Sunrises, Cows and Backpacks

The ONE day I decide to get up before dawn, specifically to see the sunrise, it's cloudy as heck! Well played Mandeville, well played. And I mean, if anybody out there truly knows me, they'll know that I'm a midday kind of gal....so this was truly a huge effort on my part. The film I've been working on is due for submission on Thursday, and seeing that it is entitled The Sun Rises, it would be good to at least have footage of a sunrise. Right? Well, we sure as heck aren't getting up before dawn tomorrow so I see a name change coming.

In any case, we decided to not let the morning go to waste so we went over into some "nearby bushes" to get some nature shots, specifically of goats and/or cows. After trudging through the dewy morning grass and lush red dirt, we came upon, yeah you guessed it, an empty field! Please note that I shed no tears for not seeing any cows. They are, after all, my mortal enemies. Anyhow, we proceeded to get some nature shots (of the grass mostly) and shortly after, a lovely gentleman passed us by with his three goats, who were later the subject of our HD filming. Whoopeee.

On my way back home, I sat beside a little girl in the taxi. She wore a pink JanSport to match her pink school uniform. I gave the bag a once over, realized that it seemed pretty authentic and almost said out loud "You better prepare to have that backpack for a loooong time little girl. Well, if you were my kid anyway". For the remaining three minutes of the ride I fondly remembered my school days and my exploits with a certain JanSport bag.

You see, my older brother got a JanSport bag for high school. It was army green, with tan leather at the bottom, which made it that more awesome than the regular ones. It had the the "authentic" zipper string-thingums, that I would later find are extremely valuable and should be tied tight enough to withstand theft. I was in awe of that bag. Fast forward a few years, my brother was leaving high school and I was just getting in. Of course I didn't get a new JanSport and that same beloved JanSport was now being worn by my other older brother. Whomp whomp. I was distressed. 

But not for long, because the bag was getting rather worn (and there was an enormous ink stain on the leather part) so my brother decided it had done it's time. Boy was he wrong. I wore that bag until it's dying days. Though it may have been only for a few weeks, I was one of the "cool kids" just for wearing that old, green, severely pen-graffiti modified bag. And I was happy. I eventually got another one, but it wasn't authentic, so I didn't care much for it. Then I began to care about school a lot less so my backpacks were the very least.

And that was just my randomness for today!

What Really Grinds My Gears

I'm not the kind of person that gets annoyed easily...most of the times. So when something annoys me, it really grinds my gears! What I'm also not, is the person who posts these random pet peeves on Facebook, or onto the walls and under the photos/posts of the individuals that cause my gears to grind so terribly. I marvel at the immense level of restraint I show. With that said, please allow me to harp on the two most recent cases of my annoyance:


1. "Professional" photographers who upload blurry/out of focus shots 

I put professional in quotations because the term is quite relative, especially on Facebook. Let me also declare that I do not put myself in any higher esteem than anyone in the capacity of photographer. 

So, you tell me now, why on God's green earth would you put out sub-par work? WHY?!? I mean, you own (or are in the process of starting) a business and your aim is to showcase your work so that you can attract potential clients. Right? So naturally, the best course of action would be to put forward samples of your best work. Right? Apparently, for some folks, I am dead wrong. 

I literally cringe when I see these crappy photos. I mean, what goes through your head when you upload that blurry-ass-possibly-Sasquatch-looking-photo? I don't know. Then, I think to myself, maybe they didn't intentionally upload those photos, because certainly no business person in their right mind would consciously put out bad products for consumers to view. But then, I think to myself again, why on earth would you just upload a bunch of photos without first going through them to ensure that they are at a certain standard that should reflect the quality of your work? WHY?!? Furthermore, let's say these photos were "accidentally" uploaded, do you not see it fit to go through the uploaded album to ensure that what you're putting out is good enough? 

I don't know. I don't freaking know man. But this crap grinds my goddamn gears!!!!

