RE: Let's Do It Again. Part 2

2013-Oct-31-0118Hrs

My Fellow Mausicans,

"The risk of doing nothing is the greatest risk of all."

This evening Marj and I attended a play entitled "Speechless: the voice of survivors." at the Porter Sanford 111 Performing Arts and Community Center, in Decatur, GA. The message of the play was that people should not remain speechless.

Mausicans, what are your visions for our former MTC campus?

I'll share mine.  I see a Performing Arts Center for the East. I see Mausicans  participating significantly in the future of those 65 acres. I hear the voices of  our departed Mausicans, staff and students., appealing for a decent burial and the construction of a fitting memorial  on those hallowed grounds. I see us returning to MTC and helping in the  removal of those delapidated buildings. I see our artists like Carlsbury, Ralphie , and Makemba, and Poole painting murals. I know that Ralphie Precilla  is blind now but I am  quite sure he can still paint a beautiful Mausica sunrise and sunset, and burning canefields bordering our campus.

Let' s have a massive Grell Cup  competition. Horticulturist , Ivan Rogoonan, and gardeners Graham and Linda Edwards, could do the landscaping.

My friends, let's start "Living The Legacy"  so that we may "Leave A Legacy"

As usual,

Rodney Foster, 66-68.

RE: MAUSICA WEEKLY EMAILS 2013-Oct-25

2013-Oct-29-2044Hrs

Hello, hello mausica brethren; is it true that Matthew James 69-71 has died and buried (   as I heard cremated )

Ansel Knights

RE: MAUSICA WEEKLY EMAILS 2013-Oct-17

2013-Oct-18-0956Hrs

Excellent proposal from Rodney, as usual. Count me in for making some form of financial contribution once the Foundation is established.

Linda Heywood 68

RE: Let's Do It Again.

2013-Oct-17-0026Hrs

My Fellow Mausicans.

This is the time for action.

If we are committed to "Living The Legacy" and "Leaving A Legacy", it's up to us to take the initiative.

It's 3:35 am in Atlanta and I just had to share some random thoughts with you.

First, we have to return to Sweet TNT in 2015 for our next Reunion.  Let's begin planning today. Let's partner with the Government(s) and private enterprise to restore our 65 acres to the showpiece of excellence we once knew. Among Mausicans, we have the expertise to rebuild the Mausica Campus into a multipurpose cultural  center: eduucational, recreational, economic, etc. Lets think outside the box and our creative minds will surely break down those skeletal buildings and replace them with modern visions. Remember that back in the mid-fifties and early sixties, some visionaries conceived MausicaTteachers College.  Mausicans all over the world are products of those dreams. Let's return home and share our dreams with those who have deep pockets.

"Return To Mausica" could have been a disaster. However, Mausicans looked past the delapidated structures and hugged, kissed, laughed, ole talk, shed a tear,  reminisced,and  feasted on delicious pelau and drinks. We turned HMJ Hall into Queen's Hall.What a concert! Our children showed us their talents in calypso, song, the tenor pan and dance. Veterans like Felix, Joan Kydd, Happy and his accompanist on guitar, Hazel, Alisford and sons, Finbar, Farida, and Roberto from London performed excellently.

Now ,we have to create The Mausica Foundation in TNT because " no money no love". Funding will come from Mausica Alumni, bequests, businesses : banks, auto dealers, groceries, fund raisers at home and abroad, friends of MTC, civic groups and, of course, the government of the day. Money should not be a problem.Interest earned should then be used to help the Arts, Education,etc.

Once my Havenite Brother, Efebo, shared this thought with me, "Dolphie, spread the culture but make a dollar."

Therefore, organizing committee, let's have a financial report. Let's reduce per capita costs through corporate and private funding. This way we can attract more attendees in 2015.

By de way ,Progressive High School was on Seventh Street, Barataria. Right, Angela Cato Ifill?

