Things have been hectic in East Hawai’i for the past few weeks. I spent a few days in Honolulu toward the end of March, setting up an XServer at UH-Manoa. It’ll be the eventual home of Ulukau, our Hawaiian Language Digital Library. Our son returned from Iraq to Honolulu that week as well, so I stayed over and greeted him and the other returning soldiers at Wheeler Airforce Base. I got heavily involved in writing up a big grant proposal for our technology section at Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke’elikolani, and then our son and some of the other Hawai’i…
The Green Berets of South Bronx.
The Associated Press reports that Irish firefighters from New York can no longer parade wearing their customary green berets during tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. An attorney for some of the firefighters plans to file a complaint with the state Division on Human Rights accusing the department of discrimination on the basis of religion and ethnicity. To Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, a St. Paddy’s Day wish – may the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can’t find you with a telescope.
March Declared Irish-American Heritage Month in U.S.
GW proclaims March 2005 as Irish-American Heritage Month, and calls upon all Americans to observe this month by celebrating the contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation. Scott will likely protest the exclusion of other Celts, such as his own Cornish ancestors and their contributions, like the Cornish Game Hen I’ll be honoring my ancestors with the ritual dispensing of a glass of stout.
Home Pricing Madness.
Just a few weeks ago I pointed to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser that showed the median home price on O’ahu hit $505,000 in January. Just one month later it hits $525,000, a 4% increase! Great if you’re a realtor or homeowner anxious to sell; bad news for people trying to avoid homelessness or being a contributor of the flow of people out of the state.
Global Pop, Local Language.
I came across this book in my search for a dissertation topic, and have not been disappointed. It examines how global performers deal with the issue of language and dialect choice. I was most intrigued by “Anthony McCann”‘s article on the heirarchy of tradition in Irish- and English-language song in Ireland, and am considering a similar approach to the analysis of language choice in Hawai’i’s musical traditions. Global Pop, Local Language also includes an interesting article by C. K. Szego on Hawaiian language performances at Kamehameha School. I highly recommend the book.
Churchill Attacks Essay’s Critics
[From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin ]. I was on the UH-Manoa campus during the time leading up to Ward Churchill’s lecture, but did not attend. The area around the hall where he spoke was a zoo, and all of the local network affiliates had their reporters and vans there three hours before he spoke. I was told that the theater where the event was held could hold about 1/3 of those that showed up, and that there there was about an equal number of Churchill supporters and detractors in the audience. Here is the Honolulu Advertiser’s coverage of the event.
The Sprawl of Y’all.
An interesting article from the Times-Argus site discusses the increasing use of “y’all” beyond the south. Is the South rising again, is it the use of “y’all” in hip-hop, or is the term filling a linguistic hole that isn’t easily filled by standard English? Read on. I’ve caught myself using it a few times, mostly with humerous intent. Scott uses it all of the time, most interestingly after “aloha”.
Ward Churchill To Speak at UH-Manoa.
There has been a s**t-storm of controversy swirling around Ward Churchill since his (insert your own adjective) statements comparing 9/11 victims to an infamous Nazi war criminal. Those statements prompted the governor of Colorado to call for his dismissal, and the University of Colorado Board of Regents to investigate the possibility of doing so. His situation has generated a lot of heated discussion on our campus listserve over the past few weeks. Churchill will hold a public lecture, “Speaking Truth to Power: Academic Freedom in the Age of Terror,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at the UH…
Yawn.
Bad Baby Day?
Jeeze, Louise. First there was a story about a newborn child being tossed out of a moving car. Later it turns out that the woman who claimed that she witnessed the event was the mother, and she made the story up to keep her family from finding out she was pregnant. Next, a woman kills an female attacker who apparently was trying to steal her unborn child. What next?