Hawaii classic or dud

You'd think they would be sick of the Hula dance by now. Quick Quick: Pop stars from Hawaii.

I'm going to Hawaii at the end of February. I will be staying on Oahu, and will have a car. I will be there for 5 days. What should I do?

Retrace all my steps in the five days I was there, obv. And gr8080 to thread.

And those steps would be, Mr. Raggett? Come on, man. I need ASSISTANCE!

I think you're supposed to veg on the beach and go hiking (in nature.)

My sister is in Hawaii RITE NOW. I have never been.

Steve Shasta to thread as well.

ANYWAY, B.L.A.M., since you asked -- I'd say since you have a car, get out of Honolulu as much as possible and enjoy the Windward coast as well as the North Shore. Center of the island = flat and dull, stop only as needed and otherwise just use it to get to where you're going. Avoid the Polynesian Cultural Center at all costs. Get at least one meal if not lots from shrimp trucks. Eat poke. And relax on the beach, by all means.

Hey I live here too. Ned call me to the thread too please :)

Five days eh?

One day should be spent making a circuit of the island. Head up to the North Shore and poke around Haleiwa. Have shrimp plate at Macky's. Then you cruise along over to windward side and take a break at Hukilau beach park. Stop to take a look at Chinaman's Hat. Then you can head to Kailua and take a look around. Head back to Honolulu on the Pali Hwy.

Interesting neighborhoods in Honolulu:
Chinatown/Downtown/Iolani Palace area
Kaimuki
Manoa
If you want to see the "other side of paradise" you can head over to Leeward side and see the tent cities on the beach. The whole area is really local and a far cry from Waikiki. It's not dangerous or anything, but you should be somewhat aware of your surroundings.

Good shopping:
Ward Center
Ala Moana Mall

Good nature closer to Honolulu:
Hanauma Bay/Sandys Beach
Manoa Falls
Makiki Valley hike (there are tons of nice hikes)
Diamond Head
Ala Moana Beach Park & Waikiki are actually pretty nice beaches and super convenient

A few things to do in Honolulu:
Honolulu Academy of Arts is a beautiful nice complex and a nice way to spent an hour or two
Honolulu Zoo is nothing special but a nice stroll with animals around
Bishop Museum has a variety of exhibits in culture, history, and science. Gift shop has some cool stuff too.
Contemporary Museum of Art is beautiful and has interesting art.
Drive up to Tantalus and cruise Round Top Drive and see the amazing night views of Honolulu.

I'm sure there is more, but that should get you started. Also, don't rule out a day trip to a neighbor island. Airfare is cheap and flights are short.

Hey I'm in Honolulu for the week for work - planning to hire a car at the weekend at get out and about. In the meantime though: any suggestions for nice places to eat in Honolulu? Thanks for the stuff already suggested.

i will be there (oahu) for six days in three weeks. thanks super cub for those recommendations, any others welcome. I'll have my kid with me (4yrs).

ooh me too, me too (in about 6 weeks). Thinking of spending most time in Oahu, maybe a couple days gawping at volcanos on the big island. Unlikely I'll have a car, so not sure what's do-able.

hard to get out to volcanoes on the big island w/out a car

Hawaii sucks, man.

i had such a great time! i was there for work 3 days and then spent 4 days just relaxing on the beach, exploring honolulu + one day i hired a car and drove all around oahu. the north shore beaches were out of this world.....

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7395/13867618500418654613045.jpg

i wish i'd spent more than one day doing this actually. make sure you don't make my mistake of getting accidentally trapped by mormons inside this fucking creepy temple in laie. eat at all the shrimp trucks! and yeah i second the museum of contemporary art it has some cool things and the ground are beautiful + peaceful. was the most expensive place in the states i've ever been tho iirc.

My sister said that Hawaii used to suck but that it wasn't as bad now. I haven't been there, not sure what changed but she wouldn't have been caught dead in Hawaii ten or fifteen years ago.

oh yeah and poke is delicious!

My sister said that Hawaii used to suck but that it wasn't as bad now.

wha???

She used to be a travel agent FWIW. I think it used to attract the wrong kind of tourists, in her opinion.

Honeymooners?

I don't think my opinion is that fascinating, but no, it just seems to be a general perception of a lot of people I know offline (in the travel industry). Sorry if I make no sense at all but when about ten people suddenly go there who wouldn't be caught dead there I would assume something is different.

I love Hawai'i. Really amazing place. Haters keep on hating so that I have to deal with less of you yokels when I'm there.

i love an 'okina

u s steel, some people actually live here. A place isn't defined by tourist experiences as described by your sister, the travel agent.

dude, you've obviously never been to the Sizzler on a Monday night in Peoria.

is it naive to rely on taxis/ public transportation if we're not gonna have a car? tbh the first chunk in Oahu will be filled with taking-it-easy so afaict it shouldn't be too bad. but can we get to the main big volcano on the big island ok? (only just beginning to read up on this hence my staggering lack of knowledge).

def. rent a car for a day trip like going to volcanoes.

if you physically cant rent a car for some legal/personal reason, i'd look into some kind of tour bus service. you'll spend less than with a taxi.

Big Island = Big like Montana not Big like a big city.

i don't have a licence! Which, I'm finding, is a completely alien concept to most Americans :) - beginning to see why any time I venture out of SF tho.
Good plan re tour bus, thanks.

when are you here (oahu)? i'll drive you around for a day if i'm free.

classic classic classic

esp. the big island

xp
!! that's unbelievably kind. No dates sorted yet as juggling several things, but probably late Sept - early Oct. I'll be frothing with excitement all over this thread nearer the time, no doubt. Sorry, that sounds disgusting.

i wish wish wish i'd gone to the big island. another time i guess.

xp

yeah gross dude no frothing in my car jeez

is it naive to rely on taxis/ public transportation if we're not gonna have a car?

Oahu has a good public bus system:

www.thebus.org

You can get around urban Honolulu with ease, and you can take buses to more scenic and remote locations. Check out the route map. Like any public bus service, it can be slow though. It's a realistic option for most destinations.

bad link

http://www.thebus.org/

I got a driving licence! And have hired a car on both Oahu and Hawai'i. Was almost going to not bother in Oahu but looks like we could easily spend as much on taxis as car rental so bit the bullet (it will be my first time driving as a proper licensed driver...)

