HTH cartoon questioned
I write regarding the cartoon by Mr. Gary Hoff, published Sunday (June 11) in the Tribune-Herald.
Of course, I have no idea what either Mr. Hoff or the Tribune-Herald intended with the cartoon. Was it tongue-in-cheek, playing off reactions of tourists? Or was it something else?
I find the piece profoundly insulting to practitioners of Native Hawaiian culture, and especially to those professing ancestral links to Pelehonuamea.
We’ve witnessed a renaissance of Native Hawaiian culture, beginning in the mid-1970s. Many hula kahiko presented at Merrie Monarch pay homage to Pele. Many of us view her as the creator of Hawaii nei. Without the elemental energy of Pele and her molten lava, we would not be here.
She does not put on shows for our entertainment. She does her work unbidden, as she has for untold millennia, regardless of what we think.
Increased attention to Native Hawaiian culture — “Malama Aina” and “Aloha Aina” and “pono conduct and practices,” etc. — all become trite phrases and fall by the wayside when depictions such as was published find their way into print.
Staff at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park strive to present culture accurately. Traditional place names have been revitalized. Others work to ensure that noise of commercial helicopter tours is greatly diminished and minimized, allowing park visitors to experience birdsong, the rustlings of olapa leaves, the exhalations of Pele, and the grinding and clattering of fresh lava during eruptions.
I can only trust that an error in judgement was the cause of this profane insensitivity, and look forward to your response.
Bobby Camara
Keaau
Why target bus stops?
Puna’s reputation for being full of fruits, nuts and flakes is legendary and will probably never be replaced with anything else in our lifetime, but what is happening now is bizarre, even by Puna standards.
Strange as it may seem, someone is destroying bus stops in Pahoa.
The first of which I am aware was the cinder block shelter at Nanawale Estates. It’s my understanding that drugs were sold in that bus stop late at night, and that it was used for a toilet. I was told the damage was deliberate.
The second stop is by Woodland Center, across from Puna Kai. While it has yellow tape around it, it’s still being used by some as a shelter.
I saw the third one by Pahoa Elementary, with its top pulled down.
Does someone have a vendetta against the transit system? Will the county have to put up cameras to help deter vandalism?
Dave Kisor
Pahoa