Kumu Kapulani Antonio

Due 2/5/2015

Task: You will interview an adult members of your family (any side, any ethnicity) At least one must be of your grandparents’ generation. The other can be of the parent generation.

 Format: Video recording with basic editing (see below).

Other requirements:

1. Title – Should include name of interviewee and interviewer. Date. Place.
2. Transfer to format accessible for easy viewing. DVD (best), SD card or flash drive (OK).
3. Save for posterity. How you save it is up to you but remember that the interview will one day be an important historical record for your ʻohana.

Questions: Ask the list of basic questions that will be provided but as the interviewer you are free to follow the flow of conversation asking relevant follow up questions. You should be engaging in a real conversation with that person. The only difference is that you are recording it.

Protocol:

1. Be sure the person being interviewed agrees to being recorded.
2. Make them feel comfortable by telling them how it’s being recorded, what it’s for & the types of questions to expect.
3. Choose a quiet setting. Light. Check the setting. Turn off tv and other background noise.
4. If there are others in the room, introduce them too.
5. Give an introduction of yourself to the camera then of the person and their relation to you. (Aloha. I’m so & so and today I will be interviewing my gma or whoever.)
6. Tell them that you have a set of questions but feel free to expand on anything you want.
7. As the interviewer, try not to be robotic. Don’t be afraid to follow up with comments or questions that are not on the list.
8. Give them a big mahalo when pau.

Length: There is no minimum or maximum. You should ask all of the questions on the list but let it be a natural conversation.

Interview Questions

What is your full name? (Ask for maiden name if a wahine)

Tell me about your parents. (Names & what they were like as parents)

What can you tell me about your grandparents? (Make sure to get names.)

Do you know anyone older? Great grandparents?

Do you have any siblings? Names?

Are you married? Name. Years married.

Do you have kids? Tell us about them.

When were you born?

Where were you raised? How is it different today?

What were you like as a kid?

What did you do for fun as a teenager?

What schools did you attend?

What did you do for a living?

Did you have any other jobs?

Have you traveled outside of Hawaiʻi? Outside of the country?

What is a happy memory for you?

Who was the biggest influence on your life?

What do you think of today’s generation? How is it different from yours?

What do you value most?

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?

What would you like to say to the future generations of family members who will see this interview one day?

Ke Au Kahiko

(Type or write out your answers. You may consult your notes.)

1)   Discuss two ways Paʻao contributed to the development of classical Hawaiian society.

2)   Discuss what you learned about the aliʻi and kahuna classes from the story of ʻUmi.

3)   What are the top three most important points to know regarding Captain Cook’s story in Hawaiʻi?

4)   Why is it important to source a document?

5)   Why is it important to corroborate?

6)   What statements can you make about the work of historians? Give at least three.

Our new school year is under way and everyone is feeling comfortable in class and with each other. We’ve been talking about Hawaiian origins, examining what science tells us and what our own people put down in moʻolelo. If you are ever curious about whats happening in class, ask your son or daughter. It might spark some interesting discussion. Oh and also, get ready for a possible oral history interview.

The Trask Task

Me: The assignment is to create an autobiography of Haunani-Kay Trask.

You: Kumu, don’t you mean a biography?

Me: No. I want an autobiography.

You: So, does that mean I will be writing as Trask herself, from her point of view?

Me: Why yes. Yes you will, O enlightened one. Give yourself a gold star for your brilliance!

Instructions

• You can choose to do either an autobiography of your life as HKT or write about one story of your life in detail with the information you learned in class. (Example of stories – My Big Speech – detailing her now famous speech at ʻIolani Palace in 1993 or The Time I Beat Up Joey.)

• Whether you choose to do an autobiography or the telling of a life story, it must be factual but you are allowed some creative license when it comes to her emotions and thoughts. Think, “Entertaining!” Use actual words she has spoken or written!

• There is one more requirement to make this haʻawina exciting and fun — Drumroll please — Your story must be illustrated. Yay! Use your imagination. Portray yourself (HKT) as whatever you want. Think outside the box. You don’t need to portray her as a Hawaiian pareu wearing wahine. Draw her as a stick of dynamite or a manō. Be creative!***

• Due today: Everything you did today so I can assess how well you spent your 85 minutes. 10 points for sufficient time management/ 0 for insufficient. I’ll be the judge.

