The very interesting man Dr. Niklaus Schweizer is a professor of Languages and Literature of Europe and the Americas. Usually we have some kind of "tree hugger" or spiritual person present in front of the class. It was nice to have a change in topics to the history of Hawaii and what happened to change it from what it used to be to what it is today.
As I studied Hawaiian history, I did notice that the Westerners brought many things to Hawaii, as if changing it to their benefit. In actuality, that is what every country does when they invade and conqueror a new land, they make it comfortable for themselves but incidentally (not that they cared), they usually [forever] change the culture surrounding the invaded area. Oahu was invaded by westerners and now is not much more than an island filled with concrete. My first time here I compared it to Taiwan, which is similar, an Island off the coast of China that's filled with concrete. The most notable exception between Hawaii and Taiwan is that Taiwan is more tropical and the buildings are closer together.
In any case, Dr. Schweizer mentioned that Hawaiians refer to people as -ma (missing accented marks) as a group, or them. It's kind of similar to Spanish (Ellos, Ellas) or Chinese (ta men) when referring to outsiders. There were other words like 'ai kapu which was abolished soon after the westerners arrived (I think), this meant that men and women couldn't eat together. Or Kapope, the pope, 'olohana the right hand haloi of Kamehameha II. The history was extremely interesting to learn. What I found surprising was that missionaries were allowed to stay and were treated well even if they attempted to change the Hawaiian religion to something else. Instead they were allowed to stay because the Hawaiians wanted to learn the written language. Although they was a good point, it eventually led to the Hawaiian civil war (headed by calvinist missionaries) to over throw the monarchy. The history was sad and the monarchy was removed from power.
I noted before to my self that Hawaii would have been much happier if it was never annexed by the U.S. Unfortunately, there was no choice in this case. If Hawaii wasn't annexed by the U.S. some other country would have taken it over. Either way Hawaii would have been under some other country's rule since it didn't have enough military power to remove all foreign invaders.
It was cool to learn all this Hawaiian history from someone who really knows the subject. Although sad, one can't change the past and even then, there wasn't much to change. Now the people of Hawaii can only change the future or their benefit.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Poundin' Poi
As much as poi is good for the people of Hawaii, for us and the future, I really don't like poi. It probably had something to do with my childhood years when the Chinese word for taro sounded extremely similar to fish head. Therefore always had some kind of aversion to poi. This presenter on Nov. 2 2010 had some interesting things to say about his life in Hawaii, growing up in Waianai and living his life.
Daniel Anthony is a very excitable guy who had many things to say, some of it was very... explosive. Some of his arguments were rather idealistic, but in a realistic world, we can't always have what we want. I do have to say that Daniel was very passionate about what he was talking about, he had many experiences that some of us only have a fraction of, and he had many experiences in the "Real life".
Although only having a GED, Daniel knew his subjects. It's a wonder what Google can do. He introduced us to fish and poi, this combination he called his God. Then he ate it, and I couldn't help but think that he just ate his God. That was rather amusing to me. But the history behind it was interesting. That his ancestors survived on poi and fish and the simple things. It reminds me of ancient times or still, people today in modern day temples who live off fish and rice. Daniel then continued his thoughts on culture and religion, especially here in Hawaii and how modern Western life styles is changing it as a whole. It's a depressing thought, but it seems like few people are actually butting effort into changing it. He did mention that religion affects culture and culture affects the environment. Therefore religion affects the environment (A=B B=C therefore A=C).
This is true because religion does affect the environment. There was even this short discussion (which I really enjoyed) about how different religions such as Catholicism and Christianity respect or even do nothing to the environment. Either way it was an interesting discussion. I myself don't believe in a religion, and am rather wary of religions altogether. My roommates tell me that if I said that religion and religious practices creep me out, then I should have been worried for my health. I can't help but be scientific about it. I do respect it, everyone has their own opinions, but I can't help but question it.
All "Gods" of their religion never wrote anything down. Their disciples wrote down everything. In the case of the bible, that can't even be proven. In another scenario, the bible vs the Quran I find that both say essentially the same things just in different languages, such as Allah and God mean the same thing. Yet there is such controversy over which one is right, or more right than the other, when they are the same, if not similar.
