Orientation
In 1919, Marc English’s grandfather, Joe English, was rescued by Admiral Lord Jellicoe, HM Royal Navy after being marooned on the world’s largest coral atoll, due to the Spanish Flu pandemic.
For decades grandson Marc has been entrusted with the family artifacts: grandfather’s photos from 1916 – 1919; copies of his correspondence; details on the cultivation of coconuts (Joe managed the Central Pacific Coconut Plantation on the island, barely above the equator, halfway between Hawaii and Tahiti); and the plantation manager’s journal, outlining the contract laborer’s mutiny and attempted murder of Joe.
Now, the younger English – old enough to be grandfather himself – arrives to learn more about the island; the overlapping cultures of the Missionary Catholic and Protestant colonizers; and South Pacific, France, the British Empire, and the United States around which a now-multinational corporation (Unilever) are connected; the Great War; and a 29-year-old man from outside Boston who has found himself all but alone on a desert island – using a false name.
Journal Entries
- Tuesday, 7 March 2023 // Full Moon Dogs
- Monday, 13 March 2023 // London, Kiritimati - LINNIX
- Wednesday, 15 March 2023 // 1968 Coconut Growing Potential
- Wednesday, 15 March 2023 // Motorcycles & I-Matangs
- Thursday, 16 March 2023 // Joe's Hill
- Friday, 17 March 2023 // Night Sounds
- Saturday, 18 March 2023 // Peter's 70th, Greig full circle
- Monday, 20 March 2023 // Paris
- Monday, 20 March 2023 // Poland
- Tuesday, 21 March 2023 // Naked I-Matang Beach
- Wednesday, 22 March 2023 // From Poland to London
- Thursday, 23 March 2023 // Banana / Main Camp
- Friday, 24 March 2023 // Women
- Saturday, 25 March 2023 // The Frenchmen
- Sunday, 26 March 2023 // Burning
- Monday, 27 March 2023 // Music to Read By
- Tuesday, 28 March 2023, morning // Fanning Plantation
- Tuesday, 28 March 2023, evening // The Ends of the Earth, at the Ends of the Earth
- Wednesday, 29 March 2023 // I am here because of coconuts
- Saturday, 1 April 2023 // Holy Cow NO ENTRY
- Sunday, 2 April 2023 // Fiji Air / "Normalcy" / "Good Writer"
- Monday, 3 April 2023 // Poland & Pain
- Tuesday, 4 April 2023 // The Crossroads - A1 and Carver Way
- Wednesday, 5 April 2023 // Poland Coir & Domestic Abuse
- Thursday, 6 April 2023 // Iou’s Camp / American in London
- Friday, 7 April 2023, morning // Paris. Where the wild things are
- Friday, 7 April 2023, day // Good Friday; Paris - Joe's Hill - London
- Saturday, 8 April 2023 // "A gift from Japan" / Ngaon Te Taake
- Sunday, 9 April 2023 // Easter / 1st Flight / Frank