Grammar Police Officer

Hilo Bay

Here you can see a view of Hilo Bay. The Pacific Tsunami Museum is right across the street from the 50-cent movie theater. They are both within walking distance of here...about 4 blocks.

"Sleeping In"

Does it mean I'm getting old if I can't sleep past 7:30? I usually get up between 5:30 and 5:45, and these last few days off I haven't been able to sleep past 7 frikkin 30!

AND on Thanksgiving Day, I got home from the movies at 9:30 and went right to bed and FELL ASLEEP with the lights on and the TV on and slept till 7:15 the next day! Boo hoo! I wanted to see Thanksgiving Letterman. Waaah.

Rhetoric vs. Pride

I got a letter from a parent today that used the most lovely rhetoric! I seriously am going to keep it as an example of wonderful writing for when I teach college, or upper high school. I mean, this thing uses correct grammar and punctuation, it flows from one paragraph to the next, it has one overarching thesis with each paragraph clearly explaining each aspect of the thesis, and it makes the point while being polite and firm.

It uses phrases like "I trust my daughter will not suffer any negative consequences as a result of this letter" and "I am sure that this matter will be dealt with immediately."

It's practically a work of art. Well, maybe more like a nice, strong house that is practical and to the point and well-put-together. It was just really nicely written.

But it hurt my pride, it bruised my self-image, and sprained my ego. That happens.

But to have it happen so nicely...it's like being beaten up by a butler.

Down into the Twenties!

29 days!

Shark Attack

Read this.

This morning, Bethany was on the Early Show on CBS, and she said it was worth it to be in the hospital because during her time there she led 2 people to Christ. (Yes, they actually said His name on the air!)

Why don't I live my life that way? Do I have that kind of faith, that I trust God when challenging/difficult/painful things happen to me?

Friday Five 11/21

1. List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year. Being a teacher, I will say what I want to get done by the end of the school year. 1. Go to the North Shore on Oahu and see the big waves. 2. Lose 20 pounds. 3. Make new friends. 4. Find a church home. 5. Make a place here, so I feel like I belong.

2. List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again. 1. A college roommate, the one I roomed with for 2 years in the New Dorm. I lost her phone number. 2. Another college roommate, who is now in Peru. I lost her email address. 3. A friend from way back in elementary school days, who just graduated from college (Wheaton) with an Asian Studies major. 4. Scotty the Hottie. (Anyone know where he is? We used to have good conversations.) 5. A college friend who moved from Montana to Florida after she got married to an Air Force Man.

3. List five things you'd like to learn how to do. 1. Speak Hawaiian 2. Knit 3. Keep calm 4. Windsurf 5. Hang Glide

4. List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit). 1. Tithe. 2. Buy a car. Not 'a new car,' but 'a car,' because I do not own one! 3. Pay off student loans. 4. Pay my parents' mortgages. 5. Pay my sister's student loans.

5. List five things you do that help you relax. 1. Pray. 2. Read a book. 3. Drink chamomile tea. 4. Hang out with friends. 5. Breathe deeply.

Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop

Last Monday, a judge decided in favor of the Kamehameha Schools Hawaiian-ancestry-preference admissions policy. This is considered a huge victory here, and being a malihini (outsider), I don't really understand the ramifications of this decision. I'll do my best at it anyway.

First a bit of background on the Kamehameha Schools:

In 1887, the first campus of the Kamehameha schools was founded, in accordance with the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last royal descendant of King Kamehameha the Great*. When the Islands were discovered by Captain Cook, there were over 400,000 Hawaiians here; by the time of the 1880 census, there were only 45,000 or so here. The typical things killed them: disease, mainly, in addition to other things like starvation because their system of land management was upset by the outsiders who didn't know or care about the system. In 1883, she created her will which gave her entire estate for the founding of a school which would educate the dwindling Hawaiians.

So in 1887 the first campus was founded, and since then they added another campus on Oahu, this one for girls; there are also campuses on Maui and Hawaii.

