Official blog of G. A. Lodise

I gave three presentations today at the middle school here. Our neighbor is a teacher and had asked me to present on the Cook Islands since her 7th graders are covering pacific studies. I showed a power point that went over the populating of the pacific and showed how Hawai’i and the Cooks were populated at roughly the same time. And I showed them that Hawai’i and the Cooks are just about the same distance from the equator just on opposite sides. I also demonstrated how similar the languages are. The students were pretty well behaved and seemed to enjoy what I had to say. After three, 45 minute presentations I was pretty wiped.

More than a couple of folks started to refer to Mangaia, the island I spoke about to most, as my island of origin which I thought was funny since I repeatedly stated that I just lived there for less than a year. Then I go to pick up my kid from the after school program and one of the aunties asks me, “Are you from the Cook Islands?” And so I found out that one of the girls from the middle school had told the auntie that I was from the Cooks. I don’t think my correcting them changed the view.

Anyway, it was a good time and (Spoiler Alert!) it gave me a chance to talk about a place that plays a prominent part in my upcoming book.