 Hello, have Friday and welcome to a brand new episode of Perspectives on Global Justice Think That Kava'i. This is your host Beatrice Cantelmo. What does peace mean to you? Gandhi once said, peace is the most powerful weapon of mankind. So how can we inspire and foster thoughts, conversations and learning opportunities about peace in our community? Twenty years ago, Melinda Gandhi had a thought-provoking idea with other peers. How about we create a platform where we invite teachers from all schools, from all islands in the state of Kava'i to engage their students, starting kindergarten to learn and write about civil rights and peace, plan everything linked to it and share their thoughts over the community every year? Oh, that's how the Matalutikin Junior Peace Poem Project was born. Marsha Junior became the godmother and the spiritual advisor of this beautiful project soon thereafter and the rest is history. Today, we'll start a new series where we get to hear these two marvelous women share their many memories of this 20-year-long journey, and the many seeds of peace that were planted and grew into the hearts and minds of our community through literacy and poetry, lessons learned along the way, dreams and hopes for the future of this precious process that engages so many spirits in the state of Kava'i in such special and different ways. On that note, welcome, marvelous women, to our program today, so how are you doing today, Marsha? I love her. Wonderful, of course, wonderful. And we have Melinda joining us over the phone from Maui. How are you doing, darling? I'm very happy to be on the show and thank you for having me. Oh, absolutely. I think in today's world, more than anything, we need to have more platforms, not only to talk about peace and what it means, but also to continue to give strength to existing programs that are successful, such as the one that we have here. Let me just add to your opening. Melinda had, the first time I saw it was when in 1990s something or other and she came for the Martin Luther King holiday and rolled out this long, long sheet of people adding names and their poems. And so that was, what, two years before we started the Peace Poem Project? I think that's about right. I think we came from Maui to March in 1997 and we brought the Peace Poem with us. It was at that time, at that time you could still hold it in your arms. No more. It's in storage now, but essentially we were in the parade and Frank Rich, who also founded the International Peace Poem Project with me, came with me and we rode in the parade in an electric car. I felt like we were really from the future. You were all. And she rolled out this long, long sheet, oh my gosh, miles and miles of paper so people could write their poems. Yes, and we ask everyone worldwide to add their two lines or more to the Peace Poem we're creating the world's longest poem on peace. We began this project in June of 1996 and in 1999, we decided to begin this poem program in the schools and invite the students statewide to write during Black History Month on peace and honor of Dr. King because it's his work to bring equality for not only Black Americans but for all minorities and certainly in Hawaii, you know, it's really, really important because we're such a diverse population and quite frankly I'm a teacher and so many of our children are at risk in so many ways. So we want to elevate them and make them empowered to believe that we can make the world better and the Peace Poem I think has been a wonderful tool in that journey. And when did you take it to the UN? We were invited to the United Nations to present the Peace Poem for the Jubilennium of Peace in September of 2000 and it was wonderful it was just a miracle for us to get there but we did get there and we presented the poem to then President of the United Nations Council Henry Hockiery. He preceded Mr. Kofi Anan and also the First Lady of Columbia was there, Mrs. Pastrana. So we were honored to be there and to present to them and to the entire gathering the Peace Poem. And then we brought it back to keep working on it because we had about 15,382 lines at that time but now we're looking at a poem that's almost 200,000 lines. That's amazing, that's so beautiful. So I want to ask you from both of you from the first year, if you remember how many islands and how many schools participated from this beautiful Peace Poem event like in the very first year. The very first year. Well, the very first year. The first year and we laughed. The first year we emailed at no at that time and still today we write a letter inviting everyone hard copy to all the islands and we had about eight schools on Maui and we had about oh I don't know maybe 10 or 14 on Oahu the first year. We did not receive any from Kauai the first year and we received one from the big island and I traveled and I went over to the big island to present that one class. Mayors representative went with me and that was we started small but we started big and of course in Oahu Marcia was engaged in presenting with Jeremy Harris or two Jeremy Harris's children that were the winners there. We had. Tell her about that Marcia. We had 300 little children. No, not 300. I think we had 300 entries did we? Something like that. That's about right. Yeah. Uh-huh. And we selected winners from each class. Every child would have a good chance of winning. And Frank said to me well Marcia how are we going to present these awards? And I said well it needs to be we need to elevate this to the level that it deserves. So I marched into the mayor's office and said we need a time with the mayor so the mayor can present the awards. Fine. And we got 15 minutes. That's marvelous. 15 minutes. The day of the awards. This is where I get the 300. Every child, mother, father, grandma, auntie, papa they all showed up in the mayor's office in the mayor's office mind you. With the cameras and the video cameras and the whole thing. And the mayor stood there. We do have a picture of the mayor with these first little kids. The mayor stood there. He canceled the rest of his first year. I can tell this is a digital picture. You can see it all pixelated. And so he canceled the rest of his appointments. He stayed with those children all afternoon. He shook every hand. He talked to every child and the parents were thrilled. So then he says to me Marsha if we do this again it has to be downstairs. So downstairs in those days was the courtyard. And sure enough every year and every mayor on every island has participated. And the governor and one year we even had Senator Schatz. So we had to elevate this to the level that it deserves. It deserves, yes. And what I think it's so beautiful. Yes, it's wonderful to have our representatives of highest prestige and power honoring and acknowledging the work of the children. But I think that the beauty of this is that the stars are the children. Yes. And it is the voice of a very young spirit who are so powerful. I think that their thoughts benefit as much if not even more. If they are in tune with what the children are saying. You really get moved by it. That was my experience this past Saturday. When I got to hear the children reading their own poems. Well they do. They do. They get to read their own poems in their own way so that you get their rhythm, their feeling about what they wrote. And there's nothing that compares with it really. To listen to them and some of them exhibit such wisdom. I'm not sure. Is that the right word Melinda? Yes and inside and I think hope. They think hopefully of the future. But in terms of the numbers for instance in Oahu this year. I don't have the count I think yet because we count all of them. We had 887 entries from Oahu this year. And we had 57 classes with winning students. Our awards have gotten so large features that we have first place awards and second place awards in two different venues. And the second place awards are different. I'll let Marcia tell you a bit about those. But in the first place awards we have the Mission Memorial Auditorium. And it's beautiful there with velvet seats and beautiful polished wood floors. It's stunning. And we fill it up and every child comes with their family. Every child is called to stage with their school, with their fellow students that are already that are also winning. They come to the mic and read their little award-winning poem. And everyone claps and cheers and for a moment that little being is a little star for peace really. You know that's the thing. I have to tell you about the mission. Go ahead I'm sorry. And then they cross the stage to where Marcia waits for them with in this case it was Miss Soon from Mayor's Office and their awarded certificate from Mayor. And then they go down the stairs and they get their prize and all the children get a beautiful limited edition photo poster with a quote from Dr. King in a lovely picture in the memento. Yeah this is new. So they all get a beautiful prize. Can you get that? And then I'll let Marcia. Yeah that's a great shot there. Less about the Mission Memorial and Jeremy, Mayor Harris. He had because that building goes back to the beginning of the city which when they built in 1920 and it just sat there for years and kind of deteriorated and Jeremy wanted it really taken care of and fixed up and that was his last thing. And he said to me that our next year we should have the children in the Mission Memorial auditorium. He was no longer mayor by the time we got when it was finished and but he did tell me that the children should be there. That's wonderful. We're gonna take a minute break and be right back okay. Aloha I am Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green for Think Tecawaii. I appear every other Monday at 3 and I have really really exciting guests on the exciting topic of energy efficiency. Hope to see you there. You recycle right? Yep it's confusing. It's hard for all of us to recycle properly when it's this confusing. Yet recycling is the number one thing we can do for the environment and the economy if we do it properly. We have a solution and it's working. The standardized labels help people recycle more and they help people recycle right. Let's recycle across America and let's recycle right. To be part of the standardized label solution visit Let's Recycle Right.org. Welcome back to Perspectives on Global Justice. Think Tecawaii. This is your host Beatrice Contemple and we are here with We Need Poetry Miss episode with Marsha Joyner and Melinda Gon. So you wanted to give continuity to something before we got to the break. Yes we were talking about because Oahu has so many entries obviously just because we're larger and so we have to divvy it up. The first place winners are at the mission memorial auditorium and that's sponsored by the mayor's office. And then on the second place winners are at the city council chambers and that is sponsored by the city council. So I think we have a picture of there we are. See the seal and all the city council people and the little kids. Yes those are second place winners. Yeah and so on the other islands they're all together first and second together because they fit you know. And hopefully as the years go by who knows you know like they might be able to travel to Oahu. Imagine the children from the other islands. No you wouldn't want to know. No no no no it's theirs. Now that's what the dignifies separates their mayor their county council. It's theirs their schools. Yes we have awards on each island in Kauai. For instance we have a wonderful church that sponsors us. So the Louis Christian Church and on the big island we're sponsored we're proud to be sponsored for many years by the Prince Cuyo Plaza Mall center stage. On Maui we're renting a place of country every year the community center. And in Molokai we are at the library and then of course in Oahu we're so honored that mayor sponsors us at the Mission Memorial Auditorium. So we have a very diverse venue and each one is unique and but each one the same thing happens. The children come and they recite their poems and they are lifted to the skies. It's amazing. And the years they have are short. Okay go ahead go ahead Melinda. I don't have a short little poem I'd like to share with you. Please do. So one of our big winners of the year. Would that be all right? Yes please. This is little Sophia McQueen. She was from the big island volcano school of the arts and sciences. And she's in fourth grade I believe and she wrote this poem. It's short but it's full of metaphor and imagery and unusual immediacy particularly for a child this age. Okay when a child sings he comes and all the wolves and birds and a rainbow came to sing along with the child. The wolves howl at the moon the birds sang a graceful song with the child and a rainbow shine upon the valley of unicorns. Ah that's lovely. So I have a question for the both of you. So over the years I mean a piece can take many forms and take people and especially children just so many different tangents. Are there things that you see recurring in different islands throughout these years and even for age group? I think because we are Hawaii there are what I have seen and Melinda sees more than I do that they talk about the environment. They talk about the ocean, the rainbows, the birds, all of the things that we live with every day. Here's a darling little one. This is from Molokai. Peace is a smile feeding the chickens is peace. The birds calling its mom. Oh that's beautiful. Yes yes yes and so many poems also are about family the importance of family and family gathering to the beach. One little boy had a great poem from oh Molokai I think and it was about baseball. Put him in the winter circle in his little class. Wonderful. So I want to ask Melinda I mentioned to you that I was going to name this series because we need poetry miss that you can tell our viewers about what this you know what this what this quote where does it come from and the context of it. The poem itself or the I mean or your poem I'm not sure. The encounter that you had with this young lady and that she told you that it there was a story that you told me that. Oh yes yes thank you for reminding me. You're welcome I'm trying to not give it away. I was speaking two years ago to the mother of our grand prize winner from Maui. The little one's name was Iris Riverstone and I was speaking with her mother Heather and we were talking about why the contest was important and we both had beautiful ideas about it. She's also a teacher in fact a homeschool teacher and then I turned to Iris and I said why do you think it's important to Iris to have this contest and she simply said because we need poetry miss. Oh that's an overly I wish and it just catches my throat because it's true you know there's so much going on I'm a teacher and I speak from my heart and also from my environment as a teacher but we're so involved with technology and there's so many ways in which we're encouraged to work with a technical system within the classroom and you know I for one am sick at heart at the loss of the children being not being taught cursive writing. I think that there's a connection that is lost when you don't write and then of course art and writing and writing poetry is often that intimal link within yourself so these kids need that link and I think they do need poetry and as a teacher I've learned to teach poetry and and the kids love it if it's presented the right way the kids love it because they get to really speak their truth and poetry the beauty of it is now particularly poetry has no rules you know you can do blank verse you can do haiku you can do a free form these kids can do rap poetry it's just marvelous what now they can express if they're encouraged to. That's why our teachers are so important we have so many returning teachers and without our teachers the peace poem wouldn't exist as it stands with the children because year after year these teachers come back and they tell us how important our project is to them it's wonderful and one little girl yes one little girl said to me as we were walking walking her off the stage she said I know you and I said you do she said yes and she won the award when she was in kindergarten and then this year she was in the ninth grade but she remembered me it's a long yeah yeah she was so darling and she's back and she's back and was it Maui and we do find that yeah we do have these kids that come back and the thing is we have such an impartial judging system we read and judge every single poem and this year I think about 1800 students entered statewide um what was a little boy I think it was Maui that won in kindergarten first grade and second grade that is correct he was inspired every year and what happened was if he's a little poet and he just said these we have found them more importantly they have found us and so I have a couple of questions for the both of you before we wrap up with this first part of our series I mean you kind of told me a little bit that you do read all of the entries what is the selection process like how do you even how can you possibly even choose you know a winner because it sounds like just by the virtue of