• Top 10 reasons to obon • On smoking ban in parks • BBQs aren’t the problem • Ride offer still stands Top 10 reasons to obon Obon season is upon us, and I am recalling my first bon dance
• Top 10 reasons to obon • On smoking ban in parks • BBQs aren’t the problem • Ride offer still stands
Top 10 reasons to obon
Obon season is upon us, and I am recalling my first bon dance over 30 years ago at the Kapa‘a Hongwanji. What I remember most vividly from that night is how an old Filipino woman showed me how she could take a lit cigarette completely inside her mouth, using only her tongue, then smoke that thing for a couple puffs with her mouth closed, then take it back out, again using only her tongue. Incredible!
But over time I learned that the bon dance is actually a wonderful expression of a Japanese cultural tradition that has survived for centuries. Now, along with my lovely wife (who, unlike me, is actually Japanese), I try to attend several of these events each summer.
So I was watching David Letterman the other night and was inspired to create my own “Top Ten Reasons a Haole Guy Like Me Enjoys Bon Dance.”
10. Get to taste traditional Buddhist delicacies like Flying Saucers and Pronto Pups.
9. Like Keith Moon, late drummer of the rock group The Who, taiko drummers usually smash their instruments after each performance.
8. Chance to meet interesting visitors from far-off, exotic lands, such as Hanama‘ulu.
7. You can dosey-doe your partner, then roll around with her on a big pile of soft hay … oh, wait, that’s a BARN dance.
6. Fun to watch drunken brawls break out between elderly women playing Hanafuda in the back.
5. I can dance like a complete dork with other dancers who are way too polite to point at me and laugh out loud.
4. Get to see scary-looking, scantily-clad witch doctors waving animal parts to ward of evil spirits … oh, wait, that’s a BONE dance.
3. Constant circular movement of dancers generates intense electro-magnetic field, greatly enhancing cell-phone reception.
2. It’s a beautiful, graceful ceremony in which participants remember and honor their departed ancestors … oh, wait, that’s the REAL reason for a bon dance!
And, the Number One Reason a Haole Guy Like Me Enjoys Bon Dance:
1. Gnarly babes in killer kimonos!
Andy Johnston
Kalaheo
On smoking ban in parks
The definition of public park or beaches means it’s open to everyone, regardless of race, sex or orientation.
This ban regarding smoking defiles every aspect of the word, no offense, but these areas have been free since the kings and queens, since our father in heaven divided heaven and Earth.
Having a ban in enclosed places I can understand, but to violate our rights as citizens and Americans violates our Constitution as it is written.
The council has been voted in by the people, for the council to mandate critical laws for the island. But the people of this island are who put you there.
Don’t base your decisions on pressure or statistics, but what you as a human being know, what is right by the Constitution for smokers and non-smokers.
I believe that people have common sense to remove themselves away from others who do not smoke. Don’t take that right away from them based on peer pressure and groups who just want to be heard every chance they get.
I am a smoker, have been for 40-plus years, healthy and still fighting for what is right for all people without the political gains.
Mizdebz DeSilva Carveiro
Hanapepe
BBQs aren’t the problem
I do occasionally BBQ and I’ve eaten food cooked in an imu. In my letter I didn’t say anything about them. The No Burn Law says it’s OK for backyard BBQs and I suppose imus are a part of that. Call Ron Yanu of the Health Department to confirm that.
The No Burn Law is supposed to stop the all-too-often burning of green waste and trash that drifts downwind, forcing others to breathe that smoke.
Mark Perry
Lihu‘e
Ride offer still stands
Hoy, it looks like my airport ride offer ruffled a few feathers, which was definitely my intent. As an Air Force brat, I have traveled extensively. Every year K-12, I was in a different country’s school. Hickham AFB or 50+ years later, I have been fortunate enough to call Kaua’i home and embrace our host culture in every way I can.
Most of my writings have tried to identify bad laws or other negative moves like disinternment of Kupuna Iwi as one example of thousands. I simply wish to share the vast changes that have come to pass before most Forum readers arrived or that otherwise have been overlooked and set on the back burner. That I am irresponsible or that I have the audacity to shut down everything not pono are the pointers that I try to make.
I agree to disagree with the under-educated whiners and moaners, but I refuse to be complacent and sit silent. It’s not only about smoke and stench. I see how it is and know I’m on to something that newbies could never understand.
My ride offer is still available, “kicked to the curb” if you wish. Queen Liliuokani’s favorite word was “onipa’a,” mine is “imua Kaua’i!”
Debra Kekaualua
Wailua Homesteads
