i think i did 15 things before i left home today and throughout the day before i got back to my computer: read my email, wrote a letter of recommendation for tony castanha, revised and forwarded 3 resos for the oahu county democratic convention gathering next week, created a flyer for the re-enactment presentation on saturday, made 300 copies of the flyer at kinko's downtown, did a walk through of the city hall annex with baron and jamie to figure out logistics for saturday's performance, picked up the stands at olelo palolo for use as a base for the big 6x12 foot flag (ka hae hawaii) for saturday, dropped off tony's letter at uh manoa, fielded at least six phone calls from brian about work-related stuff, talked to gabe about possibly flying to s.f. in july to set up venue for the re-enactment in s.f. and ukiah in august (she had saved up almost enough miles for a free round trip to hawaii--alas, with aloha airlines!), stopped off at pali lookout to take some short videos (one of which i've posted below) picked up lunch, and...am i at 15 yet? still have 10 journals to read for my anth 3980 class tomorrow. next week is the last week of school for me. i'm looking forward to doing very little, except take photos and do short videos. i'm becoming addicted. but luckily, it's a cheap fix. i can handle.
i wanted to share some thoughts about who i am in the place i am. part of my questioning my own identity--who am i and where do i belong? james and i have been talking a lot about the issue of the "settler". we're settlers on oahu. our genealogy is big island. i remember talking with mel and ray kamaka years ago about the different families along the kaneohe-kahaluu-waiahole-waikane coast. they were all from the big island. my uncle, herbert ewaliko, was one of those. even though i never met him, nevertheless i was assured he was my uncle and that all the ewalikos were related (my father was james ewaliko). finding out that bit of information got me thinking. did everyone on oahu (or mostly) trace their genealogy to either maui or hawaii island? what happened to the oahu people?
that was one of the reasons that mel started doing the sunrise ceremonies at the nuuanu pali ten years ago (or maybe 11 years). he felt there was a need for acknowledging what happened at the great battle in 1795, and to recognize the damage done and try to repair that damage within the hawaiian community. perhaps it was, indeed, necessary for the unification of hawaii--if unification is your bag. this saturday, april 26, is the commemoration of the battle of nuuanu at 5:30 am, or so. hope folks show up. the gate will be open all night. people will be there from friday evening, setting up a tent for the program after the ceremony on saturday. it's open to the public!
a couple years ago i went on a hike with mahealani cypher into the nuuanu watershed to lulumahu falls. that's really a fabulous hike, and the waterfall, maybe 150 feet high, is fabulous, too (obviously i have a limited vocabulary for describing peak moments). last month i was up there again with students. mahea tells the story of a part of the battle, where oahu people were on the run from kamehameha's warriors. they fled into the mountains and were headed to a place called lulumahu (hidden valley). the oahu men, women, and children were caught and killed. on the sides of lulumahu stream are huge rock mounds where the bones of these people remain. on our hike we stopped and asked permission each time we passed one of the guardian rocks on our way up. it's not a happy place. but nevertheless it is beautiful at the waterfall. students jumped in and swam while we were there. some stood under the waterfall. wild watercress grows up there, and we ended up picking some for our sandwiches when we were there before.
it has occurred to me that the issue of "settler" really deserves more discussion. i had heard that some folks in waimanalo have made reference to homesteaders in their area as being settlers. i think i'm in agreement. i'm a settler on oahu. my family comes from kailua-kona (on my mother's side) and hilo (on my father's side). when i'm on hawaii island, i always feel sad to leave to come back "home" on oahu, as if this is not my home. and even though i've been living here on oahu for most of my life, my kuleana to care for the land is primarily there, on hawaii island. but i don't exercise that kuleana. as a transplant, my kuleana now also includes oahu, all the places i've lived: kapahulu/waikiki/kapiolani, waipahu, wahiawa, kailua, palolo, kaneohe. geez...i've lived all over the place. this whole island is now my kuleana. but that doesn't take away from the fact that i am a settler. not sure how to resolve that...
anyhow, here's my little commentary on being a settler on oahu from my top-down view at the pali lookout.
No comments:
Post a Comment