June 29, 2012

Guyana Folk Festival 2012—Masquerade Lives.



CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Inc. 
&
 Department of Culture, Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports
Guyana Folk Festival 2012:  Symposium
“Masquerade Lives.”
Georgetown, Guyana
South America
December 13, 14, 2012

Guyana Folk Festival Secretariat
1368 E. 89 Street, Suite # 2
Brooklyn, New York, NY 11236
 U.S.A.
TEL: 718.209.5207 
FAX: 718.209.6157
WEBSITE: www.guyfolkfest.org   
 
MISSION

To organize an event that would contribute to public education and appreciation of the history and direction of masquerade in Guyana.

Rationale
In recent years masquerade has been in decline and for many; the few masquerade bands that take to the streets during the Christmas masquerade season are considered and treated as nuisances.  The mission of the 10th annual symposium is to collaborate with Guyana’s Ministry of Culture and other Guyanese institutions to create a space for public education, the examination of the deep heritage associated with Guyana’s masquerade traditions, especially its origins, history, international connections, and aesthetic dimensions--(costume, dance, music, craft, and performance).  The symposium also aspires to contribute to a strategy for the rehabilitation and promotion of the tradition.

OBJECTIVES: 

Specifically, the symposium will: 
Support the thrust of Guyana Folk Festival 2012—Masquerade Lives.
Contribute to the celebration and rehabilitation of the masquerade art form in Guyana
Identify, discuss and demonstrate the origins of the masquerade tradition in Guyana and its regional connections. 
Explore the factors that contributed to the diffusion and decline of the heritage in Guyana.
Explore the contributions of various institutions and personalities to the promotion and celebration of masquerade in Guyana—including Frank Pilgrim, Lavinia Williams, Billy Pilgrim, Errol Ross Brewster, etc.).
Identify and pay homage to Guyana’s masquerade pioneers—including  Joe Flounce, Bandula, the Blacketts, Boysie Sage, Bundarie, Putagee, etc.)
Create a space to showcase current trends in Guyanese and Caribbean masquerade performance.
Provide an opportunity for knowledge transfer through short workshops in basic steps, music, chanting/toasting, etc.
Provide a space to premiere the creation of new choreographies, music, poetry, etc. that celebrate Guyana’s masquerade heritage and promote new aesthetic directions.
Facilitate the collecting of materials for dissemination in Guyana Folk magazine and the academic press; to support scholarly research, for depositing in the Caribbean Collection of the University of Guyana, and for immediate use in radio and television programming in Guyana and elsewhere.

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS--PAPERS, POSTERS, VIDEOS/FILMS, PERFORMANCES, ART, POEMS, MUSIC, PHOTOGRAPHS

Potential topics include but are not limited to: 

Origins of the art form
Immigration, class, and transferal and transmission of masquerade
The poetics of the masquerade: literary expressions
Masquerade as graphic text (PAINTING)
Costuming: meaning and subtexts
The masquerade band and community pride
Masquerade as public spectacle
Masquerade and foreign policy
Masquerade and CARICOM festival arts
The Music(s) of Masquerade
Masquerade and the Bhoom
Masquerade and biography
Masquerade as a socio-historical unit in curricula in schools

THE PROCESS

Persons interested in participating in any of the forms of expression are invited to register by proposing a provisional topic by August 15, 2012.  Paper and other abstracts are due by September 30, 2012.  Abstracts should not exceed 300 words in length and should be sent in electronic form or hard copy to the Symposium Organizing Committee (Dr. Vibert Cambridge (Ohio University), Dr. Juliet Emanuel (The City University of New York), and Dr. Michael Scott (University of Guyana] c/o Dr. Vibert Cambridge (cambridg@ohio.edu), Professor Emeritus, School of Media Arts and Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701.  


Georgetown, Guyana
June 28, 2012

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The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

June 27, 2012

Caribbean-American Kids and Bullying





I am working on the e-book version of my first published children's book, Grandpa Sydney's Anancy Stories, which is now out of print. The story uses the story, "Anancy, Snake, and Tiger," to teach a valuable lesson about bullying.

Here's a synopsis:

Jimmy Harrison loves school and his favorite subject is snack time! But when a new boy, Kevin, joins his class, he begins to bully Jimmy and the rest of the children. What's worse, he begins to take away Jimmy's snacks. Using the wisdom from his Grandpa Sydney's story about "Anancy, Snake, and Tiger," Jimmy overcomes the class bully. And for one Sunday, he reunites his family for dinner.

