Jan. 8, 2002 – The Friends of the V.I. National Park kicks off its annual St. John seminar series this weekend. A total of 17 programs will be offered through April. "It's a great opportunity to get out in the park and have new experiences," Friends program manager Becky Bremser said.
Space in each seminar is limited, so it's suggested that those intending to take part make reservations early. To do so, call 779-4940.
Here's the schedule, including times and fees.
Saturday, Jan. 12 — "Celebrating East End St. John." Join local economist Bernie Kemp and historian, author and East-End resident Guy Benjamin as they share holiday stories about the East End. Meet at the Agriculture Department facility in Coral Bay. 9:30-11:30 a.m. $25.
Saturday, Jan. 19 — Ram's Head Botany Hike. Explore the arid shrub lands and coastal plant communities of St. John's south shore on a hike with naturalist Eleanor Gibney. Meet at the park Visitor Center at 8:30 a.m. or at the Salt Pond Bay parking lot at 9:10 a.m. Bring lunch, drinking water, sunscreen and a hat. 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. $35.
Wednesday, Jan. 23 — "Discover a Prehistoric Temple at Cinnamon Bay." Park archaeologist Ken Wild will describe some of the more interesting discoveries at the Cinnamon Bay archeological dig, including the unearthing of a prehistoric place of worship. Meet at the Cinnamon Bay archeology lab, located at the beach. 9 a.m.-noon. $25.
Saturday, Feb. 2 — Bird-Watching Tour. Park ranger and V.I. Audubon Society president Laurel Brannick will lead a trek to Trunk, Cinnamon and Francis Bays to explore the world of birding. Meet at the Cruz Bay taxi stand. Bring binoculars if you have them, insect repellent and drinking water. 7:30-11 a.m. $30 including transportation.
Saturday, Feb. 9 — "When Sugar Was King: Annaberg at the Turn of the 19th Century." Join historian David Knight on a walk through the Annaberg sugar factory complex. Meet at the Annaberg parking lot. 9-11 a.m. $25.
Sunday, Feb. 17 — Marine Biology Sailing Trip. Spend the day sailing on the high-performance catamaran Adventurer with marine ecologist Caroline Rogers. There will be stops at two or three snorkeling spots to explore the marine ecosystem. Meet at the park Visitor Center boat dock. Bring snorkel gear, sunscreen, lunch and drinking water. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. $60.
Saturday, Feb. 23 — "Coastal Ecology." Spend the day learning about the coastline of St. John aboard the Sadie Sea. Park resource management chief Rafe Boulon will be the guide for this tour that includes snorkeling, wading and floating at mangrove lagoons, coral reefs, sea grass beds and beaches. Meet at the park Visitor Center boat dock. Bring lunch, drinking water, wading shoes and snorkel gear. 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. $60.
Saturday, March 2 — "Traditional West Indian Cooking." Learn the art of preparing West Indian food at Annaberg Plantation with park ranger Denise Georges. Meet at the Annaberg Plantation cookhouse. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. $25.
Sunday, March 10 — "The Stars and Their Stories." Astro-mythologist Kelly Hunter will guide participants through the constellations and and share various myths of the night sky. Meet in the parking lot of Peace Hill, located on the North Shore. Bring flashlight, binoculars and a blanket. 7:30-9:30 p.m. $20.
Saturday, March 16 — "Genuine Coconut Oil." Instructor Deanna Somerville will show where it comes from and how to make it. Meet at the Maho Bay Beach Pavilion, located on the North Shore Road. Bring a hammer and grater. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. $25.
Saturday, March 23 — "Changes in the Landscape: The Past 100 years on St. John." Anthropologist Crystal Fortwangler will describe the island's ever-changing landscape, as well as its diverse human population over the past 100 years. Learn about the significant shifts in land use, including the creation of the V.I. National Park, the decline of farming and the rise of the real estate industry. Meet at the Cinnamon Bay Campground amphitheater. 10 a.m.-noon. $25.
Wednesday, March 27 — "Archeology at the Annaberg Slave Village." Join park researcher and archeologist Laurie Lee to learn about the latest archeological information about this site. Meet at the Annaberg Plantation parking lot. 9 a.m.-noon. $25.
Saturday, April 6 — "Adjusting to Technological Change: Charcoal." Bernie Kemp and Guy Benjamin will lead participants through a history of change on St. John's East End that focuses on the use of charcoal as cooking fuel. Meet at the Agricultural Department facility in Coral Bay. 9:30-11:30 a.m. $25.
Monday, April 8 — Taino Pottery Pit Firing Workshop, Part 1 of a two-day seminar. St. John artists Gail Van de Bogurt and Kat Sowa team up with archaeologist Ken Wild as guides to creating Taino-style ceramics and investigating the pit firing process. Meet at the Cinnamon Bay archaeology lab, located at the beach. Bring clothes you don't mind getting dirty, a snack and drinking water. 9 a.m.-noon. $60 for the two days.
Friday, April 12 — Taino Pottery Pit Firing Workshop, Part 2. 1-4 p.m. See preceding item. You must register for both days.
Saturday, April 13 — "St. John Architecture Then and Now." Architect Glen Speer leads a tour of St. John architecture. Participatns will visit several locations and explore the historical layers of the island's built environment. Meet at the Sun Dog Café in Mongoose Junction. 9 a.m.-noon. $30 including transportation.
Saturday, April 20 — "Marine Life Enthusiasts' Snorkel Trip." Marine naturalist Kathy Packo will guide this undersea adventure to three snorkeling spots accessible only by boat. Meet at the Caneel Bay Resort dock. Bring snorkel gear, wet suit, underwater camera, snack and drinking water. 9 a.m.-noon. $55.
Sunday, April 28 — "Snorkel Identification Adventure." Learn to identify species of fish and invertebrates while snorkeling from a boat with marine naturalist Lucy Portlock. Meet at the Caneel Bay Resort dock. Bring snorkel gear, light wet suit, underwater camera, snack and drinking water. 9 a.m.-noon. $55.

