Native St. Thomian DaraMonifah Cooper is one of the bright stars of the Virgin Islands art world. An artist of many talents, she is also major community organizer and educator who dedicates herself to working with St. Thomas’ youth and teaches them about their culture through music, art, performance arts, and engaging in technology through […]
As the sun began it’s descent, the colors radiated a golden hue and a zen vibe enveloped the space. The chaos of the busy town seemed distant from our 260 degree perch. The only intrusions were the distant sounds of church bells, a steel pan band practicing and the odd rooster. I asked this extraordinarily humble man about his life as a disciple of martial arts, a conscious excavator and his hopes for humanity and his Virgin Islands community. Our conversation seemed as limitless as the azure sky overhead.
I don’t think I’m a singer, I’m more of a chanter. Chanting is more spiritual to me. Not that singing isn’t. I feel like when you chant a song to The Most High, you chant up an invocation, you don’t really sing it. I bring words of positive messages and try to tap into someone’s train of thought. This is where I like to aim my frequency.
I remember this one time being at Trunk Bay and a Spotted Eagle Ray jumped out of the water in front of us. There were some visitors near by and everyone gasped. Then I said in a loud voice to my son Jackson, “I bet you $100 it jumps again!” Sure enough it did.
The best advice I can give for being your own contractor is the closer you can be to the project with your tool belt on, the better the chance you have of not running up huge error bills. The “oopps factor” is huge here. And allow yourself to cry! You need to realize there are always going to be mistakes that will need to be fixed and that’s just one of the reasons why it costs so much to build here.
Happiness is when I see people on the bow of my boat totally relaxed chatting amongst each other like they are in their own living room. Everybody getting to see something they have never seen before. Like pirate cannons under water. That is one of my goals…to show you something you’ve never seen before.
I remember seeing a large bright object fly over my house and I googled the NASA Space Station to find out more about what it could be. They have this thing called “Alerts for Your Area”. You enter the latitude and longitude of where you live and then NASA sends you an alert … turns out there are lots of people looking at the stars who are also curious about moving celestial objects.
My father is a tremendous smart ass. I was raised with wit and sarcasm. My grandfather was the same, always wise cracking. The happier you are the more you laugh, the better your outlook on life. Plus there is a chemical released in your brain when you laugh.
The truth is our stories are not much different from yours with maybe the exception of having “a better view” and a few more “twists and turns in the road” and possibly some more rum.
