A few weeks ago, Apple introduced significant upgrades to its operating systems for is mobile devices (iOS) and its Macintosh computers (MacOS). The features introduced in the new operating systems were minor, commanding few headlines, but the changes were weighty enough to demand bug fix upgrades within a week of their initial release.

iPad users most visibly got a dock for their apps. Mac users appear to have received a new desktop picture, an improved image organisation and editing app and really fast file copying.

If you’ve been waiting for drag and drop, a compelling feature of the Mac since, oh, 1984, well it’s now here on iOS. Less groundbreaking is the new Files app, which is just a more cohesive interface between iCloud and apps that are linked to it.

It bears no resemblance to the much more useful (and admittedly dangerous) app of the same name on Android.

All the major changes for both systems were either under the hood or revealed themselves through extended use. Long term users with compatible hardware were particularly hard hit.

While mobile devices were warning of incompatibility in older software quite specifically for almost a year (I knew that most Disney digital books wouldn’t run on the new version of iOS months before).

Apple is no longer supporting 32 bit apps on iOS 11 and an update will break 187,000 apps (roughly 8 per cent) still being offered on the company’s App Store.

Macs, unfortunately, offered no such counsel.

Mac users with legacy software turned to RoaringApps.com, an online database that tracks the compatibility of software running on all of Apple’s devices.

There were a disturbing number of apps with no reports at all as late as three weeks after the release of 10.1.3, codenamed High Sierra.

There are only two computers at my office capable of running the new system so I decided to do a nuke and restore on one, backing up my installation with Time Machine, the incremental backup system that Apple has made part of its core OS.

The new system reformatted the machine’s solid state drive (SSD) and install a pristine copy of the new system (by default, the OS does the update in place).

It was a lot more work than the straightforward update most opt for, but the big change in High Sierra is a completely new drive formatting and file access system called Apple File System (APFS), which replaces HFS Plus, introduced in 1998, which displaced the earlier HFS of 1984.

Filesystems are very low-level attributes, normally invisible to the end user but they are the underpinning of a stable computer.

Then, I restored my data and apps using the Time Machine backup and expected all to be sparkling glory.

A new file system is a major change on any platform, and I hoped to avoid problems by letting Apple’s usually quite clever installers manage the process.

I was wrong.

High Sierra ignores apps that don’t work if they didn’t come from Apple’s own App Store and I still run a few of those.

In addition, there was a bit of low level cruft in my system, the legacy of updating the same basic OS installation for more than 15 years.

Newer users will probably have none of these problems, but some proved mortal after the upgrade and required long sessions of searching out old uninstallers and rummaging around in parts of the Unix subsystem that Apple wisely keeps hidden from its users.

After the first two disastrous weeks, during which the computer would randomly freeze and restart every few hours, a combination of updates to scruffy apps that Apple won’t allow on its store and deletions brought things back under control.

If you started using a Mac in the last five years or scrapped an older installation totally to start again using only blessed software from the App Store, little of this will be relevant to your High Sierra experience.

If you’ve been on the Mac for a while and have grown used to dragging along your whole installation with each major update, High Sierra is a bit of a wake-up call and demands a reassessment of all your non-Apple software.

Two old preference panes, one from Akamai left over from the old days of media stream buffering and SmartSleep, which improved wake responsiveness on pre-SSD Macs seem to have been the chief offenders in my fortnight of challenges.

They are also a reminder that old, forgotten installations, carried forward faithfully through careful backups, can eventually became deadly weeds, choking your Mac’s performance.

After five days of rain and flooding Mother Nature smiled on the National Trust of T&T last Saturday evening for its annual De Rain or Shine Retro Kaiso Cruise to Nelson Island.

The Gulf of Paria, basking in sunshine, upon placid seas the water taxi, aptly named Calypso Spirit, transported some 300 landlubbers to the small island, once a US military outpost and detention centre for labour and Black Power militants.

Headed by CEO Valerie Taylor, the National Trust was well prepared for Saturday’s voyage, the island prepped with local cuisine, beverages and delicacies. First to be devoured were the breadfruit pholourie, followed by the breadfruit kurma and ice cream. The coconut bake and buljhol, paymee, guava cheese and tamarind balls didn’t last too long either.

Making the ten-minute trip and enjoying the evening’s live entertainment were Costa Rican ambassador Lilly Edgerton, Miss Universe 1977 Janelle Penny Commissiong, calypso musicologist Ray Funk, TUCO official Annmarie Parks- Kojo (Twiggy), local fashion icon Jacqui Koon How and representatives of sponsors NLCB and First Citizens.

Aside from the cuisine, vintage kaiso was the other reason people braved the elements to make the trip and they were richly rewarded as the evening’s cast included artistes like Bro Superior—who received the DLitt honorary degree from UWI—Relator, Abebele, GB, Lady Adana and Poser.

With the show announced open by National Trust Outreach and Education Officer Joseph Bertrand and patrons welcomed by Taylor, GB presented the cast musically accompanied by a sextet comprising Patrick Price (keyboards); Ronnie Joseph and Superior (guitars); Michael Germaine (bass); and, Tony Woodroffe (sax).

GB was up first and sang his own Calypso Rising, Shadow’s My Belief and Lying Excuses, a ditty he co-wrote with Sparrow.

Sans the sextet, Abebele accompanied himself on guitar to perform Portrait of Trinidad, Land of Calypso, My Alphabet and Black Stalin’s In Times.