Jan. 7, 2002 – If you're looking for something to do on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evening on St. Thomas, there's a new option: Go to the library.
Maybe to do some reading, or to choose some materials to check out and take home. Or maybe, for an hour, to practice your non-native language skills — or help others practice theirs — in Spanish or English.
You can even take in an art exhibit. A collection of black and white images of calypsonians and local jazz artists by St. Thomas photographer Ej — Eric Johnson– is hanging through the end of January.
The art show has been up since mid-December, but it's starting Tuesday that the Enid M. Baa Library in Charlotte Amalie is keeping the doors of its adult section on the second floor open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. three days of the week and offering "Bilingual Evenings" from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. those days.
Library hours on Mondays and Fridays remain 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Children's Room on the street level continues to be open Monday through Friday from 9 to 5 and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the Children's Reading Program.
Behind the expanded hours and extended service are two librarians — something the library and its supervisory Division of Libraries office within the Planning and Natural Resources Department have not had for a while.
Sharlene Harris, who became the territory's director of libraries last fall, says one of her first concerns was that, without a librarian for several years, "Baa had been barely hanging on." But with Harris aboard and Diane Moody joining her as the new Baa librarian, things were soon to change.
Harris said then that her short-term goal, "made easier by fact that Ms. Moody is there," would be getting Baa "to a level where we can open our arms out to the public and say 'We are here. Please come.'"
The St. Thomas library now is in the process of hiring an additional part-time librarian. Meantime, professional and technical staff will cover on a rotating basis so that a librarian and a library technician will be on duty each evening, Harris says.
While each of the territory's public libraries has one full-time degreed librarian, "that is not nearly enough," she says, and all are understaffed in general. She has "concerns about staffing, books, hours, everything," but on the positive side all of the libraries have Internet service available to the public, she notes.
Despite the challenges, Harris has "high hopes for our libraries," while recognizing that "we have to be able to provide quality library service for the Virgin Islands community."
It's not about cheese
Not long ago, Harris read the 1999 bestseller "Who Moved My Cheese?" after happening upon a copy that someone had donated to the Baa library. After finishing the motivational book by a medical doctor about how to deal with change successfully, she asked her whole staff to "find time to read it." The book's bottom line, she says, is that "change is going to come; you either work to anticipate it, or fight it."
She wants to put the "service" back in "public service" — the library term for what used to be called "circulation," that is, the part of the library the public sees and uses. And she wants the community to revisit what the "public" part means, too. Some parents who send their children to the library after school see the "public" service as babysitting, she notes.
Harris came to the director's position after five years as a librarian at the University of the Virgin Islands. A graduate of Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, she holds a bachelor's degree in library science from Ohio Dominican College and a master's in the field from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
As an undergraduate, she interned with the Online Computer Library Center in Ohio. While working on her master's, she interned the summer of 1995 at the various public libraries in the Virgin Islands, then wrote her thesis on the marketing and management of the Elaine Ione Sprauve Library on St. John.
What she found unique about the St. John library was that it "was functioning with a strong 'Friends' group — it still has a strong 'Friends' group. And because of that it was able to function without the government support that was not available."
In the last year, she notes, the Friends group for the Baa Library has been revitalized. Moody was a major mover in that effort, and the group even changed its name to Friends of St. Thomas Public Libraries to emphasize its advocacy for a second, mid-island or East End public library on St. Thomas — something Harris says would be "perfect." On St. Croix, the Florence Williams Library also has a good Friends support group, she says.
Moody, who started work the day after Labor Day, speaks enthusiastically about hundreds of books newly available to library patrons under a rent-a-book system, the rental being to libraries, not individual readers. Through the newly accessed program, "We probably have 400 or 500 special fiction and non-fiction books," she says.
With degrees in library science and secondary education, Moody came to the Baa post having been librarian at Antilles School for the previous four years. Her experience includes 13 years in social services and 11 years as school librarian on the mainland.
Ingles spoken here; se habla Spanish, too
The new "Bilingual Evenings at Baa" program, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., will be offered Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the Main Reading Room.
Forget "No talking in the library!" for this initiative. Conversation is what it's all about. "Spanish speakers wishing to improve their English language skills and English speakers wanting to improve their Spanish language skills will join in conversation about language, food, culture, history and other topics," Harris says. "Working in groups of two, participants will help each other improve their pronunciation, learn new vocabulary and idioms, and foster appreciation of their native languages and cultures."
The format will be Spanish-only spoken for 30 minutes, followed by English-only for 30 minutes. Harris notes that the library "does have a small collection" of books in Spanish.
For the program, which initially has been scheduled through March, the library has a number of people signed up who want to brush up on their non-native Spanish. Native and otherwise fluent speakers of Spanish are encouraged to join in so they can be paired with those wanting to converse en espanol. Harris is hoping people who want to improve their English will take advantage of the opportunity, too.
From decades ago into the 1980s, the Baa library was open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with community members who had "day jobs" staffing it in the evenings and on weekends. So, "it's now getting back to where it used to be," one longtime library user notes. Harris says she wants people to "come in, visit us, make suggestions, requests, and volunteer to help us."
The Baa Friends group, which started the Saturday Children's Reading Program last year, is looking to expand its outreach this year through such projects as after-school programs to serve the children who come to the library, a "books for infants" program at Roy L. Schneider Hospital, and a "community empowerment" conference.
Harris says it is her hope that the Division of Libraries will "take the libraries to the community, where they belong. We plan to institute programs and activities encouraging the members of our community to visit and support the local libraries. Not just the Baa Public Library on St. Thomas but the Williams Public, Petersen Public, Sunny Isle Kiosk and Regional Library
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped on St. Croix, and the Sprauve Library on St. John.
"We have a lot to offer and are always in search of new ways to better serve the public."
For more information about Baa Library offerings, call librarian Diane Moody at 774-0630 or send her an e-mail message by clicking here.

