Make It Work...

hi, kids...its joe again...and its time for another excellent blog entry...im as tired as all get out...so im gonna try to make this short...but you know how that goes...

this post is mostly gonna be about our junior prom at tafuna high school...it was on wednesday night...and it really wasnt a prom...it was called "junior night"...and it was a lot more casual (kids just had to wear black and white) and a lot different than proms or dances in the states...here in american samoa, their important, legendary, and wonderful "prom" is the senior ball...in other words, no proms here...but i have all juniors, so i decided to go to their night of celebration and i have a few observations on how different mainland high school dances are compared to this island's high school dances...

before i discuss that though...id like to thank all of the great advice i got from my last blog entry...it seems like many of you think i should stay...thats kinda what i figured youd all say...but i think i agree with you guys...so ill probably stay for another year...but who knows...my mood changes like the ocean tide...

that image at the top is of me and a student of mine...taua...as you can see we're both wearing black and white...the theme to their dance was black and white...im so fat...

the picture above is what the decorations or set-up for the dance looked like...it was just in our gym and they got the food catered from a local business...the students mostly sat at the tables...but parents were also invited and they sat on the bleachers which arent shown in this picture...can you imagine parents at a prom in the states?...the teenagers would boycott!...i would have never wanted my mom to be sitting on the sidelines of my high school prom...no offence, ma...but obviously their culture is different...parents are everywhere...theyre omnipresent...and kids dont seem to mind too much...

this picture is of grace and tavita...arent they a cute couple?...as i may have told y'all before, teenage dating is not really allowed here on island...families strongly look down upon it...grace is in my english class and she's always telling me the drama behind her and tavita and their families...for the most part, their families like both of them...but they just dont like them together...because dating shouldnt get in the way of school and church and growing up...anyways, she's so funny telling me how they kinda have to hide their love away...keep their love a secret...or at least beg their parents for permission to go out and stuff...theyre such funny little teenagers in love...theyre good kids...theyre actually both foster children...theyre parents couldnt take care of them, so theyve both had rough childhoods...but theyre always smiling and gracious...theyre gonna get married one day and ill be in their wedding ;-)

if you havent noticed in past pictures of my students, samoans have this odd way of posing for cameras...its very strange...yet highly amusing...for example, the picture of b.j. and sam above...what the heck is that kid doing with that sucker?...he's either pretending to be in a blow pop commercial or something much worse...my students think theyre too cool for school, man...and theyre so vain...are all teenagers like that?...or just samoan ones?...

this is another sweet couple at tafuna high...mira and maka...theyre actually two of the most popular kids at school...he's the star football player and she's the rich girl in all the clubs...her parents own the checkers fast food joint...his father is a big preacher at a church...so these two youngins have it made...well, they appear to...

one big difference between this samoan high school dance and mainland high school dances is that there was no slow dances...i know, isnt that sad?!...its obviously because teenage dating is so taboo, but i still think this ruined the magic and wonder of a high school prom...without any slow, romantic ballads, samoan proms have none of that splendid teenage awkwardness of asking the opposite sex to dance and touching the opposite sex and falling in love with the opposite sex...or the same sex, whatever you prefer...i mean, there was just no romance in the air...then again, the samoan prom was more about friendships and memories...samoans dont have that feeling of shame or embarassment when they come to their prom alone or with just friends...which is kinda nice, i suppose...but i still think there shoudve been some "wonderful tonight" or "in your eyes"...how can there be a high school happy ending (sixteen candles, anyone?) without the token prom dance?...its just so wrong...

the reason why i called this blog "make it work" is because many of the dresses the girls are wearing were actually made by hand...yup, either by their moms or aunts or by some of the phillipinos who live on the island...isnt that mind-boggingly awesome!...maybe its only because i adore project runway, but i think it would be so cool to design and sew your own dress...and some of the dresses at the dance were absolutely fabulous...this is one aspect of the samoan prom that i really enjoyed...the commercialism and materialism of proms in the states is outrageously outta control...i mean, expensive gowns and gaudy flowers and fancy dinners and flashy stretch limos and picture taking overkill and much, much more...proms have become like mini-weddings...theyve become posh, extravagent, and indulgent...adding to the selfishness and greediness of many american young people...that isnt to say that the samoans dont believe in luxury or beauty...they most definetly do...but their beauty and opulence seems to come from within...it seems to be more real and more humble...more earthy...theyre beauty was home-made and delicately constructed with their own hands...not bought from boston store or jc penny...their lavishness also seems to be more creative and individual...afterall, its very unlikely for two girls to be wearing the same dress when theyve created their dresses themselves...anyways, look at some of the gorgeous dresses and think about how they were made by hand...i cant keep myself from thinking that tim gunn would so encourage them to "make it work"...now "carry on"...

theres some fafafinas...

dont these girls look magnificent?...as you can see, these girls are probably just as garish and materialistic as american girls...but remember, these dresses may have been made by their mothers...and theres also only one high school dance every year at tafuna...in the states, theres homecoming, sweethearts, saddie hawkins, prom, etc....so these girls have been planning and constructing their fabulousness on this memorably superb night for a whole year...either way, their femininity and their sass and divaness are completely on display...and i think its totally righteous...makes me wanna play dress up...just kidding...scared ya, didnt i?!...

thats me and john, a friend and fellow teacher at tafuna...he's obviously a fafafina...and im obviously the hottest man EVER!...

huh?...wait a second...i think thats a palagi!...wow, its a miracle...actually, she's half-samoan...

i revere this picture...again, my kids love to pose...and look at these kids pose...they didnt even plan that...it just happened...but they look so cool and suave...and gangsta...and kinda nerdy, too...thats naco, tee, tiso, teutu, and anesi...all really entertaining students...i love working with teenagers...its never a dull day, thats fo sho!...

