My first job out of high school was as a student assistant with the pig eradication team at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. As a 17 year old, I was trained to trap, radio collar, and chase after wild pigs in the rainforest. I was assigned to the scientists, but I also accompanied the hunters and their dogs. I learned enough to know that I did not want to spend my career in green rubber boots and muddy jeans, but the lessons I learned from the wild boars have stayed with me in my 30 plus years in education.
- Pigs are very similar to humans and their bodies are studied in place of humans because of this. We have deemed this knowledge ethical to humans. Not necessarily ethical to pigs. I learned that humane treatment goes beyond just humans. The ʻāina, the kai, the animals, the birds, the fish are all sacred and have as much mana as the kanaka. How we treat each living entity defines our own humanity.
- Wild pigs are vegans. I used to be a vegan. It was a lot of work. I used to dream about eggs. Wild pigs will also eat eggs if the opportunity exists, but they won't go out of their way to get it. Pigs are the ultimate locavore and whole foods advocates. In education, stop looking for the magic elixir, the magic curriculum, the consultants that come from the continent to save us brownies. We are what our students need. We are all that WE need. We can solve the issues in education by working together, valuing the way our genealogies connect, bringing in our community kupuna, seeing each other as professionals who know our students and have kuleana for them. Eat/teach/learn local.
- Wild pigs live the native American concept of "Survivance" by Gerald Vizenor. They exist not just because they are survivors, which they are, but they survive through an active sense of presence and resistance. I have seen wild pig mamas teach their babies how to push through the uluhe ferns, find the maze of lava tubes hidden under the tangle of vines and navigate their natural subway system to get away from the dogs. We must teach with both love and rage, without which there is no hope - Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of Hope
- Wild boars and pigs are smart. Definitely smarter than 17 year old me. Most likely smarter than 56 year old me since they still thrive in the same rain forests that I have long since abandoned. Rely on ʻike kūpuna as the most effective AI (ancestral intelligence). By tapping into the knowledge that we already had, and actually listening and doing and resisting, we will thrive as a people.
- Wild boars are not as large as domestic pigs. A big man is heavier than a wild boar. Your size does not determine their determination to live in peace. They will protest first by gnashing their tusks to make a distinct "I'm here" sound, in case you have not noticed them. If that does not work, they will charge at you without hesitation or modesty. At a certain point, intentional protest and aggression is necessary to our determination to live in peace.
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