Homespun Honolulu

King Lunalilo’s tomb was blessed with new kahili a few weeks ago as part of the King’s 175th birthday.  These kahili were beautiful new additions to replace the old ones that were not in the greatest of shape after all of these years.

Apparently the making of the new kahili was orchestrated by Paulette Nohealani Kahalepuna which says to me that these kahili were not only crafted of feathers but that they were done correctly, carefully, and beautifully.

The gentleman pictured here on the left is Kamehameha Maertens.  He is quite familiar with the kahili in King Lunalilo’s tomb.  Back in 1938 an article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin listed him as one of the kahili bearers back then. Mr. Maertens’ grandson took him to the new kahili event to celebrate Lunalilo’s 175th birthday on January 31st at the King’s tomb on the grounds of Kawaiaha’o Church.

That, in my opinion, is certainly something worth talking about — a man revisits a part of history that he himself was a part of.  I’m not sure how many of us will be around long enough to see history repeat itself or to say we actually had a hand in it!

In the Star-Bulletin article, Kamehameha Maertens was listed incorrectly as a member of the Royal Order of Kamehameha.  His first name may have been the reason for the reporter’s confusion but he was certainly an important part of the royal procession paying tribute to the memory of a man who was once a very popular monarch.

After all of those years gone by, I can’t help but wonder if he ever dreamed that his own grandchild would push for the preservation of the Hawaiian culture through the protection, perpetuation, and restoration of its treasured language.  In case you can’t get into Facebook, here’s the meat of what’s on the other end of this link:

“After the unlawful overthrow of the Hawaiian government by white supremacists, four generations of Hawaiian people endured cultural genocide beginning in 1896 when the Hawaiian language was banned as a medium of public instruction. 30+ years have passed since the 1978 Hawai’i State Constitution nominally restored Hawaiian as an official language along with English, yet speakers of Hawaiian cannot vote using their language. Without public information readily available in Hawaiian, the current policy of English-only community services is indeed tantamount to ethnic cleansing! Will you please join with us to implement Hawai’i’s Official Languages Act to put this unfortunate era of cultural genocide against Hawaiian speaking people behind us for good?”

I’ve talked about this before and, while it is a touchy subject, most people will agree that it is a terrible thing to cut off a people from their own language.  It is a wretched behavior for a country claiming to be “civilized.”  Make no mistake about it, I’m an American and proud of it, but there are times when I just don’t know what we were thinking!  But I digress.

There are quite a few of us who missed the Hawaiian-language boat in school and are now trying to learn.  This is where Mr. Maertens’ grandson comes in.  Michael Malulani Odegaard is trying to help us do just that.  Some students are doing better than others.  I have to admit that life, as usual, gets in the way of that too.  Mahalo, Kumu, for all you do and for your infinite patience!

For those of you looking to learn ‘olelo Hawai’i or looking to brush up on your skills a little, there are small classes available on Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.  Follow this link for more information about the Wednesday evening class and for contact information in case you have questions.

For those who try to call it a dead language, I’m very happy to let you know that you are sadly mistaken!  It’s alive and well and getting stronger every day!

Comments left on Facebook will be copied and shared here on Homespun Honolulu so everyone will be able to listen to your thoughts and input.

It always comes as such a surprise and I am  always quite moved when a corporation takes steps to assist the community where it does business, and/or takes steps to educate itself about that community.  Respect, preservation, and education is not always something taken on by corporate America’s larger brand names.

In the most unlikely of places, we found a little bit of cultural respect from Wal-Mart.  I’m not one to give a lot of credit to Wal-Mart since most of what we hear about them is anything but good news, but I’ll give them this one.

In Hawai’i, the finding of iwi (bones) is probably one of our most sensitive and touchy subjects.  Honolulu probably suffers from the largest number of incidents because it is constantly growing and there is always something being built.