Vent of the Week:

okay, i might be ruffling some feathers by saying this...but how stupid has greys anatomy gotten in the last two episodes!?...ive actually hated this "very special disaster" edition of greys...ive despised the episodes so much that i needed to express my frusteration with it to the world...i think it all started on that episode a few weeks ago where there was a patient who had toxic blood...yes, toxic blood!...and it began to kill the doctors who tried to work on the patient...it was silly and almost hilarious to see dr burke and mcdreamy and all the other doctors at seattle grace dropping like flies in the o.r....and then the interns had to run in the surgical room to perform the surgery one at a time and in small one minute increments...holding their breaths...it was like a bad survivor challenge...i almost could hear probst saying "immunity's back up for grabs...wanna know what youre playing for?...a doctorates!"...and then came this dumb ferry boat disaster and the whole show goes down the tubes...i hated the first part of this trilogy a lot more than the second part...and im hoping that the third part gets better, as well...but here are just a few reasons why i loathe the latest three-part "very special disaster" edition of greys...

-the drama of this show is strong enough with its characters and their encounters with eachother and their patients...we do not need crazy, catastrophic medical tragedies to become emotional with the show...in other words, i think the writers are being lazy in trying to manipulate viewers by coercing emotions through huge, copious, unbelievable catastrophies...whenever the show does this, when it has weird and wild medical calamities, the show becomes ridiculously asinine...

-the characters have become utterly, sickeningly self-centered...they always have been...and ive always kinda liked that about the show...the characters are real and human...but i think this disaster has proven it in shameful ways...as hundreds of people are dead and in pain, grey and mcdreamy are fighting about god knows what...and burke and yang are fighting about who to tell about their wedding...and iggy is selfishly excited to get her hands on a real surgical drill instead of the greasy tool she heroically used to save a man's life...(by the way, what was up with that nasty "i believe" speech iggy gave where she told george not to marry callie?...was that the right time?...as his best friend grey was about to die in the next room!?)...the only seemingly caring character on the show seems to be karev...and thats just wrong...

-that spooky, annoying, wide-eyed little girl who cant act...

-its become way too E.R...and i hate that show...

-and last but not least, the ending of the last episode was so unreal and manipulative...what more could this show do to try to hook viewers in for next week?...and i dont mean that in a good way...out of all the people in her life, grey meets up with denny and that guy from last years superbowl episode in heaven?!...huh?...how much more spectacle could this have?...not only is she about to die (which we all know wont happen!), but she also has to suddenly meet up with two popular characters that have already died?!...man, what do they think we're stupid?...oh, wait...im sure many of you are thrilled for this week's episode...

actually, tonight's...so, tell me what you think of my vent...am i wrong?...am i the worse greys fan ever?...dont get me mistaken, i still love the show...but gimme a break!...

(did you guys hear about the news of the greys anatomy spin-off?...its gonna star addison...sounds kinda promising...im so in...i love that red-headed, used-to-be-bitchy character...and taye diggs will be in it!...score!...http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20012530,00.html)

one thing id like to point out is that these pictures can be a tad misleading...it may seem like many of these kids are rich and rolling in the benjamins...but thats not true...i think, as i said before, since theres only one dance their entire junior year, many of these kids and their families save up and plan for this very special night...and, youve got to remember, much of their clothes have been hand made...so, yeah, these samoans look stunningly beautiful and luxurious, and it took a lot of heart and dedication to make it happen...

another thing i kinda liked about the samoan version of prom is that its also casual...the top pictures are perfect examples of that...its optional to just come in black and white pants and t-shirts...yeah, it kinda ruins the splendor and sumptuousness of a fancy prom youd see in the states...but it also gives a option to those students who cant afford lovely attire...these kids, most likely, dont have the money to buy flashy tuxedos...and thats a-okay...

here's a clip of william jumping into the nuuuli waterfall...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvpAvpt03Zg

here's a clip of aipopo jumping from the rocky cliff into the waterfall...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TShi3Al7IXc

alrighty then...thanks again for the tremendous help on the last blog entry...keep leaving those messages...and then i wont have to put up any embarassing stories or pics of you...y'all are lucky tonight...im hella tired...so i dont wanna write anymore...but still leave me your thoughts...what do you think of the samoan "prom"?...what do you think of my vent?...what do you think of the new greys anatomy spin-off show?...and dont you think i am the hottest palagi EVER?!?...especially with my sexy pua...(thats the black necklace thing im wearing)...

k, love ya and miss ya...

-JOE

"I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine."

-Caskie Stinnett