The Signifyin' Woman (Charmaine Valere)

Hitting raw nerves and hungry bellies

Global Voices Online: Haitians online, and others on the ground, are suggesting that exaggerated concerns about security and violence may be hindering relief efforts...

Tuesday evening (1/26/10), I saw a local news report on the "tear gas incident" mentioned in the Global Voices piece above. The report showed Haitians pushing and shoving each other as they waited on line for food, and it was reported that the tear gassing occurred after repeated requests by the security officials to stop the pushing and shoving were ignored.  I was angered by what I saw. Several factors appeared rather obvious--factors which more that explained the people's behavior, and which made the tear-gassing inhumane:

1. The food wasn't anywhere close to enough for all those people on line, and they--the food distributors--were idiotically handing out on a first come first served basis. Duh! Hungry people will try to get in front of the line for scarce food!

2. They were handing out bags of uncooked food--too heavy for some to carry--to individuals. Another majorly stupid-looking plan.

3. They--the food distributors--seemed ill-prepared to deal with the people on line. They were handing out the food from a vehicle (UN), and the process seemed no better organized than food drops from the air.

The news report pointed out (just as Georgia Popplewell observes in the Global Voices piece), "how badly it’s going [the distribution of aid], how supplies are failing to get to those who need it, and also how difficult the whole exercise is."

But aid distribution doesn't seem so difficult in some places. The news report compared relief efforts in other parts of Haiti, where tents are in place for people to reside, and where the food distribution is adequate and better planned.

It seems, as always, the hungriest are the ones being treated the worst. The tear-gassing incident was injury on top of injury and horrendously inhumane.

Winter thought

There's only one tree with leaves on it within view from my office window. It's swaying in green splendor...mocking the other dry, grey, motionless ones this windy day, and its leafy branches are brushing against my window ever so often...And all I can think is if it didn't have leaves, then it wouldn't be disturbing my ass while I'm trying to concentrate here.

Silver Dragon raises questions about American aid to Haiti

Silver Dragon speaks: According to the Associated Press “In the first four days after the earthquake, U.S. charities had received $150 million for Haiti — outpacing the response to both Katrina and the tsunami.”  While the world welcomes the outpouring of assistance from the people and government of the United States of America, I often take a more analytical view of everything.  I am not here to question the altruism of America, but rather to ponder the possibility of ulterior motives behind it.  Why the hell would America give so much so quickly now, especially when they’re still feeling the effect of the recession?  After all, since hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami occurred during better economic times, it would be expected that they would have given more then.  The Silver Dragon seeks to investigate this peculiar happening . . .

This whole situation raises a question in my mind.  Are the Americans giving out of the genuine kindness of their hearts, or are they trying to ‘fix’ Haiti quickly so that there would be no excuse for Haitians entering the US illegally?

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I am not ready to completely discard SD's logic (or line of thinking/questioning), but I tend to believe much of the rush to donate is a result of the guilt, anger, and embarrassment many Americans still feel about the deathly slow pace of aid to Katrina victims.  In that regard, I'm inclined to believe the incentive to give to Haiti is more in search of some kind of redemption, rather than a calculated move to keep Haitians out of America (as SD suggests).  Besides, if Americans really don't want Haitians here, there are so many other legal and less costly ways to keep them out.

What do you think?

How (or what) one might contemplate in the aftermath of natural disaster...

....

I stayed outside to wander in the night

to see what beauty might still be hidden

after the day had gathered in its toll of deaths

....

(Taken from Ian McDonald's "Lightning in the Fall")

Music Monday: Perfect for a rainy Monday

 
Music from the late great Teddy Pendergrass...'ain't never had nobody please me through and through . . . baby only you...' 

Peter Piper pecker...

I'm a woman in my forties, and I'm not afraid to ask for what I want in bed. More often than not, I get what I ask for.  But that wasn't always the case.  When I was younger, I faked it more often than I care to remember mostly because I was too shy to talk about what pleased me.

Today, I'm a happy woman!

