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Controversial writer Traci O’Dea lands job at HLSCC
The magazine article, which is published by the public relations firm ‘a Lookingglass’ was described by many local Virgin Islanders to be insulting, demeaning, offensive and cynical, to local residents especially, the indigenous Virgin Islanders.
The magazine article, according to its critics, portrays locals as not being able to speak ‘proper English’ and as having a ‘broken dialect’ and visitors as needing the translations of what locals may mean when they speak.
The magazine article provides these translations. For example, the magazine highlights on page 3 the phrase, “Wah gwin ahn?” and claims that this is Tolian for “whats going on?.” In other words, new comers to the Virgin Islands will not always understand the residents and may at times need an interpreter.
Another phrase among many others that the critics claim is demeaning and to be a misrepresentation of locals is found on page 7 “Yuh aint’t bahn hare, mehson”. The ‘NEWBIE’ claims that this means, “You’re not from here”.
At the time of our original article a year ago Sean A. Jobsz, a local landscaping businessman, had told this news site that; he “found portions of the publication to be an insult to the intelligence of locals and that the way in which locals were represented was wrong and undermined our education system.”
Ms. Jeanette Lewis, a Virgin Islander and former lecturer at the H Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC), and a former Government’s International Finance Centre employee had also told this news site that she too found the ‘broken English’ in the magazine-NEWBIE to be “offensive to the residents and it showed a lack of respect for the indigenous Virgin Islanders who do not speak in that manner….my mother is from here and she does not speak like that.”
Lewis told Virgin Islands News Online that the magazine content was brought to her attention by her students at the college, who also found it to be very offensive.
Now word comes that the same Traci O’Dea, a migrant Caucasian worker who was on a work permit and the former editor of the controversial magazine, has landed a job at the HLSCC to teach English.
O’Dea, who is from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and has been in the Virgin Islands for just three and a half years, could not be reached for comments as of press time.
However, two officials from the College confirmed to this news site that Ms. O’Dea is assigned to the English department from fall 2012. HLSCC President Dr. Karl Dawson said he had no comments on the matter, but a college source told this news site that “this matter speaks to background checks on employees, as here you have a lady who has offended most local residents and now she is teaching my son at our college…...that in itself is another insult!” the officer told Virgin Islands News Online on condition of anonymity.
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123 Responses to “Controversial writer Traci O’Dea lands job at HLSCC”
"Why should we have to bite off our tongues to "yank" like them.", REALLY!!!!!, I think the bites from our dialect is why our lips so big if you ask me.
Let's be honest with ourselves. Some of us revert to our 'native slang' when in the company with others and speak 'proper English' when we are not. Unfortunately, most do not because they cannot. Take a page from the young people today. They are unable to speak and write a proper sentence because they do not know how.
It's unfortunate but that is society today.
But i think people are upset at the who and not the what. Its a white person, which brings up all sort of issues .
Stop wallowing in ignorance!
The same principle goes for the white people who abuse and misuse the word 'like'.
Students coming out of our schools are given Government jobs and placed in positions to represent our country and they have not sense of character, intellect or professionalism and THESE ARE OUR FUTURE. What do we expect visitors to think when they come in contact with these individuals? Of course they are going to generalize!! And we are so stupid, just because we want these undereducated hoodlums off the street, we are giving them positions in Government to represent us. SMART MOVE!!!
HLSCC President Dr. Karl Dawson, please make it your business to keep this woman (whoever she is) on the job. So when my son gets there, he knows exactly what outsiders truly think about us and what we need to do to curtail their perception instead of jumping to deport.
INDIGINOUS VIRGIN ISLANDER MY BACKSIDE!!! We are a bunch of indigineous fools who are here killing one another on the jobs and rolling out the red carpet for these incomers with fake smiles focused on our treasure and not us.
She had to go mingling with weed heads to write this book. i cant tell when last i hear meson, wa go on, partner, dread, etc
She got to be in need of money.....
Also every expat in the country knows full well and has heard several times over the words, "Yuh aint’t bahn hare, mehson”.
