new era of protest music

Today, and today only I think, Neil Young's new album is available on-line. _Living with War_:

http://www.hyfntrak.com/neilyoung2/AFF23233/

Back in the day, he and Crosby, Stills Nash wrote some famous songs in protest against the Vietnam War. Who was writing about our coming full circle in this class?

aloha, sms

blog tone

amlit338

I've had a hard time reading the tone on the blog for a long time. Are they joking, I wonder, or is there real rancor going on? I always hope the former, fear the latter. So I will say that I hope that the STFUs that have been exchanged between Sau and Stacy are not as hostile as they may seem. But I'll also add that on a space like a blog, it IS hard to read tone, so perhaps we ought to be slightly more, what?, formal, or at least more ostensibly polite in what little future we have left. I appreciate your passion, but there are ways to express passionate differences that are not nasty. Part of the lesson of this class is that we need, we must, find ways to speak to one another, despite the evident need for translation between languages and cultures.
I'm also wondering if some of our passions have been due to speaking quickly, hence without consideration of the exact wording we intend. When we speak quickly, we often don't select the right words. It's important to take care, because what is haste in one instance may prove an insult in another.

Ms. Manners

Poeta en San Fransico Discussions - April 27, 2006

Chris notices Tinfish Press' "No Refund" policy.


Discussing the Love Story structures. And Frank really really loves Love Stories


Professor Schultz directs the class to Page 90 and Apocalypse Now.

My last attempt at sounding intelligent

Last blog post. It's a sad day for Amlit 338.

I wanted to continue the discussion we were having on Tuesday. I think that all the different opinions that people had were correct. I don't think that including the foreign languages was for any one reason but for a number of them. It isn't necessary for us to know what the other languages says to get the overall meaning of the book but including it does a number of things.

For starters it ties in with the whole colonialism aspect of the book. What better was to say what colonialism does than to include a language that from what I learned on Tuesday is all but dead? From the information about it making a comeback in tattoos and what not it sounds like it may pull a Hawaiian and make resurgence as the people there try and reclaim their heritage/culture.

I also think she included it because it adds more mystery to her poetry. If people want to look it up they can and get a little extra meaning out of it while the people who could care less don't necessarily have to look it up but I think those that do want to are forced to look deeper than just a dictionary. Poetry is mystery in its own right as the language of "What in the hell is this person trying to say?" and including something that no amount of analysis with the book can uncover is adding another layer to her book. All we could interpret was that the one language that I forgot the name of corresponded with the other language in terms of sentence length and structure.

I think she included the different languages to show how the main topics of her book, war, colonialism, and the violence that comes along with them, force the world closer together. It reminds us that not everyone speaks the same language and that we should respect other cultures.

more responses from BJR

on her blog:

http://poetaensanfrancisco.blog-city.com/poeta_post_for_susan_and_her_students_2.htm

aloha, sms

For josh.

The point of the pps. boyfriend comment is that he's white and I'm asian and I'm completely fine with that.

the end.

amlit338

Whoah there buzzkill!

I'm not even going to approach the subject of why she used different languages in her poetry, because, when I wrote poetry in Eng313, I used Spanish as well. I didn't do it to be elitist, but I did it because I think Spanish is a beautiful language and it is a part of me now. (and it is spoken in the place I was born)
So, what I am going to approach is modern poetry in general. Modern poetry. Hmm. I really want to know: Does all poetry today have to have some political message? Does it always have to be on horrifying subjects and depressing topics? Human trafficking, Asian Fetishes, War, Nuclear tests, The Best Minds of your hippy generation being wasted. Dia De la Muerte, more War. It seems the majority of the poetry I have been assigned to read while at UH, excluding Sappho, is either talking about a people wronged, or an individual person's suffering. What the hell happened to love poetry? What happened to poetry about.. GOOD STUFF HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE?! I don't mean to complain, because that makes me a hypocrite for what I am about to say, but it seems all the poetry I read is someone COMPLAINING about how shitty their world is. Yes, I know the world can be a horrific place, but not everyone is suffering. Are the only ones inspired to write poetry... the ones that are suffering?

I guess I don't have much to say about the book in particular. There don't seem to be too many happy poems in it. I guess I wouldn't be too happy either, if I were a poet. I hear it doesn't pay very well. :-P LOL

To be elitist or not to be elitist...isn't quite the question I was trying to ask the other day but it was misconstrued and people almost died. sorry.

I will admit, my "elitist" comment was a bit of me playing devil's advocate. But, while I understand why there is the use of multiple languages and this and that and blah blah blah...In truth, I just wasn't impressed by BJR.

The sad thing is, within the first, ten pages or so, I DID like BJR. But then by the 20, 30, 50th page...I just wanted some damn puncuation.

But, that's just me and my own preferences. I'm sure the majority of englishtagalogbabayin speaking people LOVE that there's no puncuation. It's making a statement--or something like that.

It's good imagery, it's a good topic, it's good in a lot of ways, it just wasn't GREAT. Which brings me back to my "elitist" comment.

I think the reason I felt compelled to say that perhaps she's being elitist, was because, there is something great here. There is a great message that BJR is trying to convey, get across, hit you in the face with--BUT--she doesn't quite do it. And because she just misses the "something great written by someone who really wants to make a difference for the literary world as a WHOLE" mark, it feels more like it's in the "something good that an elitist wrote" category.

So--I guess my comment wasn't meant to say "YES! BJR is an elitist"...it was just meant to say, "You know, BJR is coming across a little elitist."

Okay?

okay.

amlit338


ps. i really hate that "william blake" comment.

pps. my boyfriend is irish/french.

"In Colleges, He is found in Asian Studies Courses, Learning an Asian Language."

You know what I am really tired about? People raising their voices in a small classroom.

Unless you are the professor, have something witty to say like A.J., or you are the dedicated facilitator of class discussions: STFU

That being said, I found Tuesday’s discussion —prompted by Andy and Jen (props!)— to be an very important in our understanding of American Literature.

Because how better to understand American Literature then with a book of poetry complete with Tagalog and Baybayin languages?

I think Andrea said it the best when she said that the purpose was to give readers the “push back” of being exposed to a foreign language. Because I, as several of my classmates, felt that a glossary was imminent to Poeta en San Francisco. And I think that Andrea brought up a strong argument of why it did not.

But on the topic of elitism and whether or not Barbara Jane Reyes is an elitist poet, I would have to say “yes.” Before the flame wars begin, let me explain my position.

It is my opinion that any writer –poets in particular— write their works with a certain hint of snobbery. Every person’s writing is a small memoir of her or his own life experiences. And since only the writer of piece may have lived the shoes of herself or himself, it will always be evident that no reader will completely understand the writing.

Heck, I could say that this blog entry has my own form of elitist pretentiousness.

But I guess the point of poetry is not for us to understand its meaning. As Ashley said in her blog post: “although we may lose the content of the poem that is written in another language, we do not lose the feeling/emotion.” And I am reminded of Yusef Komunyakaa, whose poems have a lot of feeling and emotion. Likewise, none of us can ever fully understand Komunyakaa’s poetry because we were not there – not even close, since most of parents probably weren’t even dating when the Vietnam War happened.

