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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 11, 2008 - 06:27pm PT
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(perhaps this should have gone into the 'get it off your chest' thread?)
"she truly is/was the embodiment of aloha"
Auwe' No Ho'i 'E
Another esteemed elder passes and so the onward and upward, for better or worse in the homogenization of contemporary human culture/s.
Very off topic, however...
we host a lot of off topic here, mostly political.
This one is not.
This is a tribute to a friend, a teacher, a confidante and sometimes 'kolohe' sister in crime
(when I could get her to commit one).
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iZenUxbVBBoG3hZSga8BL_2pPb9QD8VVJSS00
Oft I threatened I would write a book about all the secrets and 'not to be retold' stories she shared with me. Yet I promised I would never do such a thing until she had passed away.
Auwe' No Ho'i 'E, Auwe' No Ho'i 'E...
I can feel free to write the book now.
She walked the donkey that her brother rode up the hill each morning on their way to grade school.
She attended as a second gen, the finest school in all Hawai'i nei.
Later her sons become 3rd and her Grandson 4th generation graduates of 'Kamehameha Schools'.
She went back and taught there until retiring.
She lunched with Eleanor Roosevelt.
She played Waikiki at the age of six and Carnegie right after college.
She took over her Grandmother's Hula studio in her early teens,
and her mother was a student of hers.
She taught me about Johnny Noble, Albert Nahale`a, Alice Namakelua, Genoa Keawe of course the Queen Lili'uokalani and host of other Hawaiian musicians,
as well as reams of 'tin pan alley'.
I exposed her folk music such as, Bill Staines, Chris Smither and Arlo as well as Blue Grass in the form of 'Old and in the way'. I turned her on to Zappa, Hendrix and good vocal harmony bands like CSN and the beach Boys.
She taught me about Chet Atkins.
When he passed she cut out his obituary for me.
We would sing 'Well there's been a change in the weather, there's been a change in me..." together as it played on the car stereo.
She taught me about the 'Overthrow' and the integrity and wisdom of the Queen.
I taught her about our solar system using oranges, tangerines and grapefruits out in the yard while she watched from her back window.
She got me to clean her gutters.
I got her to cook me corned beef and cabbage.
She was a true women of compassion.
She never had it easy, but you would never know that.
She never held a grudge and never failed to forgive.
I learned about the word forgiveness from a previous teacher, Frank Kawaikapuokalani Hewett.
But Aunty Nona taught me what it meant.
She was an awesome teacher that oft transparently imbued a simple lesson such as music or dance, with huge lessons in humanity and compassion.
I could go on and on and on...
I could write a damn book, dam it
Auwe' No Ho'i 'E
A quick story and I will leave it at that:
She told me that when she was a young girl attending Kamehameha Schools, that she requested the Dean's audience with a brief meeting. It was granted and the time arrived. She sat before the dean who was entirely curious as to the nature of the meeting.
Aunty said that she asked the man "I just want to know, am I a Hawaiian or am I haole?"
She said he placed both elbows on the desk, leaned forward with a large smile said:
"I can not answer that for you Nona, but the one thing I can tell you is this... If you decide you are a Hawaiian, just make sure that you are the BestDamn Hawaiian you can be!"
(from the news article):
"It wasn't until I was about 70 that I felt I was doing good as a Hawaiian," she said in 2003.
"Now I can be proud to be a Hawaiian. It was a long time coming after years of feeling shame."
I used to speak to her in Hawaiian. She always knew what I was saying and always responded appropriately, yet never in Hawaiian. She knew every word, she knew context, grammar and syntax and even a cart load of 'old school' idioms, but she would never actually speak Hawaiian.
Amazing how deep and for how long cultural repression can run.
When she attended Kamehameha schools the speaking of Hawaiian was forbidden (go figure?)
Years after she began teaching at Kamehameha she still had to teach Hula and chant behind closed doors.
Many of my friends can jokingly say that with regard to dance, chant, story telling and song that it was literally 'Aunty's closet' that they came out of.
Aunty watched the first standing Hula be performed in the halls of Kamehameha by the Japanese descent, Hanai (adopted) daughter of Mary Kawena Puku'i.
That was difficult for her!
Ohh I could go on and on...
Auwe' No Ho'i 'E, Auwe' No Ho'i 'E
Sorry one more quick one:
we had left the house, hit the post office and I had walked her up the front steps of the bank which was second on our 'appointed rounds'. I sat in the car and started reading my mail which included a fresh copy of National Geo. On the inside cover (front/back I don't recall) was a large thumbnail image of Alex Lowe with a brief epitaph. Apparently it hit me quite solidly.
Upon her return to the car she looked at me and asked if everything was OK? I showed her the obituary for Alex and she asked if he was a good friend?
