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Over the past 40-plus years I’ve seen Maori at the Polynesian Cultural Center welcome many visiting groups of their countrymen with traditional greeting ceremonies, but I think the wero or challenge-and-acceptance protocol the PCC and Maori from the surrounding communities put on for Te Panekiretanga O Te Reo Maori on July 27, 2010, was one of the most exciting ever…

…partially because members are carefully accepted into the Napier, New Zealand-based group to study and perfect Maori language and cultural skills: Where in past groups maybe one or two of the manuhiri or visitors would respond to the challenge and karanga chants, nearly all Te Panekiretanga O Te Reo Maori members joined these thrilling moments as they entered the Maori marae at the Polynesian Cultural Center:

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We have a tradition in our Laie 4th Ward High Priests group where we invite visitors to share something about themselves beyond the usual “my name is, and I’m from” moment that we do in our adult Sunday School class . . . and on August 8, 2010, we were privileged to learn a little more about Tom Holdman from Lehi, Utah: His remarks were poignant — even more so because he has a lifelong speech impediment. Indeed, it was very touching to see him struggle sometimes just to get his thoughts into words.

Brother Holdman told us he’s in our small community doing the stained glass work on the Laie Hawaii Temple, which has been under major renovation for the past 20 months and is scheduled to be rededicated on November 21, 2010.

He explained that from childhood his severe stutter led him to express himself through art: “I believe that art is its own language,” he has said, adding he was an art major in college, and after serving a Latter-day Saint mission he prayed for inspiration about what he might do with his life. He said he received a two-word answer:

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During our June 2010 road trip on the U.S. mainland, my wife and I visited with our friend and fellow Laie 4th Ward member, Sister Napua Baker, who is currently serving as a senior missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Sister Baker told us she has been given a special assignment that is particularly appropriate and pleasing to her, but let her tell it in her own words:

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Just a few days ago I experienced a brief moment of cultural serendipity when a number of Fijian and Tongan women performed a Fijian coming-of-age ceremony for several young women before they performed in nearby Kahuku High’s “May Night” program. The young women came on stage wrapped in traditional masi or bark cloth, which their older relatives unwrapped, before the girls danced a Fijian meke with their classmates.

If your web browser doesn’t show a video window above, go to:

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Lately we’ve been experiencing what passes here for Hawaii winter weather, and quite frankly for the fully acclimatized, it’s been down-right chilly: People wear jackets and sweaters all day long, put extra blankets on the bed at night, drink more hot chocolate, sleep with their socks on, etc.

For example…

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People from all over the world have been praying for and following the story of Gavin David Bruce Norton, the eight-week old son of Richie Norton and his wife, Natalie Link Norton, who was born in Hawaii on October 24, 2009 and died in Salt Lake City, Utah, on January 7, 2010. [The picture at upper left, taken of Natalie and Gavin by Richie...and many more examples of Natalie's family and wedding photography can be seen on her blog, Picks & Kicks, at http://www.natalienortonphoto.com/].

The Nortons and their beautiful young family have many friends, and many thousands of others around the globe became aware of the medical challenges baby Gavin faced through Natalie’s contributions and links on her Digital Photography School web site — http://digital-photography-school.com/author/aloha . . . while only a few hundred of us were able to gather in the Laie 4th Ward chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this morning, January 13, 2010, to take part in the deeply touching experience of baby Gavin’s funeral.

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I’ve been a freelance mass communications specialist for the past eight-plus years, and I can honestly say I love what I do — especially working with the relatively new digital media. The majority of my work over most of these years, however, has usually centered on writing and often illustrating my articles with pictures I’ve taken.

Writing and photography (along with my other skills) have enabled my family and I to live for many years and work close to home in Laie, a place I truly love. In fact, most of my freelance work is done in my home office . . . but over the years my work has also taken me far afield. For example, I’ve done assignments throughout Hawaii, the U.S. mainland, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, China, Mongolia and Korea. Some of my other work has also taken me throughout the Pacific islands and various parts of Asia.

I’ve done stories on a wide variety of subjects and people of very diverse backgrounds, such as my earlier blog entries on Margaret Mead (http://nanilaie.info/?p=404) and Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (http://nanilaie.info/?p=327).

Recently, since it appears that my writing days for BYU–Hawaii may have come to a close sooner than I expected, I’ve been going through my old assignments, and thought you might enjoy reading (again, for a number of you) about a few of the intriguing people I’ve met, the places I’ve visited and subjects I’ve explored through my writing for this unique university which has had such a profound affect on my life. I encourage you to click through the links below for more information on…

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I was picking a couple of ‘ulu [breadfruit] the other day from my neighbor’s tree that hangs over into our yard . . . and it got me thinking about the bright green little ‘ulu tree that President Eric Shumway and a number of others planted during the Church College of Hawaii/Brigham Young University–Hawaii  jubilee celebration in 2005 near the cafeteria entrance and the sidewalk leading back to the dorms. As members of the Jubilee steering committee, we all felt the symbolism of the ‘ulu carrying into the next 50 years was perfect: An ancient Polynesian staple, beautiful tree, long-lived, prolific, multiple uses of all parts of the tree, etc.

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The Tongans welcome the young couple
into their lives and community

The Polynesian Cultural Center, where I have worked off-and-on in various student, full-time and freelance capacities for the past 41 years, premiered its latest night show — Hä: Breath of Life — on August 14, 2009. During those years I’ve seen almost all of the previous productions, and in a word, I think the new show is fantastic. (more…)

You know that saying, when it comes to food, that fresh is best? It’s really true…or at least it certainly was in the case of several fresh-food stories I’d like to share — one about peanut butter, of all things, and the others about fish. Pay particular attention to the last one: (more…)