DOCSLIB.ORG

Redalyc.Tourism, Digital Presence and Becoming Virtual: the Caribbean

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Redalyc.Tourism, Digital Presence and Becoming Virtual: the Caribbean PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural ISSN: 1695-7121 [email protected] Universidad de La Laguna España Best, Curwen Tourism, Digital Presence and Becoming Virtual: The Caribbean PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, vol. 5, núm. 3, septiembre, 2007, pp. 391-398 Universidad de La Laguna El Sauzal (Tenerife), España Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=88150310 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto Vol. 5 Nº 3 págs. 391-398. 2007 www.pasosonline.org Opiniones y ensayos Tourism, Digital Presence and Becoming Virtual: The Caribbean Curwen Best (PhD)1 [email protected] In the movie Shall We Dance John responsible for the current status quo and Clark, the character played by Richard this system will continue to impact nega- Gere, expresses the fantasy of going to the tively on the modernization project. These islands2 On the website of the extra- theories and their approaches represent the regionally owned tourist liner Royal Carib- dominant sites of discourse throughout the bean International the white corporate 1960, 1970’s and 1980’s. Arguably, more leadership of the company declares: “No recent approaches to the tourism phenome- one knows the Caribbean better than we non tend to deemphasize economic consid- do”3 Potential tourists are offered the erations while privileging the role of cul- dream of a lifetime in the Caribbean. Cy- ture in the industry. Cultural critics like berculture and the hard world of reality are Jean Baudrillard have discussed the strat- not disconnected experiences. But part of egies by which some powerful corporate the intrigue of digital space is that its exis- entities (like Disney) have gone about cap- tence both complements and challenges turing the real world to incorporate it into what we know about the real world. Given the synthetic universe5. Military and dis- the fact that more and more people are cursive strategies have been deployed over experiencing foreign cultures as digital the centuries to seize, manipulate, fashion moments, digital presence threatens to and redeploy copies of Caribbean society for supplant that which it simulates, the real. wider consumption. The fossilization of Theories of tourism and development Caribbean culture through the perpetua- have undergone alterations over the dec- tion of stereotypes and iconic motifs is an ades. The two schools of modernization and even more potent dependency have contested their positions While digital media provide countless over the years4. In tourism studies moder- opportunities for the creation and dissemi- nization theories have proposed that the nation of diverse cultural tropes, these me- economic wealth from tourism will per- dia are more widely used by corporate en- meate throughout the entire society, the trepreneurial interests to streamline and real hindrance to this trickle down are in- stereotype. Caribbean culture has repeat- ternal factors. Dependency theories have edly caught the gaze of wealthy transna- posited that the unequal economic relations tional agents and agencies, there is an on- that exist between the North and South are going fixation. These agencies have often © PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. ISSN 1695-7121 392 Tourism, Digital Presence and Becoming Virtual … used their tools and leading-edge state-of- with anything of its own? If the Internet is the-art technologies to try to fix, reconfi- the new frontier site, what does Western gure and redeploy what is “Caribbean cul- mainstream film contribute to the process ture”. But Caribbean interests are also of regional compression?8 My intention here accomplices in the process and practice of is not to develop a full blown discussion fossilizing their very culture. Caribbean about the Caribbean in Western main- governments and private sector interests stream film, but rather to hint at how that have used tourism as a tool of economic sector has invested heavily in conjuring up development; this strategy has had the simulated copies of the “Caribbean”. indirect effect of streamlining perceptions of the region. Promotions and marketing References, references advertisements have foregrounded a li- mited set of cultural metaphors. In the age Some of the recent films which make of the machines the Caribbean’s digital some reference to the Caribbean include presence continues to be subjected to tight the 1990s Confined which stars Michael industry compression. As a consequence the Ironside, in which a minor character and “Caribbean” exists as a set of stereotypes his wife suddenly reveal that they are going and tropes in the consciousness of the wid- to the Caribbean for vacation. This is a er world. Western mainstream film and bland reference. But the absence of further Caribbean tourism marketing are but two detail permits the viewer to fall back on areas in which notions of Caribbeanness already established ideas and suspicions. are refashioned, represented and simulated In the movie Thursday (1998) a black man for popular consumption. with an exaggerated Jamaican accent pre- Too few academic studies engage with tends to be a pizza man. When he gets to actual instances of this digital simulation. the door of a leading white character this Too few academic studies concern them- man asks of him a favour: ‘A little ganja?’ selves with Caribbean digital culture. In Shattered Image (1998) the female pro- While this essay is not exhaustive, it none- tagonist with a split personality meets a theless wants to contribute to what will man who befriends her and they go on a eventually be an area of expansive debate vacation to the Caribbean where much of within Caribbean digital popular culture. the movie is set. They go away in order to Earlier studies of Caribbean tourism get away from a mysterious stalker who have mapped out important practices and torments her psyche. The Caribbean is a behaviours, but relatively few have taken fitting location for the playing out of scenes into account the current advances in digital of suppressed fears and desires. In the Ca- culture6. Graham Dann’s work The Lan- ribbean setting some locals do speak but guage of Tourism was published before the they are peripheral. More substantial digital culture revolution spread through- speakers are the card box cast taxi driver, out all facets of Caribbean society, but even and the all-knowing native witch. Kid- more recent works tend to concentrate on napped in Paradise (1999) explores the theory and theories of tourism, sometimes tensions between two estranged sisters who at the expense of engaging with the frontier are reunited in the corrupted world of the sites of cultural transaction7. Given its Caribbean. In Canadian Bacon (1995) the longer history Western mainstream film American strategists and advisors to the has been the most potent medium for the President inform him that Canada would perpetuation of stereotypes of the Carib- prove an easy foe to overcome. Almost as bean. Web marketing marks the frontier easy as in Grenada, they say. Heartbreak site of fantasy imaging of the region. The Ridge (1986) stars Clint Eastwood who is cruise industry and boards of tourism the no nonsense officer selected to train a across the region have turned to technology bunch of soldiers for a final assault on the for economic salvation. But what is the island of Grenada. Before he leaves in nature of this cooptation of technology by noble service of his country he must visit the tourism industry? Is the technology an unsatisfied wife, possibly for the last passive in the whole exercise? Does tech- time. In the ABC high budget television nology come away from the association movie Future Sport (1998) it is Wesley PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 5(3). 2007 ISSN 1695-7121 Curwen Best 393 Snipes who enters as a quasi-dreadlocked to a Caribbean accent and identity. Their sports network business tycoon. He speaks role punctuates the excesses of the movie’s with an Afric-Caribbean accent. Tracked fixation with sex. The Caribbean character (1998) also tampers with identities. It has is especially crazed and nourishes a fixa- the plot of a white protagonist who is cap- tion with goats. Apart from this, there is tured and imprisoned and charged with also a young black “brother” who enters the keeping dogs, which will later chase him as electronics store wearing a shirt with the he is released in some sick game instituted words boldly declaring JAMAICA. At least by a deranged jailor. In prison the prota- he does not talk dirty about sex. He is more gonist is befriended by a black prisoner concerned about doing a clandestine, illegal with a Caribbean accent. But the black transaction. These, as other mainstream man soon sheds his accent to reveal an films reference the Caribbean as a place of American intonation and his special under- leisure, unmitigated pleasure, voodoo, ser- cover agent status. Soon after the film es- vile natives and carefree citizens. Western tablishes a more stable basis for the black mainstream film industry therefore falls man’s development, he is taken out. back on to stereotypes but at the same time At the ending of the big release Blade 2 the industry perpetuates and institutes (2002), the protagonist (played by Wesley these stereotypes. Snipes) returns to reap retribution on a black Caribbean voodoo priest. Of course in Virtually Beyond Your Imagination the first film Blade (1998), Miracia, the Priestess who lives in a landfill ghetto has Caribbean tourism has always been a her cabin filled with, among other things, phenomenal source of regional marketing.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • THE MUSIC of HENRY MANCINI the Boston Pops Orchestra During Arthur Fiedler’S Tenure, Providing Special Arrangements for Dozens of Their Hit Albums and Famous Singles
    557825 bk ManciniUS 2/11/05 09:48 Page 4 Richard Hayman LIGHT CLASSICS DDD One of America’s favourite “Pops” conductors, Richard Hayman was Principal “Pops” conductor of the Saint 8.557825 Louis, Hartford and Grand Rapids symphony orchestras, of Orchestra London Canada and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and also held the post with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for many years. His original compositions are standards in the repertoire of these ensembles as well as frequently performed selections by many orchestras and bands throughout the world. For over thirty years, Richard Hayman served as the chief arranger for THE MUSIC OF HENRY MANCINI the Boston Pops Orchestra during Arthur Fiedler’s tenure, providing special arrangements for dozens of their hit albums and famous singles. Under John Williams’ direction, the orchestra continues to programme his award- winning arrangements and orchestrations. Though more involved with the symphony orchestra circuit, Richard Moon River • The Pink Panther • Charade Hayman served as musical director and/or master of ceremonies for the tour shows of many popular entertainers: Kenny Rogers, Johnny Cash, Olivia Newton-John, Tom Jones, Englebert Humperdinck, The Carpenters, The The Days of Wine and Roses • Beaver Valley ’37 Osmonds, Al Hirt, Andy Williams and many others. Richard Hayman and His Orchestra recorded 23 albums and 27 hit singles for Mercury Records, for which he and many others served as musical director for twelve years. Dozens of his original compositions have been recorded by various artists all over the world. He has also arranged and conducted recordings for more than 50 stars of the motion Richard Hayman and His Orchestra picture, stage, radio and television worlds, and has also scored Broadway shows and numerous motion pictures.
