Spencer, a well known producer, writer, actor, teacher, and Persad, an actress, director, producer, storyteller, drama teacher and voice over actress for radio and television, spoke with Sunday Newsday about their collaboration, Tales from the Forest.

Persad recalled accompanying a friend to visit local publisher Nigel R. Khan about a book the friend was publishing.

Persad, who had been doing storytelling for years and was an author as well, asked Khan if he would be interested in publishing children’s stories. Khan said he was specifically interested in folk tales as a means of promoting local culture, something that Spencer appreciated.

In May last year Persad asked Spencer if she would be interested in collaborating on a book, and Spencer, who has been doing folk tales for drama and writing scenes for years, agreed. Khan had asked for six stories and they chose tales about the La Diablese, the socouyant, the douen, Papa Bois, the river protector Mama Dlo, and a play featuring various characters — all of which they believe could help children to distinguish between good and evil.

Spencer and Persad met over a two month period to discuss and reviewed notes before submitting the book, which was then reviewed and edited by Queen Bishop’s Publishing. During the approval stages, the authors had various meetings with Christopher Quammie to get the illustrations done. Once editing was done to two of the stories, they went to the recording studio to do the voice overs for the audio CD that comes with the book.

Persad lamented that children were not reading or writing anymore and preferred playing video games and chatting on social media.

“The stories died, the culture died,” Spencer said, putting some of the blame on the American media. Spencer and Persad have high hopes for their work. “I hope somebody likes (Tales from the Forest) and makes it into a film,” Spencer said, suggesting that the characters could feature on a Saturday show and children could get to see them. She said so many children do not know the culture and this will help them to understand where their parents and grandparents came from.

She recalled her own mother telling a story of an uncle who allegedly received a “twist mouth” from a La Diablese. She explained that because of these folk tales she had the “fear of God” about going out at night, and just the thought that douens were children who were not yet baptised when they died gave her a respect for religion.

Spencer said they hoped to continue doing stories on folklore characters and introduce new ones that need to be highlighted. She also plans to adapt Carnival characters such as the Midnight Robber and the Pierrot Grenade.

“Let Trinidad know we have a history.” Persad said when writing for children you cannot bore them with too much information. Tales from the Forest’s intended audience is for ages eight and up and for “whoever could read”. Spencer said Newtown Girls RC school had purchased more than 25 copies and she has received good feedback from friends. “We hardly have these stories any more. This book awakened interest (in folk tales),” she added.

Persad expressed hope that children would get interested in the characters and write their own stories. She said her own 17-year-old daughter, who prefers Math over reading, sat and read the book and asked questions after.

The book was launched on March 23 at the Falls at West Mall, with actors Nikki Crosby, Raymond Choo Kong, Richard Ragoobarsingh and Cecilia Salazar doing dramatic readings directed by Debra Boucaud-Mason.

Spencer and Persad plan to do a school tour and do readings to market the book.

They also plan to do a book signing in south and in Tobago.

The book, published by Queen Bishop Publishing/ Nigel R. Khan & Kerry Ann Bishop is available exclusively at Nigel R. Khan and also on Amazon.

A lifelong resident of San Fernando, she says she has always loved to learn, “but I felt early on that there was more to be learnt outside of a classroom setting,” she adds, which explains her current artistic expression through onstage acting.

Last weekend, Kala starred in the Bagasse Company’s Dan the Travelling Man, “a relatable tale of an unfaithful man who spreads himself too thin and is unable to keep up with his lies,” according to Kala. She credits the play’s writer, Christine Johnston, as portraying a beautiful representation of Caribbean women in the play, with each female character coming from differing ethnic backgrounds, socioeconomic classes, and a wide range of personalities with plenty Caribbean zest.

Kala played Savitri, the Guyanese beti: saucy, bright, bubbly, na?ve, and loveable. “Savi and I are worlds apart in some ways,” Kala acknowledges, and continues, “She’s increased my understanding of how wants and needs and dreams can vary based on a person’s socioeconomic background.”

She says all actresses, including local talent such as Cecelia Salazar and

Llettesha Sylvester who starred in the gospel musical, Mahalia, “find the heroic qualities in the women we portray – because heroic qualities exist in all women – and we highlight these onstage.” However, she notes that most female characters are not glaringly powerful, or very rarely portrayed as such.

“I also feel like female characters are almost always sexualised in some way; I say this with the full admission that I sometimes post my ‘sexiest’ pictures on social media when promoting a play,” Kala shares, acknowledging the internalised pressure to engage in “sex sells” tactics.

“Should the content of theatre include less sexualised, stronger female characters? Absolutely. Will audiences come out in droves to see such work? I am not certain but it is my hope,” she says of more relatable leading roles for women being imagined.