As usual,

Rodney foster, 66-68

RE: MAUSICA WEEKLY EMAILS 2013-Oct-10

2013-Oct-14-1419Hrs
Hi Errol>>my brother has several hundreds of pics of the pioneer group 1963-65
Feizal Mohammed 66

RE: Gwendoline Williams -- Request to be on the Mausica Blog

2013-Oct-11-1047Hrs

Dear Errol,

Good day. I truly enjoy receiving the Mausica blogs. Unfortunately my yahoo account was hacked and I had to change address. Kindly include me among the blog recipients. y new e-mail address is gwendolinewilliams@gmail.com

Many thanks

Gwen

Gwendoline Peter-Williams 69

RE: Sundry. (Erroll--please scrap the first version)

2013-Oct-11-0724Hrs

am happy that the Harry Jo picture is with Maria. It is where it should be now. Rodney is just a little joke I was making bout Solid in San Juan. My inadvertent slip re Beatrice Manswell is regretted....I remember her from our group, 67-69...a quiet person. We honour her. Pearl, congrats on your compositions that someone mentioned weeks back. Also,  I think the picture is that of Keith Aqui. He is the one who first circulated the picture of the track team. They say he is the best footballer to have passed through the college. I met that legend when we came in 67. In my time we had some top sportspeople too. Late Frederick Beckles, and Nazir Khan stand out as two-sports people (cricket and football).Kent Rennie stands out all-round. Seigrid Sandiford was the fastest sprinter in the country in her teens. Not sure how she would have feared against Pamela George who came in later, and was lightening, also playing hockey for the country. I already wrote of the excellence of Phil, now gone.

Scratchy

Theodore Lewis 69

RE: notification

2013-Oct-10-1900Hrs

The email address for Rose Bereaux has been changed to rosebereaux@yahoo.com. please note the change. Thank you

Clare Creese-Woodley 72

RE: You won't believe this....

2013-Oct-10-1712Hrs

Hello Errol,

You remember what I said a few weeks ago – you never know here you might run into a Mausican – well, check out the stories below:

The day before the Alumni Awards Ceremony in Edmonton, I attended a reception sponsored by the Dean of the Faculty of Education for the Education graduates who were receiving awards. I did an impromptu interview with a young bubbly student reporter, who told me after the interview that I sounded just like her favourite Geography (or Forestry ?) professor. Where are you from? she asked. I am from Trinidad, I replied. He’s from Trinidad, too, she added. What’s his name? I asked. Dr. Pete Hall, she said.

I almost blurted out, He’s a Mausican! Because you (Errol) had previously confirmed on the blog that Pete Hall is another Mausican living/working in Edmonton. I told her that we had attended the same college in Trinidad. She couldn’t believe the coincidence, and neither could I.  Check out the link below – the clip is the second of three on the link. I have never met Pete Hall, but those of you who know him, might be able to let me know if he does sound like me. Keep up the good work, Pete, and keep the Mausica flag flying!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmVfNrnDUWc&list=PL8-pwCljEPVhJ_xiJN9OTvt7jRVRzqpIA

The next night, I spotted Paul Lewis in the audience at the Awards ceremony. I got to know Paul at this year’s reunion in T&T. He was there with his camera and  armed with a 300mm lens. He found out about the event on the blog the day before and drove all the way from Calgary to attend. Paul took the photos that were on the blog last week. A big THANK YOU to Paul for his efforts, especially since he did this without my asking. Your action reinforces the notion that the Mausica family is alive and well, wherever, and whenever.

Selwyn Jacob 65

Re: MAUSICA WEEKLY EMAILS 2013-Oct-03

2013-Oct-10-1310Hrs

Hello Scratchy,

The Haven remains a "wellspring of truth".

I never claimed that Sollid Seven was from San Juan or De Coconut. What I said was that Cox, my first roommate was from De Coconut.

Cox attended El Socorro Gov't School and Progressive High School on Sixth Street, Barataria. When he graduated from MTC, he was assigned to Brighton EC in La Brea. While there he hooked up with Solid Seven and the band recorded his Mausica Classic, "Mausica", which they called"Go Go Calypso".

