Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial

This Memorial Day I decided to spend the day reflecting on what the holiday is really about: a day to remember those men and women who died serving in our armed forces.  An interesting fact: Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and was to commemorate the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War.

 Fittingly I spent the day at Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial.  I hadn't been since they built the new Visitor's Center and I was really impressed.  I didn't realize you couldn't bring your bags/purses in and so I was kind of kicking myself for having to pay $3.00 for a bag check, but oh well.

FLAGS AT HALF MAST FOR MEMORIAL DAY

Of COURSE because I am the consummate tourist I didn't mind paying the $7.50 for the audio guide. It's narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis and augmented by pieces from Pearl Harbor survivors. I know that I have a terrible memory, but I did learn a lot of new things that I never really registered in prior visits.

STANDING BY HAWAII

Alfred Preis designed the Arizona Memorial.  One of the features built into the memorial is this Tree of Life.  Preis intended it to be a symbol of renewal to inspire contemplation (I totally got this sentence from the plaque next to it!).  It also is a symbol of the interconnectedness of all life on Earth. To the left of the relief you can also see the Crossroads to the Pacific which has signposts to various places of Pearl Harbor relevance.

TREE OF LIFE

They have two mini-museums (Road to War Museum and Attack Museum).  I'm sure they had these before, but somehow in the renovation it seems much sleeker and a better production than before.  One of the things that I learned was that part of the surprise in the attacks was that Pearl Harbor was supposed to be too shallow for torpedoes.  Additionally the military thought it's armor plated battleships could survive bombs.  The Japanese developed a special torpedo that could be launched into shallow water and armor piercing bombs for the battle ships.

In 1991 they were dredging the harbor and found this original torpedo just off the USS Oklahoma's mooring on Battleship Row:

The warhead was still intact so it needed be exploded.  On one of the panels there's a photograph of the Japanese writing found scratched into the torpedo that identifies it as dropped by Akagi pilot airman Tomoe Yasue.

The museums have these fun mini interactive parts.  The one below is how they searched by air and sea for any interlopers.  It took me forever to "spot" any Japanese subs or planes since you can only search by a little slice of the pie each time.  The quote on the back says: "Do you mean to say they could be rounding Diamond Head and you wouldn't know it?" It's from Admiral Husband E. Kimmel on December 2, 1941 after being told the location of the Japanese aircraft carriers was unknown.

ENEMY AIRCRAFT SPOTTED!

Clearly I've never seen the movie, but I didn't know that "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Which, by the way, is literally "Tiger! Tiger! Tiger") was the Japanese code that the Japanese fighter planes used to indicate total and complete surprise as they flew in and met no antiaircraft fire.  Additionally I really didn't register in the past that "Pearl Harbor" wasn't just an attack on the harbor and the battleships, but a very well-coordinated attack on all the air bases at the time and was designed to cripple the American fleet, eliminate our planes and demoralize us.  They attacked Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Bellows Firld, NAS Ford Island, NAS Kanehoe and MCAS Ewa in addition to the more well-known attack on the ships in Pearl Harbor.

TORA! TORA! TORA!

 Of course we didn't help our cause by lining up our battleships in Battleship Row and our planes were parked wingtip to wingtip to "prevent sabotage."

I also didn't know that we knew about the Japanese flying in before the attack.  A huge "what if" moment!  Below is the Opana radar plot.  The Opana Radar Site was the first use of radar in wartime.  It was primarily set up to train, not quite ready for use in the defense of the US.  So on December 7, 1941 when two privates detected a very large spike of activity at 7:02am, they called in Lt. Kermit Tyler.  He thought it was an expected flight of American B-17 bombers and told them not to worry about it.  They plotted the incoming planes until 7:40am and then went to breakfast.  The air portion of the attack began at 7:48am.

OPANA PLOT

The other thing that I didn't realize was that Memorial Day 2012 was literally the 50th anniversary of the USS Arizona Memorial.  As I stood waiting to get into the theater for the movie the screen before you board the boat to the memorial, a park ranger came over and told us what a special day it was.  They gave us these commemorative cards.

After the movie I boarded the ferry.  I noticed that there were two service men and a service woman standing in the front of the boat.  They were let off first so I quickly scurried off the board after them.  I'm really glad I did as they went and paid tribute in the memorial shrine room.