Uh this is totally cheesy but I want to do one of those tours of Lost filming locations. Anyone done one/got any advice? Seemed like a good way of getting my Lost fix as well as getting a good tour of the island in one day.

i had some college friends here for a wedding a few weeks ago and they did one of the LOST tours and really enjoyed it. none of them had ever been to Hawaii before so it was a nice way to see the island even without all the nerdy LOST stuff.

i dont know who they ended up going with, but they said he had two tours, a 5 hour one and an 11 hour one i think. the 5 hour one basically takes you from Waikiki over to Kualoa Ranch where a lot of the jungle and valley scenes were shot. Kualoa Ranch costs money to get in no matter what so going on a LOST tour is worth it. (parts of Jurassic Park and Godzilla were filmed there too). He even had props for fun photos:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs377.snc4/45978_1529341404616_1567161126_31254446_3121159_n.jpg

lol smokemonster:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs398.snc4/46090_1529342924654_1567161126_31254472_4365699_n.jpg

the 11 hour tour continues on up the windward (East) coast to the North Shore, where most of the beach locations are. however, if you're renting a car, this is one of my favorite drives ever-- it might be more fun to do it on your own.

when are you coming? offer still stands to show you around. i can show you the gas station where Claire got into a car accident, the Bar where Sawyer met Christian, the bunker where Sayid was held in Iraq, the building used for the Sidney airport among other things.

Do you like snorkeling?

That sure does look like something else besides a smoke monster.

lol right?

Ha, was gonna say...
Thanks, all good stuff to know! We're actually coming on Saturday, gonna be staying on the east side. Never snorkelled before, I'm on the fence as to whether I want to do it. It's gonna be me and my husband, so will see what he thinks about internet stranger danger :-) but sounds good?

snorkeling is amazing. It feels like flying, and the fish are beautiful.

^^otm^^ can't wait to go snorkeling!

if you want to do nightlife-y stuff saturday nite, let me know!

gr8080 @ gmail

Been to Oahu and Maui three times, Big Island and Kaua'i once and a daytrip Molokai. Totally classic kine, bra!

Who goes to Hawaii on their honeymoon and makes visiting the temple a top priority? My sister, that's who.

Let me guess -- she also thought the Polynesian Cultural Center was really fascinating.

hahaha Ned, you guessed correctly.

Why did I know.

"And we even did the dances and everything!"

5 days, 4 nights on the Big Island. Have a car, will be camping. What should I not miss?

i would recommend camping in Waimanu valley but it requires a 9 mile hike.

If you can't do that, def at least get down in to waipio valley.

i just read this, and tho its written kind of corny, I'd still recommend:

http://www.cntraveler.com/islands/2012/11/big-island-hawaii-hiking-adventure-landscapes-beaches-lava-fields

waimanu/waipio yup

the hike to shipman beach

69 ('waialea beach', apparently)

crater trail maybe? like the moon down there. also maybe the thurston lava tube if you're into that but caves are not where brittle hawaii shines. even if you don't do either of those things you should def see some lava landscape, ideally at

the lava flow at kalapana at night which lol has its own yelp and only averages 4.5 stars; pele is going to be pissed.

walk along alii drive in kona at dusk. this is the most touristy thing you can do on the big island but still worth doing.

sounds like its a good time to see lava right now

if you drive past tex's stop for malasadas

best workhorse family-choked beach: hapuna
prettiest beach: 69
best surf beach: honolii? i was always a civilian :(

best Day At Beach plan if you want to just devote a single day to that kind of nonsense before you turn to concentrate on jungles and volcanoes: hapuna from the late morning to midafternoon ---> 69 from midafternoon to evening. hope for big waves at hapuna and clear water above the reef at 69, altho the tragedy is these rarely go together.

Ha, that link to Shipman Beach was written by an old friend's mom!

Thanks, everyone, I had a great time. Stayed my first two nights in Kalapana and made friends with some locals who took me out hiking over the lava field at night. Drove the Belt Road, went to the NP, Waipio, Tex for malasadas, and Kona were I went surfing and did a night time manta ray snorkel that was recommended. However, things got crazy (in a holy shit kinda way) when one of my fellow passengers on the manta ray boat had difficulty breathing and ended up coding right there on the boat. We did CPR on her the whole way back to the harbor, but she didn't make it.

gr80 when is a good time to go around low season? looking at going towards end of year/start of next year. is that still a good time to go? should i rent a car?

i know very little about hawaii apart from cheesy stereotypes so recommendations would be welcome

Haven't gotten anybody to bite on this story on a music thread yet but maybe here on the Hawaii thread: http://www.wilsonquarterly.com/in-essence/blue-hawaii

hey qiqing sorry for ignoring this, been catching up on ilx over the last few days

the first thing that comes to mind when i think about going to hawaii between december and march is that while its still gonna feel like an otherworldly tropical paradise, the chances of it being overcast and rainy for most of your stay are far greater than the rest of the year. which can still be very cool imo! but if your idea of a hawaiian vacation is laying in the sun be prepared that there's a good chance some (or all) of your week will not be conducive to that. that said, there's a good chance it could be warm and sunny for your entire stay too.

the west coast (aka "Leeward Side") of each island is typically more reliably dry and sunny at any given time of the year. maui and big island have lots of resort-y areas on the leeward sides. on kauai and oahu there aren't too many hotels on the leeward side, but there are definitely good condo/house rentals that if you do your research could end up being just as if not more affordable than a hotel (this applies to other parts of the islands too). i never used airbnb in hawaii but the last time i needed something http://www.vrbo.com/ seemed to be what most people were listing on.

as far as car rentals go, you'll probably want one. even if you end up booking at a Waikiki hotel, (where cabs/buses/walking can get you to a lot of the island), plan on renting a car for at least a day or two (or scooters for half a day) to really get the most out of your visit.

something else to know about winter: the waves on the north shores can be anywhere from "too big to swim in" to "pro surfers are hopping on last-minute flights from all over the world" gigantic. which can be an incredible once-in-a-lifetime thing to witness from shore, but means any swimming/snorkeling plans should be made for the south shores.

without knowing anything else about your expectations, the absolute best advice i can give you is to get one of these guidebooks:

http://www.hawaiirevealed.com/books-apps

trust me: even if you're guidebook-adverse, these people put out 100% OTM advice useful both while planning and getting stoked on your trip as well as for quick reference while there. the publishers have lived on each island for at least 2 years and they secret-shop every business/attraction before each new edition gets printed. they can be a little cute/corny in their writing but they'll also straight up tell you if a restaurant or attraction is garbage. each book starts with a brief but informative history of Hawaii, which is cool. also, after sections on hotels/restaurants/beaches/hikes/snorkeling/etc there's a penultimate section called ADVENTURES in which they've blown up some very cool hikes/secret spots that weren't in print or on the internet previously. you can order from their website or amazon but there's a good chance there are a few copies at your nearest big chain bookstore too.

hope that gets you started for now. if you wanna elaborate on what your ideal vacation would include (maxing at a resort, staying at a beach house, dining/shopping/nightlife, outdoor adventure stuff, countryside drives, all of the above) and/or let me know which island(s) you're leaning towards, i can maybe give you some more specific advice

http://i.imgur.com/p9BoAa8.jpg

going back next year with the wife and tiny kiddo. so stoked. didnt snorkel until the last day last time, had never snorkled before, did not realize that snorkling is potentially the greatest thing to do ever until it was too late, not screwing that up this time.

maui fyi. trying to decide to do the breathtaking but totally white knuckle northern road again this time. which just fyi is strictly forbidden on your rental car contract, probably for good reason, but holy shit, lava pools, the best banana bread ever, huge terrifying cliff roads. hmmm.

