I’m late on posting this, but a few months ago some colleagues at the new arts & media outfit, A Big Box of Crayons, interviewed me for their “20 shades of crayon” series. You can read the full interview here. The good folks over at the Trinidad & Tobago Performing Arts Network picked up the story…and turned some of the interview into a meme. So, I … Continue reading Giving a meme interview
I am at odds. On the one hand are the succinct, sage but fatalistic words of Trini (West Indian? African diaspora? Universal?) sayings like: “Like who like you” “Bat in yuh crease” “Goat doh make sheep” And the blood-chilling end to the fable that lives in different incarnations in different parts of the world (the scorpion and frog in Aesop, the morrocoy and scorpion in … Continue reading Pragmatism vs idealism…or something
I think it’s nearly 10 years I’ve been trying to decide whether I agree with this! I first heard it said by Phylicia Rashad on a New York TV station, and I’ve been mulling it ever since. I thought I disagreed with it, actually thinking film was more life-like and theatre more “artful” – at least from the actor’s perspective – but I think I … Continue reading “Theatre is life, film is art, TV is furniture”
To be aware is to watch your bodily activity, the way you walk, the way you sit, the movements of your hands; it is to hear the words you use, to observe all your thoughts, all your emotions, all your reactions. It includes awareness of the unconscious, with its traditions, its instinctual knowledge, and the immense sorrow it has accumulated—not only personal sorrow, but the … Continue reading Every breath a meditation
One of my ongoing projects is digitising the Marionettes‘ almost 50-year historical archive. It’s a project I seldom have adequate time for, but the Universe has cleared the way and I’ve been going through some decades’ old footage. Much of it brings bittersweet memories. So many songs, events and performances brought me so much joy growing up, with this my extended family. The sadness comes … Continue reading Barter, or life has loveliness to sell…
Well first of all I’m annoyed I deleted the Marionettes version of us singing a beautiful arrangement of this classic (Quaker? Christian?) hymn. We sang it a few years ago, and it was almost an anthem for our likkle bu’ tallawah Trini community choir. The words and the beautiful arrangements helped steady restless or grieving spirits, and bring us all back in touch with the beauty … Continue reading “How can I keep from singing?” (All hail #MusicMonday)
I don’t know what to feel. I love my country. Not just because I was born and raised here, or love the natural environment; the playfulness and creativity of our people (sometimes I wonder if we don’t actually have a higher than average talent quotient per capita, despite all); and the simple pleasure of going everywhere from a house lime to the grocery to … Continue reading A happy independence…? My beloved T&T
