From the monthly archives:

June 2006

Checks and Balances

27 June 2006

I caught a bit of Issues of the Day yesterday, an interview with US Ambassador John Rood. One of the questions touched upon the American government’s policy to effectively blacklist or quarantine countries whose governments do not fall within US expectations of proper conduct. The Ambassador seemed to support this activity, stating that [...]

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Sexual Selection

25 June 2006

On Monday past, a group of people gathered at the College of The Bahamas to debate the topic of censorship, inspired by the controversy over Brokeback Mountain. Featured speakers were COB lecturers Michael Stevenson, Ian Strachan, and Canon Kirkley Sands, one-time chair of the Bahamas Plays and Films Control Board, as well as Patricia [...]

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Can you say obscenely busy?

21 June 2006

Which is what I’ve been for the last week or so.
Perhaps it’s not as obscene as it sounds.  Perhaps it’s been constructively busy.  Perhaps it’s the last time that our being understaffed at work is going to be a problem (whoops, there goes my head, laughing itself off again).  Perhaps.
But last week I was in [...]

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On Tourism and Sustainable Development

15 June 2006

In early June, The Bahamas played host to a conference to discuss tourism and sustainable development.  Now I don’t mind telling you that I found that more than mildly ironic — if there’s one thing you can’t say about the current state of the Bahamian tourism industry, it’s that it’s sustainable.  The fact that the [...]

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The vulnerability of small-island states

7 June 2006

In case people aren’t aware, this week The Bahamas plays host to an international conference (another, yes) on tourism and sustainable development in small island developing states (SIDS). The outline of the conference is here:
http://www.world-tourism.org/regional/americas/sem_bahamas/bahamas.pdf
It’s an interesting conference. If you look at the outline of the conference you’ll see. The first session [...]

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A Tourist’s Comment

3 June 2006

provides some evidence that we are not dealing with our tourist product the best way. Sharmayne says:
I [am] an African-American and spent my vacation on Paradise Island. I could not wait for some local friends or taxi came to take me away from the place. Maybe it is a paradise….for whites. For me it [...]

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The buck’s gotta stop somewhere

3 June 2006

Yes, I’m still on the topic of tourism and culture.
The reason I’m so antsy about this, Idébu (you would say passionate, and you did, and why do you have to have that pesky accent aigu in the middle of your name?) is that there is a prevailing thought Out There that tourism destroys people’s cultures. [...]

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So maybe it’s not MOT

2 June 2006

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.

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