Sunday, August 9, 2009

Memory, Storm, and Song

A L O H A!!
click on photos to enlarge your creative virility Waikiki Skies Welcome You
"Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today."
Mark Twain

Hawaiian Hall - Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum


"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds
on the heel that has crushed it."
Mark Twain

Hawaiian Hall - Interior

"The very ink with which history is written
is merely fluid prejudice."
Mark Twain

Traditional "Little Grass Shack"
Pili Hale (Pili-Grass House)
(Note the guarding spirals surrounding it.)

"Whether they live in an igloo or a grass shack or a mud hut, people around the world all want the same thing:
a better house."
Jack Handey

I still remember my first night in Hawaii.
I had given my winter coat to the friend who drove me to Newark Airport, said goodbye forever to my past, and endured a 12 hour non-stop flight.



The air at Honolulu Int'l Airport smelled sweet as we stepped into it for the first time. It is always sweet, but especially when returning from somewhere far away.
The first time: it is a revelation. Especially to an immigrant.
That first lei I received was fragrant and invisible.




Riding along the darkened freeway (H-1) I could see the fascinating building in the second picture.




"I wanna check that out."
Newbie Newcomer Malihini (me) said.
Little did I know then what an important roll Hawaiian people and culture would come to play in my life. And I had never heard of the Bishop Museum, the world headquarters for Polynesian studies.




This institution is responsible for much of what has been saved; both artifacts and information.




Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop bequeathed her royal fortune to the Kamehameha Schools in order to help her people thrive in a modern world.





Her Beloved husband, Charles Reed Bishop, had come here from Boston as a young man of vision. He was very handsome, impressed everyone in our Honolulu (including the royals) and started our first real bank, Bishops Bank which is today our First Hawaiian Bank. Honolulu's main street through the downtown business district is Bishop Street and well deserved.





When Pauahi was a child princess, her home was consumed by fire (ahi) but the flames mysteriously died before touching the girl. Hence her name: Pau (finished) Ahi.





When she passed, Charles Reed used considerable funds to construct and endow this seminal cultural institution in his wife's name.





This weekend, Hawaii Hall re-opened after extensive refurbishment.
The Pili Hale, which was the last such structures in the islands was dismantled from it's Kauai site around 1909 and brought to the museum where generations of scholars and school children have cherished it.





It has now been re-woven of fresh pili grass on it's original wooden framework, in part by high school students from the Hawaiian Academy of Farrington High School (where I facilitated an after-school group for a couple of amazing years). Farrington is a hard knocks school in an urban (for Honolulu) setting with a large number of immigrants (Samoan, Micronesian, Filipino, et al). It meant a lot to these kids to touch their own cultural greatness, and to contribute to a society that often sees only gangs and poverty when it thinks of them at all.





On that first night in the taxi I didn't know what a powerful role this magical place would ultimately play in my life. I was "fresh off the jet" with only fantasies, hopes and dreams about Hawaii.





After telling me: "That's the Bishop Museum," the taxi driver also told me that rain is a blessing in Hawaii. A light rain was cleansing us as we drove through the late Honolulu night.
It took some time on the neighbor island first, but I ended up irresistibly drawn back to this great town. I drove my own Honolulu night taxi for a while, and even wrote my little novel "Aloha Where You Like Go?" about it.





That driver was right. Rain in Hawaii IS a blessing. I was baptized into a whole other life here.





I hope Hurricane Felicia is a mere (!) tropical storm before coming into our waters on Monday night, or that she fizzles to a tropical depression or even less.
Too much tropic fire-hose rain is too like a full immersion baptism into an angry nature religion!





Below you will find yet another little video gem: Bruddah Iz (Israel Kamakawio`ole) singing a classic!
Warm Aloha my Friends!
Cloudia


17 comments:

SG said...

I absolutely love the picture of the Hawaiian Hall!

Dina said...

Thanks for the history, both personal and Hawaiian.

And I passed on your forgiveness quotation to a neighbor friend who needs to read it.

the walking man said...

Hawaiians are so cool that little storm will blow itself out before it hits landfall...just keep downgrading it in your faith.

Anonymous said...

Well that was a nice, informative little lesson!

Wil Harrison.com

Anonymous said...

This is such a wonderful post Cloudia. Thank you for the peek into your past. Loved it. Aloha.

Deb said...

Oh, I love that phrase...you were baptized into a whole new life there.
That is how I feel every time I visit Hawaii. sigh

Jenn Jilks said...

Co soothing, Cloudia. We had three more dronwings this w/e in My Muskoka. So sad.

Charles Gramlich said...

Wow, love that Hall. Would love to see those displays up close.

gigi-hawaii said...

It's bright and sunny right now and it is just 7:20 a.m. Hard to believe there's a storm brewing to the south of us. Take care of your boat, CC.

Reader Wil said...

The sky in the first photo looks dramatic! And Hawaii Hall is very beautiful! I do hope the hurricane won't come near Hawaii. I wish you a great week.

Feisty Crone said...

Wonderful! I love the video, the music is great but it's perfect with the background of sand and surf.

DrumMajor said...

Thanks for the IZ video...I've only seen photos before.

Deborah Godin said...

Wonderful reconunting of stories! So much peace and beauty, you truly have found your spiritual home!

Teresa said...

Hey Cloudia,

I love the video and the quote about violets and forgiveness. I also learned a lot about the Hawaii Hall. Hope you guys make it through the tropical storm okay.

Anonymous said...

Watch out, I have been through several hurricanes and tropical storms having lived in Florida for 13 years. I would actually recommend going through at least one in your lifetime, if you have not already.It is a grounding sensation. Aloha pretty lady. ;P

robert said...

Writing the Mathematic exam at the University, studying Engineering, the Prof. said, the only problem you shall have, is the speed of your ink flowing from the pen upon the paper.
Seems as if same goes for history. Many times it demands a bit of time until it reaches its paper - but then it ends up in such a nice entry as this one tonight.
Thank you for reminding and for sharing such a nice 'ink' of yours.

Anonymous said...

cool!