Be safe out there folks

http://i.imwx.com/images/maps/truvu/map_specnewsdct-98_ltst_4namus_enus_650x366.jpg

Let's say it's your birthday and you are in Honolulu. Where are you eating your birthday dinner?

morimoto

or orchids

vintage cave seems to be the new spot everyone loves, but i can't vouch for it personally since it opened after i left

but lol: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/02/obamas-eat-at-restaurant-charging-up-to-500g-for-membership/

Hawaii is so classic. The first time I went to Hawaii, I told everyone that I could totally live there. "What would you do there?" they asked, incredulous. What a dumb question. "Nothing," I replied.

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2015/03/12/blizzard-evacuates-mauna-kea-snow-removers-observatory-crews/

Do any ILXor message board people live in Hawai'i?

davey does.

hi Davey!

i live in scenic hilo

op otm btw

does super cub still post?

kinda weird we never met.

Hi Jersey Al and everyone. Yes, I've lived here in Honolulu for most of the last 20 years

classic: obviously the amazing weather, esp. the tradewinds, natural splendor everywhere, all the activities that go with it year-round; also the great diversity of cultures, tons of great restaurants, hawaiian pidgin english, dole whip, island hopping, localism

dud: obscene housing costs, ongoing homelessness and houselessness crises, corporate overthrow of indigenous monarchy & disenfranchisement of native population, traffic like LA, localism

commercial island hopping just about as obscene as housing, these days, now that there's only one airline and it's saved itself from the ferry.

i grew up in this town and have recently returned; it must be growing because the traffic is much worse and the bayfront much bourgier than it was before i left, tho land on this side of the island can still be got startlingly cheap if you don't need too spectacular a view. kohala, across the mountains--ranch country, brambly coasts, smauglike desolation--is where i lived when i was little and i think it is the most beautiful place in the world and i want to make a western there.

was a fascinatingly successful civ pre-contact, w a very high population sustained in something better than feudal poverty despite tiny land availability and almost absolute isolation. the socioeconomic and religious modes and practices that enabled this success (not to mention various species of trees) were of course obliterated by capitalism+xtianity+freedom but i recommend their study to commies. 19c hawaiian history an absolutely riveting tragedy in which the country, thru some kind of underdog bismarckism, heroically preserves its independence in the face of every hungry empire on the planet while simultaneously being slowly seized from within by the anchor-baby descendents of the missionary generation, who buy up the islands for sugar, open free trade with the u.s. in exchange for founding a long tradition of giving it bits of them to blow up (or for other countries to blow up), and finally stage a coup.

oahu's koolau range just unutterably gorgeous.

(after the western, a fantasy epic.)

also gorgeous btw: "tiny bubbles". i teched a show last year called A CENTURY OF HAPA-HAOLE SONGS and when don ho finally came along after two only occasionally interrupted hours of tin pan alley hacks writing waka-hiki-hoki stuff about how yr definitely gonna get laid my hair stood up every time. a beautiful vision of peace. of course what i ended up singing for a month was "o'brien is tryin to learn to talk hawaiian" ("for his honolu lulu").

difficult listening hour otm about everything.

btw i have a little radio show and would like to do an occasional 'difficult listening hour', if you wouldn't mind me using the name. :)

all queries should be directed to laurie anderson

davey are you on ktuh? prob heard you from my hnl friend's car at some point. gr80 one of the few ilxors i've met; wish his camera still haunted waikiki. last time i visted oahu i saw screaming females at downbeat lounge with maybe 85 moshing teenagers and my best friend since kindergarten and thought huh maybe i should die here.

didn't realize it was a laurie anderson piece. heh.

my girlfriend was mad at me for missing the screaming females shows because apparently they were awesome, but i was exhausted from work when they were in town. yes, i'm on KTUH on friday nights 6-9pm. i play at downbeat lounge every month, too, which ranges from amazing to terrible because it's all random people who show up for the chinatown art walk / first fridays.

i miss gr80 and all the fun parties we used to go to and dj together. gonna try to visit him and some family in chicago this year.

yes, i'm on KTUH on friday nights 6-9pm. i play at downbeat lounge every month, too, which ranges from amazing to terrible because it's all random people who show up for the chinatown art walk / first fridays.

will listen 4 u next time! kind of an effortlessly cool town; after the show we got burgers and when we got back in the car screaming females were live in-studio on ktuh.

I once had a late-night loco moco at the Downbeat on a first Friday.

i had a mid-afternoon loco moco (portagee sausage variant) at cafe 100 yesterday. gotta cut that out. dunno how i ingested as many as i did in high school and lived.

wtf I had no idea dlh lived in Hilo. I have an aunt in South Kohala, we visited a couple years ago and are likely to go again next year...

well dlh used to hail from Portland, so there's that

I miss super cub, good poster

I really like the Big Island. I have some friends in Lower Puna and try to get over every other year. So see you guys next year, I guess!

yeah i was in portland about eight years.

any ilxors visiting the big island should def hit me up! it's not really that big an island.

hawaii and honolulu in particular are thrilling in the ways in which you end up rubbing up against so many different cultures and backgrounds and ethnicities all crammed in to such a relatively small space compared to the metropolises that usually produce such diversity. i always felt this uneasy mix of delight and fatigue living in a place defined by its insiders and outsiders or its natives and transplants. and among the outsiders this common bond of all being transplants drawn to the same place not because of industry or culture but just out of some kind of idea of paradise

grady otm. though i just came because my family moved here. it was a big culture shock, but now i think it's kind of a good thing that locals scare off plenty of the more thin-skinned people who transplant themselves to hawaii. you have to earn your acceptance here, and it keeps the place from becoming another california.

there will never be another california

because california is awesome

I was really surprised when we got over to my aunt's place in Kohala, I was like "what are these fields of wavy grass doing on top of this volcano"

i love california too. but i'm glad hawaii is distinct from it demographically is all.

ecologically we're pretty different of course. one thing i love is exploring the new land created by the volcanic flows around Kalapana. last time i went, that wavy grass was just sprouting up in patches through the lava rock. felt like being on the moon, but with the ocean right there.

oh man we drove the 137 when we were there, that stretch of rocky lava coastline is insane

being able to stand on land that didn't exist when you were born is a trip

yes! that highway is a beautiful stretch in spite of the many angry hippies who inhabit puna. the hot spring at ahalanui park down in that area is great, too. it's the only one in the state, which is kind of surprising considering that japan has about 7000 of them.

fun fact: just last year, the lava flow nearly destroyed the old hippie town of pahoa. it came as near as 100 yards of the main drag, then petered out for the most part. everyone was talking about it.

yeah we stayed near Pahoa when we were there, so when I heard about that and I checked some videos of the lava flowing - it's kinda funny what a slow-motion disaster that was, like no one could stop it but it moved at a snail's pace.

