Leslie Wilcox Blogs

Spellchecked Again

It happened again. I write a perfectly good Hawaiian word and Spellcheck suspects I want to say something bearing no resemblance to my reality.

My latest brush with absurdity has to do with the Hawaiian value kakou, meaning inclusiveness. Spellcheck asks, do you mean to say "kazoo"?

Sure, I know that Spellcheck wasn't set up with the Hawaiian language in mind. And I appreciate that sometimes Spellcheck saves me from an English spelling gaffe.

It's the strangeness of the contrast in word meanings that gets to me. Mahalo brings the question, "Maalox"? Pono, considered by many Hawaiians to be the most important of values (encompassing righteousness, morality, balance, fairness, integrity) produces "porno."

Let me turn off the Spellcheck feature so I don't get another weird prompt as I close with a Hawaiian word: Auwe!

Kids Getting a Headstart on Halloween

PBS national stars Word Girl and Clifford the Big Red Dog hosted four Halloween parties in two days for costumed members of PBS Hawaii's Keiki Club at our TV studio in Manoa. Our little guests welcomed the headstart on Halloween, including early treats.

What were the favorite costumes? Some youngsters chose to be animals--a lion, cat, bumble bee.  A family came as the familiar characters in the Wizard of Oz! But in general, the keiki who came to our studio in Manoa were in line with national trends. That is, girls really liked being princesses. Nice gig if you can get it!

And boys burst in the door as superheroes. Our staff felt very safe surrounded by Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, and the Power Rangers. 

My two-year-old granddaughter, Anuhea (one of the princesses), was too scared to be photographed with life-sized Clifford.  She decided he's too big  in person--she'd rather see him behind the glass of the TV monitor.  Another youngster couldn't get over the size of Word Girl's head. The child's assessment: "World Girl has lots of brains inside!"

  One of the things that children like about being in PBS Hawaii's Keiki Club is that they receive fun mail--addressed to them and nobody else!--four times a year.  And of course, it's kinda cool to have your birthday announced on television.

If  you'd like to enroll a child in your life in our Keiki Club, check for information elsewhere on this website, www.pbshawaii.org

 

"Hana Hou" for Three-in-a-Row Mayoral Debates

           If you missed last night's unprecedented  television event on KGMB9, PBS Hawaii invites you over to our channel to watch a re-broadcast  in primetime Saturday evening (Nov. 1) from 6:30 to 9pm.

          Candidates in all three ongoing races for County Mayor appeared in debates on live television, from the Hawaii Theater in downtown Honolulu.  In Kauai County and Hawaii County, there's no incumbent running.  In the City and County of Honolulu,  the incumbent is facing a challenge from a well-known but not well-financed City Council member.

            There were telling and sometimes testy moments as candidates did fast thinking on their feet or searched the podium for notes. Kudos  to KGMB9 (CBS), with a tip of the hat to Rick Blangiardi, and the Honolulu Advertiser for organizing the presentation, sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

           Hana hou!  PBS Hawaii, the state's only public television station,  is pleased to re-air the debates as a public service Saturday evening.

           It's important to make informed choices. And it's important to exercise the right, the responsibility, the privilege, of voting. 

83% More Demand for Converter Box Coupons

     There's been a flurry of activity in Hawaii since local broadcasters announced that Hawaii's digital transition will begin January 15, beating the national deadline by about a month.

     It's a new sense of urgency for television viewers who use "rabbit ears" or a roof antenna to capture over-the-air broadcast signals for their old TV sets. These are the folks who will be affected by the switch from analog to digital transmission.

      The federal government reports that since the announcement was made Oct. 14,  83% more Hawaii residents have requested coupons for converter boxes.  See www.dtv2009.gov  We're up to about 29,000 coupons requested so far.

       The coupons reduce the cost of converter boxes. A typical converter box might run about $60 at a local electronic store. One coupon from the feds is worth $40 off. Up to two coupons per household are allowed, giving credit up to $80.

         You don't need a coupon to buy a converter box. It just helps. There's a selection of converter box models on the market. What to choose? PBS Hawaii's chief engineer Steve Komori believes the type most suited to Hawaii needs is the "analog pass-through" type.

      There's a lot of broadcast media attention being given now to the digital transition.  Remember--you're NOT affected if you're among the large majority of Hawaii  TV viewers who subscribe to cable or satellite service.  If you ARE affected, you need to take action now to avoid losing the ability to watch programs on your older TV set. It may take a while to receive your box, figure out how to use it, and gauge whether you must add to your set-up for the best reception. I invite you to read our Steve Komori's blog. "Digital Dialog," on this website at www.pbshawaii.org or go to www.Hawaiigoesdigital.com

Regardless, I'm Not Going to Say It

     Over the weekend, I heard three different people--two on TV,  one in person--use the same four-syllable word. Well, actually, they said something that I've always been told is NOT a word.

