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Hula Rider
Lokahi
USA
215 Posts |
 Posted - 01/12/2008 : 5:18:09 PM
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Aloha e Wcerto -
I checked out the link. The reason so few local people take those kinds of jobs is because the local public education system, with a few notable exceptions, has historically discouraged local kids from getting the types of education they require, directing them, instead, to service jobs and such. After all, if you have an education, you are more likely to want to change things, and you might start actually voting.
Those kids who seek a decent education have, for the past several generations, had to go to the Mainland. After 4-6 years on the Mainland, many have created good lives for themselves there and do not wish to return to the struggle.
Those kinds of jobs have only been available to local people, for the most part, in this generation. This large government infrastructure is pretty new, Formerly, if there were a need for a person with those skills, it was job/contract dependant, and the workers were brought in from the Mainland for the duration of the job, and then returned home, rather like a military rotation. This generation of local kids is the first to have decent educational opportunities here in the islands.
IMO, we all owe the National Park Service and the National Weather Service a big "MAHALO!" for leading the way in making those changes. They were among the first large entities to have the innovative idea that when working in a unique environment, it just might make sense to hire people with generational ties and who were born and raise in that environment.
It was only in my own generation that the now-esteemed Kamehameha Schools offered the exceptional eductaion it now does. In my father's day, it was basically a vocational school which focused on teaching Hawaiian children how to be good little natives in an increasingly foreign land.
Those who go to Aloha Camp may wish to ask Aunty Nona about her student days there.
We've actually made some amazing strides in equality here, despite what is often reported in the media. We have gained ground. We have also lost ground. But now we have the ability to speak up and fight for it.
Many of the problems we have now are the result of things set in motion a century or more ago. They have a huge level of inertia. It will take a lot of time, and even more energy, to change their direction. But we must keep striving. Mahalo for your help in this great work.
Onipa`a!
Leilehua |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2008 : 01:25:47 AM
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| Leilehua - speaking of education at Kamehameha Schools (and perhaps just regular public schools), that music is an important part of the education of children. Especially in Kamehameha Schools. There are glee clubs and orchestras and plenty of `ukulele players and song contests, etc. Here in Ohio, when funding is tight (which it always is - we pay for education with our real estate property taxes), music programs are considered expendable. There are unnecessary and among the first things to be cut. This culture views musical education as unnecessary. Then they wonder why children do not want to come to school or why they do destructive things. ( think a child who loves music would have something to do to occupy idle time, plus music changes their hearts -- they learn to appreciate intagible things and not be caught up in the me-me-me syndrome or the material goods acquisition syndrome or video game syndrome. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Hula Rider
Lokahi
USA
215 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2008 : 08:52:10 AM
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Yes. That is a huge problem.
During the phases where music and other arts are well-funded, the youth who walk past my home are carrying `ukulele and practicing their runs. When the arts are cut, the youth who walk past my home take side trips into the bushes and skip classes.
Malama pono,
Leilehua |
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2008 : 5:23:41 PM
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No money for music in the public schools, at least on the Big Island. In Honokaa, a private group holds concerts (Hamakua Music festival) to raise money and pay for a music teacher. Otherwise, no music.
Back on the main topic, I simply don't get the complaint that the high cost of living is driving away the Hawaiians, destroying the culture of the islands. The reason there is a high cost of living is because the culture being lived is the haole culture, not the Hawaiian culture. In Hawaiian culture, someone who sold/traded goods they did not produce was considered barely above the rank of a slave. In the Hawaiian culture, there is NO cost of living- just the direct trade of my products for yours.
It is the new truck and gas, the processed imported foods from the store, the haole style house, the electric bill- these are the things that are contributing to the high cost of living. What is there of Hawaiian culture in these things? Naturally it is cheaper, if you want to live a haole lifestyle, to go to where these things are produced.
And who doesn't want to live the Haole lifestyle? We own a remote ahupua'a on the Big Island. Plenty niu, lo'i kalo and wai, mai'a, ulu, i'a, pua'a, 'ohe and hau to build with- everything one would need to live the Hawaiian culture. Eight years now I have been asking, have not found ONE SINGLE PERSON, Hawaiian or haole, who wants to go live there in the traditional way. Everyone wants the modern lifestyle- the haole culture. As my friend explained, "we are all coconuts- brown on the outside, white inside". And he is considered by most to be one of the leading cultural practitioners on the island!
