brief lesson: carnivals aren't just a trinidad thing... nor a brazil thing... nor caribbean thing... nor new orleans. there are many carnival around the world and some trace its origns to somewhere in africa (i can't remember where), not in france like most of us think. kenwyn feels that people don't drift towards carnivals to be deviant (with all the sexual energy). he thinks that having sexuality and spirituality separate is a western idea.. carnival combines those things and thus people naturally gravitate to them because that's the way things were before the victorian era and european conquest. carnivals happen before lint usually.. so it acts as a rebirth and a celebrating of life. then he brought down the scope a little further to say that the trinidad carnival is special because of the concept of "mas".. which is a play off the words mask and masquerade. it's a concept of improvisation.. a concept of mastery or dominance. the idea is you're concealing yourself behind a costume to reveal some message (but if someone says you're being an "ole mas," that means your being a spectacle... the negative kind. lol.). so, in that way... carnival acts to reveal trinidad ... it's trinidad's mouthpiece. and it's been revealing how special a place trinidad is. trinidad has a mystical way about it because it has this carnival and because there's so much trauma in the country's past. i mean, he really broke it down and made it sound beautiful to me. like more than just eye stimulation. i really wanna come back for it. he described different costumes and what they really meant, like they used to have these really horrible barracks that men used to have to live in (i didn't catch why).. and a horrible case of rabies broke out because the place was just unsanitary and the men were being bitten by bats. so one group dressed up bats. and they also had men dress up as a women with a big butt and breasts... to make a commentary on the fact that rich men were going down to the barracks and soliciting young men. in the latest years though.. it's mostly participated in by women and they are slick very naked... no one can tell if this is a good thing (sexual freedom) or a bad thing (a consequence of commercialism). but, he said he had one student who said she would cry if she didn't get to be naked during carnival. dang. lol. it was a great lecture. i enjoyed and i felt so special for getting to come here and pick up the island vibes.
kenwyn had to cancel our workshop though... we were supposed to make our own mases some how. but he canceled so we all went back to the dorm and chilled. later on (they were super late!), he, his friend, and his fiance came to pick us back up for some liming!!! i love to lime. they were late, of course. so, by the time we got going, we had no time to stop and get something cheap to eat or we would have had to pay to get into the cafe. the place was called woodford cafe... it is this apple bee's type place that had a bar and a stage. the place was super expensive. i ended up having to pay 113 TT$ and all i had was 1 small ceasar salad, 1 side of mashed potatoes, and a BOOTY JUICE! lol! how could i not get it? it was called "booty juice"! if there's something on a menu called booty juice, i gotta go for it! lol. it was a shot of some kind of mixture of alcohol.
the great thing about this woodford cafe was that they played music really loudly. it was dance music. some britney spears, nicki minaj, rihanna... and then a whole bunch of stuff that sounds vaguely familiar (i haven't gone out dancing in a while.) some trinidadian music was played too. too many good songs started coming on. i don't like britney spears. but i do like a few of her songs. i like "dance until the world ends" (because it always reminds me of arielle's recent birthday where sarah almost got arrested... lol. tyner academy 2005!). so, it came on for the second time and i couldn't let it pass me by. i had to get up so i did... i just couldn't help but dance. that was already the longest i've ever sat while music was playing without dancing or doing something. it's my weakness. lol. i think dancing is fun.. so it's like "why don't you want to go have some fun?" i don't understand it.
i was the only person dancing on the dance floor. and when i got up and started dancing, i realized that there was another side of the bar where lots of people were. and they were ALL looking at me. i had EVERY EYE. i hate to swear BUT I DO.. i swear! they were looking like "wtf is she doing?" lmao! every man and every woman was looking directly at me. if i would have known all those people were over there, i might have thought twice before getting up to dance but it was too late.. i had already gotten up.. couldn't turn around! i'm glad i did it though... nice to set the mood right away. the mood i was trying to set? i'm not from here and i'm swagging hard on you AND on your own territory! HA! lol. after a few songs, the rest of the girls joined me and we danced for hours, just us, alone together on the dance floor. there's probably pictures of it floating around on the internet somewhere because we had some paparazzi's constantly taking pictures of us.
then finally, the band we came there to see, a trinidadian band called "karma", took the stage. they were amazing. they had me "wining" (you know.. ? the dutty wine... but not as wild & "dirty". wining is not jamaican by the way. trinidadians claim to have given it to them. lol. they have been mad because they keep seeing people on BET [yes.. "black evil television" lol] thinking it's jamaiccan.). the band was so close and calling us out when they saw us getting down and just really interacted with us.. because we were basically the only fun...dancing.... "crunk" (what a great, descriptive word when you really know what it means!) people there. we were getting down!
towards the end of the set, i started to get tired. everyone made a move for the table. kenwyn got the message and we left as the show ended. i love to lime. and i slept so good.
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