Essays

Deep thinking and bold sharing about life, love, family and culture.

Are you ready to die?

Are you ready to die?

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...

My favourite Samoan word

My favourite Samoan word

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...

10 ways to heal a broken heart

10 ways to heal a broken heart

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...

Why I love telling stories with animation

Why I love telling stories with animation

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 Couple on the Bus

The Couple on the Bus

I'm a firm supporter of public transport - yay for saving the ozone layer and gas money! lol - and yesterday, when I got on the bus for my hour-and-a-bit-long commute home, I spotted a little, elderly couple huddled together in their seats, half way down the aisle. As...

My Camera

My Camera

I lost my camera. It happened maybe two years ago, around the time my house was broken into... twice, even, in less than 3 months (bloody South Auckland street kids). The thing is, I didn't even notice it was gone until a few weeks later. Or maybe I did notice, but...

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