For Kala, every feeling, conversation, and observation is inspiration for her artistic process. She is “all about feeling my feelings” and reflects on advice she has received from fellow actors, to take every intense emotion experienced and store it for a character someday. Her inspiration also comes from seeing local talent onstage, including Raymond Choo Kong’s “brilliant comedic timing” and Penelope Spencer’s dance at the end of Mary Could Dance, which she says is one of the most moving experiences she’s ever had in theatre. She believes all art is cathartic, and a surefire way for your mind and spirit to blossom.

She is a newcomer to the theatre scene, only having made her debut two years ago, and knows there is a lot more growing and learning to do. The thought of taking up more challenging roles makes her nervous as she is still building up her confidence as an actor and admits that the fear of looking bad in front of audiences and other actors stunts her performance sometimes. “I say this to everyone and myself: take the leap, wholeheartedly, because you’re better than you think you are,” she renounces against self-doubt.

Academically, Kala’s background lies in psychology and criminology, which she studied at the UWI, St. Augustine. She was fascinated with theories of the mind and behaviour since primary school, and says it’s telling that her favourite movie growing up was Silence of the Lambs. Studying psychology in secondary school helped her see the line of study as a potential way to help others and engage in mental self-care.

“Caring for your emotional and mental state is essential,” she implores, revealing that she has had her own struggles in this vein, even to this day. “I believe every person would benefit from some form of counselling at some point in their lives,” she comments on TT’s aversion to discussions surrounding mental wellness and seeking professional treatment and help with emotional wellbeing. As for a career in the field, she would like to be a social worker, representing children, displaced people, or people seeking rehabilitation treatments.

“In the meantime, acting’s keeping me pretty busy and I’d like to think that I’m helping people in a different way by being on stage. Dan is the third comedy I’ve been in and I pray before every show that I lighten the burdens of the audience members, if only for a short while.”

Kala is open about her own personal struggles and growth. She says, “Right now, I’m in the process of facing myself. I’ve found some ugly things, but I rather be ugly than continue to lie to myself.” She understands that her fears of change and finding her purpose have held her back from “taking the leap”, but through honest conversations with self, she hopes to understand herself more. “I think if you work on having an honest relationship with yourself, you start to rid yourself of biases, not only on personal issues but societal issues as well,” she adds about her own journey of truly seeing the world around her.

Her flaws leave room for personal growth, she voices, admitting that she is “riddled with flaws”. “Addressing flaws can be an introspective adventure, treacherous at times but the work is worth it.”

Even in her description of self, she says her experiences have led her to become the woman she is: a woman who works at understanding her vices and limitations, a woman who feels deeply and tries to embrace both the wonderful and tragic aspects of life, a woman who lives her life in service of others.

“I make no apologies for where I’m at in life; it’s necessary work,” she says of the mirror she often holds up to examine her own reflection. “We should all take the time to discover ourselves; allow yourself to be alone sometimes; be sad, be blissful, go see a play, be gentle with yourself and others, try the thing you’re afraid of, stand up for yourself, take walks by yourself, or take an acting class

(trust me!).”

Jennifer says the Conec brand is unique because of its holistic and embracing approach when dealing with clients while specialising in the critical aspects of their lives.

“As a life coach, I offer specialised services in the areas I have the skills, experience, and training in,” she says of her personal accolades, highlighting that her areas of expertise are _ nancial planning/money management, personal and professional development, retirement or transition, sales and client relationship, energy leadership, and women’s empowerment.

Prior to becoming a certi_ ed life coach, Jennifer was a senior sales manager at a leading insurance company. It was in this post, while advising clients on _ nancial matters, that she found herself also helping plan other aspects of their families’ lives. It was her years of experience in management, training, and supervising agents that helped her gain a greater appreciation for the struggles many citizens go through and the negative effects poor money management can have on qualities of life.

“I decided then to move into a different career where I can use a more holistic approach, utilising my experience and skills to focus on helping people and families realise their dreams,” she says of her shift from working behind a desk to a more hands-on career. Five years ago, she took early retirement from the insurance industry and pursued an international life coaching programme to become certi_ ed professionally. She is also a certi_ ed _ nancial planner and has academic accolades in Mass Media & Communications and Sales & Marketing Management, all of which helps her interface with her clients. She has also attended several developmental courses, seminars, and conventions both locally and internationally over the years and says she is constantly reading, listening, or writing motivational materials to keep up with current practices.

And while she has many academic credentials, Jennifer does not believe that academia and formal training are the only paths to her clients’ successes. “The role of a life coach is to help the client move from where they are in life to where they want to go,” she clari_ es. “It’s really all about the client’s agenda.” She points out that academic education and training may not be necessary for someone to achieve a particular goal or pursuit, as these can be achieved through natural talents or skills, faith in themselves, a clear and passionate vision, and determination to succeed.

One year ago after she gave up her office space and constructed a home office, Jennifer completed work on The Whole You Oasis, a breathtaking, intimate, and welcoming outdoor space at her home. The oasis is surrounded by plants, trees, wildlife, and water; elements that she says create a relaxing atmosphere for people to escape life’s rigors, get new insights, rejuvenate, re-strategise, and even meet with friends for celebratory gatherings.

