"Mom, you were a pioneer!"

[mountaingal]

Pioneer. That's what mi dawta call mi sometimes, dung to lass nite.

Not for things like being one of the few black women to reach certain circles in my work environment. Or for being the only black 5-year honour student at my high school graduation. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

No. a cause mi use to use pit toilet when mi was growing up. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

we were talking last nite about our trip to Jamaica this summer, and we visited my grand-aunty house in St. Bess. my 16 year old made a point of experiencing pit toilet. She tell mi seh it "smelled" in there. mi tell har ppl get used to it. then she seh, she could see that, because there were current newspapers in there (meaning she think that you supposed to be reading and catchng up on the news while you're doing your business.)

mi tell har when mi was younger that was the toilet paper, and she was horrified. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

aye sah.

hummuch a wi pioneer still deh bout, eeh? and none a oonu town ppl no badda come in here come talk nuttn to mi bout dat... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70400-talktohand.gif[/img]

[7777]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

now why u haffe call we town people name fah.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70388-shameonyou.gif[/img]
yes, some a we born and raise a kingston, but dat noh seh we noh know bout the pit toilet..
(even doe we never have eee.. ), but we families a country had it, and a dat we had to use , along with dreaded wetted toilet tissue/aka/newspaper/sometimes bush..... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]
so we know...


Ok now missis..
Carry on.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

but really now, 7s, just cause town ppl visit country and see certain tings no mean dem live it enuh.... bwoy, going to kingston was almost like going a farrin wen mi was a pickney, so many amenities were available to the family. the most signifcant one being indoor toilet. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

then mi dawta dem was fascinated that mi grand-aunty still cook outside on wood fire, when she have kitchen inside.

first, them a ask about the stones - why she have the pot on stones? why she no just put the pot on the concrete pillar and cook on that? poor ting dem think the concrete pillar itself get hot - mi tell dem seh is just fi raise up the fire so mi grand-aunty no haffi stoop. then mi tell dem seh the stones is to balance the pot over the firewood. first them couldn't believe mi - think seh the stones would be unstable - mi tell dem no, it is quite stable, that mi grand-aunty been doing this a long time.

why she don't use the indoor kitchen, dem waan know. mi explain that first of all, is a kerosene stove she have inside, and that they probably want to save on fuel. also, that cooking inside the house smell up the house and jamaicans (ole time ones) don't like that.

then mi seh the indoor kitchen, like the indoor bathroom, was mostly for status, caw mi grand-uncle did have job at Alpart when im married mi grand-aunty, who was one of the prettiest women in the district. so im had to give her big house with the modern things.

aye sah. all dem tings juss mek mi kids love jamaica more. dem determine demma go move deh go live.

[Seveen]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

a friend of mine from Alabama - didn't have an indoor toilet or running water until 1972 - when he was going off to college

as an adult - every morning - he would get up and have to go outside to do some chore

i used to tease him that going outside as soon as he wakes up was a residual from his outdoor toilet days

there are still people in Alabama and Mississippi that don't have indoor plumbing

my son marvels that we didn't have color TV, had to use a record player, no cell phones, no computers - he calls it "the dark ages" [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[Nanook]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

Pioneer Nanook reporting in!

Yikes, the list is long. I was living with a pit toliet untill 10 years ago last month. Before that, I had a hand pump for water and a wood stove for heat, a sauna for a bath.
Around 1990 I let them put in cold running water and I switched to an old gravity fed oil stove for heat cause I worked too long of hours to be chained to the wood stove.

I pioneered a few work related things in my day, I was:

The first woman animal control officer in 2 towns

One of the first women cab drivers in Duluth.

One of the first women constructions workers, I think there were 3 others when I started.

Even women bartenders were controversial when I started bartending back in the mid 70"s.

By the time I started working in a paper mill in the 80's, there were already maybe 10-15% women, but by the time I left it was probably more like 30%. I was the first woman to hold one of the jobs that they said "no woman has ever done this job cause a woman cannot do this job", I did it and did it well despite sabatoge and other factors that contributed to the challenge. It seems as though the men saw me as a threat once it was discovered a woman can do the job.

Oh, but my most proud feat was waaaay back in the late 60's early 70's when a group of us formed a "Stop the freeway" project to fight a whole lot of historic Duluth from being brought to flat ugly freeway along the shores of Lake Superior. We even put out the first alternative newspaper, aptly named "The Freeway". my son was on the cover of the first issue.

We didn't stop the freeway, of course, it was the missing link from Canada to Texas. But, it is a work of art, a series of beautiful tunnels with plant over hangs and beautiful etched local related designs in the concrete. The tunnels saved the buildings and they're great, and other cities have come to use them to help design such problems in their city.