      "Irregardless," they said.

      Excuse me, how does that differ from "regardless"?

      However, dictionaries reflect public usage--and "irregardless" has been said enough, by enough people, that it has become a dictionary entry.

      The Word Experts say "irregardless" is used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time on the printed page.  They add: "Its reputation has not risen over the years,
and it is still a long way from general acceptance."

        It's probably a blend of "irrespective" and "regardless."

        I"m sticking with "regardless." It's thriftier, saving me a syllable.

Eating See Moi--and Licking the Bag

    "Good Old Hawaii...when you could buy one big sack of See Moi for a nickel...and then you ate the whole thing and licked the bag..."   

    That's the first sentence in a column of Hawaii remembrances by Greg and Gerri Delos Santos--and it brought a wave of nostalgia washing over me.

    I'd forgotten how I used to lick the bag. And frankly, I thought only the kids in my Kuliouou family did that. Now I remember my mother saying, "Do you HAVE to lick the bag?" We kids would answer quite sincerely, "Yes, we HAVE to."

      A reader of this blog, M.S. sent me a link to the Delos Santos' column at a website belonging to Farrington High School alums, Class of '65, www.kalihikids.com/OldHawaii/

     I'm a few years younger than these alums, but I too grew up in Honolulu, Kalani Class of '72. Here are some of their memories that resonate with me:

     "J. Akuhead Pupule on KGMB in the mornings saying, 'OK all you slobs, it's time to get up!'...bonfires on the beach...going to high school football games at the ole stadium, lovingly called the Termite Palace...soggy bags of boiled peanuts sold by squatting sellers...football players smothered with leis and lipstick walking off the field..swimming in the streams and whacking each other over the head with shampoo ginger..Kaimuki red dirt--everything you bought turned reddish brown..sliding down the ti leaf slide and going home covered with mud..going "mountain-appling"...Kapiolani Drive-In..KC Drive In (for the Waffle Hot Dogs & Orange Freeze...umm ono!) alongside the Ala Wai Canal..Kelly's Drive In..when Kalakakaua was a two-way street..Admission to the Honolulu Zoo and the Aquarium was free..the Manapua Man..."

     It occurs to me that some of the old childhood chants (remember "Ching Chong Chinaman, sitting on a fence..."?) would today be considered waaaay politically incorrect, some fun things are now illegal (beach bonfires), other fun things are now risky (streams carry the threat of leptospirosis) and there's so little seaweed, or limu, left in Honolulu coastal waters that decades have passed since harvesting was a common sight on weekends.

     What will today's kids reminisce about decades from now?

     I hope that See Moi survives, and the crowded little stores with big glass jars of rock salt plum, salty white li hing mui, red ginger and other treats won't have gone the way of other favorite places that we miss.

Staying Strong to Strengthen Others

     The nonprofit Hawaii agency Child and Family Service lives in the Real World.

     Its staff is on the front lines of Hawaii's social problems. So when the organization's guild selects an 'Ohana of the Year, it picks a family that has dealt with serious issues and has made positive life changes.

      I've attended the annual "'Ohana of the Year" luncheon for more than 20 years. And the story of each winning family never fails to move the audience. (When I was a news reporter, I'd often go to the families' homes to understand how they made changes in their lives, for a feature news report.) This time, the winners are the Burrows family of Hilo. The young father, Wolfred, took the last name of his wife to honor her for her sacrifices, pain and anguish as he engaged in domestic violence and drugs and did stints in jail.  At the luncheon, he sang a song he'd written for her, thanking her for giving the young keiki stability and for not giving up on him.  Crying, Debbie Burrows said that what kept her going was hope for their kids. The family made progress with access to services from CFS.  Debbie says her husband has become a good and trustworthy father.

     CFS, www.childandfamilyservice.org, is the largest private provider of social services in the state and a major government contractor. It's already taken significant funding hits to its Healthy Start efforts, and other revenues are threatened. Of course, as its seasoned CEO, Howard Garval, points out, social needs rise as the economy sinks. So there will be very tough decisions to make in its helping programs.

     Having seen over the years how CFS' involvement can help transform societal "losers" into winning families,  having personally observed CFS workers making calls on clients in the toughest neighborhoods on Oahu, and having met some of the students and the faculty at CFS' Hale O Ulu school, a last resort for troubled teens....I hope there's a way to soften the financial blow to this organization. It needs to be strong to strengthen families and foster healthy development of children.

