Monthly Archives: June 2021

Powassan woman shaves head in support of cystic fibrosis – CTV Toronto

Posted: June 2, 2021 at 5:30 am

POWASSAN -- May is Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Awareness Month and Wendy Carruthers of Powassan, Ont., decided to shave her head in support.

Carruthers told CTV News she wants to "bring the community together" and wants to make a change in her community.

"I want to start the conversation about CF," said Carruthers.

"If you cant give, you cant give. You can still talk about CF, you can still raise awareness. Were only as strong as a community as our weakest members and right now, CF has affected some members of our community so we need to pull together to raise them up."

Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections, limits the ability to breathe over time, and affects other organs as well according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

"In the lungs, the mucus clogs the airways and traps germs, like bacteria, leading to infections, inflammation, respiratory failure, and other complications. For this reason, minimizing contact with germs is a top concern for people with CF," the organization's website reads. "In the pancreas, the buildup of mucus prevents the release of digestive enzymes that help the body absorb food and key nutrients, resulting in malnutrition and poor growth."

Cystic Fibrosis hits close to home for Shelley Ortepi, the co-owner of a Zumba gym in North Bay called The Studio. Shes been raising money for CF for the past six years.

"One of my business partners, Macrena Parron, both of her children have CF. So her cause has really become my cause," Ortepi said.

The Studio's goal was to raise $10,000 for the disease and even though classes have been put on hold due to the pandemic, The Studio was able to raise more than $13,000, which ultimately led to Carruthers shaving her head.

"To have someone who really doesnt know me say,' yeah, I want to do this,' that is probably one of the most selfless acts Ive experienced in my life," Ortepi said. "Thank you is not enough words. What she did today was incredible."

Although there is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis, Carruthers hopes her head-shaving will raise awareness and bring in more donations.

"My philosophy is: be the change you want to see, and I want to see our community grow together not apart," she said. "Im just kind of modelling what I think we all have the ability to do. So, in a random act of kindness, I shaved my head for CF and Im hoping that starts the conversation."

Carruthers admits she was "terrified" to see the end result. Now, she said her head feels a bit chilly with the breeze, but its worth supporting a cause like cystic fibrosis.

Ortepi said The Studio will continue to raise money for CF every May.

"Hopefully we will soon find out that CF stands for cure found," she said.

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Powassan woman shaves head in support of cystic fibrosis - CTV Toronto

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Unfunded drug the last hope for 18-year-old with cystic fibrosis, autism, and two years to live – Stuff.co.nz

Posted: at 5:30 am

Rebekah Jessen is a full-time carer for her 18-year-old son, who has the double-whammy diagnosis of cysitic fibrosis (CF) and autism.

As Matthew Lamberts autism prevents him from performing his own care, Jessen has had to give up work to look after him.

And with his CF rapidly deteriorating, Matthews quality of life is very poor. His life expectancy is likely only another couple of years.

Rebekah Jessen

Matthew Lambert during a recent hospital stay wearing a vest that shakes his chest and helps to break up mucus.

The familys only hope is the drug trikafta, which is the first treatment to treat the underlying causes of CF, rather than the symptoms.

READ MORE:* The life-changing drug that could help Brett, 11, live long enough to fulfil his dream* New drug gives hope to 14-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis* 'Life-changing' drug not accessible for New Zealanders living with cystic fibrosis

But with trikafta not funded by Pharmac, and at a cost of about $430,000 a year, the outlook is grim.

For anyone, CF is a nasty illness. A genetic condition that causes the body to produce abnormally thick, sticky mucus, CF causes lung and chest infections, digestive problems, and issues with other internal organs.

Rebekah Jessen

Rebekah Jessen has given up her work as a midwife to care for Matthew fulltime.

Theres no cure, but symptom management requires daily physiotherapy to help break down the mucus on top of a drug regimen. As CF is degenerative, the regime becomes longer and more involved as the patient ages.

It takes several hours of physio and treatments just to keep [Matthew] well on the daily, Jessen explained. That includes physio three times a day, plus time on a nebuliser inhaling antibiotics and another mucus-thinning drug.

People without autism can start to become a bit more independent with their own treatment but Matthews never been able to gain any independence with his treatment, so anything that has to be done has to be done by me, Jessen said.

Matthews condition has worsened over the last year. Hes been hospitalised four or five times, for weeks at a time.

His quality of life is poor, said Jessen. Matthew used to be a vibrant, happy boy who went to school, danced with the charity StarJam, and participated in his community. Now hes almost completely housebound.

He knows that hes sick, and he will comment a lot: Im having trouble breathing, Im coughing a lot, I cant breathe. Hes in a lot of discomfort.

Rebekah Jessen

Matthew spends several hours undergoing physical therapy and on a nebuliser every day, but his condition is worsening.

For most CF sufferers in New Zealand the only hope of significantly prolonging their life is a lung transplant, but Matthew isnt a candidate because he has liver damage that would make the surgery too risky.

Trikafta is his last chance, and its a good one: Internationally, it has shown to work for around 90 per cent of CF patients.

Thereve been people that have gone from 20 per cent lung function to 60 per cent lung function, Jessen said. Gaining weight, able to be off oxygen, having better quality of life and less hospitalisations because of this drug.

REbekah Jessen

Matthew has been hospitalised a number of times in the last year. Trikafta campaigners claim the drug could radically improve his condition.

Trikafta has been the subject of a large campaign on behalf of a number of patient advocacy groups. It was one of the drugs named in the petition Patient Voice Aotearoa took to Parliament the week before the budget, when Jessens hopes were buoyed by the number of MPs who came out to acknowledge the demonstrators.

We all thought, Theyre hearing us, theyre seeing us. And then [when] that menial amount that was given to Pharmac, we thought: Nobodys hearing us at all.

The $200 million over four years given to Pharmac in the 2021 budget has been widely criticised, with Patient Voice Aotearoa spokesperson Malcolm Mulholland calling it nowhere near enough.