Possessing a beautiful voice and with much stage presence, lone female on the cast Lady Adana opened her set with Ras Shorty I’s Watch Out My Children, followed by Louis Armstrong’s iconic Wonderful World, Singing Francine’s Mr Carnival and Merchant’s Caribbean Connection.

Also accompanying himself, Relator was outstanding as he sang stanzas of Let’s Be Friends, Gavaskar and Christmas is Yours. Displaying his versatility, Relator flipped the evening’s script, mixing the present with the past by doing his interpretation of the late Lord Popo singing the 2017 Road March, MX Prime’s Full Extreme. This threw patrons into uncontrollable laughter.

Always the complete entertainer, pride of Sangre Grande Poser offered Bus Conductor, Party Tonight and Find a Party.

Dapper and looking nowhere near the 80th birthday he is celebrating on November 30, Bro Superior opened with January Girls, originally sang by the late Lord Kitchener, a calypsonian whose music Superior confessed he “lived off” when he migrated to Britain. Superior also sang his 2018 Panorama composition titled Pan on the Road, San Fernando Carnival, Trinidad Carnival and Long Live Calypso, bringing the curtain down on a most enjoyable evening of kaiso at 6.45 pm.

The Unit Trust’s next event to be held at the Nelson Island Heritage Site is Ponche de Creme & Parang on December 2. This cruise/show will be headlined by Alicia Jaggassar and Los Alumnos de San Juan.

Compelling and well-articulated arguments by Naparima Girls’ High School convinced the judges to declare them winners of the first segment of round two of the 2017 Junior Achievement (JA) National Secondary Schools Debate Series held at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business on October 26.

Supporting the motion “Be it resolved that the education system that currently exists in T&T is sufficient to produce successful 21st Century global citizens”, Naparima students, Nirvana Maharaj and Shreya Gopeesingh, turned back a spirited response by their counterparts from Presentation College, Chaguanas, Tej Capildeo and Kabir Singh.

A release said the JA Leadership Debate Series aims to develop critical thinking, the development of research and problem-solving skills, promote dispute resolution skills among youths, and cultivate a positive cadre of youths to become productive citizens.

Leading the debate, Maharaj argued that the education system was “not only adequate, but exceptional, in meeting the criteria for producing 21st Century global citizens. She listed the “holistic” courses of study offered at the various learning institutions, from primary to tertiary, which provided the ideal educational system to meet national and international needs. “Our education system has produced outstanding sons and daughters in the past, citizens who were capable of being problem-solvers and creating a new society. Have our opponents not heard of Dr Eric Williams. Or Lloyd Best?” she asked.

Responding to a point made by Presentation’s Singh that the local education system was archaic, Gopeesingh rebutted: “If the system was archaic, why do companies like BPTT and Shell invest heavily in T&T education? Those companies would not invest in our education system if it was not up to mark.”

For their part, the Presentation debaters stressed repeatedly that the education system was in desperate need of reform since it “thrives on the dubious practice of force-feeding students” with little scope for analytical thinking and creativity to produce creative, all-rounded, global citizens.

NorthGate College, represented by Christina Foster and Zachary Noel, who supported the motion in the second debate of round two, also emerged winners against Holy Faith Convent, Penal, with Kimera Samaroo and Chelsea Harrylal, opposing the motion.

NorthGate contended that although the education system faced immense challenges, it has produced, is producing and will continue to craft and produce 21st Century global citizens. “The efficiency of the system is not in focus. The problems and deficiencies in the system have not stopped us from producing global citizens,” Noel asserted.

In their rebuttal of the motion, Holy Faith’s Samaroo and Harrylal said the T&T education system had a rigid fixation on examinations, standardised tests based on memorisation. The system, they contended, destroyed creative thinking and lacked innovation with little focus on problem-solving, with the result that it could not, and did not, produce 21st Century global citizens.

The judging panels for both debates comprised Dr Rose-Ann Walker, Merle Carrington, Nicola Harvey-Mitchell and Maureen Power. The debates were chaired by Chrystal Lloyd, with Elizabeth Calder as timekeeper.

In her review of the Naparima-Presentation encounter, Dr Walker said that the teams offered enlightened, exciting and stylistic presentations. “Debate is about persuasion. What you say must be backed up by facts, referencing reliable sources. We feel the future of T&T is in great hands when we hear the debaters,” she said. On the NorthGate-Holy Faith debate, Dr Walker stressed the importance of preparation and strategy. “Strategy is how well a team puts its points together and how it uses its time to present its argument. This has been an engaging and challenging round,” she added.

In his opening remarks, JA Executive Director, J Errol Lewis, thanked the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business for partnering with the organisation to stage the debating initiative with the added incentive of offering participating students training in public speaking and communication through a workshop to be held on November 1.

Round three of the series runs from November 8 to 10. Quarterfinals are scheduled for November 15 & 16; semifinals come off on November 22; with the grand finals carded for November 29.

Acknowledging Caribbean Talent presented the first T&T (Caribbean) Music and Entertainment (TTCME) awards ceremony on Thursday evening at The Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) Auditorium of the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA).

There were 26 winners selected from 26 voting categories. These winners were decided on by the results of votes submitted during a three-week voting period that allowed votes to be cast in two phases via bmobile. The event also marked the presentation of three achievement awards and recognised those who are consistent in several sectors of the music and entertainment industry.