Students at the Kamehameha Schools have many, many advantages. Princess Bernice was royalty, and had a large estate. The Trustees also have invested her money, so the first advantage is that the Schools are very well-funded. Kamehameha Schools also subsidize about 90% of the students' tuition, and graduates may apply for college subsidies also--and graduate school subsidies! The school itself is well-run, and provides the best in every way--academics, athletics, extracurriculars, and other ways. It's truly excellent, and to be a student there...the kids feel like they are really special. They feel like royalty themselves, and they have the privilege of being there primarily because they are Hawaiian.

Back to the main purpose of this blog: the court decision.

The plaintiff was suing Kamehameha Schools because he claimed the Hawaiian-preference policy was unconstitutional. On November 17, the suit was rejected and the Judge (Alan Kay) decided in favor of Kamehameha Schools, saying that part of the purpose of the Schools is to right the wrongs done to native Hawaiians in the last century (especially after the overthrow of self-rule in 1897).

This raises interesting questions for me. What is justice in this situation? (That is not, "How can ____ get payback," but "What is justice?") How can we seek justice? Obviously there was injustice done in the 1890s when Dole and others overthrew the Hawaiian royalty. There was injustice in the 1950s when (as someone told me yesterday) speaking the Hawaiian language was forbidden and punishable by jail time. But what is the answer to the injustice? Is it to exclude children who are needy but don't have the requistite drop of Hawaiian blood? What if they have been living here for generations but don't have the requisite native Hawaiian ancestry?

I don't know. Being white, I'm used to feeling included and normal. I know I have Whilte Privilege and that I take it for granted, and it could just be that here is ONE PLACE I cannot be because I don't have the right blood.**

I'm glad that the decision went the way it did. The money is private money; the Kamehameha Schools accept no public money. There were injustices in the past, and we have to work for justice now. It's a wonderful opportunity, and the students deserve it.

But it opens the door (for me at least) to a larger discussion on justice. What is justice? Can we ever achieve it here? Do we have to atone for former sins? (I was not part of the coup in 1897, and none of the students at Kamehameha were either!) Can we atone for former sins? How do we atone for former sins? Isn't the justice in Christ enough? Why attempt to add to it? Is that what is going on: adding (or attempting to add to) the atonement Christ worked on the cross?

Any thoughts?

* -- King Kamehameha the Great was something like King Arthur. He has a fascinating history, some of which is here. Here is some more information about him--a bit more academic.
** -- The word minority has little to no meaning here, because there are soooo many different races and cultures here all mixed together! (Here is a Hawaiian, there is a Hawaiian-Japanese, there is a Hawaiian-Japanese-Portuguese-Chinese-Korean-White-Filipino-English-Spanish-Dutch-German-Scot!) For me to say that 'I'm no longer the majority and I'm just not used to it' is meaningless because that's not part of the vocabulary here. That's not how people think.

Coffee

This morning I was sipping my large McDonald's coffee (that had 13 sugars in it and 4 creamers, counted by the kids who were already in McD's when I got there and who I sat down with to put all those sugars into my coffee).

While I was on Yard Duty (standing in the yard and making sure the kids don't barrel each other over, climb the 100-year-old tree, or hit each other with palm fronds), some of my coffee sloshed some into my left eye. It was pretty funny.

CBS to Feature Kea'au Couple

by Chris Loos
Hawaii Tribune-Herald

When Suzanne Williams of Florida threw a dart over her shoulder at a map and it landed near Hilo, CBS News cameraman Les Rose kissed her on the lips.

He and correspondent Steve Hartman had criss-crossed the country 113 times since 1998 doing "Everybody has a Story," a segment about ordinary people chosen at random for "The Early Show" and the "CBS News with Dan Rather."

It works the same way every time. The person featured throws a dart at a US map and then Hartman and Rose fly to the place where the dart hits and pick someone to interview for the next segment. They'd been to Texas seven times and to Iowa six times but never to Hawaii.

That changed Nov. 6. The CBS crew landed at the Kona airport and headed straight for a phone book. Rose videotaped while Hartman opened it and touched his finger on "Tinker, Donald & Tesse -- Keaau."

