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Boston City Council

Kia ora, Firstly I am thankful to Councillor Tania Fernandes Anderson and Mayor Michelle Wu for the acknowledgement today at today's Boston City Council meeting. This blog post includes my address to the councillors. Will Flavell with Mayor Michelle Wu Kei aku nui, kei aku rahi, e te ti, e te tā, tēnā koutou katoa. E ngā kaitiaki taketake o te takiwā nei a Massachusetts, mihi aroha atu ki a koutou e pupuri tonu ana ki te mana o tēnei whenua. E te koromatua o Boston, a Mayor Wu tēnā koe. Ka huri oku mihi maioha ki ngā kaikaunihera, tēnā koutou. Firstly, I acknowledge the indigenous guardians of this land – their traditions, cultures, and languages. I acknowledge Mayor Wu, Councillor Anderson for the invitation, and the councillors here in the chambers this afternoon. My name is Will Flavell. I am an indigenous educator, social justice and education advocate, researcher, and local Auckland City politician. My tribes are Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Maniapoto, and Ngāti Whatua. I am here in

Guest Lecture teaching about the film, Whale Rider

Kia ora everyone, The weather has been pretty good over the last week. It’s weird – some days, it is relatively warm, but the snow randomly starts falling on other days. The reality of New England weather during this time of the year. I have two weeks left in Boston before I head to Amherst for a month. I'm going to miss this place a lot when I leave in early March. The entrance of the student centre at UMASS Boston My first experience was as a guest lecturer in the paper Indigenous Film and Critical Visual Studies at UMASS Boston. It was a diverse class with around 30 students. It was a level 3 paper. We looked at the themes of the movie, Whale Rider, directed by Nikki Caro. This movie is one of my top 3 Aotearoa New Zealand movies. It came out while I was a student in high school, and I remember watching it at the cinema. This was the first I had heard of the legend of Paikea beforehand. I remember, at the time, it was different seeing Māori as the main characters in a movie. O

Kia ora Arizona!

Kia ora koutou, Arizona State University Entrance I had a great time in Arizona for the American Indian Studies Conference, which was held at Arizona State University. It’s about a five-hour flight from Boston, so I arrived around midnight. Let me tell you, it was bliss leaving sub-zero temperatures in Boston for sunshine weather, often over 20 degrees. It was the first time that I could feel the warmth of the sun during my time here in the USA. An eating area at Arizona State University Arizona State University is based in Tempe, which is very close to Phoenix. The campus is really spread out and beautiful. I loved the earth-coloured buildings and the nice feeling of seeing so many people enjoying the year's spring semester. The conference was the first indigenous conference that I attended in the USA. There were about 100 people at the conference. The presentations were terrific. They covered a range of themes, including critical race theory, solidarity between indigenous and

The spring semester has arrived!

Kia ora! This week is the first week back for students as we start the spring semester. This is usually after a winter break for many. This means a busy campus full of life, and I love that. It has been relatively quiet the last few weeks as all the classes here have been online, but I am really happy to see so many people here, even the lecturers and professors. The first day of the spring semester in the main hall (photo by UMASS Boston) So a little about UMASS Boston. To get here, I take a subway train to JFK UMASS Station and then there are free buses for staff and students to get to the campus. It's also a 10-15 minute walk. Boston State College merged with UMASS Boston in 1982. The weather has been erratic over the last few weeks. The snow has been quite heavy during the last two days, and I've been told it is nothing compared to what will happen in the upcoming weeks. I decided to come to UMASS Boston, because I loved the idea of coming to a public research universit

Flight of the Albatross

Will with the author, Deborah Savage Flight of the albatross was one of my favourite books growing up. My favourite is coming-of-age stories. It was a book written in the 1980s by American author Deborah Savage. Earlier last year, I thought about the Flight of the albatross book. So I decided to google search Deborah Savage and found she lives in a town near the University of Massachusetts Amherst. So we decided to catch up when I went to Amherst in December. A bit about the book: it's about two young people, Sarah and Mako. Sarah is from New York City and travelled to Aotearoa to visit her scientist mother. She meets Mako, who is Māori, and they both navigate a shared adventure with challenges on Kauri island, where the book is based. A movie came out in 1995, which can be watched on the New Zealand Film on Demand website, which I highly recommend. It was nice to catch up with Deborah. She talked about her time coming to Aotearoa New Zealand, in her early 20s. Deborah lived t

Kia ora Boston!

Outside of UMASS Boston It's time to start writing a blog about my Fulbright adventure in Boston. First, let me go back to when I applied for this award. I found out about a year that I was a successful recipient. For many, a Fulbright award is a massive deal. The opportunity to spend time in the United States to work on a research project. I've been to the States three times beforehand but have yet to go to Boston. This city is the academic city of the world, with more than 35 universities and colleges here. So I knew I wanted to come here. I've spent my time, passion, energy, and work focused on better outcomes for our young people, particularly Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. I wanted to work on a research project focusing on indigenous youth. So I choose the topic of how language, culture, and identity feature in the schooling experiences of Native American Youth. My time in Boston will also give me a glimpse of how indigenous people see the world. I decided to come to