I SHOULDN'T FEEL THAT WAY. I mean the way expressed in the headline for this post.

At least that's what people tell me who know a thing or two about the trials and challenges I have faced.

But what's the good of coming out the other side of really bad experiences if you're going to live like you did not actually come out the other side?

Shining is not about being an idealist in the negative sense that the word is usually applied.

Having high, clear, reasonable, productive ideals is not the same as being unrealistic. Having faith and hope is not the same as being starry-eyed or silly.

Balancing intact

Some of the most pragmatic folk I know still believe there is good in the world; even though they do not blind themselves to the bad therein.

Besides, if the world really is all sturm und drang, what's the sense in letting that force you into following a path you know damages, not just good people, but everybody? There's something to be said for walking in balance. It keeps us together inside.

Bad things happen and, yes, we get down. We are human, after all. But we also get up. And that's human, too.

Shining in life does not have to be grand or easy for the masses to point at and applaud. Really, shining is many a time the simple, dogged act of just getting up.

Perhaps my headline should more accurately read:

💭Get up and pick up a piece of the world with you.

How ya like me now?

Shine on

Happy New Year 2021!

Enjoy free to use photos by touching the link: Jhaye-Q Trinbago photograpy

Gain insight into the number one female ailment on the planet via: ABC Endo: A Trinbago Survivor's Guide

I'm always going on that we are not only about
sun, sea and sand. But, this once, I'll lead off
with all three, plus the TnT flag. Maracas Beach.

SOME LIVE BY A PATRIOT ACT, I live like a patriot, that's a fact!

Maybe you opted to bounce here from Patriot Act: A Drama of Convenience, or perhaps you'll want to swing by there (touch preceding link) after getting a gander at what I've put together here. Whatever order you take in these posts, you'll get clear insight into my love of flag, which is indubitably an extension expression of my love for my land, Trinidad & Tobago.

It's groovy to know that I always thought the TnT flag one of the best designed and eye-catching around the world. Other folk verbalise dissatisfaction: "Too plain"; "Too red"; "Tooooo ... not enough."

Sure other Caribbean flags are brighter, but there's something about those strong solids.
TnT flags in vending glory, Carnival 2020.

Years and years later, I began to notice that the Hollywood go-to power tie option often looked like alterations on the theme of the TnT flag. When I pointed this to others they protested, "No. It's variations on the American flag."

"Show me the stars," I prompted. Unh-hunh ...

I agree that the ties appearing on characters manifesting a certain "true blue" air were meant to reflect the USA flag. It's like that scene from the movie Adjustment Bureau, when Matt Damon's character, having just lost some election or other, exposes that his style of shoe was chosen for him, while a bevy of consultants had done major research studies to select the "ideal tie." Check it out: Matt, shoe and tie; and one similar design from a bunch online.

However, the basic design of diagonal stripe in the tri-colour combo of red, a dark and a light were turning up on slick, savvy characters from across continents.

The eyes have it!

Our vision naturally identifies symmetry, even within our personal preferences. So whichever flag the tie is meant to pay homage to, there's no escaping the fact that it looks more like the TnT flag than any other; and eyes around the world just love it.

I have spoken before of my fixation with flagspotting©: snapping shots of the Trinidad and Tobago flag whenever I spot it somewhere interesting, unexpected or just plain nice.

I am a patriot all the time, thus, I find the flag beautiful all the time. It fills me with joy to see when others showcase they feel the same way, too.

That's worth sharing, ent. Enjoy!

Shine on

Even when weather changes light and shade, my flag shows up!

Blue skies on sunny days makes all things want to soar.

Any place, any time, any reason or rhyme,
TnT flags just rock. I always anticipate
seeing how local mas' designers
incorporate the flag into creations.

Whatever the size, just as nice.

The images here are not available for use without permission. For free to use photos of sweet TnT, touch the link: Jhaye-Q Trinbago photography

"Life does throw shit at you; but it also throws flowers." -- The Dispossessed, co-author of novels Deep Love and Neverland, We Come

HOW DO YOU WALK through the world and not be struck?

What do you have to become to not experience this pain?

Listen, once you are a feeling human being, it is impossible to live in life and be safe in heart.

