ALOHA: WRITING FROM HAWAI'I

Aloha: Writing from Hawaii 

Four members of the Hawaii chapter of Sisters in Crime write about their process for including Hawaiian characters of all races and ethnicities in their books.

Isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, all residents of the islands are Hawaiian in spirit though diverse like the grains of sand on Waikiki Beach. We share a wide range of religious practices, political views, and ancestral heritages. This variety of ideas presents a unique opportunity to expand horizons already awash in Polynesian sunshine. Writers touched by aloha in the islands reflect that experience in their stories, poetry, and memoirs.

A Haole in Honolulu by Gail M Baugniet

 

A fascination with Hawaiian history, and warm weather, drew me to Honolulu in the early 1990s. Through new friends and co-workers of all ethnicities, I quickly absorbed a local culture that thrives on diversity.

 

My growing interests included sacred heiaus (temples) and hanai tradition (informal adoptions). Trips around O'ahu and outer islands helped me appreciate the sacred-ness of Hawaiian land, its 'aina. Excursions to at least one sacred heiau on each major island strengthened my understanding of mana, divine power emanating from these ancient temples that first attracted 13th-century voyaging Tahitian kahuna.

 

On the Big Island, my most moving experience was viewing Kokoiki from the site of Mo'okini Heiau. Only an isolated stretch of dirt road, and a restless watchdog, kept me from the birthplace of Kamehameha the Great, ruler of all the islands.

 

An increasing curiosity about the hanai tradition led me to a striking fact about the last reigning monarch of Hawai'i. Queen Lili'uokalani was a hanai child, raised by higher-ranking chiefs other than her parents. Through research and discussion, I gained a deeper appreciation of the emotional and spiritual care in a tradition that means “to raise, feed, nourish, and sustain.”

 

Much of the information I gathered became integral to my stories and the backbone of fictional local characters. The Hawaiian-born protagonist of my Pepper Bibeau mystery series embraced her maternal heritage. By following local tradition, she safeguarded her son from prejudice, allowing him to experience a culture that thrives on diversity. 

Micronesia to Manhattan by Laurie Hanan 

I grew up in the islands of Hawaiʹi and Micronesia, surrounded by friends, neighbors, and classmates from many different parts of Asia and the Pacific. My memories consist of a myriad of customs, foods, languages, and religious beliefs. Local history, legends, and mythology were a large part of my childhood consciousness.

In my 30 years of working in Hawai'i, my co-workers were made up of local characters of every sort imaginable. My life experiences have given me rich material to draw from when creating authentic characters who represent all the diversity of Hawai'i. I often use traits or idiosyncrasies of people I’ve known throughout my life, weaving in local dialect, food, and sensibilities. The trick, though, is to create evil villains without offending people of any race.

My protagonist, on the other hand, hails from Manhattan, an island as distant from my own experience as it is in miles. Fortunately, I have a close friend who is an authentic New Yorker. While creating the Louise Golden character for my mystery series, which begins with Almost Paradise, I interviewed this friend extensively over many years. This helped me to gain insight into what it was like growing up not in Micronesia but in Manhattan, before being transplanted to Hawai'i.

Snowbirds Soaking Up Hawaiian Cultures by Rosemary and Larry Mild

 

 

As snowbirds from Maryland for 20 years, we soaked up the mélange of cultures in the most authentic way we could—mainly, 10 minutes from our apartment at Magic Island, the little peninsula extending out from Ala Moana Beach Park. Magic Island is the locals’ favor-ite gathering place: Hawaiian families relaxing under monkey-pod trees at all-day barbecues, Japanese brides and grooms, locals spearfishing, you name it.

We haunted restaurants and the huge market around the corner from us with foods for every ethnic group: Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Caucasian, and Portuguese. At a local favorite drive-in, Larry orders “Portugee” sausage.

In Cry Ohana: Adventure and Suspense in Hawai'i, Larry chose our characters’ names by mixing and matching from the obituaries. We have a Filipino wedding in the book. We went to a Filipino restaurant in Kalihi hoping to chat with the waitress and proprietor, but no one spoke English. Larry researched the wedding procedure online and I consulted a Filipino cookbook for the feast dishes.

We have a cockfight, illegal, of course, which we learned of in a newspaper article about a police raid. On one of our “Circle Is-land” drives we actually saw the tiny chicken houses where the poor creatures are held.

One of our sons-in-law is Chinese. His wonderful father spoke pidgin, a bit of which Larry laced into Cry Ohana. In an early draft, we had our 14-year-old Kekoa in tears. Our granddaughter told us, “No! He wouldn’t cry, he’s too tough and resilient.”

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