In the photos are of a family resting on a sidewalk, a squatters hut on the seawall and the should be world famous childrens art painted on the seawall.

the Caribbean it is customary to fly kite for Easter. I was told not to miss the kite flying on Georgetown’s roughly five mile long seawall.

I went down early in the day to photograph a mile stretch of seawall the children had painted. I feel all children are wonderful artist till we teach them to drawn in the box . It was too hot so I left deciding to come back in the evening . At 5 pm I took a cab to seawall. The sky was full of kites. If Galveston’s mardi gras gets 100,000 people then there were two to ten times that amount packed on the seawall. There were no parades , no restrooms and very few police which were mostly women. families for the most part could not even afford to buy cokes and candy . The families all sat on the seawall with just a few inches apart defining their families . I had not mentioned this but I broke both of my cameras. At first I felt naked and alone. They were my partners in this trip. Then I realized fate wanted me to take a new step. As I started down the seawall I stopped at every kite which was every family and greeted them and admired their kite. The family unit , the friendliness and the love broke me down .. I was overwhelmed. I ended up spending 4 hours trying to meet every kite flyer on the seawall and compliment them on their kite.
To walk down the Galveston seawall and admire the children’s art painted on its concrete wall while enjoying 50,000 families harmoniously flying kites seems feasible.. It is not . It is not who were are. We are indulge and purging mardi gras’ers. Goodness!!! We really tell ourselves we are not , yet what is the reflection we make.
What is stranger is half of Guyana lives out of the country .. It is a country of women , children and some grandparents. A school teacher , policeman , hotel guard makes less than $50,000 Guyanese dollars a month . Most far less. That is $250 dollars a month and living in a city . .The guard at my fairly nice hotel makes $150 a month working 7/12’s. I do not recall anything here cheaper than in the states except labor. One out of every 100 kites were factory made. Thousand and thousands of homemade kites and many many times that people enjoying what little they have . I spoke with a man from Barbados who was enjoying his first trip to Guyana. He also had a business in New York. He was amazed as I was at the dynamics of these people. He wondered if before Barbados became tourist if it was the same. The people who live here are modern city people. They have the same dream we have. When they talk of the usa it is like candy canes dancing in their heads. What is the dynamics of the human race that we give up our souls for prosperity .
Why do the have’s, have not and the have not’s have? I have been working on this thought for 15 years and I know only one thing. We do not want to know.
Today I am going to go to all the pharmacies and ask for some depression medicine .. I am not depressed . I just want to hear the pharmacist say we do not carry it , there is no demand .

Harrie Carrie

I am seeing big problems. If I am as careful as those I love want me to be , I will get so bored I will commit harri carrie.. Wait wasn’t he the cardinal baseball braodcaster in the 70’s . And he hit a high ball and its going , going going and it gone . Well if you do not hear from me for a while I am going harry carry.. Bite me !

Robbed!

For those not Familiar with Galveston and the wizard. Dave Torkelson has a small periodical called the Galveston wizard. Google it . It is a real shoe string operation with great hopes. I do some writing and photography for the magazine.

Georgetown , Guyana is a city of a million hard working yet laid back people. As with any third world country I first set off for the open markets. It is the real world in many ways. Georgetowns was no exception. Rougher and poorer than any I had seen in Mexico or peru, yet not as primitive as Haiti’s.
It is very easy to strike up a friendly conversation in Guyana and every single person I talked with warned me I was a extra special target walking the streets being a foreigner and having the camera bag. It is not extremely dangerous but I feel they are extremely caring.
The market is fairly safe yet My camera was out of the bag most of the time photographing. I knew each day brought more danger.
It happened this morning . In the crowd at the market someone bumped into me from behind. I slightly felt my right pocket stirring . I hugged my camera bag and he shoved me towards a stand like he was losing his balance but it was really to clean me out . I am left handed so my phone was not in the pocket and he got my cigarettes. I have never been pick pocketed before but now realize it is obvious if you are being aware and a swift knee to the groin is easy since his hands are busy . it’s a learning curve.
I shrugged off the lose of a pack of cigarettes but then noticed the zipper of my camera bag was partially open . Affixed to it was the world famous Galveston wizard Press pass.. Oh my God ! Although it had not got me back on the island after Hurricane Ike, it probably had kept me from getting my butt beaten a few times. I need to get a warning to dave ! What if someone with my press card credentials sent a story to dave at the wizard and dave sent those big bucks to him . I felt lost without my press credentials raped and invaded. I am in a foreign county . What do I do ? Call the Embassy! Hmm, As I promised to my friends I had checked in to the American embassy when I arrived. Well, almost, they did not open till noon so I sampled the 5 year rum. The guards who searched me were totally ok with it and loved all the stuffed and marshmallow peeps they found in my camera bag. However I decided I had lost a lot of credibility with the staff. I have no idea what you can do with a Galveston press pass. I ask my waiter and a lawyer sitting next to me and they were also at a loss. It’s in your hands Dave.