What can I say- here I am in Michigan, rehabing houses to generate a stream of rental income so I can afford to live my "Hawaiian" dreams. I call it reverse colonialism. What it really is is haole capitalism in its purest form.
So don't use the "we have to have money because we don't have the land" excuse. Just E-mail me at ypochris @ yahoo.com if you REALLY want to live the Hawaiian culture. But I already know how many serious responses I'll get. Because what everyone really wants is to live the haole culture with a few Hawaiian touches thrown in. And a Hawaiian can do that on the mainland, and a haole can do that in Hawai'i. But naturally there is a price...
Chris
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 12:14:28 AM
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Chris - Aloha and welcome to Taro Patch. Thank you so very much for sharing your mana`o and providing information and opinions from a perspective that I never thought about. That reminds me a story about one of my cousins (we are all W. Va. mountain folks) married a rather well-to-do city man from Ohio. He always wanted to be a "farmer", so eventually, they bought acreage, a swell house sitting way up on a hill with a large horse paddock going all the way down to the road. He couldn't wait to get a horse. (We W. Va. folks believed that horses were worthless -- all they do is eat and eat and eat and do nothing for you -- mules were more practical). Then he had some pigs. This gentleman farmer did not know that his pig pen was way too close to the house and never considered which way the wind was blowing. He had a deal with University of Akron to house/raise some of their experimental animals. He had aturkey that was huge -- he had to be 40 pounds or so -- being fed some experimental turkey food. Eventually, though, he realized that being a farmer was hard, hard work and, frankly, it was not in his upbringing to do that hard, hard labor. Eventually, they sold the farm to a developer (farm no longer exists) and bought a home on a real estate development nearby where all the streets have phoney "Indian" names such as Shoshone Trail, etc.
When Capt. Cook came to the Islands and Hawaiians say he had iron nails, cook pots, etc. They saw that was a good thing and they wanted it, too. Just because something was not part of the true culture of the kanaka maoli did not necessarily make it a bad thing. Trouble is, it got worse and worse from there. The ali`i thought that many of the haole perks were swell. Obviously, someone had to convince the m`i that it behooved him to permit the sale of sandalwood. And someone had to provide the labor to take those trees. Someone had to provide the labor for the fish ponds so the mo`i could have his perfect fish. It was not the ali`i. The common folks did not eat from those fish ponds. It was the royalty who decided they wanted an armed militia. It was the ali`i who decided that the great mahele was a good thing. It was the ali`i who decided they had to have a palace with electric lights. Now don't get me wrong -- I KNOW that if there had been no western contact, then they would not have known about these things in order to covet them and make unwise decisions affecting so many people in order to obtain those things. They would not have taken to drinking alcoholic libations to excess, which may have clouded their judgement. But they did.
To me the worst part of western contact with Hawai`i are the diseases that have almost been responsible for genocide. Because of that, terrible things have been done in the islands, from burning Chinatown to get ride of bubonic plague to banishing those with Hansen's disease to Kalaupapa. So many Hawaiians died from venereal disease, flu, measles, etc. Then when the interests of those who hobnobbed with royalty required a greater labor force than Hawai`i could provide, people (once again, poor people with cultures completely different than those of the haole) were brought to the islands to supplement that labor force. Much intermarriage took place, thereby diluting the native Hawaiian culture. And it has just snowballed from there.
Once again -- just because something is haole does not make it all bad. La`aulapa`au is good. But western medicine is also good. Can the two work together? Ask George Kahumoku who speaks of this in his book. Is a flush toilet better than a privy? In my book it is! Is the ability to flip a switch to get lights better than using oil lamps or torches for illumination? From my haole point of view, yes.
Some good, some bad in all cultures. Can Hawaiian-ness be integrated with modern things that come from the haole culture and still retain their Hawaiian-ness? I do not see why not.
The big thing is GREED. I do not like greedy haoles, but then again, I would not like greedy anybody.