The discovery of iwi during the construction of the Wal-Mart store on Ke’eaumoku Street was a finding taken very seriously.  The last I heard when this came to light was that there were 64 set of iwi that were about 150 years old.  While things were kept relatively low key, it was not an all-happy or non-confrontational event!  Findings such as these occur much more frequently than we would like them to and the parties involved had no problem sharing their views.

After reading through some of the articles, it seems to me that some of the “experts” hired to do a job were perhaps not the best choice to handle a matter so delicate and/or to handle the treasured bones themselves.  I know we have talked before about the importance of the iwi in Hawaiian culture.  These are not dinosaur bones from an archaeological dig!  They are family members!

Wal-Mart, and any other business for that matter, cannot always control the behavior of the people they hire to perform a service.  It is difficult to be at the mercy of those performing work that is outside one’s own line of business.  That’s why they hire specialists.  All of that aside, I think the completed memorial is actually very attractive and whoever was in charge of that, did a fine and respectful job!

There are, as you can see, “Keep Out” and “Don’t Walk on Grass” signs all around this little monument.  It looks quite a bit like a heiau and it is surrounded by newly-planted indigenous plants, the kind often found in such places.  They originally said it would be landscaped and open to the public so perhaps they’re waiting for the plants to take root.  In case residents haven’t found it yet, the photo above shows you exactly where it is — on the corner of Makaloa and Sheridan Streets on the property shared by Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club.

Cultural preservation is on the upswing in Hawai’i and it’s not all being left only up to us.

Getting ready for work and listening with one ear to the news the other morning, I was stopped in my tracks and had to run to the TV and press rewind on the remote (thanks to Oceanic Time Warner Cable, we can do that!).  As I fumbled for the right button I muttered, “They’re doing what?!?  No way!”

I love this story and I’m sending a shout out to the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel for being a part of the community where they do business and for proactively reinforcing its culture!  KHON2 News did a nice little segment about a family whose son wanted a big tree on their property to be made into a canoe.  I hesitate because links like that one often become dead when the story gets moved so I’ll include the gist of it here just in case.

Their son passed away six years ago but his dream may still become a reality.  The Ka’anapali Beach Hotel asked the family to donate that same tree for them to turn into a canoe!  Based on a quote from the KHON2 News article, the father responded:

“The only thing we like out of this is to have the canoe named after my son cuz for a while he had already seen this being one canoe”

The hotel agreed, and named the canoe “Kaililaau.”

The canoe is being built as part of the hotel’s Pookela program which allows employees to learn aspects of the Hawaiian culture.

Building a canoe is certainly no easy task and for the hotel to have done this with the goal of perpetuating a piece of Hawaiian culture is nothing less than commendable!

Mahalo to KHON2 and kudos to the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel!

See how great it is when big business does the right thing? 

As I was sitting listening to Haunani Apoliona talk about OHA’s role in the community, and as I watched the keiki at one of the ‘Aha Punana Leo schools talk about ethnic food dishes (using the Hawaiian language of course) I can’t help but feel a need to share some gratitude with Oceanic Time Warner Cable and the State of Hawaii’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) for their continued support of community programming!

We almost lost it, or at least a big chunk of it, or so we thought! The franchise contract was up for renewal and one of the articles I read seemed to have a very negative view of what the outcome would be.  The concern was largely focused on the availability of channels designated for various types of community programming.

No need to worry — there’s good news!  The conditions of the newly-restored, 20-year franchise include, aside from other things, the addition of more community channels!  Instead of the six (6) we had before, there will now be fourteen (14)!  We will have even more places to accommodate the PBS, ‘Olelo, and PEG (public, educational, and governmental) channels than ever before!

Mahalo to DCCA and Time Warner Cable for staying on top of the things deemed important to the viewers!

I started this article back in December of 2008.  That shows how long I’ve been aspiring/contemplating the sharpening of my literary pencil.  In reality, it has been a lot longer than that but only relatively recently has the plot actually decided to come alive.