I told her "No Aunty, he was not a particularly good friend. I climbed with him once or twice by chance and learned a lot from it. But his virtue was not simply that of a phenomenal climber, but his spirit. Alex was a remarkable man that left an indelible mark upon people with his compassion and good spirit."
I went on to say to her "Aunty, is there anybody or has there ever been anybody...
that if God came along and said 'Nona it's you or your friend/family member, I do not care who/which but it is time for one of you', that you would speak up and say 'This other person has more to offer, further to go and more responsibilities to maintain than I. Take me Lord!' ?"
She said that outside of her two sons that there's 'no way'!
Aunty then told me that was one of the most compassionate things she had ever heard and commended me for my heart felt feelings. I told her "No that man was remarkable, he was a gifted climber, amazingly compassionate and supportive of others, a father of two and I can't imagine other than a fabulous father and husband. I on the other hand am a self absorbed S.O.B that can't hold a job because I have to tell the boss where to place it. I am just an angry sort with no sense of anything outside of my own little ego bubble."
She smiled, a tear ran down her cheek as she wiped mine with her finger and said "OOOoh Darling I don't know, I am starting to see some pretty serious chinks in that armour. I have always seen what is underneath of it all and that is why I love you so much JR. Now ? shall we scurry to the bank so we can have time for you to drink a beer at at our cliffspot by the ocean?"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EeXepms78dw&feature=related
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last night I kept my promise to her,
upon hearing the news from a mutual friend and neighbor of Aunty's,
I got out my Martin and I sang her song.
A love song that her dad wrote for her mother.
"He Aloha ku'u ipo
ku'u hoa maka onaona i ke kuahiwi..."
Then I sang to her a song...
a song I have sung to her many times because the lyrics so perfectly describe her and her essence.
She sure was nuts about butterflies...
(let the master play it)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=R20cCPM0OZc&feature=related
I made it through 'Little wing' ok with out coming 'un glue'd
But then, I started up a third song for her and...
tears...
Auwe' No Ho'i 'E, Auwe' No Ho'i 'E
Tears, so many tears
Tears of loss, tears of contentment in my blessings.
I was so blessed to have had been touched by her.
She was one hella Hawaiian that is uncontestable.
Although she touched me deeply,
I am by no means unique.
She has influenced directly and dearly the lives of literally 10's of thousands.
"With one kind touch you set me free"
'IZ said it so well with 'In dis Life'
so for her:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_D17p0D-rks&feature=related
'E ho'o mau kou ala onaona ku'u hoa, ku'u kumu, ku'u sweety
'E ola no na kau a kau kou 'ea 'E anake'
Pau'ole ku'u Aloha no 'oe
'Ke ola nei kou leo i loko iho ku'u pu'uwai a mau a mau.
"Malama kou Aloha" Aunty
Don't shanghai the 'big guy upstairs' action when you get there.
Remember, it's his gig don't steal his show!
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L
climber
If only I could remember....
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Apr 11, 2008 - 06:31pm PT
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Really really nice Trumdlebum. She's smiling on you, too.
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scuffy b
climber
up the coast from Woodson
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Apr 11, 2008 - 06:50pm PT
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Thanks so much. Beautiful tribute. I'll go cry for my Grandma
now.
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john hansen
climber
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Apr 11, 2008 - 11:54pm PT
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Truly a Hawaiian Legend.
How did you know her so well,,, related some how.
I heard they were going to spread her ashes just down the road at the family ranch in Kameula.
She left quite a legacy.
Aloha
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TrundleBum
Trad climber
Las Vegas
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 12, 2008 - 07:01pm PT
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Yes ashes will be spread at the Beamer ranch in Kamuela.
" How did you know her so well,,, related some how."
Long story in a way.
The super short cosmic answer is "I asked for a teacher" and apparently was ready.
(be careful of what you ask for sometimes, it may help to use details to keep things from getting out of proportion.)
The little bit longer story is we were neighbors that lived about 1000 yrds from each other for quite a number of years.
I was/am a student of Hawaiiana.
When I asked for a good, solid, knowledgeable and reputable teacher of Hawaiiana, I had no idea I would wind up learning so much from the person that actually coined the term.
I had a bad, bad felling when Genoa Keawe passed a few weeks ago...
Auwe'
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ring tailed cat
Trad climber
seattle
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Apr 12, 2008 - 08:58pm PT
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john ray, i am so sorry for your and everybodys loss. i remember so much of our talks in squamish last summer about your relationship with aunti nona and my heart goes out to you. perhaps it is some what ironic that the dali lama is in seattle now preaching compassion. peace. mark
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Nohea
Trad climber
Aiea,Hi
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Apr 12, 2008 - 10:44pm PT
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Wow, Thank you for sharing what a blessing in life Aunty Nona has been, beautifully written there TrandleBum.
