Essays, memories, musings and creative explorations of the People of Oceania.
Ever met someone for the first time and immediately thought, "This person is going to be my friend someday," and then it comes true? I thought Jaemen Busby looked so familiar when I first encountered him in a Launching Leaders class. Like we could be cousins. And then...
I know Koni from when we worked together in a contact centre. The first words she ever said to me - while I was in 'the zone' gunning it towards my data entry targets - after distracting me, first, by sliding her chair up inappropriately close and gazing at my face...
I was well out of high school before I fully understood that the history we learned there is not really mine. I mean, I loved the stories of Socrates, Da Vinci, Magellan and Napoleon, Martin Luther and Abraham Lincoln, and I still think it's important to know these...
The early 2000s were a difficult time for my family. In the space of 4 years, 6 of my close relatives died. Our first loss was my 46-year-old first cousin. His sudden, cardiac event widowed his wife and left his 4 young-adult children without a dad. My own father was...
In early June this year, the Balmoral Seventh Day Adventist school in Auckland celebrated Pasifika night by hosting an auction of artwork. One young artist’s painting caught our eye and we posted it on the Manaui Facebook page - to overwhelming response. I’m actually...
SASA. That was the first Samoan word that came to mind when asked the question, “What is your favorite Samoan word?” ATUA, was the second. Shouldn’t I have thought of GOD first? Apparently, I need to be disciplined first, to understand the importance of God in my...
Once severely endangered, knowledge of the Hawaiian language is being restored thanks to recent revitalization efforts. Let’s help celebrate this beautiful language by learning a few words. Can you name the days of the week in Hawaiian?
First and foremost, let’s define what a “heartache” is: An emotion so mind blowing and heart-shattering that you just wanna walk into the ocean and keep walking till your lungs cease to work. Are we straight on what a heartache is now? We’re not talking about your 3...
I’m an inner-city kid born and raised Auckland Central so I was exposed to animation at a very young age. We had comics, morning cartoons, arcade games at the local dairy, old cartridge video games and movies. Animation was all around me, so I soaked it up like a sponge and put pen (or pencil) to paper whenever I could. Like most kids, my first animations were done in the corner of big textbooks in class usually involving a couple stickmen fighting.
I loved animation; it spoke to me in ways other forms of media just couldn’t.
The short answer? Manaui represents the nurturing land from which we rise, stretch out into the world, but never abandon. No matter how far we reach, we will always be connected to home - and to each other - through the strong, sinewy roots of our history, family,...
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