Army vet' and friend...

 

This long ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) weekend was a time to spend with family and to go on long 5km walks with my beloved. A path is pictured on the left at our local bay.

I have the honour and pleasure of being friends with a former student who was an army veteran and is almost 80 years old.

He is still studying at the Wānanga where I work, and he has an amazing story of courage, tenacity, and sacrifice. He served a few tours overseas and is still able to tell his story.

He also shared one of his stories in one of the community short anthologies I had the privilege of collating and Indie publishing. He is a treasure, and I'm so blessed that his stories crossed my path as well...

Easter with family...

 

I spent Easter Friday with my family and attended a church service at Life Church in Manukau. They staged an Easter Production with filmed scenes and beautiful songs. It was very touching.

It was a poignant reminder that Easter is not about chocolate Easter bunnies, Easter eggs (a northern hemisphere ode to spring), or hot cross buns (although there were some served with butter after the service) but about acknowledging a critical event that changed the course of history, whether or not people believe in God or a man named Jesus. It had a definite meaning in my life growing up, and it has meaning in the afterlife.

I wish you all a happy Easter with the depth and meaning that it was intended as a holiday to spend with the family, but a weekend to contemplate where we and our loved ones would spend the afterlife when our time on this journey ends. 

That's when Easter takes on a whole new light, and what the cross symbolises with the act that Jesus willingly endured, whether or not we believe in Him. As He is not a religion, but rather described as a religious leader of all time. I think the question is not whether or not we believe in Him but rather where you want to spend your afterlife...

"Minecraft" family movie review...

 

Last weekend, my beloved shouted our family to the movies to watch "Minecraft," as about seven of them in my family were Minecrafters. I would just watch their creations on screen and marvel at how amazing their created worlds were.

I found the movie quite entertaining and Jack Black is one of my fave comedians and have enjoyed his acting on movies such as Jumanji and Gullivers Travels etc. Jason Mamoa was funny in his pink outfit and brought back the 80s-90s vibe too.

It was interesting to find out that it was filmed in NZ as my children had identified Ōtāhuhu College as one of the venues with the high school scenes and other scenic landscapes. I also found it interesting that the corner store and suburb looked very much like a rural scene outside of Auckland and other city centres.

All in all, I highly recommend it if you're not looking for a serious plot twist and Rachel House's voice packs a punch as the villain. I still remember when I first saw her in travelling theatre productions where they performed at schools (when I was a high school teacher) and her voice was stand out then!

Neurographic art therapy...

 

Yesterday in my combined noho or overnight weekend stay with two classes, I was given the opportunity by my colleague to deliver an art workshop with half of the class.

As last year, she had taken a neurograpic art therapy workshop that I had attended and I decided to do the same.

The beauty about the workshop was that one has the freedom to be able to make it something special for each of the attendees.

As an artist (which I didn't tell), I allowed each to consider an issue that they were going through and then to leave on the page by making large scribbles on a blank paper using a marker without lifting the marker off the page.

After that, I encouraged each attendee to flatten out all of the sharp edges with curved lines. You can see some examples on the pic above. In smoothing out the edges, I asked each attendee to consider what kaitiaki (guardian) solutions might make it less stressful i.e. would smooth out the edges.

The next step was to use water colour paints to paint each area with either warm, colour or families of colours. As you can see above, I used an array of colours and especially contrasting colours. In doing so, I asked them to consider what kind words could be spoken into the situations.

I gave it some time to dry and then began to encourage each to add embellishments. That sometimes in life things happen and that there're not always understandable but that it was worth it to be together and share in this activity.

I also encouraged each to consider a title for their masterpiece and also a story to explain the reasons behind that composition of the picture and what the different parts stood for. This was certainly an interesting exercise as some shared in tears, happiness and joy...

Polyfest celebrating 50 years with Cook Islands drumming...

 

Yesterday, I was so proud of my youngest, who was a drummer in her school's Cook Islands group at the annual Polyfest (Polynesian Festival), which also happens to be the largest gathering of its kind in the world!

It was her first year, as she has been so interested in Cook Islands drumming. Like her, I enjoy listening to Cook Islands drumming and the drum dance. 

This was due to my being brought up in a church congregation with Cook Islanders, Samoans, and Niueans. I learnt to dance all of the dances, but the most difficult ones to learn were the Cook Islands drum dance and the Samoan sāsā (slap dance). 

My daughter's Cook Islands group had seven drummers; she was the tallest and second in line. I also liked the colouring of the girls' costumes, which the mothers and their helpers completed with headdresses, decorated bra tops, and skirts.

Her entering the competition also stopped the drought that had happened with my older two children, who were unable to compete in their school Tongan groups in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic isolations and in 2021 due to the mosque shootings. Interestingly enough, they did not try out for the Samoan groups because they wanted to learn other cultural dances.

Polyfest celebrates its 50th year since the first competition in 1976 (I don't know about the maths). The lady's painting pictured above the dancers pays tribute to Tupou Manapori, whom I met when I was also teaching in Otara, where she also taught at the time. 

She was a strong advocate for the Cook Islands languages to be taught in schools alongside other Pasifika languages, and this has come to fruition with Samoan, Cook Islands te re (languages), Tongan, Niuean, and others. Some languages, like Samoan, are now taught in university degrees.

I'm so thankful for those who first considered starting this festival 50 years ago, as the Polyfest has grown from strength to strength, and it has become a place where Māori, Pasifika and other indigenous languages, songs, dance, costumes, etc., are taught to students and these cultural legacies and treasures live on...

"Got to be starting something" choreography by Jerky Jessy...

 

Just love the energy and vibrancy of these dancers. When I first watched it, it definitely caught my attention not only because it's one of Michael Jackson's great dance songs but it also gives a lot of room for expression and interpretation.

This is definitely not a dance that I would recommend to those who haven't danced in a long time and isn't it a lot different from the waltzing styles, of the 60s, and ballroom dancing etc. It definitely has a neat vibe. Check it out!