Here's Peter ruminating on female orgasms...

[Picture him, rum on the rocks in hand, side-eyeing some woman from a distance, and talking loudly enough for her to hear...]

I never quite understood this woman orgasm thing and I do not want any professional to explain it either, my ignorance makes it more intriguing, this women orgasm thing.

Why is it so hard for lots of women to get an orgasm? I mean as a man I can come, so to speak, by just looking. Some have called to task the man for being selfish, not wanting to try new “things”--West Indian men, that is. I do not know, but we get a bum rap for this and many ills affecting the woman.  Sex means different things to women and men; for me, it means I am getting sex. Sorry to be blunt, what else can it mean? I am not saying I don’t enjoy it, but that’s me and besides I don’t like putting too much meaning to everything.

I have had my fair share of wonderful moments making love to women--my kids appeared through doing it too. I have made women reach climax and I have been with some who I have serious doubts about what they reached...

There are so many books on this subject, and so many experts, but I think the only thing that gets screwed is the readers and their pockets. Many studies were done, so I am told, because I never read any, why should I? For me it is ok for a woman to lie to me about making her climax. Women will fake an orgasm to make you feel good too. I accept their lies though. I do not boast about my prowess because I must admit that lots of times I was not up to standard and they still called my name, yes Peter, yes Peter, yes Peter.  I know they were lying, but you know what? I did not give a *&^%, I came and called them wrong names too, so I guess we are even.

[At this point, he raises his voice a tad more because he realizes the woman is amused, and is paying much attention to what he's saying. You can almost picture him closing the deal with this part.]

I will continue to strive to make my women friends get an orgasm--those that are willing to help me help them; I owe it to the women of the world. Women have carried the weight of this world; they have carried us. I recommit to help them find that elusive thing called orgasm.

[Hear hear! Peter of the Humanitarian Pecker!]

Guyana blogs on Haiti

Caribbean Net News (01/21/10): Guyana will be sending its first shipment of aid to the earthquake-devastated Haiti by the end of this week as contributions both cash and kind continue to pour in.

The National Committee for Haiti Relief (NCHR) on Tuesday reported that it has so far managed to raise more than GY$230m (US$1.15m), after local commercial banks and the Guyana Police Force combined handed over GY$17.5m (US$87,500) to the committee on Tuesday.

“We hope we can make the first shipment of commodities this weekend and we are making arrangements as we speak to send these items to the staging area. We believe the swiftness of our response matters and while this is going to be a long- term effort, we are committed to helping our sister country's rebuilding. In the long- term, we are keen on the immediacy,” Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand, who is heading the NCHR said.

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From the blogs:

The Soul Stealer: I sympathise/empathise with my brethren in Haiti. A place forgotten because they stood up to the greatest war mastermind and defeated his army. The audacity of France to ask the people to pay for their freedom after they won it . . . We here in Guyana should be safe because we are protected by the Guiana Shield (unless those bastards lied to us)...

Millennialz: With a public debt of over two hundred and ninety billon dollars, atrocious toilet facilities at Stewartville primary school and others, a poor irrigation system in the city, very poor waste management practice etc can the Government of Guyana really afford to give away a dime?

Guyana Gyal: I think about Haiti . . . whether we Caribbean countries ever do enough to help we Caribbean sister-territory all these years.

Kwesi Isles: While my heart goes out to the people suffering in Haiti I have truly heard and seen enough. I don’t know if that makes me cold but it’s the truth. As a result I’m hardly on Twitter, just scanning the newspapers and definitely not looking at television . . . But do I really have to be broken up every time I see or hear the word Haiti? I was feeling sorry for Haiti before the quake and that hasn’t changed. As some people are opining, the quake may have been the best thing that happened to the country. They were going nowhere very fast. Something I’ve always believed and voiced is that disasters are some of the biggest unifiers...

"Out of time I carve a monument" -- from Martin Carter's "The Kind Eagle"

Out of time I carve a monument.

Out of a jagged block of convict years I carve it.

