2021-NOV-12-1938Hrs
Thank you Allan for posting those pictures. Garth had released some earlier. It would be nice if any Mausicans, who were part of the Guyana project, and who have pictures of that really enriching experience (on a range of levels), can post them so that we can produce a photo essay of the trip.
Ainsworth Ancil Ovid 71
2021-NOV-05-1318Hrs
Looking through my archive of pictures, I stumbled upon these from our trip to Guyana in 1970.
Pic #1
After waiting in Piarco for the whole day, the plane finally arrived to take us to Guyana. When we landed, Officials were there with photographers to take pictures of our arrival. I walked with my quatro, and I started singing and playing a Mausica folk song. Mauretta. Everybody joined in, spread out and sang our way to the building where the immigration was waiting for us. The officials joined us, but did not know the song, but from the picture, it was clear that they enjoyed our arrival.
Picture #2:
That was where we had our meals. If you look closely, you will see Malcolm Pena still eating. This is where Happy sang his calypso, Panty Raid at Taj Mahal, 10 minutes after the woman came in to complain about losing all her panties. Her exact words were,
" Commander Young, those boys stole all my panties, and I don't think it is funny."
Picture #3
Our sleeping arrangements. Those of us who went to Lethem after working at Mhadia, had to sleep in hammocks.
Picture #4
The only person in this picture who is not a Mausican is Charlie. He is the short one in front holding my quatro. He is half Amerindian, and was in charge of our work gang.
Garth Nicholas
1969 to 1971
Sunset Villa
Garth Nicholas 71
2021-NOV-05-0837Hrs
Fair Haven Bomb Room? Hmmm!
I thought we had banned Grell Cup in Fair Haven...we forgot to put a time limit on it. So I am now finding out that men who came after participated in Grell Cup.
Back in my first year 67-68, De Warden put up a sign on the notice board outside of the assembly hall during Grell cup that said "Fair Haven-Campus Donkey."
Now I have to say that even here in 2021, I still feel quite hurt about that sign, which was really a gross disrespect of the GENTLEMEN of fairhaven, men like Geezmo (Kent Rennie), Carlsbury, Rodney, Patrick Ali, Anthony Lum, Deodath Ojah Maharaj, Efeebo, Murrel, Miguel, Arthur Hume, Gaston Alleyne, Clyde Maurice, and my Second Year roomate Sto (Selwyn Bethelmy).
Respect to those no longer on this earth... Toco, Phillip Kendall, Oswald Thompson, Hospy, Martin Brathwaite.
So this "Campus Donkey" sign was left up on that board for the whole Grell Cup week.
But during that week Fairhaven fought back, through the fortitude of me and my roomate Sto. We issued an edict that Fairhaven men will NOT take further part in de Grell cup, and in fact that instead of a Bomb Room, we will have a La Basse room and our room will be it.
We put a sign on the door inviting all to just throw their rubbish in our room, on the floor......we left the room open. And men obliged, emptying their trash....with cane peeling from their foraging of our cane field ...and everything else.
Bomb Room?
Down in the Villa Davis Charles had a Bomb Room. The man cheated, bring Chenille Bed spread from home to put on his bed in the Villa flat, where he was hostel Rep. You go down to de Villa to see this thing and you fraid to enter that room it so clean and antiseptic. Flowers and ting.
The Warden and his team came down to inspect rooms in Haven, and we left our room open....and I would have given money to hear the Warden react when they went in to "inspect".
The next year, 68, I sang "No Grell Cup" in the calypso contest....came in third..dey tief me....
"Who start up dis Grell Cup business
Nobody eh know
Some Say is de Bald head Warden
Some say is Harry Joe
Whoever it is, dat eh worrying me
Just Tell dem I say
No Grell cup for Lord Scratchie.
I am disheartened to see that men in Fairhaven fell back into de Grell cup to the point of having bomb room.
But I understand. A Fairhaven man beats his own drum, and nobody cant tell him what to do.
Lord Scratchie (Calypso king third place 1968).