I will note that I understood most of page 84. Maybe because of my own resentment towards every documentary I have ever seen in college that featured old Caucasian men as “experts in so and so Asian culture.”

And I probably did grasp page 84 (I reckon I cannot title the poem since its “one continuous poem”) more so then any other page in Poeta en San Francisco. Maybe it was the only poem written in plain-speak. And very non-stereotypically poem-like.

Which brings me to the question, why in the world does page 84 even take place?

It is uncharacteristic compared to the rest of book. But bloody heck, did I take to it!

Also, is this the last required weekly blog entry? Or can there be more blogging for extra credit…*fingers crossed*

note on glossing from sms

amlit338

An afterthought from class. I can well understand the desire to have a glossary and thus to better understand what's going on. I read poetry in translation, if only so I can get the sense, if not the music of the poem. But my experience with glossaries is that they're as often _un_helpful as helpful. Unless you write long narratives to explain cultural context, you're back where you started. Cathy Song's first book about Hawai`i had a gloss at the back. There were entries like "Waialua: town in central Oahu." Well, how does that help someone who knows nothing about the history of plantations in Hawai`i? Waialua was a plantation town, and the book is, in large part, about life on the plantation. So the honesty of presenting words that cannot be easily assimilated (I use this word consciously) is good, I think. The fact that we do not understand aspects of others' cultures is a significant part of understanding our world. Paradoxical as it seems.
Thanks for the conversation today. I hope Stacy didn't put out her back. And sorry about the dinosaurs, Sau. I simply couldn't help myself.

aloha, Susan

questions for BJR

amlit338

Feel free to answer what you wish, BJR. These are questions everyone came up with this morning in class.

--What do you hope the reader of the book will walk away with? Is the message different, depending on who reads it (Filipino or non-Filipino readers)?

--Has living in San Francisco been a necessary ingredient to writing this book (title aside)? Could you have written an equally effective poem had you lived elsewhere (Hawai`i, Oregon...)?

--Why did you choose not to include a glossary or footnotes to the languages most of your readers will not understand?

--When did you realize you wanted to write poetry on this subject?

--How many places have you lived and from which have you gained the most, emotionally, physically, intellectually?

--Why is the book split into different sections?

--Is there a reason why you switch languages when you do? Is there an inside joke/theme/thought you want some readers to understand (by using their native language) and others not?

--How long did it take from conception to publication of the poem?

--What is your personal editing process?

--Who is the "love" in the "dear love" poems?

--Are you fluent in all the languages you use?

--Could you walk us through at least one of the Babayin and Tagalog sections?

--How did you learn Babayan and how are those sections related to the Tagalog on the same page?

thanks in advance.

aloha, SUsan

amlit338

This is definitely a bit late. I love how BJB draws from so many different wells of influence to construct her poem. Though different sections have different feels, the poem has a cohesive feel. I especially love the going in and out of the Spanish and Filipino languages. The poem is visceral and the pious, religious feel in the backdrop give it a twisted feeling. I haven't finished it yet, so I'm not going to start prescribing meaning yet.

human trafficking in time of war

there's an obvious partisan slant to this, but the actual alleged facts are most awful indeed:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_digbysblog_archive.html#114590691438440147

Links to sites of interest

I'm going to start building another list of links, so keep returning! Also: find yourself a good map of San Francisco on-line--there are a bunch under google images, for example.

Here's one on Filipino languages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_Philippines

Baybayin script (pre-Hispanic writing system):

http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/paterno.htm

A history of that writing system:

http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm

Petatlan (59):

http://www.surf-mexico.com/states/Guerrero/Petatlan.htm

J-Town (San Francisco):

http://www.newcolonist.com/japantown.html

Isamu Naguchi:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/noguchi_i.html

uyayi (81):

http://www.mindanews.com/2004/01/17art-chinchin.html

(they're lullabies!)

panambitan (courtship songs)

zoetrope:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope

Oliver Stone (referred to throughout the Zoetrope section):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Stone

Rosa Parks gets an apology

wow.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/19/montgomery_apologizes_to_rosa_parks/

aloha, sms

from our author

amlit338

Please link to this, and you'll get some good responses to your responses...please come up with some questions for Tuesday--we ran out of time yesterday...and thanks, Barbara, for taking the time to do this.

http://poetaensanfrancisco.blog-city.com/poeta_post.htm

and do read the link to a discussion about "To Elsie." You most likely will not have read the James Clifford (etc.) but you can easily read around those bits and take in the issues surrounding the poem. I believe we touched on at least some of them yesterday.

aloha, sms

Poeta

I'm responding to this question this week.

6. Consider the richness of the imagery throughout. What are some of your favorite lines, images, moments in the poem so far?

This book is centered on wars and the results of wars and as such there are many lines which stick with you when you read this poem. I chose to write my paper on this book because there are many good quotes that support my overall thesis.

I like page 24 because it sets up a theme that comes around again in later pages. "Lord, make us steel against their pleas for mercy, their infidel wives." I like this passage because it labels the women that more likely than not aren't even doing the fighting. The soldiers come into the war area with a mindset about all the women in the country.

This continues on page 36 except it's from the P.O.V. of someone from the war torn country. I think it is from a female's perspective from the way it is written. The narrator says "That blank space on your map, that's where I was born...Gold stars pinned to your chest for every military and civilian slaughter, for every racial slur coined in these blank spaces on your map..." I think this is a memorable passage because it's from this point we start to see the narrator turning to hatred over how the foreign armies have come in and given them a label and viewed their country as something less. That the narrator has to remind them that the blank space on the map is home to many people is just kind of pathetic.

This issue ends on page 54. "women strap explosives to their bodies and unfurl wings of ululation". I think this is and final step in the way the invading forces see the people, the women especially.

I think the one thing that will remain in my mind for quite some time is the dialogue between what I assume is the American soldier and his wife. They write to each other and refer to each other as "my love" and we see the woman become increasingly distant from the person she is writing to. A lot of this book has to do with the damage that is done to women both directly and indirectly as a result of war and this book drops an "ironic bomb", get it, like atomic only ironic, har har har. Anyway on page 60 the narrator says "North of markets upscale shopping mecca's center you can't miss the huge female personification of victory riding an erect 97-foot phallus". I think this is a good end to the issue of damage to females because it all ends with us going "wow, I can't believe we celebrate victory with a statue of those we hurt the most."

TUESDAYS CLASS

I really enjoyed class on Tuesday. I wasn't too excited to participate but I thought that it was fun to watch all the groups in their skits. It was interesting to see that every group was so different even though a lot of us did the press conference. I thought that you could really see the personalities of everyone and it was fun. But it usually is fun when we do those group activities in class.