Singer, musician and vocal coach Vanessa Briggs delivered a live performance at the beginning of the evening’s proceedings. She was later named Best Gospel Performer (Praise) and Best Gospel Performer (Worship). Like Briggs who won two titles, teenaged singer Aaron Duncan won the awards for Best Soca Performer and Best Soca Song of the Year.

The range of performances at the event showcased T&T’s different musical genres. Among the performers were Isasha, Blaxx, Explainer, Dayo Bejide Organic Music Movement, KI, Inzey and the Dopeskis, Surge, A4 Alternative Quartet, Neval Chatelal and Nishard M.

“The TTCME Awards was a dream and yesterday it became a reality. Now we can shine the light on the talent of T&T and by extension the wider Caribbean to highlight our uniqueness in this world. Even though we are small, we are mighty,” Acknowledging Caribbean Talent general manager Dion Heath said.

Port-of-Spain mayor Joel Martinez, a supporter of this undertaking from its initial stages was a guest at the event as well as members of the media. The event was supported by sponsors Community Care Credit Union, Lollabee Group of Companies, U Share, SWMCOL and Resolve Productions as well as Cache, Jouvert Gold, Sonlight Studios, North Coast Publishing, Resolve, G4S and North 11.

“The first TTCME has been a success. We are very grateful to everyone who supported us. We will press forward with what is the newest all-embracing model of recognising various talents across the music and entertainment industry coming out of the Caribbean, that is the TTCME Awards,” said Acknowledging Caribbean Talent founder and executive president Richard Cornwall.

President Anthony Carmona hosted a cocktail reception in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Port-of-Spain Declaration on Non-Communicable Disease (NCDs). The event was hosted at the Chinese Restaurant of the National Academy for The Performing Arts (NAPA), Port-of-Spain, on October 26.

Dr Bernadette Theodore-Gandi, Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) country representative to T&T, delivered opening remarks on the evening. Dr Gandi praised T&T along with Caricom heads for demonstrating strong leadership when they convened the first NCD summit out of which came the signing of the declaration in 2007. This Dr Gandi identified as an expression of solidarity in response to the growing burden of NCDs and their socio-economic impact that negatively affect Caribbean people.

Stakeholders in the health care community mingled on the evening as they discussed ways to strengthen their commitment to the collective battle against NCDs.

The feature race on Friday is the Distaff and a tough field of fillies and mares are slated to contest this championship race.

The headline acts among the older mares are Forever Unbridled and Stellar Wind. They were third and fourth, respectively, behind the great Beholder and Songbird. Stellar Wind underperformed that day and she has shown by racing unbeaten this year that she could be third time lucky in 2017 (second and fourth in 2015 and 2016 respectively).

The younger generation is led by Elate, Abel Tasman and Paradise Woods. Elate has taken all before her in some of Distaff Group ones on the East Coast – the Beldame and the Alabama – but gives the impression she is a bit below the best fillies and mares.

Abel Tasman was the clear leader of her generation after wins in Kentucky Oaks, Acorn and American Oaks but lost some of her lustre when beaten in the Cotillon. She could still bounce back. The beaten favourite for the Kentucky Oaks, Paradise Woods, showed she was on her way back with an impressive all the way score in the Zenyatta on her last start. She has to show that she can excel away from Santa Anita. On the balance of form, Stellar Wind, stands out as the best horse in the Distaff and is taken to win.

The Fillies and Mares Turf brings together top class contenders from both sides of the Atlantic. From Europe, we have Rhododendron, who won the Prix de l’Opera in his last start, Nezwaah, last year’s winner Queens Trust and Wuheida. All of these would have a chance on their best form. Confronting them from the US are their star mare, Lady Eli, narrowly beaten in the 2016 Fillies and Mares Turf after winning the 2014 Juvenile Fillies Turf; War Flag and Dacita fought out the finish of the Flower Bowl to book their tickets to the dance.

Both would need to improve significantly to figure her but War Flag is trained by Hall of Famer, Shug McGuaghey and has a pedigree to die for. She will be another sporting tip to upset the others.

If we look at the other eight races over the two-day Festival some of the likely major contenders are as follows. On Friday, the Juvenile Fillies Turf will be expected to be dominated by the Aidan O’Brien
East Mucurapo Secondary captain Kevon Edwards, second from left, celebrates with his teammates following their victory over Valencia Secondary during SSFL Championship Division action last Sunday. East Mucurapo was promoted to the Premier Division following their win over Chaguanas North Secondary, yesterday. PICTURE CHEVAUGHN CHRISTOPHER/CA-IMAGESpair of Happily and September though the North American trained Chad Brown pair of Rushing Fall and Significant Form will not be walkovers.

There is always the fear that this race comes at the end of a long season for European two-year-olds and both O’Brien fillies have been heavily raced in 2017. As such, I like Rushing Fall to upset the odds.

The Juvenile Turf should be fought out by the European contenders, James Garfield and US Navy Flag with slight preference for the former. The Dirt Mile is a North American benefit and Mor Spirit who won the Metropolitan Handicap doing handsprings should be way too good for his rivals.

On Saturday, we should look no further than last year’s winner Drefong in the Twinspires Sprint while Lady Aurelia should be way too fast for her rivals in the Turf Sprint though if she burns herself out the fast finishing Disco Partner could be interesting.