definitely angry hippies in Puna, I felt like we were perpetually on the verge of becoming very unwelcome visitors to someone's clandestine weed farm

the best, weirdest kind of natural disaster: ultra-slow-motion, daily headline updates (5 yards closer!), simultaneously of almost no danger to human life and totally impossible to stop from destroying an entire town -- xp

in hilo the derogatory term for hippie (besides "hippie") is "punatic"

hahaha that's classic

yeah there was something very *Hawaiian* about the lava flow. People just standing around looking at this stuff crawling forward, "huh well nothing we can do about it. shit, there goes the corner store"

if can can if no can no can

xp hehe 'punatic'. man, it's a pretty hardscrabble life, subsisting on the organic farm. i stayed on one in puna for a couple nights. to make a long story short, i wouldn't recommend it and i can understand where the anger and disillusionment comes from.

bumbye you going learn you bettah get one edumacation and one job.

from what I've seen the big island (and most of the other islands I've been to tbh) don't seem v conducive to farming in general

quite rich soil in places, like the hamakua coast, but yeah there's not a lot of soil compared to a continent, and most of this island is the dry stuff full of lava particles that i think needs a lot of coaxing to grow much except ohia and jurassic park ferns (this is the soil they grow the coffee in, and the mac nuts -- not exactly subsistence crops). another reason the pre-contact population is impressive. when i was seven another serious problem with the soil was the zero possibility of dinosaurs.

classic

Dud: Idiot travel writers coming to confirm their biases, disregard the history of the place, and paint the people who live here with broad-brush stereotypes. You might not expect the NYT to publish something that reductive and ignorant, but there it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/magazine/hawaii-travels-escape.html

headed to aunt's place on the big island at the end of June!

The lava flows have been going crazy lately. Should still be a great time to go see it by boat or on foot when you're here :)

I'm idly curious to see the destruction wrought by the lava in Pahoa since the last time we were there. dunno if we'll get around to where the lava's actually hitting the ocean in the south (assuming that's still going on)

I didn't get a chance to take one when I visited last year, but I've heard good things about the guided lava tours around the Pahoa area, in case you'd like to seek them out.

Most tourist destinations attract tourists because they are naturally attractive places, which is classic. But tourists generate their own atmosphere and where they congregate in the greatest numbers suffers degradation in proportion. This is like a law of the universe.

I'll keep it in mind, at the moment we just bought our plane tickets and are trying to figure out where to stay next. We'll be there for 8 days, I think, with half of that spent at my aunt's in Kohala, but I think the other four days we'll probably stay somewhere near Hilo, idk have to look around

xp

As for places around Hilo, I would try to stay in the Volcanoes National Park area b/c that is forever my favorite natural place in the islands. Note sure if that's too distant from Hilo for you tho, it depends on your itinerary.

xp Agree that tourism inevitably is exploitative.

You might not expect the NYT to publish something that reductive and ignorant

isn't that basically what they do about everything, including their local coverage? IIRC we have a few threads on it

maybe just need a rolling "NYT is dumb #6590728340 in a series" thread

I'd like to visit hawaii one day though.

You're probably right. I've only read their more journalistic news stuff, not so much the lifestyle stuff. Anyway you should come visit some time.

shakey - highly recommend a day trip to Waipio Valley:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waipio_Valley

http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/rare-look-waipio-valley-hawaii-island

one of the weirdest and most beautiful places i've ever been to.

there are feral horses walking around!

Arriving on big island today huzzah

a-looooooooooooooo-ha!

Super nice weather on Oahu today! So I went on the Hanauma Bay Ridge Hike and snapped this photo.

http://i.imgur.com/ltKDi4Jl.jpg

Hope you'll be getting similar weather on the Big Isle :)

why do people bring their fucking drones to the beach, on vacation WHY

happened twice, immediately cast about for a rock to throw both times

Ppl bring them to make themselves feel like they haven't wasted hundreds of dollars iirc. Yeah that shit is pretty annoying.

I feel like drones should be fair game for ppl with things to throw / slingshots

on the plus side I swam with some sea turtles and saw an (apparently rare?) hawaiian monk seal, so that was cool

Oh! All those creatures are magical. And yes the Monk Seal is fairly rare, population currently is about 1,500, I just heard on the news.

Classic: Monk seals birthing and raising pups on the busiest beaches in Waikiki.

http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/rocky-endangered-hawaiian-monk-seal-gives-birth-kaimana-beach-waikiki

Waikiki FAP this week? Or not nbd always next time

Waikiki... FAP?

Kaka'ako FAP > Waikiki FAP imho

any other ilxors got INCOMING BALLISTIC MISSILE THIS IS NOT A DRILL on wireless emergency alert this morning? better than coffee.

https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/9522437235256770

i think i'm coming around on her

oh that's not how it works? okay well tulsi says there is actually no inbound nuke. good arguments on both sides imo

okay official never-mind notice. this has been cool cuz i definitely needed an experience that made our moment feel both more real and less

wait...so what actually happened?

how much time passed between the 'you're going to die' and 'oops, false alarm' messages?

wtf

40 minutes.

waht

The moment the EAS alert interrupted Hawaiian TV is terrifying pic.twitter.com/pVwpCBeRgD

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 13, 2018

emergency management officially tweeted it was a false alarm 13 mins after the orig alert; that's when i calmed down, to be freaked out a while later by the second one (which still began EMERGENCY ALERT: EXTREME lol)

the 'THIS IS NOT A DRILL' part seemed a little theatrical, would they actually include that if it WASNT A DRILL

Saw Gabbard’s tweet shortly after some initial ones reporting the alert, so mostly I’ve been just looking at responses. Unsurprising that there’s no consensus as to what was the cause even from officials. I’d give money to know if Trump was even alerted at all.

From here in SF it was an interesting psychological moment — I only saw a couple of tweets from one source RT’d into my feed, from a Buzzfeed reporter based there, and I basically assumed if it was a glitch or hack. Checked both the CNN and Honolulu Star-Advertiser pages and feeds: nothing. A few minutes later another RT with an alert was in my feed, but then Gabbard’s tweet was posted. So in the end at most I thought “Huh” rather than assuming it was all going down.

wat if alert on gorila chanmel

Would make sense.

a friend tells me her co-worker had already fled work to "check on [his] ex-girlfriend" when the second message came

high point for me was when my dad entered the room holding up a little radio, just like group captain mandrake. it was playing won't get fooled again

jake shimabukuro from stage tonight: "...so we continued swimming"

jeez

That's some fireworks over there.

I have a friend about ten minutes from the lava line (?) who is OK so far, but yikes

i'm in town and thus plenty safe; guiltily rly enjoyed the 10/10 sunrise this morning. my thoughts to yr friend sleeve!

from a local perspective what's freaking me out isn't the eruption but all these quakes. nothing a californian would change the subject for i'm sure (well unless he had reason to worry pressurized molten rock might burst from underneath his subdivision), but pretty unusual here. you sure don't feel in control, huh.