Set in the multicultural environment of South Florida, Grandpa Sydney's Anancy Stories draws on the rich oral tradition of Anancy stories that are told and re-told in Jamaica and the Caribbean. These Anancy stories, which originated in West Africa, are rich sources of wisdom that have been passed down from generation to generation.

I wrote Grandpa Sydney's Anancy Stories because many Caribbean-American children don't know about Anancy stories, which contain many valuable lessons about conflict resolution and demonstrate that problems can be resolved by using our wits instead of our fists. Second, sometimes our children are the targets of bullies because they are perceived as "different." Many of our children in order to "fit in" and to escape the taunts of bullies, suppress aspects of their personality that make them special. This often means shedding their Caribbean identity as well. Third, I love to tell stories in which the conflict is resolved without resorting to violence.

I hope to release the book by the end of June, Caribbean-American Heritage Month. In the meantime, why not check out Marcus and the Amazons, which has a similar theme of non-violence. It also  combines the life of two heroes, one from the Caribbean and the other from North America: Marcus Garvey and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 


If that ain't Caribbean-American, then I don't know what is.






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The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.


Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

June 25, 2012

Hurricane Andrew: 20 Years Later


Graphic by Anna Philp
(7 years old)



By Geoffrey Philp


When Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida on August 24, 1992, my family was unprepared for the disaster. Sure, we had heard the warnings, but we had been lulled into a sense of complacency by years of frantic preparation, followed by an anticlimactic shift in the path of the hurricane, and then, nothing. All that work in vain.


And you would have thought that I'd have known better. After all, I grew up with my mother's stories about Hurricane Charlie and still had a lamp and battered Sony transistor radio that she had brought with her from Jamaica.


So, when the warnings began, we didn't pay attention to them. Another day in the tropics. In fact, we almost treated them as a joke. One of my friends when he heard that I was buying bully beef and other canned goods, gave me a bottle of Barbancourt (nice gesture, bad idea) as part of my hurricane preparedness.


We continued with our carefree lives until Hurricane Andrew made landfall in the Bahamas. Now things were getting serious. All of the major home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Lowe's ran out of plywood. I scrambled to buy five sheets of 3/4" plywood for $30 each from a guy on the back of a pickup. I installed them myself. Imagine a poet with power tools.


I did a pretty good job on the windows facing the street, but the windows in the back were still exposed. I did what my neighbors did. I covered the windows with duct tape (another bad idea) and barricaded the doors.


All night huddled around the kerosene lamp and transistor radio, my family and I listened to the stories of strangers who were on the verge of losing everything--roofs blown off, flood waters rising. Sometimes while fiddling with the dial, we'd listen to some music, but then we'd return to the somber stories. The stories reminded us of how small we were in the face of such an immense force of nature and yet it reinforced our connections with each other: past, present and future.


The next morning we emerged from the cocoon of our home to witness the destruction. Some of our neighbors had lost their homes. Now the stories were personal. My daughter said, "Dad, you have to write a poem. I'll help you. I'll draw a picture."


After breakfast, we settled down to our tasks. I wrote the poem, "Heirlooms" and my daughter drew a picture that I've kept for all these years. Writing and drawing kept us from being depressed about our post-Andrew discomforts. They were easy distractions from the mayhem in Miami that continued for a few months until life got back to normal. If life in Miami can be considered normal.


Since then, we've replaced the plywood with metal shutters and as part of our emergency plans we have an ample supply of water, candles, canned goods as part of our Disaster Supply Kit. We also pay more attention to the hurricane warnings, for as my daughter used to say to her little brother "Be careful, but not fearful."



Heirlooms

Through the garbled signals of a transistor 
radio my mother kept for hurricanes like this,
but never like this,
we scan for the next location of ice, 
water, food, and catch the edge 
of a Caribbean tinged station, 
fragments of a Marley tune,
"No, woman, nuh cry, everything's
gonna be all right," and my son, 
barely nine months, who cut a tooth 
while Andrew gnawed through the Grove,
dances with his mother by the glow 
of a kerosene lamp, preserved 
through airport terminals and garage
sales--and, as the window splintered-- 
the house glittered for a moment 
before the walls fell flat--stood
on the mantle of the fireplace 
we never used.In the midst 
of the rubble these, our only heirlooms, 
bind us against the darkness outside,
all that she could ever give,
all that we could ever pass on 
or possess: this light, this music.





