Shoebox — 1986

01 · documents — 14 photos

Documents

Some of the documents I have saved. I have many of the original program documents and several of the fun camp life papers. The supply receipt is great, for as often as I was 'exchanging' supplies, you would think I would have way more of these in my collection, but I only have 2.

Trunk and bedroll instructions — How to get your stuff there: trunk and bedroll instructions

Packing check list — What to bring: official packing check list

1986 camp event and dates — Camp Event Schedule

N-2 welcome letter from Regan — Welcome letter from Regan (N-2 Spring Luna)

Equipment Receipt — Goggle supply receipt - 4/17/86

Beddy Bedmaker Award — Keeping Tidy Enforcement: prior to leaving for work, beds needed to be made, to a standard

Gang of the Week Award — Camp Life: motivation for good work and attitude

Event Award 3rd Place — Camp Life: camp wide weekend event

Event Award 1st Place — Camp Life: camp wide weekend event

Event Award 2nd Place — Camp Life: camp wide weekend event

Mr Sarcasm Award — Specially created award for me: Mr Sarcasm (really?) Award

Mr Warehouse Award — Pack Rat Confirmed: Proudly 1986 Mr Warehouse.
I had a small stash of gloves & goggles, turning in ripped gloves for replacements, one at a time.

Man of the Week Award — Morale boosting technique. I do think I deserved it at least once.
the image is a funny gag within the world of pineapple. either you get it or you don't

Boomerang '86 - Yearbook — Yearbook from camp for 1986. A picture of each gang for both locations, some extra info and a listing of names and addresses for future contact.

02 · work & camp — 24 photos

Work & Camp

We lived in small dorms, 15 to a 'space', located on plantation property. Working full time, we had a set schedule. For the younger men there, during the spring months, we had school work after dinner so we would be able to get to the next grade. These pictures capture some of the early days at camp and a few from work.

Fresh Fruit The last photo in this group is a composed situation that I thought of while we were picking fresh fruit one day. Fresh fruit (shell color) takes much longer to fill a truck because you only pick fruit that is ripe. I think this happens when fields get older in age and the fruit ripens in a varied fashion. Normally we would put the fruit into the boom and a conveyor belt would transport to the harvester which would load into the truck. In this shot, the fruit is all lined up on the edge of the boom. I thought it would look cool.

Transportation van — Our transportation van

Fuit on Boom Composed Photo — Staged photo during fresh fruit harvesting. Fruit is all lined up on the boom.

03 · rainy day — 9 photos

Rainy Day

Was a rainy spring day in 1986. I don't remember if we were rained out of work or these pictures were after work. The field between the two dorm buidlings would puddle up when there was enough rain. Perfect area for some imprompteu skimboarding. I am amazed at some of the splash details that were captured by the disc camera I had at the time. Not a very fast lens, but it did manage to capture the crashing moments nicely.
The yellow panchos seen in some of the pictures were part of our gear when working in the fields during rain. It would get really hot and humid in those panchos when working, especially as the rain ended, so we usually avoided wearing them. I vaguely remembering wearing the leg part more than the jacket, but that was more about protection from the sharp plants leaves than avoiding getting wet.

04 · Maps & Record — 6 photos

Maps & Record

A few maps of the actual pineapple fields that we harvested. The gang supervisor would have the map and track various things as we worked. In some cases, we were picking fresh fruit, so marking where we went through was needed.

July 21, 1986 (40 years ago to the day as I type this), field 60-2 was no match for N-2. Picking first year crop (pula pula?), we hauled ass and actually broke a few records (truck fill speed and total tonnage). Crazy days in field 60 (and other first year crop fields), we were cruising through, the boom operator pushing the speed. I remember having several trucks in waiting that day we broke the record so downtime would be limited.

Experimental Crop There were experimental crops planted in various parts of the fields, I don't remember the details as it was not really the conversation for the young workers. Notice that Field 12 had a couple sections that are marked experimental (exp+). From my journal, we picked several lines in the experimental section by hand and then weighing the collected fruit. A real vague memory is trying a pineapple that was 'banana' flavored, really light essence, offered to us from one of drivers. I think it was more a local section within the field itself.

Most tonnage acknowledgement — Most tonnage 1986
173.2 tons, 18.7 trucks
8 hour shift

Experimental sections on Field 12 map — Experimental Sections on Field 12 map

Field Map 23 detail — Detailed look at Field 23 map

05 · letters — 7 photos

Letters

It was 1986, snail mail was just mail and the main way to communicate with someone besides long distance phone calls, which was expensive, charged by the minute and avoided. My mom bought me a stationery set of paper and envelopes in 3 colors: Pink, Yellow, Green. I used the pink ones to send home and the other colors for friends. Eventually I must have run out as I used envelopes from the hotel and paper from other sources, including the back of the camp awards and in one case, the back of a pineapple juice can label from the cannery tour we did.