In any case, Daniel Anthony who has a very American name, is not at all that American but has very many good ideas that he'll likely touch upon. It was great to meet him and hear his thoughts. Maybe I'll go pound poi in the future.
Daniel Anthony is a very excitable guy who had many things to say, some of it was very... explosive. Some of his arguments were rather idealistic, but in a realistic world, we can't always have what we want. I do have to say that Daniel was very passionate about what he was talking about, he had many experiences that some of us only have a fraction of, and he had many experiences in the "Real life".
Although only having a GED, Daniel knew his subjects. It's a wonder what Google can do. He introduced us to fish and poi, this combination he called his God. Then he ate it, and I couldn't help but think that he just ate his God. That was rather amusing to me. But the history behind it was interesting. That his ancestors survived on poi and fish and the simple things. It reminds me of ancient times or still, people today in modern day temples who live off fish and rice. Daniel then continued his thoughts on culture and religion, especially here in Hawaii and how modern Western life styles is changing it as a whole. It's a depressing thought, but it seems like few people are actually butting effort into changing it. He did mention that religion affects culture and culture affects the environment. Therefore religion affects the environment (A=B B=C therefore A=C).
This is true because religion does affect the environment. There was even this short discussion (which I really enjoyed) about how different religions such as Catholicism and Christianity respect or even do nothing to the environment. Either way it was an interesting discussion. I myself don't believe in a religion, and am rather wary of religions altogether. My roommates tell me that if I said that religion and religious practices creep me out, then I should have been worried for my health. I can't help but be scientific about it. I do respect it, everyone has their own opinions, but I can't help but question it.
All "Gods" of their religion never wrote anything down. Their disciples wrote down everything. In the case of the bible, that can't even be proven. In another scenario, the bible vs the Quran I find that both say essentially the same things just in different languages, such as Allah and God mean the same thing. Yet there is such controversy over which one is right, or more right than the other, when they are the same, if not similar.
In any case, Daniel Anthony who has a very American name, is not at all that American but has very many good ideas that he'll likely touch upon. It was great to meet him and hear his thoughts. Maybe I'll go pound poi in the future.
Anthro Project
Woo, I haven't posted in a long time, but yea, Sorry those of you who actually read this. Been a little busy and yea, so had some good times, good thing I wrote the stuff down.
I have this upcoming project for Anthropology, it's a good course, kinda wish that there was more discussion than presentations, but what can you do? In this case we have a project based on pono due for presentation at the end of the semester. I'm thinking of writing a paper and present it on Balance of sustainable and non-sustainable resources.
What I'm trying to accomplish is to live in a world that isn't quite completely sustainable, but do live some what sustainably. Kevin Vacarello introduced us to the sustainable farming for his restuarant Sweet Home Waimanalo. It was an interesting experience to see how modern day entrepeneurs can establish a business using sustainable ways which reduce the trash and usage of modern day techniques. The food was extremely delicious and health. I know that many people do want to grow their own food but lack property or even a green thumb. My goal is to explain the advantages and disadvantages of sustainability and non-sustainability. Another goal is to note that modern day technologies and essentially, way of life prevent any serious change in life style. It's too difficult for anyone to completely change from regular life to complete sustainability. It's also dangerous to become completely sustainable. If people suddenly stop going to the super market to buy food or seeds and such, people will lose jobs from the loss of demand. Instead, changing to a 50/50 sustainability is probably the best bet for the future.
Hopefully this will help the future of our world. For now we slowly change things one at a time, reduce energy consumption slowly, one at a time and in the end, we can reach the low emission and energy saving goals.
I have this upcoming project for Anthropology, it's a good course, kinda wish that there was more discussion than presentations, but what can you do? In this case we have a project based on pono due for presentation at the end of the semester. I'm thinking of writing a paper and present it on Balance of sustainable and non-sustainable resources.
What I'm trying to accomplish is to live in a world that isn't quite completely sustainable, but do live some what sustainably. Kevin Vacarello introduced us to the sustainable farming for his restuarant Sweet Home Waimanalo. It was an interesting experience to see how modern day entrepeneurs can establish a business using sustainable ways which reduce the trash and usage of modern day techniques. The food was extremely delicious and health. I know that many people do want to grow their own food but lack property or even a green thumb. My goal is to explain the advantages and disadvantages of sustainability and non-sustainability. Another goal is to note that modern day technologies and essentially, way of life prevent any serious change in life style. It's too difficult for anyone to completely change from regular life to complete sustainability. It's also dangerous to become completely sustainable. If people suddenly stop going to the super market to buy food or seeds and such, people will lose jobs from the loss of demand. Instead, changing to a 50/50 sustainability is probably the best bet for the future.
