Showing posts with label Haiti Earthquake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haiti Earthquake. Show all posts

Thursday, January 21, 2010

... hip-hop help Haiti heal ...

... there's a predisposition to sometimes label Generation Next as apathetic to world issues and detached from concepts of idealism and altruism ... a swathe of today society and the engine of the future to whom the whole concept of -isms is a dinosaur ...

... being a father of two young adults I have some insight into that relevant world ... it's to the benefit of all to pay attention to updates and note how newness develops ...

... a Jan.8th entry at http://www.pardonmyfresh.com/ matter-of-factly repped the Donations-For-Haiti Box at the Bape store in lower Manhattan ... I felt as proud as a Dad of the effort to contribute, 'cos as a father, I'd already been to this store ...
















... y'see, well before the earthquake in Haiti, on my last trip to New York City, I was dispatched there by my son who had eyes for Bathing Ape, Ice Cream, Billionaire Boys Club ... pricey street-fashion gear ... each a collection of edgy street-couture with that urban-cred requiring boutique-outlet addresses in the world's top style districts ...














... a store I may have only stumbled upon, or missed altogether, became a destination of purpose ... the Nipponese-Hip-Hop aesthetic screamed money and youth culture ... I felt cool, then soberingly uncool when asked not to take photos inside the store ... everybody knows there's espionage in the high-stakes image game ... doh! ...

... on my way out I snapped the bashy window display ... from outside of course ... the hot-footwear-on rotating-chrome display offering reflective visualization of the public image of hiphoprisy ... killer kicks ...















... emporia like Bape ... and afficionados from their target market responding to the catastrophe in the Caribbean go some way to proving that the two worlds, seemingly divergent, can and do have overlap at the point of conscience ... there's more than one way to make a difference ... props! ...

Sunday, January 17, 2010

... a Haitian Comfort zone ...

... one day, not so long ago ... a floating symbol of sanctuary, immunity and hope pulled into my world and dropped anchor ... the bold red-crosses-on-white-background altered the view for long enough that vacancy seemed palpably wrong when it left ...














... every day for weeks I had a great view of the itinerant coterie operating from USNS Comfort ... I observed them at work and came to know their patterns ... the ritual clacka-clacka of choppers readily invoked images of M.A.S.H. and war-zones ... I was witnessing one arm of the octopus that is U.S. influence in the Central American and Caribbean arena ...

... if my observations are anything to go by, the drills executed during weeks of non-crisis service will serve everyone well in the coming months in Haiti ... many a doctor has commented since international earthquake response began, on the need to evacuate critical cases from field units to medically equipped locations ... Comfort comes fitted, stocked and trained for this sort of situation ... they run a continuous succession of round-trip sorties, by air and sea, moving medics, patients and supplies, to and from the converted tanker ...

























... sailing from home port Baltimore this mercy craft/support vessel which saw duty in 9/11 Manhattan, the Iraq invasion to remove Saddam Hussein and hurricane Katrina, will reach Haiti in a matter of days ... this adds a flight deck which accomodates the largest helicopters, a thousand hospital beds and distilling plants which can turn 300,000 gallons of sea water per day into potable water ... not to mention the logistical expertise ...














... when raw power in imagery of stark destruction combines with emotionally demanding stories by the thousand, there has to be an attempt at balance with hopeful counterweight ... that's where my psychic energies go ...

... as Comfort drops anchor in Port Au Prince, hope finds another place to hang her hat ...

Thursday, January 14, 2010

... Ode d'Haiti ...
















great people have need for great faith ... I see symbiosis in this ...
forest visible through lack of trees ...
for survival and triumph and time evermore ...
outlive earthquake tremor and blow-down destruction breeze ...

inhabiting this poised vortex ... harmonic and balanced in flow ...
giggy-top axis at the heart of the globe ...
where the plant lives ... through shoot sucker and root ...
and sufferers trod true beat up the rockiest road ...

ours is to fortress bones-of-conquest ... raise up ties-that-bind ...
place Boukman to rest in I and I spirit ...
deep lively soul hero ... bobooo champion the groove ...
what break grow back stronger ... only Jah know human limit ...

and from stronger we overstand there's less that can shackle ...
to what fashion by hand of man ...
Eksperyans wiser sinew ... multiple density power of will ...
death and life stir-shaken ... to new beginning ... a next plan ...

vodoun vibes wail by instinct ... elemental ... divine and secure ...
holistic healing Earth movements in time ...
longer dan rope coil ... organic resilient regenerate ... build well ...
poultice wounded skin ... salve, destiny, riddim ... and rhyme ...