2. Professional entities that put out work with errors

Notice here that professional is not in quotations, because I am referring to the real money-making industries out there. Then again, there are some others that don't fall into that category, but they are guilty of the same crime.

Just today, I was viewing an album on Facebook that was uploaded by FLOW Jamaica. I was appalled. I wouldn't say that I'm a grammar Nazi but I tend to take those things seriously. The gross number of errors that I spotted, after just glancing over once, was unbelievable. The one that really got me though, was this incorrect spelling: Jamaiaca.

Even writing it here, it got the squiggly red line beneath that indicates a spelling error. So I really can't see how that is excusable. In this instance, I didn't even stop to think to myself of any circumstances that could forgive these shortcomings. Because to me, they're just that: unforgivable shortcomings. But before you rush to crucify me and say that "everyone makes mistakes", let me go ahead and agree. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, especially in this age where internet short-hand is the new normal. But, doesn't every writing device or app have a spell-check option? As far as I know, yes. Even if I'm wrong, whatever happened to proofreading? Aren't there still persons employed as Editors? 

My point is, if you claim to be a professional, the quality of your work should be at a certain standard. If you can't hire a proofreader (I'm totally free to do that by the way), at least make it a point of duty to have your work viewed by another pair of eyes before putting it out. Is that too much to ask?

Why do YOU blog?

Welll, guess who's lost the urge to blog? Anywho, as I read and re-read a draft of a post I've been working on for a while, I began to wonder why I really blogged anyway. Is it because I just want to write for the heck of it? Or is it because I want to share my thoughts with the world (my 5 followers and a few FB friends)? Or, is it because I want people to applaud me and say, "Wow, you write really well!" or "Great stuff you wrote in that blog there!".

Even as I write I'm still trying to figure out which one it is, or if it's a combination of all three. I mean, I know I write really well (didn't get my BA in English with an emphasis in Writing as a gift!) and sometimes recognition would be awesome. But, that's also the reason I'm writing short stories and screenplays, which are still works in progress. Granted, I could submit my work to the Gleaner and Observer and wherever else, but I just don't think that's anything awesome. I used to write poetry back in college-mostly because I had to for class-and sometimes I thought of getting them published....well, when someone asked me why I haven't done that yet. Even now I ponder about publishing....for a whole 10 seconds until my mind wanders off.

As for sharing my thoughts, that would certainly be a trip if I decided to lay out my thoughts as they came. I might actually try that for a future post. But what I really mean about sharing my thoughts is that I'd give my opinion on stuff. Stuff that I care about, or don't care about for that matter....stuff that's trending...once in a blue moon, stuff that makes the news. Because I'm really not a follower of the news. I only read the Classifieds in the paper and I'll watch news on TV if....well, if the TV got stuck on the channel. So much for that.

So, I guess I really blog for the heck of it. With a slight need to be applauded. I guess. I don't know.

So why do YOU blog anyway? 

Black American History Month

It's that grand and awesome time again when our televisions are overwhelmed with all the movies ever made about black people, slavery and all those topics that can cause one to strongly dislike whites. Yes, it's Black History Month. 

I never really had a problem observing Black History Month back in the day, because hey, that was always my time to watch these movies (usually the same ones every year...thanks CVM and TVJ!) and remember why the white folk are hated so much learn about those who contributed significantly to the upliftment of the black race. Now that I am older and wiser, the significance of Black History Month is becoming more and more questionable each year.

History of Black History Month

Black History Month first began as "Negro History Week" in 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson declared the holiday to be the second week of February, hoping that it would eventually be eliminated when black history became more fundamental to American History. In 1976, the expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was acknowledged by the U.S. government. Black History Month was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1987 in the month of October. In 1995, Canada's House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month and in 2008, the Senate approved the motion for it to be recognized.

The American Reality

After recently finding out the information above, the following questions suddenly ran through my mind:

1. Why are we celebrating Black History Month in Jamaica? 

2. Do they even celebrate Black History Month in Africa?

As the History clearly denotes, Black History Month was created with the intention of recognizing African-Americans who contributed significantly to.....well, umm, the history of black Americans! So, technically, the celebration is just for a select portion of American History.

