Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation Development Meet, Nov. 22, 2019 (photo from Wallace Williams)
The Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation (VITFF) has finalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on track and field facilities owned by the V.I. Department of Education.
Since 1963 when the Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation was founded, it has had an unofficial relationship with the public (which owns the track and field facilities in the USVI) and private schools in developing track and field in the territory. There has been a great deal of success in preparing hundreds of students/athletes for inter-island competitions, athletic scholarships to colleges/ universities, and representing the territory in international competitions, including the Olympic Games.
To date, the VITFF, with the help of the Government of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee, the Department of Education and the many colleges and universities in the USA, has prepared over 50 Virgin Islands Olympic track and field competitors. These athletes have become unofficial ambassadors and productive citizens.
The Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation is the internationally recognized governing body for the sport (affiliated with World Athletics and the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee); it depends on access to three existing track and field facilities located at the St. Croix Educational Complex High School (SCECHS) on St. Croix, the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School (KHS) on St. Thomas and the Charlotte Amalie High School (CAHS), which is currently out of commission due to hurricanes Irma and Maria, on St. Thomas.
The government possesses World Athletics (WA) certified facility that can officially host sanctioned, international, high school and college standard track and field meets. (Presently, the only approved WA Class 2 track and field facility in the territory is at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
When it was built, it was the only IAAF (now World Athletics) certified track at a high school in the world. The SCECHS track and the CAHS tracks are certified for high school competition. The difference between the KHS WA Class 2 track and the others is the length of the radius and the width of the lanes.
It was due to the effort of VITFF that the Kean track was built as a Class 2 track. The-then executive officials for VITFF, Ronald Russell, president, and Wallace Williams, general secretary, were aware that a track was to be built at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School and used it as leverage to construct a certified WA track and successfully bid for the hosting of the 2010 CARIFTA Junior Championships.
The MOU stipulates that VITFF Inc. agrees to advise and provide consultations to VIDE on matters associated with the department’s existing and future track and field facilities and give guidance to clubs, organizations, and entities requesting use of the track and field facilities for VITFF Inc. sanctioned track and field activities and Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC), and the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation [DSPR] activities. The agreement additionally makes it possible for the VITFF to attract international competition and other track and field activities.
For example: in 2007 the VITFF successfully bid to host the CARIFTA Junior Track and Field Championship which is the premiere track meet for juniors in the world. Aware that a track and field facility was to be built at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, VITFF officials approached then-governor John deJongh with a request to approve the installation of an IAAF-certified track (the V.I. did not have a national track and field stadium) which would facilitate the VTFF in the hosting of the 2010 CARIFTA. Unfortunately, the economic downturn in the world economy forced the government and VITFF to abandon the hosting of the event.
To date, the Virgin Islands has hosted only one major international championship, the 1990 Central America and Caribbean Cross-Country Championship at the Flamboyant Race Track (now the Doc James Race Track) on St. Croix. In spite of the non-existence of adequate facilities, the V.I. has produced Olympic finalists, Pan Am medalists, world junior and youth medalists, and at least a half-dozen event world leaders.
Keith Smith, president of VITFF, said,“It has taken a while for the MOU to clear bureaucratic hurdles, but it means that not only does it solidify and formalize the relationship the government, it makes it possible for V.I. track and field to advance to a higher level. It is now eligible to receive more recognition and support from WA and the Olympic movement.”
Cathy Prince, president of the St. Croix Hiking Association, leads a hike up the hill of Wells Bay Estate in St. Croix’s Maroon Country. (Photo by Olasee Davis)
In 1972, Act No. 3190 was proposed by former Sen. Virdin Brown to establish a “Territorial Park System” for the Virgin Islands. This act was to preserve and enhance the landscape of the Virgin Islands by protecting historical, archaeological, and significant natural sites of these islands. The act then would also reorganize the newly established Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs, the predecessor to the current Department of Planning and Natural Resources. However, the late Gov. Melvin Evans was not interested in administrative reorganization.
Olasee Davis (Submitted photo)
Nevertheless, apart from planning to protect some significant areas of the Virgin Islands, nothing happened to protect natural and cultural resources of these islands. In other words, the first Territorial Park System of the Virgin Islands remains a paper park. In 2022, I assisted Sen. Samuel Carrion and his staff along with my colleague Toni Thomas, from the School of Agriculture, University of the Virgin Islands, to help establish a Territorial Park System in the Virgin Islands.
