Auwe!
I recently took a short trip to Honolulu and stayed (reluctantly) in Waikiki. I took the bus in from the airport and had to cringe every time one of the other riders exclaimed, "oh look, a Starbucks!" "Oh, there's a Macy's!" Why don't they just stay home and go to Starbucks there? Why have to build 'em on the islands???

Waikiki was once sacred land. The ocean water is sweet. The clouds (what you can see of them between the highrises) are resplendent messages from na akua. I experienced a seminal moment of grace, swimming at dawn, chanting to the clouds, the water, the horizon. But behind me there was the loud clamor and chatter of city life, trash strewn on the grass, and all the tragedies spawned by this so-called "Western civilization" that spreads itself over the 'aina like a cancer. The night before I had dreamt of a large shark that came up on the land, moving as fast as an alligator, attacking and swallowing something as large as itself in its oxygen deprived death throes.

Just sharing...

Pule for Hawa'i, please...she is in desperate straits.