Tribute to Winston Saunders by Rex Nettleford

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TRIBUTE TOWINSTON V SAUNDERS, CMG

By Professor Rex NettlefordVice Chancellor Emeritus

Every society throws up in each generation persons of immense talent, intellectual energy and creative excellence. Winston V Saunders, legal luminary and cultural activist was such a person with talents ranging from playwriting and acting to musicianship and the sort of vision about culture and development. That vision and the actions that followed from it informed his stance on the building of a new Bahamian nation and the shaping of the self-directed society he wished to have tenanted by a confident, culturally aware citizenry with a sense of place, of purpose and of history to undergird the certitude which he saw an independent Commonwealth of Bahamas becoming.He made sure to marry a historian – Dr. Gail who is the proud recipient of an honorary doctorate from our University of the West Indies. As a highly respected Caribbean historian among her peers, she was his best friend offering to him the kind of support that true friendship engenders. Packed in Winston’s bags on coming to Jamaica and sadly to his untimely passing was her latest chronicling (along with Patrice Williams) of the conflict, controversy and control that attended constitutional and parliamentary issues in the contentious 18th and 19th century Bahamas.

For Winston, the natural scholar and student of Bahamian affairs, understood such congenital indulgences of his well-nigh ungovernable contradictory, contentious but exciting Bahamas which he cherished and which cherished him no less. It was that loving, compassionate, caring relationship with the history and existential reality of the Caribbean region as a whole which made him the most engaging of informed and witty conversationalist, the most engaged of Bahamian national and optimistic Caribbean man that he became. Such special attributes endeared him to all who had encounters with this civilized, hospitable, sophisticated, multifaceted polymath of a textured human being whom we will all remember and forever treasure.It was his understanding of the persistent historical features of both his own and the wider Caribbean society that drove him to Jamaica to participate in discussions about collaborative engagement in the commemoration of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade which has had such a profound and lasting impact on the lives and being of us as a people of the Americas – that is ever since Cristobal Colon accidentally landed and was discovered by Native Americans on a Bahamian beach. Unfortunately, Winston was not to participate in the meetings that followed his arrival in Jamaica. But to his conscious end his mind continued to grapple with the awesome challenge facing his Bahamian compatriots in the quest “to be”, by engagement of a history of severance suffering and survival.It was beyond that survival that we both, along with kindred spirits like the late Clement Bethel his dear departed friend, often discussed throughout the 1970’s and since – always dreaming about a future that spelt hope rather than despair. So what a joy it was to visit the Bahamas to see Winston Saunders and to continue the never ending dialogue which had its full and robust, sometimes humorous, but always profound effect on life and living in our post-colonial Caribbean.His special talents and profound grasp of the centrality of creative energy to the building and shaping his society made him the natural fount of the richness of that sense and sensibility needed to inform the cultural development of his native Bahamas as well as of a philosophy that needed to bring sensitivity and sanity to public policy. He was certain of the need for appropriate institutions to give form and purpose to the innate creativity of his people as well as to preserve the intangible heritage of his fellow Bahamians. And, he was no less certain of the passion and generosity and magnanimity of spirit he felt was vital to strategies of growth and development through the engagement of the arts of the imagination working in tandem with the creative intellect -- individual and collective.The wisdom of the present Administration to engage his services as cultural guru and formally as chairman of the Cultural Development Commission, as well as draughtsman for the legal instruments that reflect the need to formalize but not to gird in an iron-grid framework either the exercise of the creative imagination or the general vision on how to have the arts of the imagination inform intellectual pursuits and public policy. People like Winston Saunders do not grow on trees! He shall be severely missed.All the more reason, then, to celebrate a life rather than to mourn a death. Winston Saunders would not have had it otherwise. And nor should we.

On the Passing of Winston Saunders

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Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone.Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come.Let aeroplanes circle moaning overheadScribbling on the sky the message He is Dead,Put crépe bows round the white necks of the public doves,Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.He was my North, my South, my East and West,My working week and my Sunday rest,My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song,I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.The stars are not wanted now, put out every one;Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.For nothing now can ever come to any good.W. H. Auden