Rebekah Jessen

Rebekah Jessen says she will keep fighting for trikefta to be funded, as it is her only option left.

In order to consider funding a drug, Pharmac needs to receive an application from a supplier, in trifaktas case a company called Vertex. It has not received an application to date, but critics say with Pharmacs funding at the current level, it would be meaningless.

Patient Voice Aotearoa said New Zealands spending on medicine was about $2 billion a year behind other OECD countries. Trikafta is funded in countries including the UK, the US, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland.

Jessen said she had always been a Labour supporter, but she was frustrated at the current Governments lack of action on drug funding.

People with CF in New Zealand had some of the worst outcomes of any internationally, she said.

Young people will die. If they dont get access to these drugs, they will die. Give Pharmac the money they need.

One of those young people is Matthew, whose treatments are reaching the maximum point of what they are able to do for him.

Matthew was unlucky to be born in this country, Jessen said.

As a parent this is my only option, and my sons life is worth fighting for, and I will keep fighting for as long as required. What choice do I have? I shouldnt have to fight, but this is what it comes down to.

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Unfunded drug the last hope for 18-year-old with cystic fibrosis, autism, and two years to live - Stuff.co.nz

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UCLA researchers publish study on the effects of cystic fibrosis on lung cells – Daily Bruin

Posted: at 5:30 am

UCLA researchers published a new study in May on how a life-threatening lung disorder affects patients cells.

Cystic fibrosis is a genetically inherited disease that causes a buildup of mucus in the lungs and makes it harder to breathe over time, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It affects about 30,000 people in the U.S. and around 70,000 globally, said Brigitte Gomperts, a professor of pediatric-hematology and one of the studys co-authors.

The researchers found there were several key differences between the lung cells of patients with and without CF.

Patients with severe CF do not have a functional protein that normally assists in clearing built-up mucus from the lungs, Gomperts said.

Mucus is the bodys greatest defense mechanism, Gomperts said, trapping microscopic invaders such as bacteria and viruses. However, individuals with CF are unable to clear old mucus, allowing germs to accumulate and cause chronic infections.

Current treatments for CF include medications and mechanical ventilators that are used to thin down and remove mucus from airways. However, these treatments do not work in patients that have severe CF, Gomperts said.

Currently, the drug therapies are only effective in between 85 and up to 90% of individuals with fibrosis, said Scott Randell, a cell biology and physiology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a co-author on the study.

CF patients may be able to reach adulthood without extensive medical intervention, though they typically require lung transplants in order to live to middle age, said Justin Langerman, a biological chemistry researcher at UCLA and a primary author of the study.

Gene therapy could become a common treatment in the medical field that could potentially cure patients with genetic disorders like CF, Randell said.

The study could inform future gene therapy procedures, as gene therapy could treat CF by inserting a correct copy of the affected gene into a patients stem cells, Randell said. The treated stem cells would then mature and become healthy lung cells, potentially providing a decisive cure to the disease compared to current treatments, which provide temporary relief from symptoms, Gomperts said.

[Related: UCLA-led team develops potential treatment for children with rare immune disease]

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation recruited Gomperts, along with other experts across the U.S., to understand key differences between CF patients and healthy individuals to complement research on potential gene therapy treatments, Gomperts said.

The research group created a detailed map of the various types of cells in the lungs to realize each types unique function, Gomperts said. These cells include those that produce mucus, cells that move mucus out of the airways and a store of stem cells special immature cells that can transform into the other two types Gomperts added.

The CF patients had lower amounts of immature cells compared to healthy patients, which made it harder for them to regenerate new lung cells and repair damaged tissues, Gomperts said.

The research would not have been possible without the use of modern genetic sequencing technology to map out the cells of the airway, Gomperts said.

Researchers had been working on potential cures for CF after discovering the genetic basis for the disease in 1989, Randell said. There had not yet been a study analyzing the lung cells of CF patients in as much detail, he added.

Randell said the possibility of a permanent cure for CF using gene therapy would allow young children to not depend on medications for the rest of their lives. For those kinds of therapies, we really need to understand the cell biology, Randell said. Thats why this study is important.

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UCLA researchers publish study on the effects of cystic fibrosis on lung cells - Daily Bruin

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Turmeric Is The Caribbeans Spice Of Life – Forbes

Posted: at 5:29 am

Derived from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa and responsible for giving curry (and everything it touches) a yellow color, turmeric or the Golden Root is much more than just an agricultural commodity in the Caribbean. With its plethora of medicinal, culinary, spiritual and economic uses, many consider it to be the Caribbeans spice of life.

Turmeric roots and turmeric powder

Native to southern Asia and some Pacific islands, turmeric plants are harvested for their rhizomes or underground stems. These are either used fresh or are boiled and then dried, after which they are ground into a deep-orange or yellow powder. This process dates back at least a century in the Caribbean.

Indentured servants from India brought much more than their strong work ethic and colorful culture to add to the fabric of Caribbean culture. They also brought the gift of turmeric, says culinary anthropologist, Peter Ivey of the period between 1838 and 1917 when more than half a million Indians were taken to thirteen nations in the Caribbean to meet the need for plantation labor following the abolition of slavery.

With the migration from India came a transfer not only of people, but the turmeric plant, and its cultural and religious significance as well.

In countries such as Guyana where is it is called haldi, or Trinidad, where it is referred to as hardi, from the Sanskrit, haridra, those of the Hindu faith view turmeric as auspicious and sacred and for generations it has played a role in holy ceremonies, wedding day traditions and even childbirth.

Hindu devotees pour turmeric powder on a shivling, a representation of Hindu god Shiva, during ... [+] Shivratri festival (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A)

Turmerics history of use as a medicinal herb goes back about 4000 years in India and the south Asian region. The influence of Indian culture in the Caribbean is evident in the growing popularity of traditional Indian healing systems such as Ayurveda, which makes use of turmeric for its well-documented antiviral, antibacterial and antiparasitic properties, as well as its ability to relieve a number of ailments such as osteoarthritis, inflammation, Alzheimers disease and eczema.