Hopefully this will help the future of our world. For now we slowly change things one at a time, reduce energy consumption slowly, one at a time and in the end, we can reach the low emission and energy saving goals.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Prisons and the Environment
We had a guest lecture a week ago, guess I forgot to post this up. I could of sworn I did it, must of been too tired or something. Last week wasn't the best weeks, and these up coming weeks aren't gonna be much better, I think. In any case, we had another two guest lecturers last week. Henry Curtis, Executive Director of Life of the Land, and Kat Brady, Assistant Executive Director of Life of the Land.
Both people weren't bad speakers, interesting enough and held our attentions. Although much of what Henry said seemed to be a bit pessimistic towards the environment. Sure we all have some kinds of bumps in the road, but like always, let's try not to let it drag us down. I was interested when he asked the class what the leading city in terms of population was. His answer was Seoul, South Korea.
I was skeptical at first, then tried to rationalize it in my mind. Okay, Seoul, S.K. has many people, most of which don't usually leave. Later on in the week, as I was doing my history homework I had to search the internet for the leading city in population, then cite it. As much as I wanted to say it was Seoul, S.K. , there wasn't any articles on any website leading to that conclusion. Of course I cited Mr. Curtis in my post for class, but I'd like to believe that the leading city population wise is Beijing, China, home of the Forbidden City. To me, it makes sense because it's the oldest capital that's been around for well over 1000 years. That and China has a fairly large population.
Anyways, I'm getting off track. Mr. Curtis liked to talk about the problems we have in Hawaii and the world. The issues of fossil fuel addiction, greenhouse gases, oil spills, agriculture, rain forests, etc. Essentially, all the big problems we have with the environment today. As much as I liked talking about these subjects, it was a bit depressing. I understand the history of these subjects, but we shouldn't wallow in them for a long time, lest we get depress and stop functioning. I would of rather talked more on a possible solution to these topics, but then again, no one really said anything.
Next person was Kat Brady. She talked about the environments in a prison. Which like any environmental issue (although specialized to prisons), have some controversy over what we should do about them. Should we let those who did wrong doings rot in prison, or should we rehabilitate them into the correct path and reintroduce them back to the real world. Sure there were some statistics here and there generally about (corrupt) prisons, but there are some sights to that. I was thinking, if people are so happy in prison doing dangerous things, why not leave them there? Isn't it better to contain the virus than let it spread? Although, yes, dealing with corrupt officials is troublesome, essentially everything is corrupt and everything runs on businesses. But that is neither here nor there and in the end, we can do nothing about it. Instead, there should be a select group of people, who are inspected themselves every six months for corruption, who go and inspect (potentially remove) the corruption from every prison and containment facility. Just anything like this would be a great help in the prison systems.
In the end, both speakers ran long, and we were all excited to leave. Though none more so than the girl who sat behind me. She was so excited the last 40 ish minutes of class that she was all packed and was literally like jumping out of her seat to leave. I didn't think that she should of done that. If the teacher or a guest speaker saw, they'd be pretty pissed. The girl did say that she didn't want to leave because it would have been rude to walk away in the middle of the discussion, but I thought that it was rude to look like you want to escape anyways. Whatever, what's done is done and hopefully we don't have anymore guest speakers for a while. I'd rather talk and hear opinions than hear other people's experiences. I can listen to my grandparents on my own time.
Both people weren't bad speakers, interesting enough and held our attentions. Although much of what Henry said seemed to be a bit pessimistic towards the environment. Sure we all have some kinds of bumps in the road, but like always, let's try not to let it drag us down. I was interested when he asked the class what the leading city in terms of population was. His answer was Seoul, South Korea.
