To Infinity... [COMPLETED]

Chapter 1: Carnival Queen

Sunday October 8, 2018 - Miami, Florida

12:15 PM

Desi POV

"Okay, so guys, I have some very exciting news for all my New Yorkers, all my Islanders, Caribbean followers. I have managed to get most of the old committee for Borokeete Mas back together, with the addition of some of their children and some young volunteers, and Borokeete is back! The Mas band that my mother and sisters played in way back when is back but just for this year only. I know, I know, that sucks but they don't want to commit to a comeback if they have a low chance at success considering this shit is expensive, yo. Basically, what I'm saying is that I need all of my Kings and Queens reppin' Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Barbuda, everyone from every borough, every island, I need you ALL to follow the link in my description section and come help me bring Borokeete back. Generation X and Ramajay are some stiff competition but we gotta let these hoes know who run this shit! Let's go! Click on that link, share this video, tell ya mom, dad, sisters, brothers, cousins, tell 'em ALL 'bout it 'cause this is some serious shit. Don't let me down! Alright, I'm trusting in you and I believe in us, believe in Borokeete! Deuces."

I finish watching the Instagram video I posted over two years ago and shake my head in disbelief at how far I've come so quickly. My name is Desmin Linse Wu; I am a professional party girl and once a year I participate in the Carnival parades and competitions in both Brooklyn, New York and Miami, Florida with the Borokeete masquerade band from New York. Now, don't judge a book by it's cover; yes, I said I am a professional party girl and yes, it is a thing you can do but I did go to college and I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts and a Masters in photography. I decided to pick up partying professionally in my undergrad junior year and ended up earning a shit load of extra cash to help me finish college, so I decided to keep it up even after graduating. I also got into playing with the mas bands just as one of the masqueraders for a bit of fun when on my fall break; I would fly down to Miami to march with Generation X, a mas band from Miami, until about 2015 when I met up with some cousins my sisters used to march with back in Brooklyn when they were young. Their dad, the head of costume design for Borokeete, taught both of them how to design clothes and costumes growing up and we bonded over how they haven't seen me since I was an infant and how much they missed playing mas and we all got this crazy idea to bring Borokeete back. So, here I am sitting in the back of an air conditioned semi being transported to the parade's starting point as Borokeete's award winning queen for the second year in a row, aiming to make it a trifecta. This year's theme for the parade is pride and equality and I'm bringing up the end of the band, embodying the bright fighting spirit of the LGBT community. My large costume attachments are lying beside me and my cousins Nita and Paulie help me put on my large ornate headpiece as the truck rolls to a stop.

"Alright cuz, ya ready fah dis?" Paulie asks me.
"You know I stay ready."
"It's ya biggest costume yet, ya sure?" Nita asks me as she straightens my headpiece.

"You and Paulie will be out there to fasten it up for me if I need a break, we got a truck full of food and refreshments following us, I'll be fine."

This year for the carnivals, we put together four large sections in the band: a black and gold black panthers inspired black power section, a section of just women in extra skimpy costumes in different bright and dark colors about female empowerment through embracing our sexuality, a section of men and women in bright green costumes representing pay and gender equality, then the last section contained an array of men and women dressed in different bright colors to represent gay equality; while I was a rainbow, I represented all of the sections as a whole, hence why we chose to have me go last after all the sections and we'll be judged in that order at the end of the parade route. Also, each section has their own accompanying queen but everyone voted to make me a sort of all-inclusive Queen this year to represent the whole band in the end.