Twelfth Anniversary Issue
Publisher's letter, cover updates, W.S. Merwin

Laurie V. Carlson, Jeff Mikulina, Sebastian Blanco, Joanne Fujita, Li Wang, Chad Blair, Robynne Boyd, Patricia

July 16, 2003

Publisher’s Letter
     As Honolulu Weekly celebrates its 12th anniversary, it’s a good time to take a look around and check out the media environment and some of the trends driving it, both locally and nationally.
     Last month, under the direction of Michael Powell, son of Secretary of State Colin Powell, the FCC ignored nationwide citizen outcry and changed the national media regulations, enabling the largest publishing and broadcast firms to control even more media. This ruling, which would allow corporations to own both daily newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market, was covered but not criticized by most daily newspapers.
     There were no editorials critical of this ruling in either the Honolulu Star-Bulletin or The Honolulu Advertiser, because, one presumes, they stand to benefit financially from this change. So what happens when democracy and free speech lose out to corporate bottom lines? It’s clear: You won’t hear about it in the dailies or any other media outlet that has a moneyed stake in the issue.
     A pained and distressed Bill Moyers criticized Powell, his corporate ties and his more than 200 industry junkets. Moyers is one of a handful of broadcasters with both the integrity and ability (via PBS) to remind us about the fragility of democracy and how it is inexorably tied to free speech, diversity and the press.
     Groups as varied as the NRA and Common Cause are concerned and upset about the FCC ruling. The hopeful news is that citizens of all political stripes have called on their Washington representatives to protest the June 2 ruling. It appears that the Senate may void the vote.
     In our July 23 issue, award-winning UH Journalism Professor Beverly Keever will examine this media grab from a local perspective. Count on Honolulu Weekly to cover the stories you won’t find in other Hawai‘i media.
     Locally, Gannett continues to increase its accumulation of local media properties. If you count both free-standing publications and those that come with The Advertiser, Gannett now controls more than 20 publications in our market. The free-standing publications include the three Leeward community newspapers (Ka Nupepa, Leeward Current, West O‘ahu Current), Buy n Sell, the Pennysaver, 101 Things to Do (a tourist publication with four island editions), Hawaii Landscape, Hawaii Architects, Agriculture Hawaii, Hawaii Army Weekly, Navy Times, Island Weekly and, of course, Gannett’s flagships, USA Today and The Advertiser.
     Folded into the morning newspaper or distributed from newsstands, the Chain Gang publishes Wheels, TGIF, Career Builder and Mind & Body. Gannett is striving to be all things to all people, and with such deep pockets, buying out the competition is no problem.
     Gannett hired away from MidWeek two key staff people; MidWeek founder Ken Berry and Jay Higa, its former sales manager. They will certainly contribute to Gannett’s efforts to develop Island Weekly into a strong competitor against MidWeek.
    
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin survives. It is apparently financially healthy, but the real issue now for the Star-Bulletin is its aging audience. Owner David Black will have to attract younger readers to really make the Star-Bulletin a viable publication. The Star-Bulletin is not the only one with this problem — many local publications are grappling with this issue. Honolulu magazine has one of the oldest readerships in the state, according to their sales people; their median reader age is 55.
    
This past May, a small band of independent, local publishers got together for the first time. The Hawai‘i Island Journal hosted a weekend retreat for Honolulu Weekly, Haleakalä Times and Maui Time. We got together to investigate ways that we might work together to build our publications.
     Now that each publication has weathered several years of experience, it seemed like a good time to look at working together. In a world dominated by Gannett, AOL-Time Warner, and a few other media giants, we need to do everything we can to develop and maintain independent, locally controlled media.
     Even the Hawai‘i Publishers Association is dominated by large corporate chains. Fewer of its members are locally owned, and the Weekly has much more in common with the aforementioned community/alternative publications than with The Advertiser, Pacific Business News (owned by American City) or the Hilo Tribune (owned by Stephens Media). In Hawai‘i the lack of critical coverage of development and tourism is reason to support local and independent publications — and readers understand that.
     Although we have not created a formal organization, we are moving ahead to see how we can make a difference by working together. We are considering joint editorial work and have already begun the cross-selling of advertising.
     So, as Honolulu Weekly celebrates its 12th birthday, it looks forward to many more. We thank you, our readers and our advertisers, for your weekly support and interest. We’ll do our best for the community to continue to bring new ideas forward, discuss topics that are kapu, and provide you with the best of the truly independent Hawai‘i press.

