Interview with Charles Video Segment

Interview with Charles

Hey Charles, how’s it going?

Fine, thanks.  You?

Great.  So you grew up here in Hawaii?

Yeah, I’m the third of three boys and both my parents worked so I pretty much lived with my Grandma and Uncles and Aunties in Waipio until the third grade.

Oh, what school?

Kanoelani Elementary.

Oh wow. I have two boys that went there last year for first and second grade.

Oh, nice.

Were you into sports growing up?

No, not really.  I had asthma so I was always at home or going to the doctor’s.

I see.  Did your parents grow up here as well?

No, both my parents and my oldest brother are from the Philippines.  My second brother and I were born in Hawaii.

Did growing up here make you feel like you missed anything concerning Filipino culture?

Not really, I can understand the language, but I can’t really speak it.  I remember my mom asking me questions in Ilocano and answering her in English.

Are you a fan of Filipino food?

Some, but not all.  I like the sweets, and desserts.

Lumpia?

Yeah, I like Lumpia.  But I don’t like what they call “chocolate” meat.

Blood meat?

Yeah, and I don’t why, but I just won’t eat water chestnuts, or kiwi.  Kiwi makes my tongue feel funny.

Possibly allergic to kiwi?

Maybe.

So, what do your brothers do?

My oldest brother is a bookkeeper for Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii, and my other brother works supply in the Air Force.  An interesting thing about all three of us is that we all graduated from Heald College Honolulu with Associates in Applied Science.

Wow, that is interesting.  So you already have a degree?

Yes, two actually, both from Heald and in applied science.

So what brought you to Hawaii Pacific University?

Well, I was working as a Field Tech in North Carolina, replacing computer parts, repairing probably 50 computers a day, when I realized it just wasn’t for me.  I thought about going back to school, talked to my counselor at Heald, and ended up at HPU with transfer credits and a scholarship.

Nice.  And what are you studying?

I’m going for my Bachelor in Integrated Multimedia.

Interesting, why Integrated Multimedia?

I like learning new things, and I wanted to explore the creative side of computers rather than the technical side.

Very cool.  What do you hope to do after graduation?

I’m not sure yet, but I hope to gain a competitive skill set that gives me an edge that identifies me as bringing something new to the table.

Awesome, and how are you enjoying HPU so far?

I like it.  I like the classes, I’m learning a lot from many different areas, and I like that you can network with students on an international level.

Alright, that sounds great.  Thank you for your time, and good luck on all of your educational and professional endeavors.

Thank you.

10-Minute Challenge

Double Homicide on a Typical Afternoon

The Ten Minute Challenge 

involves picking a time of day at a certain location to set up and capture at least 10 minutes of continuous footage without moving the tripod.  The footage is then edited into some kind of story line consisting of the shots gathered during the ten minutes of filming.

     In this case, I set up my tripod near Keehi Marina boat harbor off Sand Island Access Road and used my series of shots to create a story that suggests two murders taking place while other people continue about their business.

     I used a Canon T2i, Final Cut Pro, and GarageBand.

Hi. My name is John

 Hi.  My name is John.  Born in Portland, Oregon, I’ve lived in Hawaii for about ten years now, but before flying into Honolulu International Airport on Submarine duty orders from the U.S. Navy, I lived in Redding, California.  For those that don’t know Redding is located centrally in northern California.  To the west of Redding, on the coast, is another city I was familiar with called Eureka.  Between these two cities is a vast expanse of mountainous, forested wilderness where I grew up home-schooled with minimal exposure to television and electronics in general.

After earning a High-School Proficiency Certificate when I was 15, I attended two different public high schools, followed by two different community colleges, before enlisting in the Navy without a diploma or degree at age 18.  I went into the Submarine Electronic Computer Field and became a submarine sonar technician, even though I wanted to fly jets.  

