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July 28, 2005

Hello guys, I am writing to you from a very sunny and very hot South Florida. Miami is blazing hot. I don't remember it ever being this hot. I'm talking the kind of hot where you see (steam) mirages like your in the desert (just kidding, but not by much). The weather report actually said it was 96 degrees over on the beach a few days ago when I was over there.

Had a little flashback to my childhood recently. Dad was the babysitter. During summer vacation, in the mornings at 9AM, it was oatmeal, tea and Donahue. I was the only 4 year old watching Donahue. We'd also watch shows like Welcome Back Kotter, All In The Family (dad loved that show), The Jefferson's and if available, reruns of Maude. Whenever a man said something really out of line or sexist to a woman, my dad would joke, the guy needed a woman like Maude Findlay to put him in his place. I saw a bit of a Maude rerun again a couple years ago and Maude really was a tough broad.

Some days we'd go to the beach in the afternoon or play tennis. My tennis career voluntarily began and ended at age 4 (sorry, it was just too hot outside). My dad taught me how to swim when I was 4. Then he asked his friend, an international swimmer named Kaye Nash, to give me a few tips/lessons. I learned to swim at a beach called Brookspen. The water and the sand were black with some serious waves.

I preferred the tourist beach called Hellshire (the water at Helllshire was a clear blue. Its one of the prettiest beaches in the world), but my dad didn't. Said it was overcrowded (and it was).

My dad preferred Brookspen because there were less crowds. However, when the water really got rough, schools of fish would come right to the shoreline haha. It was so strange to me. They'd be swimming around you (Hey, better them than Jaws, right). I used to have goggles that I'd use to collect seashells. Where those seashells are now, is anyone's guess.

I used to go with my dad to this place out by the sea where you could buy seafood. I'd never seen anything like that before in my life. There were lobster and crab just walking around on the shoreline where the fishermen were (little did they know they were about to become dinner for many. Yes, the circle of life is very cruel LOL).

Though I was born in the city (Kingston) my favorite place in Jamaica is St. Ann. My mom's friend owned a huge farm there and it was beautiful. I loved that place. She kept several brown horses and I would watch them gallop. The house was an old English style colonial house. In the morning I'd climb up in this high window in the room and look out on the sun rising over the dew covered mountains. It was really pretty.

SITE UPDATES

I've added three new film reviews this month. On the 7th I added "She Got Game" and "Beyond The Glory (Pete Sampras)." Today I've added a review for the funny DVD "Meet The Browns." To read them please visit the Sound Off Column's movie review section by clicking here. There's also a new SOUND OFF COLUMN article online. To read it please click here.

THE ARTIST OF THE WEEK

The artist of the week is the talented Jadon Lavik. His debut album is titled "Moving On Faith." To visit his web site please click here.