I don't have much to say about the book we are reading as of right now. Maybe when I get more into it.

rant rant rant poeta rant rant

im suddenly missing the simplicities of pidgin on paper, as i read through poeta. i really dont have too much to say about everything, but here i am clack-clacking away at my keyboard, in full effort to not once again neglect our friendly blog. sometimes i wonder if anyone reads my blogs - i mean my presentation in class is nothing short of a witless wonder, so once again if you find yourself wasting time clicking on what "frankfish" has to say....thanks.
i think im irritated with poeta...i think im irritated with poetry as of late. It just seems like all the poems i read in college reek of this newly popular almost cliched negativity. I'm starting to wonder if complaining will someday become worn out just like the old love poems that seemed to be so popular back in the day. what will poets have to write about if they cant talk about the moon or how the politics irritate them like a terrible rash that just wont go away.
i dont know maybe im mixed on the matter, perhaps im just grumpy because i worked late last night and im up this morning finding myself perplexed by the words on the paper...but i cant help but feel that this format is beginning to exhaust itself fast.
Despite the fact that im ranting about anything and everything @ the moment...i suppose this book serves the purpose that is intended were all here to learn about how writing reflects and almost (sometimes) births change in society. This book writes about the time it exists, with its references to war, and the mistreatment of natives. It seems as though many things i read in college have some form of political undertone...but is that what shapes an era? its politics and those that complain about it? im slowly coming to realize that this seems to run rampant in many minds. an era is shaped by politicians in suits, togas, whatever. i dont even know where im going with this. i should end on something interesting so a reader wont die of brain implosion.
hows this (it pertains to filipinos)
did you know the .45 caliber hand gun was invented and utilized against filipino villagers? Conquerors needed a bullet with stronger stopping power because the crazy filipinos kept getting up and charging even with injuries due to previous firearms (i learned this from the history channel)

The front looks like a car, the back looks like a truck... El CAMINO!! (ever heard the song?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real_%28California%29

Wheelbarrows and what not.

Unfortunately, I have still not purchased my copy of Poeta en. (Sorry prof. Schultz...I promise to get it soon!)

So instead I'm going to Blog on William Carlos Williams. In the book I own, Williams poem is actually titled, "The Pure Products of America" which to me, makes it a little easier to pinpoint the main idea of this poem. When reading "Products" I am greatly reminded of Ginsberg and "Howl". They have similar messages as they are both about the state of the American psyche. Also, "Products" is meant to be read as one long sentence as "Howl" was. The juxtaposition of man and nature also reminds me of the message Stevens had with "Anecdote of the Jar".

It took dominion everywhere.

I look forward to reading Poeta en and see what context "Products" is used in. I feel that some of our themes may be in a circular motion--perhaps we are ending with something similar to the beginning?

--
so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

--wcw

amlit338

Some Translations and.. Asiaphile (sp?)

From Dia De Los Muertos:
Dia de los muertos = Day of the dead. It's a holiday and stuff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_De_Los_Muertos

Sin ofrendas. Sin oracion.
Without altars. Without prayer.

Desparecido.
This one comes from the verb desparecer, which means "to hide." I believe it is simple the first person conjugation. "I hide"

From The Victory Prayer:

Aqui, en mi ciudad de suenos.
Here, in my city of dreams

La Sangre, Las Venas, La ruptura.
The blood, The veins, The rupture.

I really enjoyed the injections of Spanish, but I wondered why she didn't write one entire poem in Spanish. It's really a beautiful language and works well in poetry. I only found a handful of phrases in the book. I was actually really excited when Susan mentioned that there was Spanish in the book in class. I was a little disappointed because there were only a few phrases, all of them very simple and easily translatable by someone that doesn't even speak Spanish. If they have a good grasp of language in general, that is.

Asiaphile: Wow, that was a little brutal. I was actually considering going to China or Japan to teach English either before or after I go to grad school. And I do find Asian women attractive (A beautiful woman is beautiful, no matter what label of race you try to give her). I think it's a little strange to label someone's attraction to the women of another race as something bad. "Yellow Fever" "Jungle Fever" "Cracker Fever." To label it something like that, like a disease, is infering that interracial marriages are bad.

Am I Just Too Stupid To Understand Poeta en San Fransico?

Let me be honest for a moment.

I have read Poeta en San Francisco until Page Sixty-One.

And all I can utter is: “What The Funk?”

So in a vain (frivolous) attempt to understand Barbara Jane Reyes poetry, I tried to answer the six questions posted previous.

1. What are the links between Filipino history and culture and the Vietnam war, as Reyes presents them?

Both Filipinos and Vietnamese encountered upheavals of their indigenous lifestyles when Americans decided to impose their will upon them. Filipinos have assimilated into a pseudo-American life, with many constituents being raised Catholic.

2. Consider the importance of music (The Clash's "Charlie don't surf") to the poem.

The Clash’s song “Charlie Don’t Surf” was an anthem for Americans to stop imposing their ideals upon other countries.

In Poeta en San Francisco, the author thought Charlie was a generic expression for an mid-western American boy.

OH TEH IRONY!

3. Why does Reyes use more than one language in her poem? If you know some Spanish, how does that help to read these first sections? If you do not know Spanish, what is the effect on you? (There are foreign language dictionaries on-line--use them!)

You know what happens when a foreign language is dropped upon me in an English Literature class?

I skim through the segments. And hope like mad that someone in class understands the language enough to interpret it for the rest of class.

I reckon that Reyes uses Spanish in her poem because she is trying to convey something that cannot be presented in English. Because it means more to the poet when it was uttered in a Spanish tongue.

I do that with Mandarin sometimes. When English words fail me, I try to find meaning in another dialect.

4. "The pure products of America go crazy" (21) is a quotations from a William Carlos Williams poem ("To Elsie"). Find "To Elsie," and figure out its importance to Reyes's poem.

The distraught in rural America is echoed in Philippines by Filipino girls.

5. On p. 12, Reyes writes " this is not a love poem," and yet it seems to be. Why?

Geezus, is it irony again? I have no clue.


----------------


I have chosen not to answer the Question #6 simply because I have no idea what Poeta en San Fransico is about. And I feel that it would be unfair to pass any judgment until there is class discussion.

*sigh*

I really do feel like this is the most difficult to comprehend literature we have encountered all semester.

So ends this mediocre blog entry. It is the 300th entry, by the way.

Remember the Beatles?

sorry, I can't resist. Really.

http://decider.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

Links to allusions in Reyes's book

I'm going to put up some links that will help you in your reading of the book.

ghazal: (I hate it when I link to wikipedia, but here goes):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghazal

Alejandro Murguia (headnote):

http://www.sfsu.edu/~raza/Faculty.html

_Apocalypse Now_ (not mentioned overtly, but a film about Vietnam and Cambodia that was filmed in the Philippines):

http://www.geocities.com/aaronbcaldwell/ApocalypseNow.html

Subic Bay (former US naval base in the Philippines):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subic_Bay

Here is a very odd and troubling site on relationships between white men and Filipina women that links to other such sites. I found it under "Subic Bay," on google.

http://filipinawives.com/memorial.html

The Clash, "Charlie don't surf":

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/the-clash/charlie-dont-surf.html

Charlie (Vietcong):

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-enemy/vietnam.htm

Kumintang, and Kundiman (music)

http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about_cultarts/articles.php?artcl_Id=60

Curious about Tagalog words?

http://www.tagalog-dictionary.com/

and let me add, in answer to the question about where "poeta en San Francisco" comes from, a link to Gabriel Garcia Lorca, a Spanish poet who wrote _Poeta en Neuvo York_.

