Backstabbin'...

Good Morning, blog readers...How y'all doin'?...Yeah, I'm fine...A little stressed over money...But you don't wanna hear about my budget concerns...You wanna hear about how my life has been here in American Samoa...Go!...

On Saturday, we finally had our cast party to celebrate the island's first high school musical Cinderella...It's taken four months, but I'm glad it's over with...This party was bringing me a lot of anxiety...I hate hosting parties...Especially when it's a party of about 60 teenagers...Not only was I worried about these teenagers gettin' into trouble or sneaking in alcohol or drowning in the natural pool, I was also worried about making them happy...Even Samoan teenagers are hard to please...They complain about everything!...I decided to have the party at Maliu Mai Beach Resort, and I think it went well...I'm hearing that the kids had fun...I'm just glad it's over with...I can now close this chapter of my life...I mean, I'm hella proud of the accomplishment of directing Tafuna High School's Cinderella, but I am also thrilled to be moving on...Now, it's Speech Festival that's coming up...And then it's graduation...And then it's "goodbye" :-(

The place had a natural pool...It was pretty cool...When I chose Maliu Mai to have our party at, I kept hearing from people that this pool was extremely dangerous...Consequently, I asked the English teachers and parents to help me supervise...Well, only one teacher showed up to assist in the party...My department head didn't even make an appearence, and the musical was advertised as a English Department presentation!...Luckily, the pool wasn't dangerous at all...The only thing hazardous about it was the rocky edges where the kids would rough house around...I was there to regulate and be the bad guy...Oh, well...As I told the kids, "It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!"...Yup, I've turned into the nerdy adult...I hate it...

I was pleasantly surprised with the students' behavior at the get-together...I was concerned all week that they would sneak in alcohol or take drugs before the party or something crazy like that...But nothing like that happenend...They were responsible and respectful...And chill...Just how I enjoy my teenagers...Chilled...

I brought my Ladder Golf game...It didn't last long because they didn't want to play it by the rules...And then they got crazy and began to throw the roped balls at eachother...I was all like, "Um, no no...That's not happnening"...

Mmm, kay...Here's the problem of the day...Er, should I say week...You see, it's something I've been debating for a while now, and I don't know how I should react to this situation...Now, I hate to talk bad about someone behind their back, but this is on my chest and I just gotta get it off...So, excuse my backstabbin' for today...Anyways, where was I?...Oh, yeah...I hate our school secretary...I despise the woman...Her name is Tolu and she is the epitome of a stereotypical Samoan...She's big, fat, and lazy...And complains about doing her job...That's when she actually does her job...She mostly doesn't...She can be found, most of the time, smoking on campus when it is prohibited to do so...She almost always wears sunglasses...Inside the office and during work!...I have even walked in the office to find her getting a massage from a student...With her feet on the desk!...She has attitude and acts like the whole world is tryin' to make her life more stressful...Here is how a typical conversation goes with the lady...

Me: "Hey, could you print this permission slip out for me"

Her: "No"

Me: "Please?"

Her: "Ugh!...I guess so!...Can't you go up to the computer lab?"

Me: "No...The ink is out up there"

Her: "What about Telesia's room?"

Me: "She's busy"

Her: "Fine...Give it to me"

