Bush's Little Army...
Hey, how is everybody doing?...im alright...im sick and have an ear ache...but whats new, i guess, right?...besides, you dont want to hear me complain...thats not what you came to my blog for...you came for fascinating and entertaining information...so here it is...
-all of the pictures for this post was taken on our dangerous hiking trip...if you dont remember, go to my archives and find it...in a nutshell, i almost died while climbing the cliffs of a samoan mountain...the above picture was taken when i was literally hanging on for dear life on a steep-ass section of the mountain...i probably had one hand on a branch, dangling from the edge as i took this picture...so you better enjoy the view...i risked my life for it...thats pago pago harbor...pretty, uh?...("uh" is the samoan way of saying "right" or "hey"...another samoan attribute i have inherited)...
-this is a pic of jon...he's one of our samoan friends...he's sorta the one who had the wonderful idea of going on this who-will-survive adventure hike...you can obviously see that he's wearing a head dress thingy made of leaves...he used to be a fafafina (transgendered) but he only did it for performance...he likes singing...and dancing...now he lives as a man...and, no, i don't like him like that...and if any of you were questioning that, then shame on you...you should know he's SOOOO not my type...he's just a friend...
-before i move on to the next picture, id like to discuss one of the big, influential phenomenons of this island...and that is, THE MILITARY...yes, i did just get all capital letters on you...the military, or rather, the american military, is the blood of this island...its life...and has been for over 100 years...i will not bore you with the entire history, but i will say that america "bought" the territory around 1900 so it could have a base on it...i mean, its the perfect place to have a military base...its in the middle of the south pacific, near japan and india and australia (and we all know how dangerously evil those australians are!)...anyways, samoa let the U.S. "buy" the territory because it could then protect them from bigger countries and islands surrounding them...they also didnt mind the American addition because it led to more money and jobs on the island...so, american samoa made a huge contribution to the World Wars I and II (which is NEVER taught in american high school history classes), and the island still has a significant involvement in the U.S. military...for many samoans, the military is their only way to success...their only way to money...and the states...there are no major colleges on the island...there arent really even any jobs on the island (besides the tuna factories for about a dollar an hour)...so the military is their only option...oh, and by the way, many believe that the reason why this island has pretty much become a third-world country is because the U.S. military doesnt really need the island anymore...with advanced technology, the base in the middle of the south pacific just isnt needed anymore...besides, we're not at war with japan anymore...but who knows, with bush in office we could be any day...hell, we could be at war with those koala bear lovin australians soon...anyways, many of my students are planning on going into the military after high school...id say almost 80% of them are using the military to get to the states and get a good, university education...and a good, professional job (not working with stinky fish)...this is all fine and dandy to me...if the military is their key to a better life, then so be it...though, it kinda (actually, REALLY) sucks that that key might be in baghdad...or afghanistan...what really bothers me, or at least makes me wonder, is the J.R.O.T.C. program...
have you guys ever heard of this?...there are some in the states...there was actually one at hamilton, the high school i student taught at in milwaukee...it stands for Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps...
http://www.jrotc.org/
essentially, its a training ground for young future military boys and girls that are held in public high schools...like tafuna, the school im at...the J.R.O.T.C. program is ginormously popular here and many of the students are in the program...american samoa is considered to have one of the best JROTC programs in the nation, and tafuna high school has the best on the island...the someday mini-soldiers take classes about the history of the american army (during their school day, mind you)...they learn marches and earn medals and recieve ranks...and of course they're counseled through their decision on going into the military after high school...the program is actually right outside my classroom window...so i see everyday the marching and exercising and boot camping of lil' uniformed teenagers...as you can see, im not too fond of the program...although the instructors/drill sergeants insist they do not encourage or inspire kids to go into the military, i still feel like they're preparing them for it...preparing them to become good little patriotic terrorism fighters...good morning vietnam!...err, i mean, iraq...i shouldnt really complain though...these kids are usually my best behaved...theyre also my brightest students...theyre respectful of adults and they are grateful for america and they are extremely disciplined and skilled...and they're also college bound...sure, they might have to dodge the occasional roadside bomb before they get there, they're still heading to college eventually...so, here's the sort of dilemma i have...is the program breeding bush's little army?...or is it breeding regimented, honorable young men and women...and is it fair that these samoan kids MUST go into the military to accomplish their american dream...when brookfield brats get to go straight to UW-Madison, with no wonderful 6 month stay at the baghdad inn?...discuss...and while you're at it, a peanut is neither a pea nor a nut...discuss...
