Machel! Machel! Machel! I am feel­ing like that is all that is need­ed to say about Car­ni­val 2012. The sheer bril­liance of this young, en­er­getic, tal­ent­ed young man who I have ba­si­cal­ly grown up with is sim­ply amaz- ing. Let me first­ly say that when I saw both his pre­sen­ta­tions that Machel por­trayed on Fan­tas­tic Fri­day I knew that was it. He had al­ready won. I didn't need to hear the judges' ver­dict or know how many peo­ple texted, noth­ing could have con­vinced me oth­er­wise.

The on­ly oth­er per­son I have ever seen ex­it a sta­di­um like that was the great late Michael Jack­son and Machel in my mind is our so­ca MJ. The oth­er per­for­mances that night were al­right but Machel knew that the win­er girls and boys were not all that were need­ed to win that com­pe­ti­tion, hence the rea­son you did not see Brit­tany and the oth­ers in all their glo­ry. I guess by now Iw­er George is look­ing to bring out his next-year hit which will be en­ti­tled "If you think they rob me last year and the year be­fore that, put yuh two hands and a foot in the air."

Too all the young and up­com­ing artistes, don't fol­low these old­er heads and waste time hat­ing on Machel, but in­stead take a page from his book and try to achieve even more than he has. Michael Jack­son em­u­lat­ed the great James Brown and Machel em­u­lat­ed the Mighty Spar­row, so noth­ing is wrong for the younger gene- ra­tion to em­u­late Machel.

Machel, I know the more they hate the more strength you gain. So while they are wast­ing their time hat­ing, you will be gain­ing even more strength. Hats off to you and keep up the great job you are do­ing.

Tri­cia Grant

Mt Hope