I'm all done pioneering now though, it's fun to watch what the pioneers of today are doing.

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

[ QUOTE ]
a friend of mine from Alabama - didn't have an indoor toilet or running water until 1972 - when he was going off to college

as an adult - every morning - he would get up and have to go outside to do some chore

i used to tease him that going outside as soon as he wakes up was a residual from his outdoor toilet days

there are still people in Alabama and Mississippi that don't have indoor plumbing

my son marvels that we didn't have color TV, had to use a record player, no cell phones, no computers - he calls it "the dark ages" [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

it's amazing how far we've come in our lifetimes, eh seveen. i was telling my kids that last week somebody called a Buffalo radio station to say he had two little girls who were staying home because of that big snowstorm they had, there was no teevee, no electricity, and he was desperate to know what they could do to entertain themselves. mi seh, the blastid radio deejay dem wouldn't even help di youth. hang up pon im then a talk back and forth about they should go outside to play, no they should stay inside where it's safe...but not a dang thing about what they could do.

indoor things i used to do when mi cuzzin and mi wain pickney fi kip wiself entertained:
* play cards
* draw picture
* tell duppy story
* if a nitetime, mek shadow puppets by candlelight or lamplight
* play ludo
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/bannana_purple.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

nanook, you neva joke inna you pioneering! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

but why it took you so long to get the modern bath and cooking amenities?

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

next ting my girls tek set on now is the bathing thing.

mi tell dem dat one night mi and mi cuzzin never "tidy" and we couldn't go a bed till we "tidy", so we had was to do it outside in di dark. dem did have one light at the edge of the house, but we couldn't go in di light cause den ppl would see us a tidy, but we neva waan go completely inna di darkness, caw wi did fraida duppy.

needless to say, at one point we were convinced we see duppy round di lime tree and run inna di house, one of us kicking ova the basin a water we was tidying from.

mi dawta dem start question mi bout dis tidying business. dat to dem was the height of pioneer! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

i was trying to teach them how to do it when dem did younger, but it neva tek.

all when mi tell dem dat mi neva use toothpaste fi brush mi teeth wen mi was growing up, mi use salt. see dem yah: [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[Suesumba]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

the first time i saw a real toilet, it had a chain contraption on it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] the first time mi goh a kingston and all the white statutes (manniquins) bway i was so impressed. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[7777]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

[ QUOTE ]
but really now, 7s, just cause town ppl visit country and see certain tings no mean dem live it enuh.... bwoy, going to kingston was almost like going a farrin wen mi was a pickney, so many amenities were available to the family. the most signifcant one being indoor toilet. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ] u know this make me laff, cus u know that we took the toilet, the bathtub and the sink as the norm... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]
Is when we go a country that fe we eyes dem widen..
A de first time we ever see peacock, pig , goat, and cow a roam free and a walk road by demselves....
Man, just fe go with smaddy, and tek dem tings deh out to pasture , fe we, dat a big, big treat..
Going to country, and learning fe blend in, was the highlight of we holadays.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[7777]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

[ QUOTE ]
the first time i saw a real toilet, it had a chain contraption on it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] the first time mi goh a kingston and all the white statutes (manniquins) bway i was so impressed. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ] the first time I saw a toilet like this with the chain, was in the country , believe it or not...
Most houses I know had the porcelin toilets.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

[ QUOTE ]
the first time mi goh a kingston and all the white statutes (manniquins) bway i was so impressed. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

lol! i can well imagine, sue. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

town life was soooooo different from country life - at least, from poor country life, caw di big family dem a country did have all di town sittn.

[mountaingal]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
but really now, 7s, just cause town ppl visit country and see certain tings no mean dem live it enuh.... bwoy, going to kingston was almost like going a farrin wen mi was a pickney, so many amenities were available to the family. the most signifcant one being indoor toilet. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ] u know this make me laff, cus u know that we took the toilet, the bathtub and the sink as the norm... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]
Is when we go a country that fe we eyes dem widen..
A de first time we ever see peacock, pig , goat, and cow a roam free and a walk road by demselves....
Man, just fe go with smaddy, and tek dem tings deh out to pasture , fe we, dat a big, big treat..
Going to country, and learning fe blend in, was the highlight of we holadays.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
you betta dan fimi town cuzzn dem, 777, caw dem come one time a country and was so traumatized by having to use outdoor tilet dem neva badda come back.

i suppose dem neva too like di chimmey bizness eida.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[Hush Darlin]

Re: "Mom, you were a pioneer!"

so MG u neva haffi buy ice fram de ice truck and dig hole and bury it si it noh melt wey