writing an entry in itself everybody won already how do you how do you how do you narrow it down well we actually I actually have developed a list of instructions for our judges which they are all required to read and sign before they begin judging I have I have a judging weekend at my home and basically I set up three rooms and we had 11 11 judges this year over the course of two days to do the judging and we asked them to look for originality clarity it does not have to rhyme we're we're happy to have images we're looking for haikus we're looking for specific entries that have specifically have an illusion if possible to Dr. King or to Mahatma Gandhi or any of the great peace leaders but if they don't have to if the poem you just heard did not but so we're looking for originality and for a true expression of seeking of teeth and we have teachers and writers and artists and gosh I've got a professor a retired professor from the college and retired principal that is our Hawaiian judge this year for the first time we had a Hawaiian a Hawaiian poem with an English translation as our grand prize winner for a walk and that was a wonderful thing we hope to have more Hawaiian language entries next year and you know we had many from Maui we have a wonderful school kaiti elementary that has entered Hawaiian language poems now for several years and of course the Molokai we would be remiss if we did not mention uh their Hawaiian poems such as Ms. Marsha just shared with you and she might share another but the cutest thing one year uh year 16 wasn't 17 this kid the winner he read his poem beautifully in Hawaiian but he wasn't quite sure of the English I thought that was just the cutest thing and then that year we had the representative from from oha and the legislature I mean everybody came from Molokai and it was wonderful because those children really um I I don't know if Molokai Hawaiian is their first language or if we'll call it a primary language because they they function in Hawaiian and it's there was a Hawaiian immersion language so those are Hawaiian immersion languages classes and those children um do not speak English in the classroom right so it's very very interesting to at least those that I am familiar with let me amend what I say yes so before we wait before we come to an end we have time now we don't we are very short in time so I'd like for you to read this 15 minutes I would like for you to read the one poem that you may have to share with our viewers Eric can you see this one because we talked about the images that the little kids know I guess not it's not it's too fair it's not it's too fair but what would you be able to read the poem yes while Marsha goes into the poem I think that the one of the beauties of this is that every child has a chance to speak from their own perspective and from their own you know truth as you mentioned Melinda and I wonder if you can tell us a little bit about the children that you know joined like their walk of life and how much this experience having packed at some of the children they were able to give you feedback whether they were going through some adversities or they ended up feeling more inspired or won scholarships or opportunities because of this chance do you have any examples thank you thank you for asking me for that I'd share a couple of stories I was in Molokai at the awards this year and one of the mothers came to me and said that her child was one of our former winners several some years back and is now going for a PhD at Cornell and she felt that winning in our contest was one of the many elements that had helped her child you know push for the top so we were happy to hear that and we're always happy to hear of our students doing well I know I had a personally I had a little boy in my classes some years ago and I as some teachers do watch this little boy go homeless and then his father struggles to get back to a home and I had had all my kids enter the contest and he was one of the winners from my class so at the end of the year at the end of the year I had given all of the students a questionnaire you know what was most important thing that happened to in the school year and he wrote down winning the Dr. Martin Luther King peace poetry contest and he wrote every word and that made my heart sing to think that you know we had given that child something to hold on to we are out of time but we have few we have one more poem you have to give us a poem yes we have time no we don't okay we are out of time so it's it's now on all the episode peace feels like soft cotton like the clouds peace smells like flowers that smells so sweet it looks like a fairy rabbit outside it tastes like vanilla ice cream at the store it also sounds like quiet and peace this is a second grade in moloka perfect perfect thank you Marcia well thank you both absolutely thank you both for being here and I hope you come back so we can give continuity to this and continue to give the platform to the children especially and my hope also is that five years from now you have a symposium a peace you know poem symposium where each year that you do the symposium all of the kids from the other islands and all of the mayors can travel together for one day and also have that power and until then that you may continue to do this in each island as marvelously as is already happening well thank you so much and I thank our viewers for watching us and thank you for for this great opportunity I do want to say to everyone out in radio land the children do not have to enter through a classroom they can enter their peace poems by sending them straight to me at peace poem dot org and I'll put them in the contest perfect got it okay all right thank you aloha aloha aloha