Mood:
don't askTopic: Greets, froodz!
Dear Frong,
Anyway, pretty much the same here. I'm hopeing to
be able to move out soon and get my own place.
Check my blog for further details.
I started a new collage last night (about 5 solid
hours working on it). It's rougly titled (tytled)
"Same old tryp..."; ie, "same old tryptic". The
composition is based on Max Beckman's "The
Departure". Aare you fam with the painting? It's
basically three pannels, in the middle
is the king and queen aboard their barge getting
ready to go out on an outing on the lake/sea. On
either side are signs of torture, and the
usual "stuff" that goes on behind the scenes. Mine
has a happier right-hand-side (RHS) since
I tend to view these things as "past, present,
future". And I *still* hope that the future is
going to be brighterand so reflect that (to some
extent) in my works.
I know it must seem totally surreal what is
happening, butthen I am sort of "involved" in it.
(see attached, dear frong, best to Mr. Pengie,
George, and Louis; "and the rest".
-- Dad.
New article about recent tropical storm damage
We would be very surprised if Trinbagonians didn't
contribute in a large way to the growing hurricane
causes i the Caribbean, including Tobago's. That is
our tradition which means that it is in our very
nature as a people, some even suggesting that it is
this country's deep reservoir of compassionate
generosity that serves to save us from our frequent
excursions into folly.
Favoured by the destructive winds raging across the
Caribbean, our citizens are visibly trying to reach
out to their Caribbean brothers and sisters, all
the reactionary shibboleths about race and class,
about big island and small island, have been
summarily thrown out of the window, rich and poor,
black, brown and white, seeking what they can do to
help all these people who, overnight, have found
themselves in need.
But it is not only that. It is as if the storms
swirling around them are causing Trinbagonians to
find temporary peace with each other. Certainly, on
Tuesday, the day of the impending hurricane, there
was a tangible reaching out with not only families
but residents in far flung villages taking time out
to make calls to establish human solidarity in the
face of a force which, in physical terms anyway,
was so much greater than them.
One scribe was even moved to suggest that one of
the ways to stop crime was for the "Met Office" to
issue frequent storm warnings, so convinced was he
that the short lull in criminal activity was
neither coincidental nor the result of any of
government's anti-crime initiatives but
was due to would-be criminals being too concerned
with the small matter of survival that was on hand,
even they finding themselves too awed by the power
of Nature to remain besotted by the lure of the
material.
We have noted, as well, that the feeling of shared
fragility has gone beyond Tuesday's fears, perhaps
because Ivan's insistent presence keeps the message
alive and that, for the most part, citizens have
ceased their perennial winching about their
perceived victimhood, all of us glad,
as Tuesday night became Wednesday morning, simply
to be alive.
Human beings and Trinbagonians, in particular,
being what they are we don't expect it to last.
Still, what this has shown is that tragedy or even
near-tragedy can have a restorative effect if only
because we are forced to [the poet] John Donne's
realisation that:
"No man is an island entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the Continent,
a part of the main...
Any man's death diminishes me because
I am involved in Mankind; and therefore
never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee".
Would when the sun breaks out again across this glittering chain of Caribbean islands and we make
final count of our dead that we do not fail to
remember what, in the wake of Ivan, we have been
reminded about Life.
Amen Brother! (pizo)
happy