It was 10:15 a.m. when Don Tinker answered his phone. Hartman explained who he was and said he wanted to drive to the Tinker home to interview him and his wife. He was surprised when Tinker didn't object.

According to Hartman, in only 20 percent of cases does the first person called agree to an interview. "The biggest problem is gerring eople to believe that we're really with CBS News," he said. "People always think I'm selling something."

Tesse Tinkerman was at hula practice when her husband answered Hartman's call.

"When I came home," she said, "he was standing there and said, 'We've got to clean up. CBS is coming.'"

She thought he was fibbing.

Hartman first chatted with the Tinkers at their Hawaiian Paradise Park home to find out a little about them. He learned that Don Tinker, 72, is a beekeeper and runs the montly swap meet in Paradise Park. Tesse Tinker, 64, told Hartman and Rose she volunteers at Hilo Medical Center and teaches hula in a senior citizens' halau* called "Pua Kea."

"Their eyes sort of lit up," she said.

Hartman made the halau the focus of his story. He listened as one by one Tesse Tinker and her hula sisters -- mostly mainland transplants -- tried to explain the important role their hula ohana** plays in their island life.

"There's a bond between these women and it didn't make sense to me, but I started asking them about it," Hartman said. "Ultimately, I think what it comes down to is ... unless you have friends and people who are family or feel like family, it's no paradise."

The crew also taped Tesse Tinker as she wheeled a hospital patient to his car after being dischaged and Don Tinker at the swap meet and with his bee hives. They interviewed Tesse Tinker's mother and a neighbor, and videotaped Don and Tesse Tinker doing mundane chores at home.

Before Hartman and Rose left the Big Island, Tesse Tinker had her turn with the map. Her fling of the dart sent the TV crew right back to Florida. "Tesse seemed to have no consideration for our budget," Hartman joked.

The Tinkers are excited about their appearance on CBS (channel 9 or cable channel 7). "It's almost unbelievable," Tesse Tinker said. "The odds are astronomical ... It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

The segment is scheduled to air at 6 a.m. Dec. 4 on "The Early Show" and again at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 5 -- subject to breaking news -- on "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather." ***

Hartman, who is back on the mainland, said it was worth the wait to finally tape a segment in Hawaii.

"Not only did we get to see one of the most beautiful parts of America," he said. [sic] "We also got a darn good story."

* -- a halau is a hula group
** -- ohana means family
*** -- The Early Show starts at 6am here. The evening news starts at 5:30 here, and I believe the TV schedule is an hour off from EST and CST.

I am planning on watching this. Isn't everyone else? ;)

Amazing things in the drugstores

Things you can get at any drugstore or grocery here that I'm not used to seeing:

• a package of chopsticks -- 100 pairs for 99 cents!
• musubi maker
• 40 different kinds of soy sauce (Kikkoman is the saltiest...so they tell me!)
• 15 different kinds of rice...long grain, short grain, hulled, not hulled, etc.
• rice cookers -- they are kind of like crock pots: you put the rice in with water (1:1 ratio) and turn it on. It comes out sticky, where the grains stick together.
• rubbah slippahs

Friday Five

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space. Small.

2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer. Short. Trustworthy.

3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime. Entertaining. Relaxing. Routine.

4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day. Taxing. Fast-paced. Interesting. Pressuring.

5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life. Predictable. Safe. Loving. Happy. Togetherness.

From here.

Island Life

I was teaching a geography lesson today, teaching the students where 10 or so of the mainland states are.

One of the girls said, "So are all these states connected, or are there bridges between all of them? Can you drive right out of one state to another?" I said, "Yes, they are all connected, and you can drive right from one state to another. You can go right from Illinois to Iowa and back without going on a boat or a plane. You just drive."

I've learned well (so I think) the art of keeping a straight face when I teach something that seems to me to be self-evident. This is something that is so obvious to me...you can drive all the way from LA to NYC (or from Colorado Springs to Chattanooga) with nothing more delaying than construction, toll roads, and detours. No oceans in between.

