"Transits of Venus are very rare and only a few have been witnessed since the dawn of the telescope. Be sure not to miss this very rare event as the next one isn’t visible for over another 100 years from now in 2117 and the next after that is in 2125."

hooray for living in the southern hemisphere,

a few blocks away from an observatory!

adventures in new zealand

i love eggplants. i've had at least one in my

fridge every week for the past 4 months.

we had the most uninspiring awkward guest

lecturer today. he managed to say

"uhhhhhhhhhhh" every other word.

but he did show us this cool

surrealist map of the world:

"after a cyclist gave her food during a cross-country race through China, Xiao Sa, a little stray dog with a really big heart, followed the cyclists 1,100 miles across very rough terrain.

The incredible journey of Xiao Sa began on the streets of Yajiang, Sichuan province. Zhang Heng, a 22-year-old student from Hubei, was on a graduation cycling trip to Lhasa, when he saw the small dog lying tired on the street. He and his friends stopped to feed her, and the pooch started following them."

"build a life so uniquely yours that no one can imagine anyone but you living it. Make your choices so intentionally and specifically tailored to your personality and your goals that it is impossible to conceive of anyone but you living the one specific life that you live. Your life should not be interchangeable with anyone else’s–and that’s a good thing because it means you are listening to your own specific heart, mind and values."

it occurred to me that i should start

reading graphic novels. i found some

interesting looking ones at the city library!

now i can read about/look at visual imagery of
troll kings, fluffy the bunny,

squirrel mothers, and north korea.

lauren made some delicious buckeye balls

(frozen pb covered in dark chocolate)

future plans: a reunion in nova scotia at
shannon's family's cottage.

f r i d a y s

sugarplum fairies + peeing a little.

i love piling on a bed with my

american, kiwi and canadian friends

watching epic movies that were filmed here.

 

what a nice way to spend a cold autumn night.

i finished my KURA paper! i discussed and

critiqued current approaches of

multiculturalism in K-12 schools. then i offered

some possible future directions of educational

reform that fosters a commitment towards creating

a truly multicultural curriculum. it was probably
one of my favorite papers that i've had to write.
(i also quite enjoyed writing a paper
on the bush-meat trade in africa).

i wish it was christmas! this picture

was taken a few years ago on christmas.

now i must write a 10 page paper comparing

the formation of a middle class in

papua new guinea and tonga.

then another paper on haunani kay-trask

and the empowerment of hawai'i.

i spend quite a lot of time making food.

what would i do without new world?

eating this ^ got messy. very messy.

i don't have the heart to pull
out these little heart-shaped clover weeds.

 i love making pasta, tossing in

every vegetable i have in my fridge,

& throwing spoonfuls of pesto into it.

mushrooms, broccoli, red capsicum, onions,

eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini & garlic!

yesterday in class, i noticed there was

something green & shiny on my thigh, inside my tights.

finally, i realized it was a piece of seaweed

(i made sushi the night before).
^___^;;

today, james told me i was ichiban.
he said: "you are ichiban!"

i wonder what it would be like if
my hair could be used as a blanketing shadow.

"regardless of whether their knowledge was based on personal experience or research, the children's experiences with the project revealed various levels of understanding their claimed culture...many posters revealed incomplete understandings or a certain naivete about broader cultural and historical subjects."

(Dutro, Balf, Yih-Sheue, 2008)

(the article explores, critiques and problematizes
the current approaches to incorporating culturally

relevant multicultural pedagogy into
elementary education practice).

i really love this article. i've been searching
for this exact kind of discussion for about a year.

 screen shots of "shed & solidify" by b. cronin.

7. emphasize teaching as a form of social activism rather

than a job based in the love for children or content.

(cross, 2005)

livin' the wellingtonian life.
(te whanganui-a-tara)

"wh" in maori is pronounced with a "f" sound.

"passive racism, or participating in a racist system,

is different from acting consciously with racist intent"

educators need to find new approaches that
"allow students to understand their own role in larger structures of institutional systems of racism without feeling personally responsible for historical legacies of violence, genocide and oppression"

people are afraid to open their eyes.
but how else will they see?

i just enrolled in classes for fall 2012!:

*ANTH196C Traveling Cultures Senior Seminar

*ED180 Intro to Teaching (w/ an internship at a school)

*ED115 K-12 Student Assessment

*I am also going to be working
(and paid with money and credits!)

as a writing tutor for the anthropology

department. I think lisa rofel sumbitted my name,

so i am pretty flattered/honored.

*and intern at one of the school gardens

my friend maryna helps run. we are also

going to be housemates in a cute little

off-campus apartment with a girl named theresa.

 i have a new blog!
(in addition to this one)

after 6 years, i have finally decided to

dedicate a blog to document

things that i make, draw, sew, grow, etc.

here it is:

mini trees

went to the store to get milk & bread.

came home with milk, bread...and a dress.

i gave my blog a make-over!

[made some color,font + blurb adjustments].

i love this so.

the yard of our guest house in nuku'alofa

was overflowing with tropical plants.

"australian gandhi" showed me a sensitive plant.

then i climbed a banana tree but discovered

it was swarming with ants so

i climbed down and sat by the fish pond.

plants and ferns like these sprout all

over cliffs and mountains in aotearoa.

plans plans plans + pie.

(boysenberry)

happy mother's day!

 母親節快樂!

 MATIU/SOMES ISLAND

after the farmer's market,
we walked to the wharf to embark on

our half-day outing adventure to this

strange little island, with the most

interesting history. it has been used as a

human & animal quarantine station,

internment camp, and military defense location.
now it is used mostly as a lizard, bird,
and weta sanctuary habitat.

 

tuatara lizard!

 then we accidentally got between

a sea lion and her pup. she leaped onto the
path from the water and blocked it so we stood
there awkwardly(and scared) not knowing what to do.

i am also going to...singapore!
(and malaysia)

once upon a time, i saw pretty cupcake decorations.

i mailed them across the country to ellen.

she made cupcakes for her dance department potluck party

& sent me some pictures :)

i am going to...australia!

[nevermind, i don't think i am
going to australia anymo!]

"Dear Linda,
Last year you submitted photos to our

Stevenson Photo Contest and you gave permission

for us to use them for Stevenson purposes.

We are planning to use one of them for a

thank you card for donors. I will attach the photo

of the gorgeous landscape photo we have chosen to use!
Thank you again for your participation."

hooray!

after i heard james' plan to

build a space-saving super-loft with a "study pod"

(he is studying architecture)

i had the biggest urge to reconfigure my room.

in the midst of my procrastination...

i rearranged all the furniture in my room.

made a bed-side table with

a pizza box, put up a string to hang jewelry,

and washed all my dishes.

it's been 2 days since i did laundry.

for some reason, my socks are still not dry.