Over the past century, use of turmeric for medicinal purposes has become increasingly prevalent throughout the Caribbean.

Among the Accompong Maroons of Cockpit Country in Jamaica, where the spice grows naturally wild and is reaped in a traditional fashion, the plant has been used for a myriad of purposes.

Turmeric is no stranger to the common household in Cockpit country, says Chief Richard Currie of the Accompong Maroons, who has been developing a turmeric beverage that he hopes to soon take to market.

The Maroons have used this root for over a century, not only for food but also to treat a myriad of ailments such as fever, belly aches, indigestion, infection and in more serious circumstances, to treat cancer.

Turmeric grown within the region is known to have strong characteristics in flavor, color and curcumin (the active ingredient in turmeric) content. The strongly flavoured spice with its rich golden yellow colour is prevalent in many Caribbean dishes.

In Grenada, the yellow color of traditional "oil down" comes from a recipe of breadfruit, chicken salted meat, dumplings and vegetables stewed in coconut milk mixed with turmeric and other spices.

As the primary ingredient in curry, the use of turmeric is widespread in Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica in Indian-inspired delicacies such as curried chicken and goat, and in doubles and rotis.

Culinary uses of turmeric within the Caribbean range from traditional preparations to creative innovations: ginger-turmeric ice cream at A&Js Premium Ice Cream Shop in Trinidad, The Reggae Chefs Green Banana Salad with Tumeric Lemon Aioli in Jamaica, Ibu Kemis popular ginger and turmeric bread in Trinidad, and Araunama Chocolate Company of Guyanas 70% dark chocolate with turmeric and ginger.

Green Banana Salad with Turmeric Lemon Aioli

I love everything about turmeric, says Barbados-based Plant Based Chef, Manuela Scalini.

I love the fact that its flavor and color is so grounding. I enjoy the ritual of washing down the dirt of fresh turmeric, grating it or chopping it, and the yellow stains in my hands. Of course, here in the Caribbean its used abundantly in curries and stews, but I use it daily in making Jamu tonic, a medicinal Indonesian drink made with turmeric, raw honey and lemon. I took a few courses about Jamu [traditional Indonesian medicine] in Bali and learned so many uses for turmeric, and its amazing that I can find it so abundantly here in Barbados.

Indonesian Jamu tonic

Scalinis turmeric seasoning, which she calls Golden Paste, is inspired by traditional Bajan seasoning used to season meat and fish, and is made of processed fresh turmeric, ginger, warming seeds and spices with lots of onion and garlic.

In Belize, mother-daughter team, Umeeda and Nareena Switlo founded Naledo, producer of the worlds first wild-crafted, whole root turmeric paste Truly Turmeric which can be used in hummus, pasta, oats, mashed potatoes and soups.

While the founders of the award-winning product are not originally from Belize, the certified B Corporation sources its raw materials from the Central American country and supports local growers who are paid six times more than the fair trade price for their turmeric.

Turmeric has the potential not only to enhance the physical but also the socioeconomic well being of many of the Caribbean regions rural communities.

In Accompong, Cockpit country Jamaica, Rushelle Lennon-Beason uses a grant that she received from the Development Bank of Jamaica for her turmeric line of soaps and toiletries, which she named Hair and Face Essentials. Rushelle grinds her own organic turmeric that she grows at home, dries it in the sun and then boils it.

I want to teach my daughter that in her future she should have something that she can call her own, says Lennon-Beason. People on the outside they want what is from Accompong. They want the natural stuff. They want the good stuff.

According to a business assessment produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Jamaican turmeric has an annual demand from fresh exporters and local processors of over 2,500 metric tonnes with a 65 per cent profit margin per cycle under favorable weather conditions.

Our goal is to ensure that turmeric becomes one of Jamaicas prime export crops, said Jamaicas Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Floyd Green.

Statistics from JAMPRO (Jamaica Promotions Corporation) Jamaica's investment and export promotion agency, reveal that Jamaica exported more than $1.4 million worth of turmeric to the United States in 2019.

Value added products, such as Salada Foods Ginger-Turmeric tea have experienced an upsurge in exports during the pandemic, due to the immunity benefits of the plant which have created an increase in demand from the Diaspora.

There are major opportunities to expand local production, given that the country is still meeting about 90 per cent of its demand through imports.

The Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA) recently collaborated with the FAO on a project to improve turmeric yields through single bud technology and is embarking on a 20-acre turmeric pilot project in an effort to promote production that could meet at least 60 per cent of the demand for the spice, which would result in an increase of 25% in national production and a yield increase of 100%.

In the cities and suburbs of the Caribbean as in the rest of the Western world, demand for turmeric is rising due to its growing reputation as a super food. Millennials can be found huddled around tables at Island Naturals Caf in the Cayman Islands, enjoying their golden milk lattes, busy housewives are picking up a bottle of Tumeric ginger lime Ujuice while on their way to yoga class in Trinidad, while in Barbados, Chef Manuela Scalini gets a pick-up order for a Lemongrass and turmeric raw Vegan cheesecake for a corporate event.

Lemongrass and turmeric raw Vegan cheesecake

It seems like the entire world has come full circle, back to a trend that originated thousands of years ago.

Beside its medicinal value and distinct flavor, I love how turmeric has been used for ages by our ancestors in so many healing traditions across the globe, says Chef Manuela Scalini. Whether in the Caribbean, or elsewhere, it connects us all through the ages.

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Turmeric Is The Caribbeans Spice Of Life - Forbes

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More Flights from Canada to the Caribbean This Winter – Caribbean Journal

Posted: at 5:29 am

Sunwing is set to relaunch a wave of flights to the Caribbean out of the Atlantic coast of Canada this winter, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The Canadian travel giant will resume service from Halifax to eight different destinations in January 2022, from Cancun and Montego Bay to Punta Cana and Varadero.