Winston V. Saunders3 October 1941 – 25 November 2006

Winston Saunders was born 3 October 1941 to Harcourt and Miriam Saunders. He attended Quarry Mission School under the late Thelma Gibson, Western Junior School under the late Timothy Gibson, and studied piano under the late Meta Davis-Cumberbatch. He won a place at the Government High School, and attended under Dr. Dean Peggs and Mr. Hugh Davies, where he served as Head Boy. As a musician, he was Organist at the Church of the Holy Spirit and at St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church.He attended the Bahamas Teacher's Training College in Oakes Field under the Rev. Dr. Charles Saunders, and in 1964 obtained a B.A. Degree from London University in Classics. He returned to Nassau, and taught English at St. Anne's High School from 1964 until 1968.He married the former Gail North on April 15, 1968, and returned to London that autumn to pursue a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at London University.Mr. Saunders returned to Nassau to take up the post of Vice Principal at R. M. Bailey, a position he held from 1969 till 1970. He joined the Chambers of Isaacs, Johnson and Co. in 1970 as an Articled Law Student to Ms. Jeanne Thompson, and was called to the Bahamas Bar on September 19, 1974. He became a partner in the law firm of McKinney, Bancroft and Hughes, and worked as a lecturer in Law at the University of the West Indies (Nassau Campus). Between 1993-2000 he served Her Majesty's Coronor.In 1975, Mr. Saunders took up the position of Chairman of the Dundas Civic Centre, and served as Chairman until 1998. During his tenure as Chairman of the Dundas, Bahamian drama thrived. He oversaw the renovations of the theatre, established a repertory season, and under his guidance an entire generation of directors, actors and playwrights was raised. A consummate actor and playwright himself, he is best known for originating such roles as "Pa Ben", in Trevor Rhone's Old Story Time and "Maphusa" in Ian Strachan's The Mysterious Mister Maphusa. He also played "Zachariah" in Athol Fugard's The Blood Knot, "Peter" in Edward Albee's The Zoo Story, "Midge" in Herb Gardner's I'm Not Rappaport and "Charlie" in Larry Shue's The Foreigner — all on the Dundas stage. As a director, he brought productions such as Shaffer's Equus and Baldwin's Amen Corner to Bahamian audiences. He co-directed E. Clement Bethel's Sammie Swain with Philip A. Burrows in 1983 and in 1985 for the Command Performance for H. M. Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1987, co-directed the first Caribbean opera in English, Cleophas Adderley's Our Boys with Philip A. Burrows; in 1989 and 1990 he produced Dis We Tings I and II.It is as a playwright, however, that Mr. Saunders' greatest achievement was gained. He is the author of two seminal Bahamian dramas, Them and You Can Lead A Horse To Water, as well as a series of satirical commentaries on Bahamian life, the Nehemiah Quartet. You Can Lead A Horse To Water is widely recognized as the greatest Bahamian play, and has been produced in Nassau, Freeport, San Francisco, Edinburgh, Michigan, and Trinidad and Tobago.He is a recipient of a number of awards, including several DANSAs for playwriting, the Meta, a special DANSA for Excellence in Theatre, the Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen Award for contribution to Culture, the Silver Jubilee Award for Culture given by the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in 1998.Until his death on November 25, 2006, he served as the Chairman of the National Commission on Cultural Development and chaired the Independence Committee since 2003. In 2004, he was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG). Most recently, his work was the featured presentation of the Bahamas CARIFESTA Contingent in Trinidad and Tobago.Original Post:

Some things you just can't write about straight away. Some things are too raw for writing, or at least for sharing.The death of my second father, Winston Vernon Saunders, on Saturday evening, is one of those things. It would be bad enough if we just had the personal connection with which I've grown up; but in the last four years, he has been my mentor and my balance, especially in the job of Director of Culture. People who know me personally will understand.

So for people wondering where my post on Winston Saunders' passing is, it has yet to be written. In the meantime, here are the words of W. H. Auden.

Undergrounding

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For those of you who've wondered two things, let me fill you in.The first thing may be what's happening with Essays on Life. Well, here's the story. I'm on hiatus from writing at the moment. I blame CARIFESTA preparation and follow-up; but I also need to blame election fever. Essays on Life are not intended to be political in any way, but now that the Season is upon us it's difficult to write essays that aren't received as being political one way or another. (By "political" I mean, of course, party politics; all social comment is political in a wider sense.)In the meantime, I'm working on a couple of things. I'm seriously considering self-publishing Essays on Life, having investigated Lulu.com as a possibility. I'd hoped to get them out of the way in time for Christmas, and may still manage to do so (though time is running out). I've prepared the first volume — the first fifty, arranged chronologically but intended to be indexed alphabetically and by subject as well. I'm also sketching out a series of Essays of Life to be finished and polished outside of deadlines and resubmitted to the Guardian for their use. I hope to finish these by December so that they can begin to run again. It's time for a change of approach, and I'm hoping to tackle bigger subjects than the ones I've already covered.Two: where I've been. Well, this has been a travelling time. I recently attended a workshop in Barbados treating Caribbean cultural industries. I invite you to check out the website for yourselves, as a lengthy explanation of the whys and wherefores will take too long and will make me run out of Starbucks internet time, but let me just say that the workshop has led me to envision the action plan that needs to be encompassed in the draft Cultural Policy. Watch this space.

