Yearly Archives: 2011

It was less than two weeks ago that I, like many people, was stunned to hear on the ten o'clock news that Ka'au McKenney's body had been recovered near Makapu'u lighthouse. It made no sense but the picture they flashed on the screen was definitely him, blue eyes that made up half of his face, a big smile that made up the rest. 45 years young, still so much left to do. A friend of mine says you can tell whether someone's life was successful by how many people attend his or her funeral. An insightful but unnecessary measurement. I already knew I would be only one of the many, many people who attended the service for Ka'au yesterday and the scattering of his ashes this morning. Ka'au was a beautiful person and a genuine waterman, and what set him apart from others who are lucky enough to live their passions was [Read More...]

Fulcrum Publishing, which published the first edition of Every Day Is a Good Day in 2004, recently released a Memorial Edition of this beautiful book. The only differences appear to be a new cover design and the addition of a foreword by Louise Erdrich. Maybe that speaks to the fact that that no other changes could have added meaningfully to this already-perfect book. Since I am one of the women whose reflections are included in this book, my credibility may be questioned if I say too much about what a great book it is, so instead, I'll critique myself, which I'm very good at doing. I always cringe when I read what I have said in interviews but that is not so in this case. In part it may be because Wilma gave me a chance to revise my responses, which I did, but I think that is only a small part [Read More...]

The Kamafiki Crew, as we named ourselves, went on our first overnight sail this past Saturday, a moonless night so we could see stars. Basically there are six of us on this crew that means 'magic' in Samoan, according to Captain Buddy. It's a word he uses when something suddenly fixes itself or does what it's supposed to. None of us could find it in a Samoan dictionary and the one Tongan one of us asked had never heard of kamafiki. When you think about it, it makes sense that there wouldn't be such a word as magic, at least in a Polynesian cultural context, because magic is sorcery. Anyway... we liked the word. The six of us on this crew bonded from training for the Hokule'a world wide sail. We all pretty much started coming to classes at the same time last year and so became friends. Only four could make [Read More...]

I am raising funds for a new book called Walking In A Sea of Dreams. I was born in the year of the rabbit, so it is not in either my personality type or comfort zone to call attention to myself, at least in the way I am doing through the Kickstarter.com project I set up. I have been humbled by the response. I've gotten lots of grants and commissions but nothing like belief and support from friends and family to create a personal obligation and desire to make a totally excellent project. And I will. When I first heard of Kickstarter.com I thought it was very cool but could NEVER imagine myself proposing a project through their site. After thinking more about it and the increasingly limited funding for creative projects (grants or otherwise), I decided to apply. Kickstarter accepted my application and here I am, in a place that has [Read More...]

Almost a year ago I set up this website with the intention of making a place where I could make public commentary on things – events, people, news, movies, kitty cats, whatever struck me. I wanted to be like local newspaper columnist Lee Cataluna and say what I think as a way to get people think more deeply about what’s going on in the community, celebrate neighbors whose deeds are noteworthy yet not significant enough to be reported in the news. Her humor is insightful, local, intelligent, often biting and more often than not, profound. To date, my entries have not been ala Lee Cataluna. I discovered that I am reluctant to make observations about inept politicians or poke fun at my community or people in it because I don’t want to say something that may come back and bite me in the ʻōkole at an inopportune time. I recently attended a [Read More...]