Stephen Vasciannie
AS DENNIS moved from being a small boy tropical storm, to a big man hurricane, and as he progressed, like W.B. Yeats' overrated rough beast towards Jamaica, I thought for a split second about the law of defamation. 'Dennis', my brother, has had to put up with the scarring of his character, for the hurricane has given his name a bad name. And then, Dennis' late father, was the unforgettable 'Gilbert': should a father and son have to put up with this seemingly relentless naming attack by the hurricane authorities, I wondered.
Of course, it is statistically improbable that father and son will share the same names of hurricanes bringing destruction to this country. But it did cause me to consider whether there was method in the naming system used by the authorities. I mean: could the authorities attach a political leader's name to a hurricane. Would the everlasting Fidel have grounds to protest if his recognisably powerful first name were attached to a hurricane that was heading towards Cuba?
Or, to extend the thought: could we have a hurricane called Jamaica? After all, Jamaica Kincaid (Mrs. Richardson, I presume), has taken the name of the land of wood and water as part of her nom de plume, and we have not been able to charge her royalties for that. So, why couldn't we have Hurricane Jamaica?
MAINLY MANLY
You will notice that nowadays hurricane names are still mainly manly. Thus, although Lisa has been a tropical storm, and although Gilda, Flora and others have been trenchant in their own way, it's really those with masculine nomenclature - Allen, Charlie, Charley, David, and Ivan - that have remained prominent. Is there something mildly discriminating in any of this?
You will also notice, by the way, that many of the masculine names have a certain mass appeal. Ivan could all too easily be tagged "the terrible", and - oh my lord - every media house is anxious to call Dennis "the menace" at least three times per night, and twice on Sunday.
MASS APPEAL
But there is mass appeal in another sense. Most hurricane names seem to have Afro-Saxon or Anglophone connotations, with a touch of working class popularity. For all I know, Edwin Charley, who achieved fame in the realm of alcoholic refreshment, may have been a money man. But Charley or Charlie, like Willie, are names that transcend current bourgeois pretensions. Have we yet had a Hurricane Sean or a Tropical Storm Dominic?
BLEW MOUNTAINS?
As you may have noticed from my spirit today, Dennis did not inflict too much grief on me. It has, most unfortunately, brought death and destruction to parts of Cuba and Haiti, and has caused extensive damage to some places in Jamaica. I am sorry for those who have suffered loss, but I believe that Jamaica should be relieved, once again, that we avoided a direct hit.
Should one say we avoided a direct hit? Technically, Dennis may well have avoided hitting us, but, bearing recent history in mind, Jamaica does seem to have developed the delicate ability to play dandy shandy with vicious natural disasters. There is, to be sure, potential danger in our good fortune. Specifically, now that both Ivan and Dennis have touched, but not destroyed us, many people may be inclined to assume Jamaican invulnerability to hurricanes and other Acts of God.
On the eve of Dennis, for example, one man called in to the daytime vigil organised by a television station to expound on his meteorological philosophy. He lived in Portmore but would not move in the face of possible flooding, because in his confident opinion the Blue Mountains would act as a shield to divert Dennis away from southern Jamaica: to blow away the hurricane, one supposes.
HISTORY MAN, HISTORY!
It seems too that the spirit of criminality also prevailed in some places. One man called in, with poetic rhythm, to say that in his community there was "a lot of rain, a lot of wind, and a lot of gunshots", and on the evening of the hurricane, TVJ featured as a significant part of its main story the fact that their reporting crew had to take two men suffering from gunshot and stab wounds to the University Hospital.
This, incidentally, followed reports on both TVJ and CVM that the members of the reporting team from the former had been held up along Mandela Highway.
But there was the spirit of entertainment as well. The producers of Passa Passa advertised throughout the storm warnings - over and over again -- that their hit show will be held at various places, including "St. Hilder's, Brown's Town".
The key line in the hit show seems to be "no fornication, no defecation". St. Hilder cannot be happy. But at least, they have not named a hurricane after her -- as yet.
Stephen Vasciannie is a professor at the University of the West Indies and a consultant in the Attorney-General's chambers.
