OOOO! I forgot about Junkanoo! We happened to be there in July and we got to get a little bit of your culture thru the summer Junkanoo. I loved it!!

Thanks for the welcome to the site. As for my trip, there are so many things that stand out. So many reasons why I want to return, but I guess I would have to say it was the people. From the welcome we got at the hotel to the people on the streets, in the clubs, in the casino.... everyone was so friendly. I met a lot of wonderful people while I was there. I wish that I would of kept in touch with some of them. The next thing was the beauty of your islands. The crystal clear water, the beaches, the banyan trees, even the palm trees as we dont have those in Pittsburgh!

Thanks. Yes, I'll bet that palm tress are few and far between in Pittsburgh. LOL ;)

OOOO! I forgot about Junkanoo! We happened to be there in July and we got to get a little bit of your culture thru the summer Junkanoo. I loved it!!

You should see it in December/January!!!! :D

So I have heard. I enjoyed the little bit that I saw but wish that I had been there in Dec/Jan. I think its great that you all still keep your culture alive. We have very few nationalities that teach their children about their ethnic backgrounds. I enjoy meeting different people and learning about their ways.

I just recently met a young man that moved here from Nassau a few years ago. The last time I saw him we started to talk about the Bahamas. I still havent asked him why he moved, but knowing me, I ll be asking soon! I did tell him that when I took my trip that I was disappointed that I didnt see anyone with dreads!! He just laughed and rolled his eyes at me. I did get a "Hey man" outta him!

Hey, Rory!

I just had to tell you this. The highest being charged for a gallon of gas in Atlanta today is $4.99 a gallon! :biggie: That's more than you guys, huh? Talk about price gouging. People waiting in long lines to get gas, gas stations running out of gas or rationing gas to $10 per customer. Its crazy up here! Its just bananas! How you doing down there?

Anyway, took the cruise :sailing: and we loved it! Oh, it was so nice to be in Nassau again but it was only for 1 day. Not cool so I probably won't be doing another cruise, among other reasons.

But at the tail end of our trip which was last week, Katrina was just a tropical storm when we were in Key West. Miami closed all the ports that Thursday evening so the captian took us all the way down to Cuba. We hid out on the east coast for a day until Katrina passed and Miami opened up again.

Maaaaaan, that ship felt like a toy boat in a bathtub sometimes but I found out I don't get seasick. It was actually kinda fun to walk like you're drunk when you're stone sober. :shaky: It was nice spending an extra day on the ship for free, too.

So how you been doin'? You get your Jeep fixed up?

Hi.

Yeah thats crazy!

The jeep, not yet, things seem to be moving slooow :p

Hey, Rory!

I just had to tell you this. The highest being charged for a gallon of gas in Atlanta today is $4.99 a gallon! :biggie: That's more than you guys, huh? Talk about price gouging. People waiting in long lines to get gas, gas stations running out of gas or rationing gas to $10 per customer. Its crazy up here! Its just bananas! How you doing down there?

Anyway, took the cruise :sailing: and we loved it! Oh, it was so nice to be in Nassau again but it was only for 1 day. Not cool so I probably won't be doing another cruise, among other reasons.

But at the tail end of our trip which was last week, Katrina was just a tropical storm when we were in Key West. Miami closed all the ports that Thursday evening so the captian took us all the way down to Cuba. We hid out on the east coast for a day until Katrina passed and Miami opened up again.

Maaaaaan, that ship felt like a toy boat in a bathtub sometimes but I found out I don't get seasick. It was actually kinda fun to walk like you're drunk when you're stone sober. :shaky: It was nice spending an extra day on the ship for free, too.

So how you been doin'? You get your Jeep fixed up?


even though i am still tryin to practice my dont complain thing could be worst stradegy. gas where i live went from 2.35 to 3.09 in like 4 days. each day when i woke up it went up and up. so tomorrow i dont wanna know what it will be.

something has got to be done. you think if everyone stopped buying gas for one day or 3 days the price would drop? cuase what these people doin is holdin us hostage

alot of them are price gougers.

Some states have laws that says you cant hike prices until you get the shipement (obviously since they havent paid the higher rates). Well on CNN the guy said that the gas station hiked prices, so he called them and let them know that they were breakin the law, and would u believe that they lowered the prices immediately.

alot of them are price gougers.

