What Would Queen Liliuokalani Do?

       If you call Hawaii your home, eventually you have to deal with the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom. You can choose to ignore it, and that is one sort of reaction, you can choose to make a stand politically, or you can live somewhere in the uncertain in-between and try to articulate a position, which is what I am going to try to do now .

The Hawaii State Library is touring a program called "He Lei, He Aloha: This is a lei of Love, the Legacies of Queen Lili'uokalani," in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Hawaii State Library. This is an interactive event; some participants are given significant sections of the Queen's autobiography to read. A few of her songs are also sung. After the readings, there is a discussion, with a volunteer from the I'olani Guild, Uncle Fred, facilitating and  asking us to talk story and share our responses to the work.  

How agonizing it must have been for the Queen to abdicate. But she did so to save the 40,000 Hawaiians who had thus far survived decimating diseases, and also because she believed that the U.S. Government would intervene eventually. After all, the British government undid the British occupation decades earlier when a renegade captain had claimed Hawaii for his country. 

It occurred to me that it must have been depressing for the Queen to realize that the US would not intervene, that the US Congress and President allowed the overthrow to be sustained which led to annexation and eventually current statehood. I asked how she was able to cope with this - the loss of the kingdom, the injustice of it all. Uncle Fred responded that the answer can be found in the Queen's prayer, which she wrote when she was imprisoned under house arrest in I'olani palace. Uncle sang a verse of it, some of us sang with him:

'O kou aloha nô

Aia i ka lani

A `o Kou `oia `i`o

He hemolelo ho`i

 

And he explained, emotionally, solemnly, that it was about forgiveness and having aloha, and once you lose that, once you don't have aloha, you are lost. In the beloved song, she referred to "truth" of "the heavens" as a way of coming to peace with "malevolence" and the "sins of man."

There was nothing pono about the overthrow. There is no way that one can justify it except in terms of power, money, arrogance, capitalism, colonialism, racism, greed. Nothing pono about that. There are those who believe that sovereignty is the only pono solution. There are those who say that having too much aloha has hurt the Hawaiians. 

In the end, though the days of outright colonialism are over, we still live in a world of meanness, injustice, dishonesty, and greed. It is so much to wrap your head around. It is hard to be all peace, love, and harmony, when there is so much to be angry about. So we all have to be like the Queen in dealing with it. Sometimes the result will not be what you thought or hoped it would be, but if you can hold the ugly truth in your brain, speak the ugly truth when you are given opportunities to, and still be beautiful in your aloha for all, then maybe maybe maybe, there will be a just reaping of what you sowed at some point. But if nothing else, you brought grace, beauty, and aloha to those who you encountered. And that is a magnificent legacy. 

       The last part of the program was read together by all of us: 

"I could not turn back the time for the political change, but there is still time to save our heritage. You must remember never to cease to act because you fear you may fail. The way to lose any earthly kingdom is to be inflexible, intolerant, and prejudicial. Another way is to be too flexible, tolerant of too many wrongs and without judgment at all. It is a razor's edge. It is a width of a pili grass. To gain the kingdom of heaven is to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable - that is Aloha. All things in this world are two; in heaven, there is but One." 

Salad Experiments

Making salads can be a creative act too. 

Try different ingredients. I found this root at the Greenwell farmers market that looks like a potato but tastes like a pear, though not as sweet. I bought different kinds of sprouts at Choice Mart (azuki, lentil, pea, snow peas) and thought I'd use Kim Chee shrimp poke for the protein. Need to work on the dressing, a creative act for another time. 

The Story of the 2013 Christmas Wreath

Making our Christmas wreath a few weeks ago was one of the reasons I flowed into starting this blog. We did not get a tree this year. Our immediate family is spread from Guam to Colorado and no one was coming home. Putting up a tree, as well as putting it away, takes a lot of energy that we were not motivated to expend. I was feeling guilty, like it was something I was supposed to do. All good people decorate for Christmas right? 

I have a cousin in Hilo who makes beautiful Hawaiian wreaths every year. She and her husband get their permit to pick from the ohi'a forests and it is their tradition to make these wreaths for their family and friends. We went to visit my aunties in Hilo the weekend before Christmas and I was inspired by the wreath that my cousin had made for her mom. So I came home determined to make one this year. I was lucky to have spent a weekend with my cousin one year when they were making wreaths and learned how to do it back then, must have been five years ago or more. I haven't made one in a long time.