But coming back from Mauna Kea Beach the other day, I think it dawned on me what it means to live on an island. Living on the mainland, there is always somewhere to go. (My mom and I were planning on going on a weekend trip to Kansas and Missouri and see Laura Ingalls Wilder's home, for example.) But here, there are only so many places you can go.

It seems so self-evident, but again the self-evident truths are some of the hardest to learn. There are only so many places you can go here. Imagine having your whole life conscripted by the ocean. You have nowhere to go but places you have already been, unless you spend choke (many) hours on a plane. This is it: you spend all your time on this piece of land that takes about 5 hours to drive around.

And my friend and I (when we went to the beach on Veterans' Day) followed a car that I swear I have seen around the neighborhood. How can you mistake it with all those bumper stickers? That's another part of island life: there are only so many people, and you are bound to run into one of them again at some point.

Self-evident truths? Huh.

Veterans' Day

Yesterday there was no school, so I borrowed a car (it's been a few months since I've driven and it was soooo nice to drive a car again!!) and a friend and I drove an hour (or an hour and a half) to the other side of the Island to Mauna Kea Beach (click on the link and then click on the Mauna Kea Beach link for a panoramic view). It was WINDY, and it felt like I was getting sandblasted. And the weather is changing, so the water was cold (well, at least not warm) and I had to get out of the water often to warm up.

I spent the large part of my beach time reading Abhorsen, the sequel to Sabriel and Lirael. It's a good book thus far, and I am excited about finishing it.

I also went to The Matrix Revolutions yesterday, in the early afternoon, and then watched 24, both with the aforementioned friend. The Matrix Rev asked more questions than it answered, in my opinion, and I with for the old Great Hall days where I could stop by some table full of philosophers and ask them what the heck is the deal with that movie. Sigh.

It was a good day, though not what I expected at all.

a Joke

What do you get when you cross a nursery rhyme with a scary story?

Mother Goose bumps!

haha...contributed by one of my students!

On Being Literal-Minded

Sometimes it bites to be literal-minded.

When I was in third grade, there were 31 students in my class and only 7 girls. We had the option to go on a field trip to the water treatment plant, to the electric plant, or to the sewage treatment plant, and the decision was put to the class in a vote. Guess where we went? Yes, all the boys voted to go to the sewage treatment plant.

Sometimes it bites to be literal-minded.

When I was in third grade, there were 31 students in my class and only 7 girls. We had the option to go on a field trip to the water treatment plant, to the electric plant, or to the sewage treatment plant, and the decision was put to the class in a vote. Guess where we went? Yes, all the boys voted to go to the sewage treatment plant.

The night before the field trip, I still hadn't turned in my permission slip, and consequently the teacher called Mom and Dad and asked if I was still going to go. I'm bad at turning stuff in anyway, but I was afraid to turn in my permission slip because the teacher had mentioned as a joke that we would need to bring our boots (haha, what a funny joke!). I thought we were going to be slogging through ankle-deep poop! I didn't want to go! I would rather sit in someone else's classroom and read the entire afternoon!

My parents explained to me (I was crying because I really didn't want to go wade through poop) that the teacher had been joking -- she was being silly -- and that we wouldn't really be slogging through poop. So I turned in my permission slip the next day and went on the field trip.

It wasn't all that fun, but it certainly was memorable. My most specific recollections of the field trip? Seeing the "solids strainer" (yes, it strained out the solids that were flowing in) and learning that the highest input-flow came in the mornings, and the highest morning-input-flow was Sunday mornings. Sunday-morning showers, you know. I also remember that most of the laundry-soiled water came in on Wednesdays, so many people in Colorado Springs back in the day did their laundry on that day. These sorts of facts fascinated (and still fascinate) me.

Afloat and Adrift

I feel like my life is on a river or on the ocean and that I am controlled by the tide and the wind and the waves, and that I never know from day to day whether I will be waterlogged or floating. Sigh.

