{"id":1319,"date":"2004-10-31T13:04:04","date_gmt":"2004-10-31T13:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/?p=1319"},"modified":"2015-05-17T13:05:26","modified_gmt":"2015-05-17T13:05:26","slug":"tourist-bureau-to-honor-kickboxing-champion-marco-london-at-book-party-for-the-salt-reaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/2004\/10\/31\/tourist-bureau-to-honor-kickboxing-champion-marco-london-at-book-party-for-the-salt-reaper\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourist Bureau to honor kickboxing champion Marco London at book party for The Salt Reaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREAT BAY, St. Martin <\/strong>(October 31, 2004) \u2014 <\/strong>Literature, sports, and tourism will come together on Saturday, November 6, at the book party for The Salt Reaper<\/span><\/em> <\/strong>by Lasana M. Sekou, says Regina La Bega, head of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau.<\/p>\n

Caribbean Tourism Day is on November 2, and has sports as its 2004 theme\u2014as did World Tourism Day on September 27, according to the World Tourism Organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn World Tourism Day the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau honored a number of St. Martin sport champions. We also had the intention to select a representative champion to honor in November and Mr. Marco London is an outstanding example,\u201d said La Bega.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tourist Bureau is involved here not from the point of view that we are performing for tourism but that tourism definitely benefits when we do our best for ourselves, excel in the cultural arts and sports for our people, and take care of our natural environment for St. Martin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw that House of Nehesi was not only having a book party on November 6, but had Capoeria as its main performance exhibition, we saw a perfect chance to work together on a weekend cultural affair.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. London is a world class kick boxer. Kickboxing, like Capoeria, is a martial arts that takes great discipline and courage. Both are examples of cultural and athletic exchange and world travel. Also, both sports are new to St. Martin and in a way are new to much of the Caribbean,\u201d said La Bega.<\/p>\n

London started kickboxing in the Netherlands in 1982 at the age of 15. His titles include the 1993 World middleweight champion Shidokan bare-knuckle karate; 1994 World middleweight champion Shidokan bare-knuckle karate; 1995 World middleweight champion Shidokan bare-knuckle karate (aired on ESPN 2); 1996 World middleweight champion Shidokan bare-knuckle karate (aired on PPV).<\/p>\n

In 1996 London became the ISKA Full contact karate kickboxing amateur world champion; the 1997 ISKA European super middleweight kickboxing champion; and 1997 ISKA European light heavyweight Thai boxing champion.<\/p>\n

In 1997\/1998, the St. Martiner fought four successful title defenses of both ISKA titles in France, Martinique, St. Martin, and Ireland. His fighting record stands at 35 wins and 3 loses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were already organizing the book party when Ms. La Bega contacted us. Her idea was to honor Marco London and his achievements at one weekend affair instead of two separate programs that would divide the time of some of our mutual guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought that including the sports\/Tourist Bureau feature could only enhance the enjoyment of our guests. It also brings literature and sports together at the book party in another way that we never thought of before,\u201d said Jacqueline Sample, president of House of Nehesi Publishers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the Tourist Bureau again, as a patron and partner in the arts, continues a relationship in development since the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. La Bega and her department practice that true St. Martin style relationship based on mutual respect, unity, and friendship,\u201d said Sample.<\/p>\n

House of Nehesi Publishers has itself received a World Tourism Day award from the Tourist Bureau in 2001 for its books, conferences, and other productions that contribute to St. Martin culture, heritage, identity, and pan-Caribbean consciousness.<\/p>\n

The book party and award presentation will take place at the Philipsburg Jubilee Library on November 6, 2004, at 8 PM.\u00a0The Salt Reaper \u2013 poems from the flats<\/em>, is Sekou\u2019s first full collection in over 10 years. The poet will recite from his new book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREAT BAY, St. Martin (October 31, 2004) \u2014 Literature, sports, and tourism will come together on Saturday, November 6, at the book party for The Salt Reaper by Lasana M. Sekou, says Regina La Bega, head of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau. Caribbean Tourism Day is on November 2, and has sports as its 2004 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-2004"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1320,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319\/revisions\/1320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}