Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer
On Wednesday evening, Mervyn Morris, Professor Emeritus, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, closed his comprehensive yet concise examination of Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley's life and work at the UWI's Undercroft by saying "There were many Louise Bennetts. In the next few days we will be learning more about them. I thank the conference organisers for having invited me to prime the pump."
Morris was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the conference 'Noh Lickle Twang!, Louise Bennett-Coverley, The Legend and the Legacy', and the 'few days' he referred to started yesterday, continues today and will end tomorrow.
With Anthea Morrison, head of the Department of Literatures in English, hosting the opening ceremony, Fabian Coverley spoke about Miss Lou, the mother who helped him with homework, attended PTA meetings and took him on his first plane trip to Canada. There was laughter when he recounted a trip to Macy's where, after she bought 15 pairs of shoes, Miss Lou realised that there was a sale on some better ones. The 15 were duly returned and eventually they went home with 30 pairs.
In an engaging and humorous address, Rex Nettleford, UWI Vice Chancellor Emeritus, noted Miss Lou's "formidable contribution to the many literatures in English" and said "she understood the importance of the performance arts to literary invention."
There was personal memory from Swithin Wilmot, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, who recalled a visit by Miss Lou to the then Faculty of Arts and General Studies in 1972. And Sidney Bartley, reading a message from Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia Grange, closed with "it is high time that Miss Lou got a conference of her own. Jack Mandorah, me no choose none."
Exemplary daughter ...
There was applause when Carolyn Allen of the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts introduced Morris as the person "who made the call for reading Miss Lou seriously". And opening, much as he closed, with the observation that "there were many Louise Bennetts", first speaking about the cultural icon and then the "exemplary daughter, an outstanding friend, a dedicated wife, a loving mother ..."
He addressed three themes that he saw coming out of the papers submitted for 'Noh Lickle Twang!', speaking about Miss Lou with regard to performance, gender and language, identity and Jamaican creole.
"Who was Louise Bennett? What did she do and what did people do to her?" Morris asked, before beginning the chronology of her life and work which framed the examination of the themes.
And he noted that "She did not envisage Jamaican creole replacing standard English .... she did not resist the use of English. She was trying to address cultural imbalance."
It was not all speech at the opening ceremony, as the Panoridim tapped out lively steelpan renditions of Try Jah Love and Here I Come, while an all-boy cast from Lannaman's Prep scoffed at those who "cyaa do a ting" and rejoiced "me paddle me own canoe."
Joan Andrea Hutchinson was the evening's final performer, 'Ivan Lef Me Inna Grief', 'Workaholic', 'The Naked Truth', 'Ready Fi Love Yu', 'Kidnap and Bad Advice' delivered to a highly appreciative audience before her closing, fitting 'Tenky Miss Lou, Tenky'.
At 11:00 a.m. today the discussion will be around 'Louise Bennett and the Politics of Gender' at the UWI's Social Sciences Lecture Theatre (SSLT), with 'Miss Lou: Values and Ethics' at 9:00 a.m. and 'Talking Nation: Miss Lou and the Politics of Language' at 10:40 a.m. tomorrow at the same venue.
Lloyd Reckord, Alma Mock-Yen, Louis Marriott and Fae Ellington will share memories of Miss Lou at 3:00 p.m. today, also at the SSLT. At 6:30 p.m. Native American Gene Tageban, Ad-Ziko Simba, Jean Small and a pair of Jamaica Cultural Development Commission medallists will delve into storytelling, with Marjorie Whylie providing music.
And, to close off the celebration, a heritage tour on Saturday afternoon, leaving from the Undercroft at 1:00 p.m. will go to focal points in Miss Lou's life, including Gordon Town, Hope Gardens and the Little and Ward theatres.