Nope, always a little disorienting.

i've been wondering myself if plates shifting over there can disturb plates over here

6.9 around an hour ago

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/us/kilauea-volcano-hawaii-earthquakes/index.html

"It has now become unnerving," resident Carol Shepard told KHON.

otm

6.9 around an hour ago

It was felt in Honolulu, ~250 miles away!

I can only remember this volcano's name because it sounds like killer whale :-/

hang in there

https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/LIB3445AQMZFNDBWTBVTM6FQ3Q.jpg

lost in a hawaiian wilderness of pain

whoops

https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/LIB3445AQMZFNDBWTBVTM6FQ3Q.jpg

You shouldn't be smoking outside.

Holy crap. I didn't realize they felt it in Oahu. This with the false missile alert and the floods. Ugh.

called in sick to work yesterday, arrived today to find that the backup projectionist had not seen the note (addressed to me) warning me to remove the ad slide for our upcoming "comedy ERUPTION!" event, thus causing complaints at last night's movie-- which was the death of stalin, so i'm not rly sure i'm willing to take the offended seriously.

Are you the person that used to work at Turtle Bay?

We had at very close 5.1 a couple of days ago. It was loud. I have been in an 8 point something before. These things suck even knowing to expect them or to wake up to shaking in the middle of the night.

nah we've had/still have a few hawaii-based ilxors (was that gr80?)-- i just tech at a theatre in hilo.

and yeah standards are low here but notgonnalie that 6.9 was scary.

not at all nice.

insane:
https://jalopnik.com/watch-lava-from-the-kilauea-volcano-swallow-a-ford-must-1825822759

saw that this morning, it just eats right through it

Terrifying yet gorgeous all the same.

Is that R2D2, just waiting there, watching his car burn?

It's a p nice touch, that.

http://www.scifimoviezone.com/imagestarwars/starwars5script764.jpg

okay what is it about this thread that makes me do that

o well shouldn't have hotlinked anyway.

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180507223102-cm-101-hawaii-volcano-0507-exlarge-169.jpg

I think I found the guy who owned the R2D2

he's doing that thing eleven does with her hands

it's true, she does do that a lot

new thread idea

Other Hawaii news: This is the cloudiest year I have ever seen here and Honolulu feels like I'm living in a warmer Minneapolis (which is overcast all the time). Not complaining, I love this weather.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/05/how-to-look-at-hawaiis-lava/559988/

USGS alert increased from orange to red?

We no sked 'em

couldn't find the right screencap of the construction foreman in majora's mask: "cowards! let it fall!"

after that plume yesterday even the town smells like sulfur

Kilauea is erupting:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hawaii-volcano-kilauea-eruption-update-today-2018-05-17-live-stream-updates/

at this point i think we'd prefer a big trad eruption at halemaumau to these constant random explosions elsewhere in the system / constant subliminal earthquakes / constant air degradation / constant people wanting to tell you exactly how high the apocalyptic wave would be if the east rift zone went. taking these last two big ash plumes as a good sign? the mountain seems to need to clear its throat. nb i don't know anything about anything.

i keep thinking whoever i'm with farted

They may have though

That photo of 30s dudes playing golf in the shadow of the ash is fake, right?

bummer how much stuff we've routinely visited on the Big Island is getting destroyed - RIP Ahalanui Warm Water Pond, Kapoho tide pools :(

pele teaches us life is change

the boiling sunset-red clouds over pahoa, lit from below in otherwise pitch-dark night skies, are something else, btw

pele teaches us life is change

― difficult listening hour, Thursday, July 12, 2018 3:19 PM (three hours ago)

pele otm

heading to dry side of the Big Island tomorrow morning

! how long for? i need an excuse for go kona cuz i have store credit to clear at the island's single remaining medium-sized bookstore

Til the 11th, currently stuck on the tarmac tho >:(

hope they're serving pog

Fuckin United, so no

dlh - sorry I missed ya, looks like we cross-ilx e-mailed each other lol. in any event, trip was fraught with intruding unforeseen circumstances, both kids got sick in succession (fevers, etc.) and then as soon as they were better I promptly injured myself at the beach and had to go to urgent care in Waimea so um yeah. Island is still beautiful though!

Haunani-Kay Trask on the word "haole" — so classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LYLc2gIFOE

Kapaemahu's probably classic as well. (And very different from the above.) It's a gorgeous animated short that gives insight into Hawaiian concepts of healing and gender, narrated in 100% Hawaii ʻōlelo.

Can watch 'em here: https://www.kapaemahu.com/

I like that they specified that it was Ni'ihau Hawaiian, probably to account for the dialectical differences compared to Hawaiian that is institutionally taught throughout the rest of the state. I appreciate that the website quotes Kamakau and emphasizes the importance of Hawaiian history as told by Hawaiians. Kumu Hina is doing some very important work as far as Hawaiian history, culture, and identity. I never learned māhū as a bad word, and I didn't realize that it had those connotations to people until I was in high school, when I saw people take offense.

Also that Trask video (among others) were very popular in my HS/College days. The argument for/against the use of the word "haole" has always been interesting to me, similiarly to above, because I never understood what was wrong with it. Growing up, I didn't initially learn it as a pejorative. It was always just a descriptor, akin to "kanaka" unless another adjective was added to it.

I always find it interesting to find out the perspectives of Hawaiian history/culture from those who are not from Hawai'i. History of the Hawaiian monarchy is compulsory here, in elementary, intermediate, AND high school, though it might have been more emphasized in my high school than others.

4-year UH programs (and maybe community colleges?) also require a Hawaiian studies course in all programs, which I very much appreciated. I moved here as a middle-school kid, and I had some courses thru high school, but I wish I would've had more.

My partner Jasmine was recently expressing the outrageousness of the fact that ʻōlelo is not offered as a foreign language option in public schools. And she's absolutely correct. It's an official language of the state FFS!

HKT's breakdown is unassailable. I'm forgetting whether she mentions it in that video, but I think part of it is that white is the default race on the continent, and the use of the Hawaiian name instead of wypipo is a frequent reminder they're not the default here. That they are settlers makes it a little more awkward, especially given the fact that the overthrow of the Haw'n government was illegal and they're all occupying stolen land.

It is very revealing to talk to transplants about those politics. Military families are notorious for backward views about US sovereignty over Hawaii. Plenty of civilians I've met never get over the culture shock, and leave after a year or two. And plenty do lots of reading and get a well-rounded understanding of local history and politics. (There's a TON of great Hawaiiana literature available, and it makes me proud when I think about how many good writers have struggled to stay here and contribute to that body of work.)

