does both and has a catalogue of work including soca songs, pop, rap, R&B and dancehall. However, he said that soca songs tend to be easier for him to write. But who is Jodie and what keeps him going? “I am just [a laid-back guy] who loves chilling with close friends and drinking wine and having conversations. I love to make people laugh and I genuinely like to see people enjoying themselves and having fun,” he explained. “My motivational slogan is that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he added. Though Jodie has a resilient personality, he said he’s been getting challenges with exposure. “I find it hard to get interviews, but my song Do De Dawg this year was well received. However, it was extremely difficult getting interviews. Certain individuals would read my messages, look at them and refused to respond… people were asking why the song was not getting a lot more airplay for a well-written song,” he said. The resident of Christ Church said that as a newcomer he was not surprised by the ignorance of DJ’s and radio personalities, so he doubled his efforts towards bettering his craft and pushing his entertainment goals. He then decided to rebrand himself and started to call himself Mr Williams. “The name came from my girlfriend who said that I’m a sophisticated type of guy who dresses in suits and my friends started to address me by that name,” he said. The 27-year-old said that his parents were very supportive, but he has another goal which they also throw their support behind. “I would like to become a coach and finish my second degree in physical education. My first degree was Law and Sociology,” he explained. At this moment he is looking to create a name known locally and regionally for himself as a singer and writer. He added that he is also interested in working with international artists. “My advice for other artists is to keep working and sculpting your craft, push your music. You don’t have to sit back and wait on the radio stations to play your music because it may never play. Use other mediums to project your music. Don’t be deterred from being rejected. It’s all a part of the process and have fun doing what you love.” (BT)

HIS “IMPOSSIBLE DREAM” CAME TRUE - In what may have felt like an impossible dream Damien Smith has finally been able to lift the Richard Stoute Over 21 Competition title. After repeatedly knocking at the door, Smith has finally been able to take the top position. Looking dapper in both appearances, the singer’s experience was evident in his polished delivery of You Never Walk Alone and the aptly titled Impossible Dream. He showed restraint where necessary in his performance and let loose at just the right moments earning 863 points. Fourteen points separated Smith from second placed finisher Zoe Armstrong. Just before declaring the winner, chief judge Sheldon Hope indicated just how close the battle for the top places was. He shared, “In the first half, one person was leading and then in the second half, the other person took the lead but because the first half score was just a bit higher, that person held on for the win.” Armstrong has a theatrical style which seems tailor made for stage productions. Her fashion choices matched her song choices. Her flowy, baby blue ensemble matched the light-hearted feel of Colours of the Wind and her wine coloured, sequined bordered dress was a fitting choice for the operatic I Dream a Dream. The beauty of her voice was on full display. Crowd favourite Rashida Codrington took third place with 804 points. She was the first performer on stage and her inspirational In the Name of the Lord set the tone for what the expectation would be for the other 13 competitors. She poured out her heart with her passionate delivery of her second song I Who Have Nothing. She even dropped to her knees at the close of the song. Fourth place was awarded to Anita Charles with 766 points. In the opening half, she performed the calypso Ghetto Cry. Her phrasing and diction were on point. She returned in the second half with the reggae version of Someone Like You. The top five were rounded out by Laverne Smith with 746 points. She struggled with the higher notes in her first half rendition of Listen, but she seemed more comfortable with When You Tell Me That You Love Me. One competitor left disappointed on competition night would be Paul Legall. The crooner delivered a flawless presentation with Bridge Over Troubled Water and was poignant with the emotionally charged The Day You Gave Me a Son. With the soothing quality to his beautiful voice he should have comfortably been among the top placed finishers and it was hard luck that he was not among the frontrunners. It was undeniable that the judges had a difficult task cut out for them. Murmurs among the audience suggested they believed Tricia Maynard had done enough to be in the top order. Her jazzy rendition of Summertime with a slowed tempo was well received and so too was her dramatic interpretation of Gabby’s Emmerton. Unfortunately, she was shut out. Other competitors in the final were Sandy Samuels, Bentley Jones, Shane Headley, Juanita Paul, Benoni Blackett, Sherry Ann Husbands and Anne-Marie Boyce. Guest performers included Shawnee and Arthur Moore. There will be a one week break and the competition will resume with the staging of the finals at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on November 3rd, 2019. (BT)

PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF – A feeling of sheer euphoria washed over Damien Smith when he realised after years of participation in the Richard Stoute Competition he was finally a champion. “From the time I heard the judge say contestant No. 6-Damien Smith, I felt a rush of excitement come over me. All I could do is smile from ear to ear and I said to myself, finally my hard work has paid off!” Smith was declared the winner of the Over 21 category on Sunday night as he eclipsed the 13 other competitors who were wrestling for the title. The 33-year-old is a former student of the Deighton Griffith Secondary School and is currently employed as a customer service officer with CIBC First Caribbean Bank. He gave Bajan Vibes some insight into who he is. He shared, “I started singing from the age of ten when I used to sing with The Canticles, which was a gospel group.” With a quick smile he admitted, “Well, I love a good party so a perfect night out for me would be at an all-inclusive party with great music, great food and drinks.” When not on stage, you can find him lounging on the beach or travelling. Also among his favourite activities in his downtime are going to the beach, surfing the Internet and catching up on his TV shows. Even 24 hours after taking the title he was still basking in the glow of triumph. “I’m still on my high, I feel fantastic, I’m getting a lot of comments from friends and family and other people who follow the show saying congratulations and it was well deserved,” he noted. Smith is cognisant that some of the island’s best entertainers have participated in this long running competition and that fact makes this victory even sweeter. He expressed, “Winning this show means I can say I’m a champion. A number of great talents in Barbados came through this show and now I can say I won said show.” Singing is one of Smith’s greatest loves and his face has become a staple at karaoke island wide. He shared, “I have won numerous karaoke competitions.” Recently, he impressed the judges in the Baje to the World competition in which participants are vying for the chance to participate in an international talent competition. Smith won the preliminary that was hosted in St George. His latest title is special to him. “This is a big win for me because this was the finals of an established competition and I came out on top,” he excitedly added. “I have entered the competition 5 times, first time I didn’t place, second time I came third, the third and fourth times I came second and now I’m the winner. So that’s why you would hear a lot of people say, ‘Finally’,” he laughingly explained. His continued participation in this musical contest has led to moments of introspection. He revealed, “Being involved in this competition has showed me how patient I am. I didn’t realise how much perseverance I had.” Beyond revealing his strength of character, he observed, “It has taught me to be confident in myself and my performances.” He has a rudimentary approach to preparation – it is all about getting into the right mind space. “Before competition, I say a prayer first, then I would find a quiet corner and get myself into competition mode. I go through my songs in my head over and over and I would also go through my performance in my head.” Hard work and dedication seldom fail and his contentment with finally reaching this pinnacle is unmatched, well, so far at least. He encouraged anyone who is thinking about charting a similar course to dive right in: “I would tell that person go for it, go to the workshop on Thursdays so you can get your training and give it your all!” (BT)

There are 69 days left in the year Shalom! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell

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americanateurovision · 7 years

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Eurovision 2017: The Big Five

The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is just weeks away, beginning Tuesday, May 9 in Kiev. To get to know our entries better, I have arranged them into groups, most of a geographical nature.

These five lucky countries are unique because they don’t have to compete in the semi-finals for a spot in the final. They are all automatic qualifiers because of the large financial contributions they make to the Contest. In the early days of Eurovision, these countries dominated the competition, but in recent years, they often struggle to stay relevant. Perhaps the privilege of automatically qualifying is actually an impairment, and if they were compelled to try a little harder, they would be more successful.

Germany: “Perfect Life,” Levina

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Poor Germany has come in last place for the past two years in a row. It’s not that they send terrible songs, they just send forgettable ones. No one was going to pick up the phone and vote for that weird little ghost girl last year, and I worry no one will vote for Levina either.

United Kingdom: “Never Give Up On You,” Lucie Jones

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The UK, like Germany, has faired pretty poorly in the last decade. And this year, Brexit will not help them win votes from their fellow Europeans. This is a very genuine performance, and Lucie has a great voice, but it is not a winner.

Spain: “Do It For Your Lover,” Manuel Navarro

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Speaking of not winning, here’s Spain.

France: “Requiem,” Alma

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France had a great entry last year with Amir’s “J’ai cherché,” and it seems they want to continue this trend. They hired the same songwriter to write “Requiem,” and like her predecessor, Alma sings a few verses in English to be more inclusive.