The best part of all of this is that blogs that managed to make an impact on me are still around!  So, I’m going to share some of my literary darlings with you guys.  As I was putting this together, I couldn’t help but be reminded about my eclectic taste.  Don’t be too surprised, I’m afraid that it’s just my nature.

Part of what drives me is the “voice” of others who are aiming at the same aspiration.  In the case of Mark David Gerson, that aspiration has been reached and now, as a writing coach, he aims to help others to reach there as well.  A source of inspiration himself, Mark David has said to me (and I haven’t forgotten it) that, “your inspiration is all around you!”  Mark David’s greatest asset in my eyes?  He’s a former Hawai’i resident!  No bias or anything.  I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover but I can’t help but love the cover of The Voice of the Muse!  I’m not sure just whom to blame this on.

I can tell you to whom goes the blame for that “uppity” last sentence!  Writing Forward handles everything from grammatical topics to plot and character issues.  I fell in love with this blog when I read the post that I’ve used for the link to this blogger and I’m afraid that I’m very stuck with my opinion.

Wait, I’m not done!  About my “uppity” sentence — in January, 2010 I found another article from Writing Forward to add to this!  I threatened to link back to this article by using the word whom rather than the word who in a sentence.  That way, I could blame being “uppity” on poor, darling Melissa Donovan who is just trying to help us all write better.

Jurgen Wolff at Time to Write also shares “tips, ideas, inspirations for writers and would-be writers and other creative people” along with a lot of thought-provoking observations and commentary.  I admire Jurgen’s genuine concern for the written word and the old-fashioned publishing medium that encases those intelligent and carefully-crafted texts (I mean books).

Attempting to make my own story-in-progress verisimilar (yeah, I had to look that word up too), I have done some research into different aspects of cultures, societies and lines of business that are normally outside my circle of knowledge and my physical boundaries.  In the process I found places like The Golden Pencil (I love that name) that provide a little bit of everything.  (That was the name of the blog in 2008.  Now, in 2010, it’s called EveryJoe.com.)  But, there are still articles about writing and all kinds of things.

Oddly enough, or maybe not odd at all, I have learned many things from other bloggers, even the strange ones.

I’ve picked up new words like the one above, “verisimilar,” from bloggers like my brilliant but sick friend Bobby Revell at Revellian.com.  To provide a movie-type rating for his writing, I would rate them somewhere between R and X.  For a letter grade?  I’m afraid I have to give him an A+!

WARNING!  Bobby is, from time to time, a bit unorthodox, so be careful!  His writing is carefully crafted together with great visual descriptions that are, er, um, colorful.  Let’s put it this way, horror and smut fiction are his specialty.  If you can’t handle it, don’t go there.  But, you really should!  He’s so deranged, I just love him!  Some of his horrific and disgusting literature has left me rattled for days, so beware!  I’ve also found some other writer bloggers by following them back from their comments left at Revellian.com.  Thanks, Bobby, for the introduction to the other writers and for the occasional vocabulary boosts!  I’m not quite sure if I want to thank you for shaking up my nervous system.

Need a reality check?  Larry Brooks over and StoryFix.com will give you one!  Just the facts baby, those very often cold and hard facts.  It’s okay, Larry is here to help us “get it written, get it right, get it published.” Larry doesn’t pull any punches or play games with the facts.  I’m just glad he wasn’t one of my high school teachers!  I subscribed to his posts (as I have with the others) and I save them all so I don’t miss too much.  For many things that have caught my attention, I keep a tab open on my Firefox browser.  For StoryFix, I have a whole window set aside from the rest.  I think that’s a compliment.   It doesn’t say much about my ability to commit and stay focused, but that’s another issue.

Jennifer, who is Writing to Survive, presents some very insightful thoughts and provides a little of her own inspiration without even realizing it.  She too seems to have novel aspirations!  Reading between the lines, it seems that Jennifer has been infected by the NaNoWriMo bug, as have I.

