The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:Their courage nerves a thousand living men. -Minot J. Savage
In honor of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our Country, the crew of Felix took things slow and easy on Memorial Day and reflected on how we have so much because others gave so much more. We were able to watch the parade wind through downtown Beaufort this morning from our cockpit on the first sunny day in over a week, as if the sky finally relaxed and sighed with the ending cacophony of the Gullah Festival. Now that the drums and angry rap music have ended and a little peace has returned to the waterfront, my thoughts on the festival are still a little jumbled. It wasn't what I had expected, or rather what I had hoped for, since I don't feel that I really had much of a cultural experience. Rather than tasting traditional Gullah rice dishes or unique foods, the lineup was pretty much the traditiona
l fair fare, with the normal roach-coach vans selling 'meat-on-a-stick', hot wings, sno-cones, funnel cakes, turkey legs, corn dogs, etc., with fried catfish and gumbo soup being the only things that would have surprised me if I were at Disney World instead of a Gullah Festival. There were stands of merchandisers selling books, clothing, miracle soaps, native African garb, and the most interesting for me, wood carvings. The carvings were beautifully and intricately chiseled, and they also represented what struck me as the irony of the festival. All of the displays seemed to be marketing Africa to the local Black-Americans rather than displaying any African-American culture. The carvings were imported from Africa, because no American would spend the time needed to carve them for the price they coul
d be sold for. The modern African dresses, the gift-shop drums, and the coconut shell bags were all foreign made, to be sold as souveniers to 7th and 8th generation native born Black-Americans looking for some other, outward identity.
l fair fare, with the normal roach-coach vans selling 'meat-on-a-stick', hot wings, sno-cones, funnel cakes, turkey legs, corn dogs, etc., with fried catfish and gumbo soup being the only things that would have surprised me if I were at Disney World instead of a Gullah Festival. There were stands of merchandisers selling books, clothing, miracle soaps, native African garb, and the most interesting for me, wood carvings. The carvings were beautifully and intricately chiseled, and they also represented what struck me as the irony of the festival. All of the displays seemed to be marketing Africa to the local Black-Americans rather than displaying any African-American culture. The carvings were imported from Africa, because no American would spend the time needed to carve them for the price they coul
d be sold for. The modern African dresses, the gift-shop drums, and the coconut shell bags were all foreign made, to be sold as souveniers to 7th and 8th generation native born Black-Americans looking for some other, outward identity. The highlight of the weekend for us was getting together with several of the other boatowners here in the Marina. Feeling like a group of expatriots, we all got together each night for the carousing, dining, joke and lie telling, that comes naturally when soon-to-be long time friends meet for the first time.
I'm headed for Bimini for a couple of days. Need a fix of some bahamian stuff. It is your kind of weather. Motoring along at 4.5 to 5 and not a breath of wind. beautiful. Will get there tomorrow morning. Won't stay long, maybe 2 days, then back to FL. I think I'll go home via the ockachobee since I've never done that. Might be fun, filled with t stroms and all that stuff I love so much. Later on Andy, Star and the chiefster
ReplyDelete