Monthly Archives: September 2010

Hawaii 5-0 = CSI Hawaii

Seriously. I wish I didn’t have to say it. Of course I’m going to watch it though. It’s in Hawaii. This is probably why it will last through a few seasons. If you haven’t noticed, everybody loves Hawaii (except for Danno in the show). Look at how many Luau’s are thrown, how many people have those decals of slippahs (flip flops), Honu (turtle), or the Hibiscus and/or Plumeria flowers.

When I watched the LOST season finale, I was watching the interviews before and thought to myself, “Daniel Dae Kim looks so local!” Next thing you know, here he is on the show. This will be interesting. I think the show will be here this season and then after next season it will be cut. I do, however, have to watch it a few more times, because I will probably change my tune. But as most of my Hawaiian friends and family will tell you, “There is only so much you can do on that island before you get bored.”

Deciding on Ethnic Identity

One of the biggest posts that people are directed to my blog through is a short thing on Second Generation Families that I did a while back. With all of the goings on with Muslims and Americas awakening to the world of brown people, I began thinking about mixed marriages.

I am a product of a mixed marriage. My mom is a white woman born in Indiana and my dad is a full blooded Hawaiian born in Honolulu. Growing up, my brother, sisters and I were raised by our mom. The thing is, she always reminded us about our Hawaiian side and the beauty of our culture. She never really told us about her side.

So this got me to thinking: When do you decide which side to take? Do we do this by skin color? Most of my friends who are in my Half White boat do the same as me, they relate to the “Dark Side”. My “Halfrican American” friends claim the Black Side. My friend growing up who was half Viet Namese claimed that side. It is really quite strange.

Now comes the difficult part. Loa is being raised by a Hapa Haole (half White/half Hawaiian) Dad and a Mexican/Norwegian mother. While I want Loa to embrace both sides, in the end she is going to have to claim something. I’ve always like Mexiwaiian. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Stick a Fork in it: Facebook is Done.

Maybe it’s just me, but I am sick of Facebook. In the beginning, it was great because people were able to reconnect and talk with family and friends from back in the day. We were also able to be a part of something that really redirected and shaped this digital culture that we live in today. But for me, as we move and progress further in, we see a new set of people moving in on the territory.

I was introduced to a term a few years ago by my friend Kelly: digital immigrants. These are the people who are finally figuring out how to navigate the internet and some of the advantages that they have to them (ie: social media, world news, etc). But as these digital immigrants move in, they still aren’t accustomed to the culture or the etiquette of these facilities. This, I believe is the beginning of the end of Facebook; in other words, Facebook has seen its day.

Everyday when I get on facebook, I have to read peoples opinion on topics like the President and what he is doing wrong, why he should be impeached, what is wrong with the Muslims, why Barrack is a Muslim, etc. I especially love when I read Christians who are supporting the killing of other people – namely child molestors and rapists. While I am in no way supporting the heinous acts, I do believe that Christ calls us to love and not hate, and above all, not wish death upon anybody. Digital Media has given us a new way to spread untruths and urban legends, and Facebook is one of the main funnels spewing it all out.

It is time that we take Facebook for what it was meant for – Face Value. When I go to Facebook, I don’t log on to be troubled by false media, but instead I want to find out how the day is going in the lives of my friends and family. Honestly, these days I can barely do that. Instead, I find myself stewing over the lies or inaacuracies that are being spread with little or no proof or evidence to support the lie in the first place.

But on the otherhand, I’m no fool. I know that having this blog is no better than having a facebook account, but really when we get down to it, here I am allowed to control who and what I do and read. I have my blogroll determining different things that I can click and read. I don’t have to really worry anything else. Yes, I am closing myself in. I am declaring myself a digital hermit. And I am LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

So with that, I quit Facebook. I’ll keep my twitter account, because the people who I want to follow come to my cellphone – but I just can’t handle the drama anymore. It’s time to press on and forge into the Digital Wilderness and pioneer into a new frontier. Peace Facebook. You were fun, but now you have become the new MySpace.

Imagine my peace sign or kissy face picture here. 

The Brown Kid

What Are You…Really?

I get a lot of looks these days (or maybe I just notice it more as I grow older), because people want to know “what I am”. I can be mistaken for a lot of things; Mexican, Filipino, Middle Eastern, Samoan, Puerto Rican, Native American, etc. You see, I am multi racial. My dad is brown and my mom is white. This brings about interesting questions about me and america.

I was thinking today about the report a couple of weeks ago regarding 1 in 5 Americans believing that Obama is a muslim. Put that with the controversy over the Ground Zero Mosque and it really looks like people hate the Muslims! Being told who is a Muslim and where they can worship is some crazy stuff. This makes me wonder two things:

1. Whatever happened to the idea of a “Land of Opportunity”?

and

2. Why does everybody hate the Muslims?

Americans Christians, we love to talk about how America was founded on Christian values and how we are a Christian nation, but why cant we show the Christian hospitality and embrace the Alien in our land? We love to throw our freedom of religion in the mix when Christianity is challenged, but when it is another religion we are up in arms. I understand the idea of a lot of the challenges of the Mosque in New York, but if it was any other religion, I don’t believe that there would be any challenge. Was it the Muslim Faith that took out the Building and killed people? No, it was a bunch of radicals. Was it the Christian Faith that bombed abortion clinics? Again, no, it was a bunch of radicals. 

also,

Even if Obama was a Muslim, WHICH HE HAS REPEATEDLY TOLD US HE IS NOT, why would it matter? How would that change anything? We had a Catholic in office, did it change anything about abortion? no. We’ve had Presidents who were what I would call “Fairweather Christians” or Rick Warren would call “CEO Christians” (Christmas and Easter Only) in office. Did this change anything about the country? no. We’ve had Presidents who were Deists  in office and helped piece this country together! So why does the Faith (if any) of the President really matter? And if he is Muslim, why is this awful?

This led to an interesting thought that i had regarding myself: If I cross the Canadian Border into America, because of my “ethnic” look, I could be thought of - and have been questioned by US Border Patrol and Customs and Immigration – as a potential terrorist. If I cross the Mexican Border, again, because of my “ethnic” look, I could be thought of as a potential illegal immigrant. So where is the middle ground here? Should I “just go home”? I would, but my ethinicity is Hawaiian and the people who wonder about my ethnicity bought and drove up the cost of living so much that I can’t afford to live there.