#I believe for Hawai'ians

[sleep-safe]

a really interesting thing I learned in my college anthro class is that, across space-time, third-gender people tend to have very similar social/gender roles! From Hijra (India) to Māhū (Hawai'i) to Nádleehi (Diné/Navajo), third-gender people are often have spiritual roles and perform duties such as conducting rituals, healing, teaching, etc. I just thought that was really really interesting!

[the-devils-angel]

I live in America. The grand ol' U S of A😒

It sucks. Right now, they're pushing a law 'Kids Online Safety Act' or KOSA. This will strip LGBTQ+ rights even further. I guarantee if this bill passes there will be such a devastating, heartbreaking spike in suicides (particularly teens)

From what I understand, this will remove Ao3, Wattpad, TikTok, and (most of all) Tumblr.

They say they want to help the kids, but this is a bill sponsored by homophobes and transphobes. All they want is their way.

When I had no one, nothing, I had Wattpad. I had a community with friends that encouraged me. When I was diagnosed with a blood disease, being treated for depression and bipolar with such horrible drugs, when I was still dealing with my abusive dad, when I couldn't sleep because of insomnia, I had my friends online. I had stories that allowed me to slip away into another universe and leave behind my pain.

They shouldn't take away our rights. I'm already so devastated at how abortion has been handled. How they still treat POC, how much land they've taken from Native Americans, Native Hawai'ians, and countless others.

It's truly disgusting and I can't believe they are so greedy that they will strip away the rights of anyone and everyone to contort people to their way of living, of thinking.

I'm tired. I'm so tired... I can't do it anymore. I've had everything taken from me and I can't allow this too. I feel so helpless and so exhausted. I'm Im just weary at this point.

Anyway... please, if you can, support the stop to this bill!!

[keshetchai]

So the post is now too long to want to keep reblogging but this part of the response I got was so fascinating to me:

Like this illustrates exactly what I mean when I say that a lot of christian-background atheists understand religion basically only in the shape of Christianity.

"people don't build identities around gravity"

I mean...don't they do this indirectly all the time? Plenty of hobbies and professions are explicitly about the relationship to gravity that someone has.

Parkour enthusiasts

Rock climbers

Pilots

Parachuters

Trapeze artists

Aerodynamics engineer

Etc

"People don't build temples to it"

Many religions do not build temples. Building a temple is not a requirement of a religion. Having a temple is not a requirement.

Take this one step further. What is a temple? How do we define it? What definition do we use? ...if that definition includes the word worship, as in "a place for public worship often of a deity or deities", what does worship mean? I see definitions refer to reverence, dedication, adoration.

So: ...Is a planetarium a dedicated place where the public can adore or revere astrophysics, develop a sense of awe and appreciation, and therefore can it be a temple to gravity? I'm not being facetious here, I think people should consider what assumptions they've made about other people's religions, and about religiousness itself.

"it doesn't give commandments" as I said, not all religions incorporate deities with commandment type injunctions for humanity. So taken in reverse, it's lacking as a definition for all religions we know to exist. Commandments don't define religions, so the lack of gravity handing out commandments is hardly an issue.

> people not having the choice of following gravity

Sorry but again, this assumes all religions have deity given commandments, that all religions believe in a totality of free will, or that religions don't generally address natural forces.

But like, look at the Hawai'ian goddess of volcanos, embodied by lava, Pele. Do you imagine that native Hawai'ians believe they could simply refuse being burned by lava if they were to touch it? Do you think people believe they could control Pele? Choose not to allow Kīlauea to erupt?

Again this doesn't seem very convincing. Especially not from a Jewish perspective when Job makes it very clear you can't simply opt out of nature. You have agency, yes. But nature is still nature.

And saying you don't think philosophy is pointless, & you do think theology is interesting from an anthropological perspective but also...don't think the question of God's existence is worth exploring intellectually and don't seem to grasp that anthropologically, there is a lot of debate about how to define the role and appearance of religion....