Jan. 7, 2002 – Registration for the spring 2002 semester at the University of the Virgin Islands will take place on both UVI campuses Tuesday through Jan. 14. Classes begin Friday, Jan. 11.
On both campuses, returning students who participate in late registration will pay a $15 late fee beginning Thursday, Jan. 10 (the first day of late registration) and a $20 charge thereafter, according to a release.
Orientation and academic advisement for new freshmen and transfer students on the St. Thomas campus will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in the UVI Sports and Fitness Center.
New graduate and part-time students on St. Thomas will meet with faculty advisors in division offices from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
The payment of tuition and fees for new freshmen and transfer students on St. Thomas will take place on the 2nd floor of the Classroom Administration building from 1 to 4 p.m., and for new graduate and part-time students from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 9.
On St. Thomas, late registration will take place in the Sports & Fitness Center from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday; from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday in the CA building and at the Chancellor’s Office payment window.

For more on the University of the Virgin Islands, visit the website at www.uvi.edu.

Jan. 7, 2002 – Registration for the spring 2002 semester at the University of the Virgin Islands will take place on both UVI campuses Tuesday through Jan. 14. Classes begin Friday, Jan. 11.
On both campuses, returning students who participate in late registration will pay a $15 late fee beginning Thursday, Jan. 10 (the first day of late registration) and a $20 charge thereafter, according to a release.
Orientation and academic advisement for new freshmen and transfer students on the St. Croix campus will take place Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Melvin Evans Center.
New freshmen and transfer students on St. Croix pay tuition and fees from noon until 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Non-matriculated part-time students on St. Croix pay tuition and fees from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, at the cashier’s window.
Late registration on St. Croix will take place in the Evans Center from noon to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Monday.

For more on the University of the Virgin Islands, visit the website at www.uvi.edu.

Jan. 7, 2002 – For the first time in many years, the University of the Virgin Islands Humanities Division on St. Thomas will offer a class in watercolor painting.
The class, which will meet Saturdays from 2 p.m. until 5:40 p.m. for the 2002 spring semester, will be taught by St. Thomas watercolor artist Sue Edwards.
Registration begins on St. Thomas on Wednesday. Anyone interested in signing up for Art 150, watercolor painting, must register no later than Monday, according to a release.
Edwards, by day a secondary school art teacher, has taught art classes at UVI in the past. A well-known local artist, her specialty, said Humanities area coordinator Dennis Parker, is watercolor painting.
For further information, contact the UVI Humanities Division at 693-1340 or the UVI Registrar’s Office at 693-1169.
For more on the University of the Virgin Islands, visit the website at www.uvi.edu.

Jan. 7, 2002 – Surrounded by family, longtime friends and former students, Virgin Island artist and teacher Aline Kean celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday afternoon at Villa Santana on Denmark Hill.
Kean, who to this day still paints and makes crafts, said the key to long life is loving what you do.
One of 12 children born to St. Thomas businessman Orville Sidney Kean and seamstress Robertina Petersen Kean, Aline followed the paths of her elder sisters Eudora, a math teacher, and Adina, a home economics teacher.
Aline — who pronounces her name "Allen," — began her career as a student teacher at Miss Vessup's school on Vester Gade. In 1921, she became an assistant teacher at George Washington School, now Evelyn Marcelli School. Over the next decade, she moved up the ranks to principal teacher and acting principal of the school.