“As a life coach, I wanted clients to be coached in a relaxing and empowering atmosphere surrounded by nature, as against an office space surrounded by concrete,” she says of her reasoning for creating The Whole You Oasis.

She adds that research has shown that close proximity to nature contributes to one’s wellbeing; it may reduce feelings of anger, fear, and stress and is thus associated with positive mood and vitality. “At The Whole You Oasis, we do not only offer coaching services but inspirational and informative forums, fun events, and a space that clients can use for celebrations.” One such event took place last Wednesday. Ignite the Spark in You was an inspirational brunch for women aged 60 onward. “I am very passionate about women’s issues and as a result, from inception Conec has been having women empowerment coaching programmes and events for the advancement of women at different stages in life,” Jennifer explains. Ignite the Spark in You was a celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD,) which is commemorated on March 8 annually. The name of the event was inspired by this year’s IWD theme, Be Bold for Change.

“Many women in this age group, especially those who are fully retired, tend to remain at home without being actively involved socially. I felt this is a great opportunity for them to come

out, network, make new friends, inspire each other, and celebrate their life stage and the contribution they have made to the progress of women in society,” Jennifer says of the inspirational brunch. She hopes outlets like this will help foster sisterhood at all ages, especially among women whose collective life experiences are worthy of noting and sharing.

Jennifer also expresses her concern for the rise in violent crimes and oppressions against women in TT. She is “disturbed” by some of the comments made by people in responsible positions as to the reasons why women continue to fall victim. To her, these comments make it clear that there is much misunderstanding around the real plight of women on our shores. She highlights that sexual harassment is prevalent more than ever in the workplace, even despite policies put in place.

“Women who have been victims tell stories of reports being made to management who in most cases are men and nothing is done. There is a feeling among women that in each workplace there is a ‘boys’ club’ that supports each other to the detriment of women,” she says of workplace cultures that do not protect women sufficiently. She says she understands the issues at hand having worked in a male dominated industry for years, as well as the experience of being one of the few women who rose to the ranks of senior management. She says to overcome these injustices women face, women have to continue networking, joining forces, sharing information, learning self-defense and being each other’s keepers, and not become despondent or jaded in the face of the sometimes-fatal acts perpetrated against them.

Most of her individual clients are women between the ages of 35 and 50, and for these women the most critical issues when seeking Jennifer’s services are balancing their finances to attain their personal or family goals. She also leads workshops on retirement planning for employees who are “seldom financially or mentally prepared for retirement”. She coaches couples, and again she says the issues faced are mainly financial. “Poor money management habits lead to the inability of couples to maintain a satisfactory lifestyle, therefore creating conflict at home,” she says of trends she notes through her clientele.

She also runs a workshop called Moving into Wealth for young couples that focusses on money management. “Many young people do not discuss their financial situation and goals in detail during their courtship. (In response), Conec has designed a special financial coaching programme to help young couples share their financial status and goals without fear or shame and give guidance and support so they can jointly create a workable plan to achieve their financial and life goals and live a happy life,” she says of the programme.

In her words, life coaching is an engaging and confidential process in which the coach and client are partners, sharing non-judgmental relationships to help reach breakthroughs and take necessary actions to live the life of their dreams.

She highlights that a coach isn’t the same as therapist or psychologist, but rather works hand-in-hand with clients to reach goals that are agreed upon. “Many people struggle with making decisions that would affect their future due to lack of skills, experience, knowledge, or caring support. They may feel stuck due to fear, shame status, or just not having someone who they can confide in or trust,” she says of the void that life coaches may fill in people’s lives.

Through her work, she hopes to spread positive messages of self-affirmation and confidence in persons from all walks of life and she is especially hopeful that she will continue to empower women to be unified against their hardships. She says the most important thing in life is to love yourself and love what you do.

“As a life coach, I am committed to helping people to find themselves, to overcome their challenges, and be empowered to move forward with their life plan and be happy living their dreams.”

There was a time when primers only came in cream or gel form. Nowadays, there are priming mists, priming water, serums and oils too.

And there are many benefits of using these primers.

They can blur the appearance of enlarged pores or skin texture.

Particularly if you have oily skin, priming can help to combat the secretion of oil and sweat, which is the main culprit in causing your makeup to slide off. They can also combat dryness and texture, treat acne, diffuse fine lines and soften wrinkles.

Since it can treat all major makeup concerns, priming can actually extend the wear of your makeup and create a more flawless overall finish on the skin.

Some people ask, “Why can’t I just use a moisturiser instead of a primer?” Moisturiser is meant to be absorbed by the skin.

It’s supposed to treat, plump and protect the skin.