As a result of our discussion with Sen. Carrion and his staff about creating a parks system, the Division of Territorial Parks and Protected Areas was established within the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. Thus, Bill No. 34-0267 was passed by the 34th Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., to establish a Territorial Park System for the second time in Virgin Islands history. With this new Territorial Park System, a board was established, and a director was appointed as Ms. Kitty Edwards, a native of St. Thomas, to govern the newly established parks system of the Virgin Islands.
Lately, the Maroon Country of the Great Northwest Quarter of St. Croix has been on my mind. Historically speaking, when it comes to the protection of land for the benefit of the people and our economy, our government tends to move extremely slow at times, and before we know it the ball is dropped with regard to significant endeavors such as creating Maroon Country Park on the Great Northwest Quarter of St. Croix.
I am always concerned for the protection of the natural and cultural resources of these islands. For example, in 1945, the late Arthur Fairchild donated 58.2 acres to the people of the Virgin Islands to create a park at Magens Bay on the Northside of St. Thomas. He built a botanical garden in Magens Bay with trees from all over the world in one of the most beautiful places in the Virgin Islands. Also, he went a step further and even provided in advance a Park Management Authority Plan. My good friend the late Dr. Edward L. Towle, in one of his many scientific papers advocating for protected areas of the Virgin Islands, said: “Government delays and paper work slowed the donation process, and the Deed of Conveyance was not completed until April 22, 1947.”
Towle was referring to the slow process of establishing Magens Bay as a park by the generosity of Fairchild’s contribution to the people of the Virgin Islands. This is one of many examples historically where our government almost dropped the ball or almost lost a gift by a private citizen donating land to the people of these islands. Therefore, Maroon Country on St. Croix should be a top priority for acquiring the land for the newly established Territorial Park System of the Virgin Islands.
Maroon Country: A place where you hear the waves of the ocean hitting against the rocky coastline of cobble beaches and the forest music of birds singing. (Photo by Olasee Davis)
Believe me, Maroon Country is a living natural organism with the last intact tropical forest on the north coast of St. Croix. It is a spiritual wilderness sanctuary; whenever you hike the area, your hair on your body stands up and the wonder of nature’s beauty, both terrestrial and marine environments, puts you in a place of heaven on earth. A place where you forget the world and the anxieties and stress of life are left behind.
A place where you hear the waves of the ocean hitting against the rocky coastline of cobble beaches and the forest music of birds singing. A place where the guts become like rivers with heavy rainfall while the mountaintop is covered with fog and clouds sit over the forest like a blanket of snow. A place of great full moons and sunsets kissing the west Caribbean Sea. In my mind, there is no place in the Virgin Islands that is so special like Maroon Country.
Believe me, the site was a gateway to freedom for runaway slaves. Although this year we will be celebrating the 290 years of what we have known in our history as the 1733 slave revolt on St. John, we should also be commemorating the bravery on the northwest of St. Croix where runaway slaves known as Maroons held out and resisted for centuries the Danish government’s brutal slavery system until July 3, 1848, when they got their physical emancipation. They fought for their freedom for hundreds of years. They never gave up the struggle for freedom, and we today are descendants of enslaved Africans, “free Blacks,” and Maroons.
The northwest of St. Croix deserves the protection of our heritage to honor those who lived in the cliffs, caves, forests, and mountains and those who lost their lives by jumping over the cliffs of Maroon Ridge, according to oral history. The slave gravesites in Maroon Country are a testimony to the struggle for freedom. Off the north coast of the Great Northwest of Maroon Country, the trench is 15,000 feet deep where the South American and Caribbean plates meet, isolating St. Croix from the northern Virgin Islands.
Mahsai Meyes, who as a young Crucian boy hiked with the author along Annaly Bay’s rough coastline, picking whelks. From the shore of Annaly Cove, Annaly Bay, Annaly Notch, Wells Bay, Wills Bay, and Sweet Bottom Bay, you will see at times fishermen tending their fish pots. (Photo by Olasee Davis)
Within the watershed of Maroon Country, the marine environment is sparkling with sea life, especially whelks, sea turtles, brain corals, thousands of sea urchins, crabs, etc., and so many schools of fish of different species. From the shore of Annaly Cove, Annaly Bay, Annaly Notch, Wells Bay, Wills Bay, and Sweet Bottom Bay, you will see at times fishermen tending their fish pots.