All of the flights will operate once each week, with service running through the first and second week of May.

That includes flights to Cancun, Montego Bay, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Cayo Coco, Cayo Santa Maria, Holguin and Varadero.

Sunwing will also be resuming weekly flights from Moncton to the Caribbean, with service to Cancun, Montego Bay, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana and Varadero, with Moncton service operating from the second week of February to the first week of May.

In March, Sunwing will kick off flights from St Johns to Cayo Coco, Varadero, Cancun, Montego Bay and Punta Cana; all of those weekly flights will run through mid-May.

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More Flights from Canada to the Caribbean This Winter - Caribbean Journal

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Third Horizon Film Festival Puts A Spotlight On Caribbean Creatives – Broadway World

Posted: at 5:29 am

Deemed one of the "25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World" by MovieMaker Magazine in 2019, the Third Horizon Film Festival returns for its fifth edition. This year the festival will be hosted hybrid style with a thoughtfully curated mix of in-person and virtual screenings beginning June 24, 2021, through July 1, 2021, in Miami, Florida.

For the first time, the festival will be broadcasting to a global audience, sharing Caribbean culture through penetrating cinema, insightful discussions, and electric music and visual art. Tickets are now available via thirdhorizonfilmfestival.com.

Virtual attendees can access the festival directly on the website or through the official Third Horizon Film Festival app, available on Amazon Fire T.V. Stick, Apple T.V., and Roku. Those interested in an in-person viewing experience can attend four screenings and three parties hosted at the Nite-Owl Drive-In and one screening and extended panel discussion at the Prez Art Museum Miami.

"We've envisioned this edition of the festival as an underground Caribbean television station sending an urgent signal out to the world for one week in the middle of a historic summer; we're aiming to bridge diasporas and regions with this one," says Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Co-Festival Director and Co-Executive Director of parent organization Third Horizon, an award-winning Caribbean filmmaking collective. "The Caribbean is the crossroads of the world, between the east and the west, the old world and the new. We are descended from people all across the globe: Taino, African, Asian, Spanish, French, Dutch, you name it. The stories forged in this cultural furnace-which come to life in the incredible films we're screening-have so much to share with the world."

With its move to a hybrid model with virtual screenings, THFF has expanded from four days to seven, featuring its largest and most robust lineup yet of 12 feature films, three medium-length films, and 46 short films.

"Our ongoing evolution has guided this year's film program as a celebration of thoughtful cinema from the Caribbean, its diaspora and beyond, but just as much as by the seismic events of the past year," says Jonathan Ali, Director of Programming. "This is the most inclusive we've ever been in our selection, with the most countries we've ever had represented in our lineup. It's a deliberate mix of fiction, non-fiction, hybrid, and experimental work, reflecting an outlook of global solidarity in this moment of precarity and potential, and also promises an unforgettable viewing experience for audiences."

As is tradition, the festival will feature a virtual artist exhibition featuring the engaging work of Miami-based Haitian-American artist Edny Jean Joseph and New York-based Trinidadian-American/Barbadian-American artist duo Intelligent Mischief. The festival will also host three parties at Nite Owl Drive-In curated by acclaimed Trinidadian-Venezuelan DJ and event producer Foreigner, one of the most exciting creatives on the underground L.A. scene.

Finally, the festival will host three panels, in addition to a three-day seminar immediately preceding the festival called Caribbean Film Academy, details of which are soon to be announced. Together, the workshops and seminar offer Caribbean filmmakers worldwide an opportunity to gather to learn from some of the leading voices in Caribbean cinema virtually.

"There are very few film programs in the Caribbean, especially the English-speaking Caribbean, giving students an in-depth understanding of the industry and craft, and many of our most talented, emerging filmmakers often have to head abroad to further their education and careers," said Romola Lucas, Co-Festival Director and Co-Executive Director of Third Horizon. "For those who can't go overseas to attend film school, we are bringing film school to them with this program."

OPENING NIGHT FILM: LIBORIO

Thursday, June 24, 8:30 pm | Nite-Owl Drive-In and Tropical Market

Set in the Dominican Republic in the 1920s and based on a true story, Liborio chronicles the life of its title character. This peasant disappears in a hurricane and returns as a prophet. He says he's been given a mission to bring the good and take away the evil, curing the sick and teaching by example. People begin to assemble by his side. They move to the mountains to have total freedom and develop their dream of an independent community - everything changes when the invading US Marines want to disarm and disband the community. Liborio wants to avoid a confrontation, but they know they can't run forever. (Dominican Republic)

*Followed by the festival's Opening Night Party party DJed by Foreigner

STATELESS: Screening and Panel Discussion

Saturday, June 26, 3 pm | Prez Art Museum Miami

Stateless, the new film from Michle Stephenson, the critically acclaimed filmmaker of American Promise, looks at the complex politics of immigration and race in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In this dangerous climate, a young attorney named Rosa Iris mounts a grassroots campaign, challenging electoral corruption and advocating for social justice. As Rosa balances her congressional run with her dedication to her family and community, the full scope of her fight is revealed. (Dominican Republic/Haiti)

*Followed by an extended discussion with Stephenson, the film's subject Rosa Iris Diendomi, and France Francois, founder and CEO of In Cultured Company, an organization that works on conflict resolution and reconciliation between Haitians and Dominicans. Moderated by Third Horizon filmmaker Monica Sorelle.

WEEKEND DOUBLE FEATURE: SHE PARADISE & STUDIO 17: THE LOST REGGAE TAPES

Saturday, June 26, 8:30 pm + 10:30 pm | Nite-Owl Drive-In and Tropical Market

In She Paradise, Sparkle is a nave 17-year-old girl seeking community and excitement when she stumbles upon a free-spirited dance crew who invite her to their next audition. Welcomed despite her lack of street smarts, she soon meets Skinny, a rapper who's immediately taken with her wide-eyed innocence. Navigating this thrilling yet sinister new world that revolves around nightlife and cash, Sparkle finds her fate in the hands of those with power in this seemingly postcard-perfect setting, with misogyny brewing beneath the surface. (Trinidad and Tobago)

Studio 17 tells the compelling story of the Chins, the Chinese-Jamaican family behind one of the actual birthplaces of reggae music. Located in downtown Kingston, Studio 17 became a legendary recording studio right at the heart of the music revolution that began after Jamaican independence from Great Britain in 1962. (UK/Jamaica)

*Preceded by a warm-up lime at the drive-in at 6:30 pm curated by Foreigner.

