I mean, let us keep things in perspective. Ms. Chee Yun simply has a figure at least 99% of the ladies in the crowd would kill for. She also happens to be a superb violinist.
Wednesday evening at “Classics in the Garden” series, Ms Chee Yun and her accompanist Mr. Akira Eguchi entertained a most receptive crowd with two and a half hours of solid music. After a week of outstanding jazz, I was most interested to observe the following: generally speaking, an accompanist for a violin recital is there to back up the violin. Period. It is sort of a “be almost heard and not really seen” because the audience is there to hear the violin. Sibellius’ “Violin Concerto in D Minor, Opis 47 actually has a series of piano recitals by Alexandre Gretchaninoff which reminds one of a high class jazz break.
The second item of interest to me, was the fact that this superb musician played a most wide range of music from the classic style of Beethoven to the folk style of Bartok. Her intonation ranged from pianissimo to fortissimo as she picked, plunked, sawed, and stroked her instrument without any hint of mishap. And not once did she stop to announce how accomplished she was; unlike a NuevoRican drummer several thousand people went to see a couple weeks ago.
I was taught anyone could learn to play an instrument loud. Those who can learn to play softly become masters of the instrument. Ms. Yun and Mr. Eguchi meet this criterion with room to spare. Throughout the evening, they varied their music weaving sound poems most enhanced by Ms. Yun’s lithe body English.
It was also nice to notice a young Virgin Islander in the front row with his mother. I have always wondered if it wouldn’t be a good thing for the Arts Council etc. to sponsor musicians of Ms. Yun’s caliber to visit the schools bringing musician models to our youngsters. It is most important our children know there is something more than steel pans and “disk jockey.”
Those of us who spent the evening in the “Garden” had many reasons to be delighted.

V.I. congressional Delegate Donna M. Christian-Christensen has been named the ranking Democratic member of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural Enterprises, Business Opportunities and Special Small Business Problems.
The subcommittee, which replaces her two previous subcommittee assignments, Government Programs and Oversight and Tax, Finance and Exports, is responsible for promoting business growth and opportunities in rural areas, oversight and investigation of agricultural issues that impact small businesses, general promotion of business opportunities, and oversight and investigative authority over novel issues of special concern to small business.
Christian-Christensen, a sophomore member of the Small Business Committee, is the highest ranking Democrat on the Rural Subcommittee.
As a member of the full Small Business Committee, she will continue to have oversight responsibilities on all of the Small Business subcommittees.
The new assignment "will give me an even greater opportunity to address the needs of my constituents in the small business community," Christensen said.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, the Small Business Committee’s ranking Democrat, said, “ Rep. Christensen brings energy and ideas to the committee. Together, we will be able to strengthen the small businesses that are so essential to our communities.”

Cornelius B. Prior Jr. has made Slate magazine's list of the largest U.S. charitable donors in 1998 with his $5 million gift to the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
Prior's gift to his alma mater is in a charitable remainder trust for a professorship in the fine arts, history and the humanities, Slate reported.
Prior owns Atlantic TeleNetwork (which was split off from the V.I. Telephone Corp. in December 1997 when Prior split with former partner Jeffrey Prosser) and Antilles Wireless cable television. He also holds the lion's share of the newly renovated Coral World at Coki Point.
Slate, the online magazine owned by Microsoft, ran a list last week of the "Slate 60" — the 60 largest American charitable contributions of 1998 — and 100 "Honorable Mentions," which was a compilation of other known gifts of $5 million or more. Prior made the honorable mention list.

As you stand in the middle of January and start chopping your calendar time into bite-size pieces palatable enough to fit your career, your family and yourself, remember the old adage, "first things first."
This means that the No. 1 priority is vacation time! Once you get this taken care of, all other items will fall neatly into place.
Perhaps you already have plans to travel. Returning from vacation '98, you may have promised yourself something really special for the end of the century. After all, 1999 years are a lot to carry into the big "double 00."
Congratulations if your tickets are in the mail and you've mentally packed your bags. The rest of us need to decide where in the world we want to go.
Travel offices are like blossoming gardens this time of year. All the newest brochures and tour booklets in riotous colors beg to be picked and taken with you. Every page beckons the undecided with tours not to be
missed. Unforgettable packages will fit themselves into your time limits if
only you say the word.
I myself am dreaming a faraway dream this year. I want to go to China. I want to see the beauty of the gorges of the Yangtze River before the monumental dam is finished and the river rises and slowly drowns another
natural splendor. Man wins again over nature. I shudder to think how nature
will have her revenge. I have seen enough hurricanes.
Anyway, if my plans don't happen to fit into my calendar, I'll put my name into a bottle and launch it out onto the waters to China. Maybe one of us will get there.
Editor's note: In 1994 after 25 years in the Caribbean, Jessie Bostwick O'Mara and her husband, Joe, retired to the Florida Gulf Coast from St. Thomas, V.I. She is a former fixture of the Admissions Office at
the University of the Virgin Islands and a proud UVI alumnae. About her penchant for travel she says, "I was a compulsive tourist from the moment I opened my first passport and saw all those empty pages waiting to be filled."