SALUTE

GIVING A LEI

Of the 2,386 American fatalities on December 7th, 1,177 were killed when a bomb exploded the forward magazine of the USS Arizona.

Being present at the memorial during Memorial Day and getting to see the wreaths and the tribute from the servicemen and woman really struck me that this was such a perfect way to celebrate Memorial Day.

ANOTHER SERVICEMAN HONORING THE MEMORIAL

The weather was beautiful (unlike how it normally is on the Big Island...) with blue skies and wispy white clouds.

Looking up I caught this image of the American flag at half mast through the beams:

USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL ENTRANCE

VIEW AS WE PULL AWAY FROM THE MEMORIAL

Alfred Preis designed the memorial to represent the height of American pride before the war, the sudden depression of a nation after the attack and the rise of American power to new heights after the war.

The architecture of the USS Arizona Memorial is explained by Preis as, "Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory ... The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses ... his innermost feelings."^[7]
 

You Know You Live in the Middle of Nowhere When...

Chris and I decided we wanted to move at the end of April.  The logic was that our lease in our current home was up in May and we really did not need to be paying $1150 in rent for a home that we liked, but didn't necessarily love.  It's been nice living right on the water, but with that comes: corrosion of everything, sea spray on our cars (meaning lots of wiper fluid and car washes), dirt blown into our house from the off-shore winds, etc.  Additionally we have no water pressure upstairs which is a pain.

Of course I dove into house hunting...any excuse to make a spreadsheet or table!  I quickly started to despair.  Like most of our experiences on the Big Island - it's really hard to find anything decent.  Our basic requirements were: Washer/Dryer (Kris), a yard (Chris), closer to the main road (We're currently 5 miles from it) and ideally cheaper than $1150.

We must have looked at half a dozen houses in Onomea, Waiakea, Hilo, and Keaau and I was starting to panic.  None of them seemed to work for us and Chris was really pushing on the yard thing.  As we did our house viewings I realized that two years living on the Big Island have really accustomed us to living in the middle of nowhere. 

Because you would only say these phrases (in totally seriousness and excitement) if you lived in the middle of no where:

1. Wow! You can get mail here???

2. Water? Oh you get county water? I completely forgot some people got piped water! (We have been living on catchment)

3. The water isn't drinkable?  That's okay - in our first home the landlord said there was UV filter on the catchment and there wasn't.  We drank that for a year and were fine!

4. The street is paved!

5. I get 2-3 bars of cell phone reception here!!! 


6. No indoor pets...bummer.  Oh we can have outdoor pets though? A dog, chickens, sheep or goats...ooh let's get a goat!


7. Oh, you can't get internet here.  You can't get internet?!?! Well that changes things.


8.  What are these? Oh, you get wild pigs that run through the backyard? 

What Do You Mean Children Grow Up?!?!

Tonight I hung out at the Hawai'i State Track and Field Championships at Kea'au High School.  I went for one reason: see my former student run the 3000m.  (I suppose I'm not supposed to confess this, but he is totally one my favorites! SHHH.)

Now that I've moved to the Big Island I rarely get the chance to see my former students so I was really excited to see KK.  First of all, he's totally sprouted.  He's really tall, tan and muscular....so different from the sweet child I remember.  I guess that in my head he'll always be 12 years old!  It got me thinking that if I'm this stunned by a child actually growing up, what the heck am I going to do when I have children?!?!?!

RUN KK, RUN!!

Obviously seeing him made me remember fondly all the memories from when I taught him.  It was so fun to see him run his race since one of my fondest memories is how he used to run from class to class even though we had plenty of passing time for them.  NOTHING I could say would convince him to just walk to class.  I suppose I should've let him run since he's developed into quite the runner!

I always knew KK would be a special person.  I don't know how, but you know every now and then you just meet someone or teach a child and you just think, "You're something special." (I have one of those now - an adorable, precocious 2nd grader that is just so bright I want to bottle him up) Recently KK was featured as a speaker for an Autism Speaks event in Honolulu and was the HI-FIVE Athlete of the Week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mnzJkNTWmc

 

KK has amazing parents.  It really makes you realize how much of a difference a supportive and nurturing family can do for a child, especially one with a disability.  I wish every child had parents as amazing as KK's and I particularly wish that every child with a disability had a parent that would advocate as fiercely, love as ferociously, and be as supportive, patient, and understanding as Mark and Tara. (On a side note, Tara was an educational assistant with Chris at Ilima and he also taught KK for a quarter at Ilima!) Perhaps that's why I am so passionate about working with parents...