Yesterday Today Tomorrow
     Over the past 12 months, Honolulu Weekly covered local politics, war and liberty, the environment and energy, conservation efforts, Native Hawaiian issues, immigration — even food. Political corruption and legislative wrangling, protest over the U.S. conquest of Babylon, preservation efforts for land and sea and the search for a sustainable future, development controversies throughout the state, indigenous matters ranging from heiau to hula, recent residents from Brazil and Micronesia, and Frankenfood and fish — it was all in the Weekly. Oh yeah: There were stories on two local boys, a skateboarder and a musician, who’ve made the big time.
     That’s the recap. Below, Weekly regulars bring us up to date and look to the years ahead.
    
Unplugged yet?
     Although the demigod Maui captured the rising sun for energy, today Hawai‘i prefers oil. Despite the abundance of sunshine, 94 percent of the islands’ energy needs depend on imported crude. A July 1996 Weekly article, “Solar Blues,” lamented this paradox. Seven years later, has Hawai‘i seen the light?
     “I’m becoming more optimistic,” says Cully Judd, owner of Inter-Island Solar Supply and professional worrywart.
     Solar hot water installations have grown by 40 percent over the past seven years to 85,000 systems. The 35 percent solar tax credit is still on the books, with the Legislature passing a five-year extension this past session. In 2001, Hawai‘i became the 34th state to enact net energy metering, a policy that allows homes with photovoltaic (solar electric) devices to reduce their electric bill by “selling” power back to the grid at the retail rate. These two policy incentives are making the economics of residential photovoltaic (PV) more attractive, as Mililani resident Mike Morton described in the Weekly in March.
     But don’t break out the sunscreen just yet.
     Most of the showers taken in Hawai‘i are heated by fossil fuels. PV power provides only a fraction of 1 percent of the islands’ electricity needs. And the state’s electric utility?
     “The utility’s 20-year plan hardly mentions renewables,” argues John Crouch, Director of PowerLight Corporation in Hawai‘i. “If they don’t mention it, where are they going?” asks Crouch. “Nowhere.”
     Hawaiian Electric Company plans to build a 318-megawatt oil-fired power plant on O‘ahu within the next six years — a project with a price tag in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
     “The utilities could be much more open and supportive of customer buy-down programs for renewable energy,” complains Crouch.
     Globally, PV is the second-fastest growing source of electricity (exceeded only by wind power). Solar cell manufacturing capacity grew 35 percent in 2002 — growth that has enabled PV to become cost-competitive with fossil fuels. In Hawai‘i, commercial installations of PV — zero in 1996 — is now approaching one megawatt, with panels on everything from resorts to Harley-Davidson dealers. The Mauna Lani Bay hotel in South Kohala is a leader in clean power, with nearly 500 kW of installed capacity supplying 60 percent of the hotel’s energy needs.
     So what will it take to kick Hawai‘i’s hydrocarbon habit? Today’s global turmoil is giving Judd hope.
     “It is dawning on more people that we have a problem. We can’t continue to depend on foreign oil,” he says. “To me, homeland security is generating power on your own rooftop.”
     Want to capture the mana yourself? Go to www.hi.sierraclub.org/solar.
     —Jeff Mikulina

