The Beginning...Band Launch Season is here!

Oooooh band launch season has begun and I'm soooo excited. With D Krewe's launch already getting lackluster reviews, some of these bands better come good. I'm always excited for Spice and since I did not play with them this year, I'm eager to see their ideas for 2012 (can you believe we are already talking about carnival 2012!!!!). Their theme is "The New World" which like any carnival theme is so vague and broad that any costume can be incorporated and hailed as representative of "The New World". Since the loss of Richard and Anthony designs to YUMA, Spice's costumes have not been at the same standard since their entry in 2009. So let's see what Anya and her team wows us with on July 9th. I'm hoping that there will be a live stream or I'll just be following the updates on Twitter....

The Day When a Young Professional Embarassed her Institution...

So yuh girl is a cebrelity since pics of me being wotless during Machel's performance at CFW last weekend. But never underestimate the power of fame; there will be a lot of haters and backbiters. Honestly I was very happy when I saw the pics on live stush. Besides a kind of weird expression on my face; I felt I looked good and saw some results from my zumba classes. To me, these pics are in no way different from those you would see of me at Carnival so I don't find them racy or provocative in any way. In fact, it just represents me doing what I do best- enjoying myself.

But apparently once you are a "young professional" this behaviour is "inappropriate" and will make you "ineffective" in doing your job at the university. I mean look at what happened to the American politician , Anthony Weiner! But the person who used the university's toner to print several copies of the photos and distribute them is not chastized, nor is this action considered "unprofessional".

The higher ups were appalled when my response to these supposedly pornographic photos is: "so what?". What do you expect from me? Shame for enjoying myself? Shame for looking hott in a blue mini dress? hell no!

If you knew me, I live for Carnival and anything soca related. If you read my facebook profile, my religious beliefs centre around carnival so the fete is my church and soca is my hymn so why is an image of me in my Church, praising my false god, Machel Montano and singing in the most high, offensive and shocking?

And how does this affect my job? My job is to deliver lectures on topics most of my students do not find relevant...but I do it in the most effecient and effective way. I am never late with my grades and I fulfill all course requirements. Now if my students saw me partying and they choose to let that be a distraction and not focus on learning which they have paid for then that's something they need to work out. Lecturers are people too and they do have lives outside of the university. I do not hide in my home and only emerge when I go to work...sorry. This situation reminds me of back in the day when pregnant women were not allowed to in front of the classrooms once their bump was visible. It was evidence that they were sexually active (omg, how dare they have sex!). And here I am in 2011, providing evidence that I am sexy and carefree (which some people see as immoral).

No matter how successful you are as a young woman, your sexuality is always at the forefront. No matter how much feminism has impacted on our society, women's bodies will always remain a source of ridicule, praise, downfall, embarassment and degredation...

CFW 2011- Runway, Fashionistas, Mogelers and Machel!

I know I've been saying that I'm not into fashion but I must admit that I like the Kingston fashion scene...I guess because I like posing and in the Kingston fashion scene everyone is a mogel (that is Jamaican for "model"). But Pulse's Caribbean Fashion Week is the real uptown Kingston must be eeen kind of scene. I've been to the event 2 years ago and enjoyed the Jamaican touch to the generic fashion show.

What's with these fashion shows and the late start? The show was scheduled to begin at 7:00pm and didn't do so until an hour and a half later...steups. I was pissed because it was really uncomfortable sitting on those non padded bleacher seats in the National Indoor Sports Arena..that's a big fail for Pulse. During the show, the long breaks to accommodate those sitting near the runway was also really annoying; I didn't understand why people had to get up EVERYTIME there was a break and then we had to wait forever for those same persons to be seated for the show to resume. I also felt that they needed to integrate the performances into the show rather than leave the performances for the end when the majority of the patrons had left.

Despite these drawbacks, I enjoyed the event and the presentations with my favourite being Meiling, Zaad and Eastman, the Cloth and Shanna Carby, the winner of Mission Catwalk (a local Project Runway). The pieces looked like something I would wear and not just some weird couture piece that belonged on Lady Gaga. Oh how I wish I could own some of those Meiling dresses!

I also like that the Jamaican fashion scene is just as much about the top models as it is about the fashion. It's amazing that Kingsley Cooper has promoted so many Jamaican models on the international market. In fact Mr Cooper has contributed to the destabalization of popular concepts of beauty which has found a space in the global fashion world.

But the real winners were the Kingston fashionistas. I mean these patrons would not let the models outdo them...bless up to all the mogelers...

And the best part of the show was Machel Montano which was the most impressive thing Mr Cooper could have done for me that night. Machel sans HD gave a great performance and drove the small crowd into a frenzy. The performance was so intimate that your girl got to wine on stage...who knew?

**you could view more pics on Stush's fb page