Many people have been infected by the NaNoWriMo bug and that’s not just Americans — there are people from all over the World that focus in on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) every November. At this point I have to mention Chris Baty and his No Plot? No Problem!  Chris says it’s not a problem but Larry Brooks says, “Wanna bet?”  Hey, I never said they all agree with each other!

I do have to also acknowledge that this post has gotten way longer than I had originally intended.  I’ll end here and figure out who has been forgotten and talk about them later.  What got into me?  I have no idea!  They have all inspired me in one way or another and I just felt the urge to share some link love with them.  Besides, anyone willing to help me fix my writing receives automatic friend status!   Thanks guys, for helping me with my literary aspirations!

Happy New Year Everyone! 

Two Carnival Announcements:

Carnival of Aloha - If you’re still thinking about submitting your article and you’re worried about the deadline, I’ve changed the deadline to tomorrow (Sunday) at noon.  So, send your posts in you guys!

Carnival of Cities - The Carnival of Cities was the guide by which the Carnival of Aloha was set up.  When Homespun Honolulu began, the Carnival of Cities started at the same time by the same organization.  Every once in a while I think about the Carnival of Cities and send in an article that means a lot to me, which I just did recently.

Oh my!  I got nervous when I saw this!  Twenty-three (23) entries in this particular edition of the Carnival of Cities.  Kudos to the host of the Carnival this time!  Roaming Tales — I like that name!

While acknowledging that I have been just a bit out of the loop on a lot of things recently, I decided that my poor, neglected, little blog was in need of something festive!

So, I’m publishing a special Carnival of Aloha with the assistance of some of our previous Hawai’i visitors!

Some I begged and some I just “forced” to join us.  I didn’t really think they would mind. Besides, there isn’t a blogger or a writer that I know who doesn’t appreciate a little link love from time to time!

By invitation, or my begging, please join me and our Hawai’i visitors for a special carnival and help me bring everybody back into the loop for the next Carnival scheduled to go live on January 4th!  Come with me and let’s go visit them all!

Now, those who are familiar with our usual Carnival journey know we always have to have at least one contributor who feeds us.  Most people know how much we all love our food!  This time, we’re in very good shape!  In fact, we’ve got us a real live chef!

Chef Mark Tafoya over at the Culinary Media Network (I love that name) always makes sure his readers have sustenance!  Chef Mark said I could take my pick.  I tried but I couldn’t!  So, you have to choose your favorite!  There were a couple that stood out for me.  I love the products from Alii Kula Lavender so that one struck a chord.  The other one was about a place that, while thinking about it for a long time, I have been a little apprehensive to cover.  The Honolulu Fish Auction!  Thank you, Mark, for covering that while you were here!

Shira, one of the editor/contributors at Jaunted, was kind enough to also share her stories with us.  Of course I had to be partial to anything that says Honolulu Me Please!

I wanted to share this one too!  Shira also shares a video about how they went Dipping Into the Queen’s Bath on Kauai.

Still thinking about our visitors, I knew where I wanted to go!

I went to Sheila over at Go Visit Hawaii and asked for something to include.  I couldn’t forget mine and the Carnival of Aloha’s own Hawai’i-loving, travel darling!  Now that my brain seems back on track, I have to pay attention when Sheila says, Don’t Miss the Nuuanu Pali Lookout on Oahu.

Everything Sheila says is true and, depending on the weather, the wind up there can be very, very strong!

Jim Turner, who doesn’t know I’m doing this, needs to get some extra credit for his blog.   In case you’re still hungry, Jim shares his visit to Macadamia Nut Heave at the Mauna Loa Factory.

I’ve never seen this before and thought it was so cute!  Obviously their commercial is working because I started singing their jingle, “Maunaloa macadamias…”

I owe a huge apology to two bloggers who just missed the time cutoff for the last Carnival published here.  It’s amazing to me how these two posts remain timely even six months later!

Ryan over at Uncommon Cents asks his readers, “Fourteen Percent — Could You Cut Your Budget That Much?” as he shares the story of our State’s furloughs.  It remains timely as we still struggle with it and the battle continues between the Governor and the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

No wonder that our finances are in a mess!  Can any of us handle it?  Well, we can tell by other parts of the economy as we can see with our next blogger.

