Carnival continues ...

40 days ago on October 15 our National Carnival season for 2011-2012 was launched. This is supposed to be the biggest and best carnival ever, as I understand it, as we celebrate 40-years of national carnival in SKN. Sugar Mas 40:40 is expected to be 40-days [and hopefully 40-nights] of really hot carnival action. I am not sure if the action is being designed to be NON-STOP action, but sometimes our people can be quite surprising, and seem to have the ability to rise to any occasion. So we have to wait and see, but be careful with holding your breath.

I am looking forward to Sugar Mas 40:40 officially opening tomorrow. Time have rolled around pretty quickly, and the last 40-days seem to have come upon us quicker than expected, and I suspect so too will the end of this carnival season 40 days down the road. Everybody gets their own personal amount of enjoyment  and  satisfaction from carnival. Carnival is a personal thing and what makes me happy may make you sad. So we all have to see to our own carnival happiness, and not try to stamp a particular brand of carnival joy on everybody's forehead. It is just a matter of respect.

I don't want t go off on respect and disrespect, because that is one of the big problems in our country today. Some of the 'brothers and sisters' going around saying 'nuff respect' are not respecting themselves, nor respecting anyone else, person or property. I don't see some of our leaders and the media trying to get their 2 cents in on the 'respect' bandwagon either. Some of whom we expect to be leading us in maintaining respect and virtuosity, seem to be equally disrespectful to us and our nation. Somethings seem to be insignificant and of no importance, but in the universal scheme of things 'it matters', and it is important, as it is significant. But we are not perfect and do not live in a perfect world nor society, but that still does not render some important things as insignificant.

We need to pray hard that the revelers and mas makers will indeed have respect for each other, and if they get to bouncing and colliding with each other in the band, as will be the case, that they do not have  any animosity with them, which can result in any altercation. I would not like to have to film our people on the ground scrabbling like some cat and dog fight. This is not what we do in SKN when we are having a 'jolly' good time. Of course our national security forces are always on hand to ensure that our people conduct themselves in an orderly manner. Given the new thrust of our national security now, I for one feel that I might want to take on the Sugar Mas 40:40 early jouvert morning jam, like from about 4 o'clock, an hour or two before sunrise. I leave the midnight to 4 o'clock slot for our hot, vibrant, and vivacious youths. Nuff said about that.

I was saying that I am looking forward to Sugar Mas 40:40, and I am pleased and must give GOD thanks that I am alive to witness 40-years of national carnival. I recall being involved in the first ever national carnival as an amateur photographer and assisting the professional contracted photographer Lloyd "MacPennies" Pennyfeather, Esq. Those were the days of the Pentax Spotmatic camera and the Sunpak flash. Those were also the days of Ektachrome bulk film. Those were the days that you spooled your own 'bulk' film [in a dark bath room, under your bed sheets, or a 'dark' bag, if you were lucky to have one] onto a reusable film cassette. For the simplicity of the camera/flash equipment I was amazed at the perfect quality of the slides from the carnival shows.

Back in the times when national carnival started Mac Pennies was the only professional and commercial photographer that I knew and associated with. There were other photographers but they were not offering what I needed, to wit,  hardware and information. MacPennies seem to be the agent for the Pentax camera and the Sunpak flash units, and could supply any photographic gear and equipment I required. Later MacPennies moved to commercial printing, computers and computing, and today his sons manage one of the biggest and best computer sales, service and marketing computer business operations in SKN. It is written "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it". But while some of the major competitive computer business in SKN are selling cameras and limited photo stuff, MacPennies Computers may have made a wise decision not to enter that area, even though it may have been the plank on which they now stand.

My most memorable national carnival experience was that first one. I can't recall any of the others national carnivals following, except the one where the carnival village stage was mysteriously burned down. It may be difficult to create a new carnival experience every year, but I think it is possible with fresh new blood, and if we tap into the old, experienced, retired, mas players and exponents of culture, that still exist in our Federation today. Politics in our country today is the great obstacle and provides "the excuse" for some narrow minded people to peddle their brand of politics with exclusion. It is time that we rise above that. It is unimportant if she or he is a PAM or a LABOUR supporter, but if she or he can make a contribution to our National Carnival product, why must she or he be hung out to dry?

The young folks we place in management are learning by example. We put them there, but we are still pulling the strings. I did not say they are like puppets,  but if they ever try to tie a knot in a string, and slow up or stop the pulling, someone will be in their office next year. So what? The evil ones may take you down, but GOD appoints, but on the other hand, many of us do not want to follow and obey God anyway. But still that is not the end of the world, and "doing the right, just, and correct thing" is to be preferred ... ALWAYS, no matter what the outcome. I hope that as we seek to make Sugar Mas 40:40, the best ever national carnival, we honestly give credit to ALL the people who have given to culture and carnival over the years, even before this National Carnival was introduced. We always had carnival in SKN, and since we talking carnival we should honour the official and unofficial movers and shakers, who made all this possible in SKN.

Some people have to be in it to feel it. Many of our family and friends are not able to be here in SKN to experience it, but no doubt they will, via their computer, live streaming where possible, video and still photos. I could imagine some of our people in Taiwan, Australia, Alaska, and God only know where, who will be content with seeing a snapshot of the action in SKN. Carnival in SKN is like no other Carnival anywhere on this earth. What we do in our carnival nobody else anywhere does it yet. [It is not me saying so, it is some of our Visitors and Tourists, and I am not saying what it is that we do ... you have to discover that for yourself]. Let us enjoy our Carnival as it is now, before someone comes along and [for spite] set out to change it. Some of them just grudge us.

Today my camera is resting for the National Carnival Sugar Mas 40:40 launch tomorrow. It is one busy photo weekend ahead ... but let us not forget GOD in all our mirth and merriment.

May the Carnival season of Sugar Mas 40:40, be "nationally" trouble free.