Bahamian Storytelling Chant
“Once upon a time was a ‘wery’ nice time; monkey chew tobacco and spit out lime.”
So once upon a time, as reminded in Blogs 1-4, there was the Caribbean Students Association or CARISA at UWindsor, a motley crew of Caribbean stars (although many non-Caribbean persons were indeed invited to the cookout), “mixed right up like conch salad” – which is a popular Bahamian phrase.
[Fun Fact: Please don’t mind the Lord of the Flies film concerning pronunciation of the word "conch" (*smile*): it’s pronounced “konk” and is delicious and is widely considered to be an aphrodisiac https://www.nassauparadiseisland.com/blog/recipe-conch-salad.]
And once upon a time CARISA comprised several ethnicities and a good number of birthplaces.
The invaluable archival photos below reflect some of those ‘conch salad ingredients’:
Anyway, if one were to track the lives of CARISAns, there's no denying the star power. In this particular blog, I give you CARISAn Bernadette “Bernie” King-Gibson, MBA, SPHRi.
Bernie with UWindsor Bahamian alumnus Dr Richard Knowles
(now optometrist) at UWindsor's Becket House back in the day
Qualifications: UWindsor Bachelor’s in Public Administration; UMiami Master’s in Business Administration; American Board Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics; and Senior Professional in Human Resources International designation
Bernie of The Bahamas, “700 islands in the sun”, happens to be Lt. Governor, District 11, Zonta International, with vast service, including mentor in the “Great Girls Meet Great Women” Zonta International program. Pre-retirement managerial posts were at Securities Commission of The Bahamas, BAF Financial and Insurance Company (Bahamas), Foot Solutions, and Bahamas Public Service.
#CaribbeanStarIndeed
Stay tuned for Blog Six of the “61” series.
Bahamian Storytelling Chant
“Be bo ben, my ole story end.”
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Antoinette "Anto" Seymour is a proud University of Windsor alumna and professional archivist cross-appointed to Leddy Library and the University of Windsor Black Studies Institute in 2024.
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