Heads up to voyagers
on Windward sky gazing class

Students gaze at 57 navigation stars and hear guest speakers on Polynesian voyaging in an innovative "Hawaiian and Polynesian Skies" course at Windward Community College. The skies course takes flight from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays, starting Monday.

The 10-day course includes a beginner's approach to Polynesian voyaging and sky watching, naked-eye astronomy and Polynesian sky legends on deities, such as Wakea and Papa, Kane and Uluao, and Hina.

Students also learn the four star lines for Polynesian navigating -- Ke Ka O Makali'i (Pleiades), Ka Iwikuamo'o (Spine), Manaiakalani (Magic Fishhook of the demigod Maui) and Ka Lupe O Kawelo (Kite of Kawelo).

Instructor is Joseph Ciotti, 1997 Carnegie Professor of the Year for Hawaii, with assistance from Rubellite Kawena Johnson. Johnson, a professor emeritus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, teaches the course sections on the Kumulipo (Hawaiian genesis) Monday, Na Inoa Hoku (Hawaiian names of stars) Thursday, and archaeoastronomy findings on Kahoolawe island, on June 26.

Ciotti is with the school's Aerospace Lab and teaches classes in Polynesian astronomy and navigation.

Other two-week courses in the 1997 Summer Institute in Hawaiian and Polynesian Studies cover the eight major Polynesian cultures (1 to 4 p.m.), and beginning instruction in Hawaiian chant and hula (9 a.m. to noon), 'ukulele (6 to 8 p.m.), slack-key guitar (6 to 8 p.m.) and steel guitar (1:30 to 3:30 p.m.). Fees range from $100 to $150.

State Department of Education teachers can earn one B credit for the courses on skies and cultures. For information and registration, call 235-7433.

---

By Star-Bulletin staff