My last editorial on the Ka Leo
I will be graduating from the University of Hawaii at Manoa on December 19, 2004, which is 9 days from now.
And here is my good-bye editorial. I could make a big book about my experiences at UH, but I only have so much space to write about it in an editorial. Plus, I wanted to say a few things I didn't get a chance to write about in previous editorial.
So here is my LAST Ka Leo editorial (unless I come back for graduate school years later)
http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/09/41b805cd8ad34?in_archive=1
Goodbye UH Manoa, oh how I've learned so much
Pablo Wegesend
Ka Leo Staff Columnist
December 09, 2004
This will be my last editorial in Ka Leo. I will be graduating this semester after five and a half years at this campus. I started attending UH in fall 1999. Back then, the world was different. We were still in the previous millennium. Ben Cayetano was the governor, Bill Clinton was the President and 9/11 hadn't occurred yet. The June Jones era was just getting started.
As the world changed, I also changed. Before coming to this university, I was very unfamiliar with the Internet. I even told a friend in high school that I didn't care about the Internet. Now, I'm using the Internet everyday. In fact, I use the Internet a lot more often than I watch TV. This came about because the computer labs on this campus gave me an opportunity to explore. Some new friends also told me what Web sites to check out that got me hooked to the Web.
Before coming to this university, it never occurred to me that I would be writing editorials. I didn't even read that many editorials before coming to UH. However, reading Ka Leo editorials inspired me to write Ka Leo editorials myself. Since spring 2000, I've been an editorial writer for Ka Leo. Of course, I always wish I had more time to write more editorials.
This university exposed me to different types of people. A recent editorial in the "Star Bulletin" said that local kids should attend mainland college to meet people who are different. That editorial implies that all people in Hawai'i are the same.
My experience at McKinley High School and at UH tells me that's not true! McKinley High School, located near Ala Moana Shopping Center, is probably one of the least "local" high schools in Hawai'i. Most students fall into either one or both categories; 1) immigrants and/or 2) residents of low income communities.
Most of the boys at my high school listened to gangsta rap, hardly anyone ever listened to Jawaiian (Hawaiian reggae) music. Most dressed like South Central LA gangstas rather than local boy surfers. While some speak pidgin like the rest of Hawai'i, most either spoke a foreign language or talked as if they're from South Central Los Angeles.
When I entered this university, I met people from other parts of Hawai'i. They are very different from those who went to McKinley. In my first year at UH, I met a few people from the neighbor islands (one was my roommate), and they indirectly exposed me to Jawaiian music that most of my high school classmates ignored. Before I never owned any local CDs. Now I have a small collection of Jawaiian CDs.
Not only are Honolulu kids different from neighbor islanders, they're also different from those from suburban O'ahu. Suburban O'ahu students grew up with a lot more luxury than I did, which is why I had to laugh when some of those students complained about "being poor" or that the "dorms look like a ghetto." I also had to laugh when they said that urban Honolulu is "too crowded." How many people from Shanghai or Calcutta would ever say that?
Also, at this university, it is the first time I've been around a large number of white people. (I know that some of you from the mainland will laugh at what I just said.) Some white mainlanders said that being in this university was the first time they've ever been in the minority. However, in my high school, only 1 percent of the students were white. Never did I see an all-white clique in my high school because there weren't enough white people to make up a clique.
So it was a culture shock when I met some white people at the university who came from Oregon or Washington. Before meeting them, I didn't know anyone my age who had hippie-ish hair. Nor did I knew anyone who faithfully listened to the Dave Matthew Band or the ladies of Lilith Fair tours. But now, I work alongside such people at my job at the Marine Option Program.
But regardless of the differences, we all shared this university. I could go on and on about the adventures I had at this university - the sports events, talent shows, the freshmen seminars, the funny moments in class, the amazing things I learned, the sit-downs by the fishponds, leaving the campus late after hours in the library or the computer lab, the walk-around in the dorms that got one RA suspicious, reading the interesting magazines at Hamilton, the Entrepreneurship Club, the professor strike, riding the campus shuttle, etc.
Goodbye to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa! I will miss you.
P.S.: Keep the weight room at Stan Sheriff open longer on the weekends. Please get the professors to stop being so biased! And remember my suggestion for more one-person dorm rooms.
Of course I should've mentioned that at the beginning of my college career, that Ken Mortimer was UH President, Hugh Yoshida was UH athletic director, but I forgot about that when typing the editorial