Jolt of Joy

So I was on the phone with Sister about a week ago, and she was telling me about a minor pregnancy scare. She is not expecting, so don't get excited, but it was an interesting moment for me, the moment that I figured out what she was talking about and before she told me that it was not something in their immeidate future.

I always knew I wanted to be an aunt, but I never knew I'd be that excited to be an aunt. I had a jolt of joy for a moment more intense than I thought it would be, at the prospect of being a blood auntie.

When he or she comes, I want my niece or nephew to call me Auntie K, not Aunt K.

A Very Basic Hawaiian Lexicon

Hawaiian vowels are pronounced European-style: A -- ah, E -- eh, I -- ee, O -- oh, U -- ooh. Each vowel is pronounced separately, especially when separated by an ', which is a glottal stop. The consonants are pronounced phonetically, except the W is pronounced as a V.

'aina -- land
ali'i -- chief, king/queen. The first "upper-caste" people in old Hawaii were the ali'i, the ruling class. Kamehameha I was ali'i before he became king of all the islands.
aloha -- love; used as "Hello", "Goodbye", and "I love you."
aloha kakhiaka -- Good morning
a'ole -- no
'ele'ele -- black
hale -- home
halau -- a hula group
haole -- white person
kala -- sun
(therefore Haleakala is "House of the Sun"
kama'aina -- local, navive, person who belongs to the land
hau'ole -- happy
kahu -- shepherd, used to refer to the pastor of the church
kane -- man, men
keiki -- child, children
kula -- school
kumu -- teacher
lanai -- porch, verandah
lani -- heaven, sky
mahalo -- thank you
mahalo nui loa -- thank you very much
malihini -- tourist, outsider
mauka -- toward the mountain, used as a direction word. "My apartment is mauka the YWCA."
makai -- toward the ocean, used as a direction word. "The downtown McDonald's is makai The School."
maika'i -- good
moana -- ocean
ohana -- family
papa he'e nalu -- surfboard
pau -- finished, "I'm pau with work today!"
pua -- flower
pua'a -- pig
puka -- hole, cave, empty space, zero
wahine -- woman, women
wikiwiki -- fast. The express lane in the grocery store is called the wikiwike lane.

Countin' Down

43 days!

Red White and Blue Day

Today is Red, White, and Blue day here at school, and I have to say...I just don't get patriotism. At least super-patriotism. And as I promised a post about this sort of thing, today is a great day to write about it.

Let me begin by telling a bit about the stuff that has influenced my sense of patriotism. There are three things:

1. In college, one of the required courses was Contemporary Global History, that I took with the venerable old History Professor who has since retired. He was teaching about the rise of WWI and how the Versailles Treaty led to WWII, and he went to a great deal of effort to impress on our little minds the difference between notional pride and nationalism. National pride, he said, is the feeling of pride in your heart that you feel when you look at your national flag or sing the national anthem. Nationalism is national pride taken waay too far...like telling yourself and the world that you are the best and that everyone else needs to get out of your way. This made me think...I don't want to be or become a nationalist, and kick other nationalities in the kneecaps to that I can live my life.

2. In my only American History class in college (taught by the humorous, sarcastic history professor who wrote his thesis about the migration patterns of geese...you know who I mean). He taught the material, but also made it clear that some of the decisions made in our history were not the best decisions. For example, why did President Jackson cause all the Indians to leave the land east of the Mississippi River? I think to myself, why didn't the man with the power to make a difference in the lives of all those people do something and teach Whites and Indians to get along? He really could have changed things here for the better. These and other events just make me wonder what exactly it is that we are proud of when we sing, "I'm proud to be an American." I am proud of all the veterans who suffered and died for our country, and I am thankful to all the servicewomen and -men who are fighting now, but I just don't know what all there is to be proud of. There are too many history horror stories.

3. We Christians are to have our primary allegiance to Christ and His Kingdom. Why then do we have the American flag hanging in so many of our churches? and why does it take the right side, the side of primary honor, when the Christian flag takes the left side and consequently has less honor that the right-hand-side flag? And why do we sing patriotic songs in church? I just don't get it, once again. Sigh.