I was skeptical at first, then tried to rationalize it in my mind. Okay, Seoul, S.K. has many people, most of which don't usually leave. Later on in the week, as I was doing my history homework I had to search the internet for the leading city in population, then cite it. As much as I wanted to say it was Seoul, S.K. , there wasn't any articles on any website leading to that conclusion. Of course I cited Mr. Curtis in my post for class, but I'd like to believe that the leading city population wise is Beijing, China, home of the Forbidden City. To me, it makes sense because it's the oldest capital that's been around for well over 1000 years. That and China has a fairly large population.
Anyways, I'm getting off track. Mr. Curtis liked to talk about the problems we have in Hawaii and the world. The issues of fossil fuel addiction, greenhouse gases, oil spills, agriculture, rain forests, etc. Essentially, all the big problems we have with the environment today. As much as I liked talking about these subjects, it was a bit depressing. I understand the history of these subjects, but we shouldn't wallow in them for a long time, lest we get depress and stop functioning. I would of rather talked more on a possible solution to these topics, but then again, no one really said anything.
Next person was Kat Brady. She talked about the environments in a prison. Which like any environmental issue (although specialized to prisons), have some controversy over what we should do about them. Should we let those who did wrong doings rot in prison, or should we rehabilitate them into the correct path and reintroduce them back to the real world. Sure there were some statistics here and there generally about (corrupt) prisons, but there are some sights to that. I was thinking, if people are so happy in prison doing dangerous things, why not leave them there? Isn't it better to contain the virus than let it spread? Although, yes, dealing with corrupt officials is troublesome, essentially everything is corrupt and everything runs on businesses. But that is neither here nor there and in the end, we can do nothing about it. Instead, there should be a select group of people, who are inspected themselves every six months for corruption, who go and inspect (potentially remove) the corruption from every prison and containment facility. Just anything like this would be a great help in the prison systems.
In the end, both speakers ran long, and we were all excited to leave. Though none more so than the girl who sat behind me. She was so excited the last 40 ish minutes of class that she was all packed and was literally like jumping out of her seat to leave. I didn't think that she should of done that. If the teacher or a guest speaker saw, they'd be pretty pissed. The girl did say that she didn't want to leave because it would have been rude to walk away in the middle of the discussion, but I thought that it was rude to look like you want to escape anyways. Whatever, what's done is done and hopefully we don't have anymore guest speakers for a while. I'd rather talk and hear opinions than hear other people's experiences. I can listen to my grandparents on my own time.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Green thumb or God
I am a true believer of science, so much that I can't believe in religion at all.
Most religions are based off of one god and that god has many names, most of which mean the same thing. Each religion is essentially the same thing, if you do something wrong or "evil" then you must be punished. Sometimes you can redempt oneself if one does some kind of (usually community) work or project to get back into the good graces of God so that they can get into heaven when you die. Of course there are religions (off shoots) that disagree with redemption (Lutherans), but who are we to question that?
In any case, religion is a way of life, one in which I don't associate myself with. Who are they to say who can and can't go to a nice place when they die? Should a man who has done good deeds all his life go to "hell" because he committed adultery on accident? Doesn't seem plausible to me.
Wow, I'm getting way off topic into a point where I'll be rambling for some time. What I meant to say was that my class had two guest speakers come in last Tuesday to talk. The first one took a very scientific approach to sustainable farming. He even had his own restaurant in Hawaii called Sweet Home Waimanalo. He was a little boring going into facts and figures and his own personal theories, but his experiences were the most entertaining. It's nice to see people who understand that we the people of the United States and those of us who live on Earth need to realize that the world is running out of resources, stand up and grow your own damn food.
The second person who came had an interesting story about losing her dad, gaining a farm, and losing her life for a couple years (cancer). She gained it back later by being in touch with a higher being that ~some how~ heard her calls and the plants grew wonderfully. Yes it was another sustainable farm, I was happy about that. but the whole higher being and spirits from the other sides made me extremely skeptical. Still I didn't go up and say, "Hey, what your talking about? Yea it sounds like a lot of bull-crap". Not something that would go well with the teacher. None the less, like any other culture, I respected her decision on how she told the story and what happened. The whole picking foods via vibration (good/bad vibes from the produce) and praying to the ancestors doesn't seem realistic to me. Sure she had some bad times with her crappy neighbors and their air pollution causing her to almost kick the can, but the onset of good produce could be good luck or green thumb. Or someone could say that it was Karma for all the bad she had before, is now good in her garden.