Talk about a racist article! “… a migrant Caucasian worker who was on a work permit…” Since when does the colour of a person’s skin determine who she is or what she can do? I’m an ex-pat and have been in BVI for over 3 years (also a migrant ??!!) and am extremely tired of being blamed for all of Tortola’s social woes. If you had it your way, send all of the expats home, and along with us all of the money we spend on food, clothes, rent, electric, gas, phone, etc.—not to mention our contributions to your Social Security, and Inland Tax Fund—and see what is left. A third-world country where you can’t drink most of the public water—when it occasionally flows, intermittent electric with surges that destroy anything plugged in, an infrastructure that is one big storm away from being non-existent and a work force unable to compete against educated, literate, open-minded outsiders. Yeah, have it your way……
VINO, you seriously disappoint a former supporter. Are you just trying to stir things up because it was a slow news day?
Are you afraid to print this?
This book BVI Newbie has been extremely helpful to newbies as it provides endless amounts of useful information. This is a difficult places to figure out what you need to do, where you need to go to get it done and, how to go about it etc. What harm is there in writing in the dialect the truth of what are words so often spoken? I for one recall another weekly entertainment magazine that used to have a column all written in the dialect. I recall being so proud to be able to read it from start to finish and comprehend what was written. Let's not forget that these online news blogs are full of posts from people who write in the same manner. How can you deny that this is not the truth and furthermore, how can you say it's an insult that people would note on the dialect and try to offer some assistance to others totally confused and having to repeatedly ask "pardon, I didn't understand"? The article was not intended as an insult and those who found it insulting surely could not have read the entire publication to understand the context of the article and see the booklet for all the good and benefit it provides to newbies and tourists alike. I'm certain that neither writer, editor, publisher nor reader automatically believes that all the people of the BVI who speak are deviating from some standard of comprehensible pronounciation. The article itself could quite easily be adapted to areas of the USA, Ireland, Scotland, Switzerland ....anywhere in the world. Also keep in mind that many of us jest about our own dialects and colloquialisms as we are proud of from whence we hail and the things that make us unique.
As for those suggesting that Ms. O'Dea should have been deported or not been hired to teach at the college I am shocked that merely because she was the editor on one publication, intended for expatriates, who would be faced with interpreting the local dialect, that people are jumping on the negative bandwagon. I did a quick research of the woman online and she has edited many great publications that positively bring the BVI into the spotlight. As for her qualifications her profile shows she is more than qualified to teach English. She holds an MA and an MFA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University as well as a BA in English Literature from the University of Maryland. With over ten years' experience working in writing-related fields, she is prepared to tackle any project. I also noted her favorite activty is "picking up hitchhikers". For the BVI, aside from our dailect, the burden of no public transportaion and the need to hitchike is a local reality that even our schoolchildren partake in. Many of us have stood on the side of the road and been passed by. I think that Ms. O'Dea shows a great deal of her love for the country in enjoying picking up those trying to get from point A to point B, making their aquantances and enjoying their stories. We should be proud to have expatriates like her that are doing something good for the BVI. She promotes us, teaches us and lives amongst us. Now please, find something better to do than get all riled up over nothing.
Bet this ...... sleeping with a politician
Says it all really.
Was that written well enough for you Adam or would you have preferred it if i had used the word Good and not Well perhap the usage of the word badly disappoints you.
Kiss My VI Black A.. @Amen!!!!!
Seems like some people are more worried she might actually do a good job and some kids might learn something.
She has insulted locals and we must be able to express so. Shame on the college to be hiring such a person and rejecting your own!!
If you trying to write in English - FAIL!
If you trying to write in native Virgin Island language - FAIL.
The woman's name is Tracy, not Tricia.
'Insective'???? Unbelievable word. Maybe you're looking for the word 'invective', which you wouldn't use in the way you have that sentence set up.
You really think the woman going to come on here and argue against a half bake like you? She is educated and she is a good person. Not like most of all you who just want to hate her because she's white.
So the questions becomes, who wrote the magazine, it may surprise you all to know it was written by your own, go do the research and maybe you can throw that person/persons under the bus, the same way you all are content to roll the bus over this woman.