    [Show full text]
  • Official Publication of the Barbershop Harmony
    The ~- • OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE BARBERSHOP HARMONY SOCIETY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER \C\~i') Because when it comes to electrtcity, ON THE FRINGE Is a Revolutionary recording, Wire to wire, It crackles with the high-voltage originality and entertalnment energy that make Four Under Par an unparalleled success on the show circuit, and has placed them as high as tenth In all the colonies! Savvy Ben knew this incandescent , , sparkler to be overloaded with a battery of socket-to-me highlights, Including: ar selections.\ under P II I original Four f ",\lS\\\ -b~'\" 12 unbellevab Y. terludes\\ m\J' '3-cts 0 't'3-\1;\l.f\d-'3- ,. rmb\e ,n \.lnsee un\!' uncom'o • '3 \.lnre\en • 6 •\ Yes, Gentle Ben loved ON THE FRINGE Oust as you will, dear reader). And indeed, it turned out to be a better investment than even thrifty Ben had dared hope. For on that stormy night in Philadelphia, flying ON THE FRINGE. Big Ben finally fulfilled the dream of a lifetime. _ He vaporized the key to his mother-In-law's house. ;;\'$1 ----------------------- ~ If it's good enough for Ben, it's good enough for me. Get me: -ilf;~ ON THE FRINGEJIIII I SPECIAL Enclosed ls a check fOf__copies of "ON THE FRINGE" at 88.00 each. Total: 8 I BONUS plus, if ordering less than ten albums. I 95¢ mailing cost per album for__albums, for a OFFER total mailing cost of $ I Win a pack of monogrammed Four Under Par golf balls! Canadian friends please add $2.00 for postage. I Just complete this sentence: Panamanian friends please add 22 balboas for postage.
    [Show full text]
  • Sonoma County Horse Council
    Sonoma County Horse Journal Volume 10 • Issue 4 Fall 2014 Published by the Sonoma County Horse Council Home of the Equus Awards 25 Year Warranty Against Fading DECKING & RAILING & Staining TTHEHE GGOODOOD LLIFEIFE iiss wwayay bbetteretter ooutsideutside { Made from 95% Recycled Material { Fade, Stain & Scratch Resistant { Unparalleled Beauty Tropical Styles GRAVEL FIRE PIT PATH VINTAGE TREE LANTERN HOUSE 3610 Copperhill Lane Santa Rosa, CA 95403 Tiki SPICED LAVA ROPE Torch RUM ROCK SWING Tropical Styles www.burgesslumber.com Call us for the best lumber & composite decking choices Volume 10 • Issue 4 • Fall 2014 Sonoma County Horse Journal 2014 SCHC Board List President Ron Malone [email protected] Vice President Sonoma County Greg Harder [email protected] Recording Secretary Horse Journal Volume 10 • Issue 4 • Fall 2014 Dagmar Hoheneck Published by the Sonoma County Horse Council – Home of the Equus Awards [email protected] Treasurer Joan Rasmussen Inside this Issue [email protected] Membership Chair President’s Message 2 Valerie Kasnick [email protected] Sonoma County Horse Council at Work—Horse Cabinet Update 4 Members at Large Equine Esquire—Livestock on the Roadway 5 Robert Adams, Karl Bastian, Patrice Doyle, Melissa Kalember, Ted Stashak, and Tracy Underwood Sonoma County Events—2014 Giant Steps Charity Classic 6 Readers Write—Stop and Smell the Alfalfa 8 The Horse Journal Editorial Committee Readers Write—Ride On 9 Editor
    [Show full text]
  • Masculinity and Effeminacy in Early Modern Drama
    University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Dissertations 2020 “THE SKIPPING KING”: MASCULINITY AND EFFEMINACY IN EARLY MODERN DRAMA Danielle Johanna Sanfilippo University of Rhode Island, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss Recommended Citation Sanfilippo, Danielle Johanna, “THE" SKIPPING KING”: MASCULINITY AND EFFEMINACY IN EARLY MODERN DRAMA" (2020). Open Access Dissertations. Paper 1166. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/oa_diss/1166 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “THE SKIPPING KING”: MASCULINITY AND EFFEMINACY IN EARLY MODERN DRAMA BY DANIELLE JOHANNA SANFILIPPO A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2020 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DISSERTATION OF DANIELLE JOHANNA SANFILIPPO APPROVED: Dissertation Committee: Major Professor Travis Williams Jean Walton Rachel Walshe Nasser H. Zawia DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND 2020 Abstract This dissertation analyzes depictions of effeminacy and anxiety surrounding masculinity in early modern drama. Effeminacy is a frequently used term in the literature of the period, occurring seven times in Shakespeare alone. For my research, I combine literary analysis and performance criticism. I consulted the National Theatre Archives in London and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford to analyze performances of early modern plays. Effeminacy is a wide-reaching mode of being that makes several layers of meaning. For royals and men of rank, the presumption of effeminacy is a danger to the realm.
    [Show full text]
  • Wildlife Can Work for You: Creating a Conservation-Based Venture (CBV)
    Module 3 Wildlife can work for you: creating a conservation-based venture (CBV) Module Introduction 3 ) V B C hat if you could transform a big problem – some- math of the elections. According to Kenya’s Ministry of Wthing that costs you money, time and heartache Tourism, tourism had been the fastest growing segment – into a thriving business that brings income instead of the economy, at about 13 percent a year. Officials ex- of trouble? pect it to recover its momentum. Tourism accounts for If a lot of wildlife roams your community land; if about 12 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, bring- herding or growing food is difficult or impossible be- ing in KSh 65.4 billion (about US$ 840 million) in 2007. cause of wild animals; if your community lies near a ( venture a conservation-based creating ildlife can work for you: national park or other site that draws a lot of visitors ... HOW CAN COMMUNITIES W then you may be sitting on the makings of a very good BENEFIT? business indeed. Clearly some tour companies, governments, and en- trepreneurs are making a lot of money from wildlife. THE POTENTIAL But, for the most part, the communities sharing their Every year millions of visitors from around the world home with wild animals get the danger and destruc- flock to wildlife-rich areas of Africa. For many people tion rather than the rewards. it’s the dream of a lifetime and they are willing to spend To help achieve rural development goals as well as a considerable amount on it.
    [Show full text]
  • Stevie Ray Vaughan
    An the Bullcrafe news US~ that's tH paldpennlt to pitch no. 2419 C' PITCtI KCMO February '1986 Kansas City's ffee music and entertainment newspaper Issue 62 A Texas tidal wave Blues, rock, rarb, ballads, you name it from the latest- Hammond discovery the Chantones, Blackbird and Nightcrawlers. by Roger Naber His senior year of high school, he dropped out He's been the most talked-about guitarist in and left his hometown of Dallas in the early 70s. blues and rock circles for the last three years. He followed his brother Jimmie to AUstin, which He dominated reader's and critic's polls in has been his home base ever since. various magazines. For the last two years he has From 1975-77 Stevie played with Austin's been the recipient of "Best Blues Instrumentalist" most popular r&b club band, the Cobras. He at the W.C. Handy Awards in Memphis. And then formed his own r&b revue, Triple Threat, there is no indication that the crest Stevie Ray which featured vocaUst Lu Ann Barton. In ear­ ~ Vaughan is riding is ready to level off. ly '81 Lu Ann quit the band in the middle of I first met the guitar genius four-and-a-half a tour, and that forced Vaughan to take over years ago. After spending several weeks trying lead vocals. He regrouped the band and named to locate him, I hired Vaughan and his band it Double Trouble pr an Otis Rush song. The Double Trouble to perform at HarUng's. The group consisted of Tommy Shannon on elec­ man who urged me to book him was his older tric bass and Chris Layton on drums.
