First non-American, first black Spelling Bee champ all grown up . . .

[Bluebear]

Chiaroscurist. May I have the definition, please? Tank you.

I'll never forget this girl :)

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THEN, she studied words to confound spellmasters. Now, she is weaving them together to convince judges. Although the jury is out on her future, lawyer-in-training Jody-Anne Maxwell is taking love, career and life in stride.

Almost 11 years after posing for pictures with spelling maestro the Reverend Glen Archer, her slightly unkempt hair has developed into more lustrous locks and the uncertain half-smile has widened into a confident grin.

Since she catapulted to international prominence, upsetting the apple cart of the Americans in their backyard, Jody-Anne Maxwell has changed a lot. But in many ways, she hasn't changed at all.

Maxwell, who turns 23 in May, is still buried in her books.

Currently reading for her law degree at the Norman Manley Law School at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Maxwell says she has traded the spotlight for a low profile...

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090405/lead/lead8.html

[marmar]

1. I remember ESPN's SportsCenter showing the highlights when she won....

..... and the sportscaster looked stunned and a little upset and said, "A Jamaican? Someone from Jamaica won the spelling bee?"
Lots of subtext there.

[Captain Hilts]

3. Folks don't realize that English is widely spoken there. I had a triend from

Trinidad and when she got the highest grade in class on a test, the professor berated the class "because English isn't even her native language!" It was her native language and she didn't have the heart to tell him.

[malaise]

5. There are people who believe we live in trees

Caribbean people have excelled all over the planet and yes English is our first language. Let me be clear though - the standards are falling badly everywhere.

[Captain Hilts]

16. People think of baseball players from the Caribbean and think of Dominicans and Puerto Ricans.

It's all a blur to many folks.

Stupid, yes.

Where was Jeffrey Holder from? NO ONE spoke better English!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. One of the colleges I was teaching at took part in a special exchange

program for students from the Caribbean, and some of the professors were wondering if they'd have to expand the ESL program.

Uh...not for students from Antigua and Grenada and Barbados. All the students were from English-speaking areas, and most of them wrote better English than the typical American student.

[marmar]

6. That surprises me. Maybe it's the geography/linguistics minor coming out, but.....

.... people not knowing that people in the formerly British Caribbean speak English would stun me a bit.......But then again, perhaps they don't know that it's the formerly British Caribbean.

[Captain Hilts]

13. Or they might assume French, as in Haiti. People just don't know. They really don't. nt

[MADem]

7. !!!!!

Wow, what a stooooopid professor!

You'd think the guy would have, ya know, taken the time to grab the old encyclopedia and learn just a smidge about where one of his students came from....the old "natural curiosity" kicking in, or something?

[malaise]

14. Hubby received the top math grade in his second year

as an undergraduate at a US university (late 60s). When the professor was reading out the grades he looked at someone else when reading his grade - an Afro-Jamaican wasn't supposed to earn the top grade. He had a good laugh identifying himself and never forgot that incident.

[MADem]

17. Silly prof--he thought someone who looked like Dubya shoulda gotten the grade??

:rofl:

Everyone I've met coming out of those Catholic schools in Kingston kicked some serious academic ass!

[malaise]

19. LOL

He did attend the Jesuit college here :D

[Captain Hilts]

15. Computer science prof - 'Nuff said. nt

[Berry Cool]

21. It will probably ruin all you guys' party to say this, but maybe the surprise was only

because the SportsCenter person in question was not aware that the bee was open to anyone but people from the United States.

I mean, they do still call it the "National" Spelling Bee, even though they have been welcoming spellers from outside the USA to compete since 1978.

To me it does seem kind of silly that they continue to call it a "National Spelling Bee" when it's essentially an international spelling bee, at least in that you don't have to be from the United States to compete in it. And that's said with no prejudices or assumptions about any of the competitors or their English skills. Seems to me like it would just make sense at this point to drop the term "National" from the title. Just call it the "Scripps Spelling Bee" and leave it at that.

[marmar]

23. No, the SportsCenter guy singled out Jamaica....In fact, he said "Of all places, Jamaica?"

Sometimes, it really is just bigotry, n'est-ce pas?

[malaise]

2. I know her even before she was born

Her dad's a good friend - worked with him for years. She's very cool and unassuming - a lovely young lady. Jamaica won't forget her either :D

[Bluebear]

8. You tell her she has a fan up here :)

[malaise]

9. I'll call them tomorrow and tell them

I think her dad will be the really happy person.

[MADem]

4. I was working eighteen hour days back then and totally missed this.

Pity, since I love Jam-rock, too.