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Caribbean-American Values


Graphic by Don Rico Ricketts



By Geoffrey Philp



During this year's Haitian Flag Day ceremony at Miami Dade College, Beatrice Louissaint, CEO of the Southern Florida Minority Supplier Development Council, spoke eloquently about the values that have helped her to achieve her much deserved success. In her speech, Ms. Louissaint drew upon her experience of leaving Haiti "equipped with 6 words of English and a strong family heritage," and attributed her meteoric rise with the Caribbean-American community to her "Six Great Loves": "God, family, self, education, hard work, community and country."


It was a moving speech and for many Caribbean-Americans in the audience, it was a confirmation of the values to which many of us have committed our lives. These values have shaped our identity and have laid the foundation for our success.


Yet, the list is incomplete. For I would add justice.


Justice has been the cornerstone of the Haitian/Caribbean revolution, which began in Bois Caiman under the leadership of the Jamaican mystic, Boukman, and was guided by the Haitian general, Toussaint L'Ouverture. As C.L.R. James argued in The Black Jacobins, one of the first official acts of Toussaint L'Ouverture was to put an end to slavery, the greatest injustice of the era: "Slavery was forever abolished. Every man, whatever his colour, was admissible to all employments, and there was to exist no other distinction than that of virtues and talents" (263).


Justice is a human value and gives meaning to our lives. Without justice, we are reduced to existence that is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short." It is this love of justice that is echoed in many national anthems of the Caribbean and in the lyrics of beloved songwriters such as Peter Tosh: "I don't want no peace/I need equal rights and justice" ("Equal Rights").


It is because of the grave injustice that was committed against a leader of the first and largest economic justice movement in the USA, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, that many of us are petitioning President Barack Obama to exonerate Mr. Garvey and to clear his name of any criminal wrongdoing.


If you are a lover of justice, please add your name to the petition:




We are petitioning President Barack Obama to exonerate the Rt. Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey, leader of the first and largest economic justice movement in the USA and the world, and the first named National Hero of Jamaica.

On January 12, 1922, Marcus Garvey, founder of the UNIA, was arrested by the Bureau of Investigation and charged with mail fraud. In 1925, Marcus Garvey began serving a five-year sentence in the US penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. After several appeals, his sentence was eventually commuted by President Calvin Coolidge, and he was deported to Jamaica. It is now abundantly clear (and legal scholars agree) that Garvey did not commit any criminal acts, but as Professor Judith Stein has stated, “his politics were on trial."

We think the President will agree that this year, 2012, the 125th anniversary of Marcus Garvey's birth, is a most timely moment to correct this historic miscarriage of justice.



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Disclaimer of Endorsement



The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.


Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

June 23, 2012

Template to Obtain a Proclamation for Universal Marcus Garvey Day




This year marks the 125th birthday of Rt. Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, a leader of the first and largest economic justice movement in the USA.

As a tribute to the father of the Pan-African movement, we would like to celebrate his birthday in every town, city, county, and state that has benefited from the life and work of Marcus Garvey by issuing a proclamation, which designates August 17, 2012 as Universal Marcus Garvey Day.

If you would like to join in our efforts, here are a few suggestions.

1. The first step is to contact your local city government and read their protocols about how to obtain a request for a proclamation. Here is an example from the Miami Dade County web site: http://www.miamidade.gov/officeofthechair/protocol_award.asp

2. After you send the letters, call the office and verify that your representative has received the letter.

3. You many include the sample proclamation with your request. For more information about Marcus Garvey, please follow these links:
http://www.international.ucla.edu/africa/mgpp/facts.asp

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/

http://www.biography.com/people/marcus-garvey-9307319


4. Follow up in a timely manner all requests from the analysts. If they request a sample of a proclamation,please use the following:

Sample

Whereas Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, on August 17, 1887, and emigrated to the United States;

Whereas Marcus Garvey was the founder and leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the largest Black organization in history, which was dedicated to the economic, social, and political empowerment of African Americans and the fostering of unity between all people of African descent;

Whereas Marcus Garvey's movement for humans rights, economic self-sufficiency, and cultural solidarity for peoples of African descent attracted millions of followers in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and Europe;

Whereas Marcus Garvey's philosophy of uniting the people of the African Diaspora around a recognition of their common heritage and his teachings regarding pride, self-help, and identification with Africa inspired Black leaders throughout the world, including W.E.B. DuBois, Kwame Nkrumah, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King;

Whereas  in 1964, Marcus Garvey was officially declared Jamaica's first National Hero; and

Whereas Marcus Garvey is recognized as a towering figure in African, African American, and world history; and

Whereas the year 2012 marks the 125th Anniversary of Marcus Garvey's Birthday, the 90th Anniversary of the marriage of Amy and Marcus Garvey;

Now, therefore, be resolved it  that _____________ does hereby recognize Marcus Garvey's birthday and does hereby declare Friday, August 17, 2012, to be "Universal Marcus Garvey Day" in the ____ of _____________________.

