We Go Together Like Ramma Lamma Lamma Da Dinga Da Dinga Dong...

Hello, family, friends, and neighbors...How y'all doin?...alright, this is your challenge for today's blog entry...i really wanna make this entry short and sweet...so...stop me when its gettin too long...no, seriously...tell me to "shut up"...to "close my yapper"...to "seal my pie hole"...do whatever you need to do to make me cease writing...like i said, i want this post to be brief...so, please, people!...help me make it short!...

anyways, lets play "spot the fafafina"...how many fafas do you believe are in the picture above?...be careful...focus...and guess a number...a prize will go to the winner...

the pictures in this post were taken at our flag day celebration on friday...to reward the kids for working hard on the flag day performance, the school gave them a dance with pizza and ice cream...and a half-day...well, dances here on island are different than the ones in the states...the dances here are right after school and the kids dont get all dressed up or anything...they just stay at the school and dance to music in the gym...and then it becomes organized chaos...with teenagers everywhere and taking control and goin wild...its actually kinda scary...but fun...whats ironic is that most of the kids that were rewarded with the dance didnt even participate in the flag day performance...so, not only did they miss all that school when we had off days to practice the performance, but they also had another half-day off to shake their tail feathers during this party...even more learning flushed down the drain...whatever...im so over it...

the topic of the blog today deals with love...samoan love...theres one aspect of the island dealing with love that is kinda interesting...wanna know what it is?...there is absolutely no public display of love on this entire island...in fact, its seen as extremely disrespectful and inappropriate...now, i know in the states this is somewhat true, too...i mean, maybe kissing in public isnt considered disrespectful...but i think people in the states view it as taboo...and annoying...in american samoa, any form of physical affection in the sight of others is rude and prohibited...i, of course, never see samoans sucking face in public...but i also never see them kissing...sure, ill see friends, especially girls, pecking eachother on the cheeks...however, ive by no means seen a guy and girl romantically kissing eachother...in fact, i dont think ive ever observed a couple holding hands...or hugging...or holding eachother...lisa and i have noticed that when we're with families we sometimes cant even distinguish who the husbands and wives are...who the mother and father is...and thats because theres no way to identify them...one reason why is because men and women seem to be a lot more segregated here...theres the men talking about man stuff...and then theres the women talking about woman stuff...theyre all very separated...the other reason, though, is that theres no display of affection between couples...as i said, theres not even the holding of hands...or even standing close to one another...i guess many samoans believe that all forms of physical love should be kept for inside the house...for inside the bedroom...all public displays of adoration and tenderness are strongly looked down upon...youve gotta hide your love away on this island...

i suppose, im against this...i can understand seeing unrestricted flaunting of love as disrespectful...i mean, sucking face at the local mcdonalds is a little obnoxious...or even groping eachother at a bar is tad bit nas-tay!...and dont even get me started on the couples who sit next to eachother in a booth at a restaurant...(please, nerds, sit ACROSS from eachother!)...nevertheless, i kinda miss that display of fondness between two lovers...seeing couples holding hands and hugging, although at times grating, sorta adds love and ardor into the air...besides, why should two people who love eachother have to keep their love a secret?...essentially, thats what i think samoans are doing...they disgrace and demean eachother when showing their love through public affection...they see it and call eachother disrespectful...or inappropriate...or, even, slutty or gross...and sinful...in the end, they become ashamed of their love for their partner...and see love as indiginity or humiliating...maybe im reading into this topic too much...but what do y'all think?...is public displays of affection really all that bad?...should it be shameful?...should it be banned?...if you guys have been watching the news lately, you will have seen that story about richard gere kissing an indian actress in india...right in front of everybody at a AIDS campaign...well, he got arrested...and she's being prosecuted in court...this particular case could be more of sexism...india might see women showing their physical love for a man as offensive and brash...india is saying its againt the law...they see public displays of love as indecent and vulgar...what im trying to say here is that many areas of the globe seem to agree with american samoa...physical exhibition of tenderness is crude and improper...is american samoa right in believing this?...or are americans and their public displays of kissing and holding hands and hugging and other forms of affection honest?...and beautiful?...and, even, important?...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/26/gere.arrest.reut/index.html

Vent of the Week:

okay, i know many of you will be disgusted by this conversation...but i have to express myself...i think my cyst is coming back...you know, that growth on my face that exploded a couple of years ago...and it became this ginormous, uncontrollably mounting mass of skin on my jaw line...and then i had to get it painfully removed and stitched up...it was excrutiating...well, the same cyst has grown back...and the last few days its began to hurt...i really dont want to have to get it removed again...though i know i will...im hoping i can just wait till next year when im back home...i mean, i dont want to have the surgery while im home this summer...cause then ill have a nasty ass bandage on my face the whole fricken summer...but i also dont want to have the surgery here on island...now that would be scary as hell...i dont particularly trust the hospital on island...and im sure their tools and resources for the surgery would be archaic...and lacking...itd probably be ten times as agonizing...either way, it sucks my white hairy butt...i really dont want to deal with this...argh!...i suppose it could be a lot worse...i suppose i should be thankful for my relatively good health...but ya know...i had to vent those thoughts...