CLOSING NIGHT FILM: BANT MAMA

Thursday, July 1, 8:30 pm | Nite-Owl Drive-In and Tropical Market

In Bant Mama, a French woman of African descent escapes after being arrested in the Dominican Republic. She finds shelter in the most dangerous district of Santo Domingo, where a group of children takes her in. By becoming their protg and maternal figure, she will see her destiny change inexorably.

*Followed by the festival's Closing Night Party party DJed by Foreigner and guests

The festival was founded in 2016 by Third Horizon, a Caribbean filmmaking collective. Its films, such as Papa Machete and T, have screened at some of the world's most prominent film festivals such as Sundance, BlackStar and TIFF, with T being awarded the coveted Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 2020 Berlinale, the Berlin International Film Festival, known as one of the "big three" film festivals in the world alongside Cannes and Venice. In 2020, Third Horizon merged with the NYC-based nonprofit Caribbean Film Academy-co-founders and joint producers of the festival-to create the new and expanded Third Horizon.

Third Horizon is proudly supported by Knight Foundation, which supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, please visit knightfoundation.org.

Third Horizon is also proudly supported by JustFilms / Ford Foundation. As part of the Ford Foundation's Creativity and Free Expression program, JustFilms funds social justice storytelling and the 21st-century arts infrastructure that supports it. The projects and people it supports inspire imaginations, disrupt stereotypes, and help transform the conditions that perpetuate injustice and inequality. For more, please visit fordfoundation.org.

THIRD HORIZON FILM FESTIVAL 2021

FILM SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, JUNE 24

8:30 pm

LIBORIO

In the Dominican Republic early in the 20th century, Liborio, a peasant, disappears in a hurricane and returns as a prophet. He says he's been given a mission: to bring the good and take away the evil, curing the sick and teaching by example. People begin to congregate by his side and they move to the mountains to have total freedom and develop the dream of an independent community. Everything changes when the invading US Marines want to disarm and disband the community. Liborio wants to avoid a confrontation, but he knows that they can't run forever.

LIBORIO will be screening both online at in-person at Nite Owl Drive-In

10:30 pm

OPENING NIGHT PARTY FEATURING FOREIGNER

In keeping with its history of epic opening night parties, Third Horizon Film Festival 2021 will kick off with a session under the stars with Foreigner, the Trinidadian/Venezuelan DJ who's set L.A.'s underground scene on fire with his debaucherous and wildly inventive parties such as Junkyard Jourvet and Road Block Rally.

FRIDAY, JUNE 25

6:00 pm

SHORT FICTIONS: PROGRAM 1

Four dramatic shorts from the Caribbean and its diaspora that reflect an impressive range of styles and themes.

TUFF GUY

Following an inappropriate remark towards a woman, a young man finds himself plunged into a parallel world where he will undergo a series of remarks and micro-attacks usually reserved for women.

NO ENTRY

Against the backdrop of the Windrush scandal, a Jamaican mother, Valerie, struggles to keep her relationship with her son Eli intact. Valerie suffers in silence as she battles with the government's hostile environment tactics. She keeps the threat of deportation a secret, while her psychological state begins to deteriorate and she grapples with the fear of losing her son and the country she calls home.

PARIS IS HERE

The peaceful life of Georges, an introverted French Guyanese teenager, gets complicated when he falls in love with Gisele, a dreamy girl who hopes to see Paris more than anything.

COUSINS

A Brooklyn teenager is reunited with her Guyanese cousin for the funeral of a relative. On the last day of the wake, the girls venture out into the city alone.

8:00 pm

PARTY DONE

A popular Trinidadian television host utilizes viewer tips in an attempt to make a dent in the country's soaring murder and crime rate. His controversial techniques put him at odds with criminals and the law.

9:30 pm

RIGHT NEAR THE BEACH

After the death of famous runner Jeffrey Jacobs, the Jamaican public becomes enamored with the details of his life and speculates as to the motivation behind his murder. Jeffrey's father, a reserved and kind farmer, struggles to grieve while inundated by the inescapable coverage. Through moments of blinding rage and quiet contemplation, the camera is a window into a life burdened by the death of a child that will never know justice. Against a backdrop of beautiful vistas, Right Near The Beach takes a lyrical approach to its subject-rather than treat the murder as a voyeuristic mystery, the film challenges us to contemplate the anguish of loss while everyone else debates the value of one person's life.

SATURDAY, JUNE 26

11:00 am

SHORTS: THIS WOMAN'S WORK

History and myth, poetry and reality embrace one another in these four filmic conjurations of the feminine, from Guyana to Scotland, Cuba to the USA.

PATTAKI

In the dense night, when the moon lifts the tide, beings trapped in the daily life of water scarcity are hypnotized by the powers of Yemaya, the goddess of the sea.

DOLL THOMAS

Doll Thomas, is a document of artist and filmmaker Ashanti Harris' research into the historical relationship between Guyana and Scotland, and the hidden legacies of a female diaspora. In the film, Harris applies Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's theories of translation as a methodology for speculating history and elaborating on the complex and extraordinary life of Doll Thomas, from the limited archival information documenting her existence. (Audience content warnings: The work makes reference to difficult and traumatic histories including the transatlantic slave trade and the colonial subjugation of women.)

