Looking Forward to My Third Winter Term at the University of Hawaii

When I first accepted the offer to spend a third winter term in Hawaii as a "last minute" replacement for the injured Prof. Seabury, I was a bit hesitant and not very excited. Everyone I told this to thought I was a bit crazy. After all, who wouldn't want to get paid to go to Hawaii for two weeks? It does sound crazy, but I had done it twice before, in 2004 and 2006, and I have had a pretty stressful and bad year. All I really wanted was to spend some time relaxing at home with my family and my dogs. Dean Goldenberg was persuasive that maybe the trip was exactly what I needed after the year I had, and that Stephan and I would make a "good team" bringing our areas of expertise to enhance the students' experience with the course and the trip. On top of this, my mother decided that she would plan a trip to Oahu to be there for part of term. So, as it turns out I am lucky to get to both work and relax with family in the beautiful sunny state of Hawaii.
Sitting here watching the wet snow fall on this early December evening I am finally starting to get excited about the voyage ahead. I watched the video I made documenting the 2006 Hawaii course and it brought back many good memories of all of the fascinating things that we do and learn in the course. One of the things I like most about the course is that I get to be both professor and student. Although I enjoy being a teacher and sharing my knowledge and the knowledge of sociology with students, I must admit that I love being a student more. There is nothing better than encountering new information, ideas, and experiences and being challenged to critically think about how they fit together and apply to the world around me. Both winter terms at University of Hawaii have provided me with the experience of the best of what it is to be a student again. I hope that, as a professor on this trip, I am able to help the students get as much from this opportunity as they can. What I most want to teach them is that travel and fun can be made even more enjoyable by knowledge.
Of course, I am also very much looking forward to the beautiful setting and gorgeous weather as well as the feeling of relaxation and joy that seems to be part of the air in Hawaii. I will encourage students to think about the problems and inequalities there, but there is no denying that there is something wonderful, magical, and peaceful that abounds in Hawaii.