I was, as they say, indisposed, on Saturday evening, so I missed the Carnival Queen Pageant. I left all the fun to Kayra, Nasha and Dave of the STAR, while I took in the finals of Piton Soca Starz in Vieux Fort. But I couldn’t help wondering about what might be going on with the ladies at Barnard Hill. Besides, it was a little embarrassing when I found myself unable to answer some in Vieux Fort who wanted to know if my STAR colleagues in Castries had told me anything worth repeating.
Of course gossip is gossip, whether straight from a horse’s mouth or via what is commonly known now as the social media. Before long I was receiving comments and pictures from “friends” and “followers,” some of whom were not actually at the Cultural Center and were passing on to me what others had passed on to them or what they were viewing via the Internet or on Choice TV. That’s how it works these days, folks. Hearsay is at the heart of the social media. But what the heck, it is what it is.
I was especially captivated by the comments of one “Facebook friend,” as much for who she was as for her straight down the line honesty. By her own Facebook account Jadia Jn Pierre Press Secretary to the Prime Minister was at an undisclosed location following the Queen show with her daughter.
Talk about a critical eye. And insightful? At one point she posted:
“Who designed that backdrop? Looks like the work of someone pregnant who can’t move around.”
Of course it could also have been designed by a big guy who, as the Babonneau rep put it the other day in parliament, looks like what he eats. You eat two hogs for breakfast long enough and before long your gut is gonna be spilling more than beans!
Turning her attention to the audience, Jadia posted: “For a moment I thought I was at the Club Legacy. Too bad crowd support can’t win you the crown.”
Of course, early on she had let the whole world know via her Facebook (the same place details of the Taiwanese money controversy were first published) that she was supporting Jamara Smith and Jaimee Joseph, if only because they were both from her boss’ headquarters. He had himself made a special effort to be present last week when the seven wannabe queens had paid a courtesy visit to Government House (and I’m not saying that had anything to do with the ladies in waiting Smith and Joseph, you understand.
Jadia’s next post almost dropped me in my tracks: “You mean the organizers could not see this is not the ideal setting for a Digicel Robo Cop smoke gun? I would really be annoyed to have these things near my Sunday best.” (Which I imagine she wears in places like Calgary, Cuba and Johannesburg. Or to funerals of fallen comrades like Brother Jon!)
As for the ladies’ costumes, Jadia’s constant reaction found her “LHAO,” while her daughter contributed her own comments. For example: “Mommy that’s not funny, that’s scary!” Presumably Jadia’s child is still, well, a child?
The MCs did not go down all that well either. “Did we get the hosts of Piton Soca Starz and the Queen show mixed up? Quite possible, since they are both happening at the same time,” Jadia commented.
Having no line to tow on Facebook, Jadia then made this bold swipe, at well, can’t say she was clear in that regard: “So why all the hype for Hot Couture and it’s anything goes for Queen show?”
“ Not that I can deal with another dose of Mc Doom,” she added. “I am just looking at the quality of the production. It’s the same ministry [of tourism] in charge.” Did she know the minister’s wife was the Queen show’s head chaperone?
Jadia’s final Facebook comment came just before she apparently went to bed. It related to the results that had Miss Saint Lucia Tourist Board Amy Stephens as the night’s big winner. Noting the lady’s “upside down sash,” Jadia wondered: “Everything is upside down this year? The queen’s sash is upside down. I hope this does not define her reign.”
Well, Jadia dear, considering the Queen thing is just carnival, not to be taken seriously, no big ting. If her reign turns out to be upside down or sunny side up or back to front, who cares, once she’s having fun?
But by the look of things chances are someone was trying to drive home the point that everything in this country has gone topsy-turvy, or upside down, as you put it. From that promise of “better days” that have turned into bitter and beggar days to that whole business about people smiling when there’s nothing to SMILE about, you know, like they been smoking something or “cockma” hold them?
But you gotta hand it to the prime minister’s press secretary. She was most definitely Choice TV’s most riveting commentator. All she has to do now is take her sense of wit to her radio show and it’ll be bal finis for the Claudius shower, “moments of levity” and all! Even I will tune in and that’s a promise.
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