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/fglorca.htm

You're on your own with the references to Catholicism. Please read through these linked pieces--it was great finding them!

aloha, sms

Reyes's blog

Here's the link to our next writer's blog:

http://poetaensanfrancisco.blog-city.com/

There was a brief while that our blog was linked to hers, so there might be a few lookers on. But she's removed the link, so let's proceed!


aloha, Susan

Snapshots From Literature Class — April 18, 2006.

Da Mayah in-class performance. Act II, Scene Two.


Joshua "I'm Not A Hippy" Skurtu.


Frank ponders about Da Mayah: Da Musical.


Jody "Am I In The Right Group?" Hanson.


Tim and Marilyn support City & County of Honolulu mass transit.

Williams--or, no excuses now

amlit338

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15538

this is a link to Williams's poem, "To Elsie," which is quoted by Barbara Jane Reyes.

Poeta en San Francisco

For Thursday, please read through p. 38 (at least). Consider the following questions/issues as you read. When I refer to "poem," I'm referring to the entire book, which I read as a long poem. I'll be inviting the author onto the blog in the next few days, so please prepare questions for her. And send in your blog entries by Thursday morning, as per usual.

1. What are the links between Filipino history and culture and the Vietnam war, as Reyes presents them?

2. Consider the importance of music (The Clash's "Charlie don't surf") to the poem.

3. Why does Reyes use more than one language in her poem? If you know some Spanish, how does that help to read these first sections? If you do not know Spanish, what is the effect on you? (There are foreign language dictionaries on-line--use them!)

4. "The pure products of America go crazy" (21) is a quotations from a William Carlos Williams poem ("To Elsie"). Find "To Elsie," and figure out its importance to Reyes's poem.

5. On p. 12, Reyes writes " this is not a love poem," and yet it seems to be. Why?

6. Consider the richness of the imagery throughout. What are some of your favorite lines, images, moments in the poem so far?

aloha, sms

answers from Lee Cataluna

amlit338
I see I got some of my biographical facts wrong (she's from Maui, did not attend Kamehameha). My bad. But here are her answers to your questions:

From	")'>"Cataluna, Lee"
Sent	Friday, April 14, 2006 10:45 am
To	")'>Susan Schultz
Subject	RE: RE: a question

> ----------
> From: Susan Schultz
> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 9:53 AM
> To: Cataluna, Lee
> Subject: Re: RE: a question
>
> Dear Lee--my students had a lot of questions. I'll list them below. Feel free to answer the ones you want, and leave the rest to our imaginations:
>
> --How did a career in journalism help you as a writer?
>
I get to meet a lot of people, hear their stories, listen to the way the speak and try to figure out what motivates them, what scares them, what makes them do what they do. It is good practice for creating fictional characters.



> --Are your characters based on real people?
>
Some are, but only based on. I make up a lot of stuff and tend to write larger-than-life characters.


> --Do think it appropriate for a government official to speak in pidgin?
>
I think it is critical for a government official to speak the truth. That is what is important. Lies told in pretty words are still lies.


> --Who is your favorite HI politician?
>
Don't have one.


> --Why Hilo?
>
The premise for the play was part of an assignment from my playwriting teacher, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. She gave us several set-ups to choose from. The one I chose to work with said something like, "The newly elected Mayor of Hilo has a secret from his past. His former associate Derek Pang knows what it is and is turning the screws. The Mayor has to confess to his secretary, Sandra." From that description, I wrote what became the second scene. After that, I just kept adding on. I liked that there is no Mayor of Hilo. I thought that was a funny distinction, so I kept it.

> --Why do you represent Honolulu as "bad"?
>
These characters in the story love Hilo and would see living in any other place as bad.

> --Have you written a play not set in HI?
>
Written but not produced.

> --What is your point in this play?
>
I think it's about any person who has worked for a boss they felt was stupid, lazy, self-serving and mean. It's about the frustration of being powerless to change stuff at work when all you really want is to do a good, honest job.

> --Have you been accused of being a racist?
>
I have been accused of being everything. It's a funny thing being a writer -- people read all kinds of stuff into your work, stuff that often isn't even there. A teacher told me that often writers serve as mirrors to people, and if they look at your work and see something they don't like about themselves reflected back, they end up blaming you and hating you.


> --What school you went?
>
Ka'u Elementary, Wailuku Elementary, Koloa Elementary, Kilauea Elementary, Kapa'a Intermediate, 'Iao Intermediate, Baldwin High, University of the Pacific (BA 1988)


> --Do you prefer to write in standard English or in pidgin?
>
Depends on the topic and the genre.

> --Will you run for mayor?
>
I don't have the desire or aptitude to be a politician.

> And my question is
>
> --What's it like being a woman in the tradition of Rap Reiplinger and Frank de Lima?
>
I don't think I'm anything like them. I'm just a writer. Though I have performed stuff, I am uncomfortable on stage and am very clear that I'm not an actor or entertainer. The fun is in writing stuff for other people, real actors, to play with.

Da Mayah is a pretty good play. Pretty funny. Even better cause it takes place in Hilo. Cheee heee!. I love how Cataluna name drops all these places that are actually in HIlo. I used to work at Dotty's, bussing tables. Think I should call up Cataluna and tell her that Dotty is dead, and that Ray, her husband had to close up shop?
I welled up with pride when I read the play - from the familiar places, to the local mention of food, to the shady politics. Das HIlo. Anyone who's been to Hilo knows that it exists in a kind of perpertual time warp and thrives according to its own set of laws. It's definitely a town where who you know is more important than what or how much of it, you know.
Lee Cataluna uses humor to drive her otherwise dimal plot, though the end is a little disappointing. It happens so fast, and isn't a very good ending. DO I have any suggestions? Not really?

Look At Me, I’m Chinese So I Must Be Chang And Shop At Longs! Haha, So Funny!

Lee Cataluna’s Da Mayah captures Hawaii political culture with honest proficiency. The local tradition of “who you know is more important then what you know.” No one in Hawaii attains a job solely based on her or his skill; it is all a matter of what sort of connection you have with “friends” and family.

I was having a conversation with a mate about recent Honolulu Police Department dust-ups. Recent news has reported on police officers in criminal activities, many of which were driven my money. According to my buddy, his father told him that Hawaii is notorious for insider crime.

Apparently crime in Hawaii is so rampant that it is accepted by face value. Supposedly each branch of authority has some involvement with unlawful activities. And as long as everything is kept in order, some crime is generally accepted. If there were a serious crackdown in Hawaii crime, too many ties would be severed and government would fall apart.