Italy: “Occidentali’s Karma,” Francesco Gabbani

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Now, here is a surprise from the Big Five! When Francesco Gabbani competed in Italy’s Sanremo Festival earlier this year, he started generating a lot of buzz. A great song, a handsome singer, and a fun gimmick– that’s the recipe for a Eurovision winner. Currently, Eurovision betting odds predict “Occidentali’s Karma” is the one to beat this year. If Francesco secures a good place in the running order at the final, I think it will be nearly impossible to top him (although I bet some Eurovision fans would love to try).

#ESC2017 #ukraine #germany #levina #unitedkingdom #uk #Lucie Jones #spain #manuel navarro #france #alma #Amir Haddad #Italy #Francesco gabbani #how about italy #kiev

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willswalkabout · 7 years

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Ho Chi Minh, El Nido.

I can guarantee this blog will be the hardest to write of my travels. These have been the toughest and most unforgettable 9 days of my trip so far, but not without some great moments thrown in. (On completion I’ve also just done a word count and it’s really long again, sorry, but maybe one to print!)

When I left off last time I had just landed in Ho Chi Minh. It was about 11pm and although I was shattered, I really didn’t want to pay £15 for a taxi, so after some searching I found the 80p bus, which would drop me off 5 minutes from my hostel. On arrival the place seemed closed, though only because the reception desk didn’t function after 10pm. A security guard who spoke zero English met me in the lobby and took my passport in exchange for a key. Other than that he just motioned for me to go up the stairs, with no further direction. Unlike most hostels my bed number had no correlation to the floor number, which led to some confusion before eventually finding my mattress for the next 3 nights.

The next day was to be my touristy day, though it didn’t start till quite late due to tiredness from Thursday’s travel. I walked to the Independence Palace first. Ho Chi Minh’s attractions have odd opening times, as I discovered the palace was not to open till 1pm. It was around 34'C and so I decided to sit outside in the shade for about 40 minutes watching Vietnam’s most crazy city fly by. The palace itself is quite odd. It’s very typical 60s architecture, after its rebuild in 1966, and doesn’t really resemble a palace at all. On top of this it has never been inhabited by a King, and now only functions as a tourist attraction. It did play a pretty symbolic roll however in the “fall of Saigon” something that coincided with America’s evacuation of the country, so was a good reinforcement of my grounding in the events of the war. I find it sort of crazy that it doesn’t make up even a small part of any history course taught in school, despite it being the most monumental post-WW2 ideological war.

After this visit I engaged in culture of a different form, heading to the nearest Starbucks so I could stream Ed Sheeran’s latest album, which had just been released. I have been playing it practically nonstop since, through some incredibly arduous journeys which will be described later in the blog.

I then visited a very old post office, and Ho Chi Minh’s attempt at the Notre Dame, though, as mentioned earlier, odd timings prescribed that this building closed at 4, preventing me from going inside. I went back to the Hostel, which is effectively run solely by travellers who ran out of money and thought they’d chill in Ho Chi Minh for a bit. Although Flipside Hostels is Kiwi owned, the only staff I met were Canadian, British and Vietnamese. My route back to the hostel is actually a mini story in itself, as I had my first and last experience on a ‘Grab MotoTaxi’. Grab is Asian uber, and for 25% of the price you can sit on the back of a driver’s moped (helmet included!). It was more like a thrill ride than a taxi, as my driver swerved through non-existent gaps, and used the pavement as a 'shortcut’ when he got bored of the traffic. At one point during the ride he asked me to rate him 5 stars on the app at the end of the trip, to which I replied that I would do, if we made it that far. Beers at the hostel were cheap, and I spent most of the evening with a Canadian girl, and 2 Norwegian guys, all of which were in my dorm. It is fair to say we were all feeling the effects of the previous night on Saturday morning, but it was to my delight when at about midday a hilarious English guy called Joey, with a helicopter hat (baseball cap with the spinny thing), burst into our room announcing that we were going to a pool party. At this point I will admit that there many more cultural options in the city that I didn’t explore. For example the war museum, or tunnels. On the other hand I liked the people in the hostel, and in the past I thought pool parties only existed in LA, Vegas, or movies set in LA or Vegas, so I went. I would definitely like to return to see more of the city in the future.

It was a good laugh, and a very relaxing way to spend the day, with good food, and some fun conversations with one girl who was half Russian half Swedish, but about to go to University in Spain so she could be fluent in 4 languages by the age of 20. As well as a French man who decided we should try and have a conversation where we could only speak our native languages. This was a stupid idea, albeit with amusing consequences, given I got my French GCSE over 2 and a half years ago, and he was 30 and working in English. It did however give me the smallest of glimpses of how possible it could be to learn a language if you were forced to speak it full time.

I went out again that night with the same guys, and spent much of it playing ¾ rounds of pool with 2 Indian guys while discussing the IPL.

I left Ho Chi Minh the next morning with an English traveler who was heading to Sydney, my next stop being Manila. I hijacked his pre-booked taxi, my 3rd time doing so on this trip, however due to his nerves about missing his flight I did arrive at the airport 3 and a half hours before my own. Something I was prepared to take for the ease and cheapness of getting to the airport. El Nido is impossible to reach from an international destination in less than 2 days realistically, unless you align everything perfectly and don’t take a single rest. It is 7 hours drive north of Puerto Princessa, the island’s only airport, which is an hour and 50 from Manila. Therefore I spent Sunday night in Manila, in a small hotel about 15 minutes from the airport. People generally don’t hang around in Manila, I can’t honestly pass judgement on the claims of dirtiness and roughness, however my hotel’s location was certainly not somewhere you wanted to spend any time. I was able to locate a McDonalds a 10 minute walk away, but that was enough of Manila for me in this case.

The next day I had to leave at about 5 to get my 7am flight. I got a van from Puerto Princessa at 11am, getting me to my El Nido hostel at about 5pm. The bus journey is infamously horrific, not a view I can personally attest to. The road itself is reasonable for South East Asia, and my driver was fast and very friendly. The ticket was 1000 pesos return, about £16. I also managed to persuade a girl that had somehow booked the front seat of the minibus next to the driver, that with long legs in comparison to her stature of no more than 5ft1, my need was greater. I think the driver had in fact invited the woman to that seat, no reservation had been made, and she was quite relieved to move.

To reach my hostel you had to tramp 50m along the beach, to a view I don’t think I would ever get tired of. There are maybe a couple of photos of it on here, but I may have taken close to a hundred. My roommates were Catie and Lucie, recently qualified nurses from Northumbria.

I haven’t planned how to write this next paragraph, but am aware I would like to print this entire blog on its completion as a permanent memory of the adventure. El Nido is somewhere I will never regret visiting, with crystal clear waters, stunning sunsets and perfect weather. There are factors however that take a little away from the paradise, these being next to no internet connection and frequent power cuts. For these reasons notifications come in sporadically and in clumps. On Monday evening I suddenly had missed calls from mum and dad across 3 different platforms. This is a sight that truly does make your heart skip a beat. The connection was not strong enough for us to attempt any of the video calling methods of the last 5 or so weeks, WhatsApp, FaceTime or Google Duo. I slipped in my UK SIM card to the phone and made an international phone call from the beach, where I found out my Granddad, mum’s father, Reginald Flatman had passed away. Reg first got ill around Christmas, and had been in and out of hospital since, with various issues that were increasingly hard to diagnose.

I visited Reg a few days before I set off when he was in high spirits. I discussed my trip with him, and witnessed him as his trademark jovial self, as he laughed at mum’s gardening course exam, where she had somehow managed to hit the pass mark exactly…

Reg was possibly the kindest man I’ve ever known, with hardly a bad word to say about anyone. His only criticisms were directed at the attitude of the Ipswich Town football team, something I always found odd given his total indifference towards competitive sport of any kind. I’ll never forget walking the fields of Zoe and Des’ farm with him and the dog, when I would go down to Suffolk to work in the summer. I also had a memorable conversation with him 18 months ago at the reception of James and Vicky’s wedding, where he was utterly bemused by the 'racket’ coming out of the speaker system during the reception. I was delighted to be able to invite him to our school’s big band concert at Chelmsford cathedral last year.

