Pekka Kantonen

After returning from US, I spent one year in my old high school, and met my wife Lea then. She got interested in me, because I read poetry books during classes. After graduation we started to go together, and got married less than a year later, 1st of Feb 1976.

After Finnish high school, I went to a journalism school of the biggest newspaper in Finland, like NYT. Then I worked as a cultural critic about five years, 3 years as a researcher in the theatre academy of Finland.

The years 1984-86 I spent in Mexico studying indigenous cultures, and in Central America besides visiting indigenous cultures, I worked as journalist, human shield, activist during the war time in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. After returning home I worked as a coordinator of solidarity campaigns for Central America. Very anti-Reagan.

At the same time Lea and I developed our artistic methods working together with different youth groups of different indigenous cultures in Mexico, Estonia, and Saamiland. At the moment I´m working on my doctorate concerning a method we have developed when doing audiovisual work both at home and with different cultural groups.

Of course I remember my first day at Lincoln high when I realized that I was the only white student in the school. For this reason I had to adjust myself to certain precautionary measures. But also I got special positive attention. I´m very proud of winning a lunch break funky dance competition with Kimber, we all had so much laugh then. I can still really get it on.

Before coming to Lincoln I did not like basket ball, but there I learned to like to watch it. It was like a dance competition. And the cheerleaders were a delight.