Primer is meant to sit on top of the skin, and create a layer between your skin and your makeup. If you rub your eyes or nose, prop your chin on your hands, subconsciously rub your temples when you’re stressed, your makeup can tend to fade in those areas of your face. Priming creates a sticky layer that gives your makeup something to adhere to, reducing the chance of it smearing or sliding off.

So how do you use it? It’s easy to incorporate primer into your beauty routine. You simply moisturise your skin and wait a few minutes for that to be absorbed. You can do your eyebrows while you wait. Follow with your face primer of choice, dabbing it onto the areas that need it, and blending with clean fingers, a brush or a makeup sponge. Give it a few minutes to dry down on the skin. You can complete your eyeshadow while you wait.

It should be noted that less is more when it comes to primer. If you apply too much, it can create a cakey or muddy effect. Once your primer has dried down a bit, follow with your face makeup: foundation, concealer and powder, blush, bronzer, highlight or contour; whatever your heart desires. If done correctly, you should have a smooth, long-lasting makeup look that requires minimal to no touching up.

As I mentioned, there are many great primers on the market nowadays, and I happen to have quite a few recommendations. A pretty well known makeup primer is Hourglass’ Veil Mineral Primer, which is suited to all skin types. It creates a water resistant base for your makeup, so you will find that sweat and tears will bead up and simply roll off the skin, without disturbing your makeup. This works best if you smooth a light layer of if onto the skin using clean hands.

If your skin tends to dry out throughout the day, causing your makeup to crack or cake up, boost your skin’s hydration with a primer such as ELF’s Hydrating Primer, or a priming oil such as Farsali’s Rose Gold Elixir or Smashbox’s Primer Oil. For these, you’ll want to pat and press the primer or oil onto the skin, since rubbing might irritate your dry patches, making them more apparent.

If you have normal to combination skin, and simply want your foundation to apply more flawlessly, a priming serum such as Farsli’s Unicorn Essence, which is oil-free will do the trick.

If you have extremely oily skin and find that your makeup slides off throughout the day, you will benefit greatly from Becca’s Ever Matte Poreless Priming Perfector. Dab a pea-sized bead of primer on your oiliest areas or areas with enlarged pores, and using clean fingers, press the primer into the skin. It will instantly mattify your skin and blur the appearance of your pores.

All skin types can benefit from primer waters, such as Smashbox’s Photo Finish Priming Water or Skindinavia’s Makeup Primer Spray. For an affordable alternative, Rosewater and Glycerin will be a great introduction into the world priming water. I particularly like priming water because it is usually free of silicones, which can be pore clogging, particularly to those with acne-prone or sensitive skin. You can also use it throughout the day to refresh your makeup.

Tip: keep your priming water in the fridge for a refreshing skin treat.

There are some projects I have been working on for years because I gave only a portion of my time and attention. As a young Social Worker I learnt all about time budgets, where you divide your time according to the importance of an activity. Wrong! You know what else is wrong? Multi-tasking.

The real truth behind being efficient and effective is the 100% rule. Whatever you’re doing, do it 100%. I’ve read that 99% is hard but 100% is easy. Be it studies, learning a new language, a diet, saving money or anything else that requires willpower. Committing to something 100% means whole heartedly following through and leaving no room to waver. It’s the difference between a diet where you throw out all the junk food in your house and the diet that lets you have a cheat day where you can eat all the junk food you want. It’s a lot easier to fall off the bandwagon when you’re good for six days but bad for one. When all the rubbish is out of the kitchen, even if you didn’t want to, you can’t help but stay on the diet.

That is no different when studying. Anomalies aside, teachers know there is a marked difference between a student that works diligently using a study schedule and another that just only opens a book when they feel like it. The results will speak for themselves. Ask any entrepreneur. Want to give your business 99 instead of 100%? Be prepared to stay small forever. Want a chance at success? Give that extra 1% and if you can squeeze another 10%, give that too.

It is a principle well known to project managers everywhere. Any project is broken down into manageable increments. It may have multiple levels and phases but at the end it is all in small steps that eventually arrive at the completion of the overall project. You have to complete each step 100% before you can be rewarded and then move on to the next step. How does this translate into the lives of us mere mortals who aren’t building a skyscraper but just want to lose a few pounds or ace an exam?

Remember I said multi-tasking is bad? When you are trying to change something: like break a bad habit, lose weight, learn something new or whatever, don’t try to do it all at the same time. Focus on one significant change at a time. When you complete that task, move on to another. While it is possible to make a grand plan, it is also easy to become overwhelmed and intimidated and to quit. Don’t bite off more than you can chew (unless it’s a kouign amann, in which case it’s completely understandable).

Break it down into manageable increments:

You need to find the route to get from point A to Z. While I cannot deny the power of positive thinking, if that was all it took, we could all just think our troubles away. One of the things anyone studying business management learns is SMART goals. They must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based. This works for us non-business managers too. Using SMART goals is a great way to commit 100% to whatever it is you are working towards. Breaking a huge task into small parts allows you to celebrate each milestone,and to achieve significant change without feeling like you’re having dental surgery without anaesthetic.

Fully commit on a daily basis:

The easiest way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. Are you a compulsive eater? Switch your eating with exercising and you’ll have to get a new wardrobe. Want to quit smoking? Start a new hobby to replace your old habits. You’ll be better for it. If you want to go back to school or change your career, the same applies. The way to create a new habit is repetition, the more you do it the easier it becomes. Whether it is inconvenient or you don’t feel like it, just do it anyway. Eventually the day will come where it no longer takes any effort. Remember that 100% is easy.

Change takes work:

It isn’t easy to change, even when you want to. Change isn’t pleasant but it is necessary. In my years as a counsellor, I observed a noticeable point at which an individual was ready to commit 100%. When you have reached the conclusion that you are so disgusted with the current situation that even the unknown is better and you are willing to do whatever it takes. The day you wake up with that thought in mind, you’ve already won the mental battle. That doesn’t mean however that you don’t have to put in the work. Our society is such today that conmen seem to be doing better than the rest of us. Don’t be fooled. Any luck I’ve had in my life had a lot of work behind it.

My chronically procrastinating self found, by setting myself a deadline well in advance of the actual one, I am not left all anxious and worried at the last minute. I much rather not live my life in and anxious state, it would ruin my manicures. Tricking myself into an earlier deadline ensures I have peace of mind. You want to know a side benefit? Now I am never late. I know it’s not very Trini of me but I don’t think tardiness should be a cultural norm. Since I sorted my procrastinating, it’s time to give 100% to learning Hangul, that way I don’t have to wait a day for English subtitles for my favourite Korean Dramas. Talk about motivation!

Over a decade later, when Voyager had travelled far beyond the frozen worlds of Neptune and Pluto and was at a dizzying distance of four billion miles from home, the brilliant scientist Carl Sagan convinced NASA to have the spacecraft spin its powerful cameras around one last time, and take a picture of the Earth. It was the first time that our planet had ever been photographed from such a distance, and the image that Voyager produced was both haunting, and humbling. The Earth, from that incredible distance, appeared to be nothing more than one minuscule glittering speck amongst countless others.

From young, many of us are taught by one religion or the other that our species and our planet occupy a special place in the cosmos. With so many different schools of human thought preaching to us about how special and important we are, it can be easy to buy into the illusion that we are somehow privileged in the Universe, that we are somehow protected. All of our astounding technological advances can also often make us appear to be more powerful than we are – just take a look at how much humans have achieved in the last one hundred years alone! But from the distance that Voyager’s cosmic photograph was taken, our beloved blue-green planet, the home of all this wonder and progress, appears to be nothing more than a faint, flickering, insignificant speck floating in an endless void. It is a humbling reminder of how small and fragile we really are.

Yet, this is where we all are, and this is where we’ve always been: right here on this tiny cosmic dot. The Earth has been the only home for every human being who has ever lived and died since the beginning of time, and it is the also the only home for humans in the foreseeable future – we are a long way from being capable of colonizing another planet. Should something happen to the Earth, there is nowhere else for us to go. This planet is all that we have, it is the only home that we have ever known, and yet, we are making a mess of it.

We may have made incredible technological and scientific progress, but war and violence continue to ravage every corner of the globe. Human society is wracked with problems, and it often feel like not much at all is being done to address them. And it is not just our social structures that are cause for concern, it is also our wanton disregard for the stability of our climate.

It is an undeniable fact that the greenhouse gases that humans have been pumping into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution are radically altering our climate.

Global warming is one of the most shameful crimes of our generation as it will not only affect us during our life time, but will continue to haunt our descendants, and their descendants, as our planet spirals ever downwards into more and more climatic chaos. If unaddressed, global warming will have catastrophic effects on the habitability of our planet, and this includes having devastating effects on our food supply. It sometimes feels a bit ironic to be writing a weekly column about cooking, when all around me are signs that this abundant supply of food that we so take for granted could one day become truly scarce, and that it would be our fault.

I know that no one of us bears the responsibility of solving all of humanity’s problems, but I do believe that taking a few moments from time to time to contemplate the preciousness of our tiny, beautiful planet, can encourage us to act kinder to one another, and to treat our planetary home with a bit more respect. So this week, in this spirit of cosmic contemplation, I leave you with the powerful words of Carl Sagan as he described the image of Earth taken from Voyager: “The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life.

There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand…There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.

It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the only world that we’ve ever known: the pale blue dot.”

The reality is, retouching software like Photoshop is like a magic wand for perfection. The same wand also creates insecurities in women and unrealistic expectations in men.