i didnt want to get all political on you guys...i know there are many republicans out there reading this blog...and, honestly, im probably the most conservative gay man you'll ever meet...but the war in iraq and afganistan makes me incredbly sad and angry and worried for our country...most of my students, even the JROTC ones, dislike bush and what has happened to the "war on terrorism"...most of the island has lost loved ones in the war...and most of the island is hardcore republican christians...so for them to hate bush is a pretty big sign that the country has lost hope...i know many backers-of-bush would then reply "well, thats why we're losing the war, because people have given up"...that may be true, but either way...2008 is gonna be a good year...no more bush...lord knows i hate bush :-)
(oh, and i recently got an email -- i wont name names because i dont want to embarass anybody -- manipulatingly simplifying 9/11 and the wars in iraq and afghanistan to a small town neighborhood dispute...i couldve wrote a dissertation on the propaganda exploitation of that email...ill spare you...its your lucky day)
-k, here's another picture of pago pago harbor...from the bloody edge of a mountain...thats the harbor i go paddling in...i havent really gone swimming in it yet...as you can see, pago pago is a busy port...with ships and factories...its actually pretty industrialized and polluted...but it still can be beautiful in a lot of ways too...
-i have been promising you guys to show some pictures of the houses here on the island...as ive said before, the poverty here is third-world-like...and maybe now, with these pics, you guys will see how peace-corps-esque my job is...this was a house on the mountain...all of the houses look like this...well, for the most part...this one is actually a nicer one...kinda big...and it actually has a roof...one way to describe many of the houses here is that they kinda resemble the cabin up north...they're usually very small, dilapidated, and very rustic and rural...much of the family homes ive been to consisted of only a main bedroom for the parents and all the kids sleep in the living room...and many of the kids sleep together...sounds crazy and poor to us, but they dont seem to mind it...in fact, i think they sorta love it, in a way...the sense of family and love seems to have dominion over all...theres something kinda horrible about the houses in america...seperate bedrooms, seperate living rooms, seperate bathrooms, separate dining rooms...oh, and then sprinkle the lovely Pier One Imports/Williams of Sonoma/Linens and Things decorations and furniture and you get one giant box of material things and lonely individuals...boy, am i just bitter today?...or crabby?...anyways, i could probably write more, but i wont...ill just say that im SO making my kids sleep together in one big room...
-another pic of a house...once again, believe it or not, a somewhat nicer house...
-another house...whats kinda funny about these pictures is that im usually very scared and hesitant to take pictures of the houses here...for obvious, disrespectful and rudely touristy reasons...but these pics were taken after our splendid mountain hike...so i was so happy and joyful (and surprised) to be alive, that i didnt care what the locals thought as i took pictures of their ramshackle homes...i was the king of the world!..."i can take pictures while im alive all i want!"...
-i love this picture...i just like how the houses sit, fairy-tale-like, on the ledge of the mountain...
-last but not least, i just want to tell everybody to put one of my students in their thoughts and prayers...his name is sam, and he got injured during saturday's football game...he hurt his spinal chord and is now paralyzed from the legs down...its really sad and scary...im hoping to go visit him at the hospital tomorrow...he's a great kid...well-behaved, humble, energetic, and always happy...ive heard heartbreaking stories of teachers having students one day and then empty desks the next...and now im one of those teachers...and i know its kinda weird for you guys to care about some random kid on a random island millions of miles away...but who knows, maybe prayers from wisconsin could help...either way, lets try to remind all football players to be careful...especially those blond haired little ones named chase...(remind me to tell you guys a story about a conversation i had with one of the football players today...it was disturbingly interesting)...
alrighty then, that was a long post...be honest, do you guys even read these?...cause ill stop if everyone's just skimming them...or looking at the pics...here's my top five obsessions of the week...and then im outtie...