I would love to take you up on your offer for the ahupua`a, but I am WAY too decrepit to work that hard at this stage of my life. If I were young, though, I'd come up to Lansing and find you!!!!! |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 07:18:20 AM
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When I stayed in Samoa a quarter century ago I felt they had managed to integrate much of the good (and some of the bad!) aspects of "Western" culture into their own, without losing the good aspects of their own culture. Don't know if this is still the case, but I understand it essentially is. So it is possible, but Hawaiians have not been able to find that balance in my opinion- Western culture has been adopted lock, stock, and barrel.
Until the late 70's little interest remained in Hawaiian culure- those of us who chose to live in Waipi'o valley, working the lo'i, were considered dirty and stupid; VERY low class. My older kids were treated like dirt in school-"You live Waipi'o? Disgusting!" By the time my younger son was in Honokaa High it was "You live Waipi'o? You so lucky!"
I do agree there are wonderful aspects of modern civilization, but a new car and cable television are not among them. Solar powered lighs beats spending hours making Kukui torches cold, although an occasional Kukui torch is a special and wonderful thing. And the day I hooked up a pipe to the waterfall was one of the best upgrades in my life. I'm not arguing for going back to the stone age- I just think our quality of life would be much higher if we were to reject the majority of what modern civilization tries to push on us and only took those aspects that contibute more to our happiness than they cost.
Yes to the pipe, the solar panels, and freedom; no to the new car in every garage, the big screen TV, and the eight to five job trying to pay for it all. And especially no to living on food stamps and welfare, dependent on a government we hate, wishing for all the crap we are told we should want but will never afford.
Chris
(Side note: Kalakaua initially brought in the Japanese and Chinese, not so much for sugar workers but in a clever plan to "strengthen the race" by breeding in resistance to diseases. And what a result! The mixed race "Hawaiians" are widely considered some of the most beautiful people in the world...) |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 09:59:58 AM
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quote:
The mixed race "Hawaiians" are widely considered some of the most beautiful people in the world...
Boy, that's a fact!
Why did folks put you down for living Waipi'o? Seems to me, from songs I have heard, at at least the folks from Waipi`o love it because of all the mele pana.
I have been reading lots of articles about "living off the grid". I posted a while back a you tube video about Jason Scott Lee and how to live pono with the `aina. He raises kalo on Moku Keawe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-MSehhWSE
It would certainly be good not to have to rely on the electric company for your ligts or water. Or a regular job that takes you away from being able to spend time doing the chores needed to maintain a garden sufficient to feed your family or fishing to feed your family, or spending time with your children in order to teach them and raise them to be knowledgeable and pono. I don't even know if it can be done nowadays.
Here is a theoretical question that we could speculate on answering: If all the Hawaiian ex-pats came home would the infrastructure be able to accommodate them and their families? |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 3:16:54 PM
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Upon returning to Tahiti and finding that the majority of the population had died from the diseases they had brought on their previous visit, Captain Cook's surgeon said a man could be guilty of rape, murder, robbery, pillage, arson, and the entire host of English crimes and still be an innocent compared to those who knowingly did such a thing. This was a year BEFORE Cook "discovered" Hawai'i!
Stannage, in "Before the Horror", based on solid logic and the best data, estimates the pre-contact population of Hawai'i to be larger than the population today. Cook's estimates of a third of the current population when he first visited the islands, from which most others derive (since at least half the people had died before the next visitor!), are based on an extrapolation from several miles of desolate coastline on the leeward side of Hawai'i, with the presumption that the windward areas and interior had little population.
In our area at least (northern Hamakua) every inch was cultivated. I have clambered over rock slides on the coast, climbing up a hundred feet to find a tiny, two square meter patch of terrace developed by moving hundreds of tons of rock. If every other inch of land was not already taken, why would anyone bother? Waipi'o, Waimanu, Honopue, Honokea- the valleys of Hamakua- were cultivated, every inch. Terraced up the side of the pali, terraces 1000 feet up the pali in the back, crazy places you would think no one could get to, let alone farm. Waipi'o alone was estimated to feed 85,000 based on the acreage of lo'i on the valley floor- and these people certainly could have had no idea of the true extent of cultivation.
Not that I WANT 85,000 people in Waipi'o! Sometimes it seems too crowded with the 65 people who live there now... But I do understand that I came when the population was the lowest it had been since the discovery of the valley by humans. Fortunately when social pressures build we can escape to Waimanu and beyond!