The reality is if we don’t workout, especially once we have passed the age of 25, the muscles in our glutes will lose their _ rmness. The unwanted tenant, fat, quickly moves in carrying lots of luggage, causing the butt to feel super soft and terribly jiggly. The only natural _ x, apart from dieting, is exercise. There are a number of exercises that are designed to target this problem area. The following are very effective.

1: Hip-lift progression This exercise relieves tension in the lower back and work your butt at the same time. (A cushy mat will keep your tailbone from crying afterward.) • Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, your knees bent and your feet on the _ oor.

• Lift your hips toward the ceiling. Hold for one count, then lower back down.

• Repeat the lifts for 60 seconds, squeezing your glutes and hamstrings at the top of the range of motion. Be careful not to overarch your spine.

• To make this exercise more difficult, extend one leg at the top of the lift. Keep your thighs parallel and hold the lifted position for about _ ve seconds.

• Keeping your hips up, place your foot back on the _ oor and then lower your hips.

• Repeat this exercise for 30 seconds, switch sides and do the move for another 30 seconds on the other leg.

2: Toe taps The lower, looser part of the butt takes a beating from this move, thankfully.

• Lie on the fl oor with your arms on your sides.

• Lift your feet, bending both knees to 90 degrees so your thighs are perpendicular to the _ oor.

• Now slowly and quietly tap your left toes to the _ oor, then your right.

• Alternate tapping feet for one minute.

• If you feel any lower back pain, don’t bring your toes all the way down.

3: Dumbbell squats A simple yet powerful move. Over time, you can increase repetitions and dumbbell weight to increase difficulty.

• Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and eight to ten-pound dumbbells by your thighs.

• Squat down as if you were going to sit in a chair, keeping your weight over your heels.

• Squeeze your glutes as you return to the start position.

• Do 15-20 reps.

• As you continue, keep the weight in your heels, making sure your knees do not pass forward of your toes.

• For a bigger challenge, try it without the weights, jump explosively, and land in the squat position.

4: Explosive lunges This move provides remarkable stretch through the glutes while testing balance, coordination and patience.

• Stand with your feet together and your hands on your hips.

• Then lunge forward with your right leg.

• Jump up, switch legs in mid-air, and land with your left leg in a forward lunge.

• Continue these explosive lunges, alternating sides, for one minute.

• Keep your fi sts up in front of your chin and push off the _ oor with both feet. Your front knee should be bent 90 degrees and align over your ankle.

These four exercises, if coupled with a good cardio workout and diet should ensure that you take the jiggle off your butt.

Aspartame Often found in sweeteners such as Equal and NutraSweet and found in low calorie and sugar free snacks, sweets, mints and even items positioned as healthier options such as in sugar-free yoghurts. Originally approved in 1981 by the FDA it does get a bad rap for everything from obesity to cancer but the World Health Organisation and the American Dietetic Association say that in moderation, it is harmless.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Many studies have pointed out that this ever-present sugar substitute is responsible for weight gain and a range of other diseases so it’s best not to add this to your diet as it’s likely already a big part of it.

Honey Everyone latches on to honey for everything from being a sweetener to being good for the flu due to how close to the source it is. Sure, honey is great – it contains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals and isn’t heavily processed. Plus, with the beekeeping industry seeing some resurgence here, hopefully the supply will level out and the price may even drop a bit. But honey does contain calories so beware if you use it full time as a sweetener.

Neotame Approved for the market in 2002 by the FDA, this sweetener is well over 7,000 times sweeter than sugar and is produced by the same company that produces aspartame but is seldom used in everyday products.

Stevia It’s worth noting that this is extracted from the Stevia rebaudiana leaf, extracted by placing the plants in hot water.

But the end product isn’t all natural as it may be mixed with dextrose, a starch-derived glucose which is often extracted from corn, wheat or rice or erythritol, a sugar alcohol. There isn’t enough research on it just yet, so again moderation especially since it’s 200 times sweeter than sugar.

Saccharin Often seen as Sweet n Low, there was a study that pointed out the increase in bladder cancer among rats. Saccharin was removed from the US National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens in 2000 and Congress repealed the warning label but it still is advisable to avoid, generally, if possible.

Sucralose Often traded as Splenda, again studies pointed to a negative impact, this time on the immune system. The perks of this sweetener are that it isn’t susceptible to heat and can be used in baking but also that is generally not considered carcinogenic.

Sugar alcohols Generally less sweet but they are considered more for use in sugar-free foods marketed to diabetics, because they contain fewer carbohydrates than table sugar. Excessive user however can cause bloating and diarrhoea.

Coconut Sugar The new ‘it sugar’, coconut sugar has healthy amounts of nutrients like zinc and iron and also contains antioxidants.

Even better it also contains inulin, a type of dietary fiber that you don’t digest but rather serves as a prebiotic in your upper GI tract. But fructose (40% of the sweet aspect of it) goes straight to your liver where it can “elevate blood pressure, triglycerides, and LDL; deplete vitamins and minerals; raise insulin resistance and obesity; and contribute to cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis and even gout.” (Dr Mercola) Like all things, moderation.

