"Mistakes were made" -- migrating my blog over to Tumblr (and renaming it Kuranga)

Sometimes, I make mistakes.

Back in December 2013, in the mad rush of closing up my life in Washington DC and preparing to move to New Zealand, I signed up for an account with Google’s Blogger to blog about my experiences here. If you’ve been reading Shadow on the Clouds, well, thank you. I chose Blogger for two simple reasons: (1) it’s free; and (2) as a Google product, I thought it would integrate nicely with other Google services I use regularly, such as Google Drive and Picasa. 

Big mistake. 

As I’ve discovered, whatever minimal benefits are gained by using predominately Google-based products are dwarfed by the pain of using a clunky and antiquated platform to host my blog. For example, adding pictures has been a nightmare; load times are slow and it’s very difficult to move pictures to get them in the right order. And don’t even ask about captioning.

So, not without trepidation, I’m migrating my blog over to Tumblr and renaming it Kuranga, which is the Te Reo Maori word for “education.” Because that’s what I’ll be blogging about primarily and because it’s what I hope this experience will impart. And if you just want pictures and videos, well,Tumblr appears better for that too. 

Once again, the new blog can be found at http://kuranga.tumblr.com/.

Thanks for reading. 

Learning about the Treaty of Waitangi

The Sixth of February is a public (national) holiday in New Zealand known as Waitangi Day (roughly pronounced "why-tang-ee). The holiday is named for the Treaty of Waitangi that was signed on 6 February 1840 and serves as one of the founding documents for the modern New Zealand state. 

The Treaty of Waitangi also happens to have fascinating -- and highly controversial -- history. The basic story as I understand it is that in 1840 the British Crown wanted to assert formal governance over New Zealand, and entered into a pact with a number of Maori iwi (or tribes). But there were some problems, as this brief summary provided to me as part of my fellowship orientation this week aptly highlights:

The Treaty of Waitangi has two texts, one Māori and one English. The English text is not an exact translation of the Māori text. Despite the problems caused by the different versions, both represent an agreement in which Māori gave the Crown rights to govern and to develop British settlement, while the Crown guaranteed Māori full protection of their interests and status, and full citizenship rights.

As a former lawyer, I shudder when reading that second sentence. Because as it turns out, the initial translation of the Treaty of Waitangi was slipshod at best. While the British thought they were basically getting the right to assert "sovereignty" over all of New Zealand, sovereignty was translated as "kawantanga" in the Maori version of the treaty -- roughly, "governorship." Yet in previous documents presented to the Maori, sovereignty had been translated as "mana," which is a much broader word that comes closer to capturing western notions of sovereignty and dominion. It's a basic rule of statutory interpretation that if you omit the use of one word in favor of another, you've signaled an intent to change the meaning of the text -- but what change was signaled here? It appears New Zealand is still trying to tease out a satisfactory answer to that question. 

Just as interesting (at least to me) is another translation issue that arose in Article Two of the treaty. This provision, according the English version of the text, guaranteed the Maori "the full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties" -- in other words, all physical things. But the Maori text of the Treaty guaranteed "te rino rangatiratanga o ratou wenua kainga me o ratou taonga katoa," which (more accurately translated) assured the Maori chiefs they would have "unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages and all their treasures." (My emphasis) Treasure, arguably, goes beyond just physical stuff and indeed, in subsequent years Maori argued that the Treaty protects intellectual property too, such as the Maori language.

As an aside, I think this is one of the coolest things about New Zealand. English and Maori are both official languages here and it's very common for speakers to address crowds briefly in Maori before switching to English. This effort to build a sense of multicultural identity is surely incomplete and ongoing, but the commitment to try -- at least to my outsider's eyes -- seems genuine. 

Given the Treaty's importance to the creation of modern New Zealand, and the rich instructional opportunities posed by the controversy surrounding it, you'd think it be a central part of the New Zealand education curriculum, right? But according to Kura Moeahu, the leader of a Maori marae (roughly, communal gathering place) who spoke to me as part of my fellowship orientation, the Treaty was hardly taught during his schooling. To be candid, I was quietly skeptical of this claim until the non-Maori New Zealand family of educators that's presently letting me stay with them confirmed over dinner that, nope, the Treaty isn't really studied in depth in primary or secondary school. 

Perhaps these experiences are outliers, but I can't help but think of another idea Kura Moeahu suggested during our time with him. He asked, "What would a treaty between the US and the Maori look like today? What could we do?" What a great civics question! And wouldn't it be interesting to see how New Zealand students and US students -- including Maori and Native American students -- would answer that question? What sort of treaty might they draft for adults to consider? 

(With digital tools, we might be able to find out.)

Final days on the South Island

Let's see, what do we have here. Me, jumping off one of the cool cylindrical Moeraki boulders, as shot by some random French dude who moments prior to this picture did the exact same thing himself. Some panoramic shots of my drive up South Island's east coast. Some bonus footage from the Milford track including my excited hiking companion Levi doing his best Richard Nixon impersonation. A picture of a "little...LADY...BUG!", as Nicki Minaj would say. Some bizarre and even frightening pictures from the completely unexpected-but-awesome "Steampunk HQ" in the very quirky town of Oamaru. A picture of empty chairs in downtown Christchurch that serve as a memorial to the 185 people who died during the major earthquake that hit a few years ago. I'll have more to say about Christchurch in future posts but suffice to say seeing the devastation in person was haunting -- but the rebuilding, much like New Orleans after Katrina, was inspiring. Including things like people creating a bar out of a bus. Constraint begets creativity! 

Thanks to everyone who's been following along thus far. This blog is going to take an increasingly professional turn in the weeks ahead as my actual work with the NZ government commences, but I'll still try to find time to post personal pictures. Perhaps more importantly, I'm on the verge of renting a furnished, TWO bedroom apartment in Wellington, so those of y'all in the US have NO EXCUSE not to come visit!

Hiking the Milford Track

If you're wondering why this blog hasn't been updated in a few weeks, well, the main reason is sheer laziness. But in addition, I spent four days hiking the Milford Track in the Fiordlands of New Zealand. (Side note: it's impossible for me to mentally think the word "Fiordlands" without invoking my inner Swedish Chef voice.) 

Anyway, for those who may be unfamiliar, the New Zealand Department of Conservation -- referred to as "The Doc" in NZ --  has designated 12 trails (or tracks as they call them here) as official "Great Walks." Since the entire country is stunningly gorgeous, I'm not sure what makes any particular track in New Zealand a Great Walk, but the Milford is particularly famous since someone once said it was "the greatest walk in the world." Accordingly, everyone wants to hike the Milford, the DOC limits the track to 40 people per day, who stay in designated "huts" -- really more like a spartan hostel -- that are set out along the trail. You also have to book a Great Walk waaaaay in advance, at least if you want to hike it during Great Walk season, also known as anytime other than the winter. 

One nice surprise about this system is that you end up bonding with (some of) your fellow hikers as you progress along the track and sleep with them (in the non-naughty sense) in the huts. I ended up befriending another American (Levi the running coach from San Francisco) and an adorable German couple (Chris and Tina) who for reasons unexplained were obsessed with building a snowman on the trail.

With that as background, let's get to the fun part -- pictures! And plenty of them. I literally took more than 200 photos and virtually all of them could have made the cut for publication here, but I've arbitrarily cut it down to a mere 20 or so. Hopefully at least a few of the pictures explain the admittedly somewhat pretentious name I stole for this blog -- there are shadows and clouds! And a snowman. And a Kia parrot that attacked me. (Seriously, it swooped down on me with talons extended, then proceeded to hop around in adorable fashion.)

Second week in the Southland of New Zealand

We'll keep this brief because megabytes are at premium here in the Southland of South Island, New Zealand. Below you'll see some shots of the rocky west coast, including "pancake rocks"; a picture of the tower in Hokitika which happens to be the setting of the Man Booker-prize award winning novel The Luminaries; me hiking the Fox Glacier (check out the stunning cave picture); some random hitchhiker friends appearing to watch a nuclear weapon detonation but in reality using my solar glasses to watch an unbelievable sunset; a sunset in Queenstown on a street so steep it'd put San Francisco's Lombard to shame; a spooky museum picture from the town of Gore that is chiefly famous for its history of trade in illicit whiskey/moonshine; and two curious sheep. Why no fish pics, you might wonder? Not to worry, they have been caught, but when fishing solo I don't want to make them suffer through the ordeal of gasping on the bank. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.