Hi Readers and Performing Arts Fans, Happy Holidays and a prosperous 2012 to you and your family! This is the first time I am asking you for a personal favor during the decades publishing EVERYBODY’S Caribbean Magazine and promoting theatrical productions and concerts. On Christmas Day NBC Sports and USA Today will announce the US Sports Academy’s Male and Female Athlete of the Year. Twenty four (24) athletes around the world have been nominated. I am pleased to inform you that a Caribbean person, Kirani James of Grenada, is one of the 24 nominees. Kirani James is the World 400m Champion and, throughout 2011, has been the subject of very favorable commentaries in the European media, the American media from The New York Times to the Washington Post. And, most significant, Caribbean newspapers from Jamaica to Trinidad & Tobago have editorialized Kirani. Why am I asking you to do me this personal favor by encouraging you to log on to http://ussa.edu/ballots/athlete-of-the-year# and vote for Kirani James? 1) The NBC/USA Today Male and Female Athletes are voted through online balloting. Many nations and regions are urging their citizens to vote for their country and regional nominee. We in the Caribbean, the Diaspora and our friends worldwide have the responsibility to vote for our own – Kirani James. Here are five nominees: World Soccer superstar David Beckham, Aaron Rodgers, Quarterback, Green Bay Packers, Justin Verlander, baseball 2011 MVP and Cy Young Award winner, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and Novak Djokovic, Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open tennis champion. So, you can see Kirani James achievement is massive; that’s why he is in this renowned group. He needs our vote. Every vote counts because millions of NFL fans are voting for Aaron Rodgers and baseball fans for Justin Verlander. Online voting runs through midnight on Dec. 24 so kindly vote for Kirani today by visiting http://ussa.edu/ballots/athlete-of-the-year#. 2) 19-year old Kirani is from an underprivileged family in the small fishing town of Gouyave, Grenada. While attending the St. John’s Anglican Primary School he won a scholarship to the Grenada Boys’ Secondary School (GBSS) where he got the opportunity to study in the U.S. and represented the University of Alabama in track and field. I am from Gouyave, attended the St. John’s Anglican School and the GBSS. Don’t remember! But, most likely, Kirani’s Grandmother and I may have been schoolmates. And, the scholarship that took Kirani from primary to secondary school was given by Dr. Kenrick Lewis, a research scientist in NY, an EVERYBODY’S subscriber, also from Gouyave who attended both institutions. For those of you who help in educational projects in the Caribbean, you can see what a little scholarship sometimes can do. 3) With God’s help and good health Kirani James and little Grenada will be the focus of global attention next July when the world watches the running of the 400m in the London Olympic Games. Obviously, I am very proud of Kirani James and I kindly urge you to vote for him now by clicking http://ussa.edu/ballots/athlete-of-the-year#. Please forward this email to friends and family. Many thanks, Herman