Pearl Harbor remembrance

Connor's teacher, whom we'll call Mrs. R, was living in Hawaii in 1991 during the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Her husband was stationed there, but had been deployed to the Gulf War. Mrs. R cared for their son and taught school during this time, and as a military spouse, was invited to the big 50th anniversary Pearl Harbor commemorative event. There she met Lieutenant Abe, a Japanese fighter pilot, and colonial Fiske, a bugler on the USS West Virginia. She learned their story of years of harbored hatred after they made eye contact as Abe was piloting a plane during the 2nd wave of Pearl Harbor attacks and flew right over Fiske on his ship, and how they eventually overcame that hatred and developed a deep friendship (and have since had a book written about them). This experience has had a lifelong, profound impact on Mrs. R, and as such, every year she does a 2-week course on Japan, Pearl Harbor, WWII, friendship, tolerance, lessons learned, acceptance, choices, enemies and reparation. It culminates with a remembrance event on Pearl Harbor Day with several hands-on learning stations for the students, and I was fortunate to be able to volunteer for it.

The kids made Spam musubi (I did not know that Spam was developed during WWII for the soldiers, to give then something with nutrition that also has a long shelf life). So the kids had seaweed strips that they dipped in water, then spread with cooked rice, and then added fried Spam, which they rolled up. Sorta like Spam sushi. Now I love me some good sushi, but Spam? No. Connor was not a fan, either. But it was a fun station.

There was a memorial station, with all sorts of newspaper articles, books, pictures, actual war ration coupons, and such. Really cool stuff! The book Connor is holding is the book about the two men Mrs. R met, really a remarkable story. And in one of the pics he and some friends are trying to do the math and figure out how many years it's been since Pearl Harbor happened.

I was in charge of the lei making station-

And they made paper cranes-

I've said it before, but I am passionate about school, education and learning. And Mrs. R is completely gifted at bringing all of these to life. She is a captivating storyteller, and teaches above the state standards, which I also like. Connor is loving his school year with Mrs. R as his teacher. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her tell her experiences at the Pearl Harbor 50th commemorative event, it actually moved me to tears. But according to Brian, this is not difficult.

Oh, and you might have noticed more than 1 picture with Connor next to a cute girl, yes? He is all about the cute girls this year, gulp.