Miss Violet’s Barbados Bulletin

Brooklyn, New York | Thursday, April 9, 2026

Miss Violet taught civics at a secondary school in St Michael for twenty-two years before she retired to Brooklyn. She reads the Barbados Today every morning. She has expectations.

THE HERITAGE SITUATION

Minister Prescod is correct that Barbados children need to know their history better. Miss Violet has been saying this for thirty years. The curriculum was insufficient when she was teaching it and she has no reason to believe it has improved in the years since she left. You cannot build a nation on people who do not know where they come from. Miss Violet taught Form Three students who could not name a single person from the 1937 labour uprising. This was unacceptable then. The Minister is now saying it publicly. Progress, at whatever pace.

THE FISH FESTIVAL

Senator Walters is right that the Oistins Fish Festival needs to be rethought. Miss Violet has attended that festival many times over many decades. She knows what it was and she knows what it has become. The vendors are struggling. The atmosphere has changed. It can be restored but it requires genuine planning, not just nostalgia. Miss Violet would like to see the fishing families who built the festival centred in any redesign. Not the corporate sponsors. The fishing families.

THE GASTRO SITUATION

Cases of gastrointestinal illness are rising in Barbados. Miss Violet’s first question is always: what are people eating, and has it been properly refrigerated? Her second question is: are vendors at the Fish Festival washing their hands? These questions are not unrelated. The Ministry of Health guidance is correct. Practice food safety. This is not complicated. This is what Miss Violet’s home economics colleague used to say and she said it with authority.

THE COURT MATTERS

Justice Greaves warning the jurors is appropriate. Jury tampering is not a hypothetical concern in small island states where everyone knows everyone. The judge is right to be explicit. Miss Violet approves of explicit standards. She ran her classroom the same way. State the rules. State the consequences. Repeat as necessary.

PRIDE CRICKET

Barbados Pride going to Jamaica to play the West Indies Championship. Kraigg Brathwaite is the captain and he is a steady, serious man. Miss Violet watched him in an interview once and thought: that is a person who does not waste words. Barbados has not lost to Jamaica in this competition in ten years. Miss Violet does not wish to jinx anything by commenting further. She simply notes the record and moves on.

EMILY ODWIN AT AUGUSTA

Emily Odwin competed at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Miss Violet is not a golfer. She does not entirely understand golf. But she understands representing your country at a prestigious international competition and she understands being proud of young Barbadians doing so. She is proud of Emily Odwin. She does not need to understand the sport to feel that.

THE FARM SCHEME

Fewer new recruits going to Canada because employers want the experienced returners. Miss Violet has mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it speaks well of Barbadian workers. On the other hand, the people who benefit most are already the ones who have gone before. The young people coming behind them need pathways too. This is worth watching.

Miss Violet taught civics at a secondary school in St Michael for twenty-two years. She retired to Brooklyn and reads Barbados Today every morning without exception. Her standards remain high.