A JOURNAL OF ACADEMIC WRITING VOLUME 1 , NUMBER 1 Hohonu Hohonu, which means “deep, profound” in Hawaiian, celebrates its inaugural issue this year. Hohonu aspires to showcase the quality and the diversity of the writing styles and interests of UH Hilo and Hawai`i CC students. Through Hononu, the UHH/HCC Board of Student Publications seeks to provide students with models of good work, reward the writers, and promote academic writing. In this way Hohonu is contributing to meaningful discourse and enhancing the educational atmosphere on campus. Hohonu features non-fiction academic writing in any format and on any subject. Our first annual issue displays the wide variety of student writing by including personal reaction papers, analysis, argument, review, and research papers. Hohonu wishes to thank the student authors for their contributions to this successful inaugural issue. Their accomplishments are a part of the success of the collegiate educational process as a whole. Hohonu also appreciates the efforts of Luke Bailey and John Cole, whose inspiration and energy resulted in the creation of this journal of academic writing. Many mahalos go out to Graphics Services for their help in design and publication. Hohonu gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Academic Af- fairs, and the Humanities Division, all of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. And Hohonu recognizes the work of the student editors Alicia Cuttrell, Andy Gramlich, and Kalyan Meola. 1 > IN A NEW YORK MINUTE Donna Marie Ambrose It was 3:30 a.m. when I received “The phone call” More excitement as word came that Hollywood from my brother in Florida. He was a broker in New planned to do a re-make of King Kong, this time us- Jersey until his company decided to move. Most of ing the Towers instead of the Empire State Building. his coworkers followed the firm to the “Big Time” at They needed extras for the crowd scene and there were the World Trade Center; he chose to move to their more than enough of us willing to oblige. It was such smaller office in Florida on a whim. a big hype at the time with an inflatable Kong hanging My brain still foggy from my broken sleep, I am from one of the towers to promote the movie. We felt not even sure I am awake yet. I hear his frantic voice proud to be part of it. through the receiver: He had been on the phone with I heard from my brother that they still have not Tony, a mutual friend, at the WTC. They were work- found our friend, Barbara, but they did find her car ing on a deal. In the middle of it, Tony said he just saw still parked in the lot where she caught the ferry to the other tower get hit by a plane. My brother turned work each day. She was the pride of our neighborhood on the television in his office to catch it on the news. when she landed her position with that company at What he eventually sees is another plane heading for the WTC and made it to the top. the tower Tony (still on the line) is in. He tells this to I spoke with my cousin and asked how he and my Tony, tells him to get out. Screams, then silence. It uncles are handling their job with the clean up of the is too late. This is how I came to know the events of site. I do not know how they have been able to get September 11, 2001. My thoughts turn to my family up each day and face this. He tells me they have been and friends who live in the New York area and I am able to deal with everything (you get used to it) but suddenly very awake, wishing this nightmare was only for one thing - the smells. a dream… I was supposed to go back to visit for the holidays. The towers went up when I was a child in the The Towers are the first thing I see as the plane de- eighth grade. scends. I see them and know that I am home. But I remember the excitement they generated and they are not there anymore. the feeling of pride we all had. The tallest buildings And so I find myself faced daily with these long right in our backyard! forgotten childhood memories, fresh in my mind even When we took the train into the City we disem- when I do not care to think about them. I hear my barked at the station beneath them. We always ate brother’s painful voice and I see my friends who are at our favorite pizzeria in the underground mall while gone. I worry about my cousin and uncles. talking about how someday we would make it to the I know we are supposed to “forget” and go on, restaurant on top. To us that meant success. which should not be so hard for me living in Ka`u, . 3 > far from New York and even CNN, (and I can surely of the world and move to Hawai`i, thankful for the pass the news stand). But I cannot erase the memories life that I have here. or thoughts of family and friends from my mind, nor …..everything can change. And it did. the twinges of guilt that I feel as I wake up each day, thankful for the choice that I made to leave that part This essay was written for History 151. It is a response paper to 9/11. 4 > SUPERSTITIONS AS A PART OF RUSSIAN CULTURE Olga Lozhkina “The mind of the man is like an enchanted glass, might lose all their money, if they do. If a Russian full of superstitions, apparitions and impostures” person meets a woman with an empty bucket after -Francis Bacon leaving the house, he will pinch a button on his shirt between his fingers and bite on his tongue in order Every culture has a certain set of beliefs that reflect to avoid bad luck. If a Russian loses something in the its history and the way people in this culture view the house, he usually addresses domovoj, an imaginary world. These beliefs can be either rational or irrational. creature that supposedly lives in every house, with The irrational beliefs, which cannot be explained or words “domovoj, you have played enough; give it back proved scientifically, are called superstitions. For cen- to me now”. After that, most people find the missing turies people all over the world tried to explain things thing. The list of popular Russian superstitions can go they did not understand, and one of the ways to get on and on. They encompass every aspect of life from control over the unexplainable was to believe in super- birth until death and are widely spread not only in stitions. Modern science, however, proved most of the the rural areas of Russia, but also in big metropolitan irrational beliefs wrong and senseless. It is interesting, cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. though, why even today in the modern age of science Superstitions are learned from early childhood and and new technologies people in some cultures still throughout life. They are passed on from generation cling to superstitions in their every day life. to generation. Mark Twain once said: “I am aware that I was raised in Russia, a country abundant in even the brightest mind in our world has been trained superstitious beliefs, but I never thought about the up from childhood in a superstition of any kind, it nature of these beliefs until I moved to the United will never be possible for that mind, in its maturity, to States and saw a different culture. In the U.S., people examine sincerely, dispassionately, and conscientiously do not care much about the supernatural forces and any evidence or any circumstance which shall seem ill omens; they look at things in a very materialistic to cast a doubt upon the validity of that superstition” way. After seeing the differences in the two cultures, (9/28/02). I realized that superstitions are truly an important The origin of most Russian superstitions can be part of Russian mentality which reflects its ancient traced back to the ancient times. Before Russia ac- and modern history as well as the nature of Russian cepted Christianity in the year 988 A.D., it was a people. country with a pagan culture, a culture where people What is a “Russian superstition”? It is something worshiped many gods. Ancient Russians worshipped that Russian people do or avoid doing in their everyday elements of nature, such as water, fire, Earth, stones, life out of fear that something bad will happen. For etc. They also believed in “good” and “bad” creatures example, people do not whistle indoors, because they (domovoj is one of them) that lived on the Earth and . 5 > influenced people’s lives. Christianity brought the when people do not have anything to hold on to, Eastern Orthodox Church to Russia, which remains they turn to superstitions. Superstitions give a certain a dominant religion until this time. Eastern Orthodox degree of confidence, encouragement, and control. For is one of the most conservative and “strict” denomi- example, students never wash their hair before the nations in Christianity, so it quickly forced the pagan exam for the fear of forgetting everything they know. beliefs of people out of religious faith and into supersti- Of course, it does not make any sense, but it sure helps tions.