Don't play with it

So this post is inspired by an incident that occurred on a shared Facebook picture (a meme). The original photo was shared on January 24th. I shared it on the day after. Several days later, I've come to the realization that many were offended by the post - the original and the shared copies.

So this sent me in a whirlwind of questions... Would I have been offended - had it been me? What would my reaction have been? Was it fair? Is it a just assumption?

From the comments I read on mine, as well as the original, I saw commentary about political references as well as defaming of the brand and undermining local industry.
What was this meme/comic strip about?

                           


In all fairness, after all the unnecessary hype and argument that ensued I was forced to examine this picture on a deeper level than probably required. In fact, in writing this, I feel like one of those people who go to an art gallery, see a black spot on a white canvas titled "black spot on white canvas" and spend an hour trying to get into the depths of the artist's mind when... as an artist myself, sometimes... what we really mean is "black spot on a white canvas" - there isn't necessarily a Shakespearean story following to explain what could be a genuinely simple idea.

So the general gist of offenses gathered was, the picture supports the undermining disparaging of local industry, makes vague irrelevant political references and that the maker was an anonymous cowardly attention seeker. How do I know this? Was it a collection of rumours I heard circulating? Was it someone misrepresenting the brand or the politicians? Was it a few malicious individuals looking to air their voices? No. I'm aware of what was said because the comments were posted directly from individuals - some in well written paragraphs, others in hyped up rants - on the very public domain of Facebook for all to see.

My initial response to the picture? I thought it was funny. A few days prior, a close friend and I had just discussed the mindless following of some trends in Grenada - which is arguably valid for countries other than Grenada, including the US. We were lamenting about how many of these young folk just jump on a bandwagon of perceived coolness and swagger without understanding the origins of the trend or even knowing what the trend means to them personally.

We did reference local brands being launched as well. However, it wasn't in a manner to take away from the brands because --- we admire the work done. I find it impressive to know there are young people (teenagers and young adults) on our tiny island taking initiative to become entrepreneurs and successfully brand themselves into households names. This is the kind of thing you read in Cosmogirl magazine or see on tv. However, we're now doing it with our own people which is pretty awesome. Hell, I want to buy their stuff.

That being said does not mean one cannot be allowed to have an opinion. We did question what exactly were the intentions of some local endeavours - brands, parties, etc. A lot of these endeavours push images with young people throwing up their middle fingers or scantily clothed or just what is often perceived as a negative message to the masses. Which led us to ask, what really is the intention or the message they are trying to get across? What does being 'cool', 'fun', 'rebellious', 'artistic', 'unique' and so forth mean to them and what aspect of the meaning are they hoping to cover... because I swear the upcoming generations in the (arguably as it's what I see on tv) Western Hemisphere need a lot more than Jesus' descent from the Heavens to save them and little incentive to hasten them down the wrong road.

All of this to say what? Getting back to the picture. Reading the artist's comment on the pic itself, I saw the note about "certain local brands" and "politicians" these days. Fair enough reason to get upset I guess. I'm not sure if I would've been upset and/or reacted similarly since I'm more hesitant about commenting on anything on Facebook.



Ultimately, I think you can't avoid negative reactions towards anything you do be it a good or bad endeavour, "haters" if you want to call it as such. It's not what you called but what you react to... and when you react to it, how you handle a situation. For me? I think the more professional way to handle it would've been to simply ask first and foremost as an inboxed message "Can you take down this?" and/or a similar message on the photo itself. If it doesn't work, report it to Facebook or learn to ignore it. In the real world, it's hard to do great things and not gather unwanted heat. If this is the manner chosen to react to every situation on a personal level of attack, how can one make it to Kanye, Jay-Z, Beyonce, P. Diddy level? Where these successful folks, with clothing lines, albums, brands, etc. have to deal with more than just some random person throwing up memes online? One's initial reaction cannot be to throw a tantrum or get caught up in petty back and forth public arguments. If you're a boss, be a boss about yo' biz.

And the "anonymous coward attention seeker" (paraphrased) he does this online comic thing all the time. Some of his stuff is kinda controversial, others are hilarious and then there are a few that make you think. He tries to apply real life situations into his work because like any good artist you could only speak what you know right? People only seem to react to things that strike a nerve directly anyways as this is the first time I've seen all of this hype and he's said "worse."