As far-fetched as this sounded initially, I considered how authority works in Honolulu. For example, in Tuesday’s lecture we listened to Hawaiian Ryan’s comedy sketch “eh-bonics.” Rough reconciliation:

Proper: “I am sorry for speeding officer, it will never happen again. Please do not write me a ticket.”

Eh-bonics: “Eh, you know my uncle?”

Although I am sure small town communities in Idaho also work in this fashion, these small towns also do not have big city dreams complete with superferrys and monorails. This is why I suspect Honolulu will never emerge as the metropolis it strives to be. It is far too grounded in its “everybody knows everybody” roots.

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s “lecture” we were asked to blog about the “five principles of local humor.” After class Joanna peeked over my notebook,

“So what are the five principles of local humor?” she asked.

“No clue.”

“What? You were taking notes!”

Oh yes, I was taking notes. Here are my notes:

Rap: Everything is a racial stereotype (minus robot skit, then it’s a 80s robot stereotype). And it may seem funny to local people, but its buffoon caricatures of different ethnicities became tiresome after repeated sessions.

Frank: Being Caucasian and a Bishop Estate Trustee are the pinnacles of authority in Hawaii. Well, duh.

The point is that I see no humor in local humor. It may make me grin for when I recognize what the heck the comedian is trying to imply, but laugh-out loud funny? I reckon not.

Comedy in Hawaii is just a continuous blend of ethnic stereotypes. And the audience of Hawaii encourages this type of blatant assault. Whereas non-Hawaii based comedians talk about the issues plighting their ethnicity, Hawaii “comedians” just chuckle at their own mediocracy.

It is fascinating that this is what humor is in this culture.

The reason why Cataluna’s play Da Mayah is funny is because it addresses the stereotypes and the issues surrounding local life. It is written with seriousness for the corrupt politicians of Hawaii and yet still manages to laugh at itself for its absurdity.

Da Mayah was written to talk about the corrupt way of government in Hawaii. It is meant to be a funny play, and it is funny. But the play’s underlying tone is a critique on how things are actually run in this town.

Rap Replinger

I really enjoyed watching Rap Replinger's video on Tuesday. I thought most of it was really funny and I liked listening to him talk. It reminded me of a lot of old people that I used to listen to when I was growing up and they would talk about when they were small and past experiences. I also thought it was funny how he would look so different in each scene, and kinda scary how he was actually a pretty cute girl. One part in the video that stood out to me was the scene where he was in the church and he kept trying to say die in different ways, but he only got it out by saying "OD". I thought that this was ironic because we were told in the beginning of class that he died from cocaine overdose. Anyways, good video.

Da Mayah

I really enjoyed reading the play Da Mayah. It was a very funny play for starters. I found myself chuckling outloud on several occasions. I think some of the effect would be lost though if a person not from Hawaii or a person who hasn't lived here for awhile read it.

Anyway I wanted to point out something I remembered reading in the Star Bulletin about a year ago that relates to the play. It was back when Mufi Hannemann was trying really hard to seem interested in finding a solution to the horrendous traffic in Honolulu. I had forgotten about it till I read Da Mayah.

On page 199 Sandra says "I am so sick of these fricken politicians...spending all their energy working on...free trips to Asia."

I don't know if Mufi pays for all of his trips overseas but it is important to note that Mufi went to Japan to check out their monorail and determine the best course of action for Hawaii. Have you guys heard anything else about a new monorail or flying cars or hot air balloon carpools? I sure haven't.

So was Mufi pulling a Lester with his trip to Asia? Stay tuned next week gumshoes.

I don't stay current with local politics or rather politics in general for that matter but it's scary to think things like this actually happen. But then you look at D.C. and then it's probably the least scary thing to think about happening. I think the use of humor was meant to cover up the reality a little, well not cover it up but give it a nice sugary cover so that we don't miss the overall message to the story which is........well I don't know what it is. I've been sitting here thinking about it for quite some time and I have a few quasi-messages I have gained from reading this story. The only one I wish to share is that perhaps this play is pointing out that no matter where you go, politics are corrupt to a certain extent. Doesn't matter if it's on the mainland or in Hawaii, it's all just one big pile of crap. I think a story about how Disneyland is run by the Goofy crime syndicat would be the alternative.

in-class performances, etc.

amlit338

Next Tuesday, a performance from DA MAYAH by AJ, Marques, Tim, Joanna. Please let me know before class what scene you intend to do.

Tuesday after: Tagalog crib provided by Andy and Jenn.

sms

Lee Cataluna in the newspaper

http://starbulletin.com/98/09/01/features/story1.html

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Apr/23/il/il01a.html

some good news

amlit338
Both Lee Cataluna and Barbara Jane Reyes have agreed to answer your questions about their books. Barbara will join the blog, and Lee will answer questions you might have, which I can then post. So, on Thursday, please have a question for Ms. Cataluna about her play, DA MAYAH, along with your 5 principles of local humor and how they apply to the play!

sms

final essay topics

amlit338
English 338
April 11, 2006
Susan M. Schultz


Final Essay: Due Last Day of Class


This essay will be 6-8 pages, double-spaced lidat. These are prompts: the actual focus and trajectory of your essay is up to you. Stay focused. Write a cogent argument. Please feel free to come see me with ideas, or a draft.



1. Read Alani Apio’s Kamau A`e (xerox my copy) and write an essay in which you analyze at least one element (or two interlocking elements) in the play: the characters’ uses of language(s); how ethical issues are treated; why the play ends as it does. You may choose your own preoccupation, but be sure to use a lot of evidence from the text in support of your argument.

2. Write an alternative ending to Kamau, then at least 3 pages of analysis. What is it in Apio’s play that would lead to this ending, as opposed to the one we read? How does your ending solve, or fail to solve, the issues raised in the play.

3. Check out Andy Bumatai’s video, All in the Ohana (1980). Write an essay in which you compare and contrast Bumatai’s treatment of the lease-hold and land issue with that of Alani Apio in Kamau.

4. [If you didn’t choose this one the first time; and don’t write on the same author twice in the semester.] Write a dialogue between two of the authors we’ve read this semester, in which they discuss at least one of the major issues raised by their books. They may exchange small talk, jokes, but keep these to a minimum. This dialogue must do the work of an essay (analysis, evidence that you’ve understood the texts, and so on).

5. Write an essay in which you explain one scene in a local play to someone from somewhere else (Kansas, say), who knows nothing of local culture. Your explanations need to be thorough, and relevant to a good interpretation of the play.

6. As several of you have noted, there has been a great deal of violence in the books we’ve read, from the violence of war (Dispatches, Dien Cai Dau), to violence within communities (“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Jazz). Write an essay in which you discuss violence in Barbara Jane Reyes’s Poeta en San Francisco. What are the effects of war, colonialism, and violence against women on the streets of Reyes’s city?

explaining Mr. Clements

amlit338

A friend recommends these books about the construction of whiteness in American society:

white by law
by Ian F. Haney Lopez

The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class
by David R Roediger
I have the second book, if anyone would like to borrow it.

sms

Archaic Torso of Apollo by R.M. Rilke (two translations)

This is the poem that the opening of Kamau (Kamau: Sacrifice and Collaboration) by M. Desha is quoting at the end.