But yes, with traditional agriculture and traditional needs, Hawai'i could support all Hawaiians (and locals, and Hawaiians at heart, and even the SoCal immigrants who try to recreate Southern California suburbs on the islands). However, obviously the Islands do not have the resources to support all these people in the modern style- no metals, for a start. But part of modernity is interdependence, and certainly Hawai'i can generate the revenue to support all her people in the Haole style. The biggest problem I see is that the primary source of revenue- tourism- is legally monopolized by huge corporations, most of which are not Hawaiian, and most revenue generated is extracted from the state.
An interesting study was done in Australia comparing resort tourism to backpackers. What the tourism bureau found was that although obviously resort tourists spent far more per day, backpackers stayed much longer and spent more overall. Additionally, backpackers spent their money in remote regions where it was needed the most, while resort tourists spent their money in the wealthiest areas. The bulk of the resort tourist's money immediately left the country, while backpacker's money went into the pockets of local people and circulated through rural communities for a considerable period before returning to the international economy. Overall the economic benefit of a backpacker was far, far greater than a resort tourist. Since this study, Australia has turned away from promoting mega resorts and "Welcome, Backpackers!" signs have sprouted across the country...
I can never understand why the local people resist the idea of bed and breakfast operations sprouting throughout our communities. Why not allow people to benefit from the tourism we have to deal with anyway? Are we supposed to just go get a job in a resort instead? Let all the money go back to the mainland or Japan while we get minimum wage and tips? Have the people shop in resort shops instead of our local businesses? Just look at us from a tour bus or the backs of horses instead of meeting us and learning something about our lives? Bed and breakfast tourism is even better than backpackers, because they pay a substantial sum to stay in our homes- often even more than a resort tourist, and the money goes directly into local pockets!
There are economic solutions to the Hawaiian's problems, but oddly they are resisted. Perhaps it is a reflection of the Hawaiian tendency to submit to the powers that be. The feeble protests and calls for sovereignty warm my heart, but they are far too weak- perhaps, like the cultural reawakinging in the 70's, it is just the first flicker of a flame that will someday spread to the entire population and consume the desire to mimic the haole lifestyle- a desire that has left no room for true Hawaiian culture. A balance could be struck, where a cultural tourism replaces the false vision of "eco-tourism" and provides its benefits directly to the people, who use these benefits to integrate the best elements of western culture into an essentially Hawaiian lifestyle, educating the visitors in the process on a more harmonious lifestyle that treasures the 'aina and cultural diversity over the all consuming monolithic culture of greed that rules us today.
Chris
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 4:10:43 PM
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P.S. Checked out the link- looks like how everyone I know in Puna lives; more typical than unusual. A bit newer and richer than most, perhaps, but simple. I respect it when a man who can live any way he chooses wants to live simply. Of couse if it were me I would be quite a bit more makai- it looked cold!
Sure is obvious that boy never pulled kalo for kala, though. It would take him days to pull a bag at that rate! When I was pulling for money I was lucky if I got $2 a bag, although last time I hired help I paid $8. At that rate his effort would be worth about 50 cents an hour; but when you do it for love and poi who's counting? And clearly love went into growing that kalo; the oha were beautiful! Put some of that poi in front of me now and I would be just like that little boy in Miloli'i!
Chris
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2008 : 04:03:52 AM
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Chris, correct me if I am wrong, but we were told, when we were there, walking through Waipi`o, that the reason few lived there was because the last tsunami wiped everything out, and, it was just a matter of time before the next tsunami would rush into the valley - it is a perfect funnel, facing just the wrong way. Just like it is only a matter of time before coastal New England gets whacked by a hurricane (we are long overdue).
Also, when we walked by a house with lovely flowers, we were invited into the walled garden, by the caretaker, to see them. He said the owner lived in Mich. That wouldn't be you, would it?
...Reid
...Reid |
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 04:33:11 AM
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Waipi'o had two tsunamis in a row, which discouraged almost everyone from returning. That was 60 years ago now. I have heard some great stories from those who were there at the time, although most have passed on now. No one was killed, luckily.
Any place that is low and close to the ocean faces the risk of a tsunami. The highest splash from these was 55 feet, near Pololu. The furthest reach in Waipi'o was about where the road crosses in front of Hi'ilawe falls- right where that friendly gentleman let you in the gate to see the flowers. Not my house, by the way- I live pretty far back and off the road. Once every year or so a stranger wanders through my yard, but basically if you aren't headed to my house it is very unlikely you will wind up there. And while I do have a major stone wall along the side of my land, it is built to keep the river out of my lo'i, not to keep out people.