The most exciting horse on display on the day might actually come in the Fillies and Mares Sprint where Unique Bella, who was touted as the best three-year-old filly in the US before injury sent her to sidelines continues her comeback. She is one for the future for sure and could be as good as her former stable companion Songbird, which will be more than good enough to win this race.

The two main track Juvenile events could also herald the appearance of a couple of champions, Bolt D’Oro looks a notch above his rivals in the Juvenile while it is an East vs West battle in the Juvenile Fillies with Separationofpowers and Moonshine Memories bringing top class form to the table from both coasts.

Separationofpowers’ front running style could make her a sitting duck for the more stalking style of Moonshine Memories and I will go with the latter to come out on top on this occasion. All in all a great two days are in prospect.

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Back to back, on Monday evening and then again yesterday morning, two completely unrelated events triggered huge traffic gridlocks on opposite ends of Trinidad.

The first, a huge protest by residents of Rousillac and surrounding communities, who set up as many as ten blockades of burning debris, resulted in a vehicular pile up just around the evening rush hour for several miles along the Southern Main Road. Hundreds of people, including students and workers trying to get home, were caught in standstill traffic for several hours.

That one had barely cleared when another traffic pile up occurred, this time caused by the discovery of a corpse near the Beetham Landfill on the outskirts of Port-of-Spain. The gridlock, at the height of the morning commute into the nation’s capital, resulted in traffic extending past Chaguanas in central Trinidad and Mausica on the East-West Corridor.

No need to recount the losses in terms of productivity and energy, combined with the frustration and anger for the hundreds upon hundreds of citizens trapped in the gridlock—these incidents take place often enough for the resulting fallout to be well known to all.

These incidents highlight the many deficiencies in the country’s road network which make it particularly vulnerable to avoidable traffic jams. Something as simple as a fallen tree or a broken down vehicle can cause traffic nightmares.

The time is now long overdue for a properly constituted traffic management authority to get down to the necessary work of planning, consulting and putting in place systems and policies for a more efficient road system. T&T can ill afford these costly, time consuming incidents.

Turn these good music ideas into action

A lot of good ideas came out of the T&T Music Company Limited (MusicTT) National Stakeholder Engagement and Key MusicTT Implementation Projects event on Monday evening at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s. The same thing can be said about countless public consultations, panchayats and discussions held in this country. However, too many of them get no further than that.

Given the national propensity for plenty talk and no action, the fervent hope is that things will be different this time. It is one of the sad paradoxes of life in T&T that the nation that has given the world calypso, soca and the steelband is saddled with an under developed music industry. The need for more consistent development of that industry is more urgent than ever now as part of renewed focus on economic diversification.

Two projects in particular—the Live Music District and the Artist Portfolio Development Programme—were the focus of the deliberations but there are many other worthwhile initiatives on MusicTT’s agenda that need to see the light of day.

Proper implementation to ensure these activities are sustained and allowed to grow, will not only be a boost for the music industry but the benefits will spill over into tourism, yielding much needed job opportunities and revenue streams.

A milestone for Chaguanas

Congratulations to the Chaguanas Borough Corporation on its 27th anniversary. In October 1990, the area which was once part of County Caroni was declared a borough under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act. Chaguanas has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, with thriving residential and commercial communities and is now a strong candidate to become T&T’s next city.

The euphemistically-described “gaming” industry in T&T needs to be formally recognised at law and regulated to attempt to avoid some of its worst effects, especially the facilitation of unlawful activities associated with the flow of huge sums of money, the exploitation of labour and the overall culture of impunity. No two ways about it.

Enforcing greater orderliness and regulatory control over the industry will also assist in bringing to the surface, and perhaps even addressing, the well-established phenomenon of gambling addiction. And, no, casino gambling is not the only source of the problem. There are other more widely accepted forms of gambling that have taken their toll on families and communities over the years.

Explaining that casinos are technically “illegal” in T&T while taking visitors around the country stimulates one of those awkward moments Trinis know all too well when confronted by one of our many foibles.

So, we explain, it’s not really a casino, but “a private members’ club” that has casino paraphernalia. And, who are the “members”? I am not sure I have ever met one, but I have been the “guest” of more than one on several occasions.

The 2016 draft of The Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Bill boldly embraced the word “casino”. Getting there sure took us some time. That was almost as difficult as getting people to publicly acknowledge that they masturbate!

That is how it is when societies choose to proceed on the basis of collective denial. Long before casinos was the National Lottery and, before that, wappee rooms at rum-shops and clubs, and whe whe bankers in every community. We gamble, people.

At school, we raced tiny “boats” chiselled out of any available stick or bamboo down the drain for 10 cents, 25 cents. Who didn’t play “closest to the line”? At QRC, you went to the canteen to witness the “bussing of the mark” at lunch—low-level whe whe for cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar, dollar, dollar.

We gamble! The President is patron of the horse-racing club and when there are races, people “bet.” We gamble. Lotto, Play Whe, Scratch. We gamble. At church bingos, we gamble. At school fares, we put our money on the lucky number.

Now look at the mess such denial has got us into. That casino horse has long bolted down the track. Taming the runaway beast cannot now be routine business unleashed through edict in a mere budget speech. That explains what we are witnessing today.

Ten years ago, late prime minister Patrick Manning threatened to put an end to it all, describing gambling as “a social evil.” Everybody looked at each other knowingly, smirked, and acknowledged the high improbability of success.