Now in order to "hate" people must value what you offer right? I felt compelled after to peruse my buddy list and ask them if they saw an issue with the picture (viewed solely without the comments). You know how many of them even knew of the label? How many of them were offended? How many of them understood what the problem was? NONE. In fact, they thought it was hilarious and true to life. One guy said after reading the comments, "maybe the dude was honoured to be mentioned and didn't know how to respond."

 So 10 more people, than those who knew already, now know about this all brand and politics drama because ONE guy decided to allude to a local situation that somehow resonates within their being. They should take him out and buy him a beer.

And for those of who have a problem LOVING your "HATERS" 
---- > Read this "Loving my haters"

The end.
Bless.

Wow, I'm laptop-less for a few months and Blogger does like 5 revolutions on me with the user interface. Blog template might change a couple times, pretty soon, too. Consider it your heads up before you think you've come to the wrong address.

Apologies all around for the lack of recent posts, I've been super busy recently. I've got my hands on a lot of different projects - school-wise and with my personal life. Yes I know I've spent quite a lot of time on my blog occasionally lamenting about not doing enough, wanting a job, etc. It's amazing how things start to fall in place once you start making some movements. All it takes is one step with some positive energy, and you start to draw more ideas and opportunities towards yourself. While I'm uncertain as to how successful I'm going to be in all these new endeavours, I'm pretty excited and at the very least - I'd have experience, which is something more than I have right now.

It's a beautiful thing, taking steps forward and watching the platform form below your feet with each fumbling, uncertain step.

This will be a long photo post to appease any curious minds... Or who knows, half-way through I might decide to split it for efficient labeling purposes. Anyways, do enjoy.

Oh!! And if you wanna know what I'm up to I'm pretty active of twitter these days (given the circumstances and relying primarily on my cellie). --- > http://twitter.com/eliknowsit



As mentioned previously, I'm currently doing my bachelors in Biology, specializing in Wildlife & Conservation and Marine (that's two tracks). The Wildlife & Conservation track is relatively new and we have a relatively small cozy developing student body. Those under that track, primarily, a few semesters back we decided to form an environmental conservation and awareness group named ECO.

Last semester, if you're a local reading this, we were involved with the Marine Anti-Litter Campaign. We targeted schools - primary and secondary - with presentations, hosted beach clean-ups, had a few radio and TV talk shows. I actually had a nice elaborate post to do on this with pictures. Let this be a lesson on procrastination folks, my laptop is down and so are the pics. *sigh*

The good news, we're doing big things this semester too. We're handling the Ocean Conservancy's annual International Coastal Clean-up Campaign in Grenada. You should be hearing us on the radio and TV again pretty soon.

Thus far, we had one underwater clean-up at Dragon Bay, located in the marine protected area between Flamingo Bay and Molinere. It was the first time I went there. I unintelligently didn't cover most of my upper body and had the delightful experience of swimming through give or take a million jellyfish? Ok, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. Fortunately, they were all big enough for me to see pulse by but small enough to sting like an ant bite.

**Random knowledge**

 Dragon Bay got it's name because the bay "looks like a dragon." If you look at it with a creative mindset, you can see the head, the hump and the tail formed along the bay.

It was about an hour-two hour outing, September 30th. We had a team scuba divers and snorkelers (4 divers, 3 snorkelers) and our purpose was to retrieve as much garbage as possible within the allotted time.

I'm not a diver, so I was on the snorkling team. That was the closest I've ever been to our reefs, it was an amazing experience. The funny thing is that we spent most of the time over the reefs looking for garbage - and found nothing. Then we got closer to the beach and I swear it looked as if someone burnt a compost heap at the bottom of the sea. There were plastic bottles, cans, clothing, shoes, etc. in the midst of sediments/mud. We even found a car tire. Why would you dump a tire on a beach? Furthermore, why would you dump any of those things in the sea?

Out of sight, out of mind is not the right mindset to have. At the very least of the problem, all of those things are unsightly, especially since we're marketing ourselves as a picturesque location. Not because it's a random hidden beach behind God's back means it's a free-for-all dumping grounds. It's disgusting, not a good look folks. If you won't throw the garbage on the floor in your house and dance around it, don't do it in the environment either. The island is our home and there are facilities available to take care of disposables. Stop acting like your parents didn't teach you cleanliness in your upbringing.