Listen to Jerry Doward’s story about Annaly Bay: “Back in the 80’s a guy named Harry Harris (deceased) and myself would walk down Annaly hill every Saturday morning to get whelks. So, all those pools are very familiar to me. I dove in all of them. When we got to the bottom of the hill, we would walk west, as far as Bat Hole. Then head east as far as Davis Beach, now Carambola. Head back west and back up the hill. Each of us held a half crokos bag of whelks. Bert Bryan and Douglas Carter came with us a few times. When we got back, we had a whelks party. Friends from east and all over would stop by. Gus would invite some of his political friends and we had a blast. Dem was deh good days.”
What can I say? Maroon Country should be top priority for Territorial Park System protection. I personally will give the governor and his staff a hike along the easier route to Maroon Country. Or he can see the site from a boat at sea.
— Olasee Davis is a bush professor who lectures and writes about the culture, history, ecology and environment of the Virgin Islands when he is not leading hiking tours of the wild places and spaces of St. Croix and beyond.
Elisa McKay at her retrospective exhibition celebrating 40 years of her work. (Image by George W. Cannon III)
Artist Elisa McKay brought 40 years of joy to the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts on Saturday evening. Guests enjoyed an evening celebrating the artist from St. Croix.
The retrospective exhibition is a comprehensive study or evolution of McKay’s work over the past 40 years.
McKay started making cards in 1980 and then, in 1993, started working in a framed format. Her greeting cards represented family, community, culture, and all of what encompasses her life in the Caribbean and on St. Croix.
Guests at exhibition for Elisa McKay. (Image by George W. Cannon III)
McKay would work with silhouettes of fabric and her images are figurative and mostly female. She’d cut her silhouettes out of Canson paper and clothed them in African print fabric. She still does them for several stores on the island but has moved on to larger original pieces since 1993. McKay has done a couple of exhibits on St. Thomas and the mainland.
What may be noticed about McKay’s work is that most of her images do not have hair or features and that’s because it “represents all of us,” said McKay. “I feel like we are all one then we are a blank slate. I want us to be represented as one.”
McKay is the youngest of eight children and her parents are both from St. Croix. They moved to Harlem, New York, in 1925. When her father completed eight years of his stint in the U.S. Navy as a naval musician, he sent for her mother and older brother, who was five years old at the time.
“I was drawn to art as a little girl. In those days it seemed like everyone drew. A lot of things we didn’t have that kids today have,” said McKay.
McKay’s mother was also creative. She drew, made girls’ clothes and embroidered, and McKay and her siblings picked up on that. “I feel like I picked up on my creativity from my mom, even though my father in later life became an artist.”
McKay’s father was a musician at night and a carpenter by day. “When he’d go into his workshop and make a cabinet, I used to draw the dimensions, I used to draw the picture of what he was making for his clients. So, I led toward that kind of drawing, and I was good in math.” McKay later studied in the data processing field for many years and the artistic side just went to the wayside until a friend gave her a starter set of oils and a canvas and she started painting. McKay eventually changed her profession to teaching English and used painting as a means of meditation to take relief from grading papers and essays.
McKay then started cutting fabric and making the cards. She began by sending them to family and friends and then as gifts. Then, a friend convinced her to sell to various stores on the island and they were a success.
For the pieces at her retrospective exhibition, McKay was able to contact the patrons who bought her work and borrowed it for the show. The majority of the work on display was from those patrons, some her daughter brought and some of her recent work.
Some art pieces by Elisa McKay. (Image by George W. Cannon III)
“Some of the work that I have done recently comes from my dad. He became a very prolific artist at age 90 and he did one-man shows. What I did several years ago and back in 2017 was I photographed some pieces of his work, and I embellished it with some of the images that I do. Some of those works is on display,” said McKay, who also writes for the Source.
McKay wants people who view her work to feel joy. “Joy in my heart. My love of life, my gratitude for my longevity, for my family, for my community, for my culture. It is really an honor,” said McKay.
