By the Panamanian calendar, the holiday season has been with us since the patriotic celebrations began in early November. For this country’s Muslims and Jews, Ramadan and Chanukah have come and gone, as has Panamanian Mothers’ Day, which this country celebrates on the Catholic Day of the Immaculate Conception. But the most important holy day for our Christian majority is at hand. The photo above was taken at Panama City’s recent Christmas parade.
Then there will be the secular New Year’s observances, with the multinational phenomena of parties and attendant highway hazards, and a couple of peculiarly Panamanian twists.
Take a drive down the Pan-American Highway through Panama Oeste between Christmas and New Year and notice the effigies --- muñecos --- on display in people’s front yards. These will go up in the flames of New Year’s bonfires, but while they last they will be an interesting little indicator of the people who occupy center stage in Panama’s collective cultural mind at this point in time. I would imagine a few homages to politicians in power, and a few parodies of former politicians in prison stripes, or in headlong flight with suitcases full of cash. Maybe there will be more muñecos of George W. Bush than of Osama bin Laden this year. Telenovelas and folklore usually provide some of the characters. (See some of our muñeco pictures from years past on these pages, bearing in mind that to get back to this issue you will have to use the return button on your browser rather than the links on those pages, which will just get you to other pages on those archived issues.)
The New Year’s Eve drinking is not for me, but I do like the traditional Panamanian New Year’s Day afternoon meal of sancocho and tamales.
Are you reading this in cold northerly climes, pining for sunny Panama? You will be able to at least find the appropriate recipes for the occasion by pressing the Panamanian cuisine button on the dining page and following the links until you get to where you want to go. It has been more than a decade since I have shopped for food in the United States, but I would imagine that in your search for sancocho ingredients the hardest thing to find will be culantro. Cilantro will have to suffice as a substitute if that’s all you can find, but the stronger culantro leaves, which look somewhat like dandelion greens, are what you really want.
(And speaking of the buttons, I’m asking for your opinions about a possible change, part of this website’s ongoing slow-motion makeover. On some of the pages in this issue, the links buttons have been moved from the usual place near the top of the page down to the bottom. The issues are these: first, all of the demographic information we have been able to gather about you, the readers, suggests that most are over 40 years of age and many are retired --- and thus the preference for larger type and bigger buttons, which are easier on those of us with failing eyesight and arthritic mouse hands; but second, the arrays of big clunky buttons on the top can distract from the stories that people come to read, and take up space where we might sell advertising banners. So I would like to hear from you, the reader. Do you prefer the links buttons at the top of the page, or at the bottom? This issue has examples of both, so that you might do some “comparison shopping” by comparing both styles.)
December of 2004 hath five Fridays, which by our twice a month (rather than every two weeks) publication schedule means a three-week interval between the appearance of this issue and the uploading of the following one. Thus for the next issue, I will be hard at work on the most somber of Panama’s national holidays, the January 9 Day of the Martyrs, and if all goes well you will be able to read that issue on that evening.
By chance, and a mixture of accident and design, this is a bit more artsy of an issue than The Panama News usually is.
There is the sad news that renowned Panamanian jazz pianist Victor Boa passed away after a long and productive life. But Roberto Gyemant’s obituary of and interview with Boa celebrate a worthy life far more than they mourn its end. Understand that the West Indian community is a major component of Panama’s larger English-speaking community (and The Panama News readership), and that Victor Everton McRae (Victor Boa) was one of its most outstanding talents.
In January Panama City will have its second annual jazz festival, one day of which had been planned to feature and honor Victor Boa. I am sure that the festival’s main man Danilo Pérez, who says that Boa was one of his important influences, will come up with a fitting homage to the late great maestro.
We also note an upcoming milestone for the Panamanian dance scene, wherein ballerina/choreographer Milvia Martínez and her Cabanga contemporary dance montage will be heading to Chile to represent this region in the Southern Cone Scenic Arts Fair, after a January 13 warmup performance at INAC’s Teatro Anita Villalaz.
We also take another little step in this website’s makeover by including in our fun section a poem by “Diego Santiago,” the pen name of a man who grew up as an army brat on the Atlantic side and is now retired and living in the Panama City metro area. From now on, The Panama News will be publishing poetry and fiction in the fun section.
Then there’s an article by Luis Menéndez, which might have been posted under the headings of arts or fun, but ended up in the outdoors section. It’s about the art, science and joy of bonsai gardening in a tropical context.
True, the subject matter of news, business, opinion and letters sections is often not pleasant. The Panama News reports the news. Even when it’s bad. Even when, as was the case this past issue, it prompts people to call me a liar, accuse me of trying to destroy the Panamanian economy, threaten me with legal action or demand that I reveal confidential sources. You can see some of the fallout in this issue’s letters section.
But I publish a serious newspaper and thus there are certain suggestions that I don’t take seriously. “If you were like The Visitor you’d be selling more ads.” (Probably so, but The Visitor mainly just plugs its advertisers and doesn’t report the news about Panama.) “If you toned down the politics in your opinion section people would take you more seriously.” (So go back to Fox News.) “You’re not a real journalist because you don’t have a degree in journalism from the University of Panama and your background is with the alternative rather than the corporate media.” (So if they’re so superior, why haven’t University of Panama grads or American corporate types run me off the field these past 10 years?) “People want to read gossip about celebrities.” (Some people may.)
The bottom line is that I won’t dumb down or tone down or back down because I believe that there are readers more interested in the news about Panama than the hype about Panama, who appreciate intelligent discussion about the issues that affect our country, our region and the world, and who turn to The Panama News precisely because the corporate mainstream has made business decisions to not provide them with coverage of the things that interest them.
Which is not to say that there is no room for improvement. Mistakes are sometimes made, and conscientious measures are taken to correct them. Economics often get in the way, but I’m always looking to broaden this newspaper’s focus, expand its coverage and include ideas other than my own. This may be too much of a one-man show, but it’s a community newspaper, which you can improve by your contributions.
And I hope that my efforts, and those of The Panama News contributors, leave you better informed and a bit more uplifted than you might otherwise have been this holiday season.
Felíz Navidad, Un Año Nuevo Próspero and good tidings to all!
Enjoy.