We don’t only gamble. We consume alcohol and we smoke cigarettes. And because of the ambivalence and denial, we are capable of enjoying all of the above even as we impose “sin” taxes to punish ourselves for doing so. (Yet, to be fair, I never saw employees of WITCO or Angostura demonstrate in the streets after a national budget.)

At current rates and expectations, cigarettes and alcohol ought to have died of taxes by now. At one time, budget presentations were measurable by new prices for cigarettes and rum. Nobody really fussed, because we all apparently acknowledged that we are naughty and expect a spanking from time to time, even with a heavy strap. Now, if this isn’t a form of self-flagellation, I don’t know what is.

Such is our disorientation when dealing with these things, few felt conflicted about the imposition of a levy on previously untouchable NLCB winnings. Even the late prime minister tread carefully with that one.

But not this finance minister.

I am willing to wager that the 10 per cent tax on NLCB game winnings, when it comes to Play Whe specifically, will constitute the greatest opportunity to witness the resurgence of backyard whe whe than ever existed.

Who taking bets on how this will all end?

Growing up men had this derogatory saying “All women are whores, you just need to find their price.”

I’m beginning to wonder if there is some validity to the statement, but not just with women but with people at large, and in my industry, parents.

Do we as parents have a price?

Imagine for a second your child is grown and is being abused by their mate. The abuse only happens occasionally though and on the other days things are really, really, really good.

What would your advice be?

I’m going to guess that most level-headed parents would conclude that the good times simply cannot balance off the times of abuse, regardless of its frequency.

If that’s the case, why do we subject our children to abuse because the world says a fine education is worth it?

Singapore’s education system is ranked among the world’s best but the price they pay is costly—their suicide rate is high, and their quest for success has been named among the reasons why.

Are we turning a blind eye to abuse all in the name of progress? As a mother of an athlete, that’s a question I am always asking myself.

As someone who believes in hard work and excellence I am always mindful of the thin line that separates developing grit from down-right abuse.

We all know the stats. Abuse happens more by parents than any other sector. Are we voluntarily subjecting our children to abuse? Is success the ultimate parent’s price?

I know this is a hard question to ask and I know the alternatives are few and far between.

Am I asking you to trade success for deep down happiness?

Not at all. I am, however, asking that you be truthful. Painfully truthful. Abuse is emotional, verbal, mental and physical—are you turning a blind eye to it because you’re not sure what the future holds if you don’t?

Admittance is the first step to recovery. As a society, we must start by asking ourselves those tough questions and be honest with our answers.

Only then, can we start the conversation about solutions and the way forward.

MARSHA L RILEY
info.careparenting@gmail.com
 

A fascination with long-lasting youth and the possibility of suspending, if not reversing, the natural impacts of ageing have always fascinated people, from the writers of religious texts, poetry and fiction to the modern pharmaceuticals industry to medical practitioners.

It was actually American novelist F Scott Fitzgerald in 1922 and not movie director David Fincher in 2008 who came up with Benjamin Button—the main character in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button who becomes younger as time passes. Things do not end well in either the short story or the film.

This was long after Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray told of a man trading his soul for eternal youth and a life of libertine pleasures.

Some medical practitioners however stoutly claim the science of anti-ageing medicine is, by no means, either the stuff of literary fantasy or the product of divine hands.

Medical people like UK-trained internal medicine practitioner, Dr Raquel Sukhbir, are dismissive of fad diets and medications promising Dorian-like results, but stand by the role hormonal imbalances play in accelerating physical conditions typically associated with growing old.

The sceptic’s eyes scour a spotless St Clair office one sunny morning. More doctor’s offices need to be like this. As immaculate is the desk of the young preventive medicine practitioner. No manila folders. No illegible prescriptions. A tidy sheet of speaking notes.

“Through my treatment of patients with chronic diseases – diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, I became very interested in preventive medicine on the whole,” she explains.

This led to a curiosity with taking “a step back from before we got ill and stop that from happening. It was then I discovered anti-ageing medicine.”

Dr Sukhbir concedes that a measure of commercial “packaging” of this approach to medicine has occurred in the US context but is a branch of medicine that has long been practised in Europe. “It’s become a bit of a craze,” she suggests.

In that context, she thinks it’s necessary to “clear up” some misconceptions about anti-ageing therapies.

“There were several prominent (US) celebrity figures who started to go through menopause and started feeling unwell as a result … and they decided to treat themselves very publicly … because, on the market came this treatment called bioidentical hormones,” she says.

Bio-identical hormones, according to Harvard Health Publishing, are “identical in molecular structure to the hormones women make in their bodies” but are “synthesised from a plant chemical extracted from yams and soy.”

Use of such therapies is however not a routine part of medical teaching. “Having specialty training in chronic disease and cardio-vascular disease, I then specifically learned about anti-ageing medicine,” Dr Sukhbir said.

“I hadn’t learned those things in med school … we were never really taught properly how to assess hormones or treat them … how to really look at your nutrition; your individualised nutrition and treat that … how to look at your thyroid and treat it properly,” she added.

But how can a patient distinguish between what is purely fashionable and what is evidence-based and scientifically sound medicine?

“Because there are risks and because there are also great benefits, you really have to go to someone who knows what they are doing,” she said. “You have to have learned it to understand it … it is a tricky part of medicine to go through.”

Ageing itself is pretty daunting business biologically. People’s internal rhythms change, the efficient repair of cells slows, one’s immune system starts to decline and hormonal balance tilts negatively in the direction of disease, weakness and ensuing injury.

