Immersion and Connection

The ocean has always had an immense impact on the human imagination. We continue to fill the ocean with meaning, among other things (with meaning as probably the most innocuous addition). I spend some of the best parts of my day thinking about the ocean critically in a class I teach, Literature of the Ocean, at 'Iolani School. Outside of the classroom, I like to drift into reveries, visualizing surf, or meditating to achieve a state of awareness where my mind becomes . . . like the ocean.  

I spend the most sublime moments of my life immersed in the water or riding waves. The Pacific Ocean and the islands of Hawaii lured me to O'ahu from New York City. A child of the Rocky Mountains, I've lived in the north Atlantic and the mid-Pacific, with stints around the Caribbean Sea, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and the Pacific Northwest coast. Through my journeys, I've cultivated a deep connection and fascination with the ocean.

                                                                                                                                             Kanaio, Maui

When conceptualizing the ocean, how can we comprehend its contained infinitude? Maybe that's it -- the depths and the magnitude of the ocean -- that attracts and frightens us. As John Steinbeck wrote, "An ocean without its unnamed monsters is like a completely dreamless sleep." This idea seems to illustrate the connection between the ocean and the literary imagination. We thrive on the creative act of naming, and in that act we give meaning to everything around us. The ocean still contains unnamed, undiscovered creatures. I've heard that we know more about space than we know about the ocean. Perhaps the concept of the unnamed, unknown in the ocean's abysses connects to the undiscovered, unexplored realms of our selves and the mysteries of our lives. 

The ocean seems to connect everyone's lives somehow, and has brought various cultures together as a venue for sea-faring exploration and human migration. Through the lens of poet Derek Walcott, the oceans are full of history and cultural memory. In an imagined dialogue between a colonist and a Caribbean, Walcott writes,

                                      Where are your monuments, your battles, your martyrs?

                                      Where is your tribal memory, sirs?

                                       In that grey vault. The sea. The sea

                                       has locked them up. The sea is History.

                                                                                                        ("The Sea Is History")

The Hokule'a

Hokule'a Crew Training, Off Waikiki, August 2012

Looking to the sea as a location of history and cultural knowledge, the Hokule'a is currently completing its Hawaii Malama voyage, sailing and docking around the Hawaiian islands before leaving on its world-wide voyage.  The Hokule'a World Wide Voyage is also improving environmental protection and promoting other values of interconnection. Most often docked here on O'ahu in the care of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, the Hokule'a has and will continue to serve as a transformative and empowering mechanism for educating our students. 

The Hokule'a was recently docked in Hawaii Kai and one of my Literature of the Ocean students, Keegan McCrary, was there to greet the boat. 

Photo by Keegan McCrary

After Kailua, the boat sailed to Waimanalo and brought the community together on the shorelines. For people who are interested in the Hokule'a and the a'o it's forming, there are opportunities open to educators who want to support the voyage and participate in outreach.

This voyage is much more than just a sail around the world, not that a world-wide sail isn't a dream.  The Hokule'a crew is preserving the methods of navigation used by the ancient Hawaiians in their immigration from Tahiti, and the Hokule'a itself is sailing without the use of modern technology. 

Literature of the Ocean will be following the activities of the Hokule'a WWV and we, along with many other people on 'Iolani campus and throughout the world, will learn lessons from the voyage.  There's a film crew on board the boat to record stories as they happen. I'm excited to be privy to the story of the Hokule'a mission of spreading peace and ocean awareness around the world.  This has the potential to be life-changing for so many, and to improve the fate of the ocean itself.  With the Hokule'a in mind, I'm going to keep thinking and writing about the transformative experiences that take place at sea, on shores, ships, and islands, and ways that we can give back to the ocean through service, globally and locally.

On the local front, Literature of the Ocean recently visited He'eia Fishpond on the windward side of O'ahu and learned about a sustainable indigenous method of fishing that still exists in a few places in Hawaii. We stood in awe of the place, the 800 year-old walls that surround the pond and the stories the pond contains. We were waist deep in the ocean on our way to and from the fishpond's invasive mangrove rebellion, which we worked to clear away. Hacking at the mangrove to the sound of chainsaws, we felt connected to the ocean and to the past while helping to preserve the pond for the future.

My students and I are learning everyday about current events that affect the ocean, and looking for ways to help heal the oceans from the numerous ways that we harm it, including the fairly recent Molasses spill in Keehi Harbor. We all have to stop polluting the oceans. Speaking of which: wondering what to do with all of those old plastic bottles? Use your imagination, like these giant fish sculptures made of discarded plastic in Rio.