I tend not to get too much into personal things here on Nahenahe, but I have received a lot of email recently from folks since real posts have been few and far between, mostly just my del.icio.us links to stories elsewhere on the web. We’ve been in Dunedin, Aotearoa (New Zealand) for nearly two and a half months now. The weather has been spectacular, very Hilo-like with much less rain. Folks here by and large credit us for what we have been told has been the best summer in Dunedin in 20 years. Temperatures tend to be in the 60s-70s during the day but occasionally drip down to the 50s and even 40s at night. It will get considerably colder in the coming months. The family is doing great and we’ve all pretty much settled into a routine here. Mālia is at Logan Park High School, which is walking distance from our flat. We have no car so walk everywhere, but markets, malls and everything we need is within walking distance. We have some pictures of our adventure up on my Flickr account.
The music department is conveniently located about 50 yards from our flat too (my Ph.d. program is ethnomusicology). My two supervisors, Drs. Henry Johnson and Dan Bendrups have been amazing. I’m making great progress on my Ph.d. topic; at least my Henry and Dan think so. I wish I could get into it here, but can’t give too much away at this point because it could possibly influence my research when I return to Hawai‘i (i.e., someone who reads this may turn out to be someone I will want to interview, and be influenced by what I write here). All I can say at this point is that it does involve issues regarding Hawaiian language in Hawaiian music.
It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly half-way into our adventure here. We’ll be back in Hawai‘i in late-June or early July, and look forward to seeing everyone then.
HARA UPDATES:
I have been heavily involved with HARA issues in my spare time. The preliminary ballots for Nā Hōkū Hanohano should be going out any day. We spent a LOT of time going through them, making sure all of the entries were in the correct categories, and weeding out the releases that should not have even been submitted at all. What is clear is that we on the board do need to take a look at the rules for many of the categories, and eligibility requirements for individuals – there is a need for greater clarity in the criteria. I’d like to give people the benefit of the doubt when they enter things in inappropriate categories, or enter themselves and their releases when they clearly should not even be eligible for entry. But sometimes it’s pretty easy to tell when some are being manipulative and deceitful. We will address all of these things in the future, but for now, the ballot will be going out after our best efforts to make sure that the rules have been followed by all. Mahalo to the board members, as well as HARA members who serve on the selection committee and help assure that all is proper with the process.
Oh, yes, there will be a newsletter forthcoming as well as a survey from the HARA office regarding health insurance. Please do fill that out and return it to the office when you get it.