Group shot at Elisa McKay’s exhibit. (Image by George W. Cannon III)
“There’s a song, ‘God’s goodness is running after me,’ and I feel like God’s goodness is running after me. I don’t take life for granted; I attempt to live in the moment and that is something I have been blessed with my parents as kids,” McKay said.
“I have to see the good in life and that is what I want to represent.”
Young members of the D. H. Jackson Long-Term Disaster Recovery Committee, DBA “Do My People, Do,” recently partnered for the seventh year to clean the gravesite of the late David Hamilton Jackson ahead of Liberty Day on Wednesday.
Hamilton, a labor rights advocate in the Danish West Indies, was an important figure in the struggle for increased civil rights and workers’ rights who petitioned for freedom of the press, and organized the islands’ first trade union. Following the transfer of the territory to American control in 1917, he lobbied for U.S. citizenship for islanders.
Youth volunteers clean up David Hamilton’s gravesite in preparation for Bread and Bull Day ceremony on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy D. H. Jackson Long-Term Disaster Recovery Committee, Inc)
The DHJ’s annual ceremony will take place in the Christiansted Moravian Cemetery at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, which is Liberty Day, also known as “Bread and Bull Day.”
Youth volunteers got the chance to hone their landscaping talents while tending to the cemetery. The fact that they learned about grass care, insect management, and the value of paying attention to details when cleaning the land were some of the beautification project’s highlights, the release stated.
The founder of “Do My People, Do,” Rendholdt “Rookie” Jackson, said that involving young people in community-uplifting activities fosters a sense of pride and commitment.
According to DHJ Chairman Randolph Bennett, preparing young people for trade education can eventually result in the creation of future small business owners, entrepreneurs, or highly trained laborers who can make a substantial economic contribution to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Kids and adults descended upon the gravel lot in Cruz Bay, St. John, for the sixth annual Trunk or Treat event on Halloween night. It was a spooky and fun evening filled with candy, costumes and celebration, and even some dogs got in on the fun.
Lundin Cope, 4, was excited about her costume, especially as the sun went down and it could really shine during the sixth annual Trunk or Treat event in Cruz Bay, St. John. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Lyon Wilson, 7, waited patiently for his mini shaved ice from Kate Nesbitt of Dazey Drive In who was serving up two special flavors for the holiday: green slime (vanilla) and purple ooze (coconut). (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Dinners were replaced by handfuls of candy down at the Trunk or Treat Halloween celebration in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)On Halloween night, Trunk or Treat, Magnolia Nesbitt peeks through her costume, the character Animal from the Muppets. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Even after the sunset, trunks were still open and full of candy for the kids and adults hanging out around this Halloween event at the gravel lot in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)When asked what she was supposed to be dressed up as, Avalene Warren, 11, exclaimed, “THE SUN!” (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Nancy Batten, Dana Neil, and Margie Kemp pose for a group photo in the early hours of the Trunk or Treat event in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Theresa Rellecke, 22, helps Levi Grimm, 4, walk the plank over shark-infested waters with the hopes of candy at the other side. In addition to trick or treating, there were activities and competitions at the Trunk or Treat event in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Superman Turner Beaty, 3, takes his time enjoying his candy during Trunk or Treat on Halloween. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Kevin Smith, Oliver Purdom and Kristina Purdom pay homage to the muppets during Halloween this year during Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Vera King, right, examines some of her candy bounty during Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)During this year’s Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay, some costumes were funny, while others were a bit more spooky, like this bodyless hand. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Some costumes stood out more than the rest, like these adults dressed as Andy Monster and Beetlejuice Barbara. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Paige Cope and son Charley, 2, share a “roar,” getting into character this Halloween. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Seren Penn, 4, dressed in the iconic Moana costume, heart-of-te-fiti necklace and all, for Halloween in this year. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay, St. John, had its 6th annual event down at the gravel lot this Halloween. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Kiarah Penn in animal print poses with her one-year-old pup Benito at Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)The Muppets’ Cookie Monster came to life in the back of a car during Trunk or Treat. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)A little trick-or-treater dressed as Mirabel from Disney’s Encanto checks out her growing pumpkin bucket of candy during Trunk or Treat. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Rangers from the Virgin Islands National Park Service share in the festivities, handing out candy and turtle stickers. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Richard Baronowski wasn’t messing around when he got dressed for Halloween this year, bringing his best avocado to the party. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Kids played games and competed in small events for candy and other prizes at Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay on Halloween. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Delaney McCoy carefully examined the candy she was presented with during Trunk or Treat. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)Despite a brief rain, Trunk or Treat in Cruz Bay was a successful evening of fun and fright down at the gravel lot. (Photo by Nancy Borowick)
Boats and sailors take to the water to compete for the Gold medal. (Submitted photo)
Dozens of boats and sailors from North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean have set sail in the 2023 Pan American Games at the Cofradia Nautica del Pacifico, a two-hour drive south of Santiago, Chile. Team Virgin Islands includes three sailors, Mathieu Dale and the Men’s Skiff 49er team, Taylor Hasson and Steven Hardee.