South Park's Hawaii episode nailed a common settler haole type pretty well, ya? The deeper psychology is kind of hard to explain... There's a clinging-on to notions of paradise and, and I think that settlers who believe they truly belong here necessarily must disavow (or just remain ignorant of) the darker parts of this place's history and their problematic part in it. They latch on to an outrigger paddling team or (cooler IMO) hālau hula, and overidentify with these "tribes" in search of authentic belonging. Or they don't, and function shittily as permanent tourists who drink chi-chis day and night until they eventually croak.

Classic: Polynesian acceptance of a liminal gender (māhū), aikāne relationships that "held no stigmatism to the persons ʻano (one's nature or character)"

Dud: Christian missionaries began arriving in Hawaii in the 19th century, soon enacted strict sodomy laws

I can't remember if it was required that I take a Hawaiian studies course at UHH or if I just happened to take one. Theatre & Psychology did not require it, but I did want to take the Hawaiian Kingdom class for History.

Is Hawaiian language not offered at schools near you, davey? The school I work at, as well as most (if not all) of the high schools on my island offer it as one of the languages students can take, either through the school itself, or through a partnership with the Univeristy of Hawai'i system (mostly for the smaller schools, I believe). My HS required 2 years of Hawaiian. At elementary & intermediate levels, a lot of it is integrated as part of core subjects. Hell, there were many words that I didn't realize were Hawaiian or pidgin growing up because that was all I ever learned from home/at school. I'm lucky in that sense that my use of pidgin was never frowned upon, until I went to HS.

I definitely think you're right when it comes to how people who move here, especially those who are non-native/Asian/Pacific Islander, can feel very much like the "other" in a way that I do when I go to the mainland (I will admit here that it is something that really shakes me, and every time I go to the mainland, I take my Hawaiian flag with me as sort of a security blanket of sorts). I have been lucky in that the people I have come to know through that have been more understanding of the intricacies of being part of the community here. They all learned quickly that living here does not make you Hawaiian, nor does it allow you to claim those sorts of ties or rights to the land as perhaps someone would otherwise. I imagine that living in a bigger city or more "tourist" heavy area (Waikiki, Kona, Lahaina, etc.) probably makes it easier to distance yourself from the history of the respective place. I am grateful to the Hawaiian Renaissance for encouraging more people to engage in scholarship about Hawaiian culture and to pass down the history & practices. Every so often, my grandpa will recall the days when he was growing up in Hōnaunau, when the mindset was more about adapting to the Western ways and assimilation. I'm thankful that is no longer the case, and even more thankful that he is still with me to tell me about those experiences. He has definitely helped me realize how lucky I am to live in Hawai'i now, as a Hawaiian, with so many more resources available to me to learn from.

The volcanic eruption in 2018 saw a sort of mini-exodus of people who were kind of of that "permanent tourist" mindset from BI. Many of them decided to build in Leilani Estates, and couldn't get insured, because the area is still considered to be too high-risk and too close to Kīlauea. I did feel bad for many, because they lost almost everything, and could not get any sort of compensation. Many had to move back to their families on the mainland.

I think we're lucky here on BI in that we don't encounter too many people that try to claim this culture as their own (at least, I haven't encountered many), though there are a decent amount of people that will give themselves Hawaiian names upon living here for a few years. I don't know how much I can judge that, though, considering I was never given the traditional Hawaiian middle name, and as such, have only identified my Hawaiian family name when it's come up.

Our friends (O'ahu only mind you) are:

2 Hawaiians (relocated from Maui country for work)
5 yonsei (originally from Japan/Okinawa)
1 japanese immigrant married to 1 of the above
2 ethnic chinese
2 ethnic filipino
then a bunch of mixed folks

it's kind of sad that only 2 natives out of that pretty big crew but they are all super tight despite being stretched from Waipahu all the way around to Kaneohe.

My (terribly) education of Hawaiian culture was NOT visiting my grandparents who lived in Kauai for most of the 80s, but probably these 3 films:

+ North Shore (1987) which introduced the Hui/locals-only culture/respect, drop-in etiquette... and not much else predictably. Problematic.
+ Picture Bride (1994) which detailed the colonial/expansion of cane plantation-era Hawaii, the mass-migration of global culture (portuguese, british, japanese, chinese, filipino, et al) to the islands, the pidgin that was produced by that mix of cultures, the loneliness of farmers looking for love from their home countries, the women who were shipped abroad to meet those men... it's not a great film but it's much, much better than North Shore. Also I think it's Mifune's last role iirc.
+ The Ride (2003) this is maybe as bad as North Shore but definitely less problematic. I should mention I'd been traveling to Hawaii for a while by the time I'd seen this and it's a (don't laugh) time travel surf film but it has a good message and is much more sensitive to native causes and beliefs.

But when davey wrote this:

They latch on to an outrigger paddling team or (cooler IMO) hālau hula, and overidentify with these "tribes" in search of authentic belonging.

it stung because I would probably be the equivalent of tourist-enthusiasts of Bla Pahunini, Led Kaapana (and maybe even Ma'oli haha).

All that said, I'm an obvious outsider but davey's posting of Kapaemahu showed me something incredibly deep smack dab in the middle of tourist ground-zero. And hourspass' posts are incredibly educational. Thank you both for posting.

Hey Al, actually I think that remark was a bit snide. I wrote that rashly and I'd like to apologize and walk it back because it is not quite correct.

It's so important for people to engage with Hawaiian culture and help perpetuate it—perhaps especially so for transplants, who have less of a rightful claim to be here. Music and hula are great for that. Paddling is cool, too. It's rooted in Polynesia and it brings tons of people of all ethnicities together in the teams formed and at the regattas.

Building a deep connection with a culture other than your own is a very good thing. I don't want to dis it, and I didn't mean to suggest that people who weren't born here can't have a life here that's pono. And it's definitely possible to build a kind of local identity, even as a haole (or whatever non-Hawaiian ethnicity) transplant.

Expatriating (we consider Hawaii like a foreign country, ya?) changes you in profound ways. I think the right to identify with an adopted culture scales with the individual's efforts to learn about it, integrate with it, study its languages and/or participate in its practices. And shit, I'd be lying if I said my record's great in that regard! That's part of why I don't think I'll ever consider myself a true "local." Also, I think it's kind of like Texas, where if you weren't born there, people don't consider you a 100% Real Texan®.

If overidentification really is a thing, then probably it's much narrower than how I described it above. It's more like when people who just moved here and started learning how to surf call themselves local, which is pretty common.

Racial politics in Hawaii are very complicated. Everyone here who's not of native descent—even people with many generations of family on the island—are settlers. Native bloodlines have thinned out severely through extensive race mixing over the generations, which raises the question of who is really native Hawaiian. Many of my multiracial friends who have just a little Hawaiian ancestry at some point in their lives begin to identify as Hawaiian. I used to be cynical about that, maybe because it's a privilege to have that choice, but I came reject any ideas about needing certain blood quanta to qualify as "Hawaiian." The native culture was decimated by colonialists and missionaries, and it's encouraging to see people strive to salvage it, regardless of their genetic makeup. There's been a big movement over the last couple years to revive Hawaiian practices and languages. It's been wonderful to witness.