 But the question still remains: why do Jamaicans celebrate it? I could give many answers. For example:

1. We are the proverbial "bench" to the "batty" of the United States, so anything they have, we must have also.

2. We want to celebrate our black heroes too, so since they use February in the States, maybe we can borrow it.

3. Our country somehow has a connection to African-American History.

4. I don't really know.

Let's now move on to question two. The answer is NO, Black History Month is not celebrated in Africa. Why? Again, I could only give a set of answers that may or may not edify or enlighten anyone.

The Jamaican Reality

Black History Month has been met with a lot of criticism and each year the number of critics grow. I suppose I just added myself to that list. One of the main points of debate is the usefulness and fairness of dedicating one whole month to the history of just one race. Some may argue that it [Black History Month] is necessary because blacks suffered greatly at the hands of the whites, what with all the slavery and oppression and segregation and such. Additionally, blacks played a significant role in American History. But while all this is true, are there not other races that suffered? Are there not other significant contributors to American History that are from other races? So then, why isn't there a Native American History Month? Or an Asian History Month? 

As for celebrating Black History Month in Jamaica, I may see it differently from the average person. Yes, we want to recognize and remember our forefathers who struggled and fought to get us where we are today and yes, we want the future generations to be aware of their heritage and culture. BUT, isn't that what we have Emancipation Day, Independence Day and Heroes Day for? Is it absolutely necessary that we join hands with the United States and accompany them as they skip down their memory lane?

At the end of the day, I believe that a nation with such a rich history and diverse culture does not need to be so closely tied to the American interpretation of Black History Month. It should not come down to a set 28 days where we urge our children to learn about their ancestors. The last I checked, History was a subject taught in High School. Hello? 

If we do indeed desire to use February for the dissemination of information regarding our history, we need to stop showing Roots, The Colour Purple, and all those other American-slavery-based films and get some Bob Marley, Miss Lou and other Jamaican cultural icons on the television. I will also suggest that we stop harping on the dream from Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama and focus on what happened between Bustamante and Mama P, if we want Jamaica's history to be something noteworthy.

No Problem Mon!

We have all seen this new "controversial" VW commercial, that persons are referring to as "racist" and "offensive". But in case you haven't, see below.

The truth is, the fact that it's getting so much negative attention is just really grinding my gears. So here's what I think about it.

Offending Americans?

Here's a quote from an article in the Huffington Post that I found quite interesting:

"Some U.S. critics have described the pregame Super Bowl ad from Volkswagen of America as offensive and culturally insensitive, apparently seeing the commercial that hit the web on Monday as an echo of segregation-era depictions of white people posing as happy-go-lucky black folk."

First of all, why are white Americans finding this commercial offensive? Secondly, why are they reading so much into it? These folks have gone as far back as the segregation-era on this thing! Come on man, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks didn't go through all that trouble for us to be fussing over a Super Bowl commercial! But then I think to myself, as I usually do when situations like these occur: Maybe these white folks are feeling guilty for all the ills of slavery and segregation, and thus feel the need jump to claims that this simply entertaining commercial is in fact racist, just so that they can declare themselves as non-racist. Think about it.

Brand JAMAICA

Now, to all the Jamaicans who find this commercial offensive: News Flash! Jamaica is a brand! Yes, like Tommy and Gucci and Chanel. Ok, well maybe not in that literal sense, but you get the idea! As terrible as the state of our economy is, Jamaica has a lot going on for itself. Case in point: Usain Bolt, Bob Marley, our food, our one-time bobsled team, our beaches, our ATTITUDE. So tell me now, do we get offended when any of the previously mentioned things are used internationally? I didn't think so. If I can recall correctly, we were all over the moon with joy when we saw the grand amount of non-Jamaicans sporting our colours and waving our flags at the London Olympics last year. Might I ask how much different this case is with this commercial?

