Pregnant with Pulani

Pulani, as illustrated in my book.

I guess I haven't written much about this thing that has been consuming my life for the last month or so. When I lived in Guam in the 80s, I wrote, developed, and produced a play, Pulani. It was a great experience, something in my life that I am very proud of. When I was in Guam last summer, I wrote a proposal to the Arts Council to do it again, and in October found out that we had gotten the grant. 

 My good friend, Carlotta, runs a non-profit, The Ayuda Foundation, and one of the programs is Island Girl Power, an  empowerment project for teenage girls. The IGP program coordinator, Juanita, was in Pulani when she was a teenager. ( Carlotta's daughter, Madrid, my daughter, Dance, and Juanita's mother, Simona, were all involved in the play back.) Carlotta and I collaborated on the proposal that has Island Girl Power sponsoring the 2015 version of Pulani, but all would be invited to participate. The new vision is that we will hire teaching artists to mentor the students in the roles needed to put on a play. 

Next month, I will be going to Guam to coordinate this project, recruiting the teaching artists, the interns, and the actors. I will also be doing whatever needs to be done, such as publicity and fund-raising, to make the project happen. I did create a website, but it is not yet ready to go public. 

So, with writing and illustrating my book, creating the Pulani website, working on the Pulani script, and doing logistics for the project, my life has been full with Pulani business. Not much else gets done, such as this blog, and I really need to do some housework.