Some states have laws that says you cant hike prices until you get the shipement (obviously since they havent paid the higher rates). Well on CNN the guy said that the gas station hiked prices, so he called them and let them know that they were breakin the law, and would u believe that they lowered the prices immediately.



thanks for the heads up but dude it wasnt only one station. usually you would see like all kinds of different prices but today every staion i passed, which is like 9 had the same price 3.09. the only way to get it lower is to buy a walmart gas card but that only takes off 3 cents. i use to buy then but now i am like whatever. dude i can not wait for the collapse of the gas industry. even though it will be maybe another 15-20 yrs. i pray god spare me to see that day

I think it wonderful to read that so many black americans find our little country so welcoming, its refreshing. I think that the Bahamas is a wonderful place to live and bring up children, i find that having lived in the U.S for a number of years that black children brought up in your country face more adversaries than we do in the Bahamas. I've seen neighborhoods in the U.S where predominantly black folks live, that looks like a war zones. Also, racist iconography fill the media and the representation of African peoples in the U.S. I am not saying that we don't have our own problems in the Bahamas related to racial issues, but they are not so prevalant today and never as structured and cruel as the U.S.

Also, you will find in the Bahamas, that a man appreciate a woman with a little curve, and that your child, I think you said he was 5, will grow up with the advantage of always knowing that his black skin is not a punishment but a gift.

And as for the natural sisters, i am one! Been natural for the past 10 years and loving it! When I returned home did not get much love from family and friends about my hair, because i believe that though we are 'Free' most women in the Bahamas still have that colonized mentality of beauty, coupled with the America mass media. The fact that our televions are bombarded with images of the light skin, weave-wearing, video vixens on a dily basis does not allow the average Bahamian woman to construct her own black nappy headed identity. Anyways i know that this is alot so i will stop now.

Peace and Blessings

burkina:

i totally agree with your view on being black is a gift - lord knows i appreciate it so much (most) times living in europe...the fellas dem just love it! but on a more serious note, i dont agree with your position on the 'colonial mentality of beauty'...or perhaps, not in its entirety - not when it comes to hair at least. i do look upon girls with natural hair with admiration, but for the rest of us, a 'relaxer' does not necessarily mean we are 'sell-outs' trying to emulate or identify with this 'european look'. i know you may not have meant that, but in general , so often when im at home, people piss me off with this 'perm in your hair line'...its dry. dead, just dead. leave it alone girls. the truth of the matter is, half these 'natural girls' do it for nothing more than 'fashion' and thats it. not because they have consciously choosen to embrace a partical side of their roots. for those of us who decide to go straight, most often, this is a decision based on practicality, manageability. yes God made my hair beautiful and curly, but try clearing this stuff out after washing it! a veritable impossibility! so for all these hot chicas who think they something special 'cause they flauntin 'natural hair' (not necessarily you burkina) - please, if you want to embrace your 'roots and culture', how about purchasing a geneology kit to identify from which tribe you came?

to burkina: i would agree african americans like/love/appreciate the bahamas. my friends are in love with it. they are always like why wouldnt you wanna live there blah blah. i think it comes down to the old sayin a man has no honour in his home, so i guess you could look at it in reverse. i think we as people tend to take what we have gotten so easily for granted. i have met many americans who dont wanna live here; i know of a story of a us gov official who lived in nassau for about 7yrs, they got relocated back to the states and they were literally crying becuase they didnt wanna go back, can you imagine that! i have met a few brits who dont wanna live there, and i have met bahamians who dont wanna live there.

on your african american in ghetto's etc. i can honestly say i have been observing this group of people for a long time and let me tell you why they still live in ghettos........ becuase they want to plan and simply.