Reg was a man of simple pleasures who would always refuse as best he could to trouble anyone for anything. We would rarely be able to contain our amusement at dinner, as when Reg was asked “would you like some more food”, he would reply with “that was great thanks”. Nana’s firm toned “Reginald”, uttered when he made a funny face across the table, nudged one of us under it, or tried to steal a roast potato, never failed to make myself or Kate laugh. Reg was to us polo mints, shredded wheat, and a day concluded with cheese and biscuits. Reg never bothered taking life too seriously, a characteristic summed up by a set of four photos in a frame at home, of him and Nana. He is screwing his face up in an effort to make the photographer laugh, in three of the photos. If this was a school photo session with a 10 year old, you would pretend the first 3 didn’t exist and just print the fourth large. The first three however said far more about Granddad than a composed shot ever could.

I will fly back from Melbourne to London on Sunday 19th to be with family for the funeral on Thursday 23rd. Then fly back out on Friday 24th to Auckland, NZ.

So El Nido. The nights are all very boring here as I did not have the energy or desire to go out. On Tuesday I accomplished a goal I’ve had for a long time, to visit a particular beach by the name of Nacpan. There is a particular travel blogger on YouTube by the name of Christian Le Blanc. While I was doing my exam revision last year, Christian was traveling the Philippines, and his trip to this particular beach was one that really drew me to the area. You have to drive 45 minutes north of the main town via scooter to get there. This is 25 minutes of glorious winding road up the coast, before a horrific 20 minutes along an unpaved dirt track to the beach. The reward is one of the largest and most untouched spots along the coast. Fine white sand and beautiful water. However I imagine it is becoming less and less 'secret’ by the month. Even in comparison to the video I saw 8 months ago there are now a few more food and drink stalls, a relatively organised parking scheme, and a far bigger sign from the main road. The one way in which El Nido has developed impressively is in its number of high end restaurants run by Europeans, in order to serve those visiting the town from nearby resorts. This did mean I enjoyed a great pizza that night, with about 10 others from the hostel.

The next day I did the hostel’s combined package of Tour A&C. The El Nido bay is very comparable to Halong Bay in Vietnam, except for more islands with beaches, as well as individual lagoons, in comparison to Halong’s mystical 1969 limestone rocks. At some point the tourist board must of grouped different combinations of the lagoons, beaches, islands, viewpoints etc, into tour A, B, C and D. There are now dozens of outlets selling these tours at prices from 1000-2000 pesos, (£16-£32). In the vast majority of cases you should try not to book tours and other items through your hostel. They will rarely be providing the service themselves, and will therefore be taking a cut simply for making a phone call to one of the companies on the street on your behalf. For example hiring a scooter from the hostel was 700 pesos a day, though I found one in town for 350. Saying all this the hostel ran their own in house tour which was a combination of tour A and C. It was 1700 which was nearer the pricier end, but the advantages were that it left from the hostel’s own beach, and you could do it with people you knew. I did love the experience, the videos of which online were another draw for me visiting the area. I snorkelled and got some decent GoPro footage of a small jellyfish that went on to sting me as I swam away. Taking photos on my phone and proper camera though was a more hap-hazard venture, with the boat being occupied by 16 soaking wet passengers constantly walking up and down around the kit. I also started to wonder if I was really getting the most out of the day, when seeing it partially through a lens. I was never going to get the greatest of photos, for that you’d need a chartered boat where you could specify time in each place. So I put the camera away for the most part of the trip, and enjoyed just sitting on the edge of the boat and taking it all in. Sunburn was the only tarnish on the day.

Thursday started with a torrential storm, which in typical Philippines style concluded with the weather returning to normal service in the space of 5 minutes. Myself, Catie, Lucie and a Swiss guy called Kevin went to do a zip line which was pretty awesome. I’d thought at the start of the day that I would be riding, and so brought my bike helmet with me. This meant rather embarrassingly this was to be my head protection for the experience, complete with visor. I managed to fashion my camera bag shoulder strap into a way of securing my phone to my harness, so I could film and photograph the ride. After this I returned to the hostel to relax a bit before planning to return to Nacpan to try and capture the sunset. This plan in hindsight was rash. Though cloudy, I was overly trusting on one German guy’s words that “his app said the sunset would be good”. It was not, with the clouds concealing nearly the entirety of the sun. I still enjoyed seeing the light shade of pink that took over the bottom third of the horizon, but it was not something I managed to pick up on the camera. What made the decision particularly stupid was that I then had to go back down the entirely unlit gravel path in the dark. I dropped off my scooter in town before meeting the girls for a meal at a traditional Philippino restaurant that had been recommended.

What followed was one of the most uncomfortable nights of my life, something I think I am only now really coming back from 2 and a half days later. Food poisoning hit me bad all night, as it did Lucie also. The plot thickens however, when we both awoke in the morning to find at least 7 others in the hostel had experienced identical symptoms overnight. I could not join up any dots with any of them leading some people to wonder if there was something airborne going around. I don’t think we’ll ever know, but it made Friday’s van journey even more daunting.

As mentioned earlier I had booked a return trip with the company that had brought me up, however the way it seems to work is that nobody drives if their vans are not full. This meant when I arrived at the bus terminal all the other companies that were present were enquiring about my departure time. My theory is that they knew my provider wouldn’t show. So at 1:35, five minutes past my supposed leaving time, a bidding war ensued. I was eventually bundled onto someone’s minibus. I can only assume after they took photos of my ticket, that they will get a refund off my people. This was not the main frustration of the journey unfortunately. The driver still had 4 free seats, and so he transformed into a hop on - hop off service for the whole island. This meant stopping for every random person on the side of the street, negotiating a price for their destination before letting them on. We must have made around 15 stops, something my stomach was not pleased with. 6 hours later we had arrived at Puerto Princessa airport. Advice I am giving myself for the future is not to book the cheapest hotel for short 1 night stopovers. This decision on Friday night involved a 20 minute tuk tuk ride to an area I was advised “not to walk at night”. The only pleasant anecdote in this experience was the fact my driver’s sister was a nurse in Ipswich, probably at the hospital granddad was receiving such good care. It was an incredibly odd and heartwarming meeting, as the driver spoke enthusiastically about his new brother in law, who runs a barber shop on the Woodbridge road. My room itself would be more accurately described as a cell. The bed was like a roll mat, and my troubles were furthered in the morning, when the building “ran out of power”. This was an impressive feat in itself as I was the only occupant in the entire 12 room hotel. I’ve got no idea how it copes with more than 5 customers… The power cut meant I woke up with no air con and no running water. I think I may have left without paying but the owner was so confused and I was so angry at the whole situation, I think the 600 pesos might remain in my pocket.

The next day I took a flight to Manila, then another to Kuala Lumpur. I’m writing this from the final couple of hours on what’s been a pretty grim overnight flight into Melbourne. I think when flying west-east you’re supposed to sleep, something I’ve completely failed to do.

I have a 2 hour domestic to Sydney and then the 47 hours from El Nido are complete. I think I have 14 hours to Abu Dhabi and then another 8 home next Sunday, so will try and summarise my week in Australia then.

Till the next time.

#Vietnam #hochiminh #Philippines #elnido #outpost #travel #gapyear

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luckylq51-blog · 4 years

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Lucie Fork River is on the south

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oselatra · 5 years

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'Meant to be' at Lucie's Place

Rev. Johnette Fitzjohn succeeds founder Penelope Poppers as executive director.

Rev. Johnette Fitzjohn, a native of Liberia with decades of experience in pastoral ministry and social service work, is the new executive director of Lucie's Place, the Little Rock nonprofit outreach program for homeless LGBTQ young adults. Fitzjohn succeeds Penelope Poppers, who incorporated Lucie's Place in 2012.

Fitzjohn is an ordained minister and elder in the United Methodist Church, and in addition to over 20 years of working with the church in Liberia and the United States, she also spent eight years in women's outreach work through the ecumenical World Student Christian Federation-Africa Region and the National Student Christian Council of Liberia. She most recently served as the clinical supervisor for Project Hospitality, an interfaith nonprofit in Staten Island, N.Y., that provides housing services to homeless families and individuals. She also worked with Project Hospitality as assistant director of its emergency program for survivors of Hurricane Sandy.

Poppers will soon begin a new job as associate director of development for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which serves Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. She'll work out of the Little Rock office of the reproductive health care nonprofit.

Poppers said she is able to move on because Lucie's Place — "my baby," she called it — is now a stable organization. She also said it was important to hand over the reins so that it's no longer so closely bound up with her.

"When a lot of people think about Lucie's Place, they just think about me," Poppers said. "Or when they think about me, they just think about Lucie's Place, and it's not really fair either way. ... When people associate only me with Lucie's Place, they're erasing all our volunteers, our staff, all these other people that actually make it happen."