War no more … not
     I understand you might be sick of hearing about the war already. Hell, maybe you think it’s over and you’re wondering why some people won’t just shut up about it already. I wonder sometimes, too, why I can’t just go back to my life the way it was last year, when I didn’t spend my life fighting what the government is doing. There are a whole lot of movies I’ve missed because of what the president has done.
     But how could I stay silent? He attacked a country before they attacked us, killing thousands of innocent people. Now there’s evidence the reasons he gave were bold-faced lies. And, even though the evidence is piling up against him, he and his administration show no signs of slowing down.
     The good news is that the antiwar movement in Hawai‘i — which got more people into the streets than ever before in the history of this highly militarized state — isn’t slowing down either. The question is not “What next, antiwarriors?” as the Weekly asked recently, but “What now?”
     The antiwar movement in Hawai‘i and nationwide was and is a broad coalition that fights against a slew of injustices. Instead of marches, we now meet in groups of three or 20 or 80 all around the islands. We plan our resistance to the big issues: the ongoing occupation of Iraq, the threats against Iran and Syria and other countries, the detention and/or deportation of immigrants and the fear they live in (did you hear about the full-on police raid on an Indian restaurant in New York?), the repression of civil liberties, the White House’s admission that Bush lied in his State of the Union address. And we also resist the (somewhat) smaller ones: the ongoing snipe hunt for those weapons of mass destruction (much more important, though, is the hypocrisy of the only country to ever use nuclear bombs against civilians intimidating other countries when they try to build them); the collusion between the administration and big business in profiting from this war; the media silence. The list is long, but so is the will of the “antiwarriors,” and it’s a vision of a better world that keeps us going.
     I’m sorry to have to keep reminding you about the war. I promise you this, though: I’ll stop when they stop, and then we can all get some rest.
     —Sebastian Blanco

Solving the mercury puzzle
     A study published in the Environmental Health Perspectives in April by Jane M. Hightower of the California Pacific Medical Center generated a frisson of worry for fish lovers throughout the Bay Area. The study was of affluent Bay Area residents who ate lots of fish (as much as nine servings per week) and wound up with high blood-mercury levels. Hightower, a doctor of internal medicine, conducted the study with her own patients, who were screened for high consumption of fish or symptoms of mercury exposure. Of the 89 people Hightower selected for statistical evaluation, 63 had more than twice the five parts per billion level the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends as safe, 19 had four times that level and four had a whopping 10 times the level. The elevated levels mostly corresponded with any consumption of swordfish. She says that she would expect similar results in other coastal cities.
     Is mercury a cause for panic for the fish-eating citizens of Honolulu? With the exception of the study by Hightower, nearly all research indicates that the answer is no. The University of Rochester Medical Center conducted an exhaustive study of 711 mother-child pairs in the Republic of the Seychelles with a battery of 21 physical and neuropsychological tests evaluated over a period of 66 months. That study indicates that there is no detectable risk from mercury in ocean-caught fish. The mercury levels measured in the hair of the participants (who ate an average of 12 servings of fish per week) averaged 7 parts per million, about 10 times the average level of the U.S. population. No harm from mercury was found even at 15 ppm, twice that level.
     The World Health Organization maintains that the lowest level of mercury (measured from hair) that could be harmful to a human is 5 parts per million. This was based on scientific study results that indicated risk begins at 50 ppm for most people — to which the WHO applied a safety factor of 10. Based on this, the FDA recommends that only commercial fish with less than 1 ppm of mercury be sold. Nearly all ocean fish meet this criterion.
     The current EPA’s recommendations are even more stringent, suggesting consumption be limited to six micrograms per day. (Note that Hightower’s study uses the EPA figures.) If the FDA were to follow this recommendation, it would have to slash the allowable levels in commercial fish. But even so, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported in April that only 8 percent of U.S. women (out of 2,314 studied) had levels of mercury higher than the level the EPA considers safe.
     So what does this mean? It seems safe to say that you can go without worry to the sushi bar tonight. If you limit your intake of shutome, you’ll probably be just fine.
     —Joanne Fujita