The Kauai Wind Named Limahuli

     I've always been close to people who surf, fish, and dive in Hawaii, and they use a spectrum of Hawaiian words to describe the many conditions of their beloved ocean. (My youngest daughter Kai is a bodyboarder and diver, and her full Hawaiian middle name refers to white sea foam reaching the shore.)

      I love the names for moods of the ocean, but I've always paid more attention to Hawaiian descriptions of winds. So many of them are mentioned in chants and songs, winds specific to places in the islands.

      Just learned of  another one in Carlos Andrade's newly published book (from University of Hawaii Press, www.uhpress.hawaii.edu). The book is Haena: Through the Eyes of  the Ancestors. 

     Ha'ena is a beautiful district in northwestern Kauai. Limahuli is a valley in Ha'ena.  It's also the name of a wind associated with the valley. Here's Dr. Andrade's narrative:

     Limahuli contains one of two major streams in Ha'ena. Two words, lima and huli,  make up the name. Though several meanings are possible, lima, meaning hand, can also be interpreted as to turn or to search. The wind is turbulent in Limahuli, which is made up of three distinct areas. The first, farthest inland section is a high, hanging valley dropping over a steep  pali (cliff), into the second section, an inner valley, separated from the third, outer section by an intersecting ridgeline. The valley walls are high on both sides, causing the wind entering it to spill over, spinning and tumbling. Swirling wind currents ricochet around inside those three sections of the valley,turning and ruffling the vegetation--like an invisible hand probing slopes and ravines.     

       Now that's a wind! Dr. Andrade describes other winds of Ha'ena as well.

       Besides being an author, Carlos Andrade is a Kauai native, an associate professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, composer ("Moonlight Lady"), a slack-key guitar master, a member of the musical group Na Pali (described by one reporter as a seldom-seen but legendary group) and a former crewmember of the Hokule'a Polynesian voyaging canoe.

        Next month, on Tuesday Nov. 25 at 7:30pm, Carlos Andrade will join me for a conversation  on LONG STORY SHORT on PBS Hawaii.

Lousy Timing for One of Those "Technical Difficulties"

     There's never a good time for things to go wrong.

     Last night (Wed., Oct. 22), we encountered a technical difficulty at 8:57pm, just as PBS Hawaii was getting ready to air an innovative new program on INDEPENDENT LENS, Chicago 10. It's filmmaker Brett Morgen's take on the sensational Chicago conspiracy trial following the 1968 Democratic Convention. www.pbs.org/independentlens/chicago10/film.html It's an engrossing story of young people challenging their own government, with Morgen using a mixture of archival footage and animation.

       I was one of the viewers who tuned in specifically to see the broadcast. The tape of the show played, but the audio was disrupted for 28 minutes by a six-second nonsensical audio clip (from two different sources) that kept repeating. Very frustrating, for our viewers and for our engineering staff. The problem required trouble-shooting. It turned out to be an unusual kind of computer glitch.

       On behalf of PBS Hawaii, I apologize for the inconvenience to our viewers. Wish I could promise it'll never happen again. I CAN promise that we'll continue to be vigilant. In the event of another aberrational glitch, we'll again move quickly to solve the problem.  And I'll explain what happened, and when and if the disrupted program will be re-scheduled. Chicago 10 is scheduled to replay on Saturday, November 1, at 9pm.

Patsy Mink Documentary Wins "Audience Favorite" Award

     Ran into filmmaker Kimberlee Bassford this afternoon in the parking lot of PBS Hawaii in Manoa. She'd been in the TV station viewing a tape. 

     Kimberlee had good news: Her documentary, "Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority" was voted the audience's favorite documentary at the Hawaii International Film  Festival.

     Well done! And so were Kim's answers to the questions asked by festival-goers following two screenings. They wanted to know how she decided what to keep and what to drop from the documentary--considering the rich life and many achievements of Rep. Mink, and what she would do differently if beginning the doc today.

     YOU can hear Kim answer questions about her work on PBS Hawaii next week Thursday (Oct. 30) on our live discussion program Island Insights.   Look for Kim at 8pm. Stay tuned to see the documentary's broadcast premiere, to a statewide audience, at 8:30pm. 

     PBS Hawaii's VP for Creative Services, Robert Pennybacker, is working within the public television system to take the documentary national next year. Patsy Mink's life and contributions are certainly a story deserving of national notice.