A good plan would be to acclimatize your taste buds to a gradual reduction in sugar intake, to stop adding sugar to tea, or coffee and to avoid products with added sugar. You will quickly adapt to it tastewise and also notice a drop in your desire to consume sweet products anyway.

Oh, and you will probably live longer.

This advice is culled from dozens of books, medical studies, discussions with professionals and experience.

Always consult your doctor, your nutritionist or preferred health advisor before starting any health changes. Most of all, listen to your body and honour yourself.

The four ranging in ages from 27 to 40 years old were arrested on Friday following an exercise led by Head of the Anti Crime Operations Unit Insp Don Gajadhar and including Sgt Ramroop, Cpl Williams, along with WPC Morrison and PC’s Crawford, Duray, Moses, Harripersad and others.

Police sources told Newsday the officers conducted surveillance at banks in Gulf View, La Romaine last week following reports from victims that they were followed after leaving the banks and robbed of their cash on the roads or in their homes.

During a five-hour exercise on Friday two separate vehicles with two men, a driver and a passenger were observed parked at separate locations outside the banks at Gulf View, La Romaine.

Police say the four were seen changing locations outside the banks to avoid suspicion of being in the same spot for several hours.

After observing the men acting suspiciously for several hours, police arrested them. The four were questioned about several reports of robberies as well as larceny of cash from vehicles in and around San Fernando. They are expected to be placed on several ID parades. In light of the robberies, Insp Gajadhar is asking persons to be careful when withdrawing large sums of money from the bank and to be observant about their surroundings.

He said the thieves often pretend to be customers inside the banks when they are fact passing information to their accomplices on the outside.

Only last week a female nursing assistant from the San Fernando General Hospital and two male employees from the San Fernando City Corporation appeared in court charged with robbing a bank customer.

Police said the woman would go into the bank to conduct legitimate banking business but would also spy on other customers and text the information to her accomplices who were waiting outside the banks.

The thieves would then follow their victims to their homes. Last week as well a medical doctor from Gulf View was followed to his home after leaving a bank and was beaten and robbed of a large sum of cash by thieves.

Deeply concerned about the surge in homicides, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced recently that the Government has asked former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, to consult on measures to reintroduce the hangman in the shortest possible time under. It was during Maharaj’s tenure that hangings – the execution of the notorious Dole Chadee and eight members of his gang in 1999 – were last carried out in the country.

Maharaj, who has agreed to assist the Government free of charge, has since recommended a fast-track mechanism for murder cases to be tried all the way to the Privy Council so that hangings can be resumed. Maharaj, who has long advocated that the death penalty be reinstated, recommended, in part, that a Case Management Unit be established, comprising representatives from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Commissioner of Prisons, Supreme Court Registry, and Ministries of National Security and Foreign Affairs.

The unit, he said, would examine the cases of Death Row prisoners who are close to the five-year Pratt and Morgan limitation period.

Some 36 convicted prisoners are currently on Death Row in the nation’s prisons. Maharaj has also made it clear that the Government must have the will to reintroduce the death penalty.

Attorney Keith Scotland agreed, saying the death penalty remains on the statute books under the Offences Against Persons Act and should be exercised.

“It, therefore, means that the collective wisdom of our representatives which are to represent the will and aspirations of the people have insisted that the death penalty remains on the law books in spite of developments in other parts of the world in terms of the degrees of murder,” Scotland said on Wednesday. “It is the law and ought to be implemented until such time as the Parliament or the people see it fit to have a change.” South-based attorney and former Princes Town MP Subhas Panday believes that governments have been dragging their feet on bringing back capital punishment.

“There is no will to carry out the law and successive governments have been making excuses all the time,” he said on Friday in a Sunday Newsday interview.

“It says to me that the they are anti-hanging but say they are interested in hanging and that Pratt and Morgan is preventing them from so doing.” Moral issue vs the law Saying he does not have a moral position on the death penalty, Panday insisted: “It is the law.

Father (Joseph) Harris (Roman Catholic Archbishop) has a moral position but my view is that it is time for the implementation of the death penalty.” Indeed, Harris has sought to debunk the view that capital punishment is the panacea for ridding the country of the spate of violent crimes. The archbishop’s position came last December in response to calls by one of his subordinates, Fr Ian Taylor, to resume hangings as a deterrent to crime. During a Saturday night mass at St Charles RC Church, Taylor had urged that killers be hanged given the high level of violence in TT.

Of Taylor’s call, Harris had said: “What was said goes totally against what the church stands for.” Harris said the poor criminal detection rate also posed a challenge.

“You have to find the criminals and if our conviction rate is three to five per cent, who yuh hanging?” he asked. “Do we want to run the risk of hanging people for crime they didn’t do so that it would look good?” Describing it as “barbaric,” attorney and social activist Hazel Thompson-Ahye argued that the death penalty had no place in a civilised, progressive society.

