Football fun
A highlight of a Beaconite’s weekend was covering the launch of a football festival celebrating women in the sport. Kids of various ages showed up to the East End stadium Saturday morning despite a drizzly start to the event. The thud of footballs being passed around the field and enthusiastic exclamations from young players who didn’t mind the rain brought back many fond memories for the reporter, who began playing football when she was about 6 years old and played through to her senior year of high school. After a friend heard about the fun of covering the festival, she asked the Beaconite to teach her 7-year-old son a few of the basics, and she gladly agreed. She can’t wait to hit the field again, this time as an instructor.
Breaking down stigma
A Beaconite is glad to see that the Community Mental Health Services team is continuing its campaign to help make it easier for people to talk about mental health. The agency held a memorial gala on Saturday to help financially support students majoring in mental health-related careers. While covering the event, the reporter was able to chat with a few friends of Jonathan Matthew Culshaw, who died by suicide and in whose name the scholarships will be given. They described him as warm, funny and always ready with a smile. Especially given the hard times many VI residents have faced in recent years, she hopes community members take to heart how important it is to support one another, even if that means having challenging, candid discussions about depression or other difficulties their friends face. As the CMHS campaign says, “Let’s start the conversation.”
Political maturity?
A Beaconite wrote down a few lines recently about the different ways politicians across the region operate. In this regard, he observed marked differences between the Virgin Islands and his native Guyana, as well as a few other Caribbean Community members whose affairs he tracks daily. At two Virgin Islands events this week, for instance, he noted government officials from different parties embracing each other. In addition, opposition representatives unreservedly praised government projects being commissioned. To the Beaconite’s eye, such collaboration is a positive sign that suggests that national interests were taking precedence over individual mandates. But elections do bring out lots of political drama, which has been getting under way in recent days as well. The Beaconite wishes the best for the electorate in the coming weeks, and he hopes the political collaboration will continue long into the future.
Snowed in
A Beaconite is pleased to experience the first real snowfall of the year in her home state, Connecticut. Her town received nearly six inches of snow on Tuesday, and she was lucky enough to catch sightings of cardinals and other wildlife in her backyard throughout the day. She also was able to interact with her cousin’s talking bird while visiting Virginia over the weekend. The bird reminded her of the green parakeets that are sometimes seen flying around the territory in groups. While she missed the SpaceX launch this week, she was able to see all the photos and videos taken from the territory that took over social media. She was also pleased to see photos and videos of whales and eagle rays that her friends took in the Virgin Islands. The Beaconite is eager to learn how to ski and snowboard soon enough, and when she visits the territory again, she’ll most likely take a turn at scuba diving and other water sports. Where Connecticut offers snowy and winter scenes, the Virgin Islands offers ocean and mountainous exploration.