That's my truth. Correct me, if I am wrong.

As usual,

Rodney Foster. 68

RE: Mausica Weekly emails

2013-Oct-06-2118Hrs

Hi Errol,

Rose Bereaux has changed her email address and would you to forward her Mausica updates to rosebereaux@yahoo.com

Thanks,

Thora Best 74

Re: FW: MAUSICA WEEKLY EMAILS 2013-Oct-03

2013-Oct-05-1431Hrs

Dear Errol,

The ladies in the photograph with Cliff Bertrand are:

Merle Manswell (deceased), Yvonne Murray ('65-'67), Veda Niles-Greenidge ('65-'67) and Zennie Clarke- De Silva ('65-'67)

Angela Cato-Ifill 67

RE: Manswells

2013-Oct-04-1658Hrs

In the picture with the Track Team and Cliff Bertrand, Scratch corrected himself. The picture is Merle Manswell- Craigwell ('66 - '68). However both she and Beatrice Manswell ('67 - '69) are no longer with us. Beatrice went first and Merle after. I see a question mark by Keith Aqui. I myself have doubts. I think he was an earlier Mausican. The only Aqui I remember in '66 - '69 was Ingrid ('67 - '69) and she too passed away. The two girls in the middle look familiar but I can't remember their names.

Pearl Mulrain 69

RE: MAUSICA WEEKLY EMAILS 2013-Oct-03

2013-Oct-04-0731Hrs

Thank you for the pics Scratchie. Just to clear this up, the African Village which I visited was in French Guyana, or Guyane as it is called.   (not Suriname).  Also, I am not sure if I mentioned that I have the picture of Harry Jo which you brought to "Nostalgia."  Let me know how we can make arrangements for you to pick it up, or I can get it to you.  You know that we are looking for pictures for the magazine.  Thank you for the pics of the relay team.  If the pics are print-ready I am sure that they will be in the "in the running" and be one of the "chosen ones."  Yuh know dat we cyah put all." Maria

Anna Maria Mora 70

RE: Eugene St Hilaire

2013-Oct-03-1740Hrs

Hello Errol,

Here’s a short tribute to my roommate, Eugene St Hilaire, for this week’s blog.

Thanks, and my sincerest condolences to his family.

Selwyn Jacob (63-65)

KILLER - Roommate for Life

Only in Trinidad, maybe only in Mausica, could you take a word like Killer and turn it into a loveable and loving name. Back in Mausica – in those early pioneer days it was de rigeur to give a fellow student a nickname: Bally Marly, Progues, Dum Dum – to name a few.  But Killer was unusual – it was taken from a comic strip featuring three apes: Killer, Old Baldy and Tola.

Killer was the name given to my roommate, Eugene St Hilaire, and he revelled in the uniqueness of that name, with his laughter, his joie de vivre and his killer personality.

We became friends when we both taught at Egypt Village Government School (Pt. Fortin) in 1962, & 1963. We entered Mausica Teachers’ College in 1963, and became roommates and friends forever. And since that time, we called one another – roommate - so much so that whenever my phone would ring at home over the past 40 plus years, my wife, who was not a Mausican, would calmly say, It’s your roommate.

Over the past 50 years I visited my roommate and his late wife, Suze, whenever I was in Trinidad. I became Godfather to his daughter, Arlene, and was a close friend of the family.  During the recent Mausica reunion in Trinidad, Rick, Carol and I made a detour during the trip to South, so that we could visit Killer because he was unable to attend. It was the last time we had a “killer” visit.

Farewell roommate. I will miss our conversations and discussions about any and everything, and above all, your “killer” personality.

Your roommate.

Selwyn (aka Yacos)

Selwyn Jacob 65

RE: 2013 Alumni Recognition Awards

2013-Oct-03-1645Hrs

University of Alberta 2013 Alumni Honour Award to Mausican Educator, Film Maker, Community Builder Selwyn Jacob.

Congratulations from all Mausicans.

Paul Lewis 71