Celebrations of Mediocrity

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I don't normally listen to Immediate Response; I'm normally a FM listener, switching between More 94 and Love 97 when it comes to talk shows. This week, though, I missed several very interesting shows, apparently. Most interesting were those that criticized those in government who prefer to use excellence and mastery of craft as a criterion for selecting people to represent the country instead appearance or show.I didn't hear the show, but heard of it. I want, though, to link to Obediah Michael Smith's blog, where he puts the point better than I will at this moment. Here's what he has to say:

Such a debate needed to be fixed upon and centered around, not the nonsense giggled about, petty complaints and concerns which took up most of the two hour show, but craft, instrument, art...The audience, the public, everybody involved, must be directed by the artist to focus upon these central, sacred elements: instrument and craft. The body as sex object belongs to the profession of prostitution.A singer’s instrument is the voice. A dancer’s instrument is the body and a body is filled with memories, personal and cultural and speaks many languages. The singer of popular music is usually a singer and a dancer, like Michael Jackson or Tina Turner and has therefore two instruments to perfect and to play.Too often though, especially where popular culture is concerned, fascinated by the phenomenon of fame and fortune, out to exploit the public, persons take to the stage with a bit of talent and a little training, dreaming of being stars.A large part of what we in our country call entertainment and culture is inspired by and is part of this crude phenomenon. I turn away from this. I turn my back upon it.Many do attempt to disguise a lack of craft with what is gratuitous and cheap: gyrating, near-nudity; emphasizing what should not be emphasized, attempting to distract from what they have not had and have not got: training.

Hear, hear, Mr. Smith. And here's the rest.

Bahamian, Woman, Poet, and Good

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In this post, Lynn Sweeting calls attention to the achievements of Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming (otherwise known as Asha), who is featured in Anthurium Vol 4 No 1. Lynn also, quite rightly, laments the fact that Asha wasn't one of the writers who went to CARIFESTA.Lynn's post made me think, and rethink, the concept of selection, of representation, of nationality, and the nature of my job. I don't think it's my place to go into specifics; there are some things that shouldn't be expressed on a personal blog. But I'm finding that there are certain decisions one makes that one would ordinarily disagree with. On the other hand, one finds out that one's private opinions are not always relevant — a strange fact, but true.So I'll try and be general here. How do we collectively decide who represents our nation? When we choose people to send abroad to represent us, what criteria are foremost? And do we use different criteria for different arenas? In sports, for instance, aren't we more forgiving than in culture? How many people we might ordinarily classify as "Jamaican" or "Haitian" have held, and hold, medals for us in the sports arena, and how many of our major sports heroes hold Green Cards or even American passports?Because I find I agree with Lynn; Asha is ours. She is Bahamian, woman, poet, and good. Could she represent our nation in an international festival? Should she? What criteria should we use to pick? And who should decide? Should people who occupy positions of responsibility be guided by the collective will, or should they try and direct that will — or perhaps a little bit of both?I'd better stop writing now. But I'd be interested to see what others think.Edit: for those people who aren't aware, here's some background on Asha Rahming:

Lelawattee Manoo-Rahming was born in Trinidad and lives in Nassau, Bahamas. An artist, poet, fiction writer as well as mechanical/building services engineer and part-time lecturer, she has published poetry in several magazines and anthologies in the Bahamas, the Caribbean and London. She won the David Hough Literary Prize from The Caribbean Writer(2001) and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association 2001 Short Story Competition. Her first book of poetry, Curry Flavour (2000) was published by Peepal Tree Press.

