Special Thanks

I'd like to give a special thanks, a shout out in fact to the Internet. Thanks to you internet I am able to listen keep up with the diaspora music while at work and in my car (via my iPod). A further thanks to the good folks at you.tube for having such a service that enables me to watch the videos for those songs that would more then likely not appear on American MTV, VH1 or gasp BET.

Medhy Custos is back with a new single.


So I heard this new song on the internet radio from Martinique and it's been playing on my iPod on repeat. The song is by Admiral T and features a group called Kassav' who virtually propolled the Zouk phenomenon through out the Francophone world. I've been listening to Kassav's music since I can remember even listening to music. The message is about how together the country can be strong and prosper. Good stuff.



I just discovered this great Jamaican artist called Gyptian and I've been rocking some of his songs for the last few weeks.



Thanks again internt.

Desensitized?

On Monday afternoon I headed to the gym in my office building with a colleague and saw the breaking news about the Massacre at VT. I remember stopping for a minute thinking how messed up that situation seemed, put on my ear phones and started running on the treadmill. I looked at the images on the TV screen and remembered being annoyed that they were showing the same footage over and over again. I finished my workout, showered and went back to work.

Later that evening I joined my colleagues for a work sanctioned happy hour and on my way home I just kept having that feeling that this whole incident/catastrophe was just so removed from my life. Sure it occurred four hours away and there are a gazillion VT grads in the DC metro area but I didn’t know any of them or even anyone who was there. I remembered a conversation that happened on my list serve about what type of violence/crime a neighborhood or area was used too and the shock when something equally violent and horrific occurred that wasn’t part of the general status quo. I started wondering if school shootings, mass murders were starting to be part of our general status quo and got worried.

The next morning the victims and the families of the victims started talking and expressing their grief and disbelief and it finally hit me that I too was shocked, saddened that so many lives were lost and realized that no matter what the numbers were, not matter that this shooter achieved a new US record that even one victim was one too many. Over the last few days we’ve been discussing the need for more gun control, the need for more mental health interventions and what exactly could have been done to prevent this. Hopefully we all figure it out before it just becomes the norm.

Before It's Too Late

I need to talk about my Saturday night a few weeks ago. I went to see one of my favorite Haitian groups play and had the most amazing time. That night I partied like a rock star and was up until about 4 AM but it didn’t matter that I spent all of Sunday in recovery mode. Like seriously I had such a good time I can still remember how the “happy” endorphins entered my system when they played hit after hit. I’ve been pretty down because of work lately and day dreaming about how much fun I had helps to take my mind of this crummy project I’m working on.

So now I’m listening to this song with my headset on and trying not to rip my hair out. Serious though, I love listening to my Island music as my friends call it. It takes me back to happier times when I was partying like a rock star.

Lost

No this post isn't about the show, although I've heard it's great since a friend/acquaintance who I never talk to on the phone called me yesterday out of the blue because she was looking for someone to discuss it. I've never actually watched it since I can't keep up with all the L&O's currently on and now that the Sopranos are back I can't tackle on another show right now.

This post is actually about how we somehow LOST Spring. Have you seen it where you are? Ours disappeared from the DC Metro area. I went from getting a pedicure on Saturday wearing open toed shoes on Monday and Tuesday to some tiny snow flurries on my way into work in Northern VA this morning. WTF!