I have been hearing reports that some people think the new Miss BVI, Jaynene Jno-Lewis, should lose her crown because of questions about her qualifications to run in the pageant. But she ran in 2008 too. If there was a real problem, the committee that runs the pageant should have picked up on it. Now that she won, you can’t take back her crown. That is your problem.

 

I was at the show, and she was definitely the best. She was much more mature than the other girls, which is not surprising: She is 24 and the others were about 18-20 years old. That difference in age makes a difference in maturity.

My advice to future Miss BVIs is to watch and learn from international pageants such as Miss America and Miss Universe. Also, if you can’t perform in front of a large crowd, stay out of beauty contests.

The judges did a great job at the Miss BVI pageant. You don’t win a beauty contest on good looks. You win it on intelligence, poise, talent and so on. Beauty is the least you need. On average, the prettiest girls are the dumbest.

Festival outfits

Concerning another matter, before the August Emancipation Festival Donald de Castro and Eileene Parsons wrote and spoke about the skimpy troupe outfits. I agree that the outfits are troubling, especially since young people are watching our parade. We are not Trinidad or Brazil. We are celebrating our Festival, not a carnival.

Calypso vs. soca

Finally, an error was made in my article last week: It should have read that calypso is much harder to sing than soca. You need much more talent to sing calypso than soca. And calypso makes more sense and has a message.

Take the Mighty Sparrow’s song of 50 years ago: “Little children, go to school and learn well, or later in life you will catch real hell. In order to earn tomorrow you have to learn today.”

Or the Mighty Gypsy: “Little Black Boy have some concern: Stay in school and learn. Education is the key to get you off the street and out of poverty.”

Unlike calypso, soca music typically just repeats the same thing over and over: “Footsteps on the ground! Footsteps on the ground! Wave your rag! Wave your flag! Get something and wave!”

{fcomment}