Theodore Lewis 69
2021-OCT-29-1141Hrs
I was thinking the other day about the art lecturers I encountered at Mausica. Of course Boodoo, but also Thomasos, whom I never quite understood.Two of Thomasos' assignments caused a stir among us on the campus, one was "Stop Thief". The other, was "A mendicant".
"Stop thief" made the rounds outside of class as a kind of Mausica special.
But when Thomasos gave us the assignment of drawing a "mendicant", many of us, including me, did not know, or had never heard about, a mendicant. I had never heard the word, and in Marabella where I grew up I dont think we had mendicants. So many of us did not know what to draw.
Mendicant was a first year assignment, but second years in Mayfair and Haven got on to it, and soon it got into the hostel lexicon, with phonetic adjustments. Mendicant became a label you could affix to a man. You could say to a man, "you is a mendicant or what?" Men like Beck, Bullock, Sto, Geezmo, Braf, revelled in this.
I had Thomasos as supervisor for student practice. On the Friday of student teaching, as all may remember, we were back at lunch, and the supervisors were supposed to spend the afternoon going over the week's experiences with their charges. This of course is where people like Cuffie excelled. But Thomasos was candid about this, and told our group he did not know what he was supposed to do. He walked down the corridor and saw Cuffie and others in front of their groups, in animated posture.
When he came to our group he said, memorably, "all these lecturers, talking, talking, teaching teaching, what are they talking about?"
I remember him vividly. There was an honesty about this that was striking. Maybe specialist lecturers like him should not have been given that role.....maybe it should have been left to those more steeped in teaching methods and classroom management. People like the Cuff, Hordatt, and one or two others.
Scratchie.
Theodore Lewis 69
2021-OCT-29-0930Hrs
I am a bit of an expert on prostate cancer...having had a prostatectomy back in 2002 when I was 55. There is a better option now especially the DaVinci robotics surgery, which is nerve sparing.
Severed nerves is the risk in this surgery. But without the surgery the options are bleak. Although I know someone from Marabella who, like the late Lord Shorty, tried bush tea. He too is now "late".
Prostate cancer leaves you with no bargain really, and some men risk death by avoiding surgery which they believe would emasculate them.
Selwyn Cudjoe had a prostatectomy and wrote a hilarious account of its effects on him in one of his columns. His main point was that he is alive, though a somewhat softer man.
This is the disease that took the lives of Lloyd Best, Carol Keller, and Keith Smith. Large men.
It leaves you between a rock and a hard place. Or something like that.
The local problem is that there is a shortage of urologists. Sawh is the big guy, but Carol complained bitterly about him.
I have heard from Dr. Strisiver my General doctor at St Augustine private hospital that they have the da Vinci option at the hospital.
Brachy therapy is another option, radiation seeds planted....but that depends on how close is the cancer to the skin of the prostate.
Scratchie.
Theodore Lewis 69
2021-OCT-28-0750Hrs
Keep up the good work Errol.
Scratchy's 330 +330=660 brought back memories to when there were moves to raise the salaries to $380.
Lord Lester (Osuna) sang a calypso with back-up singers Everard Bobb, Ricardo Hospedales and myself. (apply double entendre profusely to chorus below)
Bring back the three thirty
We doh want no more three eighty
We want back the three thirty
Leh we run by Mrs Cuffie
Valerie telling Happy
Boy doh bother with she
With your three thirty and my three thirty
Six thirty for you and me.
On another note.
Scratchy, your article in yesterday's Express was an interesting and thought provoking one. A walk back in time to the present. I hope this signals a much awaited return to that newspaper.