Stamp prices were 22 cents, 14 for a postcard. I seemed to write less often in the summer, probably because I was tired from work.

MTV Callout I have several letters from friends at the time. In one letter I found this lovely mention of MTV via the writer's rendition of the iconic logo. Thanks Erica, it really made me smile seeing that 40 years later, seeing how much things have changed. We did not get to watch TV there, especially not the oh so provocative MTV.

Letters Sent Home — My mom saved all my letters, even numbered them for reference

Letter on the back of camp award — I wrote a 4 page letter home on the back of 4 'Golden' Beddy Awards

Letter on the back of label — We got to tour the cannery during our stay, seeing how the pineapples are processed. I believe this is one of the labels from that tour for some of the off brand products that manufactured.

MTV Callout — for those who can remember, MTV

Envelope with message to the PO — A friend's envelope requesting the post office deliver and perhaps refund the 22 cents for his lost letter prior.

Postmarked stamps — Some of the postmarked stamps. I think we used to give money with our letters for postage as we all ran out of stamps early spring. I did not save many envelopes from letters received.

Postmarks Closeup — "Stamp Collecting is a hobby for a lifetime" is a timely moment.

06 · T-shirt — 12 photos

T-shirt

The Maui Pineapple Company T-shirt, iconic then and now. We got a chance to buy 4 shirts through the company store for $6.50 each. If we wore them while there, it was during outings or the quiet time on sunday. I believe this shirt design is once again available online, but I have not looked into it.

Crazy Shirts The Maui Pineapple Company T-shirt. I wore mine until they were rags. We 'tie-bleached' several of them while at camp, creating a unique look for each one. My red one was stunning, though it wore out quickly, possibly due to the bleach or because I wore it a lot. Instead of throwing my red shirt away, I stored it in a clean chemistry flask that we had around the apartment (dating a chem eng major at the time).

Receipt for Maui Pine T-shirts — Purchased 4 of the iconic Maui Pine T-shirts through the company supply store, we were limited on purchase in the begining. Made by Crazy Shirts, Hawaii

Hiking trip - red T-shirt — Natural Bridge Hike

red shirt worn on a hike — Natural Bridge Hike, '89?

shirt Stored in A Flask 1 — Captured Red T-shirt

shirt Stored in A Flask 2 — Been on display for years

shirt Stored in A Flask 3 — Resting place for my red version

White T-shirt version — The white T-shirt version, lost forever

Brown bleached version — Hanging out in Lexington with my brown bleached out shirt

Staged Standing on the Rails - Brown t-shirt — Some fun times on the rail tracks behind the rented house

Red T-Shirt — Florida trip maybe - who knows

07 · odds & ends — 19 photos

Odds & Ends

Additional items in the shoebox. Flight documents, including a deck of cards with all 52 cards (plus 1 joker). Items from camp life and the stickers I bought in town.

Violent Femmes cassette 3/30/86 I purchased this tape in town. At some point the tape was confiscated by camp leaders due to the genre of music. I don't remember how I got the tape back. The dirt in the fields is unforgiving, it stained everything eventually.

Spoilers - Disc-K I still have the compact disc camera that I used. There is an entire different project that I am building centered around this so I won't spoil that effort with too many words. Camera still works, and yes I see John Candy's face (from Planes, Trains & Automobiles) every time I say that phrase.

Western Flight Documents 1 — Western airline's branded playing cards, ticket holders and Occupied card. Barf bag is generic, but from the flight there.

Western Flight Documents 2 — Flight coupons - remember those red carbon paper tickets that were required for traveling

Western Flight Documents 3 — Various flight documents

Minolta Disc Camera — The actual camera I used to take the photos from my experience. It still works, though I don't ever remember changing the battery.

Clothing tag — Tag from clothing purchased there, shorts probably

Trunk was our luggage for the flights as well as storage at camp

Trunk side view — Trunk side with Hawaii AG sticker

Flat Sheet Used at Camp — Camp beds needed twin flat sheets

Flat Sheet From Camp — Flat sheet from camp days, now used as a drop cloth

Violent Femmes cover — The soil from the fields got everywhere, staining the terracotta red as seen on the cover

Supplied Wire Mesh Goggles. I think these were nicer at times over the plastic sheild goggles, but I don't remember how often I wore them.

