... Papa's pride in the progeny ...

... this June carries with it a preoccupation with football ... for a growing number of us the quadrennial World Cup has the power to obliterate other concerns and commemorations ... for me, mid-June dates also prompt thoughts on fatherhood ... Father's Day falling, as it does, on or around my dad's birthday of June 19th ...

... the late Doctor, seen here c.1972 if memory serves me, surveying the kingdom of San Francisco, had journeyed there from Jamaica to be inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (F.A.C.S.) ... four more letters to add to the M.D., F.R.C.S. ... all of which featured on letterhead, and in bronze on his office-door at Spanish Town Hospital ...












... he lived long enough to experience grandfatherhood through me and narrowly missed the birth of my twin nephews, but ... the old man survives in memory and photographs as we fast-forward through next generations, where it is left to his progeny, my brother and I, to buck trends of errant fatherhood in raising our own children ...















... we've all heard the platitude "they grow up so fast," - more a measure of our unceasing wonderment at creation of life and lives, than any exponential increase in physicality and size ... still, it's probably true that today's wired world thrusts wider variety of adult behaviour on ever younger people ...

... anyhow ... grow up they do and adults they become ... as parents it's hard not to feel pride and joy when children emerge through developmental stages or achieve something they've put effort into ... this year, Father's Day found me counting extra blessings for I was now a positively proud Papa to a bonafide University Grad. ... I conspired to attend the ceremony, happily capturing images from my seat in the wings of the crowded Toronto auditorium ...















... watching kid number one ... it seemed only a short while ago she was reading Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein ... now she was holding a Bachelor's degree in Journalism ... the latest achievement in a life that has consistently lived up to promise ... my pride in her must have bolstered her own pride in herself , strengthening self-esteem - a crucial requirement for dealing with future challenges, over which I'm certain she'll prevail ...














... kid number one-too ... calling him number two is not an option (wink) ... only sixteen months her junior, is also a source of Papa-pride ... with a different flava ... he's taken to rapping alongside a seventies-style rock band in Vancouver ... handling covers and original rhymes with a flair to make this musically keen Dad proud and slightly jealous ... y'see, every actor is a wannabe musician, in the same way so many singers seem to want movie careers ...














... his rude-boy rap, wisely minimising cliche and nodding consciously toward graffiti-ganja culture is spiced mildly with a ragga-reggae vibe in homage to his Van-sterdam/Jamaican roots ... old-school lyrical flow melds creatively with cool-classic rock runs provided by his band of talented homies, and it all comes together nicely in concert ... seen 'em gig twice now and swell with pride looking at the pics I took ... that he still persists at the day-job doubles my respect ... hey, it's a Dad's prerogative ...














... they're grown now yet they'll always be my kids ... the ones who ultimately taught me the truth behind some of my father's more curmudgeonly pronouncements, particularly the common admonishment "wait 'til you have kids of your own"... loosely interpreted, and giving the benefit of doubt, he could have simply meant "fatherhood is one helluva ride" ...

... the eight year old step-daughter I'm helping to raise now asked for a second helping of broccoli tonight ... I felt that familiar approving pride ... here we go again, aren't kids supposed to gag on the greens? ...

... I guess it's all relative ... pun intended ...

... age quod agis ...

... well, check it out ... time marches on and some things are secrets no more ... other things have evolved from suspicion to belief and even though health-care reform has come to America, first-time occurrences are fewer and farther between ... it's just the way of the world ... yet, game-changing moments still happen, like the election of Barack Obama into the U.S. old boy's club for instance, or this summer's World Cup on African soil for the first time which will stamp its mark on the game of football ...

... so too the Usain Bolt athletic breakthroughs of the last few years ... about which we will marvel for a long time ... Bolt has put Jamaica's love for track-and-field into the brightest spotlight yet ... Trelawny yellow yam, dumplings and country-cooking notwithstanding, most of us know that school-age competition in Jamaica is the most crucial element in the formula for success ... and not doping ... a regrettable component of the sport but less so in Jamaica where professional running retains the ingrained youthful passion of high-school euphoria ...

... in each of the last one hundred years a high-school track and field summit has convened in Kingston ... it's known simply as "Champs", where hype and bluster can rival a hot stage-show or political rally ... the inaugural event was held in 1910 and Wolmer's Boys' School became the first victors ...

... last week Saturday saw the conclusion of Champs 100, the grand centennial! ... a round number for a more-coveted-than-usual slot in the history books ... with heroics aplenty, Wolmer's snapped a fifty-four year winless streak to establish current bragging rights ...

... "age quod agis" reads the inevitable latin school motto emblazoned on the official crest ... it translates to motivate students as "whatever you do, do it well" ...

... props to Bretski for the cris' commemorative artwork ...

... proudly represented by the colours maroon and gold, Wolmer's is a venerable institution ... the oldest high-school in the Caribbean, in fact ... it has served up a roll call of stellar past-students from former Governor General Sir Florizel Glasspole and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga to sporting greats (Jeff Dujon, Ricardo "Bibi" Gardner) and entertainment stars (Belafonte, Sean Paul) ...

... for this history-rich school the latest triumph ranks alongside the 1971 triple-winning footballers who swept all before them ... immortalising themselves in time ... and in the imaginations of all such as I who bore witness ...














... Wolmer's cannot claim Bolt as an alumnus ... but Julian Forte and Dwayne Extol made names for themselves last week in the cauldron of competition ... the Jamaican sprint factory is in full production, the secret is out, Jamaicans run faaas' ...















... wins such as these are inspirational to young minds and mi glad bag bus' to the pulse of Wolmerian pride, home an' abroad ... like me, most readers here weren't born when Wolmer's last won Champs in 1956 ... and during the years I attended, '69-'75 if you must know, the victories didn't come in bunches ...














... both my parents went to Wolmer's, my mother having been schooled on the female side of the actual fence ... my father, the late Dr. John L. Williams, served in the early seventies as President of the Wolmer's Old Boy's Association ... as a student he was said to have been a wily footballer halted only by knee injury and he led a strong Wolmer's Cricket side as skipper ... my thoughts went to him as I know he would have felt his chest fill up and his head swell like the rest of us ...












... it is fairly safe to say the good doctor would not have phrased it quite this way but I can't resist ... ... Wolmaz mi seh!!