It's just not tracking for me.

[brooklynislandgirl]

Favorite way to receive affection?

What’s something their significant other can do to make them feel safe?

Do they workout or put on makeup for their significant other?

Do they find a need to be in a relationship, or do they have a ‘if it happens it happens’ feeling?

What food or drink can be given to them to show that their partner really cares?

Soft Sunday Mornings || Accepting

I. Favorite way to receive affection? Beth loves the feel of fabrics beneath her fingers. Moreso the warmth and texture of skin beneath her own. Likewise, she adores being caressed, kissed, or hugged close. Holding hands and laying with her head in someone's lap while they card through her hair are things that make her melt. II. What's Something their significant other can do to make them feel safe? To physically make her feel safe? Wrap her in a hug. Hold her close and let her head rest against your chest so that she can feel your heart beating. Rub small circles against her back. Let her make a blanket fort out of your arms {or your hoodie}. To emotionally make her feel safe? Listen to her without laughing or mocking the strange little things that eat at her in the dead of night. Don't tease her about struggling with words and don't be mad at her when she asks you to repeat yourself a half dozen times. Give her the grace to be the little manic-pixie nurse-shark she tries so hard to be, it helps her hold off the gaping maw of depression. III. Do they workout or put on makeup for their significant other? Beth prefers yoga, jogging, surfing, swimming, dancing...almost everything other than what she considers banal gym-rat work outs, unless she's doing so with a friend or partner. Make it a game or a competition and she'll go as hard as she possibly can. A lot of time though, it has to wait until she's rested up from her gruelling work schedule. As for make up, she knows how to apply it for special events, or for specific reasons, causes. She does, on the occasion, enjoy dramatic looks that emphasises her eyes and her lips, drawing attention to what she considers her best facial features but for the most part, the more comfortable and engaged she is by someone, the easier it is for her to go au natural. IV. Do they find a need to be in a relationship, or do they have a ‘if it happens it happens’ feeling? Beth doesn't believe that relationships last. She doesn't see herself as someone worth keeping after the initial shine has worn off and the work begins. She works too long and too hard. She's always got one thing or another to eat up the time between her shifts, causes she's tied to and obligations that aren't exactly good for her mental health. She's under no delusion that she isn't a handful that no one really wants to take on for very long. She's content having her deepest relationship being with her Hanai Sister, being part of the group rather than the centre of someone's universe. V. What food or drink can be given to them to show that their partner really cares? A properly brewed cup of Kona coffee, with either soy milk or coconut milk, and two modest spoons of sugar. This is love and life in one perfect cup. She misses all of the foods that were common in Hawai'i growing up; kalua pork, spam musubi, poi ~two finger, try an' mahalo~ or malasadas, manapua, saimin, loco moco...the list is endless. While Beth considers herself primarily a pescatarian, she does and will eat things with meat when she's in her native islands. And while this may sound easy, almost nothing on the mainland resembles authentic Hawai'ian or Samoan food. She would probably stab somebody for the low, low price of real huli-huli chicken and a side of ogo. Outside of that, coffee and cinnamon crumb coffee cake are good choices.

[gulfportofficial]

Is anyone interested in Pig Lore? Because I am just taking a break from writing about the pig and just sort of organizing my thoughts about the pig and I like to write things like that out.

First of all, while the little dude they keep seeing may be an island pig, it is absolutely not a "native" pig. Just like those tall skinny pines, called Cook Pines (of course they are) are not native pines. It's something a bit more sinister, actually, whether or not it's in any way mystical. And in fact, the fact that Hickey is seeing it in the forest is the major clue. That alone is an indication that the projection Hickey is making that our porcine friend is somehow like, welcoming him to the land like a Tuunbaq that likes him for REAL this time, is entirely erroneous. But let me explain.

