Val writes: exotic

Just incase anybody got here without being there before,

Before I was a blogger I livejournaled at http://www.livejournal.com/users/racinette/ and if you want to know antecedent thoughts and actions you can go there. You probably won't though, because if you haven't already been then you probably don't know me and don't care anyhow. But I like to feel important so I'm telling you anyway.

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wow. sometimes I read my writing and am impressed; It seems plausible that I attend university.

Today I'm impressed that I graduated into highschool.

and I feel like telling you that, too. Oy. I really am becoming egoist, thinking that everyone cares what I think. I feared I would, because lots of people in Haiti pay far closer attention to me than most people in Canada, kind of like you pay more attention to someone's pet porcupine than you do their cat: I stick out.

That makes it sound like I'm exotic. Which probably conversely, makes it seem that Haitians are exotic. Neither is true.

I'm only exotic because of my skin. Nobody who's used to seeing me pays me any attention at all. Rather frustrating actually, as far as trying to make friends is concerned.

More important though, is something Jack and I discussed this evening, the exoticness of poverty. Or rather, how we like to think of the rest of the world as being exotic and other, but that at least in the case of Haiti, it's not really.

There is voudou, which is exotic , but really seems to not be terribly different from regular old Deism- the belief that there is a God who made everything, but that after that the creator went back to his day job. (veering off deism, but not terribly different from many a canadian: and now we createds are stuck doing are own thing, and sometimes you can get help with that from lesser spirits/angels whose schtick is winning the lottery or making your neighbour fall on the ice when he laughs at you, etcetera.

After that, Haitians don't have exotic clothes- mostly they wear goodwill rejects. By preference, the boys working here usually look like they come from inner city New York: Baggy shorts, "wife beater" (sorry Dom) tank top, ballcap, gold chain, you know the type.

They don't have exotic music- Celine Dion, and lots of Rap, especially Fifty Cent and Lucky Dube. There are some really good Haitian rappers, and I've developed enough of a taste for them that I'll probably force at home to listen to the songs Monsye Blan and San Fezi. There is also a style of music called compa that is unique to Haiti. I do not mean to say that Haiti has no culture and nothing good, certainly I would not want to come back if I believed that.

Americans have culture with good things and bad, Canadians have culture with good things and bad, English and Germans and Swiss have culture with good things and bad, and Haitians do too. They have a thriving music video industry, good (although somewhat repetitive) food, and a tolerable soap opera. I do not meant to say that Haiti has no culture of its own.

I do want to say that Haiti is not foreign, is not made up of noble savages. They eat the same food, watch the same movies, dream the same dreams, and fear the same death.

Haitians aren't ok with death. They're not ok with being sick, they're not ok with headaches. They complain of gas and mosquitoe bites. They're also dying of Thyphoid, Cholera, Tuberculosis, Aids, Malaria, but that doesn't mean they don't mind acid indigestion.

Little kids try to get out of doing their chores, and have temper tantrums when they are punished. They make fun of other little children, they cry to be picked up when they see their parent.

They don't even sing better than Canadians. (Although they do sing better than me, the same is true of a porcupine)

Haitians are people.