On A Personal Note

I am sure I am not alone when I say “wow, the universe really has been up to its old tricks during this eclipse season”. It has been a time of inspiration, dread, forgiveness, letting go, hopefulness, and facing personal truths. As hard as that can be all jumbled together, I am grateful for it. I am grateful because it gave me the opportunity to take a good hard and soft look at myself and where I wanted to move forward. I’m no longer in my twenties, thirties or forties for that matter, so how I spend my time is important to me. I believe that time is never truly wasted, but we do have to pick and chose where we would like to live within it, so that old saying of spending your time wisely does have a sensible tone to it.

I am now moving into the fourth course of the five-course program in Journalism with the Michigan State University that is offered online through coursera. I have also been offered a volunteer position as a mentor in the program. Pretty cool eh!  So I will be quite busy for the next three months involved with those two things. As I moved through the course I have been applying the different things I learn on a practical level. One of them being that I have engaged in going out to festivals and just approaching people randomly while also putting together a bird's eye view of the festivals. As fun as that has been, I have come to realize with the honesty within myself that this approach is not really for me. I’m one of those people out there who is sensitive to the energy around them and when put into a large crowd and having to interact, well, it takes a lot out of me.

I learned the night before the full eclipse that by forcing myself to go out and mingle and be somewhat assertive to get photos or talk to others was actually fueling anxiety as well.  At first, I thought that maybe it was my little ego who was afraid of pursuing my personal discomfort zone was just freaking out, but a few days later while I was at the Fringe, I still felt a heaviness of not wanting to be there or approach people to gather a story. Instead of ignoring this feeling, I took a couple of days to sit quietly and have a good look into why I was feeling this way, and what I needed to do about it. The interesting part was that during this time, my apple phone would not charge so that I could not post any of my pictures from the week. How’s that for being made to sit and contemplate. In the end, I decided that I still loved what I was doing, but only when it was more personable like a one on one interview. I love interviewing people. I love to hear their stories. Things they overcome. Things that inspire them to move forward. And I love to give them space so that they can share a part of themselves with others.

Understanding this part of myself, and this part of my project has given me the inner peace and inspiration that I need to move forward. I have no idea how this will unfold for the larger picture, but I do know how the smaller picture looks at this moment. I have a few interviews that I have done this summer that I am preparing to share and continue to gather more. And as I move forward, I will be continuing to pursue my personal interest in the symbolic meaning of tattoos. Having an eclectic spiritual background, mixed with my education in Communications and my love for tattoos, I am excited to continue with this part of my project.

Thanks for listening and I hope you continue to enjoy the interviews!

Tattoos: Cariwest Festival 2017

It really was entertaining to be a spectator at the Cariwest Parade and festival. The streets were full of vibrant colours and the spirited Caribean music enticed its listeners to follow along and join the party. Once in Churchill Square, the parade participants spread out to join friends and family and take part of the collective festivities. Food, music, and a beer garden welcomed all who came. And me, well I went looking for tattoos. 

Before the parade started, I gather a few pictures from people who were sitting along Jasper Avenue, patiently waiting for the parade to start. 

The first tattoo that caught my eye was this dragon done in black ink. I really like the curved line work that almost has a floral effect, but can also be interpreted as movement.

The second one that I photographed was this lovely tattoo of a Japanese angel.  

I love this sugar skull tattoo. The canvas for this tattoo would like to give a shout out to the artist who did it. Her name is Gina Morrill Olsen from the Painless Steel Tattoo shop. You can find her on Instagram @missspryt. 

Our next photo is of Jordan who is an Edmonton tattoo artist. I am sure he has lots of stories to go along with those tattoos. 

                                                                                                                                                                         

The young lady with this tattoo was such a sweetheart. Ya, the mom in me comes out. I just love people who are excited to share their tattoo picture. I think she told me there is still work to be done on this one, but it really looks great now. 

While watching the parade, I could see there were people who had tattoos, but it was quite difficult to stop them and get decent tattoo pictures. Therefore, I was really grateful when this beautiful woman struck a pose so I could get the tattoos into the picture. 

I love these Egyptian hieroglyph tattoos that this woman has on her arms. I see this as being symbolic on so many levels. One is the woman's African roots. And the second being that tattoos are in their own right hieroglyphs and pictographs. 

Once the parade had come to the end of its route, I followed the trail of people to Churchill Square. On my way there, I came across a First Nation's man with a cool tribal tattoo.  I really admired the design and use of colour within the black ink. Really nice!

Once I was in the downtown square I had to meander around so many people while keeping my eyes open for tattoos. And to be honest, it did not take long to find people with tattoos. If you can get past those amazing abs, you will notice the man has something tattooed on his chest. The woman in the costume to the right has flowers inked onto her shoulder. 