And you may fool yourselves about yourselves, which would indeed make you a fool but you cant fool everyone. Our people do speak like that and if you are going to be this sensitive about it, STOP DOING IT!
@ Interesting......Not
Yes we speak like that and we know it, and every Caribbean country has its twang “and I have made fun many times at how we drag our words, but it should be noted that we can change and change well enough to be understood, therefore the need for a how to /translation book is unnecessary. The Title of the book “you aint bahn here mehn son" speaks heavy in condescension which suggest a dislike for the culture and the people of the VI, the title could have been something else. Any one with some sense especially under the current climate "the local expats divide" would know it was a slap in the face of the VI people. White americans have a history of isolating behavior of other races and creating sterotypes in order to make fun of and demean "Black man loves his chicken and water melon" like they dont!
I would bet that it wasn't written by a VI Black person, and if it was that person should be strung up and dealt with even more severe than we would Miss O’Dea!!!!
No one likes to be made fun of and to be made fun of in that way shows a lack of respect and we had a right to react like we did. People suggest that VI people are soft, no we aren't we just don't like to show out too much in public!!!
People say that we aren't nice to expats; it’s like this when you in a man house act like you are a guest. White people on the Islands, we don’t' trust you "Enslavement, segregation, even though I think segregation was better for us, and then there is Greed, you blank white people don't want to share. you must live well while the darker people of the world struggle while hearing you say its because you are better!!!!
Imagine you come to my country and decide to isolate yourself with a big you aren't welcome sign (Sugglers Cove) , should be renamed white man's cove no negros allowed!!!!! and all the other spots that you have decide only whites you should live!!!!
@White migrant worker.
If you have spent any time interacting with Black People from the VI you would known that we are just like many of you. A few of us are bad but many more falls on the good side. However, in no way should you take us for fools and if you ever make that mistake you for sure will bring out the NASTY and VICIOUS in us. However,If you would like to see vicious and nasty read the blogs that were written by white folks commenting about black folks, go right ahead some of the most vile wicked things you can say about a human, but you feel justified don't you.
When ever the playing fields aren’t skewed in your favor we prove that you aren't any smarter , but I am pretty sure that observation flies over your head.
White folks you created this atmosphere with your GREED, SELFISHNESS and HATE. what should we do lay down and allow you to continue with your s..t!!!
Give me a break the jews reminds the world every time they can about the holocaust, I think we have a right to let you folks know that we aren't going to tolerate any crap no matter how small.
Y'all talk amongst yourself about us. we talk to, we talk about the efforts made by you to insure only white people live in certain area. We here the comments suggesting that if you are black and have wealth you must be a drug dealer, we hear those things. So Dont act like yall aren't NASTY and VICIOUS people!!!!!
Trust me, even the officers of the courts here on St. Thomas uses this website as an effective tool for information!
It just attests to the fact that many of those people who come to live among us for a short while , all of a sudden they are a consummate expert on Virgin Islander(British) dress, style, diet, vernacular and culture-in essence, our way of life. All of a sudden they must make money on our way of life while we must become spectators in the whole process.
How dare we Virgin Islanders(B) question O'Dea's motives on this book. How dare we!!!
We must not be naive to believe that this is not a serious offence to Virgin Islands(B) culture and way of life. All this parallels what we are seeing in the employment arena here. I've read many of the news mediums-paper and online-and just looking at an ad for employment by an expatriate company.....-not verbatim.."-must be able to communicate effectively..".
When we read these statements, we must not take them lightly.For, a black young man from America and a black young man from the Virgin Islands(B) applying for a job has no physical distinctions unless he really begins to speak!! Our vernacular clearly distinguishes us as Virgin Islanders(B) and we must always monitor those who tends to offend our way of speech.
We are already beginning to see the fallouts in the employment sector with their ads and their need for "effective communicative skills".
Trust me, they're not talking about effective writing skills!