Now as much as I would like to say I believe in Karma, I think that it's a nice thing to have and maybe believe in, but like most beliefs, it's not quantifiable. So, sadly, no Karma for me. But hey, she had some good luck with all those plants growing, and since I highly doubt that she's the type of farmer to plant a plant and not tend to it (other than watering) after the fact. I can honestly say that I believe that she has more of a green thumb and good luck than prayer and a higher being.
Whatever. In the end, both people were good at what they say and do. In the future, maybe when I finally retire, I'll settle down and grow my own sustainable farm and hope for the best. None of that praying to God or vibration stuff for me. I'm good with science and technology.
Most religions are based off of one god and that god has many names, most of which mean the same thing. Each religion is essentially the same thing, if you do something wrong or "evil" then you must be punished. Sometimes you can redempt oneself if one does some kind of (usually community) work or project to get back into the good graces of God so that they can get into heaven when you die. Of course there are religions (off shoots) that disagree with redemption (Lutherans), but who are we to question that?
In any case, religion is a way of life, one in which I don't associate myself with. Who are they to say who can and can't go to a nice place when they die? Should a man who has done good deeds all his life go to "hell" because he committed adultery on accident? Doesn't seem plausible to me.
Wow, I'm getting way off topic into a point where I'll be rambling for some time. What I meant to say was that my class had two guest speakers come in last Tuesday to talk. The first one took a very scientific approach to sustainable farming. He even had his own restaurant in Hawaii called Sweet Home Waimanalo. He was a little boring going into facts and figures and his own personal theories, but his experiences were the most entertaining. It's nice to see people who understand that we the people of the United States and those of us who live on Earth need to realize that the world is running out of resources, stand up and grow your own damn food.
The second person who came had an interesting story about losing her dad, gaining a farm, and losing her life for a couple years (cancer). She gained it back later by being in touch with a higher being that ~some how~ heard her calls and the plants grew wonderfully. Yes it was another sustainable farm, I was happy about that. but the whole higher being and spirits from the other sides made me extremely skeptical. Still I didn't go up and say, "Hey, what your talking about? Yea it sounds like a lot of bull-crap". Not something that would go well with the teacher. None the less, like any other culture, I respected her decision on how she told the story and what happened. The whole picking foods via vibration (good/bad vibes from the produce) and praying to the ancestors doesn't seem realistic to me. Sure she had some bad times with her crappy neighbors and their air pollution causing her to almost kick the can, but the onset of good produce could be good luck or green thumb. Or someone could say that it was Karma for all the bad she had before, is now good in her garden.
Now as much as I would like to say I believe in Karma, I think that it's a nice thing to have and maybe believe in, but like most beliefs, it's not quantifiable. So, sadly, no Karma for me. But hey, she had some good luck with all those plants growing, and since I highly doubt that she's the type of farmer to plant a plant and not tend to it (other than watering) after the fact. I can honestly say that I believe that she has more of a green thumb and good luck than prayer and a higher being.
Whatever. In the end, both people were good at what they say and do. In the future, maybe when I finally retire, I'll settle down and grow my own sustainable farm and hope for the best. None of that praying to God or vibration stuff for me. I'm good with science and technology.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
First Time Blogger in the First Class of the Semester
I suppose that this is essentially a journal that people read and give comments. Most people don't do such because their thoughts are private. I am one of those, but for the sake of my grade, I'll suck it up and go with it.
My first day of class was not what I expected, first of all, there were more than 15 students. Most night classes like this usually has like less than 15 people. It was strange but not unwelcome. We started off the topic on "Pono". Which is Hawaiian for Balance. There are other terms such as correct; to do right; right action. It is the antithesis of lie, cheat, steal, murder.
When hearing this, it makes me think that pono is similar to Buddhism. The teacher said that pono is a way of life, much like Buddhism where one reaches a higher elevation, not in the position of power, but of oneself and their beliefs. Pono is a way of life to reach out and balance oneself from the rights and wrongs of life, which is hard because there are always some type of right and wrong in life. There is probably as many right things in life as there are winners in a lottery. Do I think that pono is achievable? Sure, but only when you have lived most of your life and plan to settle down. The point where you don't have to work anymore and just enjoy life as it is, is the point in which one could obtain pono.
