Several students paid their own tribute Saturday to "Carnival Week," an annual street party which begins in Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow.
Dressed in red, green and turquoise, 10 students brought the spirit of Carnival Week to the University with their performance, "Flag Party," set to uplifting reggae music.
The women danced energetically among an audience gathered in the Michigan Union's Kuenzel room for Caribfest 1997 - two hours of poetry, speakers and art, highlighting the contributions of Caribbeans to black history.
The first-annual Caribfest, featuring visiting University faculty member and world-renowned Jamaican poet Lorna Goodison, was organized by the the University's Caribbean Peoples Association and drew about 70 students, faculty and alumni. The Cuban American Students Association also helped coordinate the presentation.
Caribfest offered an opportunity for Caribbean students to network and celebrate their culture, said LSA senior Tamarah Moss, a co-president of the CPA.
"We want to promote a spirit of cooperation between West Indians from different areas, and this will serve as an outlet to serve the West Indies when university days are over," said Moss, who is from the Bahamas.
During the presentation, LSA first-year student Dwayne Knight told stories about Caribbeans who have excelled in their fields, such as Stokely Charmical and Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott.
Knight said it is important for those of Caribbean descent to come together to celebrate their heritage "because we tend to get lost, especially on campus here, at such a big university."
LSA senior Denise James, a CPA co-president, said the event was aimed at displaying the uniqueness of Caribbean culture.
"Basically a lot of times at the University, people of color get grouped together in one clump, and we want to show that there is a distinct Caribbean culture," James said.
Goodison amused the crowd with her candid poetry, which reflected her experiences and observations growing up in Jamaica.
In "Trident," a tribute to the natural beauty of Jamaica, Goodison said the resort there reminded her of paradise.
"I turn and turn in wonder. Who could have put all this together?" she read.
Goodison explained in her Jamaican accent that she titled her last poem "To us, all flowers are roses" because of "a wonderful and eccentric habit Jamaicans have of calling every single flower on earth 'roses.'"
"It's my tribute to Jamaica and, by extension, to the Caribbean," Goodison said.
"To us, all flowers are roses," is also the name of Goodison's most recent collection of poetry, published in 1995.
Engineering first-year student David Reid spoke about how Caribbean culture can be seen everywhere in the United States, noting that "one-quarter of the baseball players in American sports are from the Caribbean," and that Colin Powell and Louis Farrakhan are of Caribbean descent.
Caribfest 1997 effectively reached out to others, said LSA first-year student Melita Alston.
"It was very interesting because that was the first time that I actually got educated about the Caribbean people," Alston said. "I didn't know that it was so collaborative, and I liked the dance."