All right, then, for Moe Lloyd and anyone else who cant open BC Raw files, heres the whole thing..... Colour Me Good Michael-CTMy name is Michael Chan Tack and I am a director of a weekend green market aimed at sustainable development. I wouldn’t say I’m from any one part of Trinidad. I’m a Trini. So I’m from all over. I was born in Port of Spain but my parents took us down to South, Siparia. My mom is from South. My father was from Town but felt he needed to grow us up in a rural environment. Perhaps that’s where the grounding took place, that’s what impacted on the personality here this morning. I reside in Santa Cruz right now, though. I was raised by plenty villages. When I got married, I reminded our wedding guests that I am who I am because of the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. Fortunately, I was raised by many villages. Not that it completely defines me as the man I am, but it impacted me to a certain degree. I’m extremely proud of Siparia. We had Daisy Voisin, Ian Morris, personalities like that. There’s a dam in Siparia but it was a cut tail to go swim there. People lost their lives there, kids, too. Curiosity took us to explore but that could get you in trouble. Because you were brought up by a village and everybody had the authority to give you a cut-ass. If cut-ass was a Road March, I woulda win that every year! I got plenty cut-ass from plenty people growing up in plenty villages. I wouldn’t say I was miserable, but I had a free spirit. I got that from my dad. But, if being “miserable” as a boy led me to being the person I am today, I’m quite thankful for all the cut-ass I got. I had five brothers and two sisters. We’re a Catholic family. I grew up on a street with families with four and five and six children. Memories of childhood is what pushes you further down in your life. The friendships you created then are the said friendships you have today. We still very close, still pray for one another in a very beautiful way. I leave Santa Cruz and go to Siparia every time there’s a death in the village. You can’t tear yourself away. I have aunts and cousins there still. I have a brother in Miami, one in Atlanta. I had one in the Bahamas; he’s back. I had one in England ; he’s back. When you go out there, you realise there is no other place like Trinidad & Tobago. So you come back to your source. Some people come for Carnival, some for Christmas. They need that source to energize them to go back and face that world and survive. When Trinidadians and Tobagonians understand that we’re Caribbean men, like Stalin sang, that will augur well for our moving forward. We have to embrace the idea of the song, not shoot the messenger. Stalin’s song was about the human race, us. I’m extremely proud of my wife, Karen Sylvester, the premier landscape painter and artist. A wonderful mother, an engaging individual. And the highlight of her personality is her humility. The very first time we went out, I said to her, “You are the one who’s supposed to be my wife”. And that’s the way it unfolded: 14 years of marriage; two beautiful children, Nicolai, at form three in Fatima, and my daughter, Chezza, in form one at Holy Name. Who created this magical world around me? It couldn’t just come with the wave of a wand! But, if you ask who created God, that has baffled us for all time. It’s like perfection: you can never get there, but you strive to be better. I always want to be better today than yesterday. I want to be a better man, a better father, a better friend. If I haven’t improved today from yesterday, I would not have been true to myself. When you drive up to where we live, you see a house: when you get inside, you realize it’s a home. I love all genres of music. Music is life. The last CD I bought was a Pan Jammers. In my car, I log into Radio 100 and go back to when music was music. And sing out loud and carry on like a madman in my car. ‘Live Yuh Life Like Yuh Playing Mas’ by Kes and David Rudder sends a signal to all of us: our life is what it is and we have to embrace it. I am the manager and curator of Karen Sylvester’s studio in Santa Cruz. But I want to make it abundantly clear: I manage my wife’s work, not my wife. Being a husband and father is one job you cannot walk away from, although that is a problem our society faces. The men, whose moment of weakness and sweetness gave them a lifetime of responsibility, we need to get them to understand their role. People call out to me, “Hey, Chinee, how you going?” Now, I don’t mind. But if I call out, “Hey, Nigger, Hey, Coolie, how you going?” As I did on a trip down Icacos once, you will see how quick the place get quiet. And then, a burst of laughter came out and they said, “You know what? We like you!” We as Trinbagonians need to move away from prejudice. I don’t like people who stereotype. I don’t see white, black or purple. I see human beings. People tell me I’m a nigger because they never see a Chinee wine like that. The stereotyping again: they think a Chinee should be a stiffwaist man. Like Scrunter say, the oil in the coil come from South. I was asked to be a director of the Green Market after having a chat with [project co-founder, with his wife, Vicki Assevero] Wendell [Mottley]. We really wanted to bring people together, create synergy, and create entrepreneurs through sustainable employment. Anything people in Trinidad don’t understand, they give it a label that allows them to not bother to explore it: that is “a white people’ thing”. When you tell me the Green Market only has white people, I will take offence to it and try my best to explain to you, hey, it’s a market, and you meet different people from different parts of the world. Sometimes I walk newcomers through the market, give them a detailed introduction. The best thing about it is I love to engage with people. I love to greet people, tell them how happy we are to have them, how they are part of it. The down side is you wish the place would be flooded with people from 6am-2pm every Saturday. People might come to the market for entrepreneurial reasons, but the relationships being built here are lasting ones. Everybody takes an interest in everybody. You cannot define a Trinbagonian. The adjectives don’t come to describe the happiest people in the world, a people like no other. So, for me, the definition remains “out there”. There is no place like Trinidad & Tobago. I’ve been to North America over a period of time and the emptiness…. When you get back home, your whole life is filled!
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 16:28:04 +0000
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