In 1931, Kean earned a government scholarship to attend Hampton Institute in Virginia. A year later, she transferred to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in art and minored in education. Upon graduation from Howard, she returned home to teach art at Charlotte Amalie High School, then located on Commandant Gade.
Kean often speaks of the scarcity of art supplies in those years, and how she taught students to recycle materials such as egg crates and cans to create works of art. In 1936, she was promoted to art supervisor, overseeing the art programs at elementary schools throughout the Virgin Islands.
She took a leave of absence in 1945 to pursue graduate studies in art at New York University in New York City. She returned to St. Thomas with a master's degree the following year and introduced the concept of correlating art and social studies in the elementary schools. In 1966, she was named the territory's federal Title I coordinator, a position that allowed her to help other teachers get teaching degrees at the College of the Virgin Islands.
Kean retired from the public school system in 1971 after 50 years of service. After that, she taught art at Lutheran Parish School for a number of years. And she continued to teach gifted art students at her home until recently.
Throughout her teaching career, Kean was active in the community and in her church, Frederick Evangelical Lutheran. She was a member of the American Red Cross, the Business and Professional Women, the St. Thomas Historic Trust and the Friends of Denmark and served as an art consultant to the Girl Scouts.
She is the only living charter member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Ladies Aid Society. As a member of this group she designed and made the pastors' stoles as well as decorations for the church, and helped establish an annual Carol Sing to cheer the sick and homebound at the Christmas holidays.
She also has hosted, for as long as most attendees can recall, an annual Carol Sing on the first Sunday of Advent in the historic Catherineberg home she shares with her sisters Eliza, 97, a retired nurse, and Louise, 96, who also is an artist. The only exception, according to a longtime participant, was a year when she traveled to Puerto Rico for a niece's wedding.
At her party on Saturday, Kean was treated to a surprise performance by the Lutheran Church Youth Choir. After spending the day singing to the homebound, the young people stopped by to sing "Happy Birthday" to her.
Another surprise came from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, who in a message declared Jan. 5 "Aline M. Kean Day" in the territory. He also pledged a gift of $2,000 to the Art Department of Ivanna Eudora Kean High School in her honor. Turnbull, who was one of Kean's students, later worked with her when he was commissioner of Education. Family representative Carlito Kean also presented a gift of $3,500 to the school in his aunt's honor.
At her party, held at the home of her niece, Luisa Euwema, Kean kept another tradition intact as she gave her guests hand-crafted souvenir gifts. Last year, she painted faces on cashew seeds, covered the tops with cloth head wraps and then glued the heads to corks to make decorative bottle stoppers. This year, she used tiny shells to make floral designs on thank-you cards.
When asked what drew her initially to art, Kean responded by describing the beauty and detail of what she saw when she put on her first pair of eyeglasses. She suffered from poor eyesight as a child and, until eyeglasses were available on the island, she viewed everything around her in a blur.
Despite having seen the world from Europe to Asia to Africa, Kean says there is no place more beautiful than her beloved Virgin Islands. She often stands on her porch at the home where she has lived for nearly a century and is still amazed by the beauty of the harbor, the different colors of the sea, the complex formations of the clouds, and a favorite subject of her paintings, the setting of the sun.