This young woman's name is Alix and you can find her on Instagram @seductivesiren. She was such a sweetheart and had a lot of patience with me as I tried to take a photo of her arm tattoo while the wind kept blowing the feathers back in the way. lol Her other tattoo shows nicely on her side in between the costume. 

This was a happy woman who was having such a great time at the festival and pleased to share her stomach and calf tattoos. 

I really liked how this woman's red parrot tattoo goes so well with the Cariwest costume she is wearing. 

These two are stunning looking women. I was really happy with how well this photo turned out. Beautiful! 

You never know when you will find the Illuminati symbol. 












It was a really hot day in the sun and once people were in the park, many of them were taking off their costumes and cooling down in at the City Hall's water fountain. 






Off to the side of the square and under the trees, a lot of guys were hanging out at the picnic tables enjoying their lunch and laughing with friends and family. I was able to get a few interesting pictures. 

                

           

                                            
                

                                                                                                                                                                                       

And this woman was also in the tree sheltered area. What really struck me was she was dressed quite plane compared to many of the women that day who had on flashy outfits, and yet this woman stood out to me. Natural beauty at its best! Very cool floral design arm sleeve as well.

So back to the shiny makeup, feathers, and glamorous Cariwest costumes again.  It was good to see that many of the parade participants still had their outfits on. Ladies, show us your tattoos!

                             

These next tattoos have a little story to go with them. Two women who have been the best of friends for a long time often go out together to have some fun. As the night progresses and after a few drinks, the one lady who is in the blue shorts and has the tattoo going up her hip, will give her friend a kiss on the shoulder, and leave her lipstick print every time. So the one who is always getting the kiss on her shoulder decided that she would permanently have that kiss tattooed. It's a beautiful gesture in friendship. 

                                  

One of the other great features of the Cariwest Festival is the little shop vendors that sell their wares; clothing, music supplies, art, hats, jewelry, etc. There was also a lot of food vendors as well. As I walked about in each of these areas, I was able to meet some really nice people and get a few pictures. 

                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                   

As the DJs (Soc Sweetness, Marcus G, Remedy, and Infamous) hit the stage, the crowd responded to this high energy and the pre-Saturday Night Fete Party began in Churchill Square. 

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Cariwest Festival Parade 2017

I must admit that I have never been to Cariwest Festival here in Edmonton, AB. I have always wanted to go to the parade, so this year I marked it on my calendar and committed to the day. Therefore, on the 12th of August, I packed up my SLR, phone, and voice recorder and headed to Jasper Street an hour before the parade was scheduled to start. For personal reasons, being my feet, I chose to hover two blocks before the end of the parade route so that it would be an easy walk over to Sir Winston Churchill Square. After scoping out where it would be best to be able to work with the sun and take photos, I eventually found a spot at the intersection of Jasper Ave and 104 St.  And that is where I met Steve Polyak.

Steve Polyak is the Publisher of the Gay Calgary magazine. He was a really nice guy. As we waited for the parade to reach us, we chatted and he enlightened me about his magazine, which led us to talk about drag queens. I was impressed with some of the big names of Queens he had interviewed. Once the parade began, I watched Steve go to work taking pictures like the pro he is. I had never done a photo shoot in a parade, so I forced myself to be a bit braver and get closer to the subjects, and even have them stop to pose for a picture.

It was amazing how big the trucks were that ushered in each group throughout the parade. And most of the trucks weren’t exactly carrying the people, but rather the DJs and sound systems.  And with those trucks came the big music, the bright colours, and the party.

As the Soca music echoed between the tall buildings, the excitement of the dancers soared as well. It became an immediate awareness that these beautiful women taking part in the parade had no restrictions of beautiful body images and were confident to put on a costume and go out and have an awesome time. This is the power of women. I loved it!

The main theme of the parade this year was the celebration of multiculturalism and Canada's 150th birthday, while still embracing the Caribian island nations. There were participants representing Jamaica, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Haiti, St. Lucia, Dominica, and Grenada. Please forgive me if I left anyone out. Different sounds came at different times. Steel pan drum, Mas bands, Calypso and Regea kept the parade moving forward to a rhythm that felt contagious to join in. The feathers, glitter and flamboyant show cases were really astonishing.

(There was a little girl behind the shield. I'm thinking he was Super Dad)

And being that my main focus is to find the tattoos, I did manage to find quite a few. Have a look at these beauties. You will notice some of these pictures were taken after the parade in the Churchill Square.

           

 
                       

 


Although this was my first Cariwest Parade, it will definitely not be my last. The vibrancy of the music and the people who represent the Carabeen culture are delightful. After the parade, the participants and the crowd moved into Churchill Square and began the second day of the Cariwest Festival. But that my friends is another story. 

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