BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Let me guess; you have found yourself caught up in a whirlwind of responsibilities and commitments.  Another day, another deadline. When was the last time you took a break? How do you even begin to take a break? There’s always something demanding your attention. You are making great money, but all it is for you is: work, work, work, work, work, work (a little Rihanna for you). You are going through what is titled, “Unplugged: The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma.”

Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe it’s time for a break? A chance to escape the routine and recharge your batteries?  If you are reading this and nodding along, then you’re in the right place, and if you’re open to exploring new destinations, we have something special in store for you. Something that will make choosing your next vacation destination an absolute breeze.

Picture yourself surrounded by breathtaking scenery, immersing yourself in new cultures, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority will kick off May with the second annual Antigua and Barbuda Restaurant Week (ABRW). From Saturday, May 4^th, 2024, through Sunday, May 19^th, 2024, a total of 65 restaurants featuring diverse cuisines will offer prix fixe menus and special dining experiences to restaurant and food lovers. This year’s celebration also includes events with local and celebrity chefs as well as the “Eat Like A Local” campaign that encourages guests to support the country’s small, casual cookshops.

Back for a second year the “Eat Like A Local” experience highlights casual island cookshops from Antiguan and Barbudan restaurant owners and cooks. Throughout Restaurant Week, guests can explore these local eateries via an interactive map on the ABRW website. The Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority encourages visitors to sample pepperpot and fungee, national dishes that are beloved on the island. Fungee is a cornmeal-based dish, variations of which are found throughout the Caribbean and believed to have been brought to the region by enslaved Africans; it is similar to fufu or foofoo, popular in many West Africa nations. Other local dishes to be enjoyed include goat water, ducana and saltfish.

Prix Fixe lunch and dinner menus will range from $25-$75USD, with more affordable “Eat Like A Local” options available around the island. “The event was designed to encourage locals and tourists to enjoy old favorites and also explore new restaurants and cuisines,” said Shermain Jeremy of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. “We look forward to celebrating great flavor with great value.”

This year, ABRW will feature a lineup of celebrity chef and beverage professionals exclusively of Caribbean heritage, including: Chef Angel Barreto, Chef Shorne Benjamin, Cookbook Author Althea Brown, Chef Kareem Roberts, Chef Digby Stridiron, and Sommelier Nadine Brown.

Coinciding with the run of ABRW is the Pepperpot Rum Shop, a 100-day pop-up destination created by The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Treehouse Beach Club, and British chef, television and radio broadcaster, and former singer Andi Oliver. The concept came from Oliver’s successful recipe book, “The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table.” From May through August, the pop-up will host curated experiences featuring Caribbean: food, music, art, and film.

Special event experiences open to all throughout the two-week-long celebration include:

Sunday, May 5^th, 2024: “The Food & Art Experience,” at Dow’s Hill Interpretation Centre

The historic site overlooking Nelson’s Dockyard will be transformed into a food and art village where guests can be the first to collect ABRW Food passports, sample fare from participating restaurants and local food brands, and explore art from local artists and makers.

Tuesday, May 7^th, 2024: “Destination Food Forum: Nourishing the Future” at the John E. St. Luce Finance & Conference Centre

The Food Forum, presented by Grace Foods, is a one-day immersive event designed to gather: chefs, food enthusiasts, tourism experts, hospitality leaders, and sustainability advocates. Experts will lead insightful panel discussions on issues such as sustainability in food, supporting local producers, innovation, food trends and more.

Wednesday, May 8^th, 2024: Caribbean night and bonfire on the beach at Wild Tamarind

Guests will: enjoy steelpan music, live entertainment, sundowner cocktails, passed appetizers, and a casual cookout prepared by two guest chefs: Shorne Benjamin of Fat Fowl, who’s based in Brooklyn, New York and originally from St. Lucia, and Chef Angel Barreto of Anju in Washington, DC, who is of Puerto Rican heritage.

Thursday, May 9^th, 2024: Roti master class at Loose Cannon beach bar’s School of Cooking

Cookbook author Althea Brown, based in Aurora, Colorado and originally from Guyana, will host an intimate cooking class that covers the history of roti, how it came to the Caribbean, and differences in preparation throughout the region.

Thursday, May 9^th, and Saturday, May 18^th, 2024: Seven-course Antiguan tasting menu from Chef Kareem Roberts and Head Chef of Weatherills Hotel Omar Nicholas

Antiguan chefs Omar Nicholas and Kareem Roberts, who are visiting from Cambridge, United Kingdom, will use local bullfoot, tamarind, black pineapple, lionfish and more in a meal that reimagines national cuisine at the historic estate house-turned-hotel. The collaborative six-course tasting menu will be available on two nights, with optional cocktail pairings.

Friday, May 10^th, 2024: Four-course collaboration dinner with wine pairings at Bar None

In collaboration with visiting chef Digby Stridiron, originally from St. Croix and currently chef at Latha in Phoenix, Arizona, Chef Thaddeus Sealy of Bar None will host dinner at the newly opened wine bar and restaurant, featuring four courses expertly paired with wines selected by and sommelier Nadine Brown.

Friday, May 10^th, 2024: Six-course tasting menu experience at Cove Restaurant at Blue Waters Resort

Guests will enjoy a six-course tasting menu featuring dishes from visiting Chef Kareem Roberts alongside Blue Waters Chef de Cuisine Ronald Wilson and Pastry Chef Tameka Hamilton.

Saturday, May 11^th: Multicourse Korean dinner with wine pairings presented by Carlisle Bay and Premiere Beverages.

This dining experience will feature dishes from Angel Barreto, acclaimed chef behind Anju, a Washington D.C. based restaurant renowned for its contemporary Korean cuisine. Angel, recognized as a Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard Award finalist and semifinalist, will curate a four-course Korean dinner at East, the premier restaurant of Carlisle Bay Antigua. Enhancing the experience further, D.C.-based Sommelier Nadine Brown will pair complementary wines with each course. As a special treat, Angel will also introduce a signature dish to East’s menu, available for guests to savor throughout the month of May.

Wednesday, May 15^th, 2024: The Bay House Modern Caribbean Sunset Cocktail experience

This experience introduces and celebrates Bay House’s innovative approach to Caribbean cuisine and mixology, with a fusion of tradition and creativity. The early evening affair guarantees a selection of enticing new Modern Caribbean dishes curated by Chef Dominique James of Bay House, in collaboration with Chef Kareem Roberts. These dishes will be served tapas-style and expertly paired with refreshing Modern Caribbean cocktails.

Time to get off that hamster wheel and curate an experience for yourself that you will never forget; remember, it is all about experiences.

BY PAUL JUNOR

The 83,000 strong Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (EFT0), which represents a diverse range of education stakeholders, have been fighting relentlessly for an equitable and inclusive public education.

In the lead up to its contractual agreement with the provincial government it has consistently challenged the government to address issues related to adequate funding, allocation of resources, lack of staffing and safety concerns. On Sunday, April 28^th, 2024, they issued a press release in response to the government’s announcement that it will crack down on cell phones in schools and vaping. ETFO believes that its strong advocacy has led to adoption of the recommendations that were presented with respect to the provincial code of conduct.

ETFO has fought long and hard to ensure that its recommendations are accepted by the government. After the ETFOs central agreement in December, it has met with the representatives of the provincial government, and the Ontario Public School Boards to revise PPM 128. PPM refers to Policy/Program Memorandum and it describes in detail what comprises the Provincial Codes of Conduct and School Board Codes of Conduct.

The press release states, “As a result of our strong advocacy at the bargaining table, several new measures were agreed to in bargaining, including publicly facing school signage that communicates behavior expectations for everyone, as well as a revision of PPM 126 to address behavior, consequences, and safety.”

The press release lists some of the recommendations that it has made. ETFO has made it clear that the personal code of conduct must involve an approach that is respectful of students’ dignity and rights while at the same time covers a broad range of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. These recommendations include:

• Unacceptable student behaviors include bullying, cyberbullying, intimidation, harassment, racism, discriminatory behaviour, physical violence, sexual assault, shoving and pushing, profanity, disrespectful behaviour that shows disregard for teachers, or others supervising adult’s position, failing to follow directions, significant disruptions to the learning environment, misuse of technology and social media, and repeated use of e-cigarette (vaping).

In order to promote acceptable student behavior, the school board code of conduct must clearly define unacceptable student behaviors, and school boards must enforce consequences for non-compliance.

• School Board codes of conduct should affirm that all members of the school community have a reasonable expectation of process, and so personal mobile devices should not be used to record and/or post photos, audio recording, or videos of others without their expressed consent.
• Schools must use proactive and preventative approaches to reduce the occurrences of unacceptable behavior by students and other members of the school community.
• Unacceptable behavior by students and other members of the school community will be responded to immediately by school administrators and school boards.

In addition, ETFO presented a series of recommendations directed to how code of conduct is presented, interpreted and applied in the different school boards. The recommendations include:

• All schools must post publicly facing signage in every school that communicates behavior expectations for everyone.
• School boards code of conduct should also address consequences in a manner that does not disproportionately impact students based on the protected grounds reflected in Ontario Human Rights Code.
• School boards must ensure that codes of conduct are compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which protects the safety of workers in schools and school board work sites.
• Non-compliance with a school board’s code of conduct should be addressed in a progressive manner through consequences that are appropriate for a student’s age and stage of development. The consequences should be fair and equitable and should respect the dignity of all involved. Consequences may include in school, or out-of-school suspensions.

The statement from ETFO concludes, “Education is a shared responsibility, and decisions affecting our schools should be made through a transparent and inclusive process that prioritize the well-being of students and the professionalism of educators. It is only through respectful dialogue and true collaboration that we can develop policies that reflect the diverse needs of our school communities and uphold the highest standard of educators.”

BY STEVEN KASZAB

The public has been placed in a petri dish of socio-political experimentation.

The provincial government is much like all governments; a living breathing entity with no real purpose except to gather revenue and then distribute it as it ideologically sees fit. This agency of “The People,” once elected becomes a limited dictatorship with its own expectations, schemes and desires, bombarding us with the message that all things they do are for the benefit of the electorate. Policies in Ontario are developed and enacted in a haphazardly fashion, often without acceptable consideration for the public’s welfare and economy.

Education Minister Lecce announces that Ontario’s Education System has discovered problems within their Ministry needing to be solved, namely many of our youth smoke and vape a lot. Secondly, youth spend far too many hours on their phones and electrical devices when they should be paying attention to their instructor’s.

Wow what a surprise! Kids are allowed to have playthings at school. Take away these devices, provide attached laptops and voila, kids will pay attention to their teachers. As for vaping, our governments allowed the sale of these items to the public, and while they had every chance to disallow these devices to fall into the hands of hapless kids, they did not take action. Addicted to the revenue generated through the sales of pleasure items and services such as: vaping, smoking, alcoholic beverages, online gambling and casino’s our governments have become the pimps of yesteryears, claiming to be able to manage the distributions and sales of these addictive items and services.

When their badly laid plans fail, and young and old are addicted to the products our government provides, or allows to be provided to the public, the government stands back, blames others for their decisions and tries to manage their mistakes, all the while continuing to allow the growing sales of these addictive products to the public. The very fact the government allowed vaping to become a “thing,” shows you just how hypocritical they are in their treatment of cigarette and tobacco sales. Addicts claim they want to be clean, yet their desire drives them to partake in their preferred addiction just one more time.

Is the Government of Ontario a hypocrite, claiming to give their students the best school learning environment, best tools to learn from, and yet unable to manage a simple problem like student’s attention span, and their use of cell phones? All governments wish to appear as though they are accomplishing something beneficial for the public, but when direct, unpopular decisions need to be made, like whether cell phones are necessary in the school environment or is the inevitable use of vaping/smoking going to happen in that environment, they falter, and often turn on a dime in the other direction. Politicians can be weak and selfish folk, unwilling to be the parents that the public elected them to be.

Furthermore, our children have become tools of experimentation for the education ministry and government. Unable to devise appropriate plans that work, throwing ideas and concepts at the wall hoping something works. The pandemic showed us just how unprepared and dimwitted our leadership can be. Warned by many that the pandemic was on its way, our leaders did not act, nor did they even consider that something as destructive as COVID-19 could attack us.

Minister Lecce may well limit cell phone use in the schools, and vaping will undoubtedly be made unacceptable on school grounds, but his government still allows vaping products to be sold to adults who will often make these products available to our youth, and the soccer moms and dads of the province will assuredly force Minister Lecce to rethink his government’s policies regarding cell phones in the classroom once more.