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The one and only Miss Lou:
True and still unspoilt icon
Published August 3, 2003
By Ian Boyne
J
AMAICA NEEDS a Second
Emancipation. May the pres-
ence of our pre-eminent folklor-
ist and First Lady of Culture, Dr.
the Hon Louise Bennett-Coverley,
heighten the process toward that
end.
I cried on Tuesday as I watched
the arrival of that indomitable spirit
clothed in flesh; that quintessential
Jamaican; that representation of the
finest in our culture, the pinnacle
of Jamaicanness; the fulcrum of
decency and civility; that indescrib-
able treasure whom we know simply
as Miss Lou. I cannot be detached,
emotionally uninvolved and purely
Aristotelian in the presence of Miss
Lou. In her presence - as potent
through the electronic media as face
to face - all the trappings of my
’objective’Western philosophical
influences melt away under the pas-
sionate heat of my ancestral roots.
For those of us who knew a
Jamaica different from today’s Ja-
maica, Miss Lou represents a bridge