More snow

It’s been snowing all day again today.  We’re apparently trying hard to catch up with the month’s average snowfall — we’ve received less than a third of the usual, and as one perky meteorologist said, “January isn’t over yet, so we still can reduce the deficit!”  😝  My tummy is still somewhat unsettled, although improved a bit over yesterday.  I made a scrambled egg and toast for breakfast (my REFIR always laughs at me when I say that, because I cook 1 egg and 1 slice of bread, and she insists that’s “not a full meal” but I’ve done that for years) and I struggled to eat it.  Later, I did some wontons and ate 4, which was again a challenge.  I don’t like feeling like this, because I’m actually hungry but I feel stuffed after a couple of bites.  The boys are watching football (American) to see who qualifies for the championship.  Jerry, like me, is not especially interested, and has been leaping around with his squeaky toy wanting it thrown; he seems to know when Don is busiest and climbs on his shoulder to drop it off… 

I’m listening to some music on Spotify; right now, it’s an assortment of “classic” soca.  I’m going to go off on a tangent and exclaim that it’s so strange that “classic” is music that I listened to in high school!!  Then someone will say, “These songs are turning 30/40/50 years old this year” and I’ll pause while I realize that  tempos fugit and I’m no longer a starry-eyed teenager!  Of course I know that I’m not, but when certain music plays, I mentally transport myself back to those days when holidays lasted forever, and my group of friends and I would plan group activities.  There are a couple of things that I really wanted to share, sorry, so I’ll end this sidebar and get back on track.

I was listening to David Rudder’s  Bahia Girl which won him 3 major titles (Calypso Monarch, Young King, and Road March)  It was released while I was still in school, and one afternoon, I was on a bus heading home and there was a heated argument happening between two groups of older men.  I will never forget how one of them turned to me and challenged me on whether I liked the song (yes) and didn’t I agree that it wasn’t calypso (tentative)  He was annoyed at my reticence — I mean, as a society, girls were raised not to challenge older men, but would still be castigated for doing as we were raised; a subject for another rant! — and went on to explain loudly that Rudder didn’t deserve to compete because he wasn’t singing pure calypso.  That song was controversial when it was first released, and people would have these loud arguments about its merits.  In the years since, it’s held up as one of the classics, and if asked, most people would deny that there was anything at all contentious about it!  Isn’t that the way, though?  Something new comes along, and there’s a strong reaction against it — it’s too different!  It’s not what we’re used to! It’s destroying civilization / family values / the minds and morals of the youth, etc.  Then after a bit, it’s normalized and accepted, and later generations wonder what was the fuss.  

The other point that I’d remarked is that there’ll be an artiste — singer, actor, comedian, dancer, painter, sculptor … — who is brilliant and awesome.  During their life and career they may receive accolades and awards; or they may be overlooked until they’re recognized later in life.  But they’re often under-appreciated and undervalued while alive.  Everyone’s heard the “joke” that paintings from a dead artist suddenly shoot up in value!  And for performers, when they die, they’re hailed as the “greatest of all time” and there’s weeping and wailing that nobody can live up to them.  It’s not musically related, but I’m thinking about several athletes who “broke the colour barrier” — during their lives they were subjected to horrendous abuse, and at their funerals they’re lauded for their “humility, grace and courage”  Basically, as a society, the message seems to be, “you’re not what we expect, so if you accept the bullying and abuse, we’ll tolerate you”  In some ways, the pendulum has swung the other way, and the groups who were regarded as inferior are now heavily represented in the fields which excluded them.

It’s good that things have changed, and that people are compensated for their work and creativity (I won’t discuss the level of compensation, as that’s a whole different thing) and we’re rightly horrified at the idea of say, banning percussion instruments or segregating groups based on skin colour.  (Or any of the other horrors on the list of “cruelty dispensed to people by people.”  But wouldn’t it be much better if instead of having strong negative reactions and banning something for being different, we took a moment to understand the new thing?  I understand that new things can be frightening, so it’s not unreasonable to regard them suspiciously, but instead of screaming “Devil music!  Corruption of young minds!” it might be worth listening and not creating outlandish theories about demonic possession… Also, as times change, our tastes also change, so what our parents enjoyed, we tend to rebel against, while we rediscover what our grandparents liked.  Plus, if after listening you still dislike it, you’ll be better able to criticize fairly and not just labelled as an old crank!  All that being said, I’m going back to listening to my “classic” music… thank technology for Spotify and the large quantities of music that are available!  Good night