"Seaside Christmas" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Download full size: 5376x3072
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Friday, December 12, 2025
Cat Island Flour Cakes
Cat Island Flour Cakes - ©A. Derek Catalano
My son Christopher Catalano brought me back some of those World Famous Cat Island Flour Cakes from his visit to Cat Island. Never had them before. So delicious. The perfect blend of flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. 😊
Derek
Related article: An In-Depth Look at Bahamian Cuisine
Related poem: Grits in da Mornin'
Unto Us
Emmanuel, our God has come
UNTO US
A DRAMATIC MUSICAL
Sunday, December 14th, 2025 at 6:30PM
Calvary Bible Church
62 Collins Ave.
Nassau, Bahamas
Celebrate the joy of Christmas with us!
Thursday, December 11, 2025
Inclusion
"Inclusion" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Inclusion
In every room where people meet,
Where voices cross and glances greet,
There’s space to notice who’s not heard,
Whose quiet fades without a word.
Inclusion starts with simple things:
A widened door, a chair that swings,
A hand held out before it’s asked,
A shared load when the road is masked.
It’s choosing not to turn away
When someone moves a different way,
Or speaks with pauses in their tone,
Or stands apart but not alone.
It’s making room at every start
For those who carry unseen parts,
The weight of worry, fear, or doubt,
The stories they don’t hand right out.
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Education: Boys Behind Girls
"Up and Coming" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Education: Boys Behind Girls
Why are Bahamian boys significantly falling behind girls in reading and writing proficiency?
Research on the wider Caribbean (including The Bahamas) suggests a mix of social, cultural, pedagogical and systemic factors that help explain why boys often lag behind girls in reading and writing. Here’s a breakdown of the main explanations researchers identify.
What do we know: the pattern holds in the Bahamas & Caribbean
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In the Bahamas specifically, reports show that girls consistently outperform boys in English-language (reading/writing) subjects in the BGCSE exams. Bahamas Local
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More generally across the Caribbean, studies find that though access to education is roughly equal for boys and girls, girls tend to do better academically — especially in language, reading and writing — while boys underperform, repeat grades more, drop out more often, or enrol less in secondary and tertiary levels. Inter-American Development Bank
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International evidence shows this is not unique to the Caribbean: globally, in many education systems, boys tend to lag behind girls in reading and literacy. UNESCO
So the phenomenon is well-documented. The big question is why.
Tuesday, December 9, 2025
There is Always Opposition
"Opposition Tug-Of-War" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
There is Always Opposition
No motion starts without a force,
No river runs a straight-line course,
For every step that you intend,
The universe will make you bend.
It is the law, ancient and deep,
That promises no easy sleep;
From atoms spinning in the void
To empires built and then destroyed,
In every breath and every plan,
In every heart of every man,
The truth remains, distinct and clear:
The Opposition is always here.
I. The Physical Weight
Observe the stone upon the hill,
It sits in silence, cold and still.
To move it requires strain and sweat,
A physical and heavy debt.
For Gravity, that jealous king,
Lays claim to every living thing.
It pulls us down, it holds us tight,
It creates the heavy, weary night.
To stand upright is to defy
The very earth, the very sky.
The friction on the moving wheel,
The rust that eats the strongest steel,
The wind that beats against the face—
Resistance fills all time and space.
There is no vacuum perfect, pure,
Where unstopped motion can endure.
The air itself is like a wall,
Waiting for the weak to fall.
But mark this truth within the gale:
Without the wind, no ship can sail.
The very force that stops the way
Is what allows the bird of prey
To catch the draft and soar on high,
To pin its wings against the sky.
The plane requires the drag to lift,
The opposition is the gift.
Moonrise Sea - PC Wallpaper
Monday, December 8, 2025
Battle of the High School Pop Bands 2025
Battle of the High School Pop Bands
Monday, December 15th, 2025 at 5pm
Rawson Square, Bay St.
Nassau, Bahamas
The Island That Rose and Fell
"Glowing Blue Hole Island" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
The Island That Rose and Fell
Dr. Reisha Albury had spent half her life studying the ocean around Andros, and the water still surprised her. Some days it felt like a patient teacher. Other days it acted like a trickster that waited until she felt confident, then swept the board clean. Then the earthquake hit—a soft, almost polite tremor felt from the Berry Islands to the Exumas. She never experienced a quake in The Bahamas before and knew of none on record.
But a week later, when fishermen radioed in saying a new island had appeared twenty miles off Andros, Reisha closed her notebook and took the report seriously.
Boaters could be dramatic. A patch of sandbar could feel like an island if you wanted a story to tell at the bar. Still, the way two separate crews described it caught her attention: “A real island. Big enough to stand on. Smells like wet stone.”
That last part stuck with her. Sand doesn’t smell like wet stone.
By noon she’d arranged transport, packed her diving gear, and loaded the small research skiff with enough equipment to satisfy the most skeptical funding board. She didn’t invite anyone to join her. She wanted first sight for herself.
Sunday, December 7, 2025
The Darkness of Xenophobia
"Alien Xenomorph" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
The Darkness of Xenophobia
A chilling fog that shrouds the open mind,
A baseless dread of those we fail to find
Familiar in their custom, speech, or creed,
This is the fear called Xenophobia, indeed.
It is the hatred born of ignorance,
The sudden shiver at a foreign glance.
The Definition and Its Roots
It is not simply bias or dislike,
But deep revulsion striking like a pike,
Against the stranger, alien, or new,
A desperate drawing up of walls by few.
It is a mechanism, harsh and crude,
That sees all difference as an ill-intent, construed
As menace to the safety of the known,
A seed of malice that the heart has sown.
Causes: The Seeds of Anxiety
The fear takes root where understanding's slight,
And thrives upon the absence of the light.
One cause is economic anxiety's strain,
The false belief that gain requires loss and pain.
A local culture fears its way of life,
Will be consumed within a global strife,
And turns upon the newcomer in need,
Mistaking fellow humans for a greed.
The rhetoric of politics provides the fuel,
When leaders preach exclusion as a rule.
They paint the "other" as a cunning foe,
Distorting facts to make the hatred grow.
A lack of contact seals the hardened case,
When no shared meal or laughter sets the pace;
The human face, behind the veil unseen,
Remains a monster on a distant screen.
A baseless dread of those we fail to find
Familiar in their custom, speech, or creed,
This is the fear called Xenophobia, indeed.
It is the hatred born of ignorance,
The sudden shiver at a foreign glance.
The Definition and Its Roots
It is not simply bias or dislike,
But deep revulsion striking like a pike,
Against the stranger, alien, or new,
A desperate drawing up of walls by few.
It is a mechanism, harsh and crude,
That sees all difference as an ill-intent, construed
As menace to the safety of the known,
A seed of malice that the heart has sown.
Causes: The Seeds of Anxiety
The fear takes root where understanding's slight,
And thrives upon the absence of the light.
One cause is economic anxiety's strain,
The false belief that gain requires loss and pain.
A local culture fears its way of life,
Will be consumed within a global strife,
And turns upon the newcomer in need,
Mistaking fellow humans for a greed.
The rhetoric of politics provides the fuel,
When leaders preach exclusion as a rule.
They paint the "other" as a cunning foe,
Distorting facts to make the hatred grow.
A lack of contact seals the hardened case,
When no shared meal or laughter sets the pace;
The human face, behind the veil unseen,
Remains a monster on a distant screen.
Saturday, December 6, 2025
Shadows in the Archipelago: Distinguishing Human Trafficking from Smuggling in The Bahamas
"Undercover Run" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Shadows in the Archipelago: Distinguishing Human Trafficking from Smuggling in The Bahamas
Introduction
In the complex landscape of transnational crime, few offenses are as frequently conflated yet fundamentally distinct as human trafficking and human smuggling. While both involve the movement of people and the illicit crossing of borders, they differ sharply in their means, their ends, and their victims. For the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, an archipelagic nation strategically positioned between the Caribbean, South America, and the United States, these distinctions are not merely academic—they are matters of urgent national security and human rights.
The Bahamas serves as a critical transit point in the Western Hemisphere’s migration corridors. Its porous borders and proximity to the United States make it a prime target for smuggling networks moving economic migrants. Simultaneously, its tourism-driven economy and reliance on migrant labor create vulnerabilities ripe for human trafficking. Understanding the nuance between these two crimes—trafficking as a crime against the individual involving exploitation, and smuggling as a crime against the state involving illegal entry—is essential to evaluating the nation’s legal responses, including the landmark Trafficking in Persons (Prevention and Suppression) Act of 2008 and the recently introduced Smuggling of Migrants Bill 2025.
Christmas Beat Retreat 2025
Christmas Beat Retreat
Theme:
Christmas Past & Present
14th December, 2025 at 4:00PM
Rawson Square, Bay Street
Nassau, Bahamas
Friday, December 5, 2025
HOPE FEST 2025!
HOPE FEST 2025!
Join us for food, music, rides & Christmas cheer!
This Saturday, Dec 6, 2025
1PM–10PM
Collins House - Collins Ave. & Shirley St.
LIVE PERFORMANCES, RIDES, VENDORS, & CHRISTMAS CHEER!
FIRST 50 CHILDREN GET ONE FREE RIDE!
Junkanoo Rushout by Colours
Supporting Great Commission Ministries
Adults: $10 | Children (12 & under): $5
Get tickets at www.gcmbahamas.com or at the gate.
Don’t miss the family event of the season!
Don’t miss the family event of the season!
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Hate is Counterproductive
"Hater" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Hate is Counterproductive
Hate is often framed as power. People use it to stand firm, to guard themselves, or to strike back when they feel wronged. It feels active instead of passive, sharp instead of soft. Yet hate is one of the most counterproductive forces in human behavior. It weakens judgment, drains energy, narrows perception, and harms both personal relationships and large communities. When examined closely, hate does far more damage to the person who holds it than to the target it aims for.
To understand why hate works against us, it helps to see what it does to our thinking. Hate simplifies. It reduces complex realities into rigid categories. A person becomes the worst thing they ever said. A group becomes a single stereotype. A situation loses all nuance and turns into a personal threat. This kind of thinking feels satisfying in the moment because it removes uncertainty, but it also shuts down learning. Once hate takes hold, it is nearly impossible to listen fairly, question assumptions, or notice changing facts. Progress depends on the flexibility to adjust when new information arrives. Hate removes that flexibility and replaces it with stubbornness.
Hate also distorts priorities. It makes people focus more on hurting an opponent than improving their own lives. This is easy to see in personal arguments. Someone who is angry often tries to make the other person feel worse rather than trying to solve the problem. On a larger scale, groups caught in hateful conflicts pour time, money, and attention into fighting the other side instead of improving their own communities. Resources that could strengthen education, health care, safety, or innovation get lost in cycles of retaliation.
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
No More Mumbo Jumbo
"Mumbo Jumbo Dance" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
No More Mumbo Jumbo
In the land where whispers roam and tales unfold,
Where the winds of nonsense scatter, wild and bold,
There came a cry, a call to arms, a plea so loud,
To shake the chains, and lift the foggy shroud.
No more mumbo jumbo, the people said,
No more the twisted lies, the truth misled.
For ages now, we’ve danced in circles tight,
Chasing shadows, turning day to night.
The mystics spoke in riddles, wrapped in smoke,
Their words were clouds, their promises a joke.
They promised answers, but their tongues were veiled,
Leaving us to wander, lost and frail.
Friends of the Environment November E-News
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Tuesday, December 2, 2025
A History of Boat Building in The Bahamas and Its Modern Trajectory
"Bahamian Sloop" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
A History of Boat Building in The Bahamas and Its Modern Trajectory
The Bahamian archipelago, comprising over 700 islands and cays scattered across the western Atlantic, is inherently a maritime nation. From its earliest Lucayan inhabitants to the modern global shipping hub of today, the sea has dictated life, commerce, and communication. Central to this enduring relationship is the craft of boat building, a tradition that evolved from dugout canoes into sophisticated sailing vessels, serving as the economic engine and cultural backbone of the Out Islands for centuries. The history of Bahamian boat building is a chronicle of adaptation, resilience, and masterful use of indigenous materials, leading to a modern industry that balances tradition with global demand.
Monday, December 1, 2025
Tropic Christmas Street - PC Wallpaper
"Tropic Christmas Street" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Sunday, November 30, 2025
The Danger and Bad Reputation of Pit Bulls: Where It Comes From, What Is True, and What Is Not
"Angry Pit Bull" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
The Danger and Bad Reputation of Pit Bulls: Where It Comes From, What Is True, and What Is Not
Pit bulls carry one of the most complicated reputations in the dog world. Some people see them as loyal family pets. Others see them as unpredictable animals capable of serious harm. Both views exist for a reason, and both are tied to decades of culture, media coverage, and selective breeding. Understanding the danger and the reputation requires looking at history, behavior, statistics, and the environment in which these dogs are raised.
A Celebration of Life: Lynn Sweeting
A Celebration of the
Literary Life of Lynn Sweeting
Bahamian Poet, Feminist, Citizen Journalist
1962 - 2022
Saturday, December 6, 2025
6pm - 7:30pm
The NAGB, West Hill Street
Nassau, Bahamas
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Not a Fool for Promises
"Promises, Promises" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Not a Fool for Promises
You build a castle in the air, a fortress made of breath,
And swear that it will stand its ground until the day of death.
You paint a vista for my eyes of colors bright and bold,
And spin the straw of future days into a thread of gold.
But I have watched the colors fade and seen the castle fall,
For words are only mortar when there is no stone at all.
I hear the rhythm of your speech, the cadence and the rhyme,
But I am not a fool who waits upon the shelf of time.
A promise is a comfort to a fool, or so they say,
A warm and heavy blanket used to hide the cold of day.
It soothes the anxious mind a while, it calms the restless heart,
But comfort turns to bitterness when realities depart.
For I have seen the gap between the spoken and the true,
The chasm where the "will be" dies and never turns to "do."
So do not try to dazzle me with visions of the prize,
I see the calculation in the corner of your eyes.
Consider first the lover’s vow, the holiest of lies,
Whispered in the heat of night beneath the starry skies.
"Forever" is a mighty word, too heavy for the tongue,
A song of infinite design that simply can't be sung.
We stand before the altar steps, the witness and the priest,
And promise that our love will last 'til breathing has surceased.
But rings are made of metal cold, and flesh is weak and frail,
And promises of passion are the first of all to fail.
The "sickness and the health" become a burden and a bore,
When the promise of the honeymoon walks out the open door.
I will not bank on "always" when the "now" is slipping by,
A marriage built on words alone is destined just to die.
Friday, November 28, 2025
Thursday, November 27, 2025
Piracy in the Caribbean Today
"Pirate Powerboat" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Piracy in the Caribbean Today
Piracy in the Caribbean is often imagined through the lens of old legends, wooden ships, buried treasure, and outlaw captains who ruled the sea. While that era ended centuries ago, the Caribbean has never fully escaped the reach of maritime crime. Modern piracy looks different from its historical version, yet it remains a real and evolving threat shaped by geography, economics, politics, and global trade. The region sits at a crossroads of international shipping routes, tourism, and drug trafficking networks. This combination creates a mix of opportunity and vulnerability that allows modern pirates and maritime criminals to operate far more often than many people realize.
Island Surprise: A Bahamian Adventure
Kids embark on a magical journey with
Island Surprise: A Bahamian Adventure
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Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Abaco: The Brooklyn Bridge Barge Incident
"Container Barge on Tropic Sea" - Bahamas AI Art
©A. Derek Catalano
Abaco: The Brooklyn Bridge Barge Incident
Below is a focused, evidence-based, and practical analysis of the Brooklyn Bridge barge grounding off Abaco (what happened, timeline, cargo and damage, official response and salvage, and insurance/environmental implications), followed by a legal analysis of whether Abaco residents who broke into containers and removed cargo can be charged under Bahamian law (likely offences, possible defences, likely outcomes), and a short conclusion with practical recommendations.
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