SPIT ON THE BROOM

For more than a century and a half, a group of African-American women belonging to a clandestine organization have acted as agents of goodwill in their communities. This visual essay conveys the history of the United Order of Tents, a secret society that originated in the aftermath of the American Civil War. The strength of this multigenerational sisterhood is shown through an amalgamation of historical reenactments and contemporary sequences.

WHEN ANGELS SPEAK OF LOVE*

When Angels Speaks of Love, is a ritual portrait of a Miami woman as she grieves her sister's passing and prepares for new life in Clearwater, Florida.

1:00 pm

FILMMAKER In Focus: MORGAN QUAINTANCE

Morgan Quaintance is one of the most vital artist filmmakers working today. His practice reflects a strikingly unique approach to film form, and his growing body of work sits at an arresting confluence of the personal and the political. Having screened two of his films at THFF20, we are pleased this year to present this focus on Quaintance featuring three new and recent works.

SURVIVING YOU, ALWAYS

The transcendental promise of psychedelic drugs versus a concrete and violent experience of metropolitan living: these two opposing realities form the backdrop for an adolescent encounter told through still images and written narration.

MISSING TIME

Through a focus on alien abduction, cold war history, and Britain's colonial history, Missing Time considers the relation between amnesia, concealed histories, state secrecy, and the constitution of the self.

SOUTH

Taking two anti-racist and anti-authoritarian liberation movements in South London and Chicago's South Side as a point of departure, South presents an expressionistic investigation of the power of individual and collective voice. Interlinked with the filmmaker's own biography (time spent living in both London and Chicago), the film also considers questions of mortality and the will to transcend a world typified by concrete relations.

3:00 pm

STATELESS

In 2013, the Dominican Republic's Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929. The ruling rendered more than 200,000 people stateless, without nationality, identity or a homeland. Stateless traces the complex tributaries of history and present-day politics, as state-sanctioned racism seeps into mundane offices, living room meetings, and street protests. Anyone defending marginalized groups faces threats of violence. In this dangerous climate, a young attorney named Rosa Iris mounts a grassroots campaign, challenging electoral corruption and advocating for social justice. As Rosa balances her congressional run with her dedication to her family and community, the full scope of herfight is revealed.

STATELESS - PANEL DISCUSSION

Our screening of STATELESS will be followed by an extended in-person discussion with Stephenson, Rosa Iris Diendomi, and France Francois, founder and CEO of In Cultured Company, an organization that works on conflict resolution and reconciliation between Haitians and Dominicans. Moderated by Third Horizon filmmaker Monica Sorelle.

STATELESS will be screening both online and in-person at Prez Art Museum Miami.

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Third Horizon Film Festival Puts A Spotlight On Caribbean Creatives - Broadway World

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Law&Crime Expands Its Cable Footprint Across The Caribbean and Latin America With a Launch on Flow – Law & Crime

Posted: at 5:29 am

Law&Crime founder Dan Abrams

New York, NY June 1, 2021 Law&Crime, the leading legal and true crime network has announced a significant cable expansion across the Caribbean and Latin America with a launch on Flow. Part of Cable & Wireless Communications, Flow is the preeminent provider of telecommunications and entertainment services reaching 16 countries across the region.

Law&Crime features multiple live trials daily along with expert legal analysis. Original programming includes Brian Ross Investigates, hosted by former ABC Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross, Trial File, Law&Crime Daily and Prime Crime. The network has recently expanded its live coverage to ten hours daily to accommodate the high-profile trial of real estate heir Robert Durst where it is also acting as the sole pool camera allowed in the courtroom.

Were excited about Flows vision around the legal and true crime programming genre and the Law&Crime fit in its channel packages, said Alex Kopacz, Head of Content Distribution & Licensing at Law&Crime. The networks footprint outside of the U.S. has reached new heights as viewer interest in compelling live trials and our related programs has seen no boundaries.

Flow provides enhanced features to its pay-TV subscribers including pausing live TV, starting shows from the beginning or the recording of any content on the cloud. It has also recently enlarged its video-on-demand (VOD) catalog. Law&Crime can be found on Flow video systems throughout the Caribbean.

About Law&Crime

From the high-profile cases to the most compelling local trials, Law&Crime is the leading network offering daily live trial coverage and expert legal commentary and analysis. Created by TVs top legal commentator and attorney, Dan Abrams, and backed by A+E Networks, Law&Crime is dedicated to exploring the always intriguing world of the law while also offering original true crime stories and legal programs to a broad, multi-platform audience. Law&Crime is available on prominent OTT services including Peacock, fuboTV, Sling, Philo, The Roku Channel, Xfinity, XUMO and TV Plus as well as on basic cable packages in most states and across the Caribbean.

About C&W Communications

C&W, part of the Liberty Latin America group of companies, is a full-service communications and entertainment provider and delivers market-leading video, broadband, telephony and mobile services to consumers in more than 20 markets. Through its business division, C&W provides data center hosting, domestic and international managed network services, and customized IT service solutions, utilizing cloud technology to serve business and government customers. C&W also operates a state-of-the-art submarine fiber network the most extensive in the region. Learn more at http://www.cwc.com

[Image via Law&Crime Network]

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Law&Crime Expands Its Cable Footprint Across The Caribbean and Latin America With a Launch on Flow - Law & Crime

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Sneak Peek: Tequila Butcher at the Caribbean – Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

Posted: at 5:29 am

The Caribbean in Tonka Bay has LONG been my favorite spot for a chill lakeside meal. The boat-up burger shack is one of the oldest on the lake, and I loved it forthe anti-boat-mob vibe, the quiet neighborhood, the refreshing lack of bands. And I have long asserted that they had the best burger on the lake, mainly because they were fresh and not frozen hand-pattied beef bombs. But the old and quirky spot changed hands a few years ago, and whilethe new owners tried to run the restaurant side of the marina, it just wasn't the same. I made peace with that, I can handle change.

But I'd rather handle this kind of change: the deck-only restaurant is now being managed by a crew of true professionals. In a smart move, the ownership has partnered up with Chanhassen's favorite tequila and taco spot, so that this summer we get The Tequila Butcher at the Caribbean.