So: from my reading, this is all debated, but what isn't is that Polynesian settlers brought pigs to the Hawai'ian islands, in best guess 400CE according to most sources. They were called Pua‘a (pigs still are), current thinking suggests that the relationship those pigs had with people and land was really different. According to this summary, they were domesticated as pets, and the tradition of hunting pigs, esp. in forests, did not really begin until our best friend Captain James Cook, of course, deposited English pigs on the islands and the two species immediately began interbreeding, leading to an increasingly destructive forest-based feral pig population that necessitated culling.

I was driven to write about this because there's a really similar history in Aotearoa (NZ), where I'm from. There, we also have Kunekune pigs, which were introduced by Polynesian settlers and who are also mostly kept as pets, and we also have hybrid feral pigs we call, wait for it, what fucking else: "Captain Cookers". Yeah. Lol. People hunt Captain Cookers recreationally but farmers also hunt them because in addition to ripping shit up in the general environment, they will also ravage crops and eat ANYTHING. Seriously, below is how they're depicted in Kiwi cultural mainstay Footrot Flats (Murray Ball) and below that is how they're described on a website about things in the world it's fun to kill if you're the sort of person who travels about doing that.

"A big boar Cooker easily weighs 440lbs, can be 6 feet long, and has razor sharp ivory tusks that can be as long as six inches. With excellent hearing and a keen sense of smell, the boar is a formidable foe and challenging quarry." (source) My point is, that little guy they keep seeing? Hmmmmmmm. HMMMMMMM. Whether or not the pig in fact means anything beyond the fact that our boy believes (or needs to believe) that he is blessed by destiny remains to be seen, but even if it does, it doesn't mean what he thinks it means. (ETA, and I can't believe it took me so long to make this horrible joke: I mean, he is blessed by destiny. Manifest Destiny.) Something which is VERY much related in this instance but that I'm barely equipped to discuss is the history of the term "long pig." I've had real trouble so far sourcing if this term was ever actually translated from something people really said, or if occupiers just sort of invented it out of stereotypes - you can see from this link that all the sources listed here are Colonial, and this is always the kind of thing you need to verify in Oceania, because there is just so much bullshit. (Like, very much relatedly, the term Pākehā, which is literally just the Te Reo Māori word for "white person" has been ruthlessly etymologized in ways that make it mean all manner of negative things, up to and including "pig", which in my childhood lead to constant lengthy speculation in our serious for real media about whether or not it ACTUALLY meant "long pig". These arguments were very much made by people looking for excuses not to use Te Reo, and especially by people who won't use Te Reo placenames or call themselves Pākehā ("I'm a New Zealander." Shut up, that's not better lol. You're Pākehā. I'm Pākehā. I promise you it's super fine.) But also you can easily see those interpretations have a really sinister undertone, so you see why I would be driven to verify.) However, I am familiar with examples such as Titokowaru's Taranaki campaign (against the British in Aotearoa), in which the embrace of older traditional practices, including ritualistic cannibalism, was deeply entwined with making exaggerated references to them in hopes of scaring the shit out of the British, so it's easy for me to believe it's something people did say. Either about said practices or with the direct intention of wanting invaders to go away. Suffice it to say, whether or not the term was generated from any actual translation, the way Pākehā and other Pacific whites talk about it often repeats a very specific Colonial fear, and one that follows that specific pattern of projecting the Colonizer's own worst onto the Colonized (Said; Fanon; Bhabha). Lest we forget the intellectual champions who survived the wreck of the Essex and were so afraid of South Seas cannibals that they sailed away from islands that could have saved them and out into the expanse of an ocean that had them eating each other. Franklin Expedition-ass motherfuckers. (Seriously, why is EVERY Colonial cannibalism story like this? There are so many practices of cannibalism throughout the expanse and history of the world, but Colonial whites are the only people who ever just go fucking feral on it. I'm still not over the Donner Party and how I was always told about them as brave pioneers beset by circumstance instead of what they actually were, which was woefully unequipped occupiers who didn't even share the remaining resources they had with each other before they started first price-gouging each other (like wtf?????? PRIORITIES) and then chomping each others' bones.) Well, I've got way off track here, but anyway. Having written that all out, maybe now I can finish this fucking chapter lmao. Important note: Like, this fanfiction is not that deep or anything, I'm no The Terror writer, I'm just here to have a good time while also being super autistic*, but like, just in case you were interested. Also here's another Footrot Flats pig. Shit's wild.

