Marcus Bethel spent many days on the shore of Petite, Martinque Island, where he loaded up his boat with equipment to dive into the dangerous waters to spear fish for a living.
To him, the shore represented more than just a job; it was also where he sat and sometimes wondered, outside the boundaries of the island, in search for more. Equipped with ambition and dreams, his eyes reached far passed the horizon.
When he first arrived in Brooklyn from Petite Martinque, an immigrant new to the surrounding city that contains millions of people, it could have easily scared Bethel away. Not in his case. Bethel says that on the island people dreamed about more and the opportunity was finally here for him.
Petite Martinique is a small island in the tri-state islands of Grenada. Discovered by a French man in the 1700’s, the island has a blend of African and European influences and languages. With a population of only 1,000 people on the island, Bethel felt boundaries suffocating and often felt unfulfilled. The island had only had one primary school which Bethel as well as high school and some college studies.
Bethel describes his life on the island as life experience that built him for the city life. Dressed in a dark shirt with blue jeans and cross-training sneakers, he speaks
about life on Petite Martinque. With his fingers close to his chin, he describes the islands’ characteristics with a deep tone hidden under a thick accent, equipped with stern eyes that could shatter the glasses on his face. He rarely cracks a smile when he speak, but his voice demands attention by ear.
In an island where fishing, boat-building, and sailing where the main jobs and where most the population were struggling to maintain a stable life, Bethel worked hard but always thought about the idea of leaving the island.
“I often thought this man wasn’t paying me enough for dangerous work, when I could save up money and live a different life excluding the blueprint life of the island,” said Bethel.
Bethel and Mathew Joseph were best buddies on the island where they sometimes worked on the same boat together as divers, and always talked about leaving the island for financial satiability.
“As a young man he worked hard at diving and spear fishing and eventually saved up enough money and bought his own boat to raise his earnings,” said Joseph, Bethels’ best friend.
His friends and family called Bethel adventurous but it was his desire that pushed him to want more. He found a passion of literature and writing while he worked for 6 months teaching elementary students.
“I wanted more for myself, I knew if I was able to save enough money to leave the island I would be able to flourish elsewhere,” he said.
For the next couple of years Bethel kept working hard, spear fishing, assembling boats, and playing cricket with friends in the free time to keep his mind busy from thinking about leaving the island.
His older brother and sister both already left the island to New York City; Bethel was often tempted to leave sooner rather than later. Joseph also said many people had come back to the island with stories of the outside world and how financially better things were.
In 2000, Bethel decided the time was right leaving behind his mother and father and a life he lived for many years to take on a new life with higher education and a possible career in writing.
Bethel made way to New York City, where he lived with his sister in Brooklyn for a while until he landed a job with a construction company where he did interior renovation.
Though he was lucky enough to land a good job so soon but adjusting to the actual size of the city was the hardest of all. He often found himself lost while trying to read the street signs for direction.
By working two jobs he was able to enroll in Brooklyn College as a creative writing major. College gave Bethel an opportunity to fulfill an education satisfying enough to feed his ambitions of being a published author.
Living with his girlfriend and a 1-year-old son, Bethel often reminisces about his life at the island and breathes a sign of relief that most of the hard work adjusting to new surroundings has been accomplished.
Bethel has been writing short stories and fiction, hoping for future publication. Bethel hopes one day to be an established author with many publications, some about his adventurous life on the island
“Focus, the ability to be self driven, and devotion were the key ingredients to success so far,” Bethel said, as he looked through his glasses with demanding eyes that could reach for the skies.
RSS Feed (xml)
No comments:
Post a Comment