“From puberty to your mid-20s you start to get this peak in your sex hormones, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone … as you age, beyond the age of 40 those levels of those hormones start to decline quite rapidly until you are about 60 when they really start to tail off,” Dr Sukhbir says.

But, she warns, at the same time “because hormones live in a balance” the stress hormone, cortisol, “starts to rise to compensate for the drop in those other hormones. And that is where the real trouble starts, with all the classical symptoms of ageing.

“We used to think we just had to accept this decline...but through the practice of anti-ageing medicine, you don’t have to accept that as an inevitable progression,” she says. “You can actually halt the progression.”

“It’s not about extending someone’s age chronologically. It’s about making you have years in which you are disease-free and you are feeling optimal and energetic and you are actually able to live your life and enjoy it,” she says.

There have been concerns flagged by agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, regarding hormone replacement therapy. Several studies are available online and resources can be tapped via the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Dr Sukhbir herself recommends asking the critical questions and undergoing standard laboratory tests before venturing into this area of medical treatment and care. In the end no one is really promising Dorian, but a few years more as a healthy, active human appear to be the results on offer.

Much of what I have accomplished in academia this past year is attributed to the opportunity to write this weekly feature. Prior to 2012, my advocacy work was not as recognised nor as widespread as it has become today.

For that and more, I will always refer to the insightfulness of former Editor in Chief and one of my mentors, Judy Raymond, for reaching out to me with a request to address the issue of mental health here. This is how I spoke of the opportunity recently.
“After a decade of advocacy, strengthened by the advent of the Internet and social media, in 2012, I was invited to write an eight-instalment feature on mental health for a daily newspaper. Five-and-a-half years later, Mental Health Matters, a bold effort at first-person accounting and research, (guardian.co.tt/byline-authors/caroline-c-ravello) is regarded as the pioneering work for much of the current advocacy burgeoning here in T&T.
“But what the response to my work exposed was the breadth of neglected issues, the ignorance and the depth of discrimination towards the matters of mental health. The column expanded my advocacy and heightened my sensibility about T&T’s need for mental health policies. I decided to become part of the solution.
“As a media and communication professional, I first envisaged my role as a public health communicator bringing attention to the spectrum of mental health, working to break the barriers of stigma, and challenging the paucity of investment and State investiture. With that wind and a deep interest in research, enrolling in the MPH in 2015 allowed for exploration of my deliberations.”
The UWI experience enriched my life. I took opportunity to pursue as many of my research interests as possible and, thankfully, excelled. I had great companionship in group deliberations with RN Michelle Bassanoo-Jones of the Sangre Grande Hospital and Dental Surgeon Dr Theresa Yorke Metzger, my study partners (the ones who endured my peculiarities without prejudice), support, and co-researchers for the two years.
I have learned a few things about myself. Among them is the fact that I really hate the challenges of group work. But having already completed a Masters degree with merit, solely with individual study, I really wanted to join a classroom. And looking at the advertisement two and a half years ago, I realised that, if I were to be accepted, I would have entered the Faculty of Medical Sciences on the criteria that said, “such other experience as may be considered…”
While I have guarded my wonderful memories, unfortunately, I have among the experience such poor administration and co-ordination that had me saying regularly that “The UWI is all people said it could be and much less.” And while I do not want to broad-brush the entire institution, my experience within the Faculty and specifically the Public Health department leaves me flummoxed.
The UWI, to me, proved to be student unfriendly but, worse still, was my let down that among almost all of those senior and seasoned and some “freshmen” with whom I had to interact in medical sciences, there was a paucity of sensitivity to the issues of people like me who live with psychosocial disabilities and who are high-functioning.
I never felt the support. In fact, I can even claim to have been mistreated or at the least treated unfairly with irregular practices that have left me with conspiracy theories.
Most of my lecturers were professional in their delivery of the work and for that, I am better placed in the world of psychiatric epidemiology—my interest—to participate in the issues of population health as it pertains to mental wellbeing.
My motivation letter to enter this programme was made impressive by the years of having the opportunity that this column gave me. As I began to respond to those of you who wrote to me from day one, I realised that there were and still are so many gaps in mental public health in T&T.
In fact, with the scholarship I’ve gleaned, I am now convinced that we have so much less than we should if we are to protect the population’s mental health.
• Caroline C Ravello is a strategic communication and media professional and a public health practitioner. She holds an MA with Merit in Mass Communications (University of Leicester) and a Master in Public Health with Distinction (The UWI) Write to: mindful.tt@gmail.comAs I began to respond to those of you who wrote to me from day one, I realised that there were and still are so many gaps in mental public health in T&T.

So, what exactly is a Bioblitz? Bioblitz is an intense event, where volunteers attempt to find as many living species as possible in 24 hours within a designated area.

People align themselves with groups of their interest, for example, mammals, marine & aquatic, botany, herpetology and birding.

Now in its sixth year, the T&T Bioblitz will be headed to the southwesternmost tip of Trinidad, as scientists and nature enthusiasts go to Icacos on November 4 and 5.

A release said the surveys begin at noon on Saturday, November 4, and at noon on Sunday, November 5, following which, at 1 pm, results of the species totals found will be announced.

Possible survey areas this year include Soldado Rock, Icacos Great Lagoon, Columbus Bay and mud volcanoes. On past Bioblitzes, more than 700 species have been identified at each event.