    [Show full text]
  • Joshua 1:1-16 NEXT 2:1-24
    PITWM VERSE BY VERSE JOSHUA Joshua 1 Joshua 2 Joshua 6 Joshua 7 Joshua 10 Joshua 11 Joshua 1:1-16 NEXT 2:1-24 INTRODUCTION: Moses, as the chosen leader of God had led the Israelites from Egyptian bondage to the very brink of the Promised Land. God 1kept them out of the Promised Land for the span of a generation. He converted them within that time span, raising up a new generation that knew nothing but complete reliance on Him for their survival. After wandering for forty years in the wilderness, a new generation is ready to enter Canaan however, without their great emancipator. He now climbs Mount Nebo, going to the peak of Pisgah. The Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan which He had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a joy it must have been for Moses to look out over the dream of a lifetime but a disappointment as to not enter in with the people because he had not obeyed God in one instance (Numbers 20:1-13). Moses died according to the Word of the Lord. He was 120 years old, having not his eyes dim nor his natural forces abated when the Lord buried him. The eulogy issued upon his death, recorded in the last verse of Deuteronomy includes the remarks: "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face" Deut.34:10. Moses would be the outstanding leader of Israel until a person with a greater Law than the Mosaic Law enters the scene.
    [Show full text]
  • €We Pray for a Quick Ending' by Stephanl* Brown "The Navy Has Tomahawk Missiles
    ECORD No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it — Winston Churchill. Vol. II, No. 4 A Forbes Newspaper Thursday, January 24,1991 233-9696 P.O. Box 2790, Westfield 07091 15 Cents €We pray for a quick ending' By Stephanl* Brown "The Navy has tomahawk missiles. They are patrolling the Record assistant editor waters, challenging enemy ships," she said. "Normally, a tour is six months or 180 days. Now it's an open ended thing. They will Judy Shmurak shakes her head in disbelief at the irony. stay until there is peace there." "Last year at this time, he was on a cruise ship on his honey- She said that her son entered the armed forces knowing that moon," she said of her son, Frederic. "Now he's on a ship in the the possibility of combat was real. Persian Gulf." "He didn't know this specific thing would happen," she said. Frederic, who is called Rick by his friends and family, grew "But he's very brave. He doesn't evade his responsibilities." up in Westfield, attending Jefferson School, Edison Intermedi- Although she fears for her son, Shmurak supports the coun- ate School, and graduating from Westfield High School in 1984. try's decision to go to war. His mother lives on Central Avenue. "I think it's something we have to do," she said. "The only way you have to deal with a bully is to make him fear you. If you don't agree with the U.S., first it's bad for morale, and second, you're playing into Hussein's hands." Although she supports the government, Shmurak is making no predictions for the war's outcome, "I'm afraid to be too optimistic," she said, "because it hurts HOME FRONT too much when you're wrong.
    [Show full text]
  • Opiniones Y Ensayos
    Vol. 5 Nº 3 págs. 391-398. 2007 https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2007.05.029 www.pasosonline.org Opiniones y ensayos Tourism, Digital Presence and Becoming Virtual: The Caribbean Curwen Best (PhD)1 [email protected] In the movie Shall We Dance John responsible for the current status quo and Clark, the character played by Richard this system will continue to impact nega- Gere, expresses the fantasy of going to the tively on the modernization project. These islands2 On the website of the extra- theories and their approaches represent the regionally owned tourist liner Royal Carib- dominant sites of discourse throughout the bean International the white corporate 1960, 1970’s and 1980’s. Arguably, more leadership of the company declares: “No recent approaches to the tourism phenome- one knows the Caribbean better than we non tend to deemphasize economic consid- do”3 Potential tourists are offered the erations while privileging the role of cul- dream of a lifetime in the Caribbean. Cy- ture in the industry. Cultural critics like berculture and the hard world of reality are Jean Baudrillard have discussed the strat- not disconnected experiences. But part of egies by which some powerful corporate the intrigue of digital space is that its exis- entities (like Disney) have gone about cap- tence both complements and challenges turing the real world to incorporate it into what we know about the real world. Given the synthetic universe5. Military and dis- the fact that more and more people are cursive strategies have been deployed over experiencing foreign cultures as digital the centuries to seize, manipulate, fashion moments, digital presence threatens to and redeploy copies of Caribbean society for supplant that which it simulates, the real.