Editor's note: Source contributor Allegra Kean is the grand-niece of Aline Kean.

Jan. 6, 2002 — Carnival Cruise Lines, the king of St. Croix’s meager share of port calls, fired a shot across the V.I. government’s bow last week: Ensure the safety of passengers and crew, or face the possibility of a pull-out.
In a letter sent to Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards on Dec. 27, Gordon Buck, Carnival director of port operations, cited four incidents since November in which passengers and crew members on board the line’s two ships that call at St. Croix "have been exposed to muggings and robberies."
"Please understand that Carnival is very concerned about safety and security of our guests and crew while visiting any of our destinations," Buck wrote. "Reports have been filed with the authorities; however, incidents continue to occur."
He continued, "Due to this persistent problem, our Marketing Department has already begun investigating alternative ports to substitute for St. Croix, and I’m sure this is not something which Tourism wants to see for the future."
Richards did not respond to a call to her office last week for comment. Carnival’s Victory and Triumph call at St. Croix on alternating Wednesdays and make up a third of the ships that dock in Frederiksted each week. In contrast, St. Thomas can see as many as six ships in a single day.
The two Carnival vessels, which can carry up to 3,500 passengers and 1,500 crew each, represent critical income for many of St. Croix's cruise-dependent businesses. Harbor Night, a street fair featuring local vendors and musicians, is held each Wednesday until midnight when the Victory is in port.
Police Chief Novelle Francis said he was aware of Carnival’s safety concerns. He said the incidents included items stolen from beaches while visitors were swimming and muggings in other areas. He said one incident, involving a crew member, occurred when the person went "looking for women" on the back streets of Frederiksted.
Francis noted that passengers are told to stay on the waterfront during Harbor Night events and not to venture away from the public activities.
"We have reviewed most of the cases, and this is stuff that could have been avoided," Francis said. "Yes, you’re in paradise; nonetheless, you can’t let your guard down."
Contacted at his office late last week in Miami, Buck said recent incidents included a robbery at knifepoint.
Since he sent the letter, Buck said, he has met with Richards and other government officials to address the company's concerns. He stopped short of saying Carnival is pulling out. "It’s a little premature to say what we are going to do," he said.
Francis, meanwhile, said he was working to position more police officers in the Frederiksted and Cane Bay areas when cruise ships are in port. Such an effort is difficult, however, because of the personnel shortage the department is facing, he said.
"What we intend to do is put additional manpower on the coast where we know tourists go," Francis said. "The problem is, we’re so short, when you pull from one place, you are pulling from another."

Two girls lit up Frederiksted during the 2002 Crucian Christmas Festival Childeren's Parade in Frederiksted on Friday.
Photo by Jamie Bate

Dr. Cora Christian, a gubernatorial candidate, tramped down King Street in Frederiksted on Saturday during the 2002 Crucian Christmas Festival's Adult Parade.
Photo by Jamie Bate

A memeber of the China Dan Troupe lights up the 2002 Crucian Christimas Festival Adult Parade in Frederiksted on Saturday.
Photo by Jamie Bate