Yes, that means killer drinks from Ralena Young. Yes, that means you have to let go of this being the spot where you could bring your liquor bottle from your boat and get a "set-up". Ralena's mixed drinks are better than anything you might glurg into a Solo cup, so get ready.

The whole building has had a refreshing coat of paint and some light upgrades. The side-patio, which is screened in and the only place with actual cover if it rains, has been given nice lighting and paint. The baris currently still not a place where you can sit (due to rules), buthas a least been given a great makeover, with cocktails and tapped beer added to the menu.

It's still a deck! The tables all have fresh umbrellas, and there's new staff to serve the tables, but the vibe is still walk-up or boat-up casual.

You'll have to walk by the smoker on your way in, and that's not a bad thing.

As for the food, it's a world of difference. And it's a bigger menu than has ever been carried out of that kitchen, as far as I can remember. If you've been to the Chanhassen spot, you'll see some familiar bits, but there are also new items that are Tonka Bay specific.

Let's just address the burger in the room. They are offering a Caribbean burger, single or double, on the menu and trying to recapture the old hearts and the old ways. But, you might just opt for the Hot and Smoky burger which tops the beef patty with smoked brisket, a split hot link, crispy onions, and a winning smoked gouda cheese sauce. Embrace the future! And other than burgers, there are options for a Cubano, a crispy chicken sandwich with diablo sauce, a bacon wrapped Guadalajara dog, even a lobster roll.

Or, go tacos. Blackened tilapia, crispy fish, beef barbacoa, carnitas, and chicken tinga all make a great hand snack. You'll also find a generous portion of ceviche and a crazy pineapple stuffed with spicy fruit. Add a side shot of tequila with that one. Plus, they will have a BBQ pack that serves 3-4, if you want to get back on the boat or your own deck with ribs, brisket, pulled pork, sausage, elotes, fries and more good stuff.

The drinks program here is worth giving up your set-up culture, and it has a lot of pedigree that takes it beyond the 2-4-1 game found around the lake. The El Diablo with blackberry and coconut is your upgraded tequila drink. The Caipirinha is simple lime and rum, that kicks. They're sporting their signature Old Fashioned from sister restaurant Bourbon Butcher, but the house Old Fashionedhas vacation feels with coconut sugar, agave nectar, chai tea,and anejo tequila.

Though, you can't really go wrong with the classic margarita. Choose your tequila or mezcal from the list, or let them choose, and sit back to watch the lake. There is one frozen drink on the list, the Caribbean Colada, which whips up a sunset-worthy mango, pineapple, coconut cream brain freeze.

It really could be the best summer ever. Opening on Friday, the Butcher on the bay will do lunch and dinner W-Su. No rezzies, so drive over (be respectful of those tight neighborhood streets) or boat up to the dock (technically on Echo Bay), and you can grab a deck spot or grab takeout and sit on your boat. Change is good.

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How Telling The Truth On Campus Gets You Persecuted – The Federalist

Posted: at 5:29 am

Words are violence. Cultural appropriation. Cisgender norms. Intersectionality. These are some of the phrases aggressively (and endlessly) foisted upon American society. They are employed to attack and vilify the critics of wokeness. And they are spawned and perpetuated in the bogs of the liberal academy.

Canadian free speech activist Lindsay Shepherd knows something about this pseudo-intellectual claptrap. She suffered through years of it at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, both before and after her now-famous decision as a teaching assistant of a communications studies course to present a Jordan Peterson clip regarding pronouns.

The fallout from that, which I reported on a 2018 Federalist article, dramatically changed her life, and made her a heroine of those who prize free expression and are concerned about the intellectual decline of university campuses. Her new book, Diversity & Exclusion: Confronting the Campus Free Speech Crisis, exposes how morally and intellectually bankrupt the academy has become.

Shepherds story proves the risible and ridiculous character of the contemporary university. Much of this falls within what she calls the oppression Olympics. One professor discouraged white students from raising their hands during class, alleging they have more opportunities in society than students of color.

Other professors put land acknowledgments recognitions of the indigenous peoples who earlier inhabited a certain piece of land in their email signatures. At one campus demonstration, a speaker claimed that adding yogurt to hummus is cultural appropriation.

Its not just the asininity of the academy, but its pettiness. When Shepherd tweeted part of a syllabus from a professor regarding land acknowledgments, the professor threatened to silence her with intellectual property violations.

Another time, a grad student who engaged in online sparring matches with Shepherd demanded she leave the communications study lounge, where she was printing some documents. When she refused and called him petty and pathetic, he lodged a formal complaint with the university. Shepherd was eventually cleared of the charge.

During the tribunal with three Wilfrid Laurier employees to discuss Shepherds provocative video clip, professor Nathan Rambukkana referred to Shepherds positionality. He further chastised her for making her students feel uncomfortable and fostering an unsafe learning environment by allegedly promoting gendered violence and transphobia.

Diversity & Exclusion also exposes how universities have become places not to inculcate portions of the Western tradition, train young people how to think, and prepare them for professional life, but centers of intellectually incurious indoctrination.

I had been under the impression graduate school attracted the most open, inquisitive, and curious minds, but instead I was finding rigid ideological conformity and disavowal of those who deviate ever so slightly, writes Shepherd. Her readings had titles like Dialectics of Colonial Sovereignty and The Future Birth of the Affective Fact: The Political Ontology of Threat.

According to Shepherd, the currently popular biopolitical theory is a study in nothingness. She explains:

The biopolitics acolytes deployed a specialized, obscure language that made it seem like they were doing something so distinguished that a layperson just could simply not understand it, when really there was nothing substantive about what they were saying. The nothingness of their endeavor was cloaked with fancy terms like necropolitics, subjectivity, and governmentality.

