NOTE TO GINA

Hi Gina,

My thinking in positioning Jamaica within a larger framework is that, more than falling within the African Diaspora, it is in fact a "discovered" (self recognized, self appointed) African nation. And such a nation is part of a provisional African Unity in keeping with Garvey's aspirations. Rastafarians have never thought they belong in "Jamaica." They belonged somehow in "Africa," notably in Ethiopia. They appear to take Africa too literally as being synonymous with the continent of Africa. Instead of changing territory, people need to change their minds. 

I find the concept that Jamaica is an African nation liberating. It gives the Jamaican upper class less psychic space to rule, shame and dominate black Jamaicans. And if we're all Africans together it undermines the petty bickering between ethnic groups. It also means that Jamaica doesn't need to adopt the material heritage of continental Africans, for who's to tell it how to dress or how to speak, and what architecture to value? It can be Africa just the way it is, with all its ethnic and cultural diversity. Moreover, a diverse Jamaica might well become a model for an open, globally tolerant program for the African whole. I say all this in light of how your Indian ancestorr(s) embraced Garveyism, apparently without compromising his Indian heritage.

A NONPROFIT

I'm working on starting a nonprofit, so I can apply for money for Donnette to make a photograph book of St. Ann's Bay. The US Embassy in Jamaica appears to have a preservation grant that centers on Jamaica but that allows for a lot of US-based participation. I don't know how COVID and financial chaos might affect this year's grant cycle, but a grant announcement generally comes out in October and proposals are due by year end.) The main approach to the nonprofit mission is art. Grant money (depending on grant guidelines) will apply to public education regarding  St. Ann's Bay's historic material culture, with a minimum of written reference to US places where I've lived, and worked along similar lines.

Would you consider becoming a founding board member for the nonprofit, "St. Ann Creative"?

Trevor

COMMON IDEAS FOR ALL THE EXCEPTIONAL PLACES WHERE I'VE LIVED--Marginal places that can be seen in biblical terms:

Psalm 118:22-24 King James Version (KJV)                                                                                                                                                                                                                  22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner ("the chief cornerstone").

All the places I touch on have been marginalized within a broader regional framework. They have been generally scorned and patronized. They all have important seminal roots that go unappreciated in a time of historical amnesia and the religion of progress.

SOME ISSUES A GRANT MUST ADDRESS

- The criticality of an African perspective to historic preservation centered on colonial architecture

- Issues of affordable housing

- Feminist notions of inclusiveness

- The energy and environmental impacts of preservation

- Envisioning a post Covid future centered on planning and preservation

- Envisioning new public rituals

- Reevaluating ideas of energy 

SPATIAL MAGIC

African ideas of form, spirituality and aesthetics will be essential to embrace.

CROSS FERTILIZATION OF ISSUES

Water catchment on a hillside in St. Ann parish can apply to water management in Madrid, NM

NOTE TO MYSELF: 

tHIS APPLIES TO mla HOLISTIC PLANNING FOR mADRID, AS WELL AS TO RURAL sT. aNN.  Less so to east Palo Alto, which is flat.

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