Final Cut on Haiti? February 26, 2009
Posted by steve in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far
poor kid needs a nap after a full day of partying in the sun!
I’m back from beyond the ridge of reality -Haiti. Fourth time there. Fourth time lucky? Not so much…but then again I haven’t REALLY taken a good look at all the images. Perhaps I’m being a little slackish but truth be told, I’m still exhausted from the trip -physically, emotionally, visually SPENT…oh! and spiritually of course. In a few days this may all change. It usually does. We artsy types tend to be a little on the dramatic side -especially when it comes to “the one that got away…” That’s just the way it is on these gigs when you’ve got NO ground-support, and NO logistics, and NO script and NO translater, and NO idea, and NO sense….but I digress.
Haiti is still the most wonderful nightmare on earth. Her many flavours, exquisite, sensual and sometimes poisonous, one just never knows what he’s gonna get. I don’t think any outsider will EVER be able to understand this much-maligned land. There’s just too much hurt here, and betrayal. A country made up of the survivors. Survivors who were ripped from the womb of their Motherland and thrown into a living hell of torture -a slave owner had to BREAK his slaves to ensure ‘loyalty’…The breaking of spirit… I learned this time around that many Haitians can track their liniage back to their Bill of Sale -but that’s as far as they can go. What an outrage for a people where ancestry is of the utmost importance. Back in 1804 they beat Napoleon’s army and declared themselves the first black republic and as a punishment for this victory were stonewalled by the whole international community. A country that 10 years earlier was funding France’s Empire was now being economically blacklisted -starved. The ’stigma of 1804′ is still in place today. One has only to look at the history and draw some fairly broad and obvious lines -right back to us.
There I go getting all Heavy again…Take it all with a grain of salt (or sugar). You will find the most beautiful and warm people on this side of the island. Don’t beleive everything you read in the papers or see on CNN. There is something here that keeps me coming back again and again. I love this country! It is worth the inconvenience of having my sensetivities tested. You will find, as I, that we ARE rich white folk, who happen to be quite poor in spirit. We have much to learn here.
Wow, this entry took a twist I wasn’t expecting….Tomorrow I’ll follow up with a nice little gallery for you -cool?
stephenjedgar.com
February 5, 2009
Posted by steve in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farFeb 3rd 2009
8:00 The anticipation is mounting, and so are my hunger pangs. An Air Canada flight from Toronto to Montreal departing at 7am should offer up more than a biscuit for it’s meal. Anyway, I’ve finished the first leg and think I am ready for the next. In the meantime I sit here at the gate for an hour or so with about a hundred others. Most are Haitian and dressed appropriately for travel. A couple of older Mamas look to
be wearing their Sunday chapeau and long dresses. The woman beside me dozes and cuts as striking a profile as the island itself .
Over the next two weeks I’ll be pursuing a few ideas while lugging around my multi media kit that’s been thrown together with the help of a few good friends. My trusty D2X -up to 100, 000 clicks….shouldv’e had
the shutter replaced the folks at Nikon….but I guess they kinda forgot. And I’ve got a Sennheiser lav unit and adaptor for my little Canon HV20…ya, totally scaling down from the disaster in Bolivia. There was
sure I could balance shooting stills and shooting vid with a Sony V1U….not good. So this time trying something a little more ‘relaxing’…the new gadget that I’m most looking forward to trying is my Zoom H2 digital recorder! Look OUT! this is gonna be good. Finally I’ll be able to capture the rhythms of those Haitian drums. Or the sounds of a crazed marketplace in Port au Prince -children laughing, tap taps honking, the crack of a pistol shot…..
12:31. OK, call me slow but I’m only now watching An Inconvenient Truth on the airplane….Jeez. Wow. Incredibly poignant…nothing that hasn’t been said before. I have a really good friend who saw this and
said quite openly that it was ‘lots of talking heads…perpetuating fear….a hoax…” This is a smart and well educated man! After sitting through this…ya, lot’s of talking heads, but…I’m beside myself with wonder
as to where this friend’s headspace is. This is a shout out -you know who you are! WTF!?!?!?!?! The shots of the raising sea levels particularly were un-real. And of course the border of the Dominican Republic
and Haiti came up here. Quite something, isn’t it? I’ve seen it first hand and…it’s surreal. The thing about this documentary, or rather, the recent consequences, we see happening line up with the data that GORE
parades out….whether I desperately wish to find fault in this or not, it all makes complete and utter sense…and that’s what’s so frightening. So anyway, this is how I spent my flight…how uplifting.
9:30 okay, I’m here and I’m on a roof top in Port au Prince after a few rum and cokes -I never drink rum and coke unless i”m in the Carib it seems- arguing about ANYTHING that comes to mind. I miss my honey so
desperately, so wonderfully. my hands are filthy with diesel dust and god knows whatever else is in the atmosphere. I am beneath a quarter moon as the lights of PaP seem to be shutting off. It’s time to give up on the internet signal that just won’t stick and call it a day. I started at about 8 am on Mon….didn’t sleep that night but for a moment or two of dozing before my bro came by to drive me to the airport for 5 ish…….what can I say, it’s been a full day. and I didn’t even mention my missing luggage -ok I”m not the best blogger. Mr Air Canada will have to answer to this tomorrow at 9am. I’d ask you to cross your fingers for me but by the time you read this it’ll all be said and done.
feb 4 09
7:00am. Woke up to some full throttle diesel idling just outside my window. Without even getting out of bed to check I put 2 and 2 together; my room is right beside the pick up drop off for the Wall Guest House. A crew I’d come in with were talking about loading up for their mission ’round 5:30am – must’ve been a big crew cuz that truck sat there for a good half hour spewing it’s fumes right into my room….and yes, I’ve got myself a bit of the ole Barbancourt after throb this fine morning incase you were wondering.
Walls Guest House is the place I’ve stayed every time I’ve come to PaP. While not the lap of luxury, its always had a great vibe and wonderful crew. Of all the people I’ve met here, the biggest peice of the pie is usually
made up of over-smiley Baptist missionaries with a close second going to guarded and tense looking couples wanting to adopt a child. But this time things are a little different. First off, the place is packed! and not with the usual crowd