    [Show full text]
  • American Film Institute Life Achievement Dinner, Los Angeles, California” of the Frances K
    The original documents are located in Box 1, folder “1976/03/09 - American Film Institute Life Achievement Dinner, Los Angeles, California” of the Frances K. Pullen Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Copyright Notice The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Scanned from Box 1 of the Frances K. Pullen Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE DINNER NRS. FORD'S REMARKS MARCH 9, 1976 When I was a girl going to high school, I never dreamed of growing up and being married to a President. But my dream of a lifetime was going to Hollywood and gliding across a polished floor with Fred Astaire. So you see how fortunate I feel to be here tonight. Because of the: magic of the movies, I've danced and laughed and cried my way through several lifetimes. And it's a special treat to join this salute to William Wyler--one of the wizards of the business • .. Like millions of people, the President and I love the movies.
    [Show full text]
  • On Borrowed Time: a Biographical Sketch of Julian Claudius Mcpheeters
    On Borrowed Time A Biographical Sketch of Julian Claudius McPheeters by his son Chilton C. McPheeters "If everyone in the holiness movement had your father's spirit I would change my theology today." Thus did one dis tinguished Methodist liberal recently express to the writer his own appreciation and respect for a man his theological opposite . In accepting the happy assignment to present this brief bio graphical sketch, I, too, would pay tribute to this same spirit of integrity and devotion so much the hallmark of my father's life. Without such an example and influence the way would have been made easy to evade my own call to preach. A Passing Era Twilight was descending upon the frontier days of American life when a farm family near Oxly, Missouri, celebrated the birth of a son on July 6, 1889. Such an event was especially welcome in a society still dominated by the ideals of the self- sufficient farm family. The happiness of the occasion was not menaced by any conscious awareness of the gathering shadows of social revolution, economic upheaval, or scientific change. The validity and permanence of the established order remained unquestioned. Honesty, hard work, and thrift continued to be a trinity of virtues guaranteeing the present as they had served the past. To a later generation would belong the dubious privi lege of testing the ethic of a new order based on a deification of freedom, a repeal of the Ten Commandments, and a new trinitarian formula of pleasure, comfort, and security. If life on the farm was not easy, neither could it be termed harsh.
    [Show full text]
  • THE COMMUNICATOR Phone: (336) 835-2511 Fax: (336) 835-5248 Email: [email protected] Since January 1990 May 2021
    THE COMMUNICATOR Phone: (336) 835-2511 Fax: (336) 835-5248 Email: [email protected] Since January 1990 www.WIFMRadio.com May 2021 Jeff Atwell Is N.C. School Hero Mr. Atwell added, “I pleaded with Principal Rod- ney Graham to hire me as the TA position was my Teacher Assistant Jeff Atwell serves Central lifetime dream and calling in life. My attitude and Wilkes Middle School in the Exceptional Children joy each day is the fortunate opportunity to serve Severe & Profound program and also is a school bus Central’s EC class. I’m truly blessed.” driver. A native of Kannapolis, he graduated from The Education Lottery created the N.C. School Appalachian State University, worked at Lowe’s for Heroes program to showcase the positive impacts 20 years and joined the Wilkes County Schools in of teachers, principals and other school personnel August 2019. in public schools. The lottery raises more than $725 million a year for education, including $4.2 million He recently shared that his service with the EC in Wilkes County. students is “a calling in life” and he treasures the connections and relationships. He said, “It makes me a positive person 24/7 and brings me an abun- Finding Good Advice dance of joy.” For him the usual highlights of each day are the time students spend on computers Ken Noland, the outstanding Wilkesboro Town and daily visits to their specially equipped, handi- Manager, was asked how he decides to do projects cap-friendly playground opened in 2018 on Wilkes that have become major enhancements to his com- Central’s campus.
    [Show full text]