The storyteller and the thriller
     Over the last year, the rare Weekly cover stories on entertainment focused on two young men at the top of their game. Ric Valdez profiled Maunalani Heights’ Darryl “Hayhead” Freeman, world champion downhill skateboarder, and Mark Cunningham interviewed Sunset Beach’s Jack “Buckwheat” Johnson, pop superstar.
     Johnson cemented his celebritydom with a second album, On and On, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard charts. Numerous appearances on the late-night circuit helped make the North Shore’s blessed son a household name. Combined with the incredible marketability of surf culture, Johnson’s mellow-man-ace demeanor and soft, wispy songs hit America at the right time, and even boosted veteran singer/songwriter Ben Harper’s career as the two toured together. Unlike most major acts that hit Honolulu, Johnson’s show two weeks ago at Pipeline Café sold out in a few hours.
     Music critics, however, haven’t been as nice to Johnson as his hordes of fans. And unless he can adapt and come up with something new for his next album, he may find himself devoting more time to filmmaking, which he studied at UC Santa Barbara. However, Johnson has made it clear: He never had aspirations for pop stardom. He started playing his guitar and singing as a way to entertain his friends.
     Meanwhile, Freeman continues to pursue excellence in a sport mired in obscurity, even within the extreme sports set. While trick-oriented disciplines like freestyle motocross are blossoming and showcased well on television, most of the thrill of downhill skateboarding can only be felt by the rider. NBC’s Gravity Games, in which Freeman captured gold in 2002, is reorganizing and will not host the downhill skateboarding event until ’04, when there will be a new format dedicated to downhill events.
     Right now, Freeman is in Europe competing on the international circuit. He raced in Zurich two weeks ago and competed in Hot Heels race in the Austrian Alps this past weekend. He finishes in Europe at the end of the month.
     Girlfriend Kim Hayashida, who provided the update, says, “Darryl had a little bit of a hard time getting over there. But he’s chasing his dream.”
     —Li Wang

More of the same
     As of this writing the governor is in Japan seeking yen (perhaps you saw it on KITV), Democrats are accusing Republicans of uncompassionate conservatism, Republicans say Democrats are fiscally irresponsible, public sector unions have reasserted their power at the Legislature, the City Council is feuding with the mayor, the Hawai‘i Visitors & Convention Bureau is in hot water, raced-based preferences are under legal challenge, federal recognition of Native Hawaiians is in limbo, the military is beefing up their local presence, traffic sucks, school teachers are underpaid, students are underserved and everyone hates the president of the University of Hawai‘i.
     Seems like old times, yeah? At least the economy is improving. So they say.
     It’s not all doom and gloom, but for every bright spot on Hawai‘i’s path there always seems to appear a blemish that dampens local pride and progress: Think of Michelle Wie as compared to the UH men’s volleyball team. Sunset on the Beach versus Sunny Garcia.
     That dichotomy neatly summarizes the Weekly’s coverage of local politics this past 12 months. For every promising political development (e.g., Ed Case) we get indication that the status quo remains dug in (e.g., Cal Kawamoto). And while it’s still too early to gauge the full import of Linda Lingle’s ascension to top dog last November (I’d give her a B- so far), last week’s veto overrides strongly suggest that her opposition is neither loyal nor resigned.
     A better measure of Lingle’s efficacy will come with the results of next season’s legislative races. But, despite national trends, Hawai‘i remains firmly donkey country. Lingle’s political career is heavily tethered to Dubya’s, and on that front we’ll simply state the obvious: The mess in Iraq aside, unemployment is the highest since 1994, while the deficit and debt are approaching the moon.
     Among the local issues in the Weekly’s sights next year:
     • Mayor Harris’ last year in office. Will his civic vision, and future career, survive?
     • Next year’s mayoral contest. Can the Mufi machine be stopped? Does Duke stand a chance? Will Ann throw her hat in the ring?
     • Senator Inouye’s reelection. He’ll win, with 70 percent of the vote, we’re guessing. But it’ll be King Pork’s 80th year on Earth. Is Neil Abercrombie ready to step up to the plate? (He’ll win reelection, too … but not by 70 percent.)
     • Representative Case’s reelection contest. It’s hard for a freshman to rise above the pack, especially in the House of DeLay. Will Case have much to show voters that he deserves to be sent back to D.C.? Can Repubs field a legitimate opponent against Ed or Neil?
     • The Akaka Bill. Dems have put the onus on Lingle to get this one passed, and if it fails she’ll be the one to blame. If it passes, however, how independent would a nation be housed within the U.S. Department of the Interior?
     • And lastly, gay rights. It’s painfully clear that Hawai‘i missed the chance to make history five years ago when it denied gays the same dignity — to use Justice Kennedy’s phrase — afforded heteros. Maybe it’s time to change the Warriors back to the Rainbows. A parade for everyone.
    —Chad Blair