Top Five Obsessions of the Week:
5. The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren = someone from the church gave it to me and ive, surprisingly, really liked it...its extremely christian, but some of the insights into christianity has been fascinating and inspirational and educational...especially the ideas on a successful, loving church...dont worry, i will often get angry with the book, too...i mean, i dont believe in God, so thats only natural that i'd disagree with much of what he says...besides, like many christians, he often sounds as bad as a jihad-believing islamic fundamentalist...but since reading it, i have looked at church, prayer, and the belief in God differently and more openly...
4. "African Queen" by 2Face Idibia = if you wanna hear THE MOST popular song in american samoa right now, download this off of itunes...the kids love it, the adults love it, the busses love it, and the bars/clubs love it...my students will often be singing it right outside my classroom while playing the ukalele (sometimes the kids change it to "polynesian queen")...which by the way, is like my favorite thing...to hear kids singing and playing the ukalele in the morning completely cheers me up...and reminds me of how wonderful this island can be...anyways, this song is everywhere...its very islandy...and damn catchy...
3. Heroes = i really didnt want to get into another tv show...especially a sci-fi, mystery tv show...we all know how most of these sci-fi shows end...x-files, alias, and, now maybe, lost have all jumped the shark by the final season...but this show is so, so good...i love it...i think its on NBC on tuesday nights for you guys...but ive been downloading it...its a show about real life superheroes...i know, it sounds stupid...but its really mesmerizingly gripping and its getting progressively better ratings and the buzz on the internet is outstanding...i think on october 22nd NBC is showing the first three episodes...so maybe you guys can catch up with the show then...at the very least, maybe suzy and jacob, my fellow lost-ites, can get into it...i dont know what it is about superheroes, but im always infatuated by them...even when they're not in tights...dorky sci-fi fanboys unite!...and GO HIRO!!!
http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/
2. Edgar Allen Poe = i know, i know...its very nerdy and english teachery to put edgar allen poe as an obsession of the week...but im teaching him right now, and although the kids are having a rough time with his spooky, gothic stories, i still love them...he's brilliant and i encourage all of you to read at least some of his literature...ill leave links for two of my favorite stories/poems of his (besides "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart")...dont get any nightmares...
http://www.poestories.com/
http://www.poestories.com/text.php?file=annabellee
http://www.poestories.com/text.php?file=blackcat
1. Micheal Jackson's Thriller video = all of you peeps who have high-speed internet must download this video off of itunes ASAP...its obviously a classic...and proves the lost genius of the king of pop...i actually taught the video to my students (don't ask, but i did make it educational)...and the kids loved it...the famous zombie dance break, which is enthrallingly wonderful to watch over and over and over again, actually made my classes stand up and cheer...and micheal jackson is considered to be a weird, white, plastic child molester to them...thats all they know about him...but this dazzling dance won them over...now they're obsessed with him, too!...or, rather, we're obsessed with the old micheal jackson...lets all grieve for the once king of pop...
k, bye ya'll...love ya and miss ya...
-JOE
p.s. thanks mom and dana for the excellent packages...and shawn for the nice card (did'ya know that the samoans are fanatical about their spam!?)...
p.s.s. i think the reason why ive been getting sick so often is because im getting no vitamin in-take...so if anyone wants to send me something, thats something i think i need ;-)
"The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
-Marcel Proust
posted by Samoa Joe at 4:48 AM
6 Comments:
great post. I feel real sad for Sam. That is an awfully unfortunate accident.
To add to all your debates I did attend the Unitarian Universilist Church in Mukwonago for the service last week "Thank god for sex". That church is really amazing. I believe it's the oldest church in Wisconsin and the diversity that attends reminds me a bit of samoa. With all sorts of genders and styles of relationships. Young people actually interested in being at a church, and many mixed racially families that try to embrase everyone for who they are. I found everything about it to be awesome. The only thing I didn't like was that the 'minister' is only an interim minister and I thought he was fabulous. They no longer have service in the upstairs santuary because it's not handicap accessible. So it is just held in the downstairs type 1 room school house with chairs. It was packed - about 100 people.
