The Hilo Movement

Reunited

thesimplevoice@gmail.com — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:00:00 GMT

"Reunited and it feels so good."

Ha. That is the song that comes to mind right now as I ponder going back home. It has been a wild two months since I last set foot in Hilo and well, I have to say I've changed in that span of time.

I am a big believer in that we constantly change as we go through life. That being said, pursuing personal and spiritual growth can do nothing but accelerate that change.

That is what the last two months have been for me.

I look forward to this respite back home and seeing how my perception of Hilo has changed.

Although, I'm banking on Hilo not changing too much as that's the whole charm of Hilo.

Shoots.

JMAW

Rail me why don't you...

thesimplevoice@gmail.com — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:00:00 GMT

The title says it all doesn't it? At the cost of governing a small country for eight years, The City and County of Honolulu is pushing forward on it's rail project. Doesn't look the petition to get it put on the ballot will succeed either so the voters no longer have a say in it. Which leaves us to ponder what is really going on.

I have a favor to ask. I want to know what people on the outer islands think. I might be putting my foot in my mouth here, but if I'm correct wow. Here goes.

We don't pay County Taxes. We pay State and Federal Taxes. That being said, something from our taxes is allotted to each County to operate. So, since we don't pay a County Tax, that would mean the money for this project is coming from everyone?

Oh no, JMAW, not the... "Dun dun dun." You're damn right dun dun dun. Seems like every day new facts and/or fiction about this project pop up. People on Oahu have mixed feelings. How do all of Hawaii's taxpayers feel about it?

I feel like we're getting railed. As a resident of the island of Hawaii (apparently I'm a transient resident of D. 24 on Oahu, at least that's how it feels since I've never seen my Representative in my district other than a Board meeting, ongoing beef I have...), I do not feel it is fair for our taxes from the outer islands to pay for a project that does not help us.

It'd be fair if all islands got a rail system, because all islands do road repairs and things of that nature. But...

Alot of dot dot dots, I know. That's because of all the grey that surrounds this mysterious legacy project...

Shoots.

JMAW

"Hawaii-damashii"

thesimplevoice@gmail.com — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

The credit for this term and the inspiration for this piece goes to Elliot Aki, whom I recently met. Hawaii-damashii is based on Yamato-damashii, which can be translated in a number of different ways and you can read about here. Damashii pretty much means spirit so this is about Hawaii Spirit.

Elliot and I got to talking about living here and having this sense within to do something for Hawaii and her people. That is when he shared that he calls it "Hawaii-damashii". We also shared a connection in that both of us have ancestry dating back to the time of the Hawaiian Kingdom and he even found out that he was related to a doctor for one of the Queens.

It would seem that our(people in general) relationship to a place or situation has far more to do with the overall energy and history going into it. I often wonder if I exhibit qualities and traits of my ancestors or am compelled to do certain things because of them as well. Perhaps meditation and/or a conversation with God will help me to understand that point better.

Whatever the driving factor is, it is important to trust the spirit as it is most aligned with nature. Our humanity almost naturally goes against the flow of life because of the way we get socialized and brought up by society. It would seem at this point obvious to me that "flowing with the go" is the way simply because nature knows far better than we. If the world can repair itself even after the chaos people have wreaked, it knows something we don't...

Or is it telling us something? As the words exit me and I see what is being written, it has occurred to me that nature is expressing a sense of renewal, of living on. Think about all that happens in this life, how crazy, and how beat down we can become. Then look at nature, same sh**, different smell, just written off as a part of nature. Take something we've done and look at the outcome by nature(the ozone is replenishing itself). Then compare that to something nature does and that end result(a volcanic eruption can lay destruction yet new life grows from it).

Evidence shows that nature has survived, evolved, and renewed time and time again.

In this day and age, where fear has been preached for far too long, perhaps we really should look to nature as inspiration. If nature can renew in cycles, so can humanity. Maybe that's what spirit is and why we are compelled in the way we are.

Shoots.

JMAW

~Mahalo nui loa Elliot for sharing your concept with me. All the best to you and your ohana.

Boiling Point

thesimplevoice@gmail.com — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:00:00 GMT

The Honolulu Advertiser has reached its boiling point apparently since it filed a lawsuit against the University of Hawaii for failing to disclose information on the travel party that went to the Sugar Bowl earlier this year. I have mixed feelings about this which is probably why I’m writing it and/or/all of the above why you’re reading it.

I think the information should be public, so if UH is violating Office of Information practices, then by all means, bring it to light and take care of some business. UH has the potential to be THE institution in the world. Hawaii lies between the East and West and has some programs, professors, and students on the verge of being top notch if not already. Mismanagement, a lack of funds, decrepit facilities, and so on over the years have made it what it is today. If the UH system were a movie, it would get “mixed bag” movie reviews cause you don’t what you’re gonna get.

I don’t feel so good about this in that the Sugar Bowl was supposed to be a good thing for UH, the Warriors, and Hawaii. Everything since has been downhill and almost seems to overwhelm what UH accomplished from the exodus of June Jones, firing of Frazier, Jones saying Frazier shouldn’t have been fired, and everything else.

All of this political pushing and pulling power plays has nothing to do with the players and students. They are the ones left out. The players are the ones who are inevitably going to be fielded questions about their thoughts on UH using money to send so and so on the trip. While the players are probably very focused, it doesn’t bode well to have to play for a team, an institution that doesn’t have it’s sh.. together. It’s like when you work for somewhere unethical, no matter what you do that is right or for the betterment of the organization it doesn’t change the fact that the company sucks.

How is the Advertiser’s investigation going to make the lives of students better? There is always all this talk and little or no change. There has to be accountability. How do we hold UH admin. accountable, how do we have responsible journalist, how do we monitor Legislators, State offices? How?