“It’s very exciting to represent my home country and be able to do the best I can for my family especially, and everyone back home that’s watching,” said Virgin Islands’ sailor Mathieu Dale, competing in the Men’s Dinghy ILCA 7 class.
“Hopefully, that can be an inspiration for a lot of the young sailors coming up through the program to see what you can do for your country,” said Dale.
Mathieu Dale (Submitted photo)
The sailing competition began on Oct. 28 and will continue through Nov. 5. Challenging conditions on the water on day one included big choppy waves, overcast, and cold temperatures hovering around 50 degrees.
“Tricky conditions, the breeze didn’t fully fill in as much as we thought it would. But there’s big chop with the north winds so it was definitely tricky and pretty choppy waves. But it was a good day all in all,” said Taylor Hasson, Team ISV skipper for the Men’s Skiff 49er team.
Taylor Hasson (Submitted photo)
“It was pretty tough conditions but it was really enjoyable actually just to get on the water and get the nerves out. It was less nerve-racking than I thought it was going to be. It was just kind of like a normal day sailing, but it was really enjoyable,” said Steven Hardee, Team ISV crew member for the Men’s Skiff 49er team.
Steven Hardee (Submitted photo)
Day two of the sailing competition on Oct. 29 was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. Competition picked up again on day three, with Dale ranking 19th overall in the Dinghy-ILCA 7 class and Hardee and Hasson ranking 8th in the Men’s Skiff (49er).
Team Virgin Islands sails a Dinghy-ILCA 7 at the Pan American Games. (Submitted photo)
Hasson says strategy this week includes “Chipping away at the fleet and getting further up there. Just one day at a time.” He and his Team ISV teammates say they’re appreciative of the enormous support from friends, family, and support from the Virgin Islands.
“It means a lot. Every time I get a text, it makes my day. Helps me push forward. There are a lot of hard days training. Seeing everyone support me, especially my family, has been really awesome,” said Hardee.
“The support from back home is awesome. My family has been unbelievably supportive throughout my entire sailing career. My friends back home and at school are very very supportive,” said Dale.
“I hope we can show young sailors that if you work hard, keep your head down, and keep grinding you can do great things,” he said.
“Clear de Road,” the Emancipation 175 Exhibit at the Fort Frederik Museum, part one of a three-part series, features artists whose “decolonial work recenters the narrative to ensure it speaks from inside the Virgin Islands and for the Virgin Islands.” The exhibit opened in July 3 and can be seen through Nov. 10, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Clear de Road: Counter Archives of Resistance is a partnership between the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources Division of Libraries, Archives & Museums, and the 175th Emancipation Commemorative Committee.“The exhibit honors the 175th anniversary of Emancipation at Fort Frederik, the historic site where freedom was won by Virgin Islands’ ancestors in the second successful revolution against slavery in the Caribbean. The show is dedicated to these freedom-seeking men and women and their unwavering spirit of resistance and creative ingenuity,” DPNR – Division of Libraries Archives and Museums Territorial Chief Curator Monica Marin said.For those who have not yet come, enter and take a look…and for those who have come, return…and look again. Patrons will witness the multiple genres the artists reveal in their works to honor the ancestors. “Clear de Road: Counter Archives of Resistance facilitates emancipatory practices inspired by the cultural legacy traditions of Caribbean art as activism. Virgin Islands’ cultural legacies were not just survival strategies but liberation tools used to organize, subvert, and enact long-term systems of change for our region. Sung in our Cariso and Quelbe, played in our masquerade, danced in our Bamboula, built in our visual art, and written in our literature, this wisdom reverberates in the anti-colonialism of Edward Blyden, the father of Pan Africanism; the labor organizing of David Hamilton Jackson; the transnationalism radicalism of Hubert Harrison; and the powerful advocacy of our current U.S. Congresswoman, Delegate Stacey Plaskett,” according to Marin.