Page 2 - MidWeek - Sep 28, 2022

2 MIDWEEK SEPTEMBER 28, 2022
Retrieving Childhood Wisdom
By yielding, you may obtain a victory. — Ovid
TIhe Pigskin Process
When collapse land- ed me in the hos- pital, I finally be- gan to review my adult life: I had sometimes forced myself through distress, ignored ill- ness and surged emotionally beyond panic. Lying in a hos- pital bed took me back to the wisdom I had savored while lying on a splintered wooden dock.
t might be a stunner to some, but our University of Hawai‘i football team isn’t going to play in this year’s Sugar Bowl. Every summer we read arti-
poet Ovid: “By yielding, you may obtain a victory.” From a hospital bed, I re-lived that childhood experience, lis- tened to the Roman sage, and retrieved wisdom from my 9-year-old self: to daily honor my body and allow it the rest it needs.
Writer and exhibiting art- ist Kaethe Kauffman (pen name, Cate Burns) has won numerous awards for her book of humorous essays, Libido Tsunami, and her po- ems have been featured in six award-winning poetry anthol- ogies. She has just finished a book of personal essays, Hu- mor When You Need It.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
cles hyping the incredible amount of work being put in during the offseason, great stories of players over- coming adversity and an overly optimistic tone that this year will be special. Sometimes it is.
Swimming alone at the age of 9, I had decided to breast- stroke across the nearby lake, about half a mile. Excited by my adventure, I ignored the chilly water. Midway across the calm expanse, I noticed the other side was barely visible. A core weariness en- gulfed me. Pangs of electric fear zapped around in my stomach. I couldn’t go on, and there was no one to help.
This team and its new coaching staff are still coming together. (Note: this article was written before the UH- New Mexico State game.) The fans are also coming together, with lots of joy apparent at the refurbished Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex; food options are abundant and parking has been handled adeptly. Ku- dos to UH athletics for its ongoing efforts to tantalize us with an even more robust fan experience next year.
A swimming incident led the author to meditate on honoring her body daily and allowing it to rest when it needs to.
Under new head coach Timmy Chang, the Warriors are going through expected growing pains following the out-migration of too many quality, disgruntled play- ers. The new NCAA portal rules allow college athletes to defect/transfer easily, as we watch ballers come and go everywhere on a whim. That very system might just be UH’s silver lining as we gaze forward. Local gridiron talent that leaves Hawai‘i to play elsewhere just might find that the grass (or artificial turf) is not always greener on the continent, and these new rules allow players to return without having to sit out for a year. We giveth, we taketh.
Instinctively, I gave up the breaststroke and rotat-
was comforting and relaxing. Eventually, a gentle strength began to flow. Only then did I resume course to the far shore. When I flopped onto the dock, the uneven, splintered wood felt like heaven.
of time, I blissfully did the “live girl’s float” four times before reaching the beach near home. Deep satisfaction welled up from surviving the challenge — and from having had the sense to take good care of myself by taking rests.
So while we have to wait before the 2023 roster takes shape, let’s continue to support this year’s squad as we acknowledge that the current variation of UH’s semi- run-and-shoot offense sometimes looks more like a run- and-shoot-yourself-in-the-foot offense when quarter- backs aren’t given time to throw, are inaccurate or their receivers aren’t on the same page as said QBs, who are often running for their lives. It’s about the process.
KELLEY
ed onto my back, with arms outstretched in complete surrender — the dead man’s float. Gazing at a low gray sky
After a rest, I slid into the water for the return journey, confident, knowing I could and would rest before exhaus- tion took over. Feeling as if there were an endless amount
The experience made a deep impression on me, but one that I had come to ignore, just as I had “forgotten” an aphorism from the Roman
New Century Schoolbook bold (scaled H 73.6)
with Kaethe Kauffman
Trolls, ogres and pseudo-pundits online should be ig- nored (always) as the players and coaching staff buckle down to fix what’s fixable and create options on both sides of the ball for the remainder of the season. It’s been said that the only thing that’s guaranteed in foot- ball is a 100% chance of injury. Cute. But allegedly, time heals all wounds; hopefully, even the self-inflicted ones, like bruised egos. So “Go, ‘Bows!” as we watch this progressing pigskin process unfold in this new era of UH football with Chang at the Ching.
Think about it.
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com