Back in the Saddle

What do your parents always tell you after you fall?  Get up!  Don't give up.  So after a long moment of silence, we're back.  I must give props to where they are due.  I have been a fan of Ree Drummond's blog, The Pioneer Woman for some time now.  Not that I am a great cook or anything, I just love to watch other people cook.  Ask the keikis, they'll tell you.  I am the master of the three ingredient meal.  Pasta, sauce, and cheese please.  Peanut butter, jelly, and bread.  You get it.

But Ree makes it all looks so simple.  Blogger, writer, accidental country girl.  So, why not me?  Cue cheesy Sound of Music track.  At this point my self-esteem was channeling Sally Fields anyway. "Yes, you really do like me!"

Then there are all my Facebook friends from the YKYFHW page.  Yup.  That's code for, "You Know You From Hawai'i When..."  We fill that up all day with pictures of our favorite foods, places, and have long conversations about all kinds of stuff.  People from Hawai'i love to talk story.  Most of us are living here on the Mainland (that is what we call the continental United States.)  Some are living in other countries.  All of us take time from our daily lives to bust out da pidgin English and hug it out over the Internet.

So armed with my new found inspiration, I decided to get back on the carousel.  Honestly, I have ridden an elephant at the circus, but never a real, live pony.  And frankly, after seeing the unthinkable at the Little Rock Zoo, I don't want to get near a horse (mare or otherwise) for a long, long time.  And the elephant thing, well, you don't forget that experience too soon either.  It is very sensory, if you know what I mean.

I hope you like the redesign.  Just trying to keep it fresh.  We have a lot of catching up to do so hold on to your seats.  The holidays are my favorite time of year.  There are so many wonderful traditions to share with you from small kid time.  And, now that we live Little Rock, we have even more goodies to share.

Until next time, peace, love, and Alooohaaa!

Are your filters clogged?

What images come to mind when you think about filters?  Your morning cup of java juice?  The air-conditioner that died this summer because you forgot to change the filter?  Or, more like you never cleaned the other filter that you never knew existed because it was under the house buried in mud because your neighbor's run-off runs under your house.  That's more like it!  NOT!!!

Filters are our lenses through which we view the world.  Some call them our sunglasses.  They protect us from the things we don't want to see.  Funny thing is that most of us aren't even aware of them.  It's like the 900lb gorilla sitting on your back that keeps you from getting up to do what's really important.  You feel him, but you don't see him, so he can't be there.

One of my first impressions of Little Rock was how little things were...the airport, the freeway, the buildings. I looked long and hard for a skyscraper, a mountain, snow.  It was autumn and everything was dead, brown and shriveled up.

Then I realized there was a polarization thing going on.  I thought back to watching Archie Bunker, Chico and the Man, and Good Times.  I wondered...was that for real?  No way, right?  That was TV drama. They blow stuff up larger than life so people laugh harder.  Or do they?

When you live in the islands, you see a lot of different faces.  You label people and they label you. You laugh, joke, tease, but you don't kill them for looking different.  On June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin was beaten with a baseball bat outside a McDonald's in Detroit by Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz, two laid off auto workers.  Ebens and Nitz blamed competition from Japan for their problems.

The real problem was that Vincent Chin was American.  And, he was Chinese, not Japanese.  I remember seeing the news reports and being afraid.  Sure, it was on the Mainland, thousands of miles away from Hawai'i, but hate crimes have a chilling effect of the soul.  If you are Japanese, you remember the internment camps of WWII and learn about reparation.  If you grow up in Hawai'i, you learn how social injustice is woven into the fabric of American history.  You learn about the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the Civil Rights movement, and hopefully, about Vincent Chin.

His case became a lesson in social justice even though justice was never served and Vincent died from his injuries on June 23, 1982.  Asians are often overlooked here in Arkansas because so much attention is focused on African-Americans and Hispanics.  The fact that Asians are such a diverse group hailing from countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Turkey, India, Thailand, and the Philippines to just name a few, is more reason for us to make our voices heard.  Unlike Hawai'i where mixed raced children are common. Here they can be treated as seconds (a retail term for defective merchandise.)

So what can we do to unclog that filter?  How can we change the way we view the world? And is it even possible to influence the way the world sees us?

From da Rock to Little Rock

Thirteen years ago I made the leap of faith, or madness as it may be to relocate to Little Rock, Ark from sunny Honolulu, HI.  Growing up I often dreamed of the day I would venture off da rock (think volcanic rock)...who knew what adventures one could encounter in the bipolar regions of the Bible Belt.

Over time I've accumulated a wealth of stories, overheard amazingly stupid comments, and been at the giving & receiving end of much joy and personal growth.  These slivers & screen shots of life demand to be heard  and so this blog is born to encourage you to create, grow, and learn from what is transpiring here in Central Arkansas.

If you need a primer of Pidgin English as spoken in the Islands, may I suggest "Pidgin to da Max" on Amazon or YouTube.  That will warm you up.  If you're from Hawai'i, for the record I went to Kaimuki High.  Don't bother asking what year.  The keikis still think I am 27 & we're not blowing that illusion here.

I am a mother of 5 Japanese-Mexican kids so if you need a Spanish primer, download the app.  I am sure there is one out there to translate Arkie too so ya might as well get 'er while you're there.

If you've got thin skin and don't appreciate bitingly sarcastic humor- leave now & don't look back.  If you're not sure what that means- Google "Frank DeLima" and see that people can be really funny, make racial jokes, get along while having mixed marriages & multi-racial children, and still be known as the Aloha State.

Love, peace, & sushi for all!