“The art in this exhibit demonstrates how film/video, performance art, new media, visual art, and other forms of contemporary creative scholarship can function as archives that claim and reclaim story, resisting the supposed authority of Eurocentric accounts of colonial records. Unlike the static pages of ledger books, with linear approaches to history, these artistic interventions offer new methods to upend the supremacy of colonial archives. In this exhibit, we can see that art has the power to serve as a counter-visual narrative, activating collective cultural memory and reimagining a more just future,” Marin shared.Niarus Walker, Elwin Joseph, Shakir Smith, and Arielle Orendin produced the triptych “We Stand on Strong Shoulders.”Triptych Mural of Valdemar S. Hill Sr., Enid M.. Baa and Jose Antonio Jarvis By Niarus Walker, Elwin Joseph, Shakir Smith and Arlette Orendin (Source photo by Elisa McKay)Niarus Walker is a visual artist, art educator, and curator who has been practicing her art for 29 years. Walker hails from the island of Dominica and made St. Croix her home for over 30 years. As a painter, mixed media artist and sculptor, she does figurative work steeped in Virgin Islands culture and deconstructed still-lifes that speak to colonialism and the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora. Her approach to art-making insists on mystery, tension and the spiritual.Elwin Joseph is Dominican-born. He is a visual artist who lives on St. Croix. Joseph’s primary medium is watercolor, but his first love is graphite. He also works in charcoal. The late Betsey Campden mentored Joseph and helped him gain exposure as an artist. He has exhibited locally and internationally in Egypt, England, and the United States. Collectors in places far and wide have purchased Joseph’s work. He fuels his art with authenticity and integrity, which allows him to create artwork that resonates with others. His works include landscapes, portraiture and still life and have graced the pages of the Best of Watercolor, Splash 22, St. Croix This Week, and Selected Artist Magazine.Shakir Smith is a St. Croix native who is a secondary school Fine Arts instructor and a graphic artist. Smith is a children’s book illustrator and photographer with illustrations in “See the Virgin Islands March” and “Tales, Crucian Morals, Creation Stories, and Other Fibs.” Smith earned a B.A. in illustration from Columbus College of Art and Design.Arielle Orendain designed the triptych “We Stand on Strong Shoulders.” While she was unable to complete the work, she is responsible for the research, idea, and general design of showcasing prominent culture bearers and leaders on whose backs we stand. She loves to do research on V.I. history. Orendain is an 11th-grade student at St. Croix Central High School. As part of a 21st-century program, she was one of the students who worked with professional artist mentors to execute works of art. She is a 17-year-old vivacious, energetic, do-everything, academically talented student who plays the flute and makes art. Mark “Feijao” Milligan II is Crucian born. Under the guidance of his art teacher, Cindy Male, Milligan’s high school studies varied from painting and drawing to graphic design and architecture. At age 16, he began an apprenticeship under local artist Paul Youngblood. One of his paintings during that time won the U.S. National Congressional Art Competition. This gave Milligan the opportunity to represent the USVI and have his painting exhibited in the U.S. Capitol. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School Of Visual Arts in New York, where he studied under such artists as Don Eddy, Max Ginsburg, Marvin Mattelson, and Jack Potter.Milligan has exhibited locally at the Frederiksted Fort, the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts, and at distinguished venues in Washington, DC, New York, Hawaii, and Utah. Milligan’s murals can be seen at the Central Park SummerStage, Adidas and Pow! Wow! Hawai’i. His live art on stage was performed for former Vice President Gore, Lauryn Hill, and De La Soul. Milligan’s work has been featured within NCIS Hawai’i (CBS), Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big GRRRLS (Amazon Prime), ELLE.com, FLUX Hawai’i magazine and within a For Freedoms billboard campaign.Mixed media of Vaughn “Akae Beka” Benjamin by Mark “Feijao” Milligan II (Source photo by Elisa McKay)Oceana James created an Ancestral