Sunday at Makua

despite the oppressively hot weather, it was a fabulous day at makua today. around 13 students and friends showed up for today's access. we were all cooking in the heat. but the students seemed to really enjoy the walk around and history of that aina. the army guys weren't too happy to be there and took it out on us. pretty rude bunch, i have to say. nevertheless, it went well. leandra was super good with protocol. fred did a great job of sharing history and story telling. i think the younger archaeologist, alton (?), was the most hospitable of the bunch and shared a bit of history about the army's strategic plan for makua. he gave me a brochure to share with my students, and i saw a photo of a petroglyph that i hadn't seen before. it's in a different area/valley that we haven't had access to--yet. curtis, trevor, and jean emptied the mud out of the drying up spring. the kalo growing there the last time i was up had died. trevor removed his shoes to work in the mud and got yelled at because not wearing shoes was against the rules. and fred got yelled at because he found (and picked up) a spent shell from an M-15. that's also a no-no. oh well. it was a really good crew, however, and i'm glad we had a chance to experience the power struggle that goes on there between community and military and between rules and culture. obviously the military personnel are not interested in having a relationship with any of us, hence the rude treatment. it just makes me want to go more often and try to give them a hard time whenever we can. the option is to kowtow, and aint none of us going that route.

on the way home to kaneohe i noticed hundreds of tents stretching from makua to beyond kahe point. it's amazing! i had read in the paper that the state would be cracking down on the homeless living out on the leeward coast. that's pretty sad. where else could they go? how can it be against the law to be poor?

not much has changed in the last 18 years or so. the poor get poorer. the super rich don't give a rip. the middle class--where is the middle class? i used to think i was the middle class, but i feel much, much poorer and living on the edge all the time. having an education and an 'average' income guarantees nothing.