The serman was based on the fact that american society puts SO much emphasis on physical sex, yet we find it wrong to even bring up a discussion of sex with others - even our partners. Parents don't know when to start discussing sex with their children, yet children are seeing it 100 times a day in the media. And the truth is that physical sex is only 10% of sex. The main part of sex is the relationship. A Mental, Intelecutal, and loving relationship. The only way to have good sex is to have a good relationship on all levels. He also discussed how more and more of us are living with our own invisible line of morals. A line we create for ourselves and tell ourselves not to cross, yet we all linger over that line and push it from time to time. Sexually transmitted diseases are on an outbreak and AIDS is up again, and the ONLY way to geta sexually transmitted disease is for one person to not ask or one to not tell the truth. Therefore when two people are both lingering on their moral line and one thinks 'they didn't say anything so that should be fine' and one says 'they didn't ask so i don't have to tell' then diseases are passed on. Knowningly or unknowingly. I found it to be a very insperational message on all accounts.
Also the church believes to accept everyones ideas openinly. They believe that there is no way of knowing if God exists, or Juda, or Heaven, or etc. Therefore it's not worth it to put the effort into living one way, or trying to figure it out. We should all practice peace, and kindness to eachother and live the best life we can. And again, I find that just perfect for me. That's all I have to say.
hi Joe...i am glad you read Purpose Driven Life; i asked you to read it last year- remeber i said i always end up reading your books maybe you should try one of mine???? Anyways- i think many many US students (not as many as American Samoa of course)join the army just to go to college. And i think that is just a reality to life. Some people have easy opportunity and others make sacrifices for what they want out of life- good, bad, fair, right, wrong...everyone is just trying to do their best. The young Samoan who is dedicated to the Army at too young of an age- is just trying to do the right thing, the drill sergent teaching the kids and giving them that opportunity off the island- is just trying to do what he/she feels is right, those Brookfield parents happily paying for their child to go to college- are just doing what they think is best for their child. What one person may see as "the best thing" another may see it as the "worst thing"- hence the purpose driven life...what are we working towards? What on Earth are we here for?
p.s. i am kinda crabby today too:)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Don't forget that the military is one of the few ways many on-island kids can leave the rock.
Furthermore, it's one of the few ways they can obtain U.S. citizenship. An on-island recruiter has to have the easiest job on this rock.
first. i setup the tivo last night to record heros. I don't think I'll like it at all - but I'll give it a chance for you.
My top 5 things of this moment.
1. grays anatomy.
wow this is rather sad how hard it is to think of things.
2. deep tissue massages.
3. sleep. im sorry. i seriously love sleep.
4. microsoft access. oh yeah - i work to much AND im a nerd. but seriously. access is freaking AMAZING.
5. google messenger.
oh btw. internet explorer came out with a version 7.0. i'm going to download it now while I'm thinking about it. It's a browser that contains all your pages in one window but with tabs. I like those. You should try it to.
hey Joe,
my mom (Karen) just passed on the link to your blog and i've definitely enjoyed reading about your Samoan experiences :) this post particularly because of your thoughts on Bush, the military, JROTC, etc etc etc...i like reading others' thoughts on the subject because it's a tough one today. as a fellow liberal, i understand exactly where you are coming from too. i'm not going to wax poetic about the military or whatever, but i will say that in my opinion, the military is not training Bush's little army. man, heaven forbid that...yeesh. just keep in mind that even in these awful times of contstant deployment for american troops, the military still provides a lot of opportunity that might otherwise not be available. and that might be what these Samoans are looking for. and they will get it. i won't defend the choice completely, because wow, it's certainly caused me a lot of pain and tears over the past 8 months of my boyfriend being deployed to Afghanistan...but at the same time, i am prouder than ever of the things he is doing, the schools and bridges he is building, the health care he is giving, the villages he is defending...i digress...i guess it just all comes down to the fact that the politics of it all don't matter. everyone joins the military for their own reasons, which may or may not be "good" per se, but they're personal and they are what they are.
hmmm that was a little bit circular...sorry :)
~Kourtney
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