Pua over at Best Hawaii Vacation with Hawaii Vacation Blog asks, Will Hawaii foreclosures help your dream of living in Hawaii?  I’m not sure how many are willing to brave our economy right now but this is certainly indicative of how well a lot of us are doing.

It’s interesting to note that even with the financial crunch that so many of us are feeling right now, many individuals and companies, while nipping their holiday spending, have opted to give their funds to the Hawaii Food Bank, the Lokahi Giving Project, and other charities like these.  The joy of giving is still there and, finances be damned, we’re still sharing the Aloha!

Mahalo to all of the bloggers/writers in this special edition!  Heartfelt gratitude goes out to those who waited forever and to those who answered my plea to let me bring them back to the islands, virtually.  Please share with your fellow travelers and blogger buddies!  If you’re on Facebook, please come back here to leave comments so the other participants can see your reactions!

Merry Christmas everyone!  ALL bloggers, please be sure to join us for the first Carnival of Aloha of 2010 — it is scheduled to go live on January 4th!  The deadline for submissions is this coming Wednesday, December 30th.  Hope to see you all there!

I’m a sucker for things that are naturally fantastic.  I saw this wood piece at an art show at Honolulu Academy Art Center At Linekona back in 2007 and have marvelled at it ever since.

This sensual “woman” was made by the artist from one piece of wood. Unfortuantely for me, I no long have the artists name. I will try to find it and include it here later! What a genius. I don’t remember the price either, or if it was even for sale. I didn’t notice the blue ribbon at first, until I was done gawking in disbelief.

I get way too worked up about these things but I do love them because I’m crazy like that!  Everyone should give it a try at least once!  The Hawai’i Craftsmen are having their 42nd Annual Statewide Juried Exhibition right around the corner and I’m excited to go see what they will have for us to see.  Don’t worry, the Exhibition runs from October 10th to the 31st so you have lots of time.  Just don’t put it too far on the back burner!

Honolulu Academy Art Center At Linekona
1111 Victoria Street
Honolulu, Hawai’i
(On the makai (ocean) side of Beretania Street between Thomas Square and McDonald’s)

This Friday evening (yes, tonight) at 6:30 pm join supporters of Hawaii Bilingual (H2O) for the evening, artistic portion of their monthly vigil that occurs at the end of each month.  This is an event that began back in April and will continue to be observed “until an Official Languages Act similar to Canada’s and Ireland’s is adopted by the Hawai’i State Legislature, effectively confirming an end of the era of Hawaiian cultural genocide.”

Cultural genocide is a pretty strong term.  If you think about it, it’s not too far off the mark.  I was shocked to learn that people were not only forbidden to speak the language but were severely punished if they were caught doing so.  That is so, so wrong!  I don’t know all the horrific details and don’t want to know — it breaks my heart.  Take away a language and thus begins cultural disintegration.  Acknowledging that “cultural genocide” is a strong term, most will agree that it is quite accurate when you look at the bigger, historic picture.

I don’t understand this retarded occurrence in our history but I intend to support the movement to restore a very important part of our beloved culture — the language!  See the flyer here for a more detailed description of the event and the movement.

Tickets are $15 and are available at the door.  Pupu will be provided as people kick back and relax to the symphonic sounds of talented musicians hailing from our own Honolulu Symphony.  Come and share in the peace and aloha of this bilingual event.  If enough of us band together for this purpose, the State will eventually have to listen. 

Bring a chair, and your drink(s) of choice to:

Fresh Cafe
831 Queen Street
Kaka’ako, Honolulu

I know I’ve talked about this place elsewhere, but not here.  Tsk!  This little post has been sitting in draft form for quite some time.

We were having lunch at Zippy’s in the Koko Marina Shopping Center and the name of this cute little store caught our attention. Of course the big “SALE” sign in red lettering was helpful too!