There is no point in arguing with you race haters. You just want to make all white people into hate figures, just like racists do in Europe and the USA with black people or Native Americans or Pakistanis or North Africans. In those countries people who talk/write like you all are called rightwing racist nut cases. They don't use rational thought, they use emotional bullcr*p to make arguments that suit their own personal/cultural issues and they see everything through a racial lense. They are also very cruel to fellow human beings, but they seem not to care because they are so sure that the wickedness of these outsiders justifies any amount of cruelty. Many of the comments on here fit this classic racist mold exactly and that's a bitter irony.
I agree a few expats here might act racist sometimes, but the majority by a long way don't have any kind of race-based agenda. If you object to them trying to live like they want to - ie having things they would have in the US or wherever, and spending time with people they feel comfortable with for cultural reasons - then you object to the concept of people living 'free' and you are saying that in the BVI people cannot be free to live how they want, within the law. In the USA people can, and of course immigrant communities there stick together and gradually over time these groups make up the fabric of the bigger culture as it evolves. West Indian immigrants in New York don't hang around together? Italians? Puerto Ricans? Japanese in San Fran? All these groups make the place richer for the diversity they bring.
So what are these people poor naieve white people supposed to do here in the BVI? Pretend they not from Europe/USA? Learn Tortolian ways and only mingle with local people, many of whom who apparently hate them before they know them? Should they pretend they aren't white and darken their skin? Or maybe you would prefer them to wear KKK face masks all the time at their expat places of work, or be forced to get a tattoo on their forehead saying "I AM EVIL AND WANT TO OPPRESS PEOPLE WITH DARKER SKIN THAN ME"?
You shouting and screaming blue murder at people who don't understand what the heck they've done wrong. But hey, call someone a racist and if that's what you want them to be, you all will never be convinced they aren't because you're looking at them through a lens that doesn't allow for anything else. This woman was actually trying to help outsiders get through the difficulty of moving to a country where everything seems strange when they first arrive. As expats themselves, but with some experience of life here, it's obvious that they would be the people to write such a book because they should understand both sides of the fence.
Clearly they didn't understand well enough that almost anything they do as white expats will be taken as an affront to so many local people. They didn't know they never stood a chance from the beginning because so many of you define them as bad people, whatever they are in reality.
You keep framing everything in this way and accusing innocent people of wickedness if it somehow makes you feel better. But one thing I know, it isn't helping the BVI one little bit.
For one - anyone anywhere can be racist because racism is simply prejudice against another on the basis of skin color. Chinese can be racist against Indian, black african can be racist against arab african, black person can be racist against white person. That's just a fact.
I know you and the likes of you don't like facts because they get in the way of your victim agenda, but so what. Deal with the reality and not dream up some kind of 'rule' that "blacks in the bvi cannot be racist". You making sh*t up, that's all you doing.
Black people here don't have no power? You don't think Doc Orlando have any say on what happens here? Or Picko? Or Ralph when he is in government? You seriously saying black people in the BVI are so weak and incapable that they can't affect what happens in the BVI? Have some damn pride in our people. You want to paint a picture of everybody who black being all weak and walk over by others, but that's not whats happening. Plenty BVIslanders are changing their world and changing ours. It's just a state of mind.
And don't even stop there. What about any time a BVIlsander go into Labour, Planning or other government office? You think they can't get anything done? Of course they can - we can get anything we want done because we know all the people who work in civil service, so we know how to make things happen. Expats and outsiders got to wait and wait, got be told to come back another day, got to be told the file get lost and no one can help them, got to be mock and laughed at by the staff because they ain one a we. And you saying you can't get anywhere in life when all the systems are lined up in your favour with your friends relatives behind every decision making desk?
Sounds like you better get your act together. Maybe stop spend so much time dreaming up reasons you so weak, and find ways to use the strength you have but can't see.
And by the way, read another book. There is more than just slavery and oppression in Caribbean history. If you want to stop there and call yourself smart, that's just foolish. If you read anything and everything you'll grow your mind - not just books that tell you you're oppressed and weak.
Read our comments above and explain how in the heck you can decide who is a racist and who is not.
You feel powerless? Well then you just less.
BVIslanders have opportunity like crazy and all you can do is cry that locals are weak and soft and can't get anywhere in our own damn country?
Have some pride. Have some gumption. Stop faking your own oppression just so you can go round talking like the Klu Klux Klan.