• SEP 2014 – Joe Pascal Laroche

Le talentueux plasticien JOE PASCAL LAROCHE dont l’œuvre riche en couleurs et harmonie se passe de commentaires. Vous êtes conviés à y jeter un coup d’œil qui tournera vite en languissante admiration.

JOE PASCAL LAROCHE

Recently, I came upon this article which predicts the way Americans will look like in about 40 years from now. The look is that of people of mixed origins and multiple races. In my opinion, that suggests the relations among races will improve as we are now experiencing a huge deterioration in that area. We may as well start working on pacifying the little wars sprouting here and there. This can be done by substituting forgiveness for revenge, diluting all the apprehension toward each other with a bit of trust, and sprinkling some love dust over our bitterness. If we are going to “sleep with the enemy” (the only way to procreate the marvelous creature of 2050), we should make it a pleasurable experience. PEACE cannot be built with biases, prejudices, recriminations, discords and hatred as the bases. The line of communication must be engaged with open minds and a willingness to resolve our conflicts once and for all. Let’s begin by easing the tension eroding the very core of our society. After all, we are in this journey called life together. Let’s enjoy the ride together as well.

A legacy of endless battles between cousins is not what our progeny expects from us.

For the readers’ convenience, the article in question is reproduced below. Enjoy and let us now what you think! Namaste!

National Geographic Determined What Americans Will Look Like in 2050, and It’s Beautiful

by Zak Cheney-Rice April 10, 2014

It’s no secret that interracial relationships are trending upward, and in a matter of years we’ll have Tindered, OKCupid-ed and otherwise sexed ourselves into one giant amalgamated mega-race.

But what will we look like? National Geographic built its 125th anniversary issue around this very question last October, calling on writer Lise Funderburg and Martin Schoeller, a renowned photographer and portrait artist, to capture the faces of our nation’s multiracial future.

Here’s how the “average American” will look by the year 2050:

And like this:

And this:

Wow. These are obviously not Photoshopped projections, but real people, meaning tomorrow’s America lives among us now in every “Blackanese,” “Filatino,” “Chicanese” and “Korgentinian” you meet at the DMV, grocery store or wherever it is you hang out.

Their numbers will only grow. The U.S. Census Bureau let respondents check more than one race for the first time in 2000, and 6.8 million people did so. By 2010 that figure had increased to nearly 9 million, a spike of about 32%.

This is certainly encouraging, but there are obvious flaws with tracking racial population growth through a survey that lets people self-identify, especially since so many familial, cultural and even geographical factors influence your decision to claim one or multiple races. Complicating things further is the definition of race itself: It has no basis in biology, yet its constructions, functions and mythologies irrevocably shape the world as we know it.

So is an end approaching? Will increased racial mixing finally and permanently redefine how we imagine our racial identities? The latest figures suggest we’re getting more comfortable with the idea, or perhaps that we simply give fewer shits than ever before. Either would be a step in the right direction.

The Wall Street Journal reported a few years back that 15% of new marriages in 2010 were between individuals of different races. It’s unclear whether they’ve included same-sex unions in the count, but as currently stated, this number is more than double what it was 25 years ago. The proportion of intermarriages also varied by race, with “9% of whites, 17% of blacks, 26% of Hispanics and 28% of Asians [marrying] outside their ethnic or racial group.” Interracial unions now account for 8.4% of all marriages in the U.S.

Image Credit: Wall Street Journal

In addition, more than 7% of the 3.5 million children born in 2009, the year before the 2010 census, were of two or more races.

The future: As for how this looks moving forward, studies have repeatedly shown that young people, especially those under 30, are significantly more amenable to interracial relationships than older adults, while college grads are more likely to have positive attitudes toward them than those with only a high school diploma. What does this mean for Millennials? As a population composed largely of over-educated 20-somethings, our generation is primed and expected to play a major role in populating this projected future America. That goes double if you live in a Western state, where people intermarry at higher rates; Hawaii is winning at the moment, with 4 of 10 new marriages identifying as interracial.

This doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine, rainbows and butterflies, however. Stark segregation still plagues many parts of the country. Poverty remains a barrier to social mobility and its consequent opportunities to interact with a diverse range of people. Sadly, the inequalities that shape American society as a whole are equally present in interracial relationship patterns. Time will tell if this holds for the long term.

But in the meantime, let us applaud these growing rates of intermixing for what they are: An encouraging symbol of a rapidly changing America. 2050 remains decades away, but if these images are any preview, it’s definitely a year worth waiting for.

Sources: National Geographic

L’escalier de mes désillusions

« Tout comme il existe un cimetière des éléphants, j’ai imaginé un cimetière des récits. Ils sont devenus des fantômes qui se sont mis à me hanter avec insistance quand j’ai commencé à descendre l’escalier de ma vie, un escalier que j’ai découvert pavé de désillusions qui se révélaient au fur et à mesure que les masques des amours s’estompaient, que se dévoilaient les raisons profondes de leurs jeux, que je constatais, ahuri, atterré, que l’esprit humain avec toute sa fierté, ses tentatives parfois ridicules pour se hisser sur le trône des dieux, reste désespérément empêtré dans sa gangue animale. »

Les convulsions de la terre, en cette fin de soirée de janvier 2010, ont fait une brèche énorme dans les murs de ce cimetière dont parle l’écrivain Carl Vausier. Redoutant l’annonce de la mort de son ex-femme Jezabel, qu’il continue à aimer en secret, et de sa fille Hanna, toutes deux disparues, il est hanté par les récits qu’il n’a jamais voulu écrire, récits pour la plupart mus par la mort. Et reviennent sans cesse dans ses pensées les trois personnages clés de sa vie : son père, René Vausier, son ex-femme Jezabel et bien sûr lui-même, le Carl Vausier de sa mémoire.

Dans Maudite éducation, Gary Victor nous avait entraînés dans les allées d’une adolescence particulière. Ce nouveau texte plonge dans les profondeurs de la vie d’un homme pour en ramener des oublis plus que singuliers, des blessures aussi secrètes qu’elles sont tenaces et douloureuses. Dans les abysses de la mémoire gisent parfois des étrangetés qu’un séisme peut réveiller.

Né à Port-au-Prince en 1958, en exil permanent dans son tiers d’île comme il aime à le dire, Gary Victor, journaliste, dramaturge, écrivain, est l’auteur d’une œuvre littéraire importante qui explore sans concessions les mondes intérieurs les plus singuliers. Son regard aigu sur la société et ses conflits fait de lui un auteur à la fois incontournable et inclassable. Il a publié une quinzaine d’ouvrages dont À l’angle des rues parallèles (prix du Livre insulaire, 2003), Je sais quand Dieu vient se promener dans mon jardin (prix RFO, 2004), Le Sang et la Mer (prix Casa de Las Americas, 2012) et Maudite éducation (2012