Keep in mind, it is her job to print things out and make copies for teachers...And, besides, she was just sitting there eating pancakes...This is what I have to go through every time I go to her to get something done...I have to beg her to do her job...Usually, I'll ask her to leave a message for the principal or I'll ask for my check stub and she rolls her eyes and huffs...Like it's the end of the world...She does this to all the teachers...And all the parents that come in, too...She's negative and nasty...Asking "what do you want?" rather than "how are you?"...Saying "do it yourself" rather than "I can do that for you"...Implying "you're annoying" rather than "you're just doing YOUR job"...In my opinion, a school secretary is the heart, brain, and muscle of a school...The heart because they welcome people...Secretaries are the first person teachers, administrators, parents, and students see in the morning...They should greet peeps with smiles and kindness...The brain because they keep the school's communication moving and the procedures managed...The muscle because they deal with misbehaved students, angry parents, stressed teachers, and busy administrators...They're tough, loyal, hardworking, and optimistic...Or, at least, they should be...According to me, all school secretaries should be thanked and appreciated more...Except for Tolu...The world's worst secretary...Nevertheless, for the past two years I've kissed this woman's ass...If you want her to do anything, you've gotta get down on your knees and susu her putio...So, although she gives me a hard time, I truly do think the lady loves me...I'm always like "Tolu, I love what you did with your hair!"...Or "Tolu, you like nice today"...Or "Tolu, this coffee you made is delicious!"...She blushes and says "thanks" and smiles...Oh, and then she does my copies...It's been workin'...But after two long years I'm startin' to get fed up...I wanna explode...I wanna tell her how I really feel about her...And this is my dilemma...

Do I tell her that I think she's the worst secretary of all time and that she's bringing down the school I love with all my heart?...Or do I stay polite and just smile until I leave this place?...When my friend Lisa was here last year and she knew she was leaving she got into arguments with many teachers and administrators...Including Miss Tolu, the secretary, herself...I believe Lisa got into these fights because she knew she had nothing to lose...She realized she was leaving and she'd never have any connection to the island again...So, she went balls out and began telling everyone how she felt...No matter how upsetting her thoughts would be to them...I've always been patient and warm to everybody because I knew I'd still be on this island for a while...I didn't wanna burn any bridges when I knew I'd have to deal with these people for two whole years...But now that I only have three months left on this rock, I'm beginning to boil over...I'm startin' to think "hey, I won't ever see these people again...In three months, I'm outta here, never having to deal with these Samoans again!...Why don't I just tell 'em how it is?...Give 'em a piece of my mind...Forget being polite!...Finally, I can tell 'em how I truly feel!"...I don't want to tell Tolu, and the plethora of other teachers and administrators that anger and disappoint me everday, because I'm judgemental or mean or because I just wanna spew out my frustrations...It's because I love the school and I want only the best for it...Especially for the students who I have fallen head over heals for...Tolu brings the school down...She makes it unorganized, negative, and weak...Shantini, a fellow English teacher, does this, too...She is NEVER involved in school activities...Yet she continually complains about how much work she is required to do...Rod, the vice-principal, plays favorites and allows teachers to be late to school and smokes and even drinks on campus...Our own principal herself, Lemoe, is completely unqualified and only got the job because her brother is the governor...Am I a backstabber?...Maybe...But I strongly feel that these are just some of the people who make the home of the mighty Warriors an unsuccessful place of education...They are the reason these schools in American Samoa are not up to par with schools in the states...Hell, they're not even up to par with most schools around the world...So, here is my chance...My chance to express how I feel...The truth...And, who knows, maybe it'll change their ways...Maybe they'll wake up...Someone needs to be held accountable...And maybe if I'm vocal about these problems, they will begin to feel accountable...If I finally tell Tolu how much I think she sucks, maybe she'll wanna change...Or maybe the other teachers and administrators will stop being complacent and get up and change something...Maybe my harsh yet honest words will inspire and motivate...Sure, the words might hurt at first, but maybe the school, including Tolu, will wake up to the authenticity of my words and do something about the many problems our school has...Or better yet, maybe Tolu will get fired...

