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Tribute to Miss Lou

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  • Tribute to Miss Lou

    <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>A tribute to Miss Lou</SPAN>
    <SPAN class=Subheadline>Bookshelf</SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>BY A W SANGSTER
    Sunday, August 20, 2006
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
    <P class=StoryText align=justify>Title: A SEA OF WISDOM Island Proverbs
    Author: By Ingrid Walter and Sabina Theobalds
    Publisher: Walter and Co Toronto 2004


    LOUISE Bennett-Coverley (Miss Lou to all of us) was buried in State two Wednesdays ago beside her husband in the area beside the National Heroes Park enclosure - in a place reserved for those not in the formal enclosure but who have received an Official/State funeral.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There has been talk of making her another - the eighth - of our National Heroes. On a practical matter, we would have to disinter her bones and move her from beside her beloved husband to the inner circle of National Heroes Park. Let's just leave Miss Lou where she is and close the books on our National Heroes.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=180 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description></SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>What we could do, if there was the will to do so, would be to place a statue of her in her Jamaican finery at the Emancipation Park in place of the lewd and offensive statue at the entrance to the park. She would have an even greater influence on our national life at that spot than in the seclusion of the Heroes section of the National Heroes Park.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Miss Lou was a class act and one that has endeared her to generations of Jamaicans at home and abroad. Her capacity to apply dialect in a professional way without either being patronising or subservient has created the climate for a greater understanding of the local dialect without losing the capacity to understand the Queen's English. Such was the power of the Miss Lou.<P class=StoryText align=justify>She has been featured in several publications. Among these are:<P class=StoryText align=justify>. Jamaican Song and Story, edited by Walter Jekyll with introductions by Philip Sherlock, Louise Bennett and Rex Nettleford and was published nearly 40 years ago.
    . Jamaican Labrish
    . Anancy and Miss Lou<P class=StoryText align=justify>This review of the book - A Sea of Wisdom - is dedicated to her memory. The selection from seven Caribbean countries captures the freshness of Miss Lou's personality as the Caribbean citizen she really was.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As the authors point out "as you read through the proverbs, you will be intrigued by the magical use of simple elements like food, animals, insects, even plants to provide profound comments on human nature, morality, parenting, friendship, greed, and more".<P class=StoryText align=justify>The proverbs from the seven countries chosen are presented mainly as: Human Relations, Consequences, Work, Human Nature, Making Choices, Power and Hope. The authors are working out of Canada and live there. Ingrid Walter is originally from Jamaica while Sabina Theobalds is of St Lucian ancestry.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The proverbs are presented initially in the local dialect with 'translations' and interpretations where necessary. In the case of Cuba the proverbs are in Spanish with English translations and for St Lucia, the proverbs are in the original French Creole with English interpretations. There is a brief introduction to each of the territories. A few selections from each of the seven territories follow.

    Human Relations
    Jamaica: Fowl 'gree fe 'atch duck hegg, but im no gree fe teach duck pickney fe swim.
    A chicken agrees to hatch the duck's egg but not to teach the ducklings to swim<P class=StoryText align=justify>Do not impose on another pe
    THERE IS ONLY ONE ONANDI LOWE!

    "Good things come out of the garrisons" after his daughter won the 100m Gold For Jamaica.


    "It therefore is useless and pointless, unless it is for share malice and victimisation to arrest and charge a 92-year-old man for such a simple offence. There is nothing morally wrong with this man smoking a spliff; the only thing wrong is that it is still on the law books," said Chevannes.
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