Finbar
70-72
Finbar Ryan 72
2021-OCT-25-1213Hrs
Many thanks to all Mausicans and guests who participated in our 1971 – ’73 Entry into Mausica Teachers College 50th Anniversary Celebrations. A special “Thank You” to our Mathematics lecturer Mrs. Patricia Briggs, to our first year’s, facilitator brother Howard Spencer, and sister radio announcer/artiste with the golden voice Jemma Jordan, and our year group sister Janice James Quamina for her exclusive, informative and interesting video, together with artistes Xavier Strings and Johann Chuckaree for their entertaining videos. We are also very grateful to our united team/ Committee members :
3 Pats:- Aqui Abraham, Kalloo Chuckaree, and Phelps-Scott
2 Glorias:- Griffith Vitales, and Bernard Webb
3 J s:- Janice James-Quamina, Jemma Jordan and Jennifer Jackson David
And Everette Browne, Denzil Walker and Howard Spencer.
We received lots of compliments and it was a pleasure getting in touch with brothers and sisters especially those that we had not seen or heard in many years. Thanks to all. I cannot mention every name of those present or assisted behind the scenes but special mention and sincere thanks to Howard’s family- his wife our sister Myrtle and their son and those who sent us pictures and videos, cds and supportive prayers and well wishes.
We cherish and savour these memories, for they will not happen again with the same/ exact group of people in the same place here on earth. We would have liked to have all our brothers and sisters with us, but this was not humanly possible. We identified all of the one hundred and eleven students who entered Mausica Teachers College in Trinidad and Tobago In 1971. However we hope to seek and find those who are still alive. For we are our brother’s keeper. R.I.P to all those who have passed on.
Kudos to all Mausicans on Facebook, Messenger, What’s App, no device but everywhere. Praise and thank God for all and for God’s favour in leading us to a successful reunion for the common good. Amen.
Yours Sincerely,
Patricia Phelps-Scott on behalf of the team.
Patricia Phelps-Scott 73
2021-SEP-23-0844Hrs
I don't know if it was the same highway. We were at the start of the project in Mhadia. When we went to Lethem, we went across to Brazil in a dugout canoe. When I sat in the canoe, the water reached the top of the boat. Carlton asked me if I can swim. When I told him no, he got out of the canoe and came across later. He was still in time to play football against the Brazilian soldiers, whose camp we went to.
Another experience in Lethem. One night rain fell, and we were bitten by some flies that the rain had disturbed. The Kaboro fly. They bit us through our hammocks.
Garth Nicholas 71
2021-SEP-18-0533Hrs
Hi all,
It is with sadness that we mourn the passing of another Mausican. I met her years ago at a workshop and can attest to her professionalism. I didn't know she was a Mausican. May her soul rest in peace and may there be comfort for her relatives.
Barbara Mellowes 66
2021-SEP-10-1804Hrs
A few years ago I was in Guyana and took a maxi taxi (15 seater) that went from Georgetown through the forest, through a dirt track from Linden to Lethem on the Brazilian border and was able to walk across the border to Brazil and then take a bus to Boa Vista. I do not know if it is the same road that my fellow Mausicans helped build. Thank you. On the way back I had to sleep in a hammock in the forest. What a memorable journey that was!
Felix Edinborough 65
2021-SEP-10-1727Hrs
Thank you Phyllis for informing us of the passing of Wallis Wyke . I will follow the live celebration of her life on You Tube tomorrow
Condolences to her family , may her soul rest in peace .
Eileen Pilgrim 1967 - 1969
2021-SEP-10-1425Hrs
Condolences to the family of Wallis Wyke. May God comfort them at this sad time.
Euline Fox-Peters 70-72
2021-SEP-10-1401Hrs
Interacted with Wallis on a project...and am glad I met her and saw her professionalism....the wonderful Mausica chain affording this....I am 67-69...she was some years after.....sadness.....
Garth I remember that in august 68 A group of our incoming freshers did go to Guyana on this Forbes Burnham venture...including the great Reynold Davis...who had just come into Haven.....
Good to see the pictures.....Of course, Reynold had chosen the best hostel....No Grell cup for we...
Scratchy
Theodore Lewis 69
2021-SEP-07-1417Hrs
It is with great sadness that we inform you that our dear friend and sister Wallis Wyke 70-72 passed away last week Tuesday morning after a short illness. May she rest in the eternal peace of Christ Jesus.