Let's turn the tables 

Jamaicans are famously known for mimicking accents. As the yuletide season has recently passed, I'm sure many of us were witnesses to this fact via the ever entertaining Greetings from Across the World.....or whatever the name of the programme is. If you go down to Negril, Montego-Bay, Ocho Rios, or any other popular tourist destination right NOW, and present yourself as being a foreigner, not even so much a white foreigner, I guarantee that you shall receive the latest twang from any Jamaican you may come in contact with. In fact, a friend of mine shared a commercial on Facebook (see below) that so wonderfully depicts our "sell out" nature. And I ain't never heard nobody making a fuss about it or saying it's offensive. So let me ask again, what's the problem here? 

Get over it!

At this point I would just like to urge all those who have taken offence to take the timeless advice of a very extraordinary man: get over it! There was no need for this thing to be blown to such negative proportions. Right now this is an enormous tourism boost for the country and I can only hope that Jamaica capitalizes on it. 

I know that many others can agree with me when I say that as much as I hate to hear our accent so terribly butchered, it gives me a sense of pride that out of all the hundreds of countries in the world, they chose the Jamaican accent to imitate. 

It's a  simple little commercial. With people mimicking the accent of a simple little country. So what is the problem, mon?

For My Mother; May I Inherit ALL Her Strength

Bonne Maman in French is roughly translated to granny or grandmother. It's also the name of a brand of preserves and jellies and jams and cookies and tartelettes and madelines and meringues and SO many other awesomely delicious things! I mean, they are absolutely addictive! One cookie and I was hooked. I even wanted to take home a few things from France, but the day before I went to the airport, I opened my suitcase and took out all the awesomeness I had packed to take home to my friends and family (sorry friends and family) and I sat on the floor of my neat and bare little room, and ate them all. ALL.

Disclaimer: I am currently suffering from FWS (France Withdrawal Syndrome) so please pardon my seemingly manic rant about sweets.

Anyhow, the subject of this blog is not the awesomeness of Bonne Maman. Today is in fact my mother's birthday and for today, I would like to loosely translate Bonne Maman to Good Mother. Because that's what my mother is. Actually she's an awesome mother, and that's not only because she raised me to be so awesome, but because my brothers are also kinda awesome too. Ha. But really, I know most children will say that their mother is the best and the most awesome and all that jazz, because hey, it's your mother we're talking about here. But, I must let you all know that MY mother is THE BEST and THE MOST AWESOME.

I've seen a post on Pinterest that says something to the effect that how a parent speaks to their child will be the little voice in their head when the child grows up. That is an absolute fact. My mother would always say "feast today, famine tomorrow" when we would want to eat everything in the house all at once, especially those days when she went to the supermarket. And, I must say that I still have that urge whenever I get home from the supermarket, but then I hear that little voice in my head saying "feast today, famine tomorrow" and I just put back the Doritos and the Chippies and go eat a banana and drink some water. 

My husband also gets his fair share of the little voice. He's the kind of fellow who does a basic search. Meaning, if his eyes don't fall upon the object of his desire immediately, it's lost. So he then pleads for my help to find it. And I usually do, because it's usually just beneath what he swooped his eyes over two seconds ago. Then I will hand this "lost" item to him and say "you never look for anything", slightly altering my mother's version: "You children never look for anything!"

Little voice aside, my mother has made quite an impact on me, thanks to the monumental tasks she would always willingly take on when I was a child. At any given moment during my childhood, there were other people living in our house. There would be WIC/NCU students who were boarding and there would also be either a cousin or a child of a family friend (or both) who would be staying with us for a while. Sometimes years. And everybody loved Aunty Joan. Even now, if you go to our house, the situation is still the same. My mother is my definition of selfless. 