burkina:

i totally agree with your view on being black is a gift - lord knows i appreciate it so much (most) times living in europe...the fellas dem just love it! but on a more serious note, i dont agree with your position on the 'colonial mentality of beauty'...or perhaps, not in its entirety - not when it comes to hair at least. i do look upon girls with natural hair with admiration, but for the rest of us, a 'relaxer' does not necessarily mean we are 'sell-outs' trying to emulate or identify with this 'european look'. i know you may not have meant that, but in general , so often when im at home, people piss me off with this 'perm in your hair line'...its dry. dead, just dead. leave it alone girls. the truth of the matter is, half these 'natural girls' do it for nothing more than 'fashion' and thats it. not because they have consciously choosen to embrace a partical side of their roots. for those of us who decide to go straight, most often, this is a decision based on practicality, manageability. yes God made my hair beautiful and curly, but try clearing this stuff out after washing it! a veritable impossibility! so for all these hot chicas who think they something special 'cause they flauntin 'natural hair' (not necessarily you burkina) - please, if you want to embrace your 'roots and culture', how about purchasing a geneology kit to identify from which tribe you came?


well i aint even gonna pretend and front up on this thing cuase i like my black women with a perm. i dont see how straightening your hair is selling out. so i guess becuase i cut my hair, instead of growing a great big afro and dont carry around a pick i must be selling out as well.

oh yeah i would like to pose this question to everyone; why is it that if a black person decides to get a good education, drives a nice car, lives in a nice pad, dresses well, all with out resorting to illegal activities and speaks like they have some sense they are considered acting white or a sell out?

burkina:

i totally agree with your view on being black is a gift - lord knows i appreciate it so much (most) times living in europe...the fellas dem just love it! but on a more serious note, i dont agree with your position on the 'colonial mentality of beauty'...or perhaps, not in its entirety - not when it comes to hair at least. i do look upon girls with natural hair with admiration, but for the rest of us, a 'relaxer' does not necessarily mean we are 'sell-outs' trying to emulate or identify with this 'european look'. i know you may not have meant that, but in general , so often when im at home, people piss me off with this 'perm in your hair line'...its dry. dead, just dead. leave it alone girls. the truth of the matter is, half these 'natural girls' do it for nothing more than 'fashion' and thats it. not because they have consciously choosen to embrace a partical side of their roots. for those of us who decide to go straight, most often, this is a decision based on practicality, manageability. yes God made my hair beautiful and curly, but try clearing this stuff out after washing it! a veritable impossibility! so for all these hot chicas who think they something special 'cause they flauntin 'natural hair' (not necessarily you burkina) - please, if you want to embrace your 'roots and culture', how about purchasing a geneology kit to identify from which tribe you came?

I think the "perm in your hair" line comes from the fact that while some black women do it for the manageability factor, others do it exclusively for the "white" look. I almost cracked up while I was in the bank the other day when this lady "flipped" her new weave around, just like she was on a shampoo commercial. I mean, she had colored contacts, a pound of makeup, fake breasts and everything! Of course all the guys in the line were drooling, until a white gal walked in and took all the attention. It was classic! One dread joked with his boy, "Man, dat one look fine (referring to the black lady), but at least everyting on dat one real (referring to the white lady). I een gotta pay for no new hairstyle every week!" He then turned to the white lady and said "Sweetie, I know I may look lil rough, but wha you sayin'?" The line was in an uproar.

I felt bad for the black gal, but hey, that's the subconscious message being sent to black men by women with perms and weaves,"You have to have straight hair and a bit of color to pass as attractive." Asians, Indian, Latinos and Causasians all have straight hair to some degree, why do the black gals have to ride their coattails? And another thing I do not get about weaves in particular: If I wore a hat for two weeks straight, 24/7 without getting it wet or taking it off to wash it, people would no doubt call me nasty. Why do some black women do that with weaves? Knocking all the sense outta they head trying to scratch the mixture of sweat and dirty skin built up under it. Ugh!

yeah i s'ppose this is true...lmao at this bank incident...i just dont get it...colored lenses might be fun at a party (never did it), weave might be a change - every once in a while (not done that either), but combine the two, and slap some bleach out skin on dat=disaster! another thing i dont get (which follows on from your question on nasty weave what don get wash - how dese gals dis manage with them nails???) i mean, first and foremost, some em dem dis be soooo long, God only knows how dey could wipe! second of all, when do their nails actually breathe??? i mean, if you replace them as soon as you remove them...ya nail gatta be riddle down with fungus! lol - athlete's fingernails!

:dancer: