My Christmas

My Christmas vacation started off good with the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve, with Hawaii defeating Alabama-Birmingham 59-40. If you're not into football, try learn about it and watch some games. The game is more complicated than soccer or basketball, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes fun.

Then on Christmas, I visited some relatives. One of the visiting relatives was my cousin Don from Waianae, who was fighting in Iraq. Earlier this year, his arm was shot. Now, he has to wear a brace for his elbow.I was talking to Don about his experiences in the military, boot camp, his travels to Atlanta & New Orleans, the time he was in South Korea and his time fighting in Iraq. I now consider Don Wegesend one of my heroes.

I was also talking to Don's father, "Uncle Puddy" who was once in the military and is now a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ & Latter Day Saints (aka Mormon Church). I also got some "dont give up advice" from my uncle Warren, which was great since that motivates me to work on my goal in the music industry.

As for presents, I got some gift cards from my parents and my brother & his wife. I'll go on a shopping spree, mostly to buy clothes. I now need to buy some professional-looking clothing now that I'm out of college.

I Graduated

Earlier this morning, I have graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

If you've never been to a UHM graduation, you gotta go to at least one. There is the Hawaiian oli chant in the beginning, the usual national and state anthems, and speeches. And it ends with the UH Alma Mater and the graduates walk to the athletic fields to recieve leis from family.

Baseball legend Tommy Lasorda was the speaker at our graduation. It was a relief to hear non-political rants at a UH graduation ceremony. Lasorda was funny and inspirational, though he spoke louder than neccessary.

I took a lot of pictures, though I didn't get a chance to take pictures of everyone I knew there.

Now I'll have to enter the real world. I'm going to miss school now, though I wont miss the exams. I'm going to miss all the good people I've met and all the fun memories I had.

My Graduation tomorrow

Tomorrow (Sunday, December 19,2004) I will be graduating from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor's degree in sociology.

I'll have to change the words on the top of my blog.

I'm glad to accomplish my childhood dream of graduating from UHM.

I'll be glad to not have to put with studying for exams for now. More free time.

However, I'll have to enter the real world and be economically self-sufficient. Scary stuff for me. Especially with me having my own apartment, one bad move, I can be homeless.

But forget that gloom & doom nonsense, I'll be more independent, and I could possibly make more money that I ever had sometime in the near future.

I'll be job hunting , while still working on my rap career.

See you tomorrow :)

Talent Show

Last night I was performing the song "I Like That" by Houston, Chingy, Nate Dogg and I-20. I was good at memorizing the words and did a few funky dances.

That was my last talent show as a UH student. Now I must look for other forums to perform.

Unlike last year, however, this time around I didn't win any awards.

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

Here is my latest editorial on Ka Leo.

It has some re-hashes from stuff I said from my other blog

http://pablothemadtiger.blogspot.com

And in the new web version of the editorial, they took out a idiotic, hideous line that appeared on the print version. I didn't even write that line, a copy editor added it in. Anyways, that line no longer exists in the web version and a correction will be printed in Ka Leo soon.

Anyways, here's the editorial


http://www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/06/41b3c7837cd0e


Violence against violence OK
By Pablo Wegesend
December 06, 2004

There are times when violence is wrong. It is wrong to attack someone just to people's possessions. It is wrong to use force on others just to get sexual satisfaction. It is wrong to attack someone based on race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.

But there are also times when violence is necessary.

Statements like that, however, are considered blasphemy by some in our university. Two events, one in Hawai'i, another in Iraq, illustrate the occasional necessity of violence.
First, let's go over the incident in Iraq.

In Fallujah, a U.S. Marine killed a wounded Islamic militant who appeared to be unarmed because there was no gun in his hand. Because of that one fact alone, there has been outrage directed toward that U.S. Marine.

That outrage is misdirected -- for one thing, this incident happened in the Middle East, where Islamic militants don't hesitate to blow themselves up! That Islamic militant probably had an explosive device hiding under his clothing.

How would the U.S. Marine know if that's the case? The Marine would have to go very close to that Islamic militant to find out. Once that happens, chances are very high that the Islamic militant would've blown himself up and killed the U.S. Marine in the process. That could've happened if the U.S. Marine gave first aid or arrested that Islamic militant.

Under those circumstances, most people would've shot and killed that Fallujah terrorist! I would -- it's my life or his! Or at least, his life or me coming home being a medical burden on my family and society.

Some would call that "racist" or "anti-Arab." Those who would say that don't realize that those Islamic militants don't just brutalize Americans. They brutalized Arabs more often than anyone else.

Let's not forget that Islamic militants blew up a Christian church attended by native Iraqis. Let's not forget that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons severely brutalized and killed thousands of Arabs and Kurds.

These Islamic militants aren't nice to their own people.

Closer to home, there's another incident where necessary violence occurred.

On Sept. 6, a Kahuku farmer, Khamxath Baccam, shot and killed an intruder who was stealing crops and equipment. The intruder, Marcelino Pacheco, was a known crystal methamphetamine user. So what would we expect Baccam to do with someone intruding on his property?

He could plead all night long with the intruder, trying to reason with him to leave. But anyone living in reality knows that won't work. And you wouldn't want to get near someone who is intruding on your property. Chances are, as in the case described, the intruder is on crystal meth and is capable of violence.

You might say "Call the police!" However, in a rural community like Kahuku, it'll take forever for the police to arrive.

So chances are, if Baccam didn't shoot the intruder, he would've been slashed to death by the time the police arrive. Criminals know that.

Would you take that chance? Would you know if the intruder is on crystal meth and carrying a hidden weapon? You wouldn't know until the intruder attacks with fast, violent rage.

Some might say, "How dare you stereotype someone who is intruding on your property!" Excuse me, if that person has no moral qualms about intruding on others' property, what makes you think he would have any moral qualms about slashing your face, stabbing your kidneys, or killing you?

Baccam says he feels bad about killing the intruder. But he also understands that in the real world there might be situations where you have to protect yourself with deadly force.

However, too many people have been sheltered from that reality, which is why some of them say, "Just give the robbers what they want and you won't get hurt." Nonsense!

Remember, it's not Vice President Dick Cheney or Massachusets Sen. John Kerry getting robbed on the streets. Criminals know that those people are well protected. It is the average person that has one percent of the money Cheney or Kerry have who is getting robbed on the streets.

That fact alone shows you that it's not about the possessions that common people have, it's about their vulnerability.

I remember a former coworker told me that when he was in middle school, he would threaten other kids for money. He did that even though he had more than enough money in his pockets to buy himself snacks and soda at 7-11. He did that because he thought it was fun.

Money wasn't his motive, bullying others for fun was his motive.

Does any thinking person think that kid would rob rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight or actor "The Rock," both of whom have way more money than most robbery victims? No way! Knight or "The Rock" would've given that kid a severe beat down!

That former coworker agreed with me when I mentioned that you can't reason with thieves, muggers, rapists, or other criminals. Those violent criminals think that reasoning is for sissies. The only language they understand is fear and violence.

So when a group of violent thugs steps up to you, it's either 1) run and hope they don't catch up, 2) knock them out, or 3) point a pistol in their face.

It doesn't matter if you don't like those options. You can be politically correct all you want. But muggers, rapists, burglars and terrorists never were, aren't and never will be politically correct.