"Life is a treasure" in Okinawan. I wore it proudly in red on a white headband yesterday at the Japanese consulate. On Friday, in solidarity with the Okinawan community who have been protesting the construction of another US military base in Okinawa.
A fitting end to the week. It started off with hearing His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Tuesday. When he walked up the stairs, the tears burst out of my eyes. It was as if I had seen an old friend whom I have missed so many years. Perhaps it was the presence of calm and compassion that filled the stadium. What I felt: there is hope for this world. The tears ran down my face as I committed to memory this feeling this calmness that comes upon understanding that hope is possible. Upon gazing at this simple monk in his saffron and maroon robes what came to me was that there is hope for this world.
I'm strugging for the words to describe the journey of the week.
Life is a treasure truly. My friend Anna and I were just talking now about slowing down and listening to ourselves as writers. Oftentimes we overschedule ourselves with activity and find it hard to just sit. Part of the writing process is just keeping still enough to hear that voice in your head. To listen to your voice and your story, or the story that waits to make it to the page.
My story this week: After an adjustment at the chiropractor, I move like a Tahitian dancer and didn't know it. I am more flexible in how I deal with life. Life is a treasure, truly. There are moments of struggle and disagreement when there are things that are clearly not in harmony with the value of treating others with kindness and respect. Henoko is an example of such a struggle.
After the Wednesday dharma talk on the 8 verses of an Enlightened Mind, we climbed into our cars, faced the traffic leaving Kahului and found ourselves in Paia at the Temple. There we met the Japanese priest who told us the story of the genealogy of a king of Okinawa who was exiled and who refused to return to Okinawa as a Japanese citizen. He defied and disagreed with the colonization of his people and his culture. We were in the presence of great mana or spirit that day. We could feel it. So palpable. His spirit and his family's spirit written on simple pieces of wood that defies being discarded carelessly. My hope is that being there inspires us to action to remember that life is a treasure. The ocean, what our ancestors give us, simple and strong acts of resistance are treasures. I carried this strength with me to the consulate to help in letting them know, that destroying part of an island for military uses is not okay.
I am finishing this now more than a month later and wondering how I let time slip by to forget to finish this blog. My mother and I are eating lunch at the table this Kamehameha Day. We talk of parades and long beans. We journey to Whitmore this afternoon to pick lychee. This is time well spent. Time is truly a treasure.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
Techno-no-logy
One of the students before afternoon class today asked, "Why are we learning techno-no-logy?" I said, "You mean technology? Because it's a good skill to know, how to use the computer, use I-Movie, the camera, etc." I thought it was a strange question, but that's ML, a 7th grader. She wants to be a comedian when she grows up.
Our conversation before class rang in my ears as I walked through Circuit City tonight on my quest for the cable needed to connect my video camera to the computer. On the way out I stopped by the Verizon Wireless counter as I am due a new phone. As I browsed the many models of LG's, Razers, Samsung's, I felt overwhelmed. Which phone should I get? One that plays MP3s, connects me to the internet so you can check e-mail, takes great pictures, videos, is easy to use when texting. Heaven forbid I get txt-thumb-injury, which is a true malady in places like Asia where txting is an cheap means of communication. Camera phones are up to 2.0 megapixels which is pretty good. The sales guy showed me the new tv phone. Frowning at the idea of watching tv on a phone, I quipped, "Whatever happened to just calling someone up?" He retorted, "It's technology, you gotta keep up." I did take the brochures he gave me.
I left the store after purchasing the needed cable without a new phone. This is what I want. Instead of a phone that will give me clear pictures of a beautiful place. I'd rather be in a beautiful place and see it in person. Instead of watching tv on a phone, I hope to be at home watching tv or in a theater watching a film on big screen. Instead of using my phone for e-mail, I'd rather using my laptop and catch free wifi at a cafe. I don't want to be traveling around so much that I can't use a laptop, a phone or a tv. Well, unless I was in the mountains on a hike, but then again, I'd rather be present to the place, then checking my e-mail. Maybe it's me, but ML the 7th grader has got it right, sometimes you have to put the NO in Techno-no-logy.
Our conversation before class rang in my ears as I walked through Circuit City tonight on my quest for the cable needed to connect my video camera to the computer. On the way out I stopped by the Verizon Wireless counter as I am due a new phone. As I browsed the many models of LG's, Razers, Samsung's, I felt overwhelmed. Which phone should I get? One that plays MP3s, connects me to the internet so you can check e-mail, takes great pictures, videos, is easy to use when texting. Heaven forbid I get txt-thumb-injury, which is a true malady in places like Asia where txting is an cheap means of communication. Camera phones are up to 2.0 megapixels which is pretty good. The sales guy showed me the new tv phone. Frowning at the idea of watching tv on a phone, I quipped, "Whatever happened to just calling someone up?" He retorted, "It's technology, you gotta keep up." I did take the brochures he gave me.
