What’s up everyone,
Thanks for stopping by Moonshinez Happy Hour.
Today we will go over a bit of the material found in my original story Wind Touch.
The story Wind Touch is set at a time pre-dating our modern lives here on Earth. Motivation for the story Wind Touch derives from my fascination with other African cultures; in particular the Patois speaking Caribbean islanders, Ayiti Voudon culture, and Nigerian Ifa culture.
Jamaican culture - this culture has had a major impact on my life personally. Being an teenager on the island of Guam, I was introduced to a lot of island musik that was inspired by artists such as Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Bob Marley, Rita Marley, and more. Jamaican culture fostered within me a love for the colors red, green, black, and yellow and inspired me to learn more about dreadlocks (yatas) which I had for almost 7 years.
One day I plan to visit Jamaica and learn from the people who are there, especially from Rastafarians and the proud and mighty Maroons who I heard live on top of the mountains!
Ayiti (Haiti) Voudon culture - although I am only a learner for a short-time of the Voudon or Voodoo religion, I have heard many of the negative stereotypes surrounding it. Haitian Voudou is often shunted and viewed as witchcraft or devil-worship which is odd to me, not many black people that I have met are those who even entertain the thought of worshipping the devil form my personal experience. The history of this wonderful nation of people is one worth looking into for all students and youth of all ethnicities. Haiti is a nation that literally fought for it’s freedom and then years later had to pay France for it’s continued freedom.
In the story Wind Touch, I wanted to hint at some of this Haitian Voudou history, whereas Haitian freedom is what sparked the flame for other Afrikan revolutions in the Western Hemisphere.
Nigerian Ife Ile culture - Nigeria, a proud and large Afrikan nation has so much history that it would take an entire newsletter to even begin to cover a percentage of it. There is so much that I have been disconnected from when it comes to Nigeria and yet I suspect my bloodline is connected to these lands. From what I know about the Nigerian Ife Ile culture honoring and recognizing the Orisha is a huge part of that; and based on my own research about the Orisha I wanted to give some glory to they.
An interesting book that I have read that touches on the Orisha is Tony Adeyimi’s Children of Blood and Bone. I personally recommend this book to anyone who it resonates with, this book literally gave me chills. This book is probably more suitable for ages 13 and up.
Activity/Assignment: Feel free to write this down and work on it in private, with a trusted mentor/elder/coach, or alongside some friends.
Let’s try creating a story: What is a creation story that you know about?
If you had the ability to create humanity, how would you do it? What would you do?
What would you foresee as a challenge for creating humanity?
What part of the story Wind Touch, did you like vs. dislike, and why?
For Tha Parents:
Be on the look out for your child. Don’t be afraid to do some field-research, you are the parent!
As a parent your children are your responsibility, and as such, don’t allow anyone to interfere with your plan for having a future leader, innovator, inventor, who leaves a positive mark on this world.
An idea for helping your child read and to bond, would be listening to the audiobook for Toni’s book Children of Blood and Bone. Another idea would be to listen to my podcast here.