St.
George's at twilight, viewed from the LACC.
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| February
26-March 4, 2007 |
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On Wednesday evening,
the SOS ladies went out to support Go Carenage! The "Go
Carenage!" campaign was started by a group of small businesses on the
Carenage in an effort to increase trade as a result of competition
from the Esplenade mall which is attached to the cruise ship
terminal. Despite being right down the street, the tourists often
don't make the effort to visit these local shops and restaurants.
As part of the effort, participating businesses stay open late on
Wednesday nights. Noga, Britney, Anna, and I started out by
visiting a few local
businesses and chatting with the shopkeepers.
Then, we found that the National Museum was open late as well, so we stopped in for a visit. What an experience! The museum had just re-opened after being closed for renovations. It was challenging to tell where the renovation work occurred. The museum is housed in a former and ancient prison. The first room was chock full of fascinating displays. There were old maps of Grenada, which are just about identical to the current ones, except in less pristine shape. The museum has a display of articles and advertisements dedicated to the horrors of slavery. There is an agricultural products display, with some examples preserved in jars, some preserved under layers of dust, and others just plain missing. A table in the middle of the room showcased seashells and corals. At the end of the room were two of the most curious cases I have seen in a museum. One was a large display with tree branches and a variety of preserved birds. The samples were in much worse shape than the skins I was able to paint from at the University of Colorado which dated back more than 120 years. The display was, however, well marked, so you could label each bird...if only they resembled the actual creatures they once were. Some had wings missing, and the hummingbirds seemed to have only a handful of feathers to share among them. Next to the large display was a small, enclosed counter top exhibit containing a number of small, "preserved" songbirds. None of these were marked, and they were in the worst shape of all. Many had fallen to the bottom, and the others that had not flipped upside down were in tatters. Some you could even see through. I felt sorry for the earlier display, but this one pushed the experience over the edge from museum-with-funding-challenges to circus freak show. It only got stranger in the next room, with a small display on a tiny, round table. It appeared to be a display of some marine creatures preserved in jars. Most of them were unmarked, and peering into the murkiness of the jars did not prove much more enlightening. The rest of the large room contained interesting displays ranging from religious icons to archaeological finds, to a colonial British uniform and a giant anchor. There were some old sewing machines, and an allegedly historic bathtub. In the back of the museum were the ancient prison cells. These were truly terrorizing. The dank, stone place seemed to be inhabited by the souls who were surely tortured to even spend any time in those tiny, barred spaces. Oh...how could I forget to mention...the oddities never cease. They were also inhabited by oddly placed and inexplicably attired manikins. Go figure. Unfortunately, there is no picture taking allowed in the museum, so I have no documentation of our GRENADAFABULOUS adventures! After the museum, we went on to BB's Crabback to eat and relax! BB's is a restaurant right on the Carenage. We hadn't been there before, and enjoyed the informal atmosphere, as well as the menu of smaller dishes available as a result of Go Carenage.   |
| On
Thursday, Noga had yet another court date. This time, we sat in
the very first row non-officials could sit in. It was, as always,
difficult to hear. For the first time, we noticed that all
parties refer to the Magistrate as "Your Majesty."
Shocking. We saw several cases come and go. The magistrate
sits at the front of the room, with very small packets of paper folded
in thirds - no actual files. Directly in front of her are a few
rows for attorneys. After that, on the left, are the police
officers who prosecute the cases. Next to them, in the center,
before the rows of chairs for spectators, is a corral where the
defendants are isolated. They are placed at a slight height, with
a half-wall in front and back and a bench. The defendants enter
the corral as their case is called, and stand at the front to face the
magistrate. For those who are represented, their attorneys speak
for them from the attorney section, between the corral and the
magistrate. They are quite separate. I took a few photos, as quietly and inconspicuously as possible - as you are not allowed to have anything with you in the courtroom. Bags, purses, everything is generally left in a cubby hole outside the courtroom. The last photo I took accidentally had the flash go off! Boy, I thought I was headed up the river! Fortunately, it blew over without a word - I'm not sure anyone could identify where the sudden blast of light came from. WHEW!! We got to see a couple of attorneys in action. One, in particular was THAT guy. The one who makes the outrageous arguments for principle, or show, or just because he's THAT guy. Fun to see. Noga also got her first close up gander at two (alleged) murderers. Earlier in the weekend, two men killed an older man in Grand Anse with broken glass at about 4 am. The two young men in front of us were certainly worse for the wear, and the only two who did not enter the corral. In fact, we couldn't surmise why they would have even appeared in front of the Magistrate at all.  Above is a photo of a
defendant in what I have called the corral. (I have blurred out
his face.) The Magistrate sits at the front wall. The
defendant is standing at the front of the corral, and you can see the
rear wall of that space on the right. On the left, and officer is
bending down to speak to the prosecuting police officer. Even
defendants who were in custody, who were escorted up a flight of stairs
to the right of the defendant, were not handcuffed, and they wore
street clothes.
 This photo is an image panned to the left of the first. The prosecuting officer is on the right. Various other officials sit to the left. I was very irritated to note that each time we go, we only ever see male attorneys and male police officers. In fairness, I believe all of the defendants we have seen were male, also. The single most powerful figure in the room, however, was the female magistrate. I was pleased to have my assumptions corrected a couple weeks later when I inquired as much of the LACC's attorney, Jacqueline Sealy-Burke, and she said that the clear majority of attorneys in Grenada are women. It just so happens that the great majority of litigators are male. |
| On Friday, the actresses involved in the
Vagina Monologues were invited to the Legal Aid and Counseling Clinic
(LACC,) for a reception in our honor. It turns out, there was a
misunderstanding regarding the date of the event, and it needed to be
rescheduled. Nevertheless, we were invited in and given a tour of
the facility and got to ask some questions before heading back. There was a most unusual cruise ship in port this evening; a narrower ship with sails, not quite a "cruise" ship, not quite a sailboat:   Planned Parenthood is in Grenada. This clinic is just across the alley from the LACC. |
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