XP to hourspass:

Jasmine was telling me that few, if any, of O‘ahu public schools offer Hawaiian language courses. I wonder how true that is. It definitely wasn't an option for her at McKinley HS.

Incidentally, there's currently a big controversy over changing that school's name back to its original name, Honolulu High School. On campus there's a huge statue of McKinley holding the annexation "treaty," which is galling because the annexation was not legitimate under the law. Jasmine's been campaigning for the statue's removal for quite a while. The teacher's union and more woke ppl support the change, but many alumni and public figures are making specious arguments and clinging to the current name. The bill to change it was just deferred, I hope it eventually passes.

I get similar culture shock when I visit the lower 48. Now that I've lived here for most of my life, it feels weird to go places on the continent that are predominantly white, even though I'm haole as shit! I like white people just fine, I'm used to the diversity on display here at home. I don't get this feeling when I visit Europe, heh, maybe because I'm obviously a foreigner there.

Being a numerical minority has been humbling and without a doubt has made me a better person. Building friendships with people from numerous ethnic backgrounds I'd never have encountered if I had stayed anywhere else in the US has greatly enriched my life.

To Jersey Al: I'm glad that anything I said was informative; I've lived in Hawai'i for my entire life, and I consider myself very lucky to have done so. On the flip side, there were many things that I didn't understand or didn't realize still existed until HS (which was mid 2000s for me, graduated in 2007). The effects of plantation era are still pretty evident, not only through the generations that came after, but just by the structures still standing! There aren't as many places left, but it is very cool to get see parts of history more or less the same way my dad did, and his dad before him.

To add to what davey said, there is nothing wrong with trying to connect to a different culture, and I appreciate anyone who has a desire to learn about the history! However, there are some people who get a little too carried away, and decide to give themselves "Hawaiian" names, to seem more local, or try to obscure the fact that they were originally from somewhere else. These are some people I have a hard time getting along with, because they tend to gatekeep more, which I can only assume is a defense mechanism to help them feel more legitimate. I'm really not sure on that, though.

I'm always hesitant to talk too much about ethnic identity in regards to Hawai'i, because "local" really just means that you are from here, but to some, carries an implication of being able to identify as Hawaiian. A little bit more about my background, which maybe explains why I am so late to the party, so to speak: I've obliquely referred to my high school experience to try not to name drop, but I went to KS. I think this colored my identity in the sense that, throughout high school, since everyone was Hawaiian, everyone sought to identify as another culture as well, from another part of their ethnic background: Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, German, Irish, Korean, Filipino, Tongan, Samoan, etc. That kind of came with growing up in Hawai'i; having that multicultural perspective was normal, especially because it was VERY rare to find someone who was "pure" Hawaiian! However, there was a weird sort of...competitiveness that got tied into it as well.
I bring this up, because of the concept of "blood quantum" that I saw mentioned as well. I'm only 1/8th Hawaiian, and while I was growing up, my mom was always concerned about if I would have "enough Hawaiian" to qualify for things; admission to KS and their programs, ability to apply for Hawaiian Homelands, etc. Many programs (though not all) have since done away with those sorts of requirements, as long as the genealogy can be traced back to the last full-blooded Hawaiian ancestor. Though this also could have since changed, since it has been quite a while since I was required to provide documentation (having proof of going to KS kind of makes other organizations sort of hand wave you through, since if you can prove it to Bishop Estates, you're good).

That sense of having to "prove" yourself, as a Hawaiian, is something that I know a lot of people in my generation struggle with, myself included. I still do it, sometimes, when I feel like my "local" identity is in question. It's something I slip into when I'm on the mainland, and I feel too far away or disconnected. The pidgin comes out STRONG when I get drunk, and only recently did I realize that honestly, pidgin was my first language, more than standard English.
As I've gotten older, I've become more vocal about my ethnic background, and less concerned about "how much" of each ethnicity I am (to be clear, I'm 1/8 Hawaiian/Korean, 1/4 Portuguese, 1/2 Japanese-ish; we're not sure if it is just Japanese, or if there's some Okinawan somewhere in there also). I never had any real problems identifying and connecting with each background, and I am truly lucky to have been raised with that cultural pride. However, it's so funny how on the mainland, it's such a weird concept for other people. I've had people think I'm lying. I've had people not believe that someone could be ethnically Hawaiian. I've heard people claim that they are Hawaiian because they lived there for a few years. It's something I try to talk people through more now than I did before, rather than my initial reactions of defensiveness.

davey: Things are very different from when I was younger; by the time I was in high school, at least the bigger high schools on my island offered Hawaiian as a foreign language. The transition for O'ahu is probably more rough, considering the much more massive population, as well as the population skew, and educational programming; UH-Hilo's Hawaiian language/studies program has more of an ability to do that outreach, since there are far fewer schools here than over there. I'm not too familiar, but most of my friends who grew up on O'ahu, either went to KS, St. Louis (I know, I know; I promise that I was a public school kid throughout elementary and intermediate!), or Campbell.

I'm not surprised that they deferred the bill, unfortunately; I think there's a weird trend of preserving "history" at the expense of culture. Plus, there is probably a much more considerable split as far as views on annexation over on O'ahu than there is on my island. Not sure how much that may or may not contribute. Just a theory.

Anyway, sorry for the extremely long post; I have very complicated feelings on Hawai'i, which are sometimes hard to articulate since I've never lived anywhere else.

Excellent extremely long post/ Ethnicity and racial politics in Hawaiʻi is dissertation-length subject, there's so much to unpack.

What a clip

The US banned Hawaiian language, poisos our water, devastated our universal healthcare, overthrew our country, & illegally occupies Hawaii to this day. My mother's hands were broken for speaking Hawaiian in school. The US is not a beacon, but the destroyer of independence. #July4 pic.twitter.com/Qh2Gomfncb

— Silver Spook (@SilverSpookGuy) July 4, 2022

Goddamn that video that davey posted still hitting hard, esp. in light of Palestine/Gaza events.

Nephew is graduating UHM next month so need to pop over for a quick trip. Any cultural under-the-radar events happening 12/13-19?

Also I never replied to hourspass' amazing post... but respect. Mahalos for that.

OH! Yerac still in town or...?

Happy to get the opportunity to revive this thread to say that one of my seniors this year will be the first student graduating with a Seal of Biliteracy in Hawaiian Creole (pidgin). They received their medal at the senior awards last night and were greeted with many chee-hoos. Really glad that the perspectives on pidgin have shifted so much.

I also had a lengthy conversation today with this student about the use of "hapa" as an identifier for mixed-race people here in Hawai'i. It was interesting to reflect on how my students (who are all born after I graduated high school) don't struggle as much with the concept of being "Hawaiian enough" by blood.

Wow, thank you for all you do! What an amazing experience in the face of current mainland cultural climate.