KNUI sticker — Radio station, don't remember if we listened to the radio in the car or at camp

Camp Award for Frisbee Catch — Frisbee Catch Award - I have no idea who won it, but it was not me. I think someone was going to throw this away when we were leaving and I put it in my trunk.

08 · outings — 39 photos

Outings

During the time, we had several outings to the local beach, town and a few main attractions on Maui. At the end of the work assignment, we went on tour and visited a few major places on the island of Hawaii. I don't remember if we fly to another island or not. These are some of the photos from the various outings in no particular order.

09 · postcards — 9 photos

Postcards

A few of the postcards I purchased in '86. 2 of them I 'used' to send home to my family. Postcard postage in 1986 was $0.14.

Vintage pineapple picking team, machines and fields — Pineapple Harvesting

Banyan tree at Lahaina, Maui - planted 1873

City of Refuge - carved guards — City of Refuge (National Historic Park) - Carved Guards

Kilauea Volcano 1983 — Kilauea Volcano April 1983

Hot lava cooling — Hot pahoehoe lava before hardening

St. Benedict's Church - interior of the Painted Church of Honaunau

10 · pics of me — 7 photos

Pics of Me

For various reasons, I do not have many photos of me from these days. There were a lot of different events and hours at the beach, but I did not bring my camera because I did not want to lose or break it, film was expensive and a challenge to get (shipped from home) and processing the film meant cost or shipping it home as well.

Off to work — I am off to work, the straps on the shoulder are from the blue backpack we were given to carry our gear.

My bunk during the early dats — My bunk space during the early spring days.

Dressed up for team talent show — I am dressed up for the team talent show (?). Thanks to whoever drew the face on the pillow case because I know it was not me

Upper Bunk — My upper bunk space, where I slept through the end of the summer.

Iao Needle impersonation. We shaved our heads at an early point due to the work, heat and/or peer pressure.

A quick photo when we were on the Pearl Harbor tour boat. The peroxided hair was a common sight for many of us.

Tour pic - City of Refuge — City of Refuge tour photo, including the finger of Grant or Gern.

A note from the curator

Curator's Notes

Less than 30 days, over 150 pictures to share, this project was a tangent to a tangent to the realization that my first job was 40 years ago. The path started off with a simple post a picture of my 'Mr Warehouse' award to a FB group dedicated to the Hawaii work program. Someone from my gang responded and after a few chats back and forth, two related but completely different ideas were forming in my head. Two projects, two concepts, photos, items and memories. As I started looking through all my stuff, I decided I wanted to share the shoebox of items I saved and invite the viewer to experience some of the 6 months without knowing any of the background. That is this purpose of this page.

Favorites For me, I often think about picking the best of a set to highlight because often there is so much noise and choices. Example: 128 pictures from that little camera when I was there, which ones showcase the experience. Most of the photos are photos taken in the past 2 weeks of the items I have been saving. So what are my favorites? The maps, I absolutely love the maps. I don't remember why Russ gave me those maps, but they are my favorite thing out of all the items saved. The hand drawn nature, the functionality and the memories of them being part of the daily plan. I wish I had maps of every field. The photo of the pineapple lined up on the harvester is also a key memory. It was my first 'composed' photo attempt, thinking it would look cool. And finally, my red Maui Pine T-shirt. The pattern on the shirt was so unique, due to the style of random tying with string and soaking in bleach. I kept the shirt, twisted it and stored in a flask. I know it looks like a bizarre Molotov cocktail, but it has been part of our display items ever since.

Nostalgia There is no denying that this project has brought up some long lost memories and others that are so close to my heart. From the letters my mother saved, to the trunk that my father engineered, looking at the items is heartwarming. My father created that trunk instead of buying something and making the handles in the way his mind knew they should be. Such detail, easy to miss, but not store bought metal handles. Looking through the letters, from handwriting to the words written, it all brings back memories that are unique and special for me. That aside, I hope that everyone can have the same understanding and feeling when seeing some personal mementos, drawing on their own experiences and reliving those strong connections to their past.

1986 First class mail cost 22 cents, minimum wage was 3.42/hr, long distance calls were expensive, charged per minute. I worked over 930 hours that summer, grossing $3,243. After epenses, maybe broke even. Cameras had film, music was on vinyl or magnetic tape. Cable TV and dot matrix printers were how things worked. Computers, cell phones, online access, CDs were just gaining traction. Digital revolution and it has not stopped. Now get off my lawn you crazy kids!