a1156: Re: a1143: An appeal and encouragement for a broader rangeof postings to the list: from Corbett (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LeGrace Benson <legrace@twcny.rr.com>

Some of us in the arts complain to each other that we are in the "Arts
Ghetto," tolerated but not taken seriously.  Others as well as myself have
tried many different ways, and annually at the Haitian Studies Association
Convocation, to make the point that without the stories, the music, the
sculpture, the paintings, the crafts and the cooking, there is damn little
left worth the risks of politics.  Who would want to live in, much less try
to save a country with no soup giramou, no stories of Ti Malice and Bouki,
no Liautaud sculpture, no Luce Turnier paintings, no Yanvalou or Rara and no
staw hats!
    Perhaps it is that all that and much more is not taken seriously because
it is taken for granted. But from observing life in Haiti from 1981 to the
present, I strongly holler out, it is going away!  It is being lost to
global culture, and NOT simply because that culture is so omnipresent and
compelling. Rather, it is that much of what is deeply natif-natal Haitian is
pushed to the side or even held in contempt as a topic for "serious"
discussion aside exactly by the politially engaged folks who might treasure
and thus save it.  Where is Jean-Price Mars when we need him!!!!
Best, leGrace

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Corbett" <corbetre@webster.edu>
To: "Haiti mailing list" <haiti@lists.webster.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 12:18 PM
Subject: a1143: An appeal and encouragement for a broader range of postings
to the list: from Corbett


>
>
> From Bob Corbett:
>
> Folks, having just come away from three days of many utterly delightful
> and informative hours of reading the Danticat book I just reviewed, I come
> to you with a plea. The book brought home to me a note I have been
> wanting to write the list to encourage folks to share much more about
> Haiti with us than just POLITICS.
>
> In the Danticat book at least 10 of the 30+ authors of that volume
> mentioned in their piece that political discussion -- of vehemence -- was
> a dominant tradition in their own families, especially among the men.
> Interesting that at least on this list women are deeply engaged as well.
>
> But there is so much more to Haiti than just the political situation. Even
> the response that nearly everyone wants to make to the suffering and
> misery of Haiti is in fact made in Haiti by Haitians and non-Haitians
> alike in ways that are not so overtly political and not concerned with
> national politics, but with economic development, basic charity, education
> and other modes.
>
> After reading Danticat's book I would love to beg the many Haitians on
> this list to share, as the author's in that book did, some of your own
> personal experiences of exile, if one is in exile, or of surviving in
> contemporary if one is doing that.  I recall in earlier years some of the
> awesome pieces that Guy Antoine used to share concerning his growing up
> in Dondon and some others shared other such things.
>
> There is much that draws us all to Haiti which are Haiti's joy and
> delights.  We hear so little about them.  What can you share with us of
> the delights of the culture, the music, dance, art, literature?  Where are
> these currents today?  What of that culture delights you from its history
> or recent past?
>
> Where are the beautiful places still to visit in Haiti, the natural things
> to be seen?  Where are the great commercial spots?  The really neat and
> less know shops, the restaurants or bars that delight, the places to see
> and be seen?  All offer opportunities to share with each other the Haiti
> that we love, no matter what the tragedies of the contemporary political
> scene may hold.
>
> I don't suggest for a second that we diminish the political debate.  Of
> course we need to hear what is happening on that front.
>
> Rather, this is a plea for a much broader Haiti to be represented here,
> and broader ways of responding to Haiti's contemporary situation than just
> the one of national politics.  This is especially an appeal to hear of the
> memories of folks of a Haiti they miss and love, and of the joys of Haiti
> which are alive and there for us.
>
> Of course, this expansion would me more work for me.  To that I say:  Let
> them flow.  It would be a work of joy and love to post such things and to
> read them as well.
>
> Looking forward to some expansion in our themes.....
>
> Bob Corbett
>
>