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

from The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke
--translated by Stephen Mitchell--

Translation two:

We have no idea what his fantastic head
was like, where the eyeballs were slowly swelling. But
his body now is glowing like a gas lamp,
whose inner eyes, only turned down a little,

hold their flame, shine. If there weren't light, the curve
of the breast wouldn't blind you, and in the swerve
of the thighs a smile wouldn't keep on going
toward the place where the seeds are.

If there weren't light, this stone would look cut off
where it drops clearly from the shoulders,
its skin wouldn't gleam like the fur of a wild animal,

and the body wouldn't send out light from every edge
as a star does...for there is no place at all
that isn't looking at you. You must change your life.

from Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke
--translated by Robert Bly--

amlit338

39 Hotel Street: local art

amlit338

39 N. Hotel Street
Honolulu Hawaii 96817
phone: 808.599.2552 | fax: 808.599.2553
www.thirtyninehotel.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: N. Trisha Lagaso Goldberg
Phone: 808.599.2552

MetroHAWAI’I: Gridlock and Other Local Traditions
Community collaboration explores issues of urbanness in the Aloha State

Opening reception: Friday, April 7, 6:00-9:00 PM
Public art intervention on Hotel Street: Friday, April 7, 7:00-9:00 PM
between Smith and Nuuanu
B-GIRL/B-BOY performance: Friday, May 5, 8:00 PM
Exhibition dates: April 7 – May 20, 2006

Honolulu, HI: For decades, Hawai’i has been represented—and has presented itself—as the idyllic tropical paradise. This image manifests in every form of popular media and tchotchke conceivable. From Hollywood films, to glossy travel brochures, whale and dolphin murals, postcards, popular music, and even on the box-covers of its famous chocolate-covered macadamia nuts—Hawai’i is portrayed as the perfect picture of aloha. This is the Hawai’i in the public’s mind-eye. This is the Hawai’i that we are all trained to imagine.

But for kama’aina, and those who have visited this island chain, it is clear that Hawai’i is much more than sunsets, surf and picturesque scenery. There are places, for instance, that are one part nature to twenty parts other-than-nature (see: military bases, conglomerate hotel sites, H-1 freeway anytime of day). And there are certain areas, still, that are the quintessential picture of city life (see: Chinatown, downtown Honolulu, streets of Waikiki). It is this aspect of Hawai’i, the urban, or the “metro,” that the MetroHAWAI’I project seeks to showcase.

MetroHAWAI’I: Gridlock and Other Local Traditions is a groundbreaking project, which consists of a visual art exhibition, mural, and youth arts education program. MetroHAWAI’I seeks to utilize these mechanisms to explore issues of urbanness throughout the Aloha State, with particular focus on the city of Honolulu. In the spirit of community collaboration, this project will work with one community-based organization, three local businesses, three Honolulu professionals, and approximately twenty visual artists—all who currently reside in Hawai’i—offering diverging views on the Hawaiian urban eco-system. In an effort to expand the ways in which the concept of “metro” is explored, the project will also present a companion website to include artist interviews and related writings filtered through the eyes of a visual critic.

An integral part of the MetroHAWAI’I project is the youth arts education program. Hawai’i is a unique example of ecological, social, political, and cultural development. These issues are ultimately tied to how the resources of space and energy are used. Though traffic management is often thrust to the foreground, problems related to water, land, and power lurk in the background. Beyond gridlock, the youth of Hawai’i



MetroHAWAI’I
Project Description
Page 2 of 2

are set to inherit significant challenges that tie these islands to the rest of the world in strategic, ecological, economic, and human migratory terms. The MetroHAWAI’I project does not seek to solve any of these problems, but intends to put youth in a position to understand and comment on them, using their cultural expressions and desktop netmedia.


PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Program Coordinators
David A.M. Goldberg - Lead Artist-Teacher

N. Trisha Lagaso Goldberg - Exhibition Curator and Project Director

Todd Wyrick and Dr. Lori Phillips - Youth Program Organizers, from the In-Community Treatment Center at Palama Settlement

Visual Artists
Gaye Chan
Nate Chung
Kyle Collins
Ka-Ning Fong
Chad Hiyakumoto and Darin Lee, Aala Park Boardshop
Erika Johnson
Karen Kosasa
George F. Lee
Jessica Oshita
Stan Tomita
Students from Palama Settlement’s In-Community Treatment Program
Uno Mas

Guest Lecturers
Chad Hiyakumoto – Skateboarder and owner of A’ala Park Boardshop

Gelareh Khoie – Artist and Managing Director of thirtyninehotel

James L. Stone, AIA, Architect and Partner of Group 70 International


The MetroHAWAI’I project was conceived by NT Lagaso Goldberg.


thirtyninehotel's mission and purpose is to create a two-way bridge between Hawai'i and the world through interdisciplinary and mixed-media contemporary arts projects. thirtyninehotel is dedicated to finding new ways of building local networks with diverse communities in Hawai'i. This includes working with young people who have limited-to-no access to contemporary arts exhibitions, mixed-media arts education programs, and a media literacy rich environment. thirtyninehotel is a joint venture between painters Gelareh Khoie and
Richard Earl Leong Yu Ralya and producer/DJ Harvey Basset.

THE END.

seymour hersh--for melissa and all

amlit338
I noticed Melissa reading a book by Seymour Hersh for another class. Hersh is the foremost investigative reporter of our time; it was he who broke the My Lai massacre (which Michael Herr must mention somewhere in _Dispatches_). He has also been at the forefront of stories about the Iraq war. This piece, in the new _New Yorker_, is scary:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact

Extra credit

amlit338

I knew you'd look.

Two options for soon:

Tinfish reading on Sunday at 2 pm (see below).

OR

the Albert Wendt play at Kumu Kahua theater (where Kamau and Da Mayah were produced): see

http://www.kumukahua.org/

If you attend, and write a substantial blog review, I will give you some extra credit. Just don't ask me for the math, please.

sms

Curt Flood

amlit338
There's a good conversation linked here with Alex Belth, author of the new biography of Curt Flood (the player I told you about who sued to become a free agent, lost, and then saw other players get rich as free agents a few years later). You have to scroll down through lots of fan stuff to get there; it's called "Flood Gates" or something:

http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/

The point I wanted to make about Flood was that one person (like Flood, like Alika) can sometimes make a difference, if he's willing to give up a lot. By the way, Flood was not utterly ruined, as I implied. He had a good marriage when he died, and baseball players did thank him for his efforts. His road was not easy, though.