It took Poppers three years to raise enough money to open drop-in services at the nonprofit, named for Lucie Marie Hamilton, a Little Rock transgender woman who died in 2009; Lucie's opened its shelter in 2016. Poppers is proud of the work she put in to bring the nonprofit to the stable organization it is today, which has allowed her to move on from a leadership position in the organization. "I don't pat myself on the back too much, but I can at least acknowledge that I worked to get it to this point, and I don't think I could have successfully transitioned away two years ago," she said.

Lucie's Place's new leader moved to Little Rock in January 2018 to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. The move ultimately led her to Lucie's Place, which she said is her "dream job." She'd left full-time ministry in 2012, and felt called to work directly with people. Leaving the ministry meant, she said, "I could do more outside of the church, because I felt kind of restricted in a sense. And I haven't looked back since."

Fitzjohn knows what it is like to be temporarily homeless. With help from the World Student Christian Federation, she fled civil-war-torn Liberia in 1994. She was first a refugee in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and then moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where she worked for a year before returning home to Liberia.

Fitzjohn said her experience as a refugee gave her perspective and understanding for the work that Lucie's Place does and the people they serve.

"My country went through war, so I know not just not having a permanent home, but [also] not having a country," Fitzjohn said. "That's hard. ... Through it all, I look back at my life, and that prepared me to be the person I am today. That prepared me to realize that you don't judge people; you've got to know their story, you've got to know their circumstance, you can't take things as they come."

"I feel [Lucie's Place] is where I need to be, where I was meant to be," Fitzjohn said. In her work with the homeless and as a minister, she's seen "the pain. I see the struggles. I hear and I see how people are intentionally blinded to [the struggles of LGBTQ youth], and [people are] closing their ears and not listening. It breaks my heart. And I've got loved ones who are in this same category. My passion has always been women and children and young people, so coming here is just where I'm meant to be."

Poppers said the love for fundraising she developed at Lucie's Place will serve her well at Planned Parenthood. "Without Lucie's Place, I probably wouldn't have been qualified for this job at Planned Parenthood, but through trial and fire and all sorts of different things over the past eight years, I've really developed these strong skills in development and fundraising," she said. "That's a very tangible thing I'm taking away, a new career and a new career path. I love development, and I love raising money. I wouldn't have said that eight years ago when I started Lucie's Place. It was really not the thing I thought about at all, but now that's what I love, and Lucie's Place showed me and taught me that love."

Fitzjohn will also have to do some fundraising: She wants to expand Lucie's Place temporary housing from its eight beds. She also said she wants to work on serving more people in the community and alerting them to the help that Lucie's Place offers. "There are some people who may not be physically homeless, but they're not connected with where they're living," she said. "They could be living in a really bad situation, so that's talking about finding a place that you can connect, finding a place that you feel safe, [and] just [encouraging] people to come make use of this wonderful drop-in center we have here ... and helping people get to the place where they can be self-supported, and have their own space, and feel safe and feel loved."

As Fitzjohn transitions into her new role, she said she looks forward to welcoming the LGBTQ community into the acceptance and compassion that can be found at Lucie's Place. "[The] first thing I said when I met this staff was, 'We're a family,'" she said. "Lucie's Place is a family. So we just need to continue to reach out to our lost family members out there and bring them home. That's how I see it, bring them home."

'Meant to be' at Lucie's Place

#'Meant to be' at Lucie's Place

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thechasefiles · 5 years

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 5/29/2019

Good MORNING #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Wednesday 29th May 2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT), Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) or by purchasing a Midweek Nation Newspaper (MWN).

BARBADOS’ ‘HIGH INCOME’ STATUS ‘STAYS’ – The Prime Minister has issued another complaint to the World Bank against being cut off from low-cost funding to deal with the environmental crisis of global warming but even as it issued an apology the international financial institution again rebuffed the decades-long plea against being considered too well-off for critical development financing. As Barbados and other Caribbean countries continue to battle the effects of climate change and natural disasters, Mia Mottley called on global decision-makers to reconsider their tiered approach in determining who gets concessional funding from some institutions to handle the environmental crisis. She issued the call in a speech to the 2019 Understanding Risk Caribbean conference at the Barbados Museum on Monday, under the theme From Risk to Resilience: A Foundation for Action. Calling for a “moral and ethical discussion” on the issue, Mottley charged that global politics and power relations have crept into the decision-making process. She argued that Caribbean countries remained in a “war that we did not start, nor do we sustain”, adding that the income criteria to give countries funding without taking various risks into consideration was flawed. The Prime Minister said: “The continued belief that countries can be graduated on the basis on middle-income status purely on GDP and precluded from access to critical funding… in the face of inherent vulnerability, has really to become a historic topic rather than a fight we are continuing to wage on a daily basis.” Under the World Bank rules, Barbados is considered a high income country and therefore does not qualify for financing at favourable interest rates. She continued: “I fully accept that the battle is being waged not at the level of the technocrats or management of international organizations, but it is being waged, regrettably at the level of capitals. “This is unsustainable, and we have to determine that if we really want to be able to make progress against the battles that cause tremendous risks such that we can become resilient, then we need to start doing things differently and start recognising first and foremost that failure to act is largely because you do not believe that the problem is important enough to guarantee or require such action Declaring that the foundation for action did not rest with Caribbean nations, Mottley said the rest of the world did not consider climate refugees an area of importance “because when it comes to people it becomes a no-no but when it comes to the movement of capital and investment it becomes highly accepted and desired by the majority of countries.” Mottley said: “There is need for a moral and ethical discussion across the global landscape, and it is our intention that it is only when moral and ethical leadership is given, both at the national level and international level, that we will summon the courage to fight down these battles. Until such time, it is a form of idle entertainment for those who choose to watch.” Pointing to the impacts of natural disasters and the uncertainty they bring, the Prime Minister said the change would require domestic and international political will Mottley complained that Barbados found itself having to carry out infrastructure work at a cost that was highly prohibitive as the country battled with its economic challenges. For example, she said, replacing the water infrastructure alone would cost the country close to $2.5 billion. “With the 2,500 kilometres of pipe that we have, the majority of which has to be replaced, at a price that we are fighting, coming close to $1 million per kilometre, that it would be a mammoth task of virtually 25 per cent of our GDP to simply seek to replace the water infrastructure without reference to what we must invest in augmentation of water resources as we confront the reality of being a water scarce country in this world,” she said. World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean Tahseen Sayed apologised that the World Bank could not provide concessionary funding to Barbados. But said the financial institution continued to take a strategic approach in providing technical assistance when needed. Sayed declared: “I am very pleased that we have been able to, from the World Bank side, bring in our support to you on technical advisory. I apologise that we have not been able to rise up to your request from the financing side.” When asked later about the criteria used to determine who gets concessional funding without taking extremities and other factors into consideration, Sayed told Barbados TODAY that “internationally the topic has been raised by small states”. “The question of looking at the income levels and then looking at it in a differentiated way is definitely on the table internationally, and I think this topic is going to come up in discussions at the international fora, which are going to be happening later in the year, but what will be the outcome I think there are too many partners involved for theWorld Bank to predict an outcome,” she said. (BT)

