Howard Zinn says let it come to you

in the pics...
MatthewSina: in the training village (Lalomauga). A close up.
Making drum: so I had an adventure in making a Samoan drum (named??). In the picture is Pine. She was pretty good at cutting the bamboo.
Nisuperman: Ni is a little kid in Lalomauga. He is hyper hyper hyper.


9/3
I was reading Howard Zinn’s book “the people speak: voices from a people’s history. A history people’s history of the US”
The italics are my comments…
The cycle of violence…ends with me
Word hard…work smart
Get a good education…pay attention
Follow the rules…make some of your own
And you will be rich…depending on your definition of rich.
Thing oriented society…people rich in relationships and community

I overheard someone say “I didn’t have to teach Samoans how to use a digital camera and CD player. They just figured it out.” Because it’s something they really want to learn—pictures and music.



8/20
I was at Norman’s house. he’s a student at national university of samoa. We were watching a movie: the Hulk. Here are some sentences with words he didn’t know in italicsi.
I’ve always been more curious than cautious. Naunau…careful: paa
This will be a somewhat novel sensation. Strange
None of our test subjects ever survived.
Sending email through cyberspace.
They want to make it a weapon. …meaning the monster
To deserve such aggression.
The mixture could be an abomination.

I miss Andrew.


8/13
There is a huge difference in the “let it come to me” vs. my usual approach at home “go out and find it..make it happen” very different, but I find the “let it come to me” mindset creeping in…it’s how Samoa does things. I’m ignoring people when they say my name…wait, that sounds rude. Samoans are very verbal and ask and ask and ask for things. Sometimes I think they just like to hear their voice. Does that mean I don’t’ like to hear my voice. I seem to be the quietest one at the school.


7/27
Today is the morning of Sunday July, 2008. this is the first day I put a long sleeve anything on …I’m cold. I put the Astoria crossing long sleeve t-shirt on (the one my mom sent me).

Today’s toana’I (brunch) included taro, breadfruit, mackerel, and soup with sheep (mamoe). That was the high end lunch in the village. I showed two kids in the village how to skip smooth rocks (ma’a molemole). They said they had bread for lunch. Just bread. I wished teaching computers had a more direct impact on the economy of my village. It still feels I’m teaching computers just to be teaching computers. We haven’t even done much with integration into other classes.