Kim Borkowski
Equinox Staff
Keene State College students experienced an eclectic mix of music, food, and dance during the first annual Common Ground International Carnival on March 31.
The Common Ground Multicultural club hosted the carnival in the Mabel Brown Room of the L.P. Young Student Center calling it a “twist on the Island’s version of Mardi Gras.”
To accompany the Masquerade Mardi Gras theme the carnival was decorated in purple, green, and gold while the Common Ground Club gave out masks and bead necklaces.
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Athena Arrindell, the president of the Common Ground Multicultural Club, discussed how the club came up with the idea of having a carnival.
“It’s Mardi Gras in the Islands and we were listening to music in the office one night when our vice president was kind of just like, ‘We should have a carnival!’”
Arrindell explained the club spent a lot of its budget on the carnival.
The Common Ground Secretary, Shallyne Baez, echoed Arrindell in explaining, “We didn’t do many other events, so most of our money went to our Alternative Spring Break trip and this carnival.”
Baez added, “Not many people know about the Common Ground Club, and this carnival is something big that can put our name out there. Keene is isolated, and we wanted to expose people to the different food, music, and cultures while having fun!”
The Vice President of the Common Ground Multicultural Club, Jessica Pierre, explained the club’s main goal for the carnival, “We want to educate people while having fun.”
On March 30, the day before the carnival, the Common Ground Club set up gravestones on the Student Center lawn.
On each gravestone was a “negative” fact about a country.
Some of these facts read: “Jordan suffers from legal and societal discrimination against women;” “In Puerto Rico, heroin is a continuously abused drug;” “In Germany 6 million Jewish people died in the Holocaust and a quarter of them were children.”
Baez explained why they offered those facts. “They were part of our educational part of the carnival. A lot of problems in the world happen in the U.S. too, and we wanted to provide the good and bad of other countries.”
Along the walls of the carnival, the “positive” facts about the countries were hung. Some of these facts read: “Russia has 12 seas”; “In the USA, Alaska has a longer coastline than the other 49 states combined”; “Zimbabwe has 3 official languages: English, Shona, Ndebele.”
Students at the carnival danced to a mix of hip-hop music from around the world provided by DJ Testa. Jamaican performers also took the stage. Students were able to sample foods from around the world – all labeled with the country of origin. The mixture of foods and drinks included chicken and cheese croquettes, pastechi, lumpia, plantain chips, mock sangria, etc.
Lion dancers entertained the crowd as they danced through the carnival, dressed in a yellow and red lion costume. Baez explained the lion was African theme.
Students could also receive a 20-minute session of a tarot card reading.
A member of the Common Ground Multicultural Club, freshman Jessica Butterfield, said she believed the carnival was a great way to get everyone together.
“We were able to ‘show off’ different cultures, and people were able to try something new.”
Junior Elisha Wamsley said she came to the International Carnival because she was looking for something fun to do with a friend.
“I just got off of work, so it was good timing that this was going on,” she explained.
She said she heard there would be different cultures and different music involved, and she added that she likes African dance music so she was interested to check it out.
“It’s fun, I’m having a blast! Everyone’s dancing and it doesn’t feel awkward,” she said.
Wamsley added, “Including the facts everywhere about each country was a great idea. I even checked out the gravestones yesterday. I think integrating the different cultures into one night is awesome; it might open people’s eyes.”
In conclusion, Arrindell explained the Common Ground Multicultural Club has been around KSC for a while, but not many students know about it.
She said the club does community service and is open to everyone.
“Everyone is different and brings something different to the club. We can all be different, and accept each other at the same time. We’ve all become really good friends,” Arrindell stated.
Kim Borkowski can be contacted at kborkowski@keene-equinox.com