‘NO BLIND FAVOURS’, SAYS SYMMONDS – While promising “a set of concessions” to future investors in the tourism industry, Minister of Tourism Kerrie Symmonds has made it clear that the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) administration will not be “blindly” giving away everything to any one entity. Symmonds told parliamentary colleagues on Tuesday that following last month’s tourism investor conference several areas across the island were identified for development, including areas in St Michael, St Lucy and Christ Church. “There has been tremendous expression of interests. We now have to go through the process of allowing those investors to come back to us with specific proposals and adjust their business cycles so as to fit in investment opportunities in Barbados, while at the same time we look to the way forward as we embrace them with a set of concessions that will fit neatly into that which we now do in Barbados for everybody else who are part and parcel of this country’s tourism product over the years,” said Symmonds. “What we will not do is to go down the wicket like ‘blind Elda’ as the last administration did . . . or like ‘blind Sinckler’ and give away everything to one entity. That will not happen so as to cause chaos and disequilibrium in the sector. We have to use this opportunity to rethink and reconfigure what we call the awarding of concessions in Barbados so as to restore a sense of reality and a sense of fairness and a sense of a satisfactory way forward for the whole country,” he said. Symmonds was making his contribution in the Lower House on the vesting of land to the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc, which will then be sold to Vision Developments Inc., developers of the planned Hyatt Centric property on Bay Street, St Michael. The land being entrusted to the BTII for sale consists of two parcels – one measuring 742 square ft (69 sq metres) and the other 5,484 sq ft (509.5 sq metres). “I associate myself with this resolution because of the fact it enables us to do a few important things in the area of Carlisle Bay,” said Symmonds. Insisting that there would be no preferential treatment of the developers of the controversial Hyatt Centric, Symmonds made it clear that current and future developers would not get away with doing plans without a commitment to help uplift Barbados by way of “social or planning gains”. “What we say to them is, you have to take the country along in the process. What we are saying is that if you want to have an opportunity to be an investor in Barbados in a project of significance in this country then the Town Planning permission is tied also to considerations of how the society benefits,” he explained. “The fact of the matter is that what we must do is to find a way to tie a percentage of the investment to the uplifting of the social and economic fabric of this country,” he said. In the debate, which was dotted with some back and forth between the Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley and other parliamentarians, lawmakers also referenced the Ross University’s investment and its contribution to the economy, but provided no update on the planned Beaches Barbados Resort earmarked for St Peter. However, Symmonds made it clear that Barbados was determined not to allow tourism here to “go down the road of tourism in parts of the Northern Caribbean in particular, where they have bought into a “mass-based” product. “I have seen it firsthand in Panama, in Jamaica, in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, and I have seen the type of social decohesion that takes place – that there is a feeling that the tourism product is for ‘them’ but it has nothing to do with me,” he said. (BT)

BOTTLE IT – The time has come for the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to grab its share of the bottled water industry, Prime Minister Mottley declared tonight. Debating the Barbados Water Authority (Validation of Water and Sewerage Rates) Bill, Mottley said that for far too long the state-owned water utility has ceded market share to imports. “I do not understand how the Barbados Water Authority could have survived this long and not seen it as its core business to put out commercial Barbados high grade water. “We allow other countries, Trinidad and UK and France and everybody to be exporting water into this country.” She added: “The Barbadian public buys these products willingly and in large numbers.” Mottley argued that many of the bottled water products cost more than beer and therefore the Water Authority must demand part of the market by putting out “affordable, well-packaged, attractive and clean water coming through the coral stone of this nation.” She continued: “This is water that is better for you because we don’t know where the rest are coming from. “I also say to Barbadians that when that time comes and they buy a bottle produced by the Barbados Water Authority, it will help keep the profitability of the company in reach, as compared to the significant losses that it has had over the years.” As she pushed the idea of the BWA’s entrance into the bottle water market, the Prime Minister claimed that Barbadians currently enjoyed low rates and called for a candid conversation on water prices. The Prime Minister said: “At this point to change Barbadians’ patterns is significant. You could fill that litre bottle that one buys at the store 1,300 times from the tap to begin to pay the $2.48 that the Barbados Water Authority charges. “Now that must tell all right-thinking Barbadians that we have to have a serious conversation; now is not the time for the increase in rates but now is the time to correct the anomaly and the disparity between residential and commercial rates.” While Mottley stressed that Government has no intention of encroaching on the domain of the Fair Trading Commission (FTC), the regulator solely responsible for setting water rates, she said in the meantime steps must be taken to right the ship of the financially troubled utility. Pending FTC approval, commercial entities are expected to pay $4.66 per cubic metre up to 40 cubic metres and then $7.78 per cubic metre for usage in excess of 40 cubic metres of water, with a monthly cap of 12,000 cubic metre, after which the rate reverts to $4.66 per cubic metre. Government is banking on the rate change raising an additional $2.1 million per month in revenue for the Barbados Water Authority. Mottley contended that it was never intended for domestic rates to be equivalent to commercial rates and therefore this change was necessary. (BT)

BUSINESS WATER RATES TO RISE –Commercial customers may soon be paying higher water bills as the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) seeks to correct what it considers a longstanding anomaly in its rates in an ongoing economy drive, the Minister for the state-owned utility announced this evening. The rate increase is pending approval from the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) which the Minister expressed confidence in securing. As he introduced the Utility (Amendment) Bill in the House of Assembly, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams declared: “We have had an anomalous situation where commercial water usage rates were lower than that for domestic water rates, which has caused a number of issues with the BWA.” Commercial customers are to pay $4.66 per cubic metre if they use below 40 cubic metres a month, as is the case with domestic consumers, but the rate will increase to $7.78 per cubic metre if they use between 40 cubic metres and 12,000 cubic metres per month; for those who use more than 12,000 metres, the rate will revert to $4.66 per cubic metre, he said. “We are hoping that this rate change will remind people that water has a cost and if the commercial sector is seeking to save money, they will use it more wisely,” Abrahams, the MP for Christ Church East, told the House. He declared that the Garbage and Sewerage Contribution (GSC) that was tacked on to water bills late last year did not provide much revenue for the BWA, so it had to find other methods to help finance its operations. “The BWA only retains 25 cents of this levy, and it is specifically for the maintenance of the sewerage network, so we still have to find the money to deliver a safe and efficient supply of water.” At present, the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act only applies to taxes collected by central Government, which means it does not cover revenues collected by statutory bodies like the BWA, the Minister said. But as the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) remains the watchdog for BWA rates and service levels, Abrahams stressed there was no plan for the BWA to break away from that regulator. “The BWA is subject to the Utilities Act, and the exisiting Fair Trading Commission legislation states that a service provider may apply for part of the utility service to be exempted from an aspect of the Act. So the Minister has the discretion to exercise or award an exemption where he is satisfied that the market is competitive. “However, the BWA is a monopoly so there is no way for us to establish competitiveness, so Minister could not use discretion for water rates to go up. “When circumstances allow us to apply for a rate hearing we will do it, but we believe this rate will be accepted by the FTC. If people have issues with the BWA they can still speak to the FTC, because it is still under their watch. “We are merely correcting an anomaly in the existing legislation, and we are hoping that the BWA’s revenues will increase as a result of this.” Speaking further on the controversial GSC, Abrahams said: “We are looking at a cap for the GSC for commercial enterprises which use a lot of water. “For example, a hotel can charge back for the water it uses, but for those entities that may not be able to install water saving devices like laundries and farms, we can put the cap in place.” (BT)

TOO SLOW TO EXEMPT GSC, SAY CUSTOMERS – More than six months after the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) established a committee to review applications for persons requesting a waiver from the Garbage and Sewage Collection (GSC) tax, some customers within that vulnerable bracket are complaining that there is still no relief in sight, despite submitting their applications months ago. According to one out-of-work mother of four, who referred to herself only as Arlene, she applied four months ago for relief from the $45 increase on her water bill, but to date there has been no response. “I don’t work anywhere so I went to the Welfare Department for help to pay the water bill, but they told me to apply for the exemption at water authority. This is four months now that I have applied to get the GSC taken off but up to now they have not gotten back to me. I don’t work anywhere, where am I supposed to keep getting this money from? This is just too long. Poor people are out here suffering,” she said. Her niece, who did not want to be named, told Barbados TODAY that she too applied for relief two months ago, but like her aunt, no response has been forthcoming. “I don’t work, and it is not a case that I have not been trying to find a job for the last three years. All I have is what the children fathers give them when the month come. I applied for the relief, but I am not hearing anything back. I don’t have it to pay, she stressed. The pair also referred to three of their Westbury neighbours who were experiencing similar struggles in getting relief from the tax. When contacted BWA General Manager Keithroy Halliday acknowledged that while it started off “quite slowly”, the process of reviewing these applications continues in earnest. Barbados TODAY also reached out to Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, who promised to comment on the matter at a later date, after gathering information from the review committee on the number of applications processed thus far. Last October Chairman of the BWA board Leodeane Worrell warned that the state-owned water company intends to ramp up disconnections against those refusing to pay their bills. She explained the BWA was merely the conduit for collecting the $1.50 per day tax. This meant that even though customers were paying their bill minus the levy, the BWA was still obligated to take the GSC from the amount paid. Worrell said the BWA had set up a committee to review applications of people requesting exemptions from the GSC under the guidelines of the Ministry of Finance. (BT)

