AT QUALFIES AN AUTHOR WITH NO HAWAIIAN BLOOD, A VISITOR FOR 30 YEARS AND RESIDENT FOR 10 TO WRITE VOICES OF MAUI?

Three things: an inquiring mind, a passion to appreciate/understand a unique culture and willingness to listen and learn.

A reporter asks questions but thestory is told in the voices of those interviewed.  Subjects are often quoted at length through the magic
of the new digital tape recorderand conversation often transcribed to capture what was said, fully and accurately. 

My columns in Lahaina News are not about me.  Most of the the ideas here are not mine.  They are the ideas, concepts and stories of people
who are the real experts on what this greatest place on earth is all about. 

The privilege of getting to know just a few Hawaiians and the remarkable transplants who have also come to
love this place has been fairly well and to hear their stories has been the journalistic experience
of a lifetime.

-Exerpt from Prelude:
an introduction

PRELUDE:

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

By Norm Bezane

REMARKABLE PEOPLE SPEAK OUT ON THE JOYS AND CHALLENGES OF LIVING IN THE LAND OF ALOHA

     They come from New York and New Zealand, small towns in the Midwest, from Tokyo and Toronto, Munich to Mexico City and virtually everywhere in between.

     Two million visitors a year to a place, according to a tourist slogan, “where the world comes to play.” This is destination Maui, Hawaii U.S.A, a magical isle whose beauty is matched by the beautiful people who live here.

     Yet the curious—and the not so curious—rarely get to know Hawaiians, the rich stew of immigrants they pass on the way to the beach or the “locals” born and schooled in paradise.

     Thus, Voices of Maui, a compilation of profiles of a remarkable people, descendents of Polynesian warriors and kings and queens and sugar plantation workers as well as recent 21st century transplants who live, work and play on the greatest place on earth.

     For those who visit and or frequently revisit this greatest place on earth…for those whose Hawaiian experience will not be complete without better understanding this isle’s rich culture… for those who may be unaware of what Hawaiians have to teach us…for those curious about the clash of cultures between original settlers on the cherished land and those who recently have bought into a new lifestyle…or for those who simply enjoy good stories, this is a chance to listen to the Voices of Maui. 

     One might ask what qualifies me with no Hawaiian blood in my veins, at least only in spirit, not having grown up born nor having grown up in paradise to write Voices of Maui. Visiting 27 times over 30 years for 60 weeks doesn’t.   nor being a permanent resident since 2001 does not appear to be a qualification. Yet there is  an inquiring mind, a passion to appreciate and understand this unique culture and a willingness to listen and learn. 

    Newcomers are not easily accepted, particularly by people whose ancestors go way back to the days of amazing voyages from the South Sea Islands, especially Tahiti. The phrase, “what do you know, you haven’t been here that long” is sometimes said, but more often thought even about those who have lived the life of Maui more than this writer.

     This writer is still waiting to be invited to his first true Hawaiian ohana  (family) luau and has not yet made it to the epitome enjoyed by so very few newcomers—the Hawaiian form of the kiss, nose to nose. But there have been a good many “Hawaiian hugs,” nevertheless most appreciated.

     For many years, Native Hawaiians (Kanaka Maoli) suffered by not being “allowed” to know about their culture, possibly one of the richest in the world.  Hawaiian language was banned in schools.  Hawaiians gave thir offspring names like Ed and George (one time school teacher and cultural advocate Ed Lindsey Jr. and slack key guitarist and taro farmer George Kahumoku Jr., for example).

    The columns in Lahaina News are not about me.  Seldom if ever on these pages can one find the pronouns, “I” or “me.” Occasionally, there is the phrase—by necessity—this columnist.  Thus the ideas here are not mine.  They are the ideas, concepts and stories of people who are the real experts on what this greatest place on earth is all about.  In effect, these essays are authored by them, not this columnist.

     It’s presumptuous to say that young Hawaiians, even others,  could learn anything from a guy who grew up in Oak Park, Ill, walked by Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio on Chicago Avenue on the way to the Petersen’s Ice Cream Parlor and lived across the street from where Ernest Hemingway grew up and lived.  Nevertheless, the privilege of getting to know just a few Hawaiians fairly well and to hear their stories has been the journalistic experience of a lifetime.

FEATURING:

• ENTERTAINERS, ENTREPRENEURS AND COLORFUL CHARACATERS
• HAWAIIANS AND THEIR CULTURE
• MOVERS AND SHAKERS
• QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUES
• ISLANDERS AND USURPERS (A BRIEF HISTORY OF BETRAYAL)
• NEWCOMERS AND NATIVES
• PICTURE ESSAY
• NOSTALGIC LOOK BACK AT 27 YEARS VISITING THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH.

  RETURN TO HOME

Parents dropped the long oral tradition of “talking story,” teaching  the young about their heritage and traditions.  Children no longer learned to recite their genealogy that went minimally covered hundreds of years.  The longest memorized geologies took hours and hours to recite, with the teller not permitted to stop until concluding.
     Thus, many of today’s generations of Hawaiians, those who still have the magical 50 percent Hawaiian blood that entitles them to acquire rarely available  so-called Hawaiian Homelands, and those with lesser percentages do not know their culture.  Fortunately a Hawaiian renaissance is underway. Young Hawaiians once again are learning.

     This reporter asks questions but the story is told in the voices of those interviewed.  Subjects are often quoted at length through the magic of the new digital tape recorder and conversation often transcribed to capture what was said, fully and accurately. 

  It is time to listen to the Voices of Maui and ask, “Who are these fascinating people?” 

    The minister and basket maker who can trace his ancestors back 900 years or the Grammy award winner who grows ancient taro on a North Shore farm?

     The former police officer who at 74 turned activist to preserve the land or the expatriate who watched the old Hawaii Five O TV show while at work in Germany, tired of rainy weather, and pulled up stakes to resettle and open a highly successful art gallery on sunny Maui?

    The protester who helped force the U.S. government to give back an island or the transplant who sailed here from California to create and run a canoe festival renowned throughout the Pacific?

     People like the insurance broker from the Virgin Islands who stepped foot on the island, fell in love at first sight, moved here within three years and now represents 10,000 people on the County Council? 

     Who are these people—people whose culture is built on love of the land, people who couldn’t resist moving here because they were blown away by island beauty?
 
     What do Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiians who believe their kingdom was stolen from them by the U.S. want?
 
     Is aloha a way of life and genuine or simply a tourist catch phrase designed to rev up a luau crowd?

     What do locals think, how do they live and why do many struggle?

     What is it like to live here and subsist here?

     And finally, when it comes right down to it, what makes them so special? 

            This collection of essays and profiles gives voice to what this magical isle and its people are all about. These are the Voices of Maui, not always heard,