http://www.nouvo.ch/144-2

http://www.nouvo.ch/144-2

300 / Un regard sur le Monde

Interesting, the dude spent 300 days on the volcanic island of Tofua in Ha'apai. Just him and a camera.

Tofua, however, is not really an "uninhabited island". Tongan farmers often do short-term farming expeditions to volcanic island, which is said to have amazing soil and excellent air quality for growing anything. Most common crop is kava, which is said to take on the particular vibration of Tofua soil.

Ko'olau Loa Sustainable Communities Plan Meeting

Pacific Thought Symposium

Notes from the Mau forum - Pacific Thought Symposium held at Waitekere on March 7.





Keynote speaker was His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese, Head of State of Samoa, he gave a wonderful, eloquent and provocative paper -- basic thoughts triggered in my mind, about his premise that in a samoan cosmogeny (?) citing an oral tradition that sense of smell was the 2nd order of the heavens' creation, and positing that smell central to samoan/oceanian sense apparatus. very Kantian! and challenges the cartesian/scientific "heirarchy" of the sense of eyesight.

I learned that in academic speak, kaupapa would be 'methodology'.

Dr. Mahina talked about noa being the correlative for Maori kore, which is "mistranslated" in ethnographic lore as void or nothingness. When really it is a form of "subtraction" in a way, and "resides in the giving" not in the giver or the receiver. Emphasis of the complementarity of the concepts in Moanan peoples, noa-tapu. Tapu is "a form of equilibrium", negotiated at the interfacing between tapu and noa. Moanan ways of thinking and doing - thought and practice...

Talanoa as a model for education/research (Dr. Mahina): Must ask first WHAT IS TALANOA, rather than describing what does talanoa "do"....

"tala means to 'tell', noa is a state of harmony of equilibrium, neutral, is a PROCESS and an OUTCOME, sorting stories, differentiate fact from fiction and ARRIVE at a common ground to be ennabled to feel the equilibrium that is knowledge"..."rounded, secular, plural, holistic....

A model applied to research...enter into talanoa get in by circling the talanoa, then enter, "once in you're in for the long haul", criss-cross, once you enter its forever, an eternal experience...

-Grammar of rhythm/music: Reductive (subtract, parameter) vs. Discursive (mode that adds on)

As lovely as it feels

Its great to see two of my neices blogging - Leila has samoansweeties and Lynne has Lynne's Lovely Things....So proud of them!

Been marinating on TOngatapu, niiice.... Fua'amotu has lovely beach...

Being open to finding a cruise spot to post up and churn out chapter 4....Must havesb

beach access within walking distance
access to water supply
peace,
stillness
quiet (solitude)
table
chair

I gratefully acknowledge this important spot(s) to manifest....NOW!
=)
;)

Mangere means lazy winds

Mangere means "lazy winds" in Maori language. My good friend Chikako and I hiked up Mangere Mountain, which has another name in Maori, but I forgot it. Its a mountain that I pass when I ride the bus from Mangere into Auckland city centre. Its the mountain that when one hikes it, can see old volcano craters. I also saw rabbits, heard birds that sang beautifully, and walked upon the crater ridge to reveal 360 degree views. In my humble opinion this mountain is the most magnificent heartbeat of the Southlands...really! Before I climbed it, I felt compelled to, but didn't want to alone. Thank god for friends we can drag along on our adventures which we do not want to approach alone!

One love,
Lanigirl

Spa Day

Had a great experience at the Moana ki Nui a Kiwa leisure centre here in Mangere. I surely felt leisurely as Chikako and I joined about twenty elders in a tai chi course taught, and my joints do feel GOOD:

HEre's the principles for Tai Chi (beginners) (from handout):

1. Make your movements slow, even and continuous...control your movements.
2. Move as though there is a gentle resistance. (cultivates your inner force).
3. Be aware of your weight transference. (Centre yourself, control your balance).
4. Body Alignment - keep body in upright position.
5. Loosening the joints...(Try consciously and gently stretch most joints from within, almost like an internal expansion of the joints).
6. Mental Focus. integrate external and internal...

A garden story

I hold a bouquet of pink roses in my hand. Plucked from a leaning rose bush vine that was weighted down with full bloom roses full of rainwater from this afternoon.
The responsible gardener is my aunty pisila who has a green thumb, like my aunty valu and my dad. Aunty valu's giant hibiscus stunned the eye, large bonnets of color that grew out forth from green foliage, on bushes that lined the chain link fence around the canary yellow house that now houses my cousin kase and her kids. Down the street is aunt manu's house, they have lived there since the 1970s when they first immigrated to utah from hawaii...and before that tonga. And one block beneath that, is Ramona Avenue where grandma 'ofa lives...her and grandpa vai bought the house when they first came to utah. last i was there, the meticulously manicured gardens were said to be the work of my dad's eldest brother, uncle hoko.

Life Writing

An umbrella term, that usefully doubly eclipses 1. the muddled arguments around the fictive non-concrete, constructed, narrative "I" (self, other, subject) of/in autobiography, and 2. the notion that autobiography is non-fiction...

and, emphasizes the texts themselves which may include diary, journal, travelogue, daybook, letters, poems, essays, testimonios, confessions, etc. etc. which are ALL biography in the literal sense, a WRITING of LIFE...

...and allows focus on the writing body....

Opening of Tongan Parliament

I went to the opening of parliament, and dragged soni along with me. First we had to get permission from the probation office because the guy was on probation for something. Here are some photo's from the parade, you can see HRH Princess Pilolevu looking magnanimously on the school children, who's uniformity in marching was really amazing. The Tongan people reach a level of conformity that is truly amazing. Usually. Of course there are the deviants. Like soni. Like myself, and many others, but on the whole, the marching, parades, the repetetive nature of the landscape, the eternal rhythms of the islands, waves, seascapes, and the same food stuff, have created Tonga...

words....

Ta'e Lata

Writing is such an ordeal. I'm currently in Auckland, back living with Aunty Pisila in Mangere. Been working for 5 weeks now on writing chapter 1 and revising 2. Now the term "life writing" has come to define my project. About writing, well, its a magic thing isnt it. It drives me crazy sometimes. I have been writing lots. And feeling unbalanced! Not to worry, just part of the game.I'm getting anxious. I feel displaced. I am, in other words ta'e lata. Ta'e lata means the end of lata - lata means something to do with physical comfort, and sense of rootedness. I feel the greyness of Auckland skies as pressure upon my mind.

I'm meant to turn in two chapters next week. So far so good, but just a wee bit overwhelmed at the entire project.

Portraits

I'm writing some portraits on Lolo and Soni. Here's some flicks, the top one I took of my husband Salesi in our apartment known as Sailoame in 2008. Charlie took the next two, of Soni Ngaue and Soni and his brother Ngaue, taken in Fanga in 2008. I took the bottom one of Lolo Mataele, in front of some Fanga shops.