WATER WASTERS - Barbados currently has some of the lowest water rates in the world, but Barbadians tend to take the supply for granted and the ageing infrastructure of the water system only exacerbates the situation. Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, made this point as he introduced the Utilities (Amendment) Bill 2019 to the House of Assembly today to facilitate the introduction of new water rates for commercial consumers. Citing a recent report, he said, “A regional water tariff comparative analysis looking at the cost of a cubic metre of water, in US dollars, shows that the rate in the Bahamas is $5.50 per cubic metre; in the US Virgin Islands it is $6.18, Cayman Islands $4.38, Antigua $4.07, and in Jamaica, it is $2.88. Barbados’ domestic rate is $2.33, so we have one of the lowest rates in the Caribbean for domestic water rates and indeed the world, and the commercial rate was even lower than that.” According to the Minister and Member of Parliament for Christ Church East, “As a result, people using the most water were paying the least for it with no incentive to conserve, which meant that the Barbados Water Authority was in a perilous position, where it had $60 million in outstanding arrears, the bulk of it from commercial customers.” Beyond that, the ageing infrastructure of the water mains and issues with the capacity of the island’s reservoirs were major problems which would take a significant amount of time and money to resolve. Abrahams stated, “Our water mains are over 150 years old so they break and burst all the time. Barbados has 2500 kilometres of water mains, and the estimate to re-lay those mains is over one million dollars per kilometre, so if we were to change all the mains, you are looking at $2.5 billion at today’s costs. Our reservoir network is also ageing and needs rebuilding.” He called on Barbadians, but particularly larger operations, to consider the installation of water-saving devices, especially since we were currently facing a drought. “While we want people to conserve water and we see notices about this, the reality is apart from the penalties which are seldom enforced, we do not mandate the use of water-saving devices, especially in the commercial sector. It is standard in other countries for public buildings to have water saving devices, but these are seldom seen in Barbados.” He noted while his ministry was speaking to business owners on the south coast of the island recently, he asked a hotel proprietor why there were no water-saving devices at his property, and was told that it was cheaper to pay the water bill at its current rate than to install the equipment. Abrahams also expressed concern that the potable water was used for virtually everything including irrigation and flushing toilets, which further depleted a limited water supply. Therefore, he proposed that Barbados adopt a model followed by other countries and create a tertiary treatment sewerage facility, where some of the water passing through the system would eventually be potable, but other water that was not fully processed could be used for ancillary purposes. (BT)

OPPOSITION DEMANDS COMPASSION FOR FARMERS HIT BY DROUGHT – Government cannot afford to stay silent amid cries from farmers at the Spring Hall Land Lease project who are being driven out of business by chronic water shortages and threats of eviction, says Opposition Leader, Bishop Joseph Atherley. As a matter of fact, Atherley is calling on Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir, to urgently come to the country with a plan of action to assist these farmers, as the situation has far-reaching consequences for Barbados’ food security. “This is not only a situation that I want the BADMC (Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation) to speak to, but also the Minister of Agriculture because these are people who are only trying to feed their families and who are contributing to the GDP of this country. These are people that also contribute to our food security, as it is my understanding that they produce a large percentage of the local agricultural produce,” said Atherley. In his interview with Barbados TODAY this afternoon, the Opposition Leader further contended that the development brings into sharp focus, Government’s recently implemented Garbage and Sewage Collection (GSC) tax, which represents a significant increase on the water bills of many farmers. “ Yesterday, farmers explained that the situation has got so dire that the farms are being rationed three hours of water per day, a significantly inadequate supply for large farms in drought conditions. Additionally, for the next four days, the BADMC has opted to shut off the water supply in a bid to replenish the wells, a move that farmers see as sure death for their business. As if this was not bad enough, farmers also revealed that they are being threatened with eviction by the BADMC, as several of them, have been unable to pay their bills due to low production, which they claim is as a result of the long-term water issues. However, Atherley suggested that Government needed to show understanding in regard to the debt owed by these farmers given that production is down, and they are therefore not in a position to pay. “These farmers are perhaps not in a position to pay if productivity is down and productivity could be down because of the lack of water. This would drive up the prices of crops and affect market prices in a negative way. This is a vicious cycle that farmers must deal with,” said Atherley, while also suggesting that successive Governments have shown understanding in the past when it comes to debts owed by big businesses. We cannot send the signal to any sector in Barbados that certain sectors are being given preferential treatment in terms of tax concessions and so on,” Atherley said. “From time to time even big businesses owe money to the Government and history suggests that nothing much comes of these cases. So, when it comes to the other level of the economic scale, when persons rack up debt to Government not because of poor management, we need to equally treat to those situations humanely.” Yesterday Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society James Paul told Barbados TODAY that with the hardships that the farmers are going through, it was unconscionable to demand, under the threat of eviction, that all arrears be settled. Barbados TODAY again made several attempts to contact officials at the BADMC and Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir but those efforts were unsuccessful. (BT)

LOCKDOWN – The Nature Fun Ranch, a farm charity for at-risk young people, has racked up a $25,000 water bill, prompting its founder to issue a plea for urgent financial help to clear it after the water authority locked off its taps. But Corey Layne blamed water thieves for the arrears as he spoke to reporters at the Bruce Vale, St Andrew ranch’s graduation ceremony for a three-month cooking programme. He said awoke to find a padlock on the water main outside of the farm. “Amidst all the success at the ranch, we have a situation here that can really stop our flow. “We have a water bill of about $25,000 and one would ask how we rack up a $25,000 water bill. “What happened is in the first case when we moved here to the ranch, we were attached to a pipe that is linked to the former sugar factory here and we had that bill transferred to our bill. So, we were always at a disadvantage.” Layne said the issue further escalated at the facility when they discovered people were stealing the ranch’s water, triggered, he maintained, by the water shortages in the island’s rural east. “What happened on a number of occasions we had persons who came here and broke the pipes and took water because the water was scarce in other parts of the island. “So, we actually put a lock onto the pipe in the later stages and that was broken off and we reported that to the Barbados Water Authority.” Layne also revealed that the Nature Fun Ranch was being billed by the Barbados Water Authority at a commercial rate although they operated a farm on site. “I understand there is a policy when it comes to farms and I believe the rate that we are under is some kind of commercial rate which does not really include what we are doing here. So we pay a very expensive price for water and at the end of the day I am not passing on blame,” he said. The founder of Nature Fun Ranch said despite entering a payment agreement with the Barbados Water Authority the organization was not able to make the payments with the revenue they earn on a monthly basis. “The reality is that the ranch’s expenses in no way can meet what we gain in terms of revenue, in terms of funding and our own social enterprise selling eggs and chicken when the week comes,” he said. Layne noted his displeasure that the entity was unable to receive a waiver on their water bill as they have catered to at-risk youth for over two decades. As the island experiences a drought this dry season, Layne said one of their major sources of water which came from the Bruce Vale River had dried up. “[The water] we are using today is a combination of water we collected as we teach them about climate change and emergency supply. We have a tank, so we have to see how long that is going to hold out. We also collected water from the river and as you know this is the dry season, so the river is pretty dry, so we have been unable to depend on the rive for the last few months.” Layne appealed to members of the public willing to contribute towards paying off the ranch’s water bill to ring the farm at 851-1637. (BT)

‘I PROTEST’ – Desperation forced Janice Harris to mount a one-woman protest outside the Houses of Parliament today. She wanted the attention of the Government, she told Barbados TODAY. And she got it. The former maid who retired medically unfit from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) said she came to the House of Assembly during its regular Tuesday session to demand urgent answers from lawmakers after receiving $47.51 in Government pension for the month of April. Harris, 55, a single mother of an 18-year-old son, said that before last month she was receiving $608 from the Treasury as a part of her Government pension. This was later increased to $628 and she also got an invalidity benefit of over $800, she said. She said she used this money to pay her utilities and buy food for her household but she was now virtually empty-handed without warning. “Right now, I do not have food in the house. Right now, I have to get glasses, my shoes dropping in holes. I cannot go to Welfare as I am not a welfare client. They could have taken some, but they take all. They need to go back and review it as they are many more medically unfit. “You cannot leave us as citizens of Barbados like that. It is a disgrace. What are you putting me to do? There is nowhere in the world that I could live off $47.51 and have no other income. “There are people that are medically unfit in this country who cannot work and you are pushing us into a one pension system and most of the people that I know are tied up in a mortgage so what are you sending [us] to do? “I had to turn to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) with desperation this morning. Right now, I have no money to pay my bills, no money to buy food. I cannot buy anything of my own. It has taken away all of my freedom.” Harris said that back in 2011 she fell at her home at 629 Chelston Cross Lane, Bayville, St Michael, and injured the rotator cuff in her right arm. As she worked as a maid her injury made it difficult for her to work and she came out of the service in 2013 medically unfit after ten years of broken service . “At the time you would go to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and they would qualify you for injury benefits. At the QEH, you would receive your gratuity in a reduced pension,” she said. Harris said after spending her time in the state-owned hospital where she worked tirelessly to ensure it was kept clean, she was hurt with the treatment she was now receiving at Government’s hands. “You know what hurts me? You can go to the QEH and check my dedication to that hospital. I was one of the most devoted maids in this country. I was dedicated to the Government of Barbados; you can ask my housekeeper. “I was faithful. I was one of the maids that spent hours looking after the public, cleaning the toilets and you are going to tell me today that this is what the Government could offer me? I had to do something about it. You cannot live off $47.51 no matter how you swing it.” Harris’ protest got the attention of her MP in St Michael South, Minister of Maritime Affairs Kirk Humphrey, who pledged to meet with her tomorrow to discuss her plight. She later told Barbados TODAY: “I felt a load was lifted as I know Kirk Humphrey as he does not live far from me. This is an emergency. “You know you are a woman and you have your bills ready to cut off. You cannot wait till the grass grow and the horse starving. I appreciate it. I will meet with Kirk very early in the morning. We will meet he said 8:30 a.m. But one thing that I want is money to pay my bills and buy food.” Harris said that her NIS invalidity benefit is paying the mortgage until she is 67. “They cannot tell me about National Insurance Scheme because that mortgage to pay is $782 per month. If it wasn’t [tied to] the mortgage no problem. I have up to 67 [to repay the mortgage]. The bank said, ‘Miss Harris I have given you the lowest percent,’” she said. The single mother attributed her faith in God to saving her from spiralling into depression as she grapples with her money woes. “If I did not know God, I would be so depressed. I would suffer from mental depression when I sit down and I see what happened to me as a Government worker. I may have been a psychiatric patient,” she declared. (BT)

