Tribute to James Dean - Legend

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955) was a cultural icon , best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark. The other two roles that defined his stardom were as loner Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955), and as the surly ranch hand, Jett Rink, in Giant (1956). Dean's enduring fame and popularity rests on his performances in only these three films, all leading roles. His premature death in a car crash cemented his legendary status.


Dean was the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award  nomination for Best Actor and remains the only actor to have had two posthumous acting nominations. In 1999, the AFI ranked Dean the 18th best male movie star on their AFI's 100 Years ....100 Stars list.

Minister Rodrigues-Birkett receives hero’s award in Moruca

Monday, 12 September 2011

MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett is accustomed to open arm welcomes when arriving at her native village, Moruca. But she will forever remember September 10, 2011, when she received a hero’s award. Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues- Birkett, at right, with, from left, Agnes Daniels, Vibert De Souza and Basil Rodrigues, with their awards. Seventeen highly acclaimed Morucans, 13 of whom are deceased, were declared Heroes of Moruca on Saturday when the village hosted Heroes Day in a show of loyalty to their villagers, in keeping with Amerindian Heritage activities. Minister Rodrigues-Birkett, along with former Minister of Amerindian Affairs Vibert De Souza, and veteran teachers Agnes Bridget Daniels, and Basil Rodrigues were honoured with the unveiling of a monument with their names inscribed on it. Several villagers, young and old, including Chairman of Region One, Fermin Singh, and reigning Miss Moruca, Simone Fredericks, gathered at the Santa Rosa Heroes Square for the commemoration ceremony which took the form of eulogies, songs, poems and accolades to the heroes past and present. Among the deceased heroes are Joseph Atkinson who was instrumental in the establishment of the first Moruca Co-op Society shop; John Atkinson, the longest serving village captain; Rosa Atkinson, a herbal practitioner and spiritualist; Stephen Campbell, the first Amerindian parliamentarian; and John Ferreira, an entrepreneur who was fluent in the Carib, Warau and Arawak languages. The Heroes Monument, Santa Rosa, Region One Basil Rodrigues was the person instrumental in the idea of a Heroes Monument in Moruca. He used the occasion to thank members of the village council and public spirited persons for organizing such the event which, he acknowledged, emerged out of the realisation that there is a great need for youths in the village to know and appreciate their heroes, culture and language. The project, Rodrigues said, was not smooth sailing as many obstacles were faced to acquire funding for the monument which was built at a cost of over $45,000. Rodrigues was the former Aishalton Primary School head master, teacher of Santa Rosa Primary, and author of the songs “Nine Amerindian Tribes” and “Tribute to Moruca.” He also played in lead role in the play Kanaima and participated in the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) IX in Trinidad and Tobago. Minister Rodrigues-Birkett hailed him as a person who has done Moruca and the country proud. “He is so committed to the Amerindian culture… it was his idea that we have a monument… I’m very happy today that all Morucans are so supportive of this,” Minister Rodrigues-Birkett said. Agnes Daniels, the former school teacher who taught Minister Rodrigues-Birkett, was strict with her rules regarding dress, tardiness, and mannerisms; and the Foreign Affairs Minister recalled the inspiration she gained from the advice which she received to “use the Bible as a guide.” Minister Rodrigues-Birkett was also elated to receive the hero’s award, along with Vibert De Souza, Guyana’s first Amerindian Affairs Minister who, she said, was the person who gave her the scholarship opportunity, and advised her on the job opening at the Social Impact and Amelioration Programme (SIMAP). “He laid a foundation for me, because I came after him as Minister of Amerindian Affairs,” Minister Rodrigues said. Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues -Birkett unveils the Heroes Monument in the presence of several Moruca residents, Region One Reference was also made to his advocacy for land demarcation. Listening to the eulogies of the heroes and the call for youths to be cognizant and appreciative of their heroes, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett vowed to publish a booklet on the biographies of each awardee, especially for the village. In her recollections, she called the names of several other persons who, in her mind, are heroes of Moruca who did not make the list, but were nevertheless “gifts to Moruca from God.” The minister referred to a woman named Yamakoto who performed the role of a midwife and brought her into the world, and others who were vocal on the rights of Amerindians. During the ceremony, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in honour of Stephen Campbell, with a citation that read: “Dedicated to the Memory of Stephen Campbell, First Amerindian Member of Parliament, pioneer of Amerindian land titles, his memory lives.” (GINA)

