The Final Presentation

After many hours, inspiring  interviews, stressful moments, mini-aggravations, breakthroughs, and discoveries, our research came together today in our final presentation of our work. It was the day we had all been both dreading and waiting for. From the beginning we had our challenges and setbacks, but we also had our “Aha!” moments and strategic meetings that led to successful results. We had worked hard as a whole group and in our individual groups and I was excited to see the outcomes of the other groups and to see how my group did. I was also really nervous because the presentation was the part of the project that I felt the least ready for. I had less idea of what the expectations were as there had been fewer guidelines and my group had pulled together at the last minute our decision of what to do for the presentation. It was a hard process because we wanted to portray the Orisha faith in some way that would incorporate the music and how powerful it has been within the spirituality and its influences on Trinidadian culture. We originally wanted to learn how to play the drums or chants or maybe have someone else perform, but it was clear that it would be difficult in our time frame. We had a couple other ideas but we settled on personal reflections on our experience with spirituality and our research and what we had learned from everything. The idea felt the most natural to us and although we struggled with the idea that maybe we wouldn’t be technical enough, we decided that it was our best shot. And we pulled it off. As nervous as I myself was, as soon as I started talking about my own experiences, the words came to me easier than I thought they would and I really meant and felt what I was saying. It felt good to be giving a presentation and feeling comfortable with it. The rest of the group did their own part and each part was different and it was a great way to give it a more well-rounded reflection. We ended it by playing a video of the trip that we had made which was a hit and then gathering in a circle to hold hands and give thanks for everything accompanied by the four blessings of Ifa. It was a really nice way to end everything and everyone enjoyed watching the movie and gathering together. The other two groups were also really impressive and it was so fun to watch them perform. The mas group had put together a nice documentary and then actually played their own mas which was so cool. We got out own mini-carnival and the Lloyd Best Institute. The kaiso group wrote their own calypso about the professors that was hilarious and had us all singing. My favorite part was when Brittany scatted just like Dr. B. Priceless.