Birthday Cake Politics

It recently occurred to me that even in birthday cakes there is politics. At a child’s party it is the most political item there. Firstly its color speaks to the sex of the celebrant that could be considered sexist and therefore very politically incorrect but who’s counting. Then the way its decorated speaks to preferences, skill level (if homemade), age bias – who came up with the brilliant idea of putting candles on it to indicate maturity level?- and dependent on age, pyrotechnic ability.

But the real politics comes when it is time to cut the cake. Initially, the party child chooses a cohort who shares his or her limelight, that child’s status among party goers is immediately elevated. Then there is the obligatory singing happy birthday and blowing out the candles. The real money event is however the cake cutting. Now I’m not certain how it works but where I‘m from some people believe that there is luck to be associated with the person who wins the cake cutting race. However that race is fixed by virtue of the fact that the invited child dare not beat the party child at the race because if that happens, for the rest of the party he/she would be a party outcast.

Then there is the division of the cake or spoils if you will. The party child designates to the party Mom who gets what. The most coveted pieces are the with the name, which the child usually saves for himself; the writing pieces – Happy and Birthday – never were so exalted and the much overlooked aces in the hole, the corner pieces blessed to have two sides of icing for the lucky recipient. When these treasures are dispersed through cronyism, the rest of the general public lucky enough to attend the party line up to have the “what-left”, divided up amongst them. But even this is hierarchical because Mom still has the ability to decide on thickness and size of slices, while making sure to set aside some to be left for those belonging to the party household to enjoy in days to come kind of like an austerity measure.

I’m sure by now the metaphorical significance of birthday cake politics has not escaped the keen observer of the political scene especially in a general election year. How the spoils are divided up is always interesting as well as cake cutting partners, who is invited to the party and what Mom reserves for herself. Oh to have ones cake and eat it too!! Selah.

Bring Back Hillary

Has anyone noticed how uninspiring the political landscape has become ever since that epic battle between Democratic Presidential hopefuls, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton ended? It was so awesome that now, everything after that seems ho-hum. Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain simply does not have a commanding presence and even his party seems to be worn out now that the clash of the titans has ended. That party does not have anyone to be the subject of their ire, so much so, it’s as if the President has been selected and there is no more fight left.

But how wrong are we if we think that it’s over. That’s why I would like to suggest that the Democratic Party bring Hillary back to the campaign trail, for real. Not a couple of days of a grin and bear it tour like what we saw recently, but a as a running mate. You know one can say what you want about Hillary but what you have to acknowledge what she does well, and that is raise hackles. She is a fighter, a scrapper and an individual that is passionate about what she does. Her passion elicits passion in others and that is what the Presidential campaign is lacking now.

It’s funny that the Democrats have not won and the Republicans have not lost yet but everyone is presupposing same and that is a dangerous thing. If through this presupposition voter turnout is low, then a race that was formally thought to be in the bag could perceivably be a lost bag, just like that. When Hillary is around she attracts attention, like her or dislike her, she is good for the political process. I put it to you this way, when was the last time you paid attention to what going on in the race now? Even the media houses are bored with this vacant faceoff. Hillary’s presence causes people to act and that is good for everyone, Democrat and Republican alike. I’m just saying!!! Selah.

Bull Buck and Duppy Conqueror

Recently, my youngest who is in the throes of her ‘no I will not stage’ was standing with her arms folded at her chest, eyebrows knitted, looking up from under at me. Her father walked by and snickered and all I could think was, “Look at this little girl trying to scare me as if she’s some Bull Buck and Duppy Conqueror.”

Bull Buck and Duppy Conqueror, Bull Buck and Duppy Conqueror!! Very few of us in the world have the distinct pleasure or occasion of using such a fine idiom. It’s totally Jamaican and possibly one of the most colorful terminologies that I remember from my childhood. I don’t even know its origin but Bull Buck and Duppy Conqueror always conjured up images of a swash buckling obeah practitioner facing off in a head to head match up, against an untamed, fearless animal and emerging victorious.

Therefore when I had, my first instance to use the saying and use it in the context it has always traditionally been used, to describe a defiant child, I felt a bit as if I had received the gauntlet passed from a previous generation, preserved in my memory to be brandished at this particular time in this particular way and hopefully to be carried on in my child’s memory to the future. Heady stuff!! I wonder if I will ever have the privilege of using it again? Maybe not. But trying to say the entire phrase five times really fast can be great fun. Selah.

Navel Gazing

The other day my youngest noticed her navel and asked, “What does this do?” Before I could answer, her older sister replied,

“That’s your navel” “It’s where you were attached to your Mummy when you were a baby in her tummy and then she breast fed you milk!”

Then she turned to me with earnest eyes and said, “right Mummy?” I did not have the heart to correct her so I said, “Something like that.”

She’ll get it right eventually. Selah.

Second Generation Steve Ercoliltes

Family Matters is back in syndication on Nickelodeon and my kids love it. I however am having the same problem with it as I had in its first incarnation. While his antics are mildly amusing, I find him to be annoying and almost offensive. I have never understood why the eccentricities of one set of people are to be laughed at. This concept of the nerd has always befuddled me. Others will point out that his buffoonery belittles all of us as a people.

