http://www.kaleo.org/news/he-was-brilliant/article_4eb72f00-cb6d-11e5-acbb-23f7e82a5f7f.html
hawaii.edu
Dr. Peter Manicas
Dr Manicas was a sociology professor as well as a former director of the university's Interdisciplinary Studies program.
He also happened to teach the very first class I attended at UH-Manoa.
As written in a blog post I wrote in 2009
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009/12/5-years-since-my-uh-graduation.html
My first day as a UH student was memorable in itself. I remember my 1st class, Sociology 100. The professor was Dr Manicas, but people called him Maniacs (notice the a & c switched places in his name)! In the 1st day, he was already running around the classroom and yelling into people's faces at random! The 1st day, he was talking into a girl's face, but gender didn't even matter. I remember the same professor getting into one of the men's basketball players face, and his teammate was laughing at him!
This was back in Fall 1999. I was only a few months out of high school and just beginning my undergraduate years at the university.
The class was Sociology 100, an introductory course for what will become my undergraduate major.
And what I described above was only one of his crazy professor antics.
When someone answered a difficult question, he did a dance!
I remember one time, he was so upset that too many students turned in papers that he felt were too politically correct! He was mad that student's papers didn't acknowledge that the Hawaiian monarchy sold some of the land to European/American business interests. He went on a rant about "political correctness", then said "I'm going to get myself a cup of coffee", then walked out of the room. People were looking at each other like "ok, is class over?"
In another blog post, titled "Positive Teachers", I wrote the following
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/positive-teachers.html
He was opinionated but he didn't take himself too seriously and he didn't take a challenge to his opinions personally. After I was done in the class, I would see him around campus and we would joke to each other about the opposite opinions we would sometimes have.
Dr. Manicas called himself a "left-anarchist" saying that he has skepticism towards both government and business, whereas he claimed "right-anarchists" and "libertarians" are only skeptical towards government.
OK, an over-generalization right there!
Though if you listened to his rants on most issues, he was more like a "democratic socialist", in other words, just like Bernie Sanders.
And just like Bernie Sanders, Manicas is originally from New York.
Manicas is of Greek & Italian ancestry, but many in Hawaii probably mistaken him as being Hawaiian-Portuguese, an ethnic mix that is common here!
Being that Manicas was from NY, he also had an obituary in the New York Times
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=177119457
-----
Anyways back to political philosophy, I remember back in my college freshman year, I was like many others my age, trying to articulate a political philosophy.
I sure was NOT a right-wing Republican (though some left-wingers accused me of being that) but I wasn't satisfied with the way the Democrats ran Hawaii. Plus, I didn't agree with many Democrats on gun control issues.
In the 2nd semester at UH-Manoa, I met David Parker who drew politcal cartoons in the school's newspapers. Parker advocated for capitalism, which pissed off many of the socialists on campus. But Parker also disagreed with the Religious Right. He then introduced me to libertarianism. Around the same time, I read Jesse Ventura's books and I was fascinated.
Parker then introduced me to his high school classmate Stuart Hayashi (who attended Hawaii Pacific University) who also had libertarian leanings.
So for a while, I defined myself as a "libertarian" which others might find odd being that I was attending a government-funded university, graduated from government-funded public schools and was a former resident of government-funded housing projects.
You see why I don't even want to put political labels on myself anymore?
And when Dr Manicas found out about me experimenting with the libertarian philosophy, OMG, he never let me hear the end of it! Nah, but he was cool with it, just a little friendly taunts that weren't meant to be taken personally!
When other classes required me to interview "experts" on political issues, I did interview Manicas and he always gave interesting quotes, even if I thought they not exactly what I agree with!
Years later, after I earned my bachelor's, I did take a bike ride around campus, and ran into Dr Manicas. He joked that he was no longer teaching Sociology 100 because higher-ups didn't want him indoctrinating freshmen anymore! I also told him just what I mentioned a few paragraphs ago....... I don't even want to put political labels on myself anymore, citing post-college life experiences. He then said in a joking manner "I told you the left-anarchism is the way to go".
I think the last time I seen him was a few years later, when we passed each other somewhere in Kaimuki. We just said "hi" being that he seemed like he had places to go.
=====================
Outside of politics & sociology, I also mentioned this from an earlier mentioned blog post.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/positive-teachers.html
Not only that, that guy could sing the school's alma mater. I remember hearing him sing at a graduation ceremony and I was impressed!
I honestly don't remember the year, but I think it was 2005/2006.
Cell-phones with video cameras weren't as popular as they are today, so I couldn't find a YouTube video of him singing.
I'm not a vocal expert, but he sounded like he can sing the opera in a bass voice.
Here's the instrumental for the university's alma mater
University of Hawaii Alma Mater (instrumental)
AS I hear this instrumental, I not only remember the time Dr Manicas sang the song, but also the interesting memories I had of him at UH-Manoa!
Rest in peace professor!
