‘Youth need to know more about Miss Lou, J’can culture’

WESTERN BUREAU:

Collel Blake, the parish manager for the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) St James parish office, believes that Jamaican young people should be given more avenues to access information on their culture, including icons like Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley.

Blake spoke with The Gleaner on Monday, following the official launch of the 2024 Miss Lou Exhibition at the St James Parish Library in Montego Bay.

The launch was part of a series of activities, including similar launches at other parish libraries across Jamaica, to celebrate the 105th anniversary of the late educator and poet’s birth.

“We have the younger generation coming up who may not be as familiar as you and I are with Miss Lou. While they may hear about Miss Lou in school, a lot of times they do not hear about her in the home,” said Blake. “When they hear about Miss Lou in school, they need more information because, most times, the schools do not have the literature for Miss Lou, they do not have the pantomime clips to show, and so the students do not get a full appreciation of Miss Lou and her work.”

“They need that, because American history and the American way of life are taking us over. We are no longer in tune with our roots and our cultural icons, and that is a big part of who we are; and if we do not know who we are, we are going to lose our identity,” added Blake.Miss Lou, who was born on September 7, 1919, and passed away on July 26, 2006, was a renowned poet, actress, social commentator, folklorist, and singer who promoted Jamaican Patois as a unique language, both locally and internationally. She was also famous for her appearances on the then JBC children’s series Ring Ding during the 1970s.

Blake told The Gleaner that the JCDC chose to launch the Miss Lou Exhibition at the parish library in order to get young people interested in reading, especially since Miss Lou’s works included written poetry such as Dutty Tuff and No Lickle Twang.

“In this day and age when artificial intelligence has taken over the youth, we want to bring them back to basics. Miss Lou wrote books, and the library houses books, and the National Library of Jamaica has been, and continues to be, the most ideal place for historical, cultural exhibitions of this nature, which includes or involves writings,” said Blake.

In the meantime, Marilee Moodie-Holt, the St James Parish Library’s senior librarian, said that as a preserver of information, the library must make the most of its opportunities to showcase cultural knowledge.

“I am all for making the information more widely available, but we have to work within the budget that the Government gives us,” said Moodie-Holt. “The Jamaica Library Service is a part of the [Ministry of Education and Youth] and we get a budget that has to do a lot of things, and we have 119 libraries, 13 parish libraries, and a headquarters to run from that.”

“We use every opportunity that we can to showcase Jamaican culture, and using the national observances, we always use the opportunity to showcase Miss Lou, our cultural icons, our entertainers, and our sports persons,” added Moodie-Holt.

entertainment@gleanerjm.com