5. After this is finished, contact us @babagarvey@gmail.com
and continue with the work of honoring the legacy of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey by signing the petition:

http://bit.ly/KqUrGh


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The 2013 Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize





The Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize is an annual award which allows an emerging Caribbean writer living and working in the Anglophone Caribbean to devote time to advancing or finishing a literary work, with support from an established writer as mentor. It is sponsored by the Hollick Family Charitable Trust and the literary charitable trust the Arvon Foundation, in association with the non-profit organisation the Bocas Lit Fest.

The Hollick Arvon Caribbean Writers Prize will be offered annually, initially for the next three years, and across three literary genres: fiction in 2013, non-fiction in 2014, and poetry in 2015.

The Prize

The Hollick Arvon Prize, with a total value of £10,000 (approx. US$16,000), consists of:

1.    a cash award of £3,000 (approx. US$5,000)
2.    a year’s mentoring by an established writer
3.    travel to the United Kingdom to attend a one-week intensive Arvon creative writing course at one of Arvon’s internationally renowned writing houses
4.    three days in London to network with editors and publishers, hosted by Arvon, in association with the Free Word Centre and the Rogers, Coleridge & White literary agency.

The winner of the 2013 Hollick Arvon Prize will be announced in March 2013. Presentation of the prize will take place in April 2013 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Eligibility

To be eligible for entry, a writer must:

1.    be of Caribbean birth or citizenship, living and working in the Anglophone Caribbean and writing in English
2.    be over the age of 18 by 30 September, 2012
3.    have had at least one piece of creative writing of no less than 2,000 words published
4.    not yet have published a full-length book in the genre category.

How to enter

Each entrant may make only one submission for the 2013 Hollick Arvon Prize. Each submission must include:

1.    a maximum of 3,000 words from a work in progress which the Prize will allow the writer to advance or complete. This may be an excerpt from a novel or from a series of short stories
2.    an outline of the entire work in progress and how the writer plans to develop it
3.    a statement of no more than 500 words about why your work should be supported by this Prize
4.    a copy of up to two pieces of previously published creative writing (not exceeding 2,000 words each). An extract from a longer work is acceptable. State the date and place of publication
5.    a completed entry form

Note: all submissions should be typed with double spacing.

Submissions must be made electronically. Please send all submission materials attached to a single email addressed to info@bocaslitfest.com. The email subject line should read “Hollick Arvon Prize”.

Deadline

The 2013 Hollick Arvon Prize opens for entries on 30 June, 2012. The closing date is 30 September, 2012, at 6 pm TT time. No late entries will be accepted.

Judging

The Hollick Arvon Prize will be judged by a panel comprising representatives of the Hollick Family Charitable Trust and the Arvon Foundation, an agent from the Rogers, Coleridge & White literary agency, and up to three representatives of the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. The Prize will be administered by the Arvon Foundation and Bocas Lit Fest, in conjunction with the Hollick Family Charitable Trust.

For any queries about eligibility requirements or the submission process, please contact the prize administrators at: info@bocaslitfest.com or follow this link: http://www.bocaslitfest.com/hollick-arvon-caribbean-writers-prize.html

***


June 22, 2012

Geoffrey Philp: IRIE FM




On Sunday, June 24, 2012, I will be interviewed on IRIE FM at 8:00 a.m by Andrea Williams during her popular radio show, "Running African." 


Andrea and I will talking about the online petition to exonerate Marcus Garvey and my children's book, Marcus and the Amazons, which combines the life and work of Marcus Garvey and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


You can tune in and listen on the web this weekend. IRIE FM is offering a free two day trial: https://listenlive.iriefm.net/subscribe/trial


Have a great weekend!

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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.


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Disclaimer of Endorsement

The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Malachi Smith @ 22° Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín





http://www.festivaldepoesiademedellin.org/pub.php/es/Festival/22_Festival/Comunicados/21.html

Here is Malachi's schedule:

Centro Co
mercial Puerta del Norte. Sunday June 24, 2:00 p.m.
Corporación Jurídica Libertad. Monday June 25, 5:30 p.m.
Plazoleta CAMI de Itagüí. Tuesday June 26, 6:30 p.m.
Entrerríos . Wednesday June 27, 5:00 p.m.
 Casa de la Cultura de la Comuna 15. Thursday June 28, 7:00 p.m.
Teatro Lido. Friday June 29, 6:30 p.m.
Closing Ceremony.  Teatro Carlos Vieco. Saturday June 30, 4:00 p.m.