So I just don't get the whole patriortism thing. When I was in Philadelphia, I went to see the Liberty Bell. There was all sorts of security around it, there was a long line, and then I got into the Room of the Bell. It was a bell, roped off, and placed in a dramatic location so you could see Independence Hall behind it. Why? Why have that much security around a bell (or even around a Bell)? Why not do something else with our time and money and creativity? What is the significance of the Bell? Why did we set aside a bell to become a Bell and one of the symbols of our freedom? Why has it become a national treasure and the object of so much veneration?

Somebody tell me, and tell me in better terms that just "It stands for liberty." What liberty? Do we all enjoy liberty? Did the women in the 1800s enjoy liberty? Did the Black people of the 1600s-1800s enjoy liberty? What about all the Indians who lived here before the Whites did? And the native Alaskans? And the native Hawaiians? And the Chinese immigrants who built the trascontinental railroad? And the Irish immigrants who lived on the East Coast in the early 1800s? And the Japanese Americans who were trucked off to camps during WWII?

How can we all look at a Bell and then feel a surge of pride over our liberty when we haven't worked for true liberty for all the people who live here and who have lived here?

Frdy Fv

1. What food do you like that most people hate? Not much. I am verrrry conservative with what I eat. Let me think...still thinking...still thinking...nope, can't think of any.

2. What food do you hate that most people love? Tomatoes. I dislike the texture. And pickles, though I like to make egg salad and chicken salad and potato salad and deviled eggs with a splash of pickle brine.

3. What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you? I am not really a big 'famous person' person. I do not think Charles Lindbergh is as great as everyone says. Did you know he went to Germany in the 1930's and advised them on their air force? Yes, he told them what kinds of stuff to invest in so the lightning war would go well. (For those who don't know, Germany in the 1930's was NaziLand, the German air force was the Luftwaffe, and the lighning war is also known as blitzkrieg.) Yes, Mein Herr.

4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive? Hugh Grant...I guess. He was so hot in Bridget Jones' Diary! And not bad in About a Boy. Obviously I do not know him and can only talk about how he looks and not about anything less superficial.

5. What popular trend baffles you? Fashion. It's dictated to some extent by glossy magazines like Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, Teen, Seventeen, YM, Teen People, Cosmo Girl, and such mags. I think it's amazing they they tell us how to dress and what is cutting edge when they are written three months before they are on the grocery store racks. What? How did they know in August what would be cutting-edge now? And how do they know now what will be cutting-edge in February? It's self-manufactured and silly.

friday five

Wheels

I bought a bike last Saturday. Suddenly Hilo is smaller!

Now I go somewhere every day. Usually Starbucks and the post office. Sometimes the library. And sometimes to the Ben Franklin craft store.

Thivering Thursday

1. Members of many religious orders swear oaths of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Which of those vows would be the most difficult for you to fulfill for the rest of your life? Obedience. Because obedience is no good if it is separated from an unsubmissive heart, and I hate to obey most of the time. I obey my authorities but often rage at God for making me obey them.

2. If you were going to have chronic pain in one part of your body, which would you choose? My earlobe. My right earlobe. It's not a part of the body required for walking or anything vital like that, and it has to be my right earlobe so that I can still use my left ear and talk on the phone.

3. Would you rather be able to keep one person (besides yourself) happy all of the time, or many people some of the time? Many people some of the time. I'd like to know the secret to keeping people happy, even if I don't get their culture.

America's Mountain

I check it every day. Several times a day.

Seabiscuit

Went to see the movie last night. There's a movie theater here that charges $0.50! But that's just for matinees...evening movies are double that. Sigh.

It was a good movie, marred only by the fact that there were 2 drunks in the theater conversing loudly and crassly with the characters on the screen. Thankfully the usher ushed them out. The entire theater applauded once they left...but not till they were gone.

I really enjoyed the movie. Wow.

It's All About Me

Yay! Look at this!