The sharp knife of dawn glitters in my hand

but how bare is everything tall tall tree

infinite air, the unrelaxing tension of the world

and only hope, hope only the kind eagle soars

and wheels in flight.

(Lines from Martin Carter’s “The Kind Eagle,” found in this collection.)

 

Today, as Haiti and Haitians continue to fight for survival, aided by folks all around the world, and on this day that many are celebrating the life and work of slain civil rights activist and leader, Martin Luther King Jr., two works of art by American artist Robert Indiana—the first sculpted in 1963/4, and the second in 2008—seem most apt symbols on which to reflect.

 

The two seem fitting representations . . . monuments carved out of two powerful sentiments of the 1960s and more recently of our times. 

 

What do you see in the lines (lines of the poem, and/or the sculptures)?

"Something pre-disaster is required" -- E.A. Markham (Against The Grain)

As the images of destruction in Haiti make their way around the globe, some are curious about what Haiti looked like before the earthquake.  In response to some of those questions from viewers, this evening a local television channel (here in the NY/NJ area) posted pictures of the devastated presidential palace alongside pre-disaster pictures of it during a newscast.  The reporter described the pre-disaster pictures of the palace as a beautiful testament to the strong will of the Haitian people, and mentioned that the palace had been built during the American Occupation.  He concluded that the palace had been built to last and was an extremely sturdy structure, and if that sturdy structure was so devastated by the earthquake, then imagine how the other structures on the Island must have fared. Interestingly enough, there were no other pre-disaster pictures of structures in Haiti besides those of the presidential palace posted during the newscast.

The ironies...the bloody American media...

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A few hours ago, Georgia Popplewell posted this one on Twitter:

Assuming this img was taken post-quake, unsurprising that bldgs in traditional style have withstood the quake http://bit.ly/6pCXJk #Haiti

Note: And if it isn't a post-quake pic, its value (as a pre-disaster image) certainly escalates. 

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Pre and post disaster images...unimaginable loss and horror...global comparisons and commentary...survival...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm currently reading (almost through) the late E.A. Markham's autobiographical Against the Grain, and he makes the following poignant note about Montserrat in the wake of a volcanic eruption in 1995, which made most of the island unliveable:

When it seemed likely that 'home' would never again be habitable, people began to be concerned not only about what was lost, but what it was to lose 'the place where your family is buried'. . . Around the world there are examples of human abuse on a scale and with a ferocity that no one in Montserrat has experienced--groups massacring other groups, governments massacring their own (and other) people.  That is much worse than suffering, collectively, the experience of hurricane and volcano where a certain psychic strength might be gained from the experience.  In most cases of social breakdown the question to address is that of bad governance.  One day the victims--those who survive--might hope for good government.  But if your entire geography is put beyond use, the best you can hope for is to be a good migrant . . .

The need to revitalize some aspect of Montserrat's lost geography, may have been the incentive for Markham's book.  He says:

After Hurricane Hugo in 1989 we raised money for relief.  But when after the 1995 volcano, people approached me in England to 'do something', I was at a loss to know how best to react.  I recall working in Germany in an art gallery in Koln, in the 1970s . . . What struck me as interesting, at the time, was how many of these artists were producing sketches of Koln and other German cities as they had looked before they were destroyed by bombing in the Second World War.  So, hurricane and volcano in Montserrat bring the Koln image to mind.  Something pre-disaster is required.

And back to Haiti...

It may be unfair, maybe even insensitive, of me to wish for more pre-disaster images of Haiti to be placed alongside the ones we're getting of its current disaster.  Imagine the local media being asked to find pre and post disaster images of Haiti that are as awesome and jaw-dropping as those of the once gleaming white palatial presidential residence?  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for Danticat to do that something.

Music Monday: Guyanese love and unity & Trinidadian puncheon and hard wine

...Perfect themes for Carnival, Mashramani, and just about any Caribbean cultural event anywhere. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-BslJQ8LL8

http://jusdre.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/puncheon-and-hard-wine/