“I am so sure, today, the death penalty is so wrong,” she said.

“It is really a very negative way of dealing with crime. It is based on retribution, waging a vendetta against the criminals. Do them because they have done us. When you have a negative response, you are going to get negative results.” Thompson-Ahye, a proponent of restorative justice, lamented that TT was a punitive society.

“We still cannot get out of the corporal punishment of children.

All of these things are connected.

We feel we must beat children.

We feel we must hang criminals,” she said, adding that many punitive measures were taken against the disadvantaged in the society.

Thompson-Ahye described as “scandalous” the fact that the Ministry of National Security’s allocations in the national budget over the years, have exceeded that of the Ministry of Education. She said the focus must be on tackling the socio-economic conditions which give rise to crime in the first place.” “There is too much inequality in the society,” she observed.

“Don’t think for a moment that when we talk about the obscene bonuses and gratuities that we give to the CEOs, even when they are in failing businesses, that it is lost on the poor.” Thompson-Ahye asked: “When people read about the millions of dollars that were paid to private attorneys and the DPP’s office is being starved of resources, we really have to ask ourselves, are we really serious about fighting crime?” She said society should be focusing on dealing with its inequalities.

“We speak about spending $25,000 a month on keeping an inmate in Remand Yard and where is that money going? she asked.

Taking issue with Fr Taylor’s call for the return of the hangman, Thompson-Ahye said: “I don’t know how he could talk in favour of the death penalty because there is a finality which denies the possibility of conversion. No matter how heinous the crime the criminal has committed, that person still remains a child of God. That person is still redeemed in the blood of Christ, especially in this Easter season.” Thompson-Ahye also said attention should be paid to alleviating what she called the structural violence meted out to the poor in relation to housing, healthcare and other areas White collar crime, she insisted, also must be tackled aggressively.

Last week, Chairman of the United Kingdom All Party Parliamentary Group of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Mark Pritchard on a visit to Port of Spain, warned against using the death penalty as a quick fix to crime and violence.

Rather, the anti-death penalty advocate said fixing the system must be handled in a “calm, objective, evidence-driven manner” before capital punishment can be effectively carried out.

Despite the misgivings of abolitionists, some of whom have been passionate in their condemnation of the issue, protagonists are adamant that it is necessary to combat the worrying surge in murders.

“There are too many senseless killings in the country especially within recent times and the killers are seeing that they have no consequences to face,” said retired prisons commissioner Cipriani Baptiste, who presided over the execution of the Chadee gang at the Port-of-Spain jail, some 18 years ago. While he believes that the death penalty will not be a deterrent for would-be killers, Baptiste, who served as prisons commissioner from 1993 to 2001, suggested that restorative justice “in a general sense,” can be a talking point as deliberations on capital punishment continue.

Senior Counsel Israel Khan insisted that the death penalty must be carried out for first degree murders. “I believe that murders should be categorised into first, second and third degree.

I reserve, at this point in time in our history, the death penalty for first degree murders – that is atrocious or vicious murder,” he told Sunday Newsday. “For example, if a man takes a fee to kill a man and he wants to receive a fair trial and he has lost all of his appeals, he should be executed because life is sacrosanct and no one should take anybody’s life. You have forfeited the right to live.” Khan said while hangings may not necessarily reduce the murder rate “it gives satisfaction to the human part of us that wants revenge for killing someone.” “It gives a sort of psychological satisfaction because you have forfeited your right and you should be executed,” he added.

Attorney Martin George agreed.

“I am fully supportive of the view taken that once this is the law on the books of Trinidad and Tobago, then it ought to be implemented and we ought to make use of it as part of the arsenal of the legislative structure of the country,” he said.

“Because if we reach to a point where the population, for whatever reason, decides and is able to prevail upon the Legislature to change the law that the death penalty is no longer part of our legislative framework, then that is a different issue, but once it remains the law, then I am of the view that we ought to take all measures and all steps to implement it.” Saying his view was not based on emotion, George said: “It is simply a view that says that the death penalty is the law and it ought to be implemented until it changes. If it changes then we have a different paradigm. But as it stands, that remains the law of the land.” Welcoming Maharaj’s input in fast-tracking the process, George said the argument about whether the death penalty impacted crime was a “spurious and speculative debate. Because it is very clear and obvious that the death penalty deters at least one person. The person who is hung. He will never go out and murder anybody again. So, it is clearly a deterrent for him if nobody else.” Regarding Pritchard’s view that capital punishment should not be seen as a quick fix to violent crime, George said: “I think those who look at it that way, they are mistaken.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with using that as one of the tools in our arsenal in our legislative framework to deal with the scourge of crime in TT. Of course, It is not that it is a cure all or magic bullet. “ George also expressed the view that there are many convicted people who have not committed crimes and by the same token, those who have gone free but committed the act.