Sometimes I marvel at the things my mother had to do. I wasn't a bad kid. Neither were my brothers. But, let's just say we were a handful sometimes. She never blew a fuse, but we were always properly disciplined and it was always done with our best interest in mind. I think about the times before we had a washing machine. My mother would always do ALL the laundry (she'll still do mine if I ask) which included but was not limited to: my brother's ENORMOUS jeans, all of our school uniforms, all of our sheets and bedspreads, all of her clothes.  And she'd do all of it by hand. To this day, I can barely rinse out one of my husband's shirts. A Mother's power I tell ya.

My father died when I was three years old. My brothers were eight and seven. We never grew up with that father figure per se (though my older brother would really try....and we had our uncles) but twenty years later, I don't feel at a loss or at a disadvantage for not growing up with a father. My mother was enough. And she still is. We're talking about a woman who had to raise three children-and most times another two or three-all by herself. Working one job. And this ain't the greatest job out there, if you know what I'm saying. Because of her, I am who I am today (and so are so many other people!) and I know that when the time comes, I'll be an awesome mother too and she'll be an awesome bonne-maman.

So today, I'd like everyone to join me in saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the most awesome mother in the world!!!

Waxing Philosophical

For those who may not have heard, Jamaica is, for lack of a better term, going down the drain due to the country's insurmountable debt. Now I'm no political aficionado, but I'd just like to paint an image of what I think is happening to my once lovely little country.

Yeah. Image painted.

Just imagine Barack is Portia and the flag is Jamaican. I can't comment on whether or not that's what's gonna happen to the US, but I can certainly say that this will be Jamaica's fate unless one, or all of the following happens:

1. We get a new Captain who can miraculously turn the boat around.

2. The river freezes over.

Moving right along.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English. I am almost 100% fluent in French. I speak a little Spanish too. I'm smart (didn't make Honour Roll....wasn't really trying anyway), I'm efficient and I'm quite productive, if I may say so myself. So why don't I have a job? See paragraphs 1 and 2.

I never grew up around elderly folk but I'd always hear the saying "tek yuh han' tun fashion". And brethren, that is absolutely what I've been doing and what I encourage those in situations similar to mine to do. For those who don't understand the saying, it means that you should use your talents or resources and make something that will be useful or beneficial to yourself and others. Of course some will say "I don't have any talents" and "I'm not good at this or that" but notice I also said resources. Find something that people need (or sometimes want) and find a way to get it to them.

A friend of mine introduced me to black soap. I love it. I call it "The Healing of the Nation". It's so awesome I decided to tell some other friends about it. Turned out they love it too. As fate would have it, black soap isn't that readily available here in Mandeville, and where it is available, it's a rip off. So I decided that I would source the black soap and make it available for my friends (and all my future customers!) at a reasonable cost. So I guess you could say I'm a black soap retailer. 

I was lucky enough to be born to a mother who sews very well. It would have been a shame if it turned out I wasn't cut from the same cloth (see what I did there? lol) but luckily enough, I was. Though I still can't cut a piece of fabric that straight. In any case, I can help myself. I literally take my hands and make fashion. Mostly for myself, and sometimes for others. I wouldn't say it's a booming business, but it has the potential.

What else do I do? I write. I'm actually working on a series of short stories and a script for a short film. I'll let y'all know how that goes. I've also recently taken up photography. It's something I've always loved but I never really had the resources. Now that I do have the resources (a Canon 7D-love that camera!) I've pretty much taught myself, with the help of my dear husband, and the awesome communities over at Google+, I recently shot a wedding, all by myself! And thus grows our company: iKon-GFX!!

Just to be clear, all that was not to be boastful, but to illustrate that you've got to use your talents and resources to make your life better, especially when you live in a country that ain't helping you out. I've also been very inspired by Kimroy Bailey, another young Jamaican who has decided to use his talents and resources to create a better life for himself, and eventually for Jamaica.

So to all of you who seem to be in a rut, stuck at home, blogging now and again because you have nothing to do, you hate your current job, you wish you had a job to hate, you want to make some money, you want to do what you love, take my advice: TEK YUH HAN TUN FASHION!!!