CARIFESTA IX

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So I haven't written much on the thing that's been taking up all my time between waking and sleeping for the past two weeks. CARIFESTA IX Trinidad and Tobago has taken place, and it is winding down with far more energy than it began; and at some point, I will write something about it. But I read the following article today (thanks to my husband, who is an inveterate news consumer) and it struck a chord. But it also reinforced what I know to be true: that culture persists in being regarded throughout the region (with the exception of Suriname, who understands what culture can do for a country, presumably) as "light" fare, something not requiring heads of governments.From the Jamaica Observer:

Participation in CARIFESTA 2006, the ninth since its historic inauguration in Guyana in 1972, came from 23 of an originally expected 30 countries of the Greater Caribbean.Hosting the festival for the third time is estimated to cost Trinidad and Tobago approximately US$5 million (TT$30 million), all being borne by the government in Port-of-Spain.Culture and Community Development Minister Joan Yuille Williams had much praise for the "overwhelming responses" from participating countries in the delegations mounted and, as she reflected, "the inspiring performances being provided in various areas of our rich, diversified cultural life..."...Pity, I told her in our telephone conversation, that the region's media, in particular regional television, had not been incorporated by the local organisers and CARICOM's Regional Cultural Committee as an integral partner to ensure live coverage of at least some major events, including the normally very colourful "parade of nations" ceremonial opening of the festival....Apart from the host country, I cannot recall front-page prominence being provided by any of our leading newspapers monitored, even for the ceremonial opening event. When not sparse, news coverage has often reflected an unfortunate parochial orientation in reports on this grand multi-faceted, pan-Caribbean celebration of the ways of life of the indigenous and all "the peoples who came".from JAMAICA POLL, CARIFESTA CHALLENGES - Rickey Singh

I must say that for the first time in a long time, if ever, this CARIFESTA was well supported for The Bahamas by our media. We had ZNS and BIS with us, as well as a reporter from the Guardian. Perhaps the problem, though, is that culture doesn't count as "news" but as "features". That's worth some discussion, I think, but it's interesting.Anyway, Singh's article provoked my thoughts. I don't know whether CARIFESTA warrants the attendance of Heads of Government or not; that's something I'll have to ponder. But if anybody has their own thoughts, feel free.

CARIFESTA Report #1

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CARIFESTA IX is taking place in Trinidad and Tobago. I arrived with a group of five people to smooth over any bumps in the road on Monday night. Good thing, too — the first bump was the fact that there was a mix-up in our accommodation, and we found ourselves staying overnight in a hotel that we hadn't booked. Yesterday (Tuesday) we firmed up the accommodation, visiting each hotel the contingent is going to stay in, and touching base with the CARIFESTA Secretariat.Today we're heading out of town to go to Naparima to view one of the theatres in which the play is going to be performed. More later.

Hezekiah's Independence

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Some time ago (end of June, I do believe) I attended a book launch at Chapter One, COB's bookstore.  The book was Hezekiah's Independence by Freeport writer Keith A. Russell.Now Keith Russell (known formally as Dr. Keith Russell) is the author of three novels (Hezekiah is his third) and is one of my favourite Bahamian novelists.  He deals with tough stuff in his work — dispossession, identity, injustice, all the stuff that you expect a Caribbean writer to deal with — but he does so in a readable fashion, in lovely prose, and in a very Bahamian way. The Disappearance of J.D. Sinclair tells of an island boy who comes to Nassau and doesn't make good (for reasons, Russell argues, that are beyond his control).  When Doves Cry is harrowing, beautiful, and tragic — not going to tell you anything else except that it's set in the Turks and Caicos and Haitian communities in Grand Bahama — communities that exist on the fringes of Freeport.Hezekiah's Independence (I'm quoting the bookbackblurb here) tells the

engaging tale of four generation of men—a slave who stole himself, a farmer, a poet, and a teacher ...

I'll just post a little from the book itself.  Then you go on over to Chapter One Bookstore — or, if you're in Freeport, track Dr. Russell down — and buy yourself a copy.

When I was young I used to run with Olympic contenders, he says.I sat straight in the chair at the little kitchen table and put down the newspaper.  He turned and stared in my direction for a moment, then returned his gaze to the opening of the door.In Alexandria, during the war, we had to find things to occupy our time.  To kill the boredom and shorten the long meandering days.  Someone came up with the bright idea of having races.  I was the fastest runner of any regiment stationed in Alexandria.  I might have been the fastest in the entire war.  At first, we would race for food or cigarettes or to get off work detail.  Then the officers took an interest.After that, we raced for regiment pride, or to boost moral, to banish facing the truth.  We were considered not fit to fight.  My secret was that right after my first win, I was racing to be counted, to have a measure of respect.  And not just for me.  I never told them, though, that back in Abaco there were young men who would leave me twenty yards behind in a hundred-yard-dash.  But no one ever came to see them.  No one that makes the rules anyway.  They didn't get a chance.  They didn't count.  those flowers never got to bloom.  And every day, even now, that makes me sad.