Aloha,
wil
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Largo
Sport climber
Venice, Ca
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Apr 13, 2008 - 04:17am PT
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Found the followinmg ramblings in my desk - they were to mean somethng someday once I bore down on them.
.................................
Howling winds and colossal tidal drafts thrusting through the narrow breeches between Maui, La’nai and Moloka’i created venturi-like funnels where the currents quickened and ran like wild rivers in ever-shifting directions. He could look out over the sea and feel these elemental forces, of prodigious mass and movement, of light, sky, water, wind. And the primordial propulsion that drove it all, constantly cycling and renewing, indifferent to human concerns and yet so human in its volatility, its darkness, its blooms. How could one ever stand in the very middle of it, he wondered, without getting swept away.
Ho`oheno keia no ka honesakala
Ho`oheno keia no ka honesakala
He turned at the sound, pushed back by the wind, but audible. He stood there and watched her while she sang.
Ke `ala mua ho`i a`u i honi ai
Ke `ala mua ho`i a`u i honi ai
She hadn’t heard these words in twenty years but she sang them now as her grandmother had sung them to her. Here were words born of the thunderous waves at Jaws and the kneeing of the Kahola, the humpback whale, of the giant heart of loneliness, beating in an unmarked grave, and the pacific eyes of an old woman dancing in a circle. A separate part of himself, slumbering for years beneath a quilt in a stone tower, was rousing into consciousness as he listened. He knew this was the song that would let them both stand briefly in the middle of life, without being swept away.
Ho`opua `ia ma ku`u pu`uwai
Me kahi poke a kaua i kui ai
The wind picked up and thinned the words to nothing and Doug and Jun walked right, out of the bridge and over the edge and looked straight down into the sea, ebbing and swirling below.
“I want to get out to the end of this thing,” he said, almost yelling to be heard above the wind. “Right up on the prow.”
“Lead the way.”
They started tottering along the righthand, running edge of the ship, a curving lane of concrete, barely two feet wide, plunging to the drink on the right and into the rusty guts of the ship on the left. It took them nearly five minutes to carefully walk the two-hundred feet up to the prow and another triangular section of iron deck pocked with rusty holes. They moved to the prow’s apex and a thick concrete bullwork and stretched their arms out, leaned into the wind and screamed. For a long time they stood there, like hood ornaments, flying in place.
“How far do you think - down to the water?” Doug yelled, peering over the edge.
“Maybe thirty feet,” she yelled back. “The current’s still running right into shore.”
They grabbed for each others hand and inched out over the edge, their toes overhanging the slick concrete prow.
“I’m feeling pretty strong, if you’re wondering,” he said.
“I’m feeling lucky.”
And they were off.
She had found worlds for the song he’d heard when first arriving in Lana’i, and while laying on the unmarked grave. Here were words for the kneeing of the Kahola, for the great waves at Jaws and the wind blowing through the great ship and across the sea, for the pacific eyes of an old woman dancing in a circle. A vastly unknown part of him, slumbering for thirty years beneath a quilt in a stone tower, was rousing into consciousness as he listened. He knew it was the song that would let them both stand briefly in the middle of life, without being swept away. It was that song because she was singing it.
An entire fishing village, Federation Camp, was built from the debris washed ashore here.
Moloka’i rises up just across the Kalohi Channel.
the wording has to be very succinct and poetically perfect and clear. This might be where you’re remembered, or forgotten.
The venturi funnel was where disparate truths converged
HE could see with his right mind that he was really that sad and broken, that people really adored him that much, that his heart was that big and his aggression even bigger, that he could ... and kick the living sh#t out of King Kong because he was a natural born puncher who loved the numinous like few others and who ghosts spoke to out of lonliness.
That’s just the way it was
the world was just like it seemed
This is a love song for the honeysuckle
Whose fragrance I first smelled
Held fast our love within my heart
With the flowers we strung together
The giant mangos still hold on
In places where they're left alone.
from the Hawaiian song, Hôlualoa
Ha`ina hou ka puana lâ
He aloha wau iä `oe
I'll tell you again
I love you
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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Apr 22, 2012 - 08:52pm PT
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wonderful to see this.
i was doing a little reading about the kingston trio lately--dave guard, after founding that group, went on to other things, unfortunately not as successful as the trio soon became. dave grew up in hawaii and later in life put together an album of slack key guitar players that gave gabby pahinui some mainland attention. i think this song is beautiful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBYDxvusWao&feature=related
something about hawaiian language and energy which seems to come right off the top of a comber.
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