Editorial - Stabroek News - Sept 12, 2011

Amerindian History and the Schools
Today marks the start of Amerindian Heritage Month with its annual focus on indigenous art, culture and achievements. It is only in relatively recent times, however, that elements of Amerindian history and pre-history have begun to be uncovered, and for the most part the bulk of the population remains ensnared by a stereotyped – and mostly inaccurate – account of the indigenous past.  The Amerindians had lived in what is our Guyana for thousands of years before Christopher Columbus made his fateful landing on the Bahamas’ Watling Island in 1492, and work in more recent times by archaeologists including (among others) the late Denis Williams, Prof Mark Plew and Mr George Simon of the University of Guyana and his colleague Prof Neil Whitehead of the University of Wisconsin, have begun to open a window on life in Guyana millennia ago.
Few of our children are taught in school that Amerindians are the pioneers of agriculture in Guyana, although they do learn about the making of cassava bread, etc. In many classrooms this is taught in a vacuum, however, and it is possible that some pupils are not even be aware of the remarkable nature of a process which involves the bitter cassava and not the sweet variety, and is designed to eliminate the toxins from this root vegetable to make it safe for consumption. The early peoples who developed the technique can be regarded as scientific experimenters of a sort, using empirical observations to produce a practical result and provide themselves with a dietary staple.
But the Arawaks in particular, are also the pioneers of large-scale drainage, designed to carry off water from their raised fields which served their fixed settlements. They eventually abandoned these, to return to farming methods and the lifestyle we associate with all the nations here today, but in their heyday the raised field complexes were very impressive. The largest known at present was at Hertenrits in Suriname, but raised fields have also been found in Canje and on the Berbice River, where they are being investigated now.
And it is also on the Berbice River that Messrs Simon, Whitehead and others are digging at a site near Dubulay which has been under human occupation dating back at least five thousand years, and after the latest carbon-dating tests are concluded in the United States, might be found to go back even as far as ten thousand years. If so, this would make it a premier site in terms of Amazonian archaeology.
One suspects that no hint of these developments seeps into the classrooms of Guyana’s schools (least of all the hinterland schools), although the Walter Roth Museum has run a Junior Archaeology Club for some years, which has attracted a few youthful adherents at the primary level. It is proposing to extend this and launch a programme to attract secondary school students around the middle of this month.  If the interest of children in archaeology could be sparked, then the potential would exist to develop in due course a cadre of local archaeologists who could follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, both Guyanese and foreign, and unravel the distant past of this nation.
Even where the colonial period is concerned, not a great deal is known by the public at large let alone the Ministry of Education and its school teachers about the role of Amerindians.  Here in particular, stereotyped stories hold sway, which are either irrelevant to our situation, or have only partial relevance.  The history of indigenous nations in this country was not the same as that in the Spanish or Portuguese areas of the South American continent, and some groups at some periods in Guyana were actors in the colonial drama, rather than simply victims.  Others shared a history of enslavement with the Africans, which for them lasted until 1793, when the Dutch state abolished indigenous slavery in Essequibo-Demerara, along with the slave trade which went with it. Having said that, however, it has to be conceded that not a great deal of accurate information about Africans in the pre-Emancipation period has penetrated the walls of Guyana’s classrooms either, or is even known by the public at large.
One can only hope that one day, the Ministry of Education will see fit to update its syllabus for the Grade 6 Assessment in Social Studies, among others, so the children at least can actually benefit from information which in some cases has been known by researchers for years, and in the case of the Amerindians, some of which has recently been uncovered. After all, peddling inaccuracies about the past and the ancestors of the peoples who go to make up this nation is not just counter-productive, it brings discredit to the Ministry and the Minister.