Maybe it’s time we ask different questions. I have a question. Representative Kirk Caldwell, as a voter in your district, what are you doing to make sure UH does what it is supposed to? Representative Clift Tsuji, as a former resident in your district what are you doing for UHH?

To quote someone with Hawaii ties, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: “It doesn’t matter!” what they say they are doing. The fact of the matter is they have been in office for some time. Many politicians have and UH didn’t magically become what it is. Many regents have been there forever and a day.

Maybe it’s time we stop asking questions with all the great dancers out there, because they can all dance around an issue with what they say. Maybe it’s time they stop talking and we speak.

To be continued…

Shoots.

JMAW

Survive

thesimplevoice@gmail.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:00:00 GMT

If there is one thing you learn about living in Hilo, it is how to survive.

I been home for two weeks now and it has been amazing, showed me where I came from, where I went all these years away, and maybe why it is that I made it through. Cause Hilo, the Big Island, wen teach me to survive.

I used to work at Safeway down Prince Kuhio around the time when everyone was all sked(scared) a hurricane would hit or the dockworkers was goin` strike. People would come down and buy choke bottled water and bags of rice. I neva seen so many bags of rice, was moa den Costco get.

The people here just had a sense of eh, this might suck small kine but we goin make`um through. I get dat kine feeling again. I look around and the media, movies, all kines is one big culture of fear and imminent catastrophe.

At first glance, hard not fo think lidat at times when get war and uncertainty in the economy. Look at gas. Da buggah goin` be $5/gallon in a little bit. The Honolulu Advertiser reports that we have the 9th highest price of gas in the US. Blow your mind uh? Everyone in Hawaii is hurtin`, a place like the Big Island going feel um moa mean than other places in Hawaii cause at least half if not moa of our people driving all ova cause of their job.

But you know wot? Whether it be stocking up on rice, driving less, we goin` find a way to survive. I dunno, something about living in the middle of an ocean, it forces you too. And Hawaii get everything in place to make a shift to be more sustainable. Look at the Native Hawaiians. They had an Ahupua`a, a system of sustainability, where all across everything wen fit and work together, laulima(hand in hand). How`s dat? They neva rely on outside places to survive, to eat, for shelter. Look us now, we import like 90% of what we use. There is no reason for us to do that with food and even other things. We still get everything in place here to survive. With technology the way it is now, ho brah, even moa so.

For a long time I have felt in my na`au there is an opportunity for us as a people to create a better future. I`ve been called optimistic, idealistic, woteva. I`ve been forced at times by a society to believe that thinking lidat was bad, was scary. Well, you know wot, that culture of fear is pau. That way of life is no moa. That illusion neva was cause it no fit us as a people, and it certainly does not belong in Hawaii.

I believe Hawaii can and will be better. I don`t know all the steps. I do know that we have the best resources in the people we have living here, how we live, our values, our way of life, the land. I know we going survive. We have what it takes. I know it can seem daunting but it`s time to take our survival skills and show the world how to live.

Hawaii has the potential to be a great light for the rest of the world. It is time we start the dialogue to lay that foundation. It is time we act. Get that motto I heard somewhere, "Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono". The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. What do we want to perpetuate for our kids, their kids, for Hawaii?

Let`s build that modern day Ahupua`a.

Shoots.

JMAW

www.TheSimpleVoice.com

Home

thesimplevoice@gmail.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:00:00 GMT

What is home?

A quick search on www.Dictionary.com returned 55 answers like... ha, like I goin tell you. Nah, nah. Just joke. I figure you neva like look at 55 answers and I goin branch off anyway. This is what they call a segue I suppose. That is segue like intro and transition not like those motorized walkers you see all over Honolulu. Eh, I am small kine kolohe and this is my first blog on www.DownTownHilo.com so we both getting acquainted.

Where was I... Home, das right.

Home is home. It is comfort. It is a feeling like you in a place where can lay your heads to rest when you tired or feel warm when it is cold. It has a sense of welcoming and familiarity to it.

For me home is always Hilo. I was born Oahu and we moved to Hilo when I was 10. Ho, brah, I hated it at first. It was still small keed time for me and I liked where I was. Change can be hard for anyone, harder when you a kid and you no really understand. Hilo wen work its charm on me though, so much so ten years later when I returned to Oahu for go UH, I knew instantly, well slight exaggeration, I knew real quick. If it was a movie as soon as pau da plane ride, da guy get off and boom, it would wash all over him, he fall down, tears in the eyes, etc.

I knew early on when I came back to Oahu that Hilo was home. Da Big Island, or da B.I. was home next, den all of Hawaii and so on. Was an interesting sociological study of people living in the dorms at UH. Had the people from the mainland, the different cliques of athletes, the outer islands by island, then each town there in. Oh yeah and Oahu people but eh, das one noddah story, not the country people but the Townies. Wot was full mean about living in the dorms is you could pick out the different types of pidgin spoken. Fo real, each island get a unique dialect. And who is to say it is not a language? Dose buggahs, hard fo write li`ids. Gotta think two different ways. Anyway, back to Hilo, but you see, we neva really left Hilo, cause Hilo people, we can talk stories and tell all kine related stories with the best of em. Chee Huuu!!!!

It is just something about Hilo. Again, it warms you, it takes good care, I would go so far to say it heals you. No matter wea I stay go or wea I goin` stay, Hilo is forever apart of me. It truly is a way of life. If you can take the time to appreciate it, it leaves a mark on your heart that others see wherever in life your feet stay standing, Oahu, the mainland, China, Europe. If you lived Hilo, you lived Hilo. No one can take that a way. It is like being local in Hawaii plus 10 in my humblest of opinions. Nah, nah, but I think you get what I mean.

Shoots.

JMAW, The Simple Voice