I hate to see people walking the streets and throwing their cans, wrappers, bottles, etc right as they're walking when a bin is just a mere few feet away. You know what that says about you aside from being lazy? I'm digressing...

On the grander scheme of things, it's bad for the environment. Most of those things are not biodegradable. Plastics, for example, never really break down completely - the particles just get smaller. Then the marine life consumes it - then we consume the fish.

Anyways, all garbage ends up in the sea eventually - think about it. So please be mindful.

As I mentioned before, we didn't spend a long time at the clean-up so the collected garbage is not an accurate representation of the amount of garbage that was on that beach. However, it is an odd revelation of the items that people chose to litter rather than just dispose properly.

There were tampons, dolls/toys, plastic bags, bottles, cans, shoes, plastic bottles, clothes, snack wrappers and the list goes on.

And a picture of the team.

Photo: Dive Grenada Quoted from Dive Grenada "Majority of the garbage were tin cans and beverages, proving that everything on land DOES end up in the ocean! So be careful to dispose your garbage and make sure it ends up in a bin!"

The project was a collaborative effort with Dive Grenada, located by the Flamboyant Hotel in Grand Anse. I got this photo off their Facebook page.

OH! P.S. My friend Sher did a beautiful post on this(the photo shoot), describing St. George's and the route to get there in a very picturesque way.. So if you're local and feel like having a quiet reminder about where we live check it out... and if you're tourist, check her blog out as she paints a beautiful picture with her words.



And for you conservationists...how many of you actually regarded that tree in Willis with great reverence. I never did much follow up on it. I know, I know, I'm a horrible local. However, I heard the residents of the area were complaining about it being an eye sore and then it collapsed. Why is it everything ancient, old, vintage, traditional, historic is an eye sore and needs to be done away with but traditional values which we're clinging onto as a nation that don't work anymore we don't want to let go of?

Jamaica had their silk cotton tree that was one of their tourist attraction (Tom Cringle's Cotton Tree I believe). Guyana had their silk cotton tree that could not be cut down to build a road so they had to build around the tree in Perseverance on the East Coast. As Caribbean territories there's so much folklore surrounding everything that's ancient and old. I remember my mom used to tell me stories about Guyana and that the reason why the trees are so hard to cut down is because the Dutch plantation owners would bury their overseers or someone alive with their money and treasures to protect it. As a result, the spirits linger around the tree. I love telling the story about the tree in Guyana because I like that kind of stupidness/folklore. I like no better fun. She, my mom, even went on to say that long after every time someone would try to cut down the tree, that was in the middle of the road, they would die in the process or soon after and the one time they got a cut in, the tree bled blood. Hence, they built around the tree. Heck, I would build around it too. The original tree fell and a seedling grew back in its place...Mom also said the folklore with silk cotton trees is that you walk by them at night because of all the spirits lingering...

Sher was telling me the folklore is similar here. She knows the local tale as don't walk past at noon nor midnight or else 'booboo gon grab you.' She outlines the tale pretty well... and even if you've never seen the tree I do encourage you to check out her post because it's so well written you can feel looming presence of the tree and the heat of the midday sun as she describes walking past it.

The depressing story is... the tree is no longer there. Funny story is, she said locally, because of all the folklore  it's hard to find someone willing to cut down a silk cotton tree. The irony is, they cut it. Not all the way down because "the tree supports the road." I don't know... they weren't thinking that all the time? They could've trimmed it or something. What if the tree dies now and collapses? Then self its real problems in camp.

And aside from that. It was a landmark.

...And when we did [the passing bus], almost like slow motion, i say almost because it was never slow enough, i took it all in, how thick the trunk was, how wrinkled and just how deep set those wrinkled WERE. I marveled at how high it stood, how far back it leaned like a tired but accomplished grandmother in her easy chair, sitting on her stoop, watching the neighborhood children walk past, their hands tightly clasped in their parents hands...remembering effortlessly when their parents were kids and their grandparents were parents....

