Creative Imagination - 21 Miles Long and A Smile Wide

Dear Staff, Student, Alumni & Friend,

The Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination is exploring the option of offering a number of exciting classes for your benefit but first we want to hear from you!!!

If you are interested in any of the topics mentioned below, just drop us an email with the name of the course you would like to get involved in. Once we have heard from you, we will attempt to get that session up and running, but this will be based on the total number of interested persons. These classes are proposed to run for 8-10 weeks on average.

They will also be designed for you to learn something new, expand your current skills, show-off your talent and creativity, but most importantly, for you to have some FUN!!!

Proposed Programming:

• Screenwriting - From the idea to the first draft.
• Drawing & Painting – The many shades & forms of you.
• Belly Dance – Time to make those tummies & hips move!!!!
• Pre-production - The value of careful planning.
• Sculpture – Mold & shape your creative side.
• Creative Writing – From poetry to playwriting… bring out the storyteller in you!!!
• Latin American Dance – Salsa anyone???
• Interior Design – Learn to make your home look brand new!!!
• Pilates Sculpting – Body conditioning aimed at strengthening the core muscles and toning for a longer, leaner look.

Or if you have your own list of suggested classes that you would like to become involved in, please let use know…

It’s all up to YOU!!!

Kind regards

Carla W. Springer BSc., MA

Programme Officer - Arts Events

The Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination

The University of the West Indies

Cave Hill Campus

St. Michael, Barbados. BB11000

Friday, November 14, 2008

Passion Fruit and Passion Flowers

I have always loved everything and anything tropical. Although I grew up in the arctic climate of Chicago, I never enjoyed any of the classic Midwestern bounty. Apples? I don't think so. Peaches"? Please. Mulberries? Try again. I only eat pineapple, papaya, coconut and my all time favorite, passion fruit. I drink passion fruit juice like most people sip lattes and passion flower tea crowds my cabinet next to the chai. Imagine my wonder when I kept noticing this lush bush of little green fruit. I asked my South Carolina friends what the fruit was but they could only guess. Lime? Unripe lemons? I knew better but I couldn't quite figure out why. Finally, our Bajan guide handed one to me. As soon as it hit my hand, I knew. Passion fruit! All those years of gobbling it in dozens of forms, I had never seen the actual fruit. I felt like I had rejoined a long-lost part of myself.

These bushes line the path going up to St. Nicholas Abbey in Northern Barbados. Although the passion fruit won most of my attention, St. Nicholas is actually quite notable. It's a four story plantation house that stands as one of the last authentic 17th century houses of the new world. Built in 1658 of limestone and brick, it's one of only three existing Jacobean houses in the Western Hemisphere. Another one, Drax Hall is also in Barbados and the other is Bacon's Castle in Virginia. St. Nicholas was never an abbey, it's thought to be named after St. Nicholas parish near Bristol and the nearby Bath Abbey where the British owners used to live. The original owner, Benjamin Berringer and his wife Margaret are famous for reasons other than St. Nicholas Abbey. It seems that Margaret had an affair with their neighbor John Yeamans. Berringer challenged Yeamans to a duel and wound up dead, either from a bullet or poison, depending on which story is being told. Yeamans married Margaret and took over the plantation. The courts eventually returned the estate to the Berringer children and Yeamans and Margaret left Barbados to help settle South Carolina, where he became govenor in 1672. Margaret married a third time after Yeamans died. It makes me think that maybe there is something to all those passion fruits lining the estate...

21 Miles Long and A Smile Wide

That's how locals describe Barbados and I have to agree with them. It's not a big island, it's not a small island but you'll find something to make you smile, whether it's the weather, the landscape, the culture or the people. I did a lot of laughing and smiling while I was there, I think Bajans are very intriguing people. I heard loads of thought-provoking comments and discussions that I'll detail later. Going through my photos, I jogged through my memory to try and find the most memorable experience I had there. I'm still processing them (along with a cold I got from the combination of rainy season and air conditioning )but I did find a shot that counts as one of the most unforgettable scenes. On the northern side of Barbados, in the parish of St. Andrew,

Cherry Tree Hill Reserve boasts the most spectacular view on the island. Despite it's name, it's not cherry trees that fill the grove (they died a long time ago) but gorgeous mahogany trees. Looking over the hill at about 850 feet above sea level, beyond the sugarcane and majestic mahogany, a stunning view of the Atlantic coast fills your senses. Gazing out over that hill was one of the best sights I had while I was in Barbados.

I'm off to the lovely coral island of Barbados. Besides drowning myself in soca, I'll be exploring the cultural connections between South Carolina and Barbados. Both places were established by the same man and the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor is sending me on a Caribbean-Carolina discovery tour. There won't be any more posts this week but look for my dispatches from Barbados next week.