Sunday Stuff

i feel like everyday is a learning day. that's not a bad thing. rather it's a thing that tells me everyday is also a busy day, as i'm busy learning.

this morning james and i had early lunch with nyrell and poka at zippy's on vineyard. i thought it was a good idea to hook these two up to discuss work and share philosophies. it worked out pretty good! at the end of the lunch meeting, which i tried to discreetly audio tape while they were talking, poka and i had a chance to talk about putting on a conference about next steps. richard kinney had sent me a message about possibly hosting a 'kanaka maoli conference' and i told him i would look into it asap, but actually put it at the back of my mind and on hold while i dealt with other stuff. after i talked with poka today, i realized that this might actually work--a kanaka maoli conference that builds upon a framework that poka describes as "the dreaming stage", the last step in a process of decolonization (or de-occupation) where people reconnect with their own deep culture through the practice of oluolu, lokahi, and aloha. this is the time when the people dream the future. [see http://www.opihi.com/sovereignty/]

all of this sounds exciting to me, as it seems reasonable that we should all be makers of our own destiny, rather than being passive onlookers as our destiny is created (or re-created, as the case may be) for us. i can imagine a lot of folks, most of whom have the nation already created, wouldn't be happy with this scenario. the dreaming stage assumes that we can determine for ourselves whether or not, for example, the kingdom actually works as a model of governance in the present world context. yes, i understand that the kingdom continues to exist and, if we are to win our case based on international law, that the kingdom structure would be the existing framework for re-establishing our government and moving forward to control our own lives (if that's possible, given the intrigue and major players within the existing system who probably have their own ideas about how things should fall out). nothing ventured, nothing gained. and i personally think that more talking is better. more planning. more information sharing. more insight. more group think. more inclusion. poka's "ola"--oluolu, lokahi, aloha--and its practice as expressions of deep culture makes sense if we focus on people. but the model speaks also of the connection of man and aina, kai, and wai. thus, "ola" includes more than people. it embodies a working connection among people and place (aina, kai, wai, and lani) which, in its deepest sense, complement and therefore constitute the wholeness of us as people within our element. now doesn't that make sense?

i think we'll move forward on a kanaka maoli conference so we can really have this discussion.