An irony may be that you have to be successful in order to challenge the system effectively. And, if you are successful, your motivations to change things are diminished. This is not to say that such challenges are not sometimes/often needed.

aloha, Susan the baseball fan

Mr. Clements was a bastard

I really enjoyed reading Kamau but Mr. Clements reaction to Alika towards the ending was really upsetting to me. I can understand that it wasn't appropriate for Alika to have an outburst like that at work, but at the same time Mr. Clements should have been more understanding. He just reminded me of the tourists that come here and have such bad attitudes. Grouchy old men are the worst. There's nothing you can say to make them feel better. It's not out fault you're getting old. And I don't mean this in a mean way, my grandpa gets like this too, and I love him to death. I work in Waikiki and people like Mr. Clements can totally bring down your whole day. They're so disrespectful.

Kamau

I really like Kamau, I was supposed to read this play in Eng 320 but since I already had my final paper done for another book I skipped it. I like Kamau for several reasons; the first is that it deals with issues that are a little touchy.

The character I like the most is the female tourist on the bus. I like how they made her husband the stereotypical ignorant and uncaring white person. It isn't so far off because I know that people like that do exist in the world, sad I know but it's true. Back to his wife though. I really like how she knows what's going on. She realizes Hawaii isn't the postcard it is made out to be and behind the shroud of tourism lays a people hurting from unspeakable atrocities and she wants to understand them. She makes us white people look a little more human.

I'm as white as they come, born and raised in the city with least amount of sunshine where 250 days out of the year are overcast. When I came here in the summer of 2003, I had NO idea any of the issues that Hawaii is currently facing even existed. I guess that is an indication of how good a job the Hawaii Tourism Bureau is doing at covering it up. I am in the position of the female tourist right now, I too want to know why everything is the way it is but it can be a little intimidating. That's why I like this play; it says everything I can't say.

I also like the scene on the beach with the security guard and Alika and his friends. I like how Alika's friends are going off on him for not being a true Hawaiian and then he just turns around and gives them a huge reality check. This play is effective because it speaks to a wide range of people. Most of us can relate to a situation in which we are town between the old and the new and this play can teach us many things about holding on to the past but at the same time looking to the future.

Ho Breh...

amlit338amlit338My god! This story is amazing. Aipo does such a good job in evoking the complexities and paradoxes of people living in, forgive the pretentiousness, post colonialized cultures, hmmm yesss. There were moments in the story when I felt like I could have cried if my livelihood hadn't depended on it.
The plight of the characters, especially Alika, remind me of a good friend I have who suffered/suffers from middle child syndrome. He wasn't his father's child, nor his mother's and grew up with an ever welling bitterness and confusion toward his parents and siblings. Alika and the other local characters aren't Haoles, but aren't exactly Hawaiians either. Somewhere between the two, they've created a new culture of their own which is infused with both, and as the story comes to an end, proves to be confusing and heartbreaking for Alika. The scene when Michael and Alika meet up with the security guard and they Michael goes off on what being Hawaiian is, is a powerful one, with the security guard laying out Michael's ass with his language. Here's a guy who is working directly against the (supposed)interests of the locals, who speaks fluent Hawaiian. Contrasted with Michael, who lives the essence of the Hawaiian spirit, but who can't speak the language. Is one more Hawaiian than the other?
Another thing I find interesting, is that place where American values meet Hawaiian values. I guess this falls under the whole idea of neither here nor there I mentioned above. I love how in the end Alika realizes the neccessity of playing the game - no matter the ill feelings it stirs up in him - and how it's the old values which keep him cool - the concept of aloha. The metaphor of patching the net is pretty mean too, especially because the play closes with him teaching Stevie how to do it, in the same tradition that it was taught to him.


Gratuitous Danny the Lover GLover

chryin' fo' figa dis out stay hod.

okay, so im not so sure if this will appropriately blog because, being the fool i am, i pressed the stupid enter button in the middle of my title making- so many readers probably just got an empty blog - oh well.
kamau got me really irritated...dont get me wrong - the play was enjoyable to read, and definitely a page turner. The hate that existed in the story really got me upset inside. I mean, technically...im the f'in haole. Sure i'm a poi dog, mixed plate, person that's not only white, but to mike and george (maybe alika) - im just some hoale who stole the land. If they got their way I'D be packing my bags and going off too the mainland - despite the fact that i consider Hawai'i MY home too. Those characters are, granted, fictional, but i think they are very realistic as well. I've run into people that allow hatred to burn them up inside and just distort the picture.
this play reminded me of a time my girlfriend and i were riding through waimanalo - sun roof down just chilling after a day in mokapu'u. We were driving through and we pass a group of men that yell "F--kin' haoles" at us. Gotta love that aloha spirit! what's even more funny about this is the fact that my girlfriend is a hawaiian with lighter skin. I wouldn'tve believed it either until i shook hands with her very HAWAIIAN father for the first time. But to that particular group of individuals white skin means stupid tourists.
There's so much talk against tourism, raping the aina, so on and so forth, but if it weren't for tourism, economy would be even more crappy - then there would be a whole lot more hawaiians homeless - not to mention a whole crapload of haoles, filipinos, etc too! I think people need to get over racial issues, accept what happened (not forget, but accept.), and learn to live with other humans harmoniously. I'm filipino, chinese, portuguese, and spanish. Conquistadors took over my grandfather's land and pretty much slaughtered many of my ancestors, but im not raising hell.
I think it was important when alika described what "aloha" really is, and its quite sad to think of how diminished the "aloha spirit" has become over the years.
I got off a plane from Japan about a year ago thinking "I hope all these people enjoy their stay and love hawaii as much as i do" I was proud the second i stepped off the aircraft and was like "this is my home - what a beautiful place to represent"
next thing i remember is having my pride stolen away and quickly replaced with embarassment when all of these visitors (and the returning dwellers) were not embraced warmly by their hosts. Instead of getting a welcome / aloha / hello. We all got "hey chry make da line shtrait. Move to da side." I was apalled. I may not be Hawaiian in blood, but Hawaii is my home just as much as the 22 yr old Hawaiian girl to my side. I wanted to tell these people welcome, hello...the whole shpeel. Next we got to the wiki wiki (you know... that ghetto ass trolly that is our sorry excuse for a shuttle at our airport) anywayz, we get the whole. "GET TO THE BACK! GET TO THE BACK!" smiles on people quickly faded and looks of convusion erupted on our guests faces. My sense of pride melted away, and now became anger. I couldn't help but hope that things would change soon.
Hawaii may have had a crummy past, but that should not sway how we treat hawaii now. i liked the mom and the security guards mentality...keeping the aloha spirit does not mean to keep the anger and hatred. move forward take care of the hawaii that exists today.
this blog was so scattered, but i think there's too much to say on everything so i'll end with this.

Apio is a story teller not an activist and don't buy dells.

It's 2:45am. I haven't done this "Blog" thing in a while since my computer died (seriously, hard drive crashed then CD player so I couldn't reboot my hardrive, and then keyboard so I couldn't type in codes for the new CD player to reboot the hard drive) for over two weeks. And I haven't finished reading Kamau because this last month has kicked my ass and I have bad time-management skills. But, in a hope to salvage a grade...I figured I better type SOMETHING for this Thursday's class.