The plan was to use materials from our yard, get a wreath ring and pins and just do it. I looked online for directions to refresh my memory, and went to Ace to look for the wreath ring and pins. They had stacks of the rings and no pins. The worker there said they ran out and did not think there were any in Kona anywhere. She suggested I use bobby pins. I did go around looking at other stores. My last stop was Home Depot, and the sales person there told me that she had made a wreath a different way. "I wen haku em." I knew how to make a haku lei, though I also had not made one in a long time. But I did decide that was what I was going to do.

From my yard, I picked eucalyptus branches, bay laurel leaves, white bougainvillea, and a bush that had red berries and reddish leaves. I set up my work area on our cool, open, back patio. And I just wen haku em. 

         For those who do not know what I mean, you make little bundles on top of each other and use raffia to hold the bundle together and to wind the bundles to each other. Next time I make one, I'll take pictures of the process.

It took me a while to figure out how to make it work and I wanted to give up about a quarter of a way through. But I talked myself through it, telling myself that it was holding together, it was growing. I just needed to keep adding to it and persevere. So I listened to myself giving myself encouragement, and I completed it. My mom gave me a nice compliment, but I thought she was just being my mom. When I posted it on Facebook, I got many likes and comments, which validated my efforts and made me proud to have done it.

What does this say about creativity? Sometimes Christmas can be depressing when there are no kids around. Is Christmas really just for kids? For adults, Christmas can be more focused on the reason for the season, which is, of course, the birth of Christ. Creative acts are like giving birth, which is cause to celebrate. Celebrations of Births, especially of the Christ child, is extremely rejuvenating and a wonderful state of mind to have occupying your thoughts at the end of one year and the beginning of another. 

Don't Let Their Lies Destroy the Truth

In this crazy 

Mixed up world

Sometimes

 this happens - 

People lie.

And they lie

 for whatever reason.

Perhaps they need to lie

 to save themselves.

Maybe for their job

Maybe for their self-esteem

Maybe for their sense of power

Maybe for their need to be right

  even if they are wrong.

But you know the truth

And all the lies 

In the world

Cannot change the truth.

The truth

 is the truth.

Hold onto it.

Don't let their lies

Destroy you

Or make you doubt

The truth

Because when truth crumbles

Lies win

And lies shouldn't win

Lies won't win in the end

When truth -

The truth

 that solidifies 

your soul -

reigns supreme.

Two L.A. Poems

Her Friend's Passion

Why does he have a passion for the 70s?
I ask of her friend, a millennial like her. 
Or maybe he's an x-er, 
Not a boomer like me 
Who actually came of age in the 70s
And she answers,
In her millennial way,
He just is
There doesn't have to be a reason. 

Magnolia Tree

In Los Angeles 

in the winter
The leaves are brown
Hanging on to their branches
For dear life
But there is no more life 

for those leaves.

Magnolia trees
Are in full bloom
Though their leaves have fallen,
Their flowers emerge 

Among their twisted bare branches
And linger

Lavender-tinged bundles

Of

References to summer

Resolutions: I mean it this time - Really!

Of course there's always the perennially looping ones - lose weight, exercise more, get more sleep. Never give up on those ones. But besides that, I have been flirting with the idea of creativity. Years ago, I remember I made a resolution to do something creative every day. Well, that became every week, then every month, then it kind of faded away, just as most resolutions do. But, it's different this time. Really. You'll see. 

"Sure," the cynical resolution overlord snickers. "Oh yeah," was my assertive retort. "Pssshaw," he taunts me. "Why you .... You dream killer, you can't beat me up even before I start. I'll show you!"

So, the challenge is on. One thing I know about resolutions is that they have to be realistic. So saying that I will do something creative every day is a bit of a stretch. But generally, and giving myself permission to have infrequent dry spells, I think I can do at least one a week. 

As I said, I have been flirting with this idea for a while, and I have expanded my definition of what it is to be creative. Since I expanded my definition, I realize that I am a lot more creative than I give myself credit for. I don't have to write a play or a poem or create a collage art piece. Creativity is making something that wasn't there before. Many activities fall under that category. In this blog, I will explore those many facets of creativity. 

So, here's my first post and my first random act of creativity. My hope is that as I document these acts, my friends and readers will realize that it's not so hard and also practice these acts. I firmly believe that the creative act is joy-producing and therefore healing. And everyone can be creative. And if more people engaged in acts of creativity, a lot more joy would be produced, and what's wrong with that? (Notice how I was creative with my use of the conjunction "and?")

 

Photo shows sunrise from an airplane window coming home from New Zealand in 2007 or so.