On the Sunday morning, from 7 am to 2 pm, the public is invited to visit this year’s basecamp at the Icacos Government Primary School, where coordination of the event activities will occur.

At the school, the displays will be setup, identification of unknown plants and animals will take place and members of the public can interact with volunteers to find out what has been found and also take part in the action, through brief guided nature walks with experts.

The T&T Bioblitz is organised by the UWI Zoology Museum in conjunction with the T&T Field Naturalists’ Club. Sponsorship of this event has been provided by First Citizens’ Bank and Bermudez.

• To find out how to get involved, visit the T&T Bioblitz Facebook page and follow for live updates of this year’s event.

German ambassador Holger Michael hosted a cocktail reception at the premiere of the Coco Dance Festival on October 27.

The event was hosted at the Helen May Johnstone Room of Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, Port-of-Spain. The reception was preceded with a performance titled, tempus fugit by the German Ensemble for Contemporary Dance, cie toula limnaios. In the presentation of tempus fugit (the flow of time cannot be detained) seven dancers continuously moved as a flowing unit.

The Coco Dance Festival which continued until Sunday is one of the longest running regional contemporary dance festivals.

Students of Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College showcased their knowledge of science during a recent Science Fair at their St Augustine school.

Principal Sonia Mahase-Persad said fair was a success as students were innovative in their presentations.

She said the projects which were put on display demonstrated the students’ knowledge of science.

Susan Maraj, Head of the Science Department, said the aim of this Science Fair was to give students an opportunity to express their ideas in a creative and innovative way using scientific process.

The Fair, which was competitive, was held in three categories—innovation, investigation and scientific portrayal.

Maraj thanked the stakeholders in the community for their support in helping set up the exhibition.

Results

Investigating- Winners - Recycling Project
Innovation – Hydro trashbot
Scientific Portrayal- Isaac Newton

Kheston Walkins has an odd little quirk. Put a challenging question to him and his gaze will shift from you for a moment as he stares off into the distance, as if shaping the idea that will inform his words in response.

It lasts just a moment, but it happened often enough when we spoke at a coffee house in Chaguanas that it’s quite likely that it happens when he faces a challenge.

It’s just possible that he had a moment like that when he looked at the patient he’d volunteered to help a friend with, someone with a stroke who was growing increasingly frustrated because she had lost the mobility she was used to all her life and couldn’t communicate properly.

Her family was complaining that she wasn’t getting the attention she needed.

Out of that axis of problems came Communicare (communicarecc.com), the product that Walkins plans to launch on Friday, an app and cloud-based database that delivers an innovative link between patient need, caregiver notification and doctor’s supervision of the case.

“I’d been researching medical charts and how they are used in the hospital,” Walkins said.

“I saw that there needed to be more empirical measurement of the information that’s in play in the case.”

“Using Communicare, the patient can communicate information about their status, the caregiver can log the delivery of medication and their response, it’s all time logged so that comparison and following the progress of the treatment and patient response the doctors can put their notes into the system.”

On the patient’s side, the app offers large buttons with bold graphics that explain what’s going to be communicated. If a patient wants food or water, the buttons will send that message to the caregiver and the request is logged and timestamped in the database.

Walkins demonstrates the app on a small eight-inch tablet, though it will run on a smartphone as well. The larger tablet version of the app offers a more visible and usable interface for weak or shaky fingers to target.

Caregivers log the administering of medication into the app and the collective dataset for each patient can be viewed by the doctor who has the option to filter for relevance to the case and can leave medical notes in the system.

The first user was logged into the system in July 2016 and Communicare has been running with a test bed of 68 users who have had free access to the system in return for feedback on how it works and what each facet of the care process needs from the system.

The prime market for Communicare is patients with limited mobility and speech, patients with high dependencies and the elderly.

The other users are those who run outpatient clinics, or people who are out of the country and want to monitor their family’s care on a regular basis.

“The first challenge was development,” Walkins said.

“I learned a lot about user interface design, we were creating a product that was going to be used by people who don’t usually use smart devices.”

“Figuring out what you should put into it and leave out was critical, because you could end up slowing the development process working on features with little return.”

The app has been redesigned several times based on that feedback to make accessing the features easier for patients and adding filtering options for doctors examining the data.

“The biggest response was from family, who could establish a closer to real time connection with their loved ones. One big request was to be able to track consumption with inventory to be able to ensure that the medicine wasn’t going astray.”

“We were told that nurses would resist, but they got the value immediately.

“Clinicians have responded to the project because they can see the patient’s records. One clinician was getting patient updates via WhatsApp, but couldn’t correlate it with the patient’s history.”

“Doctors don’t want to know everything all the time, while family members want to know everything that’s happening. We are still working on the filtering of the mass of patient data to make it appropriate to each viewer.”

The response to the app has been stronger outside of T&T than inside it, with users in Paraguay and particularly in Cancun, Mexico expressing interest in its potential.

“Finances were definitely a problem,” Walkins recalls with a smile of the project’s development, “I had to eat less.”

Kheston Walkins dresses smartly and fashionably and has, as he describes it, with an interest in “health, entrepreneurship and youth.”

This gets an arched eyebrow from me.

“I mean us, you know,” the young developer says with a laugh, “I want people to understand that this brown boy from a barely middle-class home can pull it off.”