National School Counseling Week, scheduled for Feb.1-5, is also being celebrated in the territoy.
School counselors in the Virgin Islands will be hosting special events and activities: radio talk show programs, print media and public service announcements.

Heavy northerly swells sank boats and flooded roads in Hull and Magens Bay on Tuesday. Some boaters were ill-prepared in spite of National Weather Service predictions. At least one sailing yacht was ashore in Magens Bay, and several power boats were sunk or capsized in Hull Bay.
Although much of the energy was expended on the outer parts of the shore, water from the pounding waves was washing up over the beaches and across the roads in both popular northside bays.
The surging water also sucked sand off Magens Beach at such a rate that one lifeguard said, "I hope we have some beach left when this is over."
Worried boat owners looked on as waves surged through the remainder of the fishing fleet in Hull Bay. By noon Tuesday the waters were far too rough to do anything but watch and hope the anchor lines held until the swell subsided.

A 47-year-old man convicted of raping a teen-age girl during Carnival last April faces up to 60 years in prison.
Elwin Joyce was found guilty by a Territorial Court jury Thursday of first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree unlawful sexual contact, according to Wednesday's Daily News.
Joyce accosted the teen-ager near Lionel Roberts Stadium and raped her, according to Douglas Dick, the assistant attorney general who prosecuted the case.
The jury deliberated for slightly more than an hour. The trial had lasted three days.
Joyce remains in custody pending sentencing March 16 by Judge Brenda J. Hollar.
The rape conviction carries a mandatory 10 years in jail, with a maximum of 30 years, Dick said. The sexual contact convictions carry sentences of up to 15 years each.

The Virgin Islands Department of Education announces the administration of the 1999 Summer Food Service Program for children up to 18 years old and disabled persons 19 and over who participate during the school year in any school in the territory.
Any organization interested in becoming a sponsor may contact the Department of Education, Special Nutrition Programs at 774-9373.

A shooting at Coki Point beach between two taxi drivers has resulted in the arrest of Leon Samuel, 56, of Hospital Ground.
The shooting, which occurred Friday in full view of visitors and others at the popular tourist attraction, was the result of a dispute over passengers, according to the Daily News.
Samuel was arrested Tuesday, according to Wednesday's Independent.
The taxi driver who was shot in the arm, Felix August, is reported to be in stable condition at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital.

Most people who attend a concert by violinist Chee-Yun in the Virgin Islands this week will do so because of her artistic credentials, not because she has a homepage on the worldwide web.
Still, for those who count the Internet among their sources of local information (and if you're reading this, that's you), the web site is well worth a look. It's not only a tried-and-true marketing tool; it's also an award-winning design and a pretty good read.
Chee-Yun, a fast-rising star in the relatively crowded ranks of classical
violinists, has had her own web page for three years. It's a practical tool in her professional development that includes not only the usual slick photos, biography, discography and "conversation" material, but also her current intinerary, including her recitals on St. Thomas, St. John, "Tortolla" (hey, nobody's perfect) and St. Croix.
And factoids ranging from the rarefied to the very down-to-earth. (An example of each: She performs using a violin that is 302 years older than she is. In her leisure time, she likes to listen to jazz and go dancing with friends.)
From her teens, Chee-Yun has benefitted from two-track marketing: as a technically and emotionally exciting musician and as a personable, fashionable and very "today" young woman. Her music credentials are impeccable. Born in Seoul, Korea, where she madeher first public performance at the age of 8, she moved to New York at 13 to study at the famed Juilliard School. She has captured two of the most coveted honors in the classical realm, a Young Concert Artists International Auditions competition in 1989 and an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1990.
Since 1992, she has recorded five CD albums, all on the Denon label. Two were with the London Philharmonic Orchestra; the other three are solo releases with accompaniment on piano by her longtime collaborator, Akira Eguchi, who is with her for her current Virgin Islands tour. Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world's foremost orchestras, at many of the most prestigious recital halls and at the White House. Perhaps of greater significance to music lovers in the Virgin Islands, she has appeared twice before in the territory.
Her Virgin Islands debut came at Tillett Gardens in 1990 "where she swept the audience off — and onto — its feet," Classics in the Garden music director Tom Lloyd recalls. Invited back in 1993, she appeared both at Tillett Gardens (to a full house) and at Island Center on St. Croix.
Her 1999 tour has four stops — Tillett Gardens on Wednesday, the St. John School of the Arts on Thursday, Tortola's H. Lavity Stoutt Community College on Friday and Island Center on Saturday. The program is the same for all venues: sonatas by Beethoven and Grieg, "Romanian Folk Dances" by Bela Bartok and a concerto by Sibelius. All performances begin at 8 p.m.
St. Thomas concert tickets are $25 with the usual three-course, pre-performance dinner (this one featuring Asian cuisine) available for an additional $30. Limited seating is available at two-for-one pricing for students accompanied by adults. For reservations, call 775-1929.
The St. John program tickets are $25, and reservations are essential, due to the limited seating. Call 779-4322 to reserve.
On Tortola, tickets are $20 general admission, $5 for college students and
free to younger students. Call (284) 494-4994 for ticket outlets and further details.
At Island Center, tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For ticket outlets and more information, call 778-5272.
Now, about that web site: You'll find it at http://summary.net/chee- yun/.
Enjoy.