Curious about "hapa"'s morphing from originally mixed-Hawaiian to it's current looser, almost "wasian" (sorry) meaning.

Interesting thread! That is very cool, hourspass. I appreciate getting to learn more about Hawaiian Creole. I went to Hilo last month and heard a lot + learned a few words of Hawaiian but the only mention of Hawaiian Creole that I got was briefly in a museum exhibit about "company stores" on the plantations and how workers there communicated with each other. I'm not an expert on museums so I don't want to comment too deeply here but it did not seem like a very...historical justice-oriented (or even sociologically accurate) perspective.

Big Island kind of blew my mind, actually. I was there during Merrie Monarch (accidentally but INCREDIBLY fortunately!!) and I felt like a constant student of everything around me. Aesthetic signifiers, societal organization, architecture, language, sports and hula and paddle culture...an incredibly rich experience. We happened to drive up to Laupahoehoe on the anniversary of the tsunami that struck a school in 1946, and caught a memorial ceremony there...that gave me a lot to think about. I felt like I was processing so much new information every single day.

Without compromising anyone's privacy too much, my dad is now working on BI doing engineering-related stuff. He told me a lot about the shipping routes that bring fuel and food and products on island, and he has a reasonably informed perspective on how dollars go out of the community but don't come back in. Because of who he is, he immediately jumps to resource extraction and industry as things that "generate" "value" but I tried very hard to bring in some, um, other ideas like greater community self-reliance and place-based materials sustainability and stuff. Hm.

wow I was literally introduced to the phrase "cheehoo" this morning courtesy of a Hawaiian grill place in Long Beach CA

Steve Shasta: That student brought up the "wasian" situation with some other people they know on their non-Hawaiian side of their family. For a really long time growing up (25+ years ago now), I always assumed that everyone here was some sort of mixed Native Hawaiian, so I kind of understand how easily "hapa" kind of became a blanket term for anyone mixed in Hawai'i (or who had ties to Hawai'i) regardless of their ethnic background. I don't have too much of a problem with it, honestly, but I think that it's important to distinguish between "Hawai'i native" and "native Hawaiian" (as a person can be both, but the distinction is important).

in orbit: I had a similar experience when I went to New Orleans during Mardi Gras (but didn't know it was Mardi Gras and went for a wrestling show). Improving sustainability is something that I've become increasingly aware of after the 2018 volcanic eruption in Leilani Estates (where the barges stopped coming and our local Burger Kings on BI ran out of "whopper meat" which I'll never forget). I am glad that some of the agriculture programs at the HS level have helped this younger generation to understand the importance of sustainability/self-reliance as far as resources here.

sleeve: I'm always curious about places that serve "Hawaiian" food (and am frequently judgmental about the inclusion of pineapple). What was the context of learning "cheehoo" at this grill? My sister (who moved to Iowa) recently came back home for a visit and talked about how much they have to explain "Hawaiian-ness" to people.

I am glad that some of the agriculture programs at the HS level have helped this younger generation to understand the importance of sustainability/self-reliance as far as resources here.

This is very cool and smart. It seemed like everywhere I looked there was opportunity for self-sufficiency. Only up to a certain scale obv. The way people & tourists live Kona side, obviously not. But the east side of BI felt very much part of the natural world, smaller scale, the rain + growing climate are incredible. I visited people who live off grid in a less developed area outside of Hilo, and if they stopped using outside resources tomorrow they'd miss coffee but they wouldn't starve bc they grow breadfruit and taro and sweet potatoes and veg, and they get together with their neighbors, and everyone is resourceful. You can definitely see how the colonial building styles are a poor fit for a place where the rain, sun, and humidity break everything down faster, and how natural materials that can be sourced and replaced are the sustainable option. I know this is obvious stuff but I could really feel and see the truth of it from being there.

after the 2018 volcanic eruption in Leilani Estates (where the barges stopped coming and our local Burger Kings on BI ran out of "whopper meat" which I'll never forget)

Holy shit I heard about people who lost homes during that eruption + outflow, but I didn't realize that shipping also broke down. I could see across Hilo Bay where I was staying, and the fuel & cargo barges would come in multiple times A DAY. Gas was already $5.80 while I was there! And you HAVE to drive! Supply systems, man. What a thing.

We went to the Waipi'o lookout (incredible, almost a religious experience) and I know there are fish ponds and some? more traditional community-based systems in the valley. I'm down to learn so much more about everything that people are doing. Obv there are millennia of sustainable practices that were extremely intentional and which colonialism brutally suppressed and tried to eradicate...both the ideas and the people.

I thought it was hilarious that my dad kept saying, regarding like volcanoes and the vigor of the jungle and how much of BI is geologically young and bare and doesn't have topsoil yet...he would say things like "It can be a harsh place" and I was like....COMPARED TO WINTER? COMPARED TO FREEZING TO DEATH??? lol come the fuck on. You gotta put things in perspective. It's all what you find to be "normal."

I just realized there's been a temporary waiver of the Jones Act, some legislation from 1920 that makes it way more expensive & harder to import goods to Hawaii (and other places not on the continental US). Do you have any sense of whether the waiver is having a positive effect on getting goods in HI?

I want to talk about everything Hawaii related SO much (clearly) and I haven't had anyone to talk to about it. A lot of people have been to a resort or to Honolulu or Maui as tourists but I want to talk about wastewater systems and local government and fashion aesthetics.

I do wonder about an alternate me that grew up there as opposed to just having very early memories. I'd hope to have that kind of interest for sure.

Gas was already $5.80 while I was there! And you HAVE to drive!

Especially on the Big Island! I was stranded without a car/ride once and there were no taxi services active at that time (~12am), so I walked.
I'm less familiar with public transit on Maui, but O'ahu has way more reliable services than in Hilo. Much larger Uber/Lyft/Taxi service scene also (though nothing compared to the mainland).

I haven't gone down to Waipi'o in decades, but I still remember it fondly. It's one of the places where you can really feel the difference in energy. I hope I can find my way back there sometime.

Weirdly, I've found that there are more places that won't ship to my island/address than before, including vendors that used to ship here (though that may be more based on the types of things I order).

My mom tried to order something and ship it there and it came back that shipping was going to be FOUR HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS. She put it in her suitcase instead.

A few years ago, I tried to ship back two bottles of alcohol, and it came out to ~$250, so I ended up just checking my carry-on. Apparently, it had to ship international since it's over an ocean.
My friends who were on the same trip as I was who live in Texas shipped the same quantity back for less than $100 each. I was so mad.

unethical protip: use flat rate USPS but you have to lie and say that you aren't shipping alcohol.

as of this moment $24.80 from mainland.

I was dumb enough to go in person and ask them in the two hour interval between getting off a boat and onto a plane. I thought about just giving it to my friends, but I wanted to bring it home to show to my grandpa.

I've never bothered with bringing alcohol back to Hawai'i (unless bought at duty free) ever again. I wonder if shipping TO the mainland would end up being the same.