“We got resistance from Trinidad, but then when we got awards from outside, and we began to be taken more seriously.”

“There is a big push for inclusion globally, and this was an opportunity to include the elderly and to bring value, improving quality of life.”

The awards from the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, among others, took interest in the project to another level.

“The people who took notice referred us to very helpful people. Then came distribution. We started with word of mouth, and it is one of the strongest ways to make a connection with customers and participants.”

Communicare will launch in limited terrorities in the Caribbean region with a focus on Barbados and Jamaica where there has been significant interest. Latin America, which has strong programmes supporting social entrepreneurship, is also likely to be another early market focus.

Walkins has a deep interest in the power of big data to inform and change the world, as he explained in his TedX PoS talk (http://ow.ly/ejED30gcyuO) and he is hoping that the raw data from Communicare, scrubbed of identity and massaged into useful shape, can inform palliative patient care.

“I’m just excited to explore and to see what we find,” Walkins said.

“Being able to track specific diseases, creating road maps for chronic illness, gathering information about the progress of disease based on biometrics. There are so many questions for which we don’t have answers. Communicare has the potential to be a smart health solution and not just a care management solution.”

For the last 45 years, The Love Movement has been “healing hearts and changing lives”.

This significant milestone will be celebrated at the group’s bi-annual Tea Party and Concert.

Titled A Feast of Love, the event will take place at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom on November 12 from 4 pm.

Proceeds from this venture will go towards their Youth Outreach Programme which has made a positive difference in the lives of many, a release said.

Over the past 45 years, The Love Movement has mentored thousands of the nation’s youth and has provided holistic development to at risk and underprivileged young people through the medium of the performing arts and spiritual development.

The release said the programme was even more necessary and critical these days as we witness the surge in crime, violence and promiscuity, especially among the youth.

The Love Movement said it would be treating its audiences to exciting and nostalgic music and songs, some of which will be heard for the first time.

A Feast of Love will feature The Lights of Love Children’s Choir in the Christmas musical, A Rocking Royal Christmas.

This is a story about Herod’s plan to find the three Wise Men who never returned to him as he had commanded. He does this by hiring a detective, who finds his job very challenging and relies on a librarian and an inn-keeper to get his information.

This musical tells about the true meaning of Christmas, and is under the direction of Dr Helmer Hilwig, with choreography by Adrian Daniel and Keisha Knox. It is filled with both thought provoking and amusing moments.

The members of the Republic Bank Love Movement Youth Outreach Group and the Adult Choir will present Cinemagic, as they take everyone down memory lane with medleys from Academy Award winning movies.

Cinemagic is choreographed by Heather Henderson-Gordon and Lesley Lewis-Alleyne. The entire cast will end the evening with favourite Christmas songs and carols, setting the mood for the upcoming season.

The organisers promise that the ambience and treats from the Hyatt Regency along with the beautiful music of The Love Movement will truly be a Feast of Love for all who support the group’s ongoing commitment to making a difference in the lives of hundreds of at risk youth, through The Republic Bank Love Movement Youth Outreach Programme.

INFO

All seats are reserved and cost $300 or $350.
They are available from members of The Love Movement or by calling 367-4482.

On November 1, the Adult Literacy Tutors Association launched a brand new logo. The launch of the logo, which was designed by Keya Marketing, is the first of a number of events planned for Alta’s 25th anniversary. Celebrations begin this month and will run until September 2018. The logo which is meant to reflect youth, vitality, relationship building, transformation and social movement has been well received by Alta’s membership.

The desire to remain relevant in the minds of the public led to Alta taking many steps in the past year to establish and maintain a strong brand presence. All the advice received said that the logo needed to be updated. The black and white logo which many have come to know, served Alta well in the largely print medium of the first 25 years. However it doesn’t work as well on the screens of phones, tablets and computers. The teal and orange in the new logo are colours which stand out on these devices and reflect the youthfulness and vitality which this logo is meant to represent.

As Alta turns 25, the three main goals are to develop Alta Online, strategic planning and spreading awareness of Alta. The third goal will be achieved when Alta becomes a household name. While the programme is known very well locally and even regionally, a lot of work still needs to be done with strengthening brand awareness and ensuring relevance in the minds of the public. Due to a high level of stigma and the false belief that attending school ensures someone is literate, many still do not know that thousands of people in T&T struggle with literacy.

Alta encourages everyone to follow their 25th anniversary celebrations through social media. A clear picture of the new logo can be found on all social media pages. Throughout the year, Alta tutors and students will also be featured on our social media pages.

Additionally, the anniversary will be marked by celebrations in all regions. Rather than hosting a national event, the seven regions of Alta—North East, North West, Mid East, East, South West, South East and Central—will host events for tutors, students and members in their respective regions. There is also a plan to host Tutor Recognition Awards for members who have served with Alta for a number of years and those who continue to go above and beyond the call of duty.

The anniversary will also see the launch of the highly anticipated Republic Bank sponsored Alta Online programme. Alta Online will bring the Alta programme to anyone with an internet connection. People 9+ will be able to access this online programme to strengthen their literacy skills via their computers, tablets or phones.

Alta looks forward to another 25 years of empowering adults through our literacy programmes and remains grateful to all sponsors who continue to support Alta’s initiatives.

More info 

Volunteer, Donate or Sponsor-a-student. Call 621-5708 or email Altapos.tt@gmail.com for more info. Keep up to date with Alta on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: Alta TT.