But when I realize that my children get a gut laugh at his tomfoolery, something that bubbles up from their toes and rolls around in their tummies and comes rushing out of their smiling faces, how could I continue to hold the show up to a microscope. Utilizing a willing suspension of disbelief and just viewing it on one level one can really laugh in spite of oneself. So now my household’s second generation Steve Ercolites have influenced the first generation doubters to, “relax…. its not that deep.” A little child shall lead them. Selah.

On The Horns of a Moral Dilemma

I always as a child thought that the choices that adults made were cut and dry. Really, to me it seemed that answers consisted of either, yes or no. But now as an adult, I know that answer variations between the negative and the positive extremes are infinite. So how does one really know that a decision made on a child’s behalf is the best decision? The truth is that one does not know for sure. All a person can do is to rely on whether a situation raises your hackles enough to be passionate about your conviction and then follow your conviction, all the while asking God to guide your resultant decision.

Scenario 1

At a dance studio, class is already in session. One little girl comes half an hour late unaccompanied by her parent and is told by the office personnel that she is too late to participate in the class. Therefore, she stands quietly and awaits the start of the next class to join her peers. Ten minutes later, a parent comes hurrying in with a child. It has already been established that this child is related to both the office personnel and the dance teacher. The parent does not stop. He ushers the child unto the dance floor and she blends right into the class uninhibited. Now the reason that the office personnel gives for not admitting the first child is that; the class has already started to grasp the lesson and interruptions will break the unit’s concentration not to mention that the teacher will have to update the new entrant on the whole routine that was missed.

Did that premise not hold for their relative? As an observant parent should you not have stood up for the disadvantaged child’s interest in her parents’ absence or at least question the officer about it? Left unchallenged, would that type of preferential treatment be meted out against your child in your absence? Is it your obligation to fight other people’s battles unrequested? Do you have a right to question the administration’s traditions in their dance studio with their pupils? Do you defend the child who also notices the favoritism and clearly feels slighted?

Scenario 2

A child has a playmate that is a lot older. The Parents are wary from the start of the friendship that while it might be good for the older child to stay in the company a younger more naïve playmate, the younger child is being prematurely exposed to the pre-teenisms of the older child.

So what are the parents to do? Allow the younger child’s innocence to be eroded by a more world wary pre-teen or perhaps diminish the older child’s opportunity to be a questionable influence while appearing to be the villains of the neighborhood?

What are your options as you sit languishing on the horns of a moral dilemma? Those who stand for nothing will sit for any and everything.

Selah.

Matchmaker Triumphant

I’m always trying to do what Jamaicans call "a set up," or what the rest of the world refers to as match make. I think I can just see when two people will get along. Most times to no avail, sometimes with limited return but every once in a while, success!! How good it is!

There is a lady on TV that has an entire business based on matchmaking and then it occurred to me that Eharmony.com and Match.com are simply matchmaking ecommerce, I could be on to something big. But what I have come to realize is that there are so many factors involved in how people click. I once tried to step up two people on the basis of, one person having tremendous resources and the other needing a resourceful person in their life. That did not work. I once tried to set up two people based on their sharing success in the same profession. That did not work. I once tried to set up two people based on them both being single, that was a colossal failure.

So what worked this time? Well there was an all important meeting of the minds; a vital and very sexy component in my estimation. Then there was a surprise physical attraction, they were so caught up in logistics that they forgot to enquire, “…so what she/he look like?” Plus, expectations were kept at a realistic level and so everything was good karma and moved upwards from that point. Finally and most importantly, I was not there at the initial meeting to interfere with the vibe, so they were forced to make nice all by themselves. Thus, while no one has ridden off the sunset yet, and I haven't incorporated at the local licensing authority, I think a cool friendship has been made. What more could one ask for? Selah.

Six Flags Exchange

Recently we went on a family outing to the local Six Flags amusement park. It was great. We went through the Safari, got one on one interaction with an Ostrich we named Peck-Peck and did most of the kids rides. We had a wonderful time. Halfway through the excursion I noticed a certain pattern. It seemed to me that a lot of the ride operators and park attendants were Jamaican.

Could this really be true? If so, how did it happen that such a large concentration of Jamaicans ended up being hired together in a random township in New Jersey, not particularly known for a having a large indigenous Yard population, like Brooklyn, New York for instance? I had to find out.

So soon I happened to put the children on a ride that was by and large ignored by the rest of the park attending population. The lone operator of the ride was a young Jamaican girl who was quite friendly and we got to talking while my girls enjoyed the ride. She soon told me that she had come up for the summer to work and was staying in a township nearby but that there were a number of other young Jamaicans from Brown’s Town Community College in St. Ann who were a part of a college work program.

I found this to be fantastic. Young people who probably never travelled before were given the opportunity to work, travel, earn coveted US dollars which could benefit them and their families back home a great deal upon their return. When I was growing up there was AFS and the International Baccularate that helped students gain the benefit of residing in a foreign country and being exposed to diverse cultures but this was different on so many levels. As one young man that I spoke to put it he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his summer holidays.

I’m not sure if the selection process was academically linked but it seemed to me that for the program to take youngsters from a rural community college rather than from one of the more resourceful Kingston high schools, its ability to do more good for a larger cross section of people was evident. So Kudos, what I have come to call Brown’s Town Six Flags Summer Work Exchange Program, long may you benefit deserving young people in the Jamaican countryside. Selah.