RISKY CALL – Motorists who continue to use mobile phones while driving are now also risking their vehicle’s insurance coverage should they get into an accident. The Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited is now set to deny comprehensive coverage to the guilty motorists once it is established that they were using a phone that was not in “hands-free” mode at the time. Deputy Chief Executive Officer of ICBL Goulbourne Alleyne confirmed this position has been communicated to its policyholders and said other motor insurance companies are hot on the trail. Noting that third-party coverage in these circumstances would not be affected, Alleyne explained that the insurance fraternity was merely getting behind the year-old legislation which saw chances to the Road Traffic Act, that makes it a violation to drive a vehicle while “holding, talking on, manipulating or a using a cell phone”. Those guilty of this crime face a $2,000 fine, 18 months in prison or both. The legal changes have received the blessings of the Barbados Road Safety Association and some motorists. Now, ICBL and at least one other unnamed insurance company has taken the decision not to cover damages for the insured party once he or she is discovered to have contravened the traffic law in relation to cell phone use. Alleyne explained that the new measure was simply in keeping with the law. “It is for the safety of the general public that we align ourselves with the legislation,” he said. ICBL wrote to its policyholders informing them that effective June 29, 2019, “Section 1 of this policy does not cover any loss or damage to the insured’s vehicle whilst driven by any person who is: holding, manipulating, talking on or using a cellular telephone that is capable of receiving or transmitting telephone communication, electronic data, electronic mail or text messages, which is not in hands-free mode in accordance with the regulations made under the provisions of the Road Traffic Act, Cap 294 of the laws of Barbados.” The notice also stated that all other terms, conditions, exceptions, exclusions and/ or provisions of their policy remain unchanged. Alleyne, who is also President of the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB) told Barbados TODAY “What the person would have received from us is an endorsement that if they are involved in an accident and it is proven that they were using a cell phone at the time of an accident, which would be the main cause or reason why the accident would have occurred, we reserve the right not to pay the own-damage portion of the claim,” he explained. “Own-damage means that portion of the claim relating to that person’s vehicle. We are still obligated, by law, to pay the third-party damage. So it is not that we are not insuring the person. It aligns itself with legislation,” he explained. Pointing out that other insurance companies were in the process of introducing a similar clause, the GIAB president said “I have spoken to several others and they are moving in the same direction, but as you know ICBL has a significant share of the market in terms of the motoring public and we decided to lead the way. But we are not the only company that has it on… and as I mentioned, other companies will follow suit with a similar endorsement of their policy,” said Alleyne. (BT)

CIBC FIRSTCARIBBEAN GRIPPED BY SCAMMERS – Crooks are running a phone scam targeting CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank customers in which they receive either a phone call or an email asking for their banking information, Barbados TODAY has learned. Individuals have been sharing several accounts on social media, with one woman saying she was asked to give her credit card number to a caller but when she refused the caller hung up. When she contacted the bank she was told by a representative that the bank was aware of the scam, she said. The bank has since issued a fraud advisory on its website, warning its clients against giving out banking information, saying it would never telephone or send email or text messages requesting them to update or provide personal and account information, including user ID, password or account numbers. “CIBC FirstCaribbean will also never send a link embedded in an email requesting a client user ID or password,” the bank said. It was not immediately clear where the callers or emails were coming from, but the bank further advised customers: “If you receive an email purporting to be from us and you are unsure of its legitimacy, contact us at [email protected] or call us at 1(866)743-2257”. (BT)

ARTHUR OUT ON MEDICAL GROUNDS – After spending six nights with no sleep at Her Majesty’s Prison, Dodds, convicted man Richard Delisle Arthur can now await his fate in the comfort of his Maynards, St Peter home. The expert marksman, who had been remanded last Wednesday until July 19 pending sentencing on an ammunition conviction, was granted $150,000 bail in the No. 2 Supreme Court today on medical grounds. Last Friday he approached the court for bail after spending just a little over 48 hours on remand. That petition was denied and a request was made for his doctor to make an appearance to advise on his medical challenges for which he had produced a medical certificate. Dr Carlisle Goddard took the stand today and informed Justice Randall Worrell through questions by Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim that the 57-year-old was suffering from hypertensive heart disease, generalised anxiety disorder, and was in the care of a cardiologist. The medical physician and internal medicine specialist also disclosed that although he tried to see his patient over the weekend, he was only able to do so yesterday. Arthur, he said, was “quite dishevelled”. “He was tearful, he was very unsettled at the time, anxious to . . . being agitated. When I enquired about his status, he said that he had not slept since last Thursday,” the witness said. Dr Goddard added that Arthur had not seen a medical doctor since he was remanded. “I had a chat with the prison warden who indicated that they were severely short of staff and they were unable to provide round-the-clock medical care and that they were only seeing persons particularly on the morning shift. So any night medications could not be given because there was no staff available . . . That is not the ideal medical setting that I would advise,” Dr Goddard stated. He revealed that given Arthur’s medical challenges, “It is not in [his] best interest to be incarcerated at this time.” “Whatever the court outcome, he will have to sort that out. But I think in the interim [what can be done] is to prepare him mentally, to make sure that he has access to medication as well as put in place proper medical referrals should he have breakdowns . . . .” Dr Goddard however explained under cross examination by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale that if it was the court’s ruling that Arthur be incarcerated, the necessary systems must first be put in place for him or anyone suffering with similar ailments. “If all of those things are available and he has the proper treatment then if that is the will of the court that he be incarcerated he can be managed. He would have to be seen on a medical basis until he is settled because he will escalate further until he plateaus and. . . as long as there is a management plan in place to treat that, then he can be treated, but it has to be in place,” the doctor said. Back in February 2012 Arthur was granted $50,000 bail and ordered to report to the District ‘E’ Police Station twice weekly. However, having been found guilty by a nine-member jury of having 102 rounds of ammunition in his possession on January 31, 2012 without a valid licence, Justice Worrell today increased the bail sum to $150,000 with orders that he report to the same police station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. His passport will also remain with the court. “Very well sir, I will comply,” said Arthur, who had been sitting quietly in the dock. Moments before he had informed the judge that “all my firearms I handed over in 2012”. After getting the necessary documents in place Arthur walked out of the Whitepark Road Supreme Court around 4:46 p.m. accompanied by family members. He returns to court on July 19. (BT)

CASE AGAINST LAWYER CONTINUES TOMORROW – The High Court trial of attorney-at-law Vonda Minerva Pile will continue in the No. 5 Supreme Court tomorrow. When the matter was called for hearing today, the accused lawyer informed Madam Justice Pamela Beckles her lone witness was not available today as she was unwell. Pile is accused of stealing US$96,008.22 belonging to her former client, Anstey King, between April 29, 2009 and October 26, 2010 and engaging in the disposal of the amount being the proceeds of crime during that time. She has pleaded not guilty to the two charges and is currently on trial before a nine-member jury. Pile is representing herself while acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Blackman and Senior Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney are the prosecutors. (BT)

