light of peeeeeeeace, let us shine through any weather

just had a very filling 3 course meal at the home of someone i work with. i rarely fully trust "white" people all the way especially if they give me a shady vibe... cus people who give me shady vibes are generally the type of people who are closed door racists. it just shines through.

however, the wife is a great cook and you get to hear all sorts of things, talk shop and just have a communal meal, so i always accept dinner invites. besides, they're great hosts and i had only heard the husband say some shady things up to that point**.

being in their home gives me some shady vibes though cus she collects caribbean and local artifacts and displays them all over her house in a way that's positively colonial. particularly disturbing were the masai statuettes on the toilet tank in the downstairs washroom. perhaps that's my oversensitivity... i dunno. this voracious collecting of "local" and caribbean art for display purposes in the safe confines of her home without an attempt to appreciate the nuances of the culture makes me feel like i'm in a weird museum at times. the artwork is beautiful, but you wonder why she buys so much of it. something about the consumption of culture that is art (especially in the age of mechanical reproduction) evokes a fast food sense of bell hooks' eating the other.

but i digress.

shady comment from the wife for the evening...
r (other teacher): no i didn't go home for christmas, i stayed here.
wife: but you weren't at [other teacher]'s house?
r: no....[pause]...i went to my boyfriends house instead
wife: oh! [pause...wait for it] they celebrate christmas?

WTF?
its not that i'm assuming that everyone's christian on the island. its that her tone implied that everyone black (r's boyfriend is black. *oh no* = ) practices voodoo or something. never mind the fact that you can't drive more than 20 minutes in any direction without seeing a church, mosque or mandir.

i just kept my head down in my lap.

then, after some more chatting, and dinner, and dessert, and 2 other folks show up for more chatting, the four of us pile into the car to head home. very full. and a little edgy about the wife's caged up nature and her weird consumption patterns.

just before i come out the car at my house, i hear the following shady (outright racist) tidbit.

b (another teacher): my parents couldn't stand her when they met her.
m: really?
b: oh no, and they're really easy-going and stuff too...OH! i forgot to tell you what she said when she met my boyfriend.
m: oh no
b: well when i was talking about meeting him here, she said "oh, who can you are you going to meet in tobago? some Jimbo working on a fishing boat?"

[cue beginnings of nausea]
m: [speechless and mouth agape]
other teachers in the car: oh yeah! she did! that's right... so racist!
b: and then, after i introduce him, and she walks away, she says (out of b's hearing) "so did b meet him last night?"

*cue utter disgust and sour taste in my mouth for all that cooking*

shady vibes... man... my detection of shady vibes is always right.


**shady things said: "now don't go and hook up with a local and stay here for 2 years like some people" (implying r). my whole FAMILY is local, and so am i. so what is he trying to say?
...the breeder comment of an earlier post. smh. piece of work.