The Bermudian - Summer 2017

COMMUNITY ACTIVIST Kristin White

3 Chosen as one of Bermuda’s 10 Most Fascinating People in 2016, the bookstore-owning, tourism-consulting, public-speaking, writer, artist and all-around social media superstar Kristin White has been passionately promoting St. George over the last few years. The former director of Raleigh Bermuda is focused on improving the connection young people have with their community while advocating for cultural tourism, especially in her underused town of St. George. The writer/director/ producer for the popular Haunted History Tour can be found circling the old town on her equally well-known pedal bike, Shoshanna, when she isn’t guiding tourists to her favourite hot spots from her bookstore on Water Street.

JKristindotcom.com

NEWS EVENT OF THE YEAR

Pepper Spray at Protest

3 While these awards are dedicated to celebrating the best, December 2, 2016, will go down as a day that brought out some of the worst in Bermuda. Protesters who opposed the airport redevelopment legislation gathered outside the House of Assembly to block MPs from debating it that morning. The crowd swelled, tempers flared and riot police eventually marched in resulting in several citizens, including some seniors, being pepper sprayed in an attempt to control the crowd.

The day’s events were carried live on Bernews and Facebook and widely shared across social media platforms and cell phone apps creating ongoing discussions from all sides. While we appreciate that no one wins in such a situation, we hope that lessons are learned all around and the discussions since—from the police headquarters to your family dinner table—result in positive changes for the betterment of all Bermudians going forward.

POLITICAL BLUNDER

OBA’s Communication Problems

3 During the course of our judging process, several political blunders were discussed but all seemed to have the same thing in common—problems with communication stemming from the government. With lack of transparency being a main objection from the opposition over several recent issues—with Pathways to Status and the airport redevelopment deal being the most heated—our judges felt the OBA could avoid further political blunders by improving their up-front communication. Transparency, after all, is not a four-letter word.

PIT BULL POLITICIAN

David Burt

3 Pit bulls are noted for their
strength, stamina and tenac-
ity—characteristics certainly
needed for successful politicians
and none more aptly described
as such than Opposition
Leader and Shadow Minister of
Finance, David Burt. Quick to
respond and forceful in his reply
to the latest government an-
nouncements or political events
of the day, Burt has proven to
be an aggressive, tenacious and
vocal leader of his party.

MOST EFFECTIVE POLITICIAN Michael Fahy

3 He’s not always been popular, having had a difficult time as home affairs minister at the time of the Pathways to Status initiative, but the new minister of tourism, transport and munici-palities has always “stuck to his guns” according to our judges. While being responsible for transport will be an ongoing challenge (see airport protest above), he’s currently riding the wave of steadily increasing tourism numbers. A trend we hope continues under his watch.

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
BERMEMES

3 Lead by directors Déjon Simons and Qian Dickinson, some of Bermuda’s best, brightest and most hilarious young talents make up the team of contributors at BERMEMES, who have been steadily growing the brand from silly life in Bermuda memes to culturally important reviews of current affairs and interviews of those in the know. Many will remember the uber-popular Not the Um Um guys, whose fall-on-the-floor funny skits would make fun of the idiosyncrasies of island life (“The sound of St. Daaavid’s… dum de dum dum dum…”) from 1984 until their final show in 2009. Well, the “byes” at BERMEMES have taken up the torch becoming the voice of Bermuda life in modern times. While some may pass it off as just poking fun, there is an important aspect of highlighting and continuing to be an ambassador of our true island culture (or rather, “kulcha”) through our unique language (“verds”) and unique perspective on everything from how we deal with hurricanes (“vers de rum to, bye?”) to the annual Cup Match war of words and the worst things about living in Bermuda (“having to choose a beach to go to, sheesh”) that BERMEMES maintains. With their light-hearted and positive spin on life on these isles since their start in 2012 and a growing reach far beyond our shores (they claim an audience of two million), the team at BERMEMES have risen to an important role within our community and as one judge stated, “They built it from nothing and now it resonates with everyone.” J www.bermemes.com