How did they handle the English/American spelling differences? Were there any words that could go either way (e.g. criticize/ criticise, honor/honour, that kind of thing?).

[malaise]

10. Ardenne (her old school) trains them using American spelling

We're pretty flexible and tell students just use one or the other.

You may know that they changed the rules because of our success - we still laugh at that.

[MADem]

12. WHAT?

How did they change the rules?

I didn't even know about this--eleven years ago was a crucifyingly horrible work-year for me. Seven day weeks, really. This wooshed right over my head.

[malaise]

18. There was a big argument that the timing of our competition gave our kids

an advantage. Scripps Howard's people were pissed that Jody-Ann won that competition - fugging sore losers.

http://www.hotcalaloo.com/hc7v5.htm

(This article was modified 1/26/99 after receiving a communication from a Scripps-Howard official)

American Spelling Bee officials have retaliated against Jamaica's victory by barring them from this year's competition. They made sure there would be no repeat this year. Last year, Jamaica's Jody Anne Maxwell was such an impressive winner of the US National Spelling Bee then. She defeated 248 other contestants to become the first black winner and also the first foreign winner ever. Not only that, but Jamaica served notice they were formidable contestants in the two years they have entered the 71 year-old competition. In their first year, Jamaica's Jason Edwards James finished 8th. Last year, in addition to the winner, Jody-Anne, Bettina McLean finished 6th.

But not this year. The spelling bee officials have changed the rules in a obvious deliberate move to keep out the Jamaicans. Jamaica had their spelling bee as they have always done in August. Now the US National Spelling Bee officials have barred these winners by now requiring contestants to be selected after February 1 of this year for the May competition. This rule change was made known 2 weeks before Jamaica held their competition, obviously too late to comply with it. They claim the early date of Jamaica's bee is an advantage.

No advantage
Preposterous! The long wait the Jamaicans must endure before the US National Spelling Bee is not an advantage. On the contrary, it is a disadvantage. It is competition that provides the edge, so after preparing and honing their skills for the Jamaican bee, that long intervening wait makes it more difficult to maintain that edge. If Superbowl Team A had to wait months between their last game and their opponents, Team B, had only a week off, Team A would be at a tremendous disadvantage.

The real reason
Someone made a mistake. It was very gracious to allow Jamaica to join other countries like Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Bahamas, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands, to enter the US National Spelling Bee. This was fine but the mistake was they did not expect little Jamaica to win. Not only did a Jamaican win, but Jamaica's collective performance was so good that they probably would win again! AThe US national Spelling Bee won by non-US nationals! Houston, we have a problem!@ So, a pretext was found and now Jamaica is out this year.

Could race be a factor?
One cannot overlook the racial component too. Prominent American black leader, Jesse Jackson, has noted his concern that this action excluded black contestants. Even before this broke, Extra (November/December 1998), a magazine that monitors fairness and accuracy in the US media, noted the unequal press coverage that Jody-Anne received when she won. This Extra article cited the Jody-Anne coverage as an example of how the US press snubs young black achievers. It noted that:

*

-The day before Jody-Anne won, another contestant, a four-time veteran and the favorite to win, received a front-page, 1539-word profile in USA Today newspaper. In contrast, Jody-Anne's stunning victory received a mere 225-word story and on page 7 (5/29/98).
*

The famed New York Times in their coverage of her victory did not even mention her name until 7 paragraphs into the article.
*

Many leading newspapers, such as the Dallas Morning News, Indianapolis Star and the Boston Globe, who traditionally feature this story prominently, buried her victory many pages away from the front page.

The reigning local Jamaican champs are bitterly disappointed at their exclusion from the coming competition. These kids must feel cheated. As the news spreads, Jamaicans at home and abroad are enraged at this transparent cowardly act. However, to exclude Jamaica because Athem fraid ah we@ shows the tremendous respect they must have for Jamaica. To now exclude Jamaica to ensure a victory by a US national is wrong and they have compounded their mistake. Hot Calaloo urges its readers and Caribbean organisations to write letters to the spelling bee sponsors, the Scripps Howard newspaper publishers, to appeal to their sense of fairplay and justice. Write to:

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e-mail: [e-mail]
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Mail: Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, P.O. Box 371541, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-7541

[MADem]

20. Well, that was just wrong of the Bee people.

If they wanted to require that the competitions be held at a set time, they should have given people a years' grace to adjust schedules and so forth.

[BlooInBloo]

11. Good for her. Stick with the books. Theyt're more valuable than most of the people you'll meet.