Auntie made one of her students pass over his song book to me. Now I have a binder with her playlist and the names of everyone who committed to show up at Anna Ranch to entertain us. I have a color xeroxed watercolor of a hale (house) by a bridge and I have a little return address label with Margie’s address.
I know exactly how this works. You line up a handful of likely people from your club or class.… continued…
Even though it’s pouring rain, all the windows are open and I’m barefoot. I am wearing a sweater over my tank top, there’s a cool edge on the air, but it’s just while I write, if I were moving around at all, I’d be too warm, pronto.
It’s our last morning in Pahala, a former sugar mill town on the south coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. I am packed and ready to go back to Kona, up early because of the roosters and doves and other birds I can’t identify singing too loud, too early, everywhere.… continued…
I am in an open sided building, a combination of upright posts and corrugated metal on a concrete slab. There’s a little kitchen area, I’m making coffee on a rusty propane fueled two burner stove. It’s morning, the grass is wet. Fields stretch out around me, I’m not sure what’s growing, it’s grassy, wide blades, about knee high, it looks a little bit like sugar cane though I know it is not because it’s soft, not sharp.… continued…
Two guys are opening their surf shack. One of them is digging perfectly spaced holes in the sand, the other is dropping bright yellow umbrellas into the holes and popping them open. A man sits on the stone wall facing the surf, barefoot, a cell phone glued to his head, a deep frown marking his face. How can he be so unhappy, I wonder, we are in Waikiki, it is a balmy 78 degrees and there’s a light breeze coming off the ocean.… continued…
I’d been invited to travel to Oahu by the Oahu Visitor’s Bureau in exchange for blogging about my adventures there. At the same time, Christine Lu was planning re[Think] Hawaii, a small conference about start-ups, sustainability, and social media and the dates lined up perfectly. Christine generously waived the attendance fee in exchange for… well, let’s say I owe her a favor or three. Neenz, a Hawaii social, um, universe, she’s a social universe, invited the attendees of reThink Hawaii to TEDx, a morning of interesting ideas and speakers.… continued…