It might be difficult to imagine, but there are people like me who feel everybody's pain. So when we see things happening in our world, like the recent rioting in America, and now even home here in my Trinidad & Tobago, I feel the pain anybody is enduring, be they Black (and, YES, I do write it with a capital B), Caucasion, cop or average citizen.

Compassion and conscience do not see separation when they consider a person hurting.

No ... and that's what makes us want to demonstrate care: be it in an act of kindness or protection; a sweet show of understanding; the strong, simple-seeming choice to stand down even as we remain committed to continue the good fight.

Sometimes I feel all this feeling will make me keel over and die.

Cliche? Not if it's perfectly accurate. But better to keel than kill, I say.

Sometimes it is unendurable to imagine, much less witness, human beings doing unto others what they would never choose for themselves.

We should remember, always remember, there is so much more to us than hate and strife. That we have, not just the potential, but the power to be like we believe the angels to be ... and do.

Great, I'm crying.

I'm so mad at all the shit we do. Why must we? I mean, really, must we?

It's simple, truly: we do not have to hurt each other. We don't.

But we'll keep doing it, right. And inside ourselves we don't even stop to ask, "Why?"

When all feels like a wrecking ball do what I, and others, try to do: look for a beautiful thing.

Shine on

Desire more Caribbean view of life, link up: Jhaye-Q Shows
The images here are not for use, but for free photos: Jhaye-Q Trinbago Photography

This first image of a Carnival 2020 costume incorporated garbage bags, laundry hampers
and discarded elements: a dissertation on the beauty of recycling.

“... as required reference and research fount for the dire ... exhausted for authentic meaningful imaging in the Arts.” – LeRoy Clarke, Chief Ifa Oje’ Won Yomi Abiodun, Master Artist

THE CARNIVAL SUITE, Virginia Pacifique-Marshall’s compendium of traditional Carnival mas’ characters, features the very first words: Renewal of Faith.

Those who know little of the history of these characters specifically, and Trinidad and Tobago Carnival in general, may very well ask, “What does faith have to do with this festival.”

Ah, But our Carnival is all about faith!

As Pacifique-Marshall points out in the Introduction of her illustrated work:

“After Emancipation in 1838, the freed Africans took their own version of Carnival to the street. In commemoration of their release from slavery, they enacted the scene of cannes brulées (literally “burnt cane”: now known as Canboulay), on 1^st August, the date of their emancipation.” -- The Carnival Suite (Feature print story)

As is necessary, out of something so purposeful arose personage filled with purpose: every Traditional Carnival incarnation has a whole narrative behind it, with a moral for the masses. In fact, many of them actually vocalise these messages, like bards and storytellers of cultures myriad and ages old.

“Carnival has its own lexicon,” -- ibid

Civic responsibility dictates that all people, regardless of differences, should be "given a seat at the table.
Carnival demonstrates that "inclusivity," inviting in the differently-abled.

Even today, the festival features costumed “stage spectacle,” performance, re-enactment, et al with the intent to tell a tale. Even large bands highlight sections that are akin to chapters of a book, being one connected element painting a bigger picture.

All storytelling, be it verbal, printed, visual, is rife with messages meant to make better beings out of human beings: the stuff of which civic responsibility is made.

Tell it like it should be told

In any storytelling the implication may be overt or subversive, but it always casts some measure of onus on the “reader” to interpret and obtain. The term “I get it” is so small, yet so vastly significant a desired end in any kind of communication.

Translating the language of mas’ may require more effort from subliminal sinew to ensure effects are not missed.

I believe once you begin to look for the meaning in any art, all the right muscles get stronger and stronger still, until you start to see EVERYTHING.

Shine on

Carnival is used as a medium for civic-minded freedom of expression of creed.

Characters such as this Baby Doll and her pop culture icon beau stand as warning symbols to the masses:
here, pushing cautionary vibes about irresponsible reproduction.

Alpha to omega: another costume paying homage to recycling.
This disposable plates fairy queen from Kiddies Carnival 2018.

The photos here are not available for use (if you are the subject of the photo you get a bligh), but if you desire free, downloadable images of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2020 and 2019, touch the link: Jhaye-Q Trinbago photography

Trinbago Shine On