Today was the first day of our Baha'i National Convention, the weekend when we elect our national administrative body. (For those of you that don't know, Hawaii is treated as a separate entity from the Mainland US in the Baha'i world.) I felt lucky to be there as a delegate. I love it when our events here really reflect the culture, rather than fitting the mold of mainland culture. We started with a visit to the gravesite of Martha Root and then went to the National Center for the official opening which was led by a Hawaiian chant. I think that, whenever the time comes and we leave here, I will miss the sound of Hawaiian chanting - the inflection is so unique. The Center also reflected our presence in the Pacific, with fresh leaves everywhere, some of them woven into archways.
We're also blessed with the presence of our liason Counsellor, Robin White of New Zealand (remember, we fall into the Australasian region in that sphere of things). Last weekend, she met with all of Auxiliaries, as well as the Local Spiritual Assemblies of this island. We all got really jazzed about the news that in the next month we will be launching our first intensive program of growth as we move closer to becoming an "A" cluster. Yeah, I know that last part probably made no sense to those of you who aren't Baha'is, but I still wanted to document it for myself.
Tonight, we had a presentation at the YWCA, in its lovely courtyard - dance, music.... One of the most interesting things to me was when a latin music band was playing and about 15 people got up to dance: all of them were women. Except for one guy, who was dancing with his daughter in his arms. Are women less inhibited?
Posted by Shokufeh at April 30, 2005 02:07 AMIn a word, yes. Though I must stress that for men, just being a good dancer is not enough. You must also be a good lead. This a years-long pursuit, something lost on most men in the current generation. Better to stay seated and avoid the embarrassment of ignorance.
Posted by: george at April 30, 2005 07:38 PM