10 GILLESPIE / DE BEAUVOIR

 "That's what I like about me, the element of surprise."

 CG- You were born in Barbados? You've been here your whole life?
 DA- Yes, I've been here my whole life. I've been born here. Went to school
 here. Went to college here. A different environment would do me a lot
 of good. It has changed over the years. I am thirty-three next month.
 I've seen changes gradually, like ten-year periods, decades of changes
 which have been taking place here. In terms of social standing-in
 terms of social manners there is a change. A very strong change.
 CG- Do you mean people are more accepting?
 DA- No, I find people are more aggressive these days. They are not as
 genuine. They are not as caring as they were years ago. We were poor,
 but you could depend upon your neighbor for anything. I mean, I grew
 up in a middle class society, but I-my mother didn't raise me-my
 aunt raised me. We had it all, but my mother was very poor and I used
 to go there on summers to visit my siblings. And there was a difference,
 but it was much happier with them. You were very satisfied with what
 you had and you made do with what you had. I lived all over. I moved
 like twelve times in my life. I didn't stay in any particular area for too
 long. It was like a five-seven year span and then I moved on. It wasn't
 my doing. It was my parents. My foster parents I should say.
 CG- What do you think is causing the change in Bajan culture?
 DA- Ok. The first thing I can probably say is drugs. There is a definite clamor
 for money and for fast money and that in itself is causing the social
 fabric to decline or to shred away. Because everybody wants to have a
 big car, big house, nice clothes. Money in the pocket. Everybody is
 looking at what everybody else has and they're not saying, "hey my
 turn will come." We're not all supposed to be on the same level.
 Everybody is just like, "I must have this I must have that 'cause Jones
 has that I must have that too," and because of that we find people
 putting themselves in debt, way out of their boundary and then having
 to-how should I say-having to deal with it, then having to make the
 money quickly . drugs, whether it be. . prostitution. When I say
 prostitution I don't mean standing on the street corner because there
 are men and women selling their bodies without standing on the street
 corner. But when you think about it, it is all prostitution. When they
 have a man or a boyfriend who comes to their house or whatever It's
 the same thing as far as I'm concerned.
 CG- So are you saying that prostitution presents a viable avenue for
 people to make money here?