The Spanish wanted no communion with America, the place or its people. Residence, except residence construed as land ownership, was not of interest to them. America was not to be a home or what a home implied — the responsibilities and obligations of adult life. They had left that behind in Europe, had traded it away for lawlessness. If we say that the elements of true wealth come with the maintenance of a home, as I think is possible, then we have to say that the Spanish and their descendants were not to find true wealth in America until they discovered the America they had missed.
The true wealth that America offered, wealth that could turn exploitation into residency, greed into harmony, was to come from one thing — the cultivation and achievement of local knowledge.
— Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of North America, p. 22-23
The Spanish experience was to amass wealth and go home. Those of us who have stayed, who delight in the litanies of this landscape and who can imagine no deeper pleasure than the fullness of our residency here, look with horror on the survival of that imperial framework in North America — the physical destruction of a local landscape to increase the wealth of people who don’t live there, or to supply materials to buyers in distant places who will never know the destruction that process leaves behind.
— Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of North America, p. 41
Ask an older person to tell you about something that happened in your ’ili before you were born. When you write this story, do not make it one long quotation and do not write it in the question / answer format. Instead, summarize and paraphrase the person’s words, and use a few quotations to emphasize the most important sections. It would be a good idea to make a recording or at least take notes as you talk, to help jog your memory later. Finally, cite your source using the correct format for an interview citation.
ALTERNATE OPTION
Write about something that happened in your ’ili in ancient times, or about a legend connected with that place. If you can’t find anything, write about a nearby place. Consult Sites of O’ahu, Ruling Chiefs or a similar book. As with the interview option above, use a sensible mix of summary and paraphrase, with just a few carefully-chosen, short direct quotes. Consult at least one book and cite your source, using the correct format.
A FOCUS FOR LAND JOURNAL #6
Avoid
Overuse of short sentences, or sentences all of approximately the same length.
Include
• Occasional use of punctuation marks like semi-colons (;) and colons (:) to help construct more complex sentences.
• Parallel structure to help construct more complex sentences.