"The Role of Poetry in Globalization" by Malachi Smith
http://www.festivaldepoesiademedellin.org/pub.php/en/Festival/22_Festival/Comunicados/03.html


Congratulations, Malachi!

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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.




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Disclaimer of Endorsement



The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.

Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator: Realization of a Bold Dream




Harvesting the Creative Reservoir of our Cultural Community 

By Marva McClean

Dreams do take you to far-away places! More than a decade ago, Rosie Gordon-Wallace launched Diaspora Vibe Gallery at the BakeHouse Studio in 1996. What began as a six-month program for emerging artists has now evolved into a yearlong, incubator space, nurturing, celebrating, and affirming the work of artists throughout the Diaspora. Today, Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator has evolved into a platform of multiple levels, including a web village, incubator space and international forum. This has been made possible through the commitment and dedication of both the artists themselves and a group of community stakeholders who have joined the organization in harvesting the creative reservoir of our cultural community.

Throughout the years, Diaspora Vibe has showcased the work of outstanding artists such as Patricia Roldan of Florida, Nicole Wynter of Jamaica, Asser Saint Val of Haiti, Paul Salva from Russia, Deborah Jack from St. Maarten, Caroline Holder of Barbados, Jean Chiang of China, Wura Ogunji of Nigerian and American heritage, Erman from Cuba and Brian Wong Won of Trinidad, Kurt Nahar from Suriname, and Elvis Lopez from Aruba; all working in a variety of artistic media that defy boundaries and typecasting.

The organization’s work has evolved to include production of literature, which goes beyond the traditional collateral to include articles and commentaries on our websites, artist portfolios, and catalogs. Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator has led artistic missions to Grenada, St.
Kitts, Santo Domingo, Aruba, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico and has introduced their patrons to an eclectic mix of creative people, including authors.

Art in all its diverse forms allows us to tell our story in our words and colors with vibrancy, etching in the nuances that speak to heritage and our cultural identity; for it conveys our values and worldview. With the support of our entrepreneurial team of board members, we have embarked on some very successful fundraisers including Midnight Indulgences, Dining4Diaspora, and Seize the Pen. In addition DVCAI has met with success in securing funding from national foundations such as the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Ford Foundation, Surdna Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, State of Florida Department of Cultural Affairs and Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs.

As we celebrate Caribbean Heritage Month, I invite you to join us as we continue to challenge society to open its mind to new ideas concerning art and to assert the central role that Diasporic artists play in the shaping of culture and the community. Let’s continue to focus our attention on erasing any residual vestiges of elitism that has impacted the art movement. Together we will work to enrich the history of art across the borders of Dade County through to the state, national, and international levels. Art is what holds the human race together. It speaks persuasively to the mind and spirit of all of us, regardless of our location, disposition, race or gender. Art is truly the magic of the mind.


For further information contact:

Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Ex. Director | Curator
Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc
686 NE 56 St.
Miami Fl. 33137
786-536-7801
305-542-4277
rogwall3@yahoo.com



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Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot receives a percentage of the purchase price on anything you buy through links to Amazon, Shambala Books, Hay House, or any of the Google ads or Google Custom Search.



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Disclaimer of Endorsement



The documents posted on this Web site may contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for visitors' convenience. I do not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any linked information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to other Web sites or agencies is not intended to assign importance to those sites and the information contained therein, nor is it intended to endorse, recommend, or favor any views expressed, or commercial products or services offered on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites, by trade name, trademark, manufacture, or otherwise.


Reference in this Web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the site's visitors, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this blog.

June 20, 2012

A Nostalgic Peek at Jamaica's Past

Kingston Nostalgia 1
The Tramways of Kingston , Jamaica

by

Allen Morrison


The island of Jamaica is about 50 miles wide and 150 miles long. Its north coast is about 100 miles south of Cuba and 100 miles west of Haiti . Jamaica was a British colony from 1655 until 1958; it became a fully independent state in 1962. A steam railroad that opened in 1845 between its capital, Kingston , and Spanish Town was one of the first railroads in the Americas , preceded only by lines in the U.S. , Canada and Cuba . Kingston 's population was about 50,000 in 1900, is about 100,000 today.


