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.

how would you feel if you were

swimming around in the sea and then
encountered a coral reef inhabited by

little aquatic versions of you?

i cooked a beetroot for the first time today.

it was sitting in my cupboard looking all rat-like

with its long tail, so i decided it was

time to boil it.

it bled. alot. then i sliced & ate it.

it stained my face fuchsia.

before our guided tour of te papa museum's

private collection & research facilities,

nick and i saw a doughnut shop that was having a sale..

we met up with some strangers by the museum's staff

entrance. a lady who works "behind the scenes"

 walked us through rows and rows of Oceanic artifacts:

papua new guinean dance masks, marquesan warrior war
clubs, lapita pottery sherds, skull crushers,

staffs made from human bone
(i learned that items made from human remains
can't be displayed in public exhibitions)

tapa cloth quilts, and cabinets full of
huge intricately carved hair combs.

she let us touch some things and

pass around objects, such a tongan

princess' birthday invitation

made from a giant shiny turquoise conch.

t o n g a r i r o.

broccoli regret

this is what nick's fridge looks like.

sunday haul

now that it is autumn, there are heaps of

new goods in season, such as persimmons.

 my "1000 foods to try before you die" book

said i should try a tamarillo before i die.

it tasted like a prickly pear fused with a tomato.
it stained my face red.

i also got a beetroot

(something i have never invested in before).

- - -

on our way to the supermarket,

nick and i walked  through an artificial forest 

"constructed from an intricate web of transparent
acrylic links and thousands of digitally
fabricated interactive components fitted
with sensors and microprocessors"

the fiber-glass leaves would curl 
& light up if you gently touched the vines
that hung from the ceiling.

it is getting colder n colder.

my brain reasons that christmas
should be nearing shortly.

...

oh southern hemisphere,
your reversal of seasons
is throwing me off.

contents of my cupboard:

quinoa, rice, pasta, rolled oats, cornmeal, 

flaxseed, wheatgerm, black tea, red tea,

chamomile tea, green tea, honey, fish oil,

pepper, salt, tuna, rosemary, hot cocoa, chocolate.

"to please your ghost, I have forgiven

a sinner and winked at a homely girl"

these antarctic breezes can only mean one thing:

winter is a comin'!

dog days.

a deep-fried wonderland.

“as he listed these types, the women became even more engaged, whispering to one another in recognition and assent. He would buy big taro, sticky white taro, yellow taro, pin-spotted taro. The women knew all of these types and began to call out their names in their different native languages.

One woman then asked, “will you be interested in the kinds

of yams that have nails?” Yes, he would be."

-gewertz and errington (p. 357).

i love F R E E  P O S T E R S.

commonsenseorganics had a box of free handy-guides

for in-season fruits & vegetables.
i put it up on my wardrobe and will reference it
before my weekly trip to the farmer's market.

now i know that avocados are in season

for all 12 months in new zealand.

today, the school bookstore was giving out

literature posters, so i got this pretty pink one:

after my midterm yesterday,

i decided to visit the city gallery

for the first time.

i walked in and encountered this.

the curator-girl told me i could crawl

inside & explore. so i took off my shoes,

pushed my way into this giant inflatable "sculpture"

not knowing what i'd find.

i fell like alice

through soft inflatable objects,

sat in the darkness for a few minutes,

then crawled out the back & put my shoes back on.

then i had a whole theatre to myself.

i watched short film clips of people doing

various things in china,

such as this guangdong grandma who

pushed a cardboard lion throughout the city.