 

I spent nine years in the Navy, travelling to such places as Guam, Okinawa, Singapore, Australia, The Red Sea and Iraq, and I earned various awards including Expert Pistol & Rifle Shot medals, Good Conduct medals, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary medals, a Navy Achievement medal and a Joint-Service Commendation medal. 

I discovered video-editing software while on a deployment and later picked up a digital camera one day thinking it would be fun to make a music video for a friend of mine.  I had such a fun time that we made a couple of different videos, and now I’m a student at Hawaii Pacific University majoring in Multimedia Cinematic Production.  The Montgomery G.I. Bill and Yellow Ribbon program currently pays my tuition and rent.  The motorcycle in the pictures above is a custom 2002 Bigdog Pitbull ProStreet that I used to have.   

                  http://www.afpc.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=7776 

"Act of War" (1993)

A response to Puhipau and Joan Lander’s Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation (1993), a stylized recreation/documentary of a period in colonial Hawaii.

I watched a disturbing documentary this week concerning the history of Hawaii as being a part of the United States, titled Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation (1993) and it’s no wonder that many Hawaiian people resent being called “Americans.”  I’d be pretty upset too if some strangers showed up at my house one day, spreading diseases, telling me I needed to live a different lifestyle, killing off my family and friends, using religion to justify their actions and consequences, and then telling me it was their house now.  Of course, it didn’t quite happen like that for the Hawaiian people because for them it was a lengthy and devastating process that changed Hawaii forever.

Prior to the onset of colonial influence, the Hawaiian people lived off the land and sea in a communal environment that was truly “for the people, by the people.”  They had their own culture, and their own language.  They had their own agriculture, seafaring techniques, and methods of navigation.  They were independent and proud.  European explorers changed all of that starting with Captain Cook’s discovery of the islands in 1778.  This was swiftly followed by missionaries imposing European religious beliefs and practices, instituting a New England way of living and dress code, and the rapid diminishing of the native Hawaiian population.  Hawaii became the target of exploitation for profit, and there was an explosive increase in immigrant workers for sugar plantations.  Hawaii was recognized as a strategic military position in the mid-Pacific, not to mention a tropical paradise playground with tremendous tourism potential, and there was a continuous U.S. Naval presence among the islands.  Queen Lili’uokalani succeeded King Kalakaua following his death, and attempted to establish a new constitution that restored government power to native Hawaiians.  This was not looked upon favorably by the white provisional government in Hawaii, and a plan was devised to remove the Queen from her position.  In 1893 there was an unjustified military occupation, and the Queen peacefully resigned to annexation to avoid clashing against U.S. armed forces for the sake of humanity. 

It was soon recognized that Hawaii was wrongfully taken over, and it seemed that the mistake would be corrected, but Hawaii was eventually annexed into statehood regardless.  The U.S. was concerned about becoming a global military power, and Hawaii was essential to that plan.  In 1993 President Bill Clinton saw this documentary and issued a formal apology to the Hawaiian people on behalf of the United States for the wrongful taking of Hawaii, but to this day Hawaii is no closer than it was then to becoming the independent nation it once was.

A similar story of loss could be told for the Native Americans that suffered at the hands of the United States as well.  They also lost their land, language and culture.  The truth is that America was formed by people escaping oppression who, in turn, oppressed others in order to build an idea of freedom.  So my message to American citizens is this: Don’t take what freedom you have for granted because it wasn’t free at all.  Millions of people lost their lives, cultures were extinguished, and lives continue to be sacrificed to this day to preserve our way of life.  Be respectful to those who are still around whose land you are living on, and even apologize to them for being here.  I understand that if it wasn’t us it would have been somebody else, but it’s just sad that the rest of the world couldn’t live in the kind of communal fashion that existed among the Hawaiian people prior to colonialism.

Image courtesy of:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2001/Feb/12/212localnews29.html

           For a preview of the film:

http://www.asiapacificfilms.com/films/show/300-act-of-war-the-overthrow-of-the-hawaiian-nation-

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