I don't think this story is aimed at any one group inparticular. Like most things in life, a person usually writes more for themselves than an audience. It seems that Apio is writing of a personal battle and we're voyeurs watching it unfold. He's not so much writing to get a certain point across, he's just writing for the point of writing. The irony of the "lies" Alika has to tell to the tourists isn't meant to be spiteful towards the "haoles", it's just meant to explain Hawaiian history. The riddles and stories mom tells Alika aren't subliminal messages meant to say that Hawaiians are "better" than others, it's just the mom knows a lot of riddles and stories. Michael isn't justified or unjustified in his anger, he's just angry and the Clements aren't to be blamed for their interested ignorance, they're just ignorant and interested. This play feels like there's no "comfortable" growth and resolution because there's no such thing as a comfortable ending in reality. It just shows people in their true light, people are the way they are simply because people are the way they are--sometime's its not about complaining, or pointing, or judging, but just accepting and coping.

ps. don't buy dell computers.


amlit338

Sometimes to call a kettle black is neccesary. Even if you are a pot...

it was'n't a joke....

OK, so someone said ( in a very racist way... I don't taste like piss in general, unless I haven't been showering and have been urinating on myself... which only happens like twice a year, so I really doubt you have tasted my piss... ) that they weren't sure what to take away from the play. Personally, I am torn by the topic. One side of me: I love Hawaii. I moved here from Texas and have loved every minute here. I have made many friends and enjoy the atmosphere on the island (aloha). Another side of me empathizes with what Hawaii used to be. The Hawaiian people used to be able to live off of the land and survive no matter whether they could "find a job" or "rent an apartment." These social neccesities have been pushed in their faces, when they never needed them before. Hawaii was something different. I love the islands for what they are now, but I hate that the Hawaiian people have been pushed aside and to the bottom of the social totem pole.

I think what the author tried to get through was this: Don't hate the people around you. Don't hate the security guard. He just wants to feed his family. Don't hate the boss. He just wants to be successful and probably feed his family too. Don't hate the haole couple. They just want to save for years and years to be able to afford to spend less than two weeks on the beautiful island we take for granted. If you hate a haole, or a security guard, or a regional manager of a hotel for whatever irrational reasons you do, it doesn't hurt them. It hurts you. They don't stay up at night crying about it. They don't keep a ball of frustration inside that affects their relationships and state of mind. Alika did change. He realized that his people were in a bad place, but the play is realistic. He has the power to do one thing: Take care of the people he loves. If he let the hate that began to well up inside of him overtake him, he would lose the ones he loved. He could quit his job and let his niece starve, or he could keep working and keep his people, the ones DIRECTLY CLOSE TO HIM, THE MOST IMPORTANT OF HIS PEOPLE, alive and well.

Hate is a strong emotion. It's stronger than love. We can deny love. We can hide the fact that we care about someone, for fear that we might get hurt. But hate is stronger. It has no inhibitions because it WANTS to cause damage. It craves to be set free and be loosed on an unsuspecting literature class. It wants you to smash a "haole" in the face for the mere fact that they are a haole... (what? Haole? White person or non-hawaiian? Wanna smash some japanese people?)But, hate is a choice. Hate feels good, but to forgive is divine. Once you can forgive, you can be happy. You can hate those around you, and hurt yourself, or you can forgive them and enjoy life.


I have a dream. That one day people in Hawaii will not be hated based on the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. That one day a man can walk down the street and be called an asshole because his character resembles that of an anus, not because his ethnic background is different. That one day a woman can be called a skanky ho because she is lascivious and has multiple sexual partners, not becuase her skin color and her facial features are different. I HAVE A DREAM; that one day I can be hated for who I am and what I have done; not for what someone years ago of the same ethnicity did.

"Yes, I Speak The Mother Tongue. What About You?"

“Never give up the fight – but pick your strategies well.” —Stephen Morse

Native Hawaiians share the plight of Native Americans. Both reside in a governed land that is not the one of their ancestors. And just about every year new laws are initiated for indigenous accommodations. Each group of people has grown accustomed to present states in society, but there is always seemingly the prospect of a separatist nation.

Alani Apio’s play, Kamau, sheds light on the plight of the Native Hawaiian people. The lead character, Alika must prostitute his culture as a means of living. The tour group that he leads always ends up at the Iolani Palace grounds, the very same grounds in which the Nation of Hawaii was illegally seized by the United States of America.

Alika’s closer-then-brothers cousin Michael refuses to accept his government’s jurisdiction. Even though Michael does not speak the language of his ancestors, he grasps what meager cultural influences he has retained and forgets the one that embodies his people.

The concept of “aloha” is a big one in Kamau. The character of Mrs. Clements, a stereotypical Caucasian visitor of the islands reminds Alika, “when it all boils down it’s about loving and being loved—and I believe—about aloha and sharing aloha.”

Alika and Michael are tragic figures in Apio’s play. Whereas they may have been heroes…maybe even martyrs in an alternative play they never are allowed the opportunity. What Alika and Michael both share is a bad sense of mature decisions.

There was a Maui News story about the “Kaho’olawe Nine” that was blogged recently. In the late 70s, a group of men made a gallant charge to claim an island that was being used for military destruction. Their non-violent, almost swimming to shore form of protest is still remembered today.

If Michael were to be remembered thirty years later, it would be “the crazy Hawaiian who tried to stab hotel workers on Oahu.” And it would not contain the misty eyed tribute that the “Kaho’olawe Nine” have inspired.

I do suspect that the best protests are the non-violent radical movements. Like the student take-over at University of Hawaii’s Bachman Hall during the UARC debacle. Or Chinese students in Tiananmen Square—before the government decided to use military force.

Apio’s Kamau should serve as cautionary tale to the Alikas and Michaels of Hawaii.

Do not feed the trolls

amlit338

If you don't know what I mean, then read the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

aloha, Susan

kahoolawe follow-up

amlit338
http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=18399

interesting article.

sms

Tara's find

amlit338
This really is a great website about Waikiki by Prof. Gaye Chan of the Art Department

downwindproductions.com

Gaye is my collaborator on Tinfish Press.

aloha, Susan

I've been to the mountaintop

amlit338
39 years ago today, ML King gave this speech. Tomorrow is the 39th anniversary of his assassination.

http://www.afscme.org/about/kingspch.htm

amlit338

amlit338

On April 9, Sunday, at 2 p.m., Native Books, Ward Warehouse, will host a Tinfish Press event, featuring readings from Tinfish 15 and other recent publications, as well as a sneak preview of Tinfish 16 / Trout 13, the collaborative issue. There will be food (potluck style). Please see our website for details of our recent work: www.tinfishpress.com

Among the contributors to Tinfish 15 were Ida Yoshinaga, Normie Salvador, Jacinta Galea`i, Julia Avilla, Rob Wilson, Sherm Souther, Caroline Sinavaiana, and Robert Sullivan. Recent Tinfish Press authors include Kimo Armitage and Michael Puleloa.

Please join us! (And happy opening day today...)

aloha, Susan