The perverse effect of this indoctrination is visible in how students responded to Shepherds battle with the university over free speech, which originated in her simply raising for discussion the use of pronouns (which faculty described as violent speech and gendered violence). The universitys Rainbow Centre, for example, declared: Debates about gender neutral pronouns or the validity of trans identities are not only discussions about (dis)allowable speech but, also, affronts on the reality of trans experience. Such debates, it claimed, even constitute a form of epistemic violence that dehumanizes trans people by denying the validity of trans experience.

What Shepherd experienced first-hand are the tactics employed by tyrannical ideologues to defame and delegitimize opponents. In an irony student activists seemed unable to appreciate, they characterized a free-speech rally as actually silencing trans and non-binary students and engaging in transphobia. As R.R. Reno has noted at First Things, by accusing ones intellectual opponents as suffering from some sort of phobia, the activist ideologue leverages the supposedly clinical and scientific against the allegedly backward and bigoted.

This uneducates students in logic, rhetoric, and debate, teaching them instead to vilify their opponents via name-calling, caricature, and guilt by association. Peterson, according to one student petition, engages in gendered white supremacist ideology. Shepherd, one Canadian professor claimed, is an alt-right provocateur who deploys White Lady Tears.

Shepherd, they declared, was supposedly alt-right because she showed a video of Peterson, a bestselling mainstream author some alt-right people support. This is utter nonsense.

For most of her life, Shepherd by default considered herself a leftist. She was not religious (and enjoyed listening to prominent atheist intellectuals); she favored pro-choice, environmental-conscious policies; she was concerned about wealth inequality; she harbored no opposition to gay marriage. Yet she, unlike many of her classmates, was intellectually curious and uninterested in simply regurgitating Michel Foucault and other postmodernists. In other words, she was willing to have her intellectual premises tested.

For that, Shepherd was attacked and maligned, not only by the academy, but by much of Canadian media. No longer at home among the liberal intelligentsia, she joined the Conservative Party of Canada. She now has had trouble finding employment because of her reputation.

Her $3.6 million lawsuit against the professors and administrators at Wilfrid Laurier, as well as the university, for harassment, intentional infliction of nervous shock, negligence, and constructive dismissal, is still pending. I hope she gets every penny.

Whats to be done? Shepherd calls for the closure of campus diversity offices, which she believes undermine the pursuit of knowledge by elevating identity politics over uncomfortable truths.

Thats just a start. The purpose of the academy in the Western tradition is to transfer to students a conception of objective truth. The very name university derives from the idea that a diversity of subjects (mathematics, science, history, language) are all unified as part of a broader, coherent human understanding of reality.

Now the academy peddles in postmodern deconstructionism that questions whether objective knowledge is even possible. Even math and logic are now said to be racist and colonialist.

Yet if the deconstructionists, postmodernists, and adherents of critical theory are correct that our intellectual and cultural traditions are inaccurate, immoral, and incoherent, whats the point of even having a university? They have, in effect, argued themselves out of their jobs.

State governments, which possess the power to influence public academic institutions, need to take more interest in what is happening in state universities and apply the necessary pressure to stop these worrying trends, which evince not only an intellectual suicide but a socio-cultural one. Our leaders must demonstrate the courage to curb what is killing us. What we need are politicians who demonstrate the kind of courage displayed by Lindsay Shepherd.

Casey Chalk is a Senior Contributor at The Federalist and an editor and columnist at The New Oxford Review. He has a bachelor's in history and master's in teaching from the University of Virginia and a master's in theology from Christendom College.

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How Telling The Truth On Campus Gets You Persecuted - The Federalist

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Spain will open its borders to cruise ships in June – Royal Caribbean Blog

Posted: at 5:29 am

One of the most important countries to the cruise industry in Europe is set to reopen its ports to cruise ships.

The gateway to Western Mediterranean cruises is Spain, and it looks as though they will welcome back cruise ships next month.

Spain's Transport Minister is reported by Reuters to have said its ports will allow cruise ship traffic once again, beginning on June 7.

With new cases falling and an increase in vaccinations in the country, Spain's government officials believe the time is right to let cruise ships back in.

In April, the European Union announced plans to allow fully vaccinated Americans to visit their countries this summer.

Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Croatia are the countries leading the charge to allow Americans, since their economy relies so heavily on tourism.

Spain's Prime Minister said fully vaccinated people from anywhere in the world would be allowed in last week, beginning June 7th.

Royal Caribbean has two ships scheduled to sail from Spain this summer, Harmony of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas.

Harmony's summer season is scheduled to begin on July 4, 2021 and is still on the cruise line's schedule to sail from Barcelona.

Harmony of the Seas European season is scheduled to run between July through October, wwith 7-night Western Mediterranean cruises that visit Palma de Mallorca, Provence, Florence, Rome, and Naples.

Rhapsody of the Seas has a transatlantic sailing scheduled for November 30, 2021 from Barcelona.

Cruise ships have been prohibited from operating in Spain since June 2020.

Royal Caribbean has not officially cancelled ormade any updates to scheduled cruises in July, including Europe or the United States.

As of the posting of this article, Harmony of the Seas is off the coast of Barcelona, and Rhapsody of the Seas is in the Bahamas.

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Monthly Archives: June 2021

Powassan woman shaves head in support of cystic fibrosis – CTV Toronto

Unfunded drug the last hope for 18-year-old with cystic fibrosis, autism, and two years to live – Stuff.co.nz

UCLA researchers publish study on the effects of cystic fibrosis on lung cells – Daily Bruin

Turmeric Is The Caribbeans Spice Of Life – Forbes

More Flights from Canada to the Caribbean This Winter – Caribbean Journal

Third Horizon Film Festival Puts A Spotlight On Caribbean Creatives – Broadway World

Law&Crime Expands Its Cable Footprint Across The Caribbean and Latin America With a Launch on Flow – Law & Crime

Sneak Peek: Tequila Butcher at the Caribbean – Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

How Telling The Truth On Campus Gets You Persecuted – The Federalist

Spain will open its borders to cruise ships in June – Royal Caribbean Blog

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