KK & MARK

One of my greatest disappointments (that's saying a lot to since this whole year as been basically nothing but disappointment) is that I won't be able to see my first group of students graduate.  (KK was my second class)  When I was still at Ilima I had a couple of girls from my 7th grade homeroom who'd ask me every now and then to make sure to come for their graduation.  For years I have been looking forward to this and I always thought I wouldn't be in Hawai'i still.  However, work has been so bad and I have one if not multiple meetings every day after school and I just can't go :( 

I only did three years in the classroom (Weird to think I'm now at the point where next year I'll have been out of the classroom for longer than in it!), but I do think about those kids all the time.  Especially my first class of kids.  The stories I could tell!

I hope that for as long as I'm in education that I can always make sure to find a way back to the kids.  Nothing is scarier than an educational leader that has forgotten what it's like to be a teacher. 

Today I went to a 1st grade end of the year performance because a bunch of my ELO kids (it's a class I teach after school for lower elementary students) asked me and it was the cutest stinkin' thing.  If it wasn't for FERPA I would totally post pictures of their adorable-ness.  I can only imagine what it's like to be an elementary teacher and see your little guys grow up!!! I'm having a hard enough time coping with the fact that KK hit puberty and is now a head taller than me.  I'm trying to picture what it'd be like to see my little students that hug me every class (and sometimes every time they see me at school!) as teenagers!   

 

Driving Pet Peeves

Today I was rushing to have lunch with a friend and I got stuck behind a school bus.  It made me think of my driving pet peeves:

1. School buses that stop nearly every street and being stuck behind them - I live on the bottom of Hawaiian Paradise Park. It's more than 30 streets to the top of the road...do you REALLY need to stop every street?  In my day we WALKED TO A BUS STOP.  (On an unrelated note, OMG am I really old enough to start saying, "When I was your age...?" ?!?!?!)

2. People who don't know how to merge.  You TAKE TURNS.  Remember this concept? We teach it in preschool. People in Hawai'i are terrible at merging and that's why there's always a traffic jam in Keaau when I'm driving home because some lolo driver is trying to bully his way past others OR refusing to let anyone in (actually it's usually a chick who does this)

3. People who don't use their turn signals and suddenly make a turn.  While I am often too close the car...they make turn signals for a reason. So. You. Can. Signal. You're. Turning.

4. Related to turning...do you REALLY need to come to a near stop when you are making a turn?  Because some of us have places to be and don't need to be stuck behind some slowpoke taking a turn at 5 miles an hour.

5. If you are lost.  PULL OVER.  Slowing down every block to read each street sign is incredibly annoying to people who know where they are going.

6. Slow people in the left hand lane.  I wish cars were bumper cars because I would bump you right off the road.  It's obnoxious.

7. Loud mufflers.  I might be hearing impaired but I can hear you buzzing up the street.  And I'm not impressed.  It's not attractive and I truly think these drivers have inferiority complexes. OVERCOMPENSATING! (Same goes for the super raised cars, insane sound systems that rattle your windows, tinted windows so dark you can't see in them, etc)

8. Overly aggressive drivers.  The ones that zoom up on you out of no where, change lanes every other car they pass, tailgate you like crazy.  Please just pass me, your rage is scary. (On the flip side, un-aggressive drivers make me NUTS...being stuck behind one when it's time to go to school and they are too chicken to take the turn again brings me back to the bumper car wish).  I'm like Goldilocks...I like my drivers "just right."

9. Baby on board signs.  Just because you have a baby on board does that mean I'm going to drive differently?  No. It's not.  (But it still cute and I'll probably get one when I have a kid...so I'm not really judging)

10. Slow drivers. Period.  Yes, I don't drive the speed limits, but people who drive UNDER the speed limit - I'm sorry I don't understand.  Especially when the speed limit is 25 and PARTICULARLY in areas where there's a speed MINIMUM.

And for the record I do not believe I have road rage problem ;p