So maybe it's not MOT

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but if it isn't, it's all of us.  The comment thread that follows the previous post (about tourism and its detrimental effect on culture) raised several points of importance, including the fact that agencies have to be convinced of the quality of Bahamian work before they engage Bahamians to do the work.Hm.

Why Tourism is detrimental to our culture

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And by tourism I don't mean the industry; I mean the Ministry.The main reason -- and I will have to wait to cool off for a little while before I write about it in earnest -- is that the Ministry of Tourism appears to have very little real respect for Bahamian cultural workers.Granted, in the past two years, the Ministry has bought into the idea of cultural tourism. But in so doing they commodify our culture. They have not, however, invested in any appreciative way in the things that they wish to promote. The government as a whole invests precious little of its overall budget on culture in general, but that's another story; it's getting better. But Tourism -- the Ministry, and the people who pull the Ministry's strings -- don't spend their money at home.This story, I don't mind telling you, angered me this morning. It angered me because you can't tell me that there aren't Bahamian professionals who are perfectly capable of making a documentary about The Bahamas -- or, if the point is to have the documentary made in Italian (I don't know why), of working along with Italians to make such a documentary. It angered me because it is one in a long line of such examples. I learned yesterday of a Bill to be placed before Parliament -- apparently -- whose purpose is to give film crews tax breaks to come to The Bahamas; were Bahamian filmmakers consulted? I read the beautiful insert placed in yesterday's Guardian by BahaMar which outlines the plans for Cable Beach -- plans which pay lip service to Bahamians and their culture but plans which are clearly more geared towards creating Las Vegas on New Providence, complete with international performers, than towards building our culture.The tourist industry does not have to be detrimental to our culture. But it is -- simply because, as usual, the people who make the decisions about our culture are overwhelmingly either not-Bahamian (Italian documentary crews, foreign hotel owners) or not-interested (how many of the Ministry of Tourism personnel who make decisions about cultural tourism etc have taken the trouble to expose themselves to the local cultural scene?).The time has come for a major change in the way we do business. I encourage everyone who reads this blog (all three of you) to go download the Draft Cultural Policy, and make your input. Because if we don't, we will be defined, occupied and sold by people who know nothing about us and care even less.

Trinidad

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In addition to sitting in meetings for three days, and then sitting on planes for two more, we were treated to a number of activities (in the evenings, natch). They were all related to culture, and they were all stimulating in different ways.On the first night, the members of the Interim Festival Directorate of CARIFESTA were taken to the National Museum and Art Gallery for a tour and a reception. I'd been there before -- my sister-in-law Tammy's sister, JoAnn, took me there two years ago. The lower floor is the museum, which is efficiently arranged, with a variety of exhibits in different rooms, and the upper floor is the art gallery. Last time I went, I saw what I can only presume was a sample of the national collection, which included paintings from a number of Trini luminaries. But as it was Holy Week, there was a special exhibition on, called Christ in Trinidad. The artist, Jackie Hinkson, was there to meet us. More on that later.On the second night, we (now all the members of the Regional Cultural Committee) were given what was called a "Window on CARIFESTA", at which the Trinidadian logo was unveiled, the jingle was played, and some taste of the kind of show that we might see in September was shared. The evening was a multidisciplinary event, though the disciplines were primarily theatre and music. More on that later.On the third night, we were treated to seats at a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Queen's Hall, courtesy of the Minister of Culture, and then we were further treated to a visit to the All Stars Pan Yard. That was the highlight of the evening. After that we were taken to dinner and were returned home in the wee hours.More on that later.

CARIFESTA

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The Caribbean Festival of Arts was established in 1972 to celebrate the Caribbean arts. There have been eight of these so far, held throughout the region. Until this point, it has been primarily a governmental exercise, but in 2003 a proposal to revamp the festival has recommended that it be opened up to the wider public. The new proposed festival makes room for a fringe (i.e. individuals who wish to attend outside of their governments' official contingents) and for more open attendance.CARIFESTA moves, like the Olympics, from territory to territory. This year it's to be held in Trinidad and Tobago. There's a website here:http://www.carifesta.netMore later.