On September 2nd, 1940 the US started to trade island leases for destroyers with the UK during WW II. The leases were for 99 years and were a type of eminent domain on islands like Antigua. 50 officers and US Marines arrived within 3 months and construction began.1
As a side note - in all of my readings of books on every nation in the world, in my subjective/relative opinion, I believe that the two most prevalent (for better or worse) organizations mentioned throughout modern history and throughout the modern world have been the Jesuits and the US Marines. That may be a very justified run-on sentence.
China is also funding projects to help islanders in Antigua and Barbuda rebuild after Hurricane Irma.2
In 2009, the economy suffered after one of the country’s largest investors, U.S. financier Robert Allen Stanford, was arrested and charged with fraud; in 2012 a Texas court found him guilty of having run a Ponzi scheme from his offshore bank on Antigua.3
Antigua based artist Naydene Gonnella – featured in an article in MACO magazine by Diana Loxley – Her beautiful innocent animals as she calls them, displayed to the left make for a striking juxtaposition opposite the tortured souls on the right of Kurt Cobain, Marilyn and Elvis. Somewhere in the middle – is Naydene. I have my tormented and my tranquil side, she imparts. Sometimes there’s a craziness going on in my head and I spend a lot of energy trying to cover that up.
The calm seascapes are the other side of me; they’ve been coming up a lot more. Painting these beautiful, innocent creatures helps me; they are just happy doing their thing. I realized I’d better get happy doing my thing, she says smiling.
Tragic faces really appeal to me. It’s the eyes that tell the story. It is indeed the eyes that exquisitely encapsulate the essence of each person.4
+ These expansive points of reference are intended to enhance neuroplasticity, positive thinking, empathy and situational awareness – to supplement the mainstream with some upstream.
