Been nearly 2 weeks since my last post. That’s mainly because I’ve been under pressure as we near the end of this part of the course. Reason #2 is I went to:
BARBADOS CROPOVER!!!!
Whoohoo!!!! Party party and more party!!! “Bajans wukking up, on the road again”. (more…)
Ok, now I thought I was still in the Caribbean. That nice safe side of the world where bombs don’t go off in the middle of the day. So why when I get out of class yesterday is everyone all in a tizzy trying to make sure people can get home?
A bomb?!? Are they serious?!? In Trinidad?!? O……..k………. At this point, one of the girls in my class ended up staying the night with our teacher rather than travel home since she had to go right through downtown.
The one word that keeps coming up is ’senseless’. (more…)
A couple days this week I sent sitting in the 2nd Caribbean International Arts Education Symposium. This was actually the first ever conference that I actually felt truly interested in the subject matter. Hearing these Caribbean and international perspectives on the need for arts education, the state of arts education in the region, the need for strong policy support for arts education, etc.
I felt I needed to respond to the comments I received for my little story:
Yeah boy! Headed to Tobago last weekend with a group organized by Stumps from All Stars. Had to leave class early on Friday since the boat was meant to leave at 4. Travelled down in to town and made it to the port for 3 as I was told to. Of course, most of the group wasn’t there yet and then the boat left late. But we were on the “fast” ferry so the trip was only about 2 hours long.
Can’t say I saw much of Tobago (not sure how much there is to see). But it was a good weekend, reasonably good weather (at least in the day), plenty liming and chilling and drinking - in the pool till 4am on Friday. Saturday was more of the same though I held off on the drinking till after dark. Sunday we hit the beach which was cool, then it was back on the boat for Trinidad. Unfortunately this time was the slow trip (5 hours), though I guess it worked for those of us looking to sleep.
So here I am back in the land of books and classes. Dreaming of my next Tobago run.
So went my weekend of release:
Bomb warning: Ended up not boozing on Friday as intended/hoped. Did go run some errands with the sister, spent some quality time choosing shower curtains.
The fascinating thing was when we went to the Tacarigua punch lady. Now this is apparently quite an experience, not to be missed. We were just getting fruit punches, but the braver heart ones go for a real punch. The even braver will go for “the bomb” which combines the various ingredients into a concoction guaranteed to ….. not sure I wanna know, eh? (more…)
But it is now over!! I did my exam yesterday - 3 hours, 3 essays, 13 pages - and handed in my beautiful (if I do say so myself) 42-page business plan this afternoon. Now I have a 3 day weekend (Monday is a holiday!!) to rest, relax, get drunk and clear my head of all thoughts of popular culture as a contested space, differentiating features of cultural industries and the role of copyright in developing cultural industries (those were my exam questions). (more…)
Oh wow!! I have never studied this hard in my entire life!!! The plus side is that it shows that for once I actually care about how I do. The down side, well, this morning I came up for air after being in my apartment studying pretty much since Friday evening (let’s not try to calculate those hours). (more…)
Even when the heart is strong and the path is clear, the flowers on the side will draw the eye. I have always maintained that home is where I belong, sweet Jamaica. And that is still where my heart lies. All the things I learn about developing arts and culture, managing cultural enterprises, it’s always in my head as being applied in Jamaica. BUT …. I am tempted. (more…)