Phyllis Mottley 72
2021-SEP-07-1318Hrs
When Forbes Burnham was starting the highway that would link Guyana with the rest of South America, he invited students from the Caribbean to start the project. A contingent of students from Mausica Teachers College went. These are some of the pictures.
Pic 1: When we landed in Mhadia where we were based.
Pic 2: The Rhupununi Savannah, with some Amerindian houses.
Pic 3: Kaiteur Falls
Pic 4: Some of us with some who were not from Mausica.
Some UWI students from Jamaica, who were always doing pranks, raided the Taj Mahal, (The name given to the tent where their female students were housed), and stole ALL their panties off the line. Gilbert O'Connor, the calypsonian "Happy", composed a calypso about that within 10 minutes of hearing about it.
51 years later, he still remembers the calypso and sent me the chorus. Enjoy.
Those of us fortunate to make the trip learnt a lot about Guyana and the lifestyle of Amerindians.
Garth Nicholas 71
2021-AUG-24-1543Hrs
I was just informed that Monica Lawrence-Lutzak (65/67) passed away this morning in Brampton.
Brenda Alexander-Perez 65
2021-AUG-06-1703Hrs
Subject:
Mr. Williams, collection of folk songs.
Mr. Williams had a rare collection of folk songs on open reel tapes. I was told that whenever he went anywhere, he walked with his reel to reel tape recorder, and recorded the folk songs composed and sung in that village and area. From the time I heard about that collection, I was interested in it. I spoke to him about it and he asked me to get a reel to reel machine on which we can play the tapes, and transfer the songs to another medium. needless to say, I tried very hard to find such a machine in Trinidad. Unfortunately, I was not successful.
After that , I heard that he gave the entire collection to a Mausican, who had migrated to America. In my opinion, that body of music, not only will it be very rare, but will be a record of the lifestyle, of the people who wrote the songs. Needless to say, I am still very interested in that body of music. If anyone here knows the person to whom Mr. Williams gave that music, PLEASE put me in contact with that person.
I can be contacted at my email: socalover_99@yahoo.com
or by mobile: 1(868)681-4346
or by this same # on whatsapp.
Sincerely
Garth NIcholas 71
2021-JUL-16-0151Hrs
My Fellow Mausicans,
On June 30th, 2021, I participated in a Story Slam organized by the Trinidad and Tobago Embassy. Check out You Tube and Facebook
The event was another significant peak experience in my life, similar to my two-year scholarship at Mausica Teachers College. "Mouth Open Story Jump Out" was a Golden Opportunity.
I used my five minutes to say thanks to meh cousin, Jean Barrington Leon and her husband, Hansel Leon, meh wife, Marjorie Allette, Mausica Teachers College and Sweet, Sweet TNT.
Thank you, sister Brenda for your kind comments.
I suggest that MTC host a series of Story Slams. Mausicans have thousands of inspiring stories to share.
According to Mangatal, "If only these walls could speak, what great tales they would tell."
Thanks to my room mates: Leroy Cox and Carlsbury Gonzales, the girls from Villa Nova, de fellas and sisters who carved out de tracks and invented de game of "chess", de original members of Mausica Teachers Chorale and of course, De Red Guards.
Aye, Selwyn Jacob, what about a documentary entitled, "The Mausicans".
As usual,
Rodney Foster. 66-68
2021-JUL-09-1845Hrs
Hi All,
Congratulations to Rodney and family. I am always happy to hear of Mausicans who excel at what they do. Keep up the good work.
Blessings,
Barbara Mellowes 66
2021-JUL-02-1636Hrs
Rodney Foster did Mausica justice as he recounted his journey to the US. He was one of the story tellers on T & T Association of DC's celebration of Caribbean American heritage.
Rodney spoke proudly of his education at Mausica and at other schools in T&T, in true Rodney style.
His wife made a cameo appearance.
He was entertaining.
Brenda Alexander-Perez 65