...I breathed in the air that surrounded it and wondered, like I’d always wondered. What was the air like in this spot 200 years ago? Who stood at the base of this tree 200 years ago? Was it a slave hating it for what it stood for? Or one appreciating it for it’s merciful shade and lack of judgment? Who stood here 100 years ago? Was it a young couple courting? Was it a teacher and his or her students trying to escape the heat of the classroom? Who stood here 50 years ago? Who was she? Who was he? What did they think of this tree? Or more importantly…what did the tree think of them? Did it smile down at them? Resent them? What had it seen? So so much it must have seen!

Sher's Blog... Click here to see the rest of the post 

'Booboo gon hold you under the Silk Cotton Tree'

I concur. Imagine how many stood before the same tree admiring it throughout history? The same tree we can't cut down fast enough.

C'est tout.
Enjoy.

***

Does anyone else hate the new bus system at school... so that the campus is a walking campus?

I was traipsing all over town and by the time I got to Grand Anse I was reluctant to wait on one of those unpredictable buses. I hate SGU's new bus system. I'm extremely reluctant to be walking up and down a hill in the hot sun... much less running behind these "pick up and drop off" buses. I'm almost certain that most existing "walking campuses" are on flat territory. Hello? Hills are bad for the knees?

***

So I nearly missed my Politics class today due to lateness - again. But I'm surely glad I didn't.

Today we dealt with a statement made by the President of Trinidad and Tobago that kinda struck home something that I was musing over myself in a different situation. The class discussion basically helped to shape exactly what was the underlying principle being violated.

Apparently the President, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said “We will have to look at ways in which we would be able to assist. But you would recall my comments earlier this year, when I said there must some way in which Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit.” In the wake of the current Hurricane Tomas that did some damage to other Caribbean territories. As usual, I'm always late with news. My Prof. is St. Lucian so he was relating the events on what he's heard about the state of affairs over there, the wellbeing of his family, etc. It was a retrospective moment I believe for all of us in the class that endured Ivan in 2004.

Naturally, the territories want some assistance. People lost lives. Homes are destroyed. It was a traumatic experience. And the President is making a statement about doing a favour to get a favour.

True, what she is saying is not a lie. No one is contending a lack of truth in her words. Obviously, if you're going to help another country you're going to try to help yourself as well. You want both parties to benefit from the arrangement... Nothing is for nothing these days right? Hand wash hand make hand come clean? But is it really necessary to be that frank about it? That insensitive?

I was telling a couple friends a few weeks back that were dealing with personal issues within the group that they were miscommunicating. The words they were choosing were the truth but were delivering results whereby the other parties were taking offense and becoming defensive and further creating a rift.

I always say there is more than one way to say the same thing and get your message across without starting a war. One must learn to manage your mouth and not run away with the first impulses that tickle your throat to be uttered. While I haven't mastered the art of choosing my words carefully, in fact I have become rather rusty... It is the one major thing I took from my 2 year of Law at college - choose your words carefully. Take a moment, think, and then speak. And when you do speak, do so in a manner that's diplomatic at its worst but clear in it's meaning at its best.

And I'm sure we've all been in situations whereby the argument moves from the content and actual issues to the phrasing of how the issues were being delivered or addressed.

Now the consensus of the classroom from the discussion of the students was that placed in that situation, were any one of us St. Vincent or St. Lucia, due to the nature of the offer we would refuse it. Especially today with all of these efforts and talks about regional Caribbean integration and we're all one family - yet when disaster strikes there's commentary about seeking personal interests?

Imagine though the same message was framed differently... Let's say she said instead "In the wake of the devastation of the Hurricane, as part of the Caribbean Community, Trinidad and Tobago will naturally be willing to administer any possible aid within our means to our fellow territories in a many that would be beneficial to all of us."

Same underlying message - different phrasing. Who could vex wit da? Even if yuh vex, yuh won't be so vex to not accept the help begrugingly self.

Another quote that my Prof. had referenced was a quote by a Republican who said that they would do everything in their power to make sure that Obama is a "one-term President."

Again... again... mismanagement of your words. One speaks too loosely. Even if that's ultimately your intentions, the country doesn't need to know that. Your purpose is not even about supporting policies good for the country, it is about seeking party interests entirely?

To coin a quote my Prof. said that I really liked (mostly because of the alliteration is it?) was that "We need to rise above these petty party partisan politics and think about the country especially in these economic times where people are suffering."

That concludes my early evening rant.

***

Now that I'm here baby, show me a good time.
Shelli out.