MISTRIAL MOTION DENIED – An attempt by attorney Vincent Watson to have the case against Coast Guard Lieutenant David Harewood declared a mistrial was dismissed today. Watson made the submission on the second day of the hearing at St Ann’s Fort, where Harewood is being court martialed on four offences, including two of “communicating with the enemy”. Harewood faces charges that between August 7 and 10, 2018, without lawful authority knowingly communicated with Akem Waithe, alias Ellis, while using a cellular phone belonging to the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) and that on an unknown date in January 2018, he communicated with a well known drug trafficker. Harewood also faces a charge that on an unknown date in January 2018, being a commissioned officer in the BDF, having knowledge of a threat to the life of a junior member, neglected to inform his superiors of such a threat. Additionally, he is charged with conducting unauthorised information gathering operations, conduct unbecoming of a commissioned officer in the BDF. During his cross examination of Ward Officer Christopher Blenman, the witness said he had received a statement from a person interviewed in the investigations. When questioned, Blenman, who was part of a two-man team that offered the charges against Harewood, said the statement was “interrelated” with Harewood’s case. However, Watson, who had raised the issue of not benefitting from full disclosure on previous occasions, revealed that he had no knowledge of any such statement from that individual. The defence counsel then made a claim for the tribunal to declare a mistrial, stating that his client was being prejudiced as important information was not being shared with him. He said that particular statement if there was indeed one, was “critical to his defence”. Prosecutor Lieutenant Jamal Bourne then told the court that he had no such statement. But Watson rebutted by pointing out that whether the prosecution was in possession of that statement did not nullify the fact that there was indeed one. However, president Lieutenant Colonel Rohan Johnson ruled that since the prosecution had no such statement and would not be using it to prove its case, there was no ground for a mistrial to be declared. While on the stand, Blenman admitted that while Harewood had been charged with both “communicating with the enemy” and “communicating with a well known drug trafficker”, up to the time of the charges being laid he had no evidence to suggest that. Under cross examination from Watson, Blenman said he did not know Akem Waithe to be a drug trafficker, but he was a “suspected drug trafficker”. Additionally, counsel suggested that Waithe did not meet the definition of being an “enemy” as defined by the Barbados Defence Force, which defined any such person as being armed. As it related to the charge of conducting unauthorised information gathering operations, Blenman said there was no evidence the accused had been directed to do so by any superior, as was required. Blenman also said the accused had not reported any findings of his investigations to a superior, or to the BDF’s Chief of Staff. In fact, he said he only became aware Harewood had any knowledge of “sensitive information” when he was interviewed during the investigations. The Ward Officer of 38 years also denied suggestions by the defense lawyer that information had been unlawfully retrieved from his client’s cellular phone. Also taking the stand today was Sergeant Tina Barnett who executed the search warrant at Harewood’s residence. She told the court that the warrant was also to seize any cellular phones or storage devices belonging to the accused as well as a Terrell Gibbons. Due to the sensitive information of another witness, an in camera hearing was admitted. The case continues tomorrow at 9 a.m. (BT)

REMAND FOR TWO – Two St Michael men were remanded to HMP Dodds today despite successful bail applications by their attorneys-at-law. They are: 49-year-old Robert Dacosta Walker, of No. 36 Seclusion Gardens, Black Rock and 29-year-old Corey Athelbert Lynch of Small Land, Bridge Gap. Both unemployed men were each offered bail in the sum of $50,000 but up to the end of the day’s sitting they had no suitable sureties to sign on their behalf. They are charged with obtaining $4,089.75 worth of diesel from ANSR Investments Limited on April 30 via a forged CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Barbados) cheque made payable to the company and drawn on the account of Sunset Point knowing it to be forged. They are also charged with obtaining $40, 469. 36 worth of building materials and hardware items from the Liquidation Centre via a forged Republic Bank (Barbados) cheque made payable to Furniture Limited on May 10. The accused were not required to plea to the indictable charges. Walker is separately charged with stealing $400 cash on April 14 belonging to Ryan Jefferies. He pleaded not guilty to that offence. Lynch is also facing several separate charges including uttering a forged CIBC FirstCaribbean cheque to Wildey Service Station Limited in the amount of $123. 80 drawn on the account of MGG Trading Limited as well as obtaining $123.80 in gasoline and forging the cheque on May 15. He is further accused of forging and uttering a cheque to ANSR Investment Limited for the sum of $4, 089. 75 drawn on the account of Sunset Point. He was not required to plea to the indictable charges as well a that of uttering the forge cheque which was paid to Furniture Limited. Lynch entered a not guilty plea to the charge that he dishonestly obtained from Travel Safe Car Rentals Inc a motorcar by deception by representing that the licence bearing the name Kyle Davison Lorde was a genuine document issued by the Barbados Licensing Authority on May 13. He also pleaded not guilty to the April 17 charge that he allegedly took a motorcar for his use without lawful consent of the owner. He is also facing two charges in the District ‘E’ Holetown jurisdiction and will appear in that court on May 30 to answer charges that he had a blank CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Barbados) Limited cheque in his possession on May 16 drawn on the account of MGG Trading Limited for use in connection with criminal deception when he was not at his home. He is further accused of driving a hired vehicle about 8:30 p.m. on Risk Road, St James on the same date when he was not the holder of a driver’s licence. No pleas were taken for those two charges. Officer Kenmore Phillips objected to bail for the accused pointing to the “high level of deception” used to perpetrate the alleged offences, the nature and seriousness of the offences as well as for society’s protection and that of accused. The prosecutor also stated that both men were already on bail on similar charges and that the new charges occurred in two jurisdictions and over several days. “If granted bail they are likely to reoffend,” the police constable said. However, Angela Mitchell-Gittens who is Lynch’s legal counsel contended that her client’s pending charges before the court should not infringe on his pretrial liberty as it was “through no fault of his own” that those charges had not advanced. Regarding the perceived deception, she asked Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant not to rely on the submission as the charges before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court were mere allegations at this time and the issue of deception only comes at the sentencing stage. The attorney also said that the prosecutor’s reference to protecting society does not hold any weight in the circumstances. “Is he such a dangerous man . . . with a pen?” the attorney asked, adding that her client was a proper candidate for bail as he had kept his court dates on previous occasions. Walker’s attorney Shadia Simpson echoed Mitchell-Gittens submissions but pointed out that while her client had pending matters, in his case, the new charges before the court were only in one jurisdiction. “There is no evidence before the court to the objection of protection of society as they were not offences where violence was used,” Simpson stated as she pointed out that Walker was a father of five. She revealed that her client was pleading with the court to grant him his pretrial liberty so he could continue taking care of his children including his youngest who is autistic. After considering the submissions the magistrate ruled in favour of the defence and offered the accused $50,000 bail each with supporting documents. However, they were not able to present the sureties to the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court and were remanded to Dodds until June 25. (BT)

BRAVO SIZING UP WORLD CUP – Veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has confirmed his return to international cricket eight months after announcing his retirement, and says he is already eyeing next year’s Twenty20 World Cup in Australia. The 35-year-old said he had already spoken to new interim chairman of selectors, Robert Haynes, along with recently-elected Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt, and would be making himself available for selection in the shortest format. “We had a chat, we had a discussion. I haven’t come out of retirement officially like making a public announcement but there is some truth to it,” Bravo said in a recent radio interview. “If I was selected to go to the (50 overs) World Cup, I would have made myself available but I have committed to Mr Skerritt, and to the selectors and obviously now the fans will know that moving forward where T20s are concerned, I’m going to come back and play T20s for West Indies and try to contribute as much as I can as long as I am healthy. (MWN)

FORMER JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER EDWARD SEAGA HAS PASSED AWAY – Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga has died. Seaga, who turned 89 today, was Jamaica’s fifth prime minister, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the JLP from 1974 to 2005 when he retired from active politics. Since his retirement he has been an honorary distinguished fellow at the professorial level at The University of the West Indies, and also served as chancellor of the University of Technology, Jamaica. He fell ill earlier this month and was being treated in Miami, Florida. Prime Minister Andrew Holness has expressed condolences to the family of former prime minister. “Mr Seaga will live on through his stellar contribution to national development that defined our nation and provided service and value; indeed a legacy for generations now and generations to come. “The nation has lost a leader with true human values. I offer my sincere and deepest condolences to his widow Carla and the rest of his family,” Holness said. (BT)

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