"Why did folks put you down for living Waipi'o?"
Attitudes were very different when I moved to Waipi'o (1976) Kalo farming was hard, dirty, poorly paid work that no one wanted to do. Only a couple of houses had running water, electricity, or a telephone. There was no opportunity to "move ahead" in haole terms- this was even before pakalolo provided an opportunity for some (and that "easy" money ruined the community IMO, although not as much as tourism has). Anyone choosing to live in Waipi'o was a dirty hippy and a nut case. Honestly it wasn't until the '90's that everyone else (sadly) realized we lived in one of the nicest places on the planet.
Chris
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2008 : 05:37:39 AM
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I sure understand the pakalolo thing in undeveloped areas. Same thing in W. Va. where I am from. No moonshining any more. Much more profit in growing pakalolo up in the hollers where no one ever goes. They will even plant it in between corn stalks in the corn fields, but corn grows higher and cannot see it.
Chris - what you are speaking of in Hawai`i is so very similar to what my people have faced in W. Va. 1) have to move away to get a job 2) original culture based on sustainment farming 3)face derision from people based on where you were from 4)less than optimum education resources 5)transition to tourism driven economy 6)selling the culture as a "quaint" part of the tourism business. Hill folks were very self reliant. They could grow or make just about anything they needed. And they helped each other and relied on each other for assistance when needed. They would use herbs, plants, minerals, etc. as natural remedies. There would be the grannies who did "doctorin'". They knew where to find the right plants in the woods or fields for both medicine and food. They would find greens or mushrooms (morels, primarily), ginseng growing wild. They would build their own housese. Some swell, some with not a true 90 degree angle to be found. They could look at the clouds, the sky, the wind blowing the leaves in the trees and know what the weather would be like.
Most of that knowledge is gone now and few if any young folks wish to learn those lessons. They also want to get to the city and get the video games and the fancy cars and the treated wood decks on the back of their homes.
It makes me very sad. For your culture and mine. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Kapila Kane
Ha`aha`a
USA
1051 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2008 : 3:39:14 PM
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So what if...
we all really do learn (or could learn) from each other...
Some of the things affluence brings...
good education, a car that runs without too much smoke, decent housing ...(not necessarily castle size with a mote), better health, less crime and less involvement and attraction to horrific, distructive drugs (meth, crack, etc...geez, I hope they never invent ETC...but they're probably working on it if there's profit and pain to be had) ...
and a chance to make a decent living without victimizing others to do it....
less need for lowly, menial, subsistence jobs...
While the affluent, have things to learn...
not being so driven, that life is not just a "to do and conquer" list.
I guess the top of that quest might be the to be Chief at the white house or some other top stress job...sometimes they think they got it all figured, then it all goes to heck in a hand basket.
Power has it's pain.
Maybe some arts, music, caring/helping for others...
Collecting stuff gets less meaningful the more you get...
As to these huge homes...
it's the thing everwhere...
Kinda annoying when compared to my value system of families growing up with mom, dad, 4 kids and a grandma....kinda like the Waltons in the city!
and we felt middle-class back then!
We were on the Edge of Poor, but right in the middle of Fabulous Wealth and Dreams--but it was real.
The highest level according to Maslow's hierarchy of human needs is called (I hope I recall...it's been awhile), Self-Actualization...something that he called the pent-ultimate human achievement level...
One person on "E-Town" (a Boulder-based environmental/humanistic radio show) when who received their "E-chievement" award...
(she had conceived and helped create/run an after school day-care for the poorest part of LA)...
stated,
"Each day, when I get off the freeway to go to the ghetto area school, I feel like I'm in Hawaii!"
Truly a high level of enlightenment and nirvana...
Bliss, Being Rich is not a Prerequisite.
Whether you go to Harvard, or the School of Hard Knocks...there is a better way...
and tonight...I choose to play some slack key.
Oila.
A little night slack-key music helps restore some peace.
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Edited by - Kapila Kane on 01/17/2008 3:42:06 PM |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 01/18/2008 : 6:02:43 PM
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Eine Kleine Nacht da kine?
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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