All posts tagged: Hawaii

The ‘Aloha ka Manini’ blouse

I’ve been waiting to tell you about this garment for years. From even before it existed – from the moment I laid eyes on the fabric. Before you read the post though, you need to set the mood. Put on Aloha Ka Manini (Love the fish, or ) by the wonderful Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and then Ka Uluwehi o ke Kai (The Plants of the Sea) by Hapa. These are the songs of my childhood, and the Hawai’ian songs of the sea. I grew up in Hawai’i, 10 minutes walk from the sea. My parents were farmers — land people, but we kids loved the sea. We went down to the beach every time they let us. We snorkeled and swam and kayaked. I knew the names of all the fishes, the kinds of seaweed and coral, the history of the fishponds that ringed the coast like stone necklaces. I was in a hula halau (dance troop) for years. I was never particularly good, but my favourite dance was always Ka Uluwehi o ke Kai, a …

Island maid, or what I learned this week

Published by The Dreamstress

I guess this is the week for quirky confessions. Yesterday I told you about my ignorance regarding the Prisoner of Zenda, today I’m going to tell you about my geographical ignorance. You see, I have never in my life been more than two hours drive from the ocean. Really. Never, ever. I am an island girl. I was born and grew up on Moloka’i, Hawaii, an island so small that you could drive from end to end in less than an hour. And then, all you could do was turn around and drive back. Then I went to school in the SF Bay Area, where I was never more than a few minutes from the ocean. Once we drove inland towards Sacramento as part of a birdwatching excursion for an Ornithology class, and that was as far as I ever got from the sea. After university, I briefly worked in New York City, and that’s just another island. And, of course, now I live in New Zealand, which is also an island, albeit a much …

Hawaii & The Descendants

Published by The Dreamstress

I don’t usually blog about movies, but last evening I saw The Descendants, and thought I would say a bit about it. So: 1) It’s a very good film. You don’t need me to say it, or to review it. All the critics have done that. Why I thought it was interesting enough to mention is because of 2: 2) It’s the only remotely mainstream film that I have ever seen that actually captures Hawaii in any capacity. Forget Blue Crush and 50 First Dates and all the other crap that pretends to be Hawaii and is really some weird fantasy land that only exists in the minds of movie directors and the gullible public, The Descendants actually looks like Hawaii. Granted, the Hawaii it shows is a rarefied version: I knew old Missionary families: the elite ‘Cousins’ who had been their for generations but never quite assimilated. And I knew kids who went to Punahou School and HPI. And the world they lived in was far, far from my world. But the neighborhoods? And …