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Reggie's art class and Kuki's speech class and special guest Tisa.... everyime I perform, mera nam, my name, it feels different. I heard my voice echo today in a different way - - later One by one, everyone came up and spoke the story of their names... short prose and deep journeys inwards... A COLLECTIVE NAMING SONG from my great great grandmother who loved the smell of lily it didn't suit me so I changed it trying to live up to water of life can be miserable I might as well live with it and enjoy never stop never scared of anything as in archangel I am not the same runs deep in my family like the roots of the coconut tree binding 
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Today in ASCC, we explored land and feeling, textures of living on island, traces of colonization The students shared skits in sound, song, story, dance, feeling. Thanks to the students for such open hearted sharing and Kuki for inviting me to facilitate the creativity writing sessions for the classes...  on the island we smell coconut oil freshly baked palo sami from the umu the breadfruit roasted and pungent smells of the starkist company… we see the high tide waves from the ocean where the fautasi races start every year in the month April  thinking of colonization in samoa we smell the smoke from the naval ships coming into the bay we taste the tears of our ancestors flowing in the rivers those fighting to protect and keep our land oil spilled and materials burned gunpowder blood dirt money queen liliuokalani captured by the American government the guards walking by… taste bitterness… smell the salty ocean…    Every morning I wake to the blue sky it gives me courage to move on and then I hear my mother’s voice get your ass ready for school and then eating grandma’s pancakes which she makes every morning I get ready, thinking oh my god I’m going to be late for class and then the bus passes by because I was smoking.    A lovely afternoon today with the students at American Samoa Community College as it rained and rained outside, we wrote…. inspired by “My Name” from the House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. – Grateful to Kuki Tuiasosopo, Fine Arts Department Chair who invited me. -Grateful to the students who wrote straight from their hearts onto the page…. Here are some excerpts: There is no Samoan name for Emma. In German, it means strong. Emma is an old fashioned name. I have been told this many times when people ask for my name. Emma is innocent but has a dark side to it. People in my family said it was named after the first Mormon prophet’s wife who started the church. Very few Samoa people I have met have this same name as me. Emma can be intimidating sometimes. My name is May, named after my Dad’s sister. Who took me in and cared for me Many ask if I was named after the month or was I born in May? But no, I wasn’t. Sounds short but calm in my ears when I hear it. No difficulties saying my name just like how I’m not a difficult person to communicate with. My name is Valovalo I was named after my biological father. For years, my biological parents have been divorced. People usually call me by my middle named, Vincent When I think about my first name, it's weird… because I was adopted by my biological mother’s family and till today, I haven’t noticed where my name is from… When you hear my name, it’s either ice cream or a flavor free sweet desert Vanilla belongs to my great great grandmother but good thing she was never made fun of… As for me, growing up, my classmates always called me chocolate or caramel. After high school I joined the military and all my drill sergeants asked if that’s my stripper name. And I just smiled and said, if it was, I wouldn’t have joined the service. And they laughed. Corabelle is a fairytale name. I’ve never met someone who has that same name. It’s from my auntie’s favorite movies. There’s no Samoan translation for it. I am the only one named Cassandra in my family. …My mom and Dad told me that the meaning of my name is fierce and strong. Because I posses that attitude. When I think of my name, I think of the scent of lavender. Because it’s my favorite color. Lydia – a name given by my father who loves his mother dearly. A name also taken after my aunt who is as strong as a bull and clever as a fox. Lydia named after two excellent women so I am honored to carry Lydia. because it is mine now. When I think of that name, I see the purple color, feel the sun, relaxed on utulei beach eating umu and filled with joy. In every email that Kuki sends, there is this quote which I second, third, fourth. I mean, in all the ways I can agree with a statement, I agree with this one.
“The arts are a major area of human cognition, one of the ways in which we know bout the world and express our knowledge. Much of what is said in the arts cannot be said in another way. To withhold artistic means of understanding is as much a malpractice as to withhold mathematics… Since schools traditionally develop only linguistic and logical/mathematical skills, they are missing an enormous opportunity to develop the whole child.” ~Dr. Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education |
in Samoa
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