I think the most important experience I had with this class so far was the exercise with the blind folds. The plan was to give 20+ people a number and some how arrange ourselves into chronological order without talking or giving any obvious thing away. I failed that task rather spectacularly by not moving too far from my spot and theorizing what should have been done with the teacher. It was sad that with all the chaos I was listening to around me, I felt that it cou;dn't be accomplished. I was wrong of course, no one is ever truly correct, and most of the class was able to align themselves. There were some problems here and there, and although the exercise was a failure, I did learn something. First is to never give up, there are things I could have done, such as manually going through and touch #1 from the door and count to my number, or I could have communicated with the people in the back via taps. Either way I was disappointed with myself in the end.
I did realize though that adults are much different than children. The video we watched prior to this experiment explained that children could figure out simple solutions to various questions or puzzles given. The experiment may or may not have been a success, but I did realize that children think differently than adults. As we grow, we are prone to thinking within a specific criteria: life, future, mate, reproduce, etc. All of which happens during and after puberty. Where as children ages less than 12 have yet to reach that point and thus think outside the box. Or at least less seriously. What are we going to eat today? Is my favorite cartoon on? Mommy kissing Daddy is gross. Girls have cooties... In this sense, children have the ability to see the simple solutions. Whereas adults would still be contemplating the different factors that would lead to the results but may or may not actually make it to the results. I find my self rather scientific, so when I mulled over various ways of reaching a goal, but did not actually but effort into obtaining said goal, and then realizing that everyone else had made it, it made me sad. But as I learn from this mistake, I can conclude that sometimes mistakes need to occur to help us learn. And children learn differently than us grown-ups. With that, one can also conclude that everyone learns differently therefore teaching methods are effective and ineffective among different individuals.
My first day of class was not what I expected, first of all, there were more than 15 students. Most night classes like this usually has like less than 15 people. It was strange but not unwelcome. We started off the topic on "Pono". Which is Hawaiian for Balance. There are other terms such as correct; to do right; right action. It is the antithesis of lie, cheat, steal, murder.
When hearing this, it makes me think that pono is similar to Buddhism. The teacher said that pono is a way of life, much like Buddhism where one reaches a higher elevation, not in the position of power, but of oneself and their beliefs. Pono is a way of life to reach out and balance oneself from the rights and wrongs of life, which is hard because there are always some type of right and wrong in life. There is probably as many right things in life as there are winners in a lottery. Do I think that pono is achievable? Sure, but only when you have lived most of your life and plan to settle down. The point where you don't have to work anymore and just enjoy life as it is, is the point in which one could obtain pono.
I think the most important experience I had with this class so far was the exercise with the blind folds. The plan was to give 20+ people a number and some how arrange ourselves into chronological order without talking or giving any obvious thing away. I failed that task rather spectacularly by not moving too far from my spot and theorizing what should have been done with the teacher. It was sad that with all the chaos I was listening to around me, I felt that it cou;dn't be accomplished. I was wrong of course, no one is ever truly correct, and most of the class was able to align themselves. There were some problems here and there, and although the exercise was a failure, I did learn something. First is to never give up, there are things I could have done, such as manually going through and touch #1 from the door and count to my number, or I could have communicated with the people in the back via taps. Either way I was disappointed with myself in the end.
I did realize though that adults are much different than children. The video we watched prior to this experiment explained that children could figure out simple solutions to various questions or puzzles given. The experiment may or may not have been a success, but I did realize that children think differently than adults. As we grow, we are prone to thinking within a specific criteria: life, future, mate, reproduce, etc. All of which happens during and after puberty. Where as children ages less than 12 have yet to reach that point and thus think outside the box. Or at least less seriously. What are we going to eat today? Is my favorite cartoon on? Mommy kissing Daddy is gross. Girls have cooties... In this sense, children have the ability to see the simple solutions. Whereas adults would still be contemplating the different factors that would lead to the results but may or may not actually make it to the results. I find my self rather scientific, so when I mulled over various ways of reaching a goal, but did not actually but effort into obtaining said goal, and then realizing that everyone else had made it, it made me sad. But as I learn from this mistake, I can conclude that sometimes mistakes need to occur to help us learn. And children learn differently than us grown-ups. With that, one can also conclude that everyone learns differently therefore teaching methods are effective and ineffective among different individuals.
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