It started out as a pale kind of morning, with a silvery light coming in through windows left open to a non-existent breeze and a faint rain falling almost imperceptibly when Koko and I went out walking. The air was thick and perfumed with spider lilies and it occurred to me that this is the kind of weather that causes mushrooms to pop out of the cow pies in the many pastures in my neighborhood.
There’s a different sort of manure to be found in the lead editorial of the new Star-Advertiser, which looks and reads exactly like the hybrid of the two mediocre Honolulu dailies that it is. The editorial intones:
It is a milestone day -- heavy with history, with societal significance and with rededication to do right by our island community.
We will strive mightily to be on the side of angels. We will work constantly to do, and shout, the noble thing.
Oh, puhleze.
I’m not shedding any tears over the loss of the smug Advertiser, which was founded by the son of a missionary and taken over by a man who helped oust the monarchy. Do you suppose now we might actually see some fair coverage of the independence/sovereignty movement? Is that cause pono enough “to be on the side of angels?”
I’m not even sad to see Honolulu become a one [mainstream] newspaper town, since in truth, neither paper ever strayed far from the other. But I am bummed that some really good people are jobless right now, a point that was driven home when I read the staffers’ farewell piece in the Advertiser. I would have thought the merger provided an opportunity to compile a crack editorial team with the best from each paper. Instead, a lot of dead, even diseased, wood was kept, while some healthy branches were cut.
But at least the new paper actually has a story from Kauai that didn’t come from The Garden Island. It’s about a revolutionary project that addresses the homeless issue by getting parking lot owners to let the homeless sleep in their cars there, without fear of getting harassed and ticketed by the cops. How benevolent!
Only problem is, they’re trying to find parking lots on the north, east and west sides with access to bathrooms. And you know how rare they are.
The Garden Island, meanwhile, devoted coverage to the complaints of two wahine beyond upset about barking dogs, with Dr. Becky of the Humane Society weighing in for a dog nuisance law.
One of the women, Liz Stevens of Lawai, had a letter to the editor in yesterday’s paper in which she offered the all too familiar lament of someone who visited here and thought she had found paradise, then moved here and discovered it’s actually a real place with all sorts of real problems, including mistreated dogs and mainland transplants who buy rural property with no clue as to the realities of kua`aina life.
Now she’s trying to sell her place and is hoping to close the deal and slide on out of there without disclosing the noise. Nice! But of course she’s not part of the problem.
While we’re on the topic of mainland transplants, I got a copy of the press release, which TGI reprinted, about a ”community dialog” on what it means to be haole in Hawaii. It's being sponsored by a Nonviolent Communication group.
I forwarded it to a local friend, who did a take-off on my “Parallel Universes” theme with this excerpt from a calendar listing:
Lua (Non-Verbal Communication class) practice 7pm Wed Prince Kuhio Park bring sticks
There’s a different sort of manure to be found in the lead editorial of the new Star-Advertiser, which looks and reads exactly like the hybrid of the two mediocre Honolulu dailies that it is. The editorial intones:
It is a milestone day -- heavy with history, with societal significance and with rededication to do right by our island community.
We will strive mightily to be on the side of angels. We will work constantly to do, and shout, the noble thing.
Oh, puhleze.
I’m not shedding any tears over the loss of the smug Advertiser, which was founded by the son of a missionary and taken over by a man who helped oust the monarchy. Do you suppose now we might actually see some fair coverage of the independence/sovereignty movement? Is that cause pono enough “to be on the side of angels?”
I’m not even sad to see Honolulu become a one [mainstream] newspaper town, since in truth, neither paper ever strayed far from the other. But I am bummed that some really good people are jobless right now, a point that was driven home when I read the staffers’ farewell piece in the Advertiser. I would have thought the merger provided an opportunity to compile a crack editorial team with the best from each paper. Instead, a lot of dead, even diseased, wood was kept, while some healthy branches were cut.
But at least the new paper actually has a story from Kauai that didn’t come from The Garden Island. It’s about a revolutionary project that addresses the homeless issue by getting parking lot owners to let the homeless sleep in their cars there, without fear of getting harassed and ticketed by the cops. How benevolent!
Only problem is, they’re trying to find parking lots on the north, east and west sides with access to bathrooms. And you know how rare they are.
The Garden Island, meanwhile, devoted coverage to the complaints of two wahine beyond upset about barking dogs, with Dr. Becky of the Humane Society weighing in for a dog nuisance law.
One of the women, Liz Stevens of Lawai, had a letter to the editor in yesterday’s paper in which she offered the all too familiar lament of someone who visited here and thought she had found paradise, then moved here and discovered it’s actually a real place with all sorts of real problems, including mistreated dogs and mainland transplants who buy rural property with no clue as to the realities of kua`aina life.
Now she’s trying to sell her place and is hoping to close the deal and slide on out of there without disclosing the noise. Nice! But of course she’s not part of the problem.
While we’re on the topic of mainland transplants, I got a copy of the press release, which TGI reprinted, about a ”community dialog” on what it means to be haole in Hawaii. It's being sponsored by a Nonviolent Communication group.
I forwarded it to a local friend, who did a take-off on my “Parallel Universes” theme with this excerpt from a calendar listing:
Lua (Non-Verbal Communication class) practice 7pm Wed Prince Kuhio Park bring sticks
I think the homeless parking lot idea is FANTASTIC. Hopefully it won't get shut down by tourism boards. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL
ReplyDeleteConstantly barking dogs is almost like torture, and if you have never had to put up with it you have no idea how miserable it can be. It has even had me think of poison, But then who would feed the dogs, and they would probably bark all the more!!!!!
ReplyDelete"on what it means to be haole in Hawaii... sponsored by a Nonviolent Communication group."
ReplyDeleteHow can that go well...
One suggestion, suck it, hang in there for the duration and remember the golden rule
The barking dogs, the crowing roosters, the Harley's with straight pipes dashing down the road at 1 m, the ambulance/police vehicles with sirens blazing... The point is that noise pollution also "kills" the environment, and our sanity.
ReplyDeleteI like to read the first two paragraphs of Joan's early morning walks, usually so peaceful and quiet, one can actually hear non-artificial things. Noise pollution, it sucks too.
can you find something positive to write about? doom, gloom and complaints - there has got to be something positive somewhere in your mind.
ReplyDelete"can you find something positive to write about? doom, gloom and complaints - there has got to be something positive somewhere in your mind."
ReplyDelete250 years after pro-British colonists said the same thing in quill and ink, modern colonialists publish it in pixels on the internet.
Different time, same whine.
There has got to be something positive somewhere in your mind.
ReplyDeleteIt started out as a pale kind of morning, with a silvery light coming in through windows left open to a non-existent breeze and a faint rain falling almost imperceptibly when Koko and I went out walking. The air was thick and perfumed with spider lilies....