I left the store after purchasing the needed cable without a new phone. This is what I want. Instead of a phone that will give me clear pictures of a beautiful place. I'd rather be in a beautiful place and see it in person. Instead of watching tv on a phone, I hope to be at home watching tv or in a theater watching a film on big screen. Instead of using my phone for e-mail, I'd rather using my laptop and catch free wifi at a cafe. I don't want to be traveling around so much that I can't use a laptop, a phone or a tv. Well, unless I was in the mountains on a hike, but then again, I'd rather be present to the place, then checking my e-mail. Maybe it's me, but ML the 7th grader has got it right, sometimes you have to put the NO in Techno-no-logy.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Rant and Rave!
So I've been taken, no fallen, into the blog world thanks to my friend Grace and her blog. Check it out, Pukenkeng Liberation Front. I am inspired by her courage to out herself on the web with her blog. Once sacred kitchen table space, the web has become a venue for sharing our ideas, discussions, beliefs, hopes and dreams. Urban Babaylan on the web!!
My hopes for this blog is to archive what I am doing, thinking, saying, writing and dreaming. It will also force me to write and write about the process. I have many projects I am currently working on and processing through writing has always helped me get through it to the other side. Perhaps it will also keep me accountable to my dreams. I also want an identity outside of my paid job which I love, but it is not my whole sense of self. I want to make sure I work the muscle that helps me to pump out my creativity.
Last night's Rant and Rave 1st anniversary at the daSpace where DaArt is DaWord was so much fun! Auntie Moana always hosts a wonderful evening, a true hostess with the mostest. And she even sang, too! It was the 3rd Rant and Rave for myself. My alter ego came out in full force for the piece, "Island People Epistemology: Switchum". I'm sending it over to Susan Miller who will put it out on the web. As soon as I get the info, I'll post it and link it to the blog.
Yesterday morning, I had a wonderful conversation with Grace about finding one's voice and how to switch out of an ego-driven paralytic funk. You see, I've got Eckhart Tolle and New Earth on my mind lately as I slog through it for this book group me and my friends formed. My explanation of switching out of voicelessness in stages came tumbling out. We shared our stories of being in meetings where people don't say what they mean and everyone goes all chicken when it comes to telling the truth. In our conversation I explored my ideas of how and why local people don't say anything when we know something is wrong. The seed of the poem started there. I remembered my frustration during community planning meetings for public health where most of the local people sat silenced. Is this experience just a mini example of the larger silencing that is happening in Hawaii? How can we apply the concepts of this metaphysical thinker to Hawaii and this local arena? I think can, can.
So for now, I leave you the title of one of the poems I am writing: "The Tae of My Futlessness, Not to Be Confused with the Tao of Pooh." In case you didn't know, "tae" means "excrement" in many Pilipino languages. It's gonna be a good one, I can feel it in my gut. Look for it at the next Rant and Rave!
My hopes for this blog is to archive what I am doing, thinking, saying, writing and dreaming. It will also force me to write and write about the process. I have many projects I am currently working on and processing through writing has always helped me get through it to the other side. Perhaps it will also keep me accountable to my dreams. I also want an identity outside of my paid job which I love, but it is not my whole sense of self. I want to make sure I work the muscle that helps me to pump out my creativity.
Last night's Rant and Rave 1st anniversary at the daSpace where DaArt is DaWord was so much fun! Auntie Moana always hosts a wonderful evening, a true hostess with the mostest. And she even sang, too! It was the 3rd Rant and Rave for myself. My alter ego came out in full force for the piece, "Island People Epistemology: Switchum". I'm sending it over to Susan Miller who will put it out on the web. As soon as I get the info, I'll post it and link it to the blog.
Yesterday morning, I had a wonderful conversation with Grace about finding one's voice and how to switch out of an ego-driven paralytic funk. You see, I've got Eckhart Tolle and New Earth on my mind lately as I slog through it for this book group me and my friends formed. My explanation of switching out of voicelessness in stages came tumbling out. We shared our stories of being in meetings where people don't say what they mean and everyone goes all chicken when it comes to telling the truth. In our conversation I explored my ideas of how and why local people don't say anything when we know something is wrong. The seed of the poem started there. I remembered my frustration during community planning meetings for public health where most of the local people sat silenced. Is this experience just a mini example of the larger silencing that is happening in Hawaii? How can we apply the concepts of this metaphysical thinker to Hawaii and this local arena? I think can, can.
So for now, I leave you the title of one of the poems I am writing: "The Tae of My Futlessness, Not to Be Confused with the Tao of Pooh." In case you didn't know, "tae" means "excrement" in many Pilipino languages. It's gonna be a good one, I can feel it in my gut. Look for it at the next Rant and Rave!
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