Fern Ridge (Safla Rama) Digest

Young Cultural Dancer at Waigani Primary School 2009 The quick pace of electronic media development in the world has no time to wait for people like me. Until recently, more specifically, a month ago, I found myself, entering the world of Facebook as a reluctant traveller. Like so many people I know about these technological innovations that are shaping the world second by second and minute by minute. Like many people, the decision to participate in these technologies, is one of experiment and see where it leads me to. Apart from discovering many people I know on Facebook I also realized that there are many wonderful things one could do with electronic media technologies. Apart from developing one’s own social network you can have instant communication with friends online, share conversations on common topics, post notices, links to news and information of interests, and even share photographs and videos. One could easily do that with mobile phones, laptops, or from a desktop anyw...

One of the things I wanted to do was to walk up the ridge next to the University of Hawaii in Manoa Valley. The ridge is known as the Wa’ahila Ridge. I wanted to get a different perspective to the one I already have walking between the buildings of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and of the Waikiki metropolitan area. I also wanted to do this walk because the day was gorgeous for such an activity. I also live at the foothills of the ridge in the Wa`ahila Faculty Apartments. With a perfect day and the mind to tackle the three hours hike up Wa`ahila Ridge I rang my countryman, Muguwa Dilu, from Simbu, and asked him if he wanted to accompany me on this hike. Muguwa is studying for his Masters in Economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He was happy to come along. Our walk began on Cole Street in between Manoa Stream and Wa`ahila Faculty Apartments. Our walk upwards would end where the Wa`ahila Ridge State Park is located. We began our hike with Muguwa sharing stories abo...

Taking the trip to the North Shore of O`ahu after the Palm Sunday service was such a joy. The trip was planned the night before as John, Hala, and myself sat around the Friendship Circle at the East West Center. We just decided that it might help to put things into perspective for us to drive out of Honolulu and Waikiki, a touristic metropolitant space that overshadows the beautiful Hawaiian Island of O`ahu. There’s more one could see in O`ahu than Waikiki or the modern skyscrapers of Honolulu. Our trip to the North Shore began on the afternoon of Palm Sunday. My wantoks John Sopa, Alfred M. Riibako (Hala) and Ishmael Togamae are from the Solomon Islands. John and Ishmael have their own cars. John is studying at the Kapiolani Community College, Ishmael is a medical doctor at a hospital in Hawaii, and Hala is completing his degree in computer science at the University of Hawaii. Our other wantok, Muguwa Dilu, from PNG decided to opt out of our trip. We began our trip without any expec...

Baining Fire Dancer I will present a public lecture as part of my responsibilities as the Arthur Lynn Andrews Chair in Pacific and Asian Studies. The public lecture is a collaboration between the English Department, the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Hawaii and the East West Center Pacific Islands Development Program.  English Department Colloquium "Metonymic Function of Language and Cultural Truth in Pacific Writing," by Steven Winduo, University of Papua New Guinea and Arthur Lynn Andrews Chair in Pacific and Asian Studies at UH Mānoa. Thursday, 10 March 2011 3:00 pm UHM Kuykendall Hall, Room 410 Most literary texts in Oceania employ English as the main language of writing. The choice of English rather than the indigenous languages is preferred for a number of reasons, but with an "overlap" of language that occurs when texture, sound, rhythm, and words are carried over from the mother tongue to the ...

  Entrance to Honolulu Academy of Arts    After lunch at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (HAA), with Piet Lincoln, his wife and son, I was shown the gift shop in the HAA. Later I took a peak at the display of cultural and materials items in the Pacific Islands Collection on the second floor of the building. Piet is a linguist with a long term connection with the Banoni language speakers of Bougainville. History (source www.wikipidea.org ) Anna Rice Cooke (1853–1934), daughter of N ew England missionaries and founder of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, in her dedication statement at the opening of the museum on April 8, 1927 said: "That our children of many nationalities and races, born far from the centers of art, may receive an intimation of their own cultural legacy and wake to the ideals embodied in the arts of their neighbors ... that Hawaiians, Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Northern Europeans and all other people living here, contacting thr...

Australian Geographic had this information on new evidence on peopling of the Pacific. By:AAP with AG Staff February-9-2011 Share The final major wave of Pacific migration brought the Maoris to New Zealand 700 years ago (Photo: Getty Images).NEW DNA EVIDENCE has emerged which overturns theories on how humans spread across the Pacific. The islands of Polynesia were first inhabited around 3,000 years ago, but where these people came from has long been a hot topic of debate amongst scientists. The most commonly accepted view, based on archaeological and linguistic evidence as well as genetic studies, is that Pacific islanders were the latter part of a migration south and eastwards from Taiwan which began around 4,000 years ago. Now, scientists believe the DNA of current Polynesians can be traced back to migrants from the Asian mainland who had already settled in islands close to New Guinea 6,000 to 8,000 years ago. The evidence was uncovered by researchers at the University of Le...

On Wednesday this week I had the honor of reading poems and talking about chewing buai, writing, poetry and performance, and about Papua New Guinea and my observation of the world. It was the best poetry night I had in many years. I thank the East West Center Wednesday Evening Seminar organisers, the graduate students of East West Center, the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, the English Department, and the Pacific Collection  Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa. Tenkiu tru na laikim yupela nating tru.