Either way, I feel like bottling up my opinion does nothing but hurt the school...And hurt my integrity...I feel I'd be doing a disservice to myself and the students if I just keep my mouth shut until I leave...I believe I'll regret it if I go home with a simple smile on my face, saying nothing about how I truly feel...Remaining blind to the many problems of this island...Or, will I look back in shame if I break these relationships I've built and lose the respect I've earned?...Will people just see me as judgemental and cruel?...Will they accuse me of hating the Samoan people?...Would Tolu even change?...I mean, how many people do you know have really changed their ways?...Would it be a waste of time and energy to sit here and express my emotions, no matter how ugly and dangerous they might be?...And who am I to have the power to tell them they're making this island sucky?...Am I the All-Knowing?...Or would just sitting back and ignoring the island's problems be unjust and sinful?...Should I just watch these people ruin the island's potential and play dumb?...What do you guys think?...Should I go balls out like Lisa?...Or should go tucked tail like I usually do?...

We tried playing musical chairs...But these wild Samoan kids broke two of chairs...Unfortunately, I had to stop the game...

Now Limbo was fun...And nothing broke while playing it...

Donato's Story:

Okay, that boy (or girl, whatever you wanna believe) in the picture above is Donato...She's actually a he wanting to be a she...In other words, he's a fafafine...She was my wicked Stepmother for the Cinderella musical...Well, I don't know if you remember, but she used to have long gorgeous hair and she used to look wonderfully like an actual lady...I mean, she was dainty and lovely and hella chick-like...Recently, she was accepted into the NHS...This is the National Honors Society...It's a prestigious, academic program for 4.0 high school students...It's a proud achievement to be accepted into this well-respected, renowned organization...Not very many kids are in the NHS...When Donato got accepted she didn't want to be inducted...The reason?...Because they told her she'd have to cut off her hair...You see, all the students in the NHS need to look presentable, upright, and professional...They need to appear collegiate and scholarly...This means that all boys need to have short hair...No long hair for males...Well, Donato is actually a boy...The NHS judges told her she'd have to snippity snip snip if she wanted to be a part of the NHS...And this is a controversial topic on the island...Should fafafines who are living as girls and want to be regarded as girls be required to live by boy regulations?...Should they be forced to cut their hair for the NHS?...Should they be considered male or female?...I know Donato was devastated to hear this news...Her hair was who she was...To get rid of that was like losing a limb...Besides, being refused the acknowledgement of his woman-ness was, I'm sure, difficult, as well...Not getting the respect he deserves was probably heart breaking...But if they were to let Donato keep his hair, then they'd have to make the exception for all boys...The NHS would have to allow all boys to have long hair...And that would be a hex on their beliefs...And undignified...I'm kinda on the fence...I mean, I do think they cannot be unfair and only allow some boys to have long hair...But, at the same time, I do think transgendered young people should be given the respect and acknowledgement of their sexuality and their desire to be another gender...I mean, they believe with all their hearts they were meant to be born as a female...Why can't the world around them allow them to live that way?...Who is it hurting?...What do y'all think?...

By the way, Donato ended up cutting her hair because her mom was so proud that her daughter made it into the National Honors Society...Donato said "I did it for my mom"...Well, I don't think Donato looks too bad...Definetly looks more like a boy...But if he's a girl at heart, that's all that matters...

The guy on the left is Kona...And he's the Zack Morris of WarriorsVille...All the girls want to go out with him...And all the boys want to be him...He's handsome and charismatic and cocky...He's the ladies man, that's for sure...But who cares...I have a six pack, too...I mean, that's exactly what I look like when I take my shirt off...Don't be hatin'...

There's my FuamUso Gene...So fia gama...Such a dork with those sunglasses and jersey...But I gotta love him...

So, what do you guys think?...Leave me a comment...Should I open my mouth and spew out how I really feel about some people on this island?...Especially since I'll only be here for three more months?...Or should I just remain quiet and polite?...Am I a backstabber?...Also, how do you feel about Donato's story?...Should fafafines be forced to cut their hair for NHS?...Or should they be considered females?...Please, leave me some comments and interact with my blog...

Thanks so, so much for reading...I love you all...And miss you all...Even if you are anonymous ;-)

-JOE

"O, it's a snug little island! A right little, tight little island!"

-from Thomas Dibdin's The Snug Little Island