Walk that culminated in a community altar and ritual performance outside Fort Frederik at the Kapok Tree. This new work sits in the memory of her ancestors who walked the roads of Frederiksted. The piece confronts the lines of participant and witness and bridges the present, past, and future selves.James is a St. Croix-born interdisciplinary artist. Her work is an examination/a re-telling/a re-imagining of her Caribbean indigeneity and is a commentary on the socio-political, cultural, and economic realities of people of African descent. In her work, James deconstructs the idea of language as one’s sole means of communication and experiments with the use of time, space, non-linear form, and movement to do this. She uses her Caribbean “Nation Language” or “Mother Tongue” to further explore the mythologies and stories that she grew up hearing. Right now, her research is centered on epigenetics, trees (the biology and mythology), the intersection of science, spirituality, and the use of the body to embody and then exorcise the trauma.Oceana James on an Ancestral Walk (Photo by Maria Stiles)Adrian Michael Edwards was two years old when his Crucian parents, who met in New York, relocated to St. Croix to satisfy their longing for home and quieter surroundings. Edwards completed his secondary education in Florida and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as a radio operator and a parachutist. Edwards is a self-taught artist and graphic designer. Spirit moved him to engage his creativity through sketching, writing poetry and short stories. In 2016, he acquired a digital painting software and committed to learning how to express his ideas and feelings through the medium. Edwards experiments with recyclables, hoping to find a suitable replacement for clay and is experimenting with sculpting. He is inspired by his desire to tell stories with color and symbols woven into themes popularly accepted and tabooed. He assists at teaching martial arts, is an aspiring thespian, loves yoga, and is mastering the fine art of being cool in the face of life’s challenges. Edwards is the proud father of two amazing children, Maakheru-Ra Edwards, 18, and Onile S. Edwards, 10. “Spirit in the Drum” is Edwards’ digital art.“Spirit in the Drum” digital art by Adrian Edwards (Photo by Quiana Adams)El’Roy Simmonds was born and raised in Christiansted, St. Croix. As an exchange student at the Kuntz Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark, he conducted research on the history of the relationship between Denmark and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which is reflected in his work. Simmonds holds a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York. His work is recognized in the USVI, Denmark, New York, Haiti, and beyond.He was commissioned by the USVI Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs Bureau of Libraries, Museums, and Archaeological Services to illustrate the first Government-endorsed V.I. History textbook titled “Clear de Road.”Simmonds’ mural, “Emancipation,” depicts the slave uprising of July 3, 1848, on St. Croix, Danish West Indies. – which resulted in the Emancipation Proclamation in the town of Frederiksted. Strong geometric shapes contrasted with hot and vibrant yellow, orange, red, and earth tones emphasize the tension and heat of the situation.The outstanding individuals are Governor-General Peter Von Scholten at the upper right and General Moses Gottlieb – “General Bordeaux” blowing the conch shell. Both were responsible for the honorable results with minimum deaths and destruction to both sides involved.Emancipation 1848 by El’Roy Simmonds (Source photo by Elisa McKay)The Fort Frederik Museum art show was presented by DPNR-DLAM in partnership with the 175th Emancipation Commemorative Committee (ECC) with support from the Office of the Governor and sponsorship by First Bank.Clear de Road was curated by Monica Marin and co-produced by Akeem McIntosh, chair of the 175th EEC’s Subcommittee on Education and Public Display, with exhibition installation and assistance from Niarus Walker and Ralph Motta.“A special thank you to Governor Bryan; Lt. Governor Roach; DPNR Commissioner Oriol; DLAM DirectorDeSorbo; 175th ECC Chairwoman Carol Burke; 175th ECC Chair of Education and Public Display and Clear de Road co-producer Akeem McIntosh; and 175th ECC Chair of Research, Data, and Digitalization Myron Jackson for their support,” Marin said.