The Jamaica Street Car Company inaugurated a horsecar system in Kingston on 13 November 1876. Trams circled the central area and reached Rae Town on the east, May Pen cemetery on the west, and Constant Spring 6 miles north of the city. The vehicles came from John Stephenson Co. in New York . No suitable picture of them could be found, but here is a JSCC token:


Kingston Nostalgia 2



West India Electric Co., registered in Canada , purchased the horse tramway on 4 December 1897 and began electrification. WIEC's president was an officer of the Montreal Street Railway Co., which seems to have supplied Kingston 's first 30 electric trams. (They were similar, but not identical, to open cars that ran in Montreal in the 1890s.) Kingston 's first electric line, from the tram depot on Orange Street to the foot of King Street, was inaugurated on 31 March 1899:




Kingston Nostalgia 3



The second postcard shows a similar view on Orange Street at Victoria Garden, also known as The Parade and today called William Grant Park. Electric trams bore even numbers (10, 12, 14, etc.). Track gauge was 56 1/2 inches. Operation was left-hand on two-way streets:


Kingston Nostalgia 4



Jubilee Market was opposite the northwest corner of Victoria Garden. Tram routes were identified by colored lights and destination boards on the ends and sides of the roof – as in Montreal . This tram is signed " Half Way Tree & Hope Gardens ":


Kingston Nostalgia 5

WIEC's trams did a good business bringing produce from rural areas to the city's markets. Extra cars were placed on the Constant Spring and Hope Gardens lines.



Kingston Nostalgia 6



Trailer cars bore uneven numbers (11, 13, etc.). In the early years of the 20th century United Fruit Co. ran banana trains over WIEC tracks from Constant Spring to Jubilee Market.. The cars were pulled by electric locomotives at first, but later were attached to WIEC's trams.



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Terminus of the Rockfort Gardens line. The photographer was facing east.


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Tram 34 at the terminus of the Hope Gardens line at the end of Papine Road.. Note inscription "The West India Electric Co. Ltd." on the side of the car.


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A passing siding on Papine Road:


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An earthquake in 1907 took 800 lives and damaged large sections of the Kingston tramway system. Five cars were destroyed, but partial service resumed within a few days:


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Luckily, WIEC had ordered six new trams the previous November from J. G. Brill Co. in Philadelphia . Here is a page from that company's monthly publication [Brill's Magazine, Philadelphia , 5/1907, p. 91]:


Kingston Nostalgia 12



The 1920s brought new prosperity to the city and a new operator to the tramway system. On 25 May 1923 the WIEC was absorbed by a new Canadian organization, Jamaica Public Service Co., which thereafter provided all electric utilities on the island. TheMcGraw Electric Railway Directory of 1924  reported 39 passenger motors cars, 1 motor service car, 1 motor freight car, 6 trailer freight cars and 2 locomotives operating on 26.62 miles of track in Kingston. The photograph below was taken on King Street about 1930:

This colorized postcard shows another section of King Street in 1930:




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The World Survey of Foreign Railways, published in 1933, recorded 44 passenger motor cars, 5 passenger trailers and 2 freight trams running on 43 km of track in Kingston. Apparently the company acquired many more vehicles after 1907 (although no more orders were received by U.S. builders). The photograph below was taken in 1939 at the end of the Hope Gardens line [see map]. The car is in the same position as tram 34 in a postcard view above:





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This busy scene is dated February 1944:



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The last photograph on this page was taken in November 1944. Scene is the terminus of the Constant Spring line, where, 40 years earlier, United Fruit Co. loaded its banana trains for their journey over tramway tracks to the city:


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Jamaica Public Service Co. closed the Kingston tramway system on 10 May 1948. JPSC claimed that it could not afford to maintain the right-of-way or construct needed extensions. The entire system, all lines, ran until the end. Company records indicate that, because of a public protest, the Rockfort Gardens line  continued operation for a few more months, until approximately August 1948.


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Detail of the previous photograph. An unusual aspect of the Kingston tramway was that all its passenger cars seem to have been identical – and remained identical and unchanged throughout their lives. They were superbly maintained, but were all sold for scrap in 1949. What a shame that one of these magnificent vehicles – 50 years old but as good as new – was not preserved!


***


I have been trying to locate the source of this essay, which was sent to me by a colleague. I am posing it in the hope that I have not compromised "fair use." But it was too good not to publish. 


There's also a Facebook page with these photos and many more:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.272473626099122.79981.267658606580624&type=3

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