Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 18 Article 24 Issue 1 May 2004 News and Notes Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific slI ands Commons, and the Pacific slI ands Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation (2004) "News and Notes," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 18 : Iss. 1 , Article 24. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol18/iss1/24 This Commentary or Dialogue is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Hawai`i Press at Kahualike. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation by an authorized editor of Kahualike. For more information, please contact [email protected]. et al.: News and Notes MOAl ~lGtt\"lNGt~ IN OUR VOLUME 17(1) ISSUE of Rapa Nui Journal (May 2003), we noted that tissue cases in the shape of a moai head were on sale from Ebay; one pulls a tissue from its nose. Since then, these 'Tiki Head Tissue Box Covers" have ap­ peared in catalogs all over the country, advertised as a "delightfully heady presence". We now have received dozens of the e advertisements (please, folks, no more....). MEANWHll..E, RAPANUIPHILE, Bob Chisnell wrote a letter of This "moai sighting" was sent in by Avonne Bradshaw of Phoenix, protest to a magazine that was advertising them: Sirs: I have and rather leaves us speechJe s. In that Light, we ask our readers to supply an appropriate caption. A prize goes to the best one! Send to ju t received the latest issue (New Year 2004) of ACORN [email protected] magazine, and I am writing to prote t the listing of an ob­ scene and offensive article among the goods your establish­ ment hawks. On page 19, item F offers what is called a STONE STATUE TISSUE BOX COVER. The item is a grossly portrayed image, and so identified, of what purports to be an Easter I land statue, or Moai, with a tissue protruding from its nose. Who is the halfwit who conceived such an in­ sulting piece of trash? Has he been to that magnificently hi ­ toric island to see the wonders, to experience the awe, to sense the culture, to come to know and love the Rapa Nui people, to move about on the most remote piece of inhabited land on Earth? You and your publication should feel a deep shame and offer an abject apology to the world and especially to everything connected with Rapa Nui for your money­ THIs DOUBLE-HEADER MOAI SIGHTING was sent to us by Mark Bright grubbing stupidity for the sake of a few pieces of silver. of Santa Barbara. He spotted the two-moai logo at a bu iness in Robert E. Chisnell (Associate Professor, Ret.) California, called Epik Masonry and Concrete. Their logo con ists of Wow, go get 'em, Bob. double moai heads and their motto is "Our Reputation i Set in Stone!" Thanks, Mark! A SET OF SIX STAMPS issued by the Royal Mail of Britain ha made news. The stamps feature objects from the Brit­ ish Museum, which recently noted its 250th year anniver­ sary. Chosen for one of the images on the stamps is the moai, Hoa Hakananai 'a, which was taken from the island in 1868. PERFUME NOW COMES in moai-shaped bottles. H. de Briassar, Paris, is marketing "O'PSIE" eau de parfum (two scents: one for women, one for men; both expensive). The bottle cap serves for a rather nar­ row pukao. www.briaar.com! WHllE WE THOUGHT the tissue box covers were the worst, th along comes "Easter Island Bobble Head". The adverti ement ON JANUARY 16 , A MOAl WAS UNVEILED in front of the hotel San in a catalog, sent to us by both Betsy Hamel and Marcia Opal, Francisco, right next to the San Francisco church on the Alameda, describes the 7 Y2 inch head a , "A single tap sends this Santiago de Chile. The statue is the brainchild ofEdgard Hereveri, spring-loaded scale model of a 10 ton moai bopping up and the owner of the Vai Moana cabins on Easter Island. The statue dedi­ down. No scholar's de k hould be without one." cation was accompanied by an exhibition of Rapanui art inside the hotel. The marble moai was carved by Bene Tuki Pate. New and Photo by Riet Del ing. Rapa Nui Journal 71 Vol. 18 (I) May 2004 Published by Kahualike, 2004 1 Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 18 [2004], Iss. 1, Art. 24 Wl'\AT'~ N£W IN Tl'\£ l'A(.IFI{.. received a ceremonial tabau, or whale' tooth, and a de cen­ dant, Baker's great-great-grandson, Australian Geoff Lester, speaking for the family, told the chiefs: "I look forward to this MICRONESIA event being of use to the Fiji people and the people of this vil­ Ou- SLICKS FROM WW2 WRECKS are polluting ensitive la­ lage". While he did not believe in curses, Le ter said "it's a goons and reefs from the Solomons to Micronesia. More than concept of this village, so it's important to them so I'm happy 3,852 Japanese and US warships, including 23 aircraft carri­ to help with this". He said his great-great grandfather "came ers, 213 destroyers, 22 battleships and some 50 oil tankers here knowing what the risks were and fully aware of what have been mapped by Pacific nations. The wrecks are corrod­ might happen". Baker' children all moved from Fiji to Au ­ ing and causing major oil leaks. Few island nations have tralia after hi death, and the male line of the family has died equipment to clean up marine oil spills and requests to the US out. and Japan to take responsibility for them have gone unan­ In a message to the village, Prime Mini ter Qara e, said swered. Reefs in the Solomons are dying from oil pollution. "asking forgiveness from the relative of Thomas Baker and Both the US and Japan also left great quantities of bomb, fuel members of his party i a very beautiful act". However, no and weapon dumps on land; neither is willing to remove them. mention was made of any government funding for the impov­ John Vidal,jrom the Guardian Weekly, Feb 12-18,2004 eri hed village. Since the killing, some locals ay they have been cursed more by fellow Fijians than by any other-worldly Fm power. The village elder said that every request for govern­ Two LEADING SCIENTISTS FROM the Univer ity of the South ment help was rebuffed. The government subsequently re­ Pacific attended a meeting in Brussels in August to restore the leased a national budget in which there wa no additional reputation of kava products. A ban on kava imports from Pa­ money targeted for this area. cific I land countries into Asia and Europe has everely af­ Michael Field, theage.com.au fected many i land communities. It seems that excessive or­ ganic resinous compound were found in kava sold in Europe VARIETIES OF ASIAN TARO ARE stored at a gene bank at the and this may be the source for reported liver problems. University of the South Pacific's Regional Crops Gene Bank US? Beat, Vol. 3(12) 2003. at its School of Agriculture, Alafua Campus, Samoa. The crop gene bank is a safeguard for future use; should a plant pecies A NEW DEGREE PROGRAM, Bachelor of Arts in Tourism and become extinct, the plants in the gene bank could be multi­ Hospitality, will be offered from 2004 at the University's Lau­ plied and distributed to farmer , thereby rever ing the nega­ cala Campu in Suva. The European Union awarded the Uni­ tive impact of their disappearance. The Regional Crops Gene ver ity a grant of FJ$2.37 million last year to create the new Bank is an extension of the school's Tissue Culture Labora­ degree program. The first stage was to establish a lecturer po­ tory. sition, with the appointment of David Short. The grant al 0 USP Beat, Vol. 3 (l8.) 2003. provides further support to Touri m and Hospitality through funding for postgraduate scholarships and money for enrich­ SAMOA th ing the department's research resources. SAMOA WAS HIT BY CYCLONE Heta on the 4 of January. US? Beat, Vol. 3(17) 2003 Gusting winds to 105 mph tore roofs from hou e , uprooted trees and downed power lines. Five-meter high wave NABUTAUTAU, FIn. The relatives of English missionary Tho­ pounded the coastlines. Samoa's international airport closed ma Baker, who was murdered and eaten in thi remote vil­ and all travel between islands was cancelled. River flooded lage 137 years ago, joined 600 people for a Christian cere­ and giant waves surged across coa tal roads. After impacting mony that locals hope will lift a curse that has lingered since Samoa, cyclone Heta intensified and headed off for tiny Niue, the killing. Ten de cendants of Baker were joined by Fijian leaving it devastated.. The cyclone was described as the wor t Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, all of whom made the diffi­ in living memory by local residents, with winds of 150 mile cult trek to attend the ervice. Villagers believe that a tradi­ per hour and gusts up to 184 mph. Cyclone Heta was fa t, tional Fijian apology will absolve them of the crime of their furious and ruthless, and coastal areas of the island were ancestors.