“We would like to thank the following artists included in the exhibit who are either from the Virgins Islands or are deeply connected to the region: El’ Roy Simmonds, Tiphanie Yanique, Stephanie Hanlon, Chalana Brown, Gerville Larsen, Ayana Flewellen, Cynthia Oliver, Paloma McGregor, La Vaughn Belle, Sigi Torinus, Oceana James, Elisa Mackay, Victoria Rivera, Ray Llanos, Janet Cook-Rutnik, Waldemar Broadhurst, Sara Hayes, Niarus Walker, Elwin Joseph, Shakir Smith, Adrian Edwards, Sharimar Cruz, Augustin Holder, Lucien Downes, Mark “Feijão” Milligan II, Danica David and her St. Croix Educational Complex summer art students,” she said. A special thank you to all the participating artists whose creative scholarship and practice are helping to decolonize the narrative and recenter it from inside the US Virgin Islands. It has been an honor to include their paradigm-shifting work as a source of knowledge in updating the interpretive story of how we tell Virgin Islands history in a museum setting. In conceiving the exhibit for the 175th Emancipation, it was important to broaden public understanding of the powerful histories of freedom in the Virgin Islands passed down through cultural legacies and art as activism. Specifically, how cultural production in our region rooted in resistance against slavery and colonialism has inspired Transatlantic Black brilliance and liberation throughout the US and the world. I hope everyone who has not seen the show gets a chance to see it before it closes, especially VI students. For more information:
Call Fort Frederik Museum at 340-772-2021
Defendants arrested by federal Customs authorities on St. Thomas pleaded guilty in District Court on Tuesday. (Source file photo)
Jury selection for the trial of three men arrested during a 2021 drug interdiction was supposed to take place Monday in District Court. The panel selection was instead canceled and replaced with hearings where all defendants pleaded guilty.
Chief District Court Judge Robert Molloy accepted guilty pleas from Johny Aris Rodriguez and Gerald Albert Cruz and ordered them to return to his courtroom for sentencing on Feb. 8, 2024. The defendants admitted to possessing cocaine while onboard a vessel.
Court records describe the marine interdiction by agents of Customs and Border Protection – Air and Marine Operations on Dec. 29, 2021. In that account, agents said they encountered a vessel operating at night without lights near St. Thomas’ North Side.
Agents said they saw two individuals — later identified as Rodriguez and Cruz — hauling parcels overboard during a high-speed sea chase. The chase ended with authorities disabling the boat’s engine with gunshots and arresting the occupants.
The jettisoned parcels were recovered and sent to the DEA lab for testing. Technicians said 750 kilograms of cocaine were inside the parcels tossed overboard.
Earlier on Monday, Pedro Ramos-Ramierez — the pilot of the boat — pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Ruth Miller to the same charge. No sentencing date has been set yet for Ramierez.
Also on St. Thomas, a Chinese national faces possible deportation after he was apprehended, along with two others, at the Cyril E. King Airport in August. On Tuesday, defendant Xiaoling Li admitted he illegally entered the United States by boat in July after making the trip from Suriname.
U.S. Magistrate Ruth Miller accepted Li’s guilty plea and advised him that he faced the chance of being sent back home to China. With help from a Mandarin interpreter, Li said he understood and asked to be sentenced that day.
The defendant also accepted Miller’s invitation to address the court before sentencing.
“The reason I decided to come to the U.S. was because I was persecuted by the Chinese government and by the Chinese police force,” Li said, explaining that he felt his mistreatment stemmed from his religious practice.
Li did not say what faith he followed.
He was sentenced to time served in detention and ordered to pay a special assessment fee. If immigration authorities decide to deport him, Miller said, he may not re-enter the U.S. without written permission from the Secretary of State.
Li was arrested Aug. 3, along with two other men, after trying to board a flight from King Airport. When the trio presented themselves to Customs and Border Protection agents, they were sent to another area for a secondary inspection and taken into custody.
Any groups or organizations planning to hold parades, marches, or rallies will be required to secure an approved permit from the department, the V.I. Police Department reminded the community in a press release Tuesday.
For more information, please call the Chief’s Office at (340)774-2211 on St. Thomas or (340)778-2211 on St. Croix.
Virgin Islands Track and Field Team Members Malique Smith and Michelle Smith will be competing in Santiago, Chile, in the PANAM Games on Wednesday, the Virgin Islands Track and Field Federation announced in a press release Tuesday.
From left, Malique Smith, Michelle Smith, Coach Mireille Smith
Both Malique and Michelle qualified to represent the Virgin Islands in the 400m Hurdles, according to the press release.
Michelle’s 400m Hurdles race will be at 5 p.m. Virgin Islands time and Malique’s at 5:25 p.m., the press release stated.