'I stay forever.’
     Yearning for freedom, equal opportunity, better wages and the pursuit of the American Dream draws 800,000 immigrants to the U.S. every year, according to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Most settle in California, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois, but approximately 0.7 percent fresh-off-the-jets are lucky enough to land in Hawai‘i.
     “It’s comfortable living here,” says Mika Schmer, who moved to Hawai‘i 19 years ago from Tokyo. “Sometimes in the Mainland they look at you as an immigrant, but in Hawai‘i, you’re viewed as if you’re local no matter what color you are. Hawai‘i is so mixed, there seems to be no racial tension. No one’s a minority here, which makes Hawai‘i such a unique place that no one leaves.”
     Perhaps. Recent immigrants are not usually viewed as locals; they are often stamped as “foreigner” or “alien.”
     But, unlike almost anywhere else on Earth, some of the comfort in Hawai‘i comes from being just another rootless person among many sprinkled across the islands.
     “My friends picked me up at the airport and took me straight to the beach,” says Relson Gracie. “When I looked at Waikïkï, it was just like Copacabana in Rio. Everybody walked in the streets — no sandals, everybody go in the supermarkets, no T-shirts. All kind of fruits, vitamins, beautiful ocean, waves.
     “I love it here. I stay forever.”
     According to the 2000 Hawai‘i Data Book, 6,056 immigrants came to Hawai‘i from the Philippines, Japan, Samoa, Korea, China and North America. Maybe a few come searching for adventure, the perfect 3-5 foot curl and heaven on Earth, but others long simply to belong. The spirit of aloha is available to anyone open to it.
     Momoyo Weston sees no similarities between her old and new home. “Nothing similar. Totally different. Opposite,” she says. “Tokyo is busy, everything is quick. Hawai‘i is much more beautiful. I lived in Tokyo 50 years and only remember rainbow a couple of times. Hawai‘i is the rainbow state; I see them all the time. Very beautiful.”
     The beauty is easy to enjoy, but feeling like I belong is harder. But I’m trying. Like my parents in South Africa and grandparents in India, I have found a place where the mountains rise from sea, plumeria blossoms in the breeze and the sense of home surrounds me.
     —Robynne Boyd

Interview: W.S. Merwin
     William S. Merwin is not only one of the most celebrated of today’s poets of the English language, but it is safe to say that generations to come will be studying the 50-plus books of prose, poetry and translation that he has given to readers.
     Merwin has won practically every prize bestowed on poets and authors, including the Pulitzer, the Bollingen, the Tanning prizes, the Hawai‘i Governor’s Award for Literature, the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets for his translation of the old English tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Poetry (awarded every six years).
     On July 25, Merwin will give a poetry reading in Honolulu on behalf of Environment Hawai‘i, an independent monthly on whose board he has served for more than 10 years.
     Patricia Tummons, its editor, interviewed Merwin recently on behalf of the Weekly.

You have written that anger and anguish arising from the “sleepless despoiling” of the world can easily turn into bitterness, “when we forget that their origin is a passion for the momentary countenance of the unrepeatable world.” I love that phrasing. Could you talk about it a little?
     I think that, the danger, if you’re doing activist things or are reacting to the daily news, is that you get so angry, you forget what it is that’s making you angry. You’re angry because of the things that are threatened, and the important thing is that you care about those things. If you forget about the positive bond you have with them, the rest of it doesn’t matter. It’s just reaction. It’s negative. It’s destructive.
     The important thing is that one loves the natural world. If one is angry and defensive, it comes from something else and is a little suspect. The love of the natural world is what’s important.
     And I think that in itself is natural, but it’s been perverted in the modern world, where everything is given an economic, utilitarian measure. That comes to be presented as the only way of looking at things. It is extremely damaging. Extremely dangerous. And you see it even in young people.
     Children start without it and gradually it gets built into them. I think that in itself is part of the destruction of the natural world — when children can no longer conceive of a world except as a place to exploit.
    
