da Kine Rising Tide

Here's what my old friend and mentor, multiple prize-winning journalist K.W. Lee had to say about my blog posting on my grandmother: "(To the) Granddaughter of all our woman warriors ahead of their times and our times who drove the engine of the century-old passage to the New World, forging an underground sisterhood as well as an undercover matriarchy, by transforming the overwhelmingly patriarchal and hierarchical bachelors' colony (in Hawaii) into a family-centered, church-based community fighting for independence and freedom in the apartheid West in our Lonesome Journey. "You've done something good (remember: Korean men want to be somebody, while their women want to do something), and up in the big sky she would be so proud of her granddaughter. "Long live our subterranean First Lady! Peace and solace. Forever. "A humble tribute from "An Aging FOB (fresh-off-boat) in our Lonesome Journey" also known as K.W. Lee, written from Nort...

More than a hundred years ago, my grandmother, Lim Ya Mul (Lim, the family name, is stated first for Korean names) voyaged to the Big Island of Hawaii by herself, in search of a better economic life for herself and her loved ones back in Korea. Barely 17 years old, Ya Mul had agreed to become a "picture bride" and to marry the 40something man pictured in the grainy black-and-white photograph that was all she had of him. Hawaii, which became an American state the year my sisters were born here in 1957, was then known as the Kingdom of Hawaii, whose bustling sugar plantations were operated through the back-breaking labor of workers imported from Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines and Portugal. To this day, the Portuguese in Hawaii are not grouped with other Caucasians, but are considered non-Caucasian, because they, too, served under the Caucasian overlords of the sugar plantations. Several years earlier, Ya Mul's bridegroom-to-be, Mr. Park, had immigrated to Hawaii ...

When I open up my clothes closet, I see a well-filled chamber. What a change. When I moved to this place in February, I had nothing to hang in the closet because my belongings were in transit, crossing the Pacific Ocean by ship. I had brought two bulging suitcases on my flight from LAX to Honolulu, but they contained more than just clothes: my Eddie Bauer self-inflating air mattress, my Kamaka ukulele, some books, CDs and so on. It was a nerve-wracking, horrible experience to have to part with so much of my possessions. They got thrown out, given away or donated to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. When I asked myself: Is this item worth shipping at $10 per cubic foot, the brutal answer was usually, NO. But the downsizing was a good thing. One human being can get by with very little. My first night in my apartment, I slept on the floor. Well, OK, there is very thick carpeting, and it was no hardship. Still, it is hard to resist the lure of "retail therapy....

On this Thanksgiving Eve, may I offer heartfelt thanks for the many blessings I am enjoying. I am so happy to be back in Hawaii!!! Mom and Dad, who arrived this morning from another island, are with me at my apartment in Kaimuki. Mom says Grandma would have loved my place; it's so full of light and lots of breezes. One great feature of this second-floor apartment is that all four walls are the exterior walls for the building (originally a single-family, two-story dwelling), and each wall is loaded with windows. Most of the windows are opened. I have hung giant sarongs as makeshift curtains, for some of the windows. They are nearly transparent, letting the air flow unimpeded, but they have beautiful hues, which provide a soft wash of color. In honor of my parents' visit, the refrigerator is stocked with all kinds of Korean goodies -- four types of kim chee, for example. Sliced-up Korean "duk" -- mochi, in Japanese, or rice flour cakes in English -- to be added to...

The current AAJA Hawaii Chapter president, Kristen Wong, has just circulated the lineup of the new officers, effective Jan. 1, 2011, for the Honolulu-based chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association : President (1 year term) - Gene Park, reporter, Honolulu Star-Advertiser Vice President (1 year term) - Linda Dela Cruz, reporter/producer, Clear Channel Radio Treasurer (1 year term) - Stan Lee Secretary (1 year term) - Kristen Wong, photojournalist, Hawaii Marine Board Members (1 year term):  - Kelli Miura (communications specialist at Hawaii Energy)  - Lauren Kawana  - yours truly, Carolyn Lee (blogger and freelance writer)  - Sean Ibara (assignment editor/producer, Hawaii News Now), and  - Margot Seeto National Rep (will be in the second year of 2-year term) - Wes Nakama Student Representative (in office till she leaves school) - Lynn Nakagawa, UH senior, editor of the Ka Leo school newspaper Many thanks to a...

Sharon Prill, a former National Treasurer of the Asian American Journalists Association, is the new publisher of the Yakima Herald-Republic newspaper in Eastern Washington. Prill, who is part Filipino, has been general manager of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's website. Here's what the Yakima paper said about her promotion, effective Nov. 22: "Despite being a native of Hawaii, Prill said she’s now a veteran of Wisconsin’s notoriously frigid winter weather and isn’t worried about the four-season climate of Eastern Washington. " 'It gets to like minus 10 or minus 15 degrees here,' she said. 'Put it this way, the river freezes here ... I think I can handle the Yakima winter.' " Congratulations to Sharon Prill! Way to go, Sharon!

Seven months after moving to Hawaii, I have finally gotten my "out-of-state car-registration permit." This lawfully lets me drive around Oahu with California plates on my auto. Once they expire, in early 2011, I will then get Hawaii plates. I could've opted to get Hawaii plates, immediately, but then I would have had to pay the full price to get my car registered here, forfeiting the money I had already paid California for a year's worth of registration. I've noticed a number of cars on the streets here with out-of-state license plates. This means, of course, that the owners shipped the vehicles from the Mainland. The cars are put inside huge containers, during the ocean voyage. My shipping company told me that the fee is probably at its highest in the past several years. I paid $1,000 for my Toyota Corolla. When I had this same vehicle shipped by truck from Massachusetts to Southern California in Spring 2005, it cost slightly more than $1,000. I also had re...