oh, i just wanted to quickly answer tiffany's question she posted in a message a couple of weeks back...she said her favorite blog entry was the one where i discussed teenage dating...and she asked me what my thoughts were...well, im not gonna repeat the whole discussion, but like public displays of affection, teenage dating is totally taboo and insolent on island...and i do agree with this at times...i have many students who are dealing with secretive dating and their minds are completely distracted from their education...i mean, theyre obsessed with their puppy love...and it does effect their learning...but i also think its a integral and special time to explore love and sex and all that stuff...anyways, one of my students came to class crying the other day...i just kinda let her be...i didnt want to embarass her...well, we began to read and discuss a robert frost poem...(called birches...its a lovely poem)...in the poem, the writer, a "swinger of birches", says he enjoys climbing birches because he gets close to heaven...but he always loves it when the branches bring him down...(i love that image...y'all know how much i adore trees)...he says because "earth is the right place for love"...we discussed this line and many of the kids said he liked earth because "he could experience love" there...and in the tree he's "alone"...well, the girl who was crying disagreed and says, "umm, love is not all that great...id stay in the tree"...i was amused by her unique, authentic understanding...and i put the puzzle together that she mustve been sad over a boyfriend issue...(i later found out her boyfriend was cheating on her)...i and the other kids understood her point of view...but we also told her that the reason why the "swinger of birches" wants to come back down to earth is to experience all the phases of love...the ups and downs...the heartbreaks and the joy...and that in the tree, or in heaven, he couldnt experience any of that...i think it made her feel a little better...and i guess she totally dumped his ass that day during lunch...you go girl!...theres plenty of fish in the sea...

congratualtions to the boys baseball team...they won the island high school championship...yay, warriors!...not that you guys care...but it was exciting...yes, i live a sad, little life...

the last two pictures are of our gym renovation...i dont know if you guys remember what our gym looked like before but theyve done some construction and have added a very cool stage...i know, in the states this gym/auditorium would be viewed as "ghetto"...here, though, its considered impressive...and, i think, kinda wonderful...

speaking of the new stage, im beginning to plan the school play i wanna do next year during first semester...id love your guys' help in regards to this conflict im having...you see, i was first considering doing grease...its a musical that everyone knows and loves and i know the kids would absolutely adore doing this play...and i know theyd put on a brilliant performance...but the rights to the musical are expensive and difficult to get...i just called the company and they wanted tons of paperwork and information...how many seats in the auditorium?...how much money will the tickets be?...when are we performing the play?...now, i technically wanted to do it the legal, professional, organized way...but with this whole copyright crap, im startin to think of just doing it illegally...some have said that id totally get away with it...i know of a company where i can buy the script and the music for like 30$...and then i could just make copies...but thats illegal...and, also, a musical would be really hard to do...id have to direct the acting and the singing and the dancing and the props and the set design, etc....i dont think ill be able to get very much help from the other teachers...so, now im thinking of doing a easier play...not a musical...i was thinkin like romeo and juliet...although, lisa says that the ESL audience members may have a difficult time understanding it...so what if i changed it?...or even translated it to modern language?...or maybe even made it samoan?...i mean, make the characters and their environment samoan?...gettin shakespeare plays are completely free...and i could see it being a little bit less stressful...as far as preparation...therefore, what the heck should i do?...give me some ideas...or advice...please!...

okay...i think ive said what i needed to say...this post is out, dawg...leave me a message...what do you think of public displays of affection?...what do you think i should do about my cyst?...when was the last time you discussed a poem in a class?...dont cha miss that?...(i pine for college again)...and what school play should i do next year?...

thanks to all those people who leave me messages...big shout out goes to shawn and tiff...and nellie...and all y'all who leave messages...even if its in emails...(ahem, suzy and kristy!)...keep the love comin...love ya and miss ya...

-JOE

p.s....the following quote really expresses my emotions about staying on this island right now...am i only here for distraction?...i mean, is there something at home that im afraid of facing?...like loneliness?...or even love?...is this island an excuse for me not to have to experience those things?...or am i here for fulfillment?...youd think i would know the answer to this...but i dont...and everyday im here i feel differently...tonight, this quote is makin me wonder...

"I have wandered all my life and I have also traveled; the difference between the two being this, that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment."

-Hilaire Belloc