AN INDPENDENCE DAY VALENTINE TO NINA COMPTON

NINA COME LIKE CHRISTMAS

Dear Nina,

What does it feel like to be a gift to an entire nation?

The power of one excellent person to lift the spirit of an entire nation has been proven repeatedly on this little island. Nobel Prizes and what not, the top end of St Lucia excellence has always been the best stuff internationally.

But even though Tourist Board totally dropped the ball when it comes to exploiting this media moment, even though SLAP had to tell the government, on Facebook, that the nation needed to do something special in this moment, the nation has collectively decided that this is a moment worth celebrating together.

Thanks Nina.

You brought the entire Compton family together for a national celebration during a Labour administration. (Which is, by the way, going to be quickly followed up by the unveiling of the bust of Sir John in time for Independence celebrations. Poor Flambeau is so busy firing each other that the staff of Coco Palm is getting more mileage out of this than they are.)

You caused highly competitive media companies to collectively put aside their differences and all pirate the same program at the same time in the spirit of nation pride. Except for DBS, which was featuring somebody named Jada Something Something being interviewed by a person who wasn't Clinton Reynolds.

You caused soca artistes to openly praise your mother’s superior anatomical capacity…or something equally unmentionable…

You caused Jason Sifflet to write about a person who cooks. That has never happened before.

Don’t get me wrong. While you are the hottest thing out right now, people who usually go to country and western dances on Wednesday night still went. People who hang out in bars where the music kills the conversation and the tv monitor plays sports that no one really watches still…did whatever people in that situation do…I don’t know…I can’t stand those places.

But I must confess that everywhere that people were engaged in conversation in eyeshot of a television set, they were watching you and to a large extent talking about what a goddam, relentless, unmitigated winner you are.

I, myself, am not the least bit interested in cooking shows. But there I was, fascinated with the effect that a single person committing repeated acts of excellence can have on a nation trapped in an intractable, protracted depression.

You have lit a great fire at home and in the Diaspora. And also, you gave mad scientists like me a chance to see how excellence, media coverage and intense social participation can produce interesting capital.

Warm yourself on that. By the way, you wouldn't be interested in politics, would you? The way things are going here...nevermind....