• Final due MON. 5/5. Neatness counts. No scratch outs. Can be handwritten, typed or a combination of both. Use unlined paper. Colored pens or black pen okay. NO PENCIL! Please take the time to submit a superior product.  (25 points)

• How long does it have to be? As long as it takes you to tell the whole story. How many drawings do I need? Enough to illustrate your point. 5 minimum.

Optional Resources:

***For an idea on creativity and how to get an A++++ on this haʻawina: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

For one of Trask’s speeches see http://minagahet.blogspot.com/2009/10/does-guam-need-haunani-kay-trask.html

For Joey Carter vs. HKT info see: http://issuu.com/kaleoohawaii/docs/carter-trask_1990-1991

For the 2010 interview with Trask, watch: http://vimeo.com/39644495

The Scenes from the Centennial DVD is still in the machine if you want to hear her speech in its entirety but you’ll have to torture the rest of the students too as it will not play on the laptop.

You may also want to consult her books From A Native Daughterand/or Light in the Crevice Never Seen. Both are on the bookshelf.

One day each of us will leave this earth but our belongings will remain. Someone will have to sift through them deciding what to keep and what to throw out. What kinds of things do you have and what do they say about you? My mom has a lot of Hawaiian books from her years of employment at Bishop Museum. My dad has lots of family photographs from his time as an amateur photographer. My husband has his classics in the form of books and music. And as for me, I have journals. In my quest for immortality : ), I’ve taken to writing things down.  I’m writing a personal history but also a family history. I am my ancestors and they are me. Hopefully, my descendants will see a little bit of us in themselves.

The focus for today’s class was historical inquiry. The haumāna were given packets of evidence – primary sources about a single person. From these bits of evidence. they were asked to tell a story about the person’s life. Of course it was only a partial story which much more remaining to be discovered. Tomorrow’s haʻawina is for them to bring in three things that reveal something about their personal histories. By just looking at the three bits of evidence, we should learn something about the student.

Look around at the things you have, the things you will leave. What will they say about you when you are no longer here to speak for yourself?

Welcome to the new year! I’m looking forward to meeting and working with the second half of Senior class of 2014. I’m also very excited about debuting my new curriculum which I’ve been working on since last semester. Basically, it let’s the haumāna discover history on their own. We start off with a central historical question – one that is intriguing and can have more than one answer. I provide the primary documents and structure the flow of the class but the haumāna take it from there. They become the historians – reading, probing, asking questions, deriving plausible accounts. Hopefully they will be interested and engaged. For more information, see my syllabus on the page entitled No Ka Papa. I makahiki hou maikaʻi loa iā kākou! Let’s have a great new year!

What is the biggest societal problem or global issue that concerns you today and how are you committed to helping solve the problem?

Check out this interesting piece:

http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html

My students read then discussed this article in a Socratic Circle. It was a lively discussion. I could see how their thoughts were evolving as a result of the article.

“Did you hear about the fight at the dining hall during lunch today?”

“No, what happened?”

And so begins the retelling of the story by those who witnessed it. Then soon by those who heard it secondhand. Who’s right? Whose version is reliable and trustworthy?  Your job as Principal is to investigate. Of all the witnesses you interview, no one is just plain lying.

• Why would there be different stories of the event if no one is lying? List reasons.
• In your investigation, who would you interview?
• Why might people see things differently?
• Are some accounts more trustworthy than others? What might make one person’s version more plausible than another’s?
• Does time make the way someone remembers something more or less trustworthy?
• How is your job as Principal like that of a historian’s?

One day each of us will leave this earth but our belongings will remain. Someone will have to sift through them deciding what to keep and what to throw out. What kinds of things do you have and what do they say about you? My mom has a lot of Hawaiian books from her years of employment at Bishop Museum. My dad has lots of family photographs from his time as an amateur photographer. My husband has his classics in the form of books and music. And as for me, I have journals. In my quest for immortality : ), I’ve taken to writing things down.  I’m writing a personal history but also a family history. I am my ancestors and they are me. Hopefully, my descendants will see a little bit of us in themselves.

In class today, the haumāna were given packets of evidence – primary sources about a single person. From these bits of evidence. they were asked to tell a story about the person’s life. Of course it was only a partial story which much more remaining to be discovered. Tomorrow’s haʻawina is for them to bring in three things that reveal something about their personal histories.

Look around at the things you have, the things you will leave. What will they say about you when you are no longer here to speak for yourself?