When we were done eating we decided to be nosy and go check it out.  I’m glad we did because I have a passion for wood grain and there was a lot of it inside!

Brian Ikeda, the store’s owner, is seen here sharing information about the store, telling visitors about the products, and talking about the numerous buying trips taken to Indonesia to purchase all of the merchandise that this little store has to offer.

There were some unusual items that, while somewhat familiar, had a different overall ambiance to them than what we’re used to.  There was an uncanny similarity to what one might associate with the Philippines.  But then there was a sense of made in Hawaii there too.  The best part was that all items are made in Indonesia, hence the name Bali Pacific Trading.

While just simple wood is a definite draw for me, the quality of the wood furnishings we found was very apparent and the different pieces of furniture were very attractive.

I thought this guy on the right was fun and Mr. Ikeda said that the kids love him too.  I’ve never seen a surfer quite like that one. 

I got a kick out of it with the straw skirt and hair to match.  Like I said, you would think we would find something like that right here in Honolulu but I’ll be darned if this charming fellow wasn’t made in Indonesia as well!  What a crack up!  He looks a little ticked off – like he just missed his wave.

If you stop by the store on a Sunday, give my best to Brian and have fun checking out the textures of all of those home and garden products.  The prices are very reasonable and it’s safe to say that you will be pleasantly surprised.

Bali-Pacific Trading Co.
Koko Marina Shopping Center
Suite G-102A
Honolulu, Hawai’i
Phone: (808) 396-9959

Movie Contest for the Keiki!

Here’s a summary of the storyline for an upcoming film:

“In Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies’ family comedy “Imagine That,” Eddie Murphy stars as a successful financial executive who has more time for his BlackBerry than his seven-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi).

When he has a crisis of confidence and his career starts going down the drain, however, he finds the solution to all his problems in his daughter’s imaginary world.”

This movie opens Nationwide on Friday, June 12, 2009.  It runs for 107 minutes and stars Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church, Yara Shahidi, Nicole Ari Parker, Ronny Cox and Martin Sheen.

I like Eddie Murphy movies and this one sounds like fun! Besides, bringing fantasy and the real world together is something I think we should always strive to do!  It makes life all the more enchanting.  Apparently Hollywood thinks so too!

Anyway, we thought it would be fun to have a little contest.  Here are the rules:

• You need to be 13 years old or younger.

• Submit one or two paragraphs telling us about a dream of yours and why you think it should come true.  (Send submissions to evelyn@homespunhonolulu.com)

Winners will be randomly selected and the grand prize winner will receive our “IMAGINE THAT Dreams Come True” prize package and passes for an advanced screening of the movie on June 9th!  Hippo Toes will be sponsoring our little contest with a $40 gift certificate for the grand-prize winner.

I need to post the following disclaimer so you need to read it:

DISCLAIMER:NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Seating is first-come, first-served and cannot be guaranteed.  The theatre is overbooked to ensure a full house.

Passes received through this promotion do not guarantee you a seat at the theatre. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, except for members of the reviewing press. Theatre is overbooked to ensure a full house. No admittance once screening has begun. All federal, state and local regulations apply. A recipient of tickets assumes any and all risks related to use of ticket, and accepts any restrictions required by ticket provider.

Paramount Pictures, homespunhonolulu.com, Hippo Toes and their affiliates accept no responsibility or liability in connection with any loss or accident incurred in connection with use of a prize.  Tickets cannot be exchanged, transferred or redeemed for cash, in whole or in part. We are not responsible if, for any reason, recipient is unable to use his/her ticket in whole or in part. All federal and local taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. Participating sponsors, their employees & family members and their agencies are not eligible.  NO PHONE CALLS!

There!  Now hurry up!  Start using your imaginations and tell me your dreams and why you think they should come true!  The deadline for entries is this Thursday, June 4th!  I want to be sure I can get you your passes in time for the advanced screening the following Tuesday!