Does this help explain what I would say is a continuity between your political poems and your poems celebrating the natural world?
     I’m extremely cautious of what one calls political poetry. You start by knowing too much, you have your mind made up about what the poem’s message is supposed to be. That is really extremely dangerous.
     Poetry should start with an open mind. It doesn’t know where it is going to end up, any more than you know where your dreams are going to end up or where anything that moves you is going to end up. Arts and poetry are related to that.
     But the idea that one is able to articulate things at all, yet one doesn’t even try to use that articulation when one is moved by particular moments in one’s life, whether public or private, is I think a kind of self-censorship. Dante didn’t put those kinds of bounds around himself, Shakespeare didn’t either. You address the world around you. You’re speaking about the world around you. It should be possible to address things which normally are thought of as issues if they move one. For example, in the Vietnam War, in World War I, and in World War II even, a lot of political poems were written and most of them were terrible. But that doesn’t mean anything. Lots of love poems are written every year and most of them are terrible. The distance between strong feeling and a poem or any other kind of work of art is a long one. Many things get lost along the way. The fact that one has good intentions doesn’t mean one can write about them.
     André Gide said almost all the worst literature in the world was written with the best intentions. It’s true. Intentions really don’t make any difference.
     Prose statements are a way to actually express such views. If people really want to hear what one has to say, and if any of us is in a position to be heard and has the freedom and the education and the talent to be able to say those things, we should. It’s awful to think you may look back 50 years from now and say, “I didn’t even try to make a difference.”
     One must ask oneself, “What happens if I don’t do it?” Don’t ask, “Am I going to convert the buffoon in the White House?” Someone who may have been afraid could be inspired by you. If everybody who felt strongly about things going on now spoke, it might be a little different. The outpouring of outrage about having been told we had to go to war because of weapons of mass destruction when there weren’t any – if that turns into a groundswell, it might make a difference. If enough people spoke out.
    
On a different note, I have to ask: What drives your interest in the troubadours? So much of your translation work and your poetry draws from this source.
     I became interested in that period, the Middle Ages, very early, when I was quite a young student, about 17. Without any real kind of program to guide me, I just found some of the things so beautiful, so fascinating. Ezra Pound was one of the early influences in that direction. Certainly when I went to see him when I was 18 or 19, he encouraged me to continue in that direction.
     His idea was, this was a place of origins. This is where a great deal that’s in English comes from, and where the whole Romantic Movement, the lyric poetry of Europe comes from. It’s fascinating to go back and see things at their beginnings. It looks as though everything is possible, even though it didn’t look that way at the time.
     The other thing that Pound emphasized and made clear to me was that that early poetry is related to music. Poetry is I think always suspended between two poles. It is very different from prose. One pole is music; the other, reason. There must be the right tension between those two. One can’t let go of either end; always both have to be there.
     We’ve got farther and farther away from the pole of music. The early ballads, the things that come from the first things in romance literature, the troubadours, are very close to music. Most were written with the idea they would be sung. When you get to Dante, one of the incredible things about Dante is the mixture of narrative and the great lyrical gift he has. But Dante begins as a troubadour. His first poems, The Canzone, were troubadour poems. All through Purgatorio he was talking about music.
     This was something that we haven’t lost sight of, but it’s become part of popular culture, no longer part of literary culture. It’s something I miss. I don’t know how one preserves it, how one hangs onto it. I think some of the poets who I most love in English have always been most close to it. Thomas Wyatt, for example, was very close to the troubadours. Shakespeare’s songs are really close to street ballads. Some of the most beautiful poems he wrote — “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,” especially — are very close to street ballads. He knew very well what he was doing. It just takes your breath away, the ease with which he did it.