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A taste of the Caribbean in St. Petersburg

 

By Lilia Iotzova

 

 

You don’t have to travel to Jamaica to savor the taste of authentic Caribbean food.  You can get it right in town at Jamaican Spice Cuisine owned by Ola and Washford Miller.

 

Three years ago, Washford, originally from Jamaica, and Ola, from St. Petersburg, decided to pursue Washford’s dream to become a chef at his own restaurant.  The couple took a loan and got a store. 

 

The Jamaican Spice Cuisine is located on 3095 22nd Ave South in St. Petersburg.  From Wednesday through Sunday, the store offers take-home meals for $7 or $8.

 

Washford, who’s not a cook who uses measurements, as Ola describes him, prepares the food following family recipes passed on to him from generation to generation.

 

One of his specialties is fish escabish, prepared by using bell peppers, garlic, onions and aromatic spices. 

 

Of course, there is jerked chicken, but other meals might be unfamiliar to Americans, such as ox tail and cow foot.  Both are marinated and stewed at low temperature, Ola said.

 

All meals come with a side of rice and beans or dumpling, which Jamaicans call “hard food,” because it’s filling.  “Dumpling is like a wet biscuit,” Ola said.  It’s made out of yellow and white yam, both from the potato family, as well as green bananas and flour.

 

Ola says her husband generously uses Jamaican spices, mixing some together to produce an exclusive pungent taste to all his dishes.

 

Jamaicans love spice food, so the Millers carry all kinds of imported foods and beverages, real brown sugar, and fruits and vegetables. 

 

A wall in the shop is “dressed up” in packaged spices from Jamaica.  One of the shop’s most unusual spices is ising glass, which is clear in color and looks like strips of thin rope.

 

The spice is used in one of Jamaica’s national milkshake, which people call “Irish Mash.”  They beat down chocolate, add ising glass and gum Arabic and boil it.  Then, they strain the substance and add sugar and milk.

 

The Jamaican Spice Cuisine also carries sugarcane and carrot juices, depending on the season.

 

The Millers try to promote a cozy and friendly atmosphere for all.  “I think we are a step ahead, not to brag, because we care,” Ola said.

 

Every morning Ola finds a quote that she puts on the menu board.  It’s usually a connection between her conversations with customers, her experiences and moods.  Friday’s quote was “People that love us, teach us.”

 

The Millers have a lot of dreams in connection to the Jamaican Spice Cuisine.  They wish to expand their business in the future.  No matter what happens, they’ll always try to keep a friendly smile and a welcoming feeling for their customers.

 

 

 

To be or not to be, is really the question

 

By Lilia Iotzova

 

 

The 5^th grade boys’ and the 5^th grade girls’ classrooms at Melrose Elementary School are like two different worlds although though they are across the hall from eachother. 

 

These two classes are part of Melrose single-sex classroom program which started in Aug. 2006.

 

The idea came from two teachers at the school, Debbie McDonald and Erna Highsmith, who were trying to battle the constant flirting and fighting between their students.

 

By separating them into groups, McDonald and Hysman thought the battle and the competition that was rising will stop.

 

There are two teachers who have taken over the boys’ and girls’ classrooms, Ms. Espro, who teaches science and math, and Mr. Keith, who teaches reading and writing.

 

At PE and lunch, the two groups could enjoy each other’s company.

 

So far, there are no complains from parents or students, and today’s 5^th grade class seems to feel comfortable being separated.

 

Although the behavior of the scholars is getting better, their learning performance is not improving much.

 

Espro sees the girls becoming more outgoing and friendly to eachother.  They work better in groups and have solved previous problems they had with one another.

 

On the other side, the boys have always been quite competitive according to Ketih and Espro.  In their classes, it’s harder to divide them into teams.  Most of the times they stay focused only at the beginning, so they have to change assignments quickly.

 

Both, Keith and Espro use what they call “boy-friendly” and “girl-friendly” teaching methods.

 

In the boys’ reading class, Keith was using books and examples, which seem to attract males.  For instance, his lessons included cars and sports, compare to Espro’s girls’ class across the hall.

 

Espro was teaching math.  She carefully explained to the young ladies how to write checks and keep their finances in a good shape.  They all watched with great interest.

 

From what they’ve seen so far, Keith and Espro believe the program could only help the actions of the students without hurting them.

 

The only factor that concerns the school is that the test scores haven’t risen all that much.  While the girls’ fluency and reading tests have improved, the boys’ mostly stay at the same level.  “It really has benefited the girls more than the boys,” said Keith.

 

Both, Keith and Espro believe it’s due to the attitude of the boys and that continuous competitiveness that doesn’t allow them to go beyond this barrier.

 

As far as how the single-sex class room will impact the children when they move to middle school, Keith said, “I think a lot of adults have this misconception about kids, they can’t handle change.  Kids can handle change better than a lot of adults.”

 

Taking in consideration all these facts, the school hasn’t made a decision yet whether they’ll continue the single-sex classrooms next school year. 

 

Espro and Keith have mixed feelings.  They see pros and cons.  Whatever the choice is, they hope it will be for the best of the kids at Melrose. 

 

 

Floridians still confused about Amendment 2

By Lilia Iotzova

 

Eight more days until Floridians decide on Amendment 2, and yet many are still unfamiliar with what it proposes.

 

Amendment 2, also known as the Marriage Protection Amendment is a proposed amendment, which bans same sex marriages.  In order to be passed, the amendment will need 60 percent support form citizens.

 

“In as much as a marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”  This is what the ballot title for the initiative looks like, which causes a lot of controversies.

 

Opponents of Amendment 2 say that vital benefits such as hospital visits could be taken away from domestic partnership couples if the amendment is approved. 

 

Beth Fountain, a lawyer and field organizer at the Tampa Bay Fairness for All Families coalition, says that they can not predict with certainty that all benefits will be stripped from citizens, but many other states, which approved this amendment, such as Michigan and Kentucky, repealed the domestic partnership protections.

 

Lesley Steel, press secretary for Yes2Marriage campaign, said that their main goal is to strengthen marriage and its definition, because Florida families are in need of it.

 

“This amendment is not about benefits and taking benefits away.  This amendment is about one thing, and one thing only, and that’s to define marriage between one man and one woman,” said Steel.

 

Since the funding of this amendment came from the Florida Republican Party, opponents of Amendment 2, such as the Florida Red and Blue campaign and the Fairness for All Families Coalition are positive that the Republican Party is using the amendment to gain more voters.

 

“One of their techniques is to get a controversial amendment or some sort of initiative on the state wide ballot to motivate conservative, religious folks to get out and vote,” said Fountain.

 

In order to prevent that, Fountain said they use different ways to inform citizens of the consequences that might follow in case the amendment is approved.  She said they go to different voting poles and trying to inform residents who might not understand the amendment. 

 

Some Floridians, such as John Smith, a senior citizen of St. Petersburg, said he had little understanding of what Amendment 2 is proposing, but got educated through a neighbor who has a campaign sign in his yard stating “Vote No on 2.”

 

“I support marriage, and understand how important it is, but I don’t support Amendment 2, said Smith.”