Hawaii classic or dud

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

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...?