I am trying my hand at something new, for the first time in a long time.
A few months ago, I was selected to be in this year’s cohort of the Caribbean Institute of Gender and Development Studies: An Intensive Program, from June 28th to July 26th, being held at the Nita Barrow Unit of the University of the West Indies, Cavehill.
And I am immensely proud of this accomplishment. I intend to do something that I’ve never done before, and make a short film, which I referenced in an interview for Fiction Cove here.
It may surprise you, as I am a complex being of many talents, but I have never been behind the camera; so while I’ve witnessed the processes that go on behind the scenes (from the POV of the actress or interviewee), the cutting and splicing and editing will be up to me now.
I have no idea how any of these production procedures work.
And that’s how I know this will work out smoothly.
I’m being given an opportunity to create a scholarly work that (for once!) won’t be a written piece. Perhaps I’m growing tired of writing, or perhaps I just wish to branch out to more diverse means of communication. I’ve long lamented the obligations that come with traditional style conventions, and the rigid, prescriptive view of grammar.
Without the confines of convention and expectation, I am free to do my best work, and free to be my best self. And under the guidance of an extremely qualified faculty, I am certain that my work will be received with distinction.
(Perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.)
Even so, I’ve been choosen to speak on a panel about sexuality, so fingers crossed.
My point is, opportunities should be available to all of us, not just the ones better able to conform to stringent rules of “professionalism”. I personally believe that if the powers-that-be were more concerned with nurturing the qualities already present in their charges, instead of molding (read: forcing) them into already crafted outlines, the world would be awash with creativity and fresh thought.
Until that utopic moment, there will be a ceiling to both ambition and achievement in Grenada.
("Aspiring Adult" will be on hiatus for the month of July 2019)
Aspiring Adult 