Sprucing up
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
On St. John, it is like maintaining the Golden Gate Bridge. Once you finish painting it, it’s time to start again.
(Fresh, lemon yellow at the Beach Bar.)
Archive for March, 2010
Learn to speak Crucian
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
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“Mout don know no Sunday!”
Try that next time you want to tell somebody to shut up.
Robin Sterns, an English teacher at the UVI St. Croix campus was looking for a way to engage her students in research and applied writing, and assigned some of them to research language patterns and rules in the local dialect, Virgin Islands Creole.
Out of that research came a book: Say it in Crucian!, a book full of everyday phrases, stories and even classic fairy tales, translated into Crucian.
“I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I decided to publish the book, and was astonished when my first press run of 500 sold out in four days,” Robin tells us. “I’ve sold nearly all of the 1,500 I had printed after that and am starting to work on a second edition that includes some urban slang.”
She also learned a few things as an English teacher. Like, it isn’t a typo when students write “taught” in a sentence that is meant to say “thought.”
The book is based on the way St. Croix natives speak and, while you’ll hear much of it on St. John too, Robin says there are differences.
“There were fewer Danes and more English and Irish on St. Croix and some pronunciations reflect that,” Robin says. “I’d love to expand this project to include St. Thomian and St. Johnian expressions.”
You can get a taste of it at Robin’s book at her online Crucian dictionary here. You might learn something. Head no mek for hat alone!
Beach Break: Late winter Cinnamon
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010Here is Cinnamon Bay a couple of weeks ago… on an overcast day with one of the last winter North Shore swells churning up the waters.
Even on a rough and overcast day, the beauty of this beach is seriously awesome.
Kristen Maize is back, and showing
Monday, March 29th, 2010
St. John artist Kristen Maize has been back on St. John for awhile after spending a good part of 2009 traveling the world to exotic locations.
And her latest paintings are part of a show that opens Friday at Bajo del Sol in Mongoose Junction, along with Denise Wright and Mandy Thody.
“Half of the paintings were inspired by my recent travels, which were amazing!” Kristen says. “The other half are still lifes of vessels. I did some research into what the bowls and vases looked like before they became the pottery shards we find on St. John today.”
One series is titled “Before They Were Shards.”
Besides painting, Kristen is now conducting field work and lab work for the University of the Virgin Islands by day, and working at the new Westin Restaurant at night.
“I think my recent work has a different feel than past works, but I’ll leave that up to the viewer to decide,” says Kristen.
You can see some of Kristen’s newest works, here!
Shannon’s first impression
Saturday, March 27th, 2010
Remember Shannon, the St. John fan who’d never been?
Now she’s been and she loved it.
Shannon and two friends only had a few hours to explore before they had to return to their cruise ship. But they did all the right things. Lunch at Woody’s. A swim and some sun at Trunk. And of course at stop a St. John Spice to say Hi.
“It is wonderful here. Everything I expected,” says Shannon. “I am definitely going to live here someday and yes, I’ll be back as soon as possible. I’m already planning my next trip!”
No smoking: Discuss, please
Friday, March 26th, 2010
That ashtray could soon be very clean and very lonely.
While you were secretly dreaming about that $2.50 pack of vacation-only Marlboro Lights, the Virgin Islands government has been busy plotting to snuff out smoking in public places.
And right now, the legislation goes as far as giving cops the authority to enforce it. That’s a bit much. (At least it would distract them from busting up on folks for unloading luggage at the ferry.)
Go ahead. Discuss. Smoke-free St. John or not?
Oh those Coral Bay pranksters
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
The new Triangle sign in Coral Bay is barely a finished work, and already a Coral Bay hooligan has had some fun with it (poking fun at the out of gas Coral Bay gas station the sign directs you to.)
The sign is having some fun with itself too … with Skinny Legs holding up the bench. (Actually, they are just kind of dangling there, which is a bit disturbing.)
So the new sign is not so horrible and all “un-Coral Bay” after all, is it?
Love City Home & Garden Center
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
The old concrete plant on Centerline Road is now Love City Home & Garden Center, selling furniture, art, and plants, and offering both landscaping and decorating services.
Liz Hall, who opened St. Thomas furniture store Island Empire in 2001, and Rosalee Gage, a Virgin Islands native who recently returned to the islands after a successful landsaping career in the states, opened the store together.
“I always wanted to open a place on St. John, because my greatest clients on St. Thomas are the ones who come over from St. John,” says Liz. “The store has lots of on-site inventory, but we’ve got all our catalogs and swatches up here too, so we can bring things over or order for you… and you never have to go to St. Thomas.” (Nice.)
The store and the gardens are quite colorful, too.
“We’ve made it aesthetically pleasing because we want it to be a place where people come and feel creative. We also use the gardens as display areas for our furniture,” Rosalee says.
And even if you’re not looking for furniture or plants, you might find something. The store is serving as kind of a coop for local artists as well.
Oh…and that gigantic butterfly?
“It’s a hand painted kite I bought in a village in Bali that makes nothing but kites,” says Liz. “We wanted something that makes a statement. Does it?”
Uh, yes it does. Very cool.
Progress. Kills. Pink.
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
If you’ve got a picture of Coral Bay’s Love City Mini-Mart it in all its pinkness, you now have a collectible.
The hot pink is gone.
The store is now just a bland off-white. Progress stinks I tell ya.
Boat Cam: Scott Beach
Monday, March 22nd, 2010We have heard some complaints recently about non-Caneel guests being told to get off this beach.
You can’t cross private property to get to it, but if you’re coming by boat, there’s nothing preventing you from enjoying this beach.
Take a hassle-free look, below!
Victor Provost makes hometown appearance
Friday, March 19th, 2010St. John native Victor Provost spends most of his time these days touring spots like the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center, but last week he returned to the St. John School of the Arts, where he got his start playing steel drums.
Victor’s appearance, with his 21st Century Band, was part of the Virgin Islands History Month, sponsored by the Virgin Islands Cultural Heritage Institute, which is staging concerts throughout all three islands.
“I often play when I’m at home, but this was an opportunity to showcase the world-class Caribbean jazz sound of the 21st Century Band,” Victor told us. “And that the steel pan can be a unique jazz instrument.”
(The St. John School for the Arts is a pretty cool place, by the way.)
Here is a couple of minutes of Victor Provost’s performance.
Gifft Hill gutters
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Your tax dollars, hard at work.
The South Shore Road’s rehabilitation under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes new shoulder drainage along Gifft Hill Road.
Repair work to Route 104 was announced in September, but did not immediately begin. The nine month long, $4 million project will include repaving 2.8 miles.
The South Shore Road project was the first federal stimulus project announced in the Virgin Islands.