*Not a euphemism.

[pawfuu]

Hey it's https://www.tumblr.com/pawfuu/748309924575166464/this-is-a-genuine-question-to-the-anon-if-shi?source=share anon again :P

Just because shi made an apology doesn't mean people have to forgive hir or suddenly all of what shi did wasn't extremely discomforting to people. if you were/are friends of hirs and claimed to care for hir yet never ONCE tried to get forms of confirmation that shi was in fact that race or if you clearly saw signs shi was unstable and did nothing you are weird. Delusion or not, you all feed into it and likely helped hir get/encouraged hir to use closed names, from cultures where names are more than just something you go by. Yes it's weird to ask someone if they are "truly" that race but your saying you truly believed/trusted that shi just one day found out shi was all of those races (the ones shi is bodily not) and just rolled with it? No questions asked, no asking hir to double or even triple check with hir adopted parents for say hir parents lineage. I can only speak as a Hawai'ian but trust me if you are from our island you'll know family middle/last names as in you can look it up and see huh this has some history or you'll have some form of culture behind it.

My point is, I know those servers/hir friends hate feeding into people's delusions, yet you clearly did it and likely made it much worse. You are a part of what happened and saying oh I knew it isn't a haha in your face. You should be ashamed you didn't try and help your friend and let it get this far! Anyways I do hope shi gets the help shi needs and better fuckin friends cause clearly some of yall also need to take a look at yourselves. Even from the short time I was in mutual servers I could tell shi was unstable and needed help, help you likely didn't tell hir shi needed. There were many times you all should have encouraged hir to talk to an adult offline and not go to discord for comfort, yet you likely didn't say anything behind the scenes. Apologies for the rant but I watched this all unfold till right before you came out with proof (which I got before you publically came out) and it's clear so many things could have been avoided. I hope hir friends see this post and learn from it!

🐾🐾

[littlefeather-wolf]

THERE IS STILL TIME

From the beginning of their activity in the islands, the missionaries clashed with the tahunas (priests, adepts, skilled prac titioners) who were enlightened teachers of the former Hawai'ian priesthood. They thereby cut themselves off from the sup ply line of ancient wisdom.

-Leinani Melville,

Hawaiian Kupuna

We still have the opportunity to open ourselves up to the "supply line of ancient wisdom." Although West ern culture has tried to suppress this wisdom, miraculously, it is still there.

Native people the world over are coming forth and offering their wisdom to those who are willing and able to hear. We don't have to seek it out, fight for it, or steal it. This wisdom is being freely offered. In re turn, we must learn to see through their eyes and not instantly rush to analyze their teachings from our cultural perspective. Having been trained to be critical and judgmen tal and led to believe that our knowl edge was the "right" knowledge, it may take some time just to open up and listen without judgment ... I am so blessed by this wisdom ... I offer what I have learned to those who are ready to hear ... A'ho ✊🏼 🤍

Courtesy of Brother Jon Red ♥️

[thewolfisawake]

Trope for Faye

@arcxnumvitae || For every “Trope” I get, I will post a TV trope for my muse.

Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak : I went back and forth between this and foil since they seem...similar? But ultimately went here because Faye unabashedly likes traditionally feminine interest. She likes pink and purple, pretty jewelry, doing hair (not her own though) and cutesy things. However she also is the type to probably choose to wrestle you for the last slice of pizza and is usually super excited about whatever sport championship going on.

Part of this does come from her closeness with her father and her brother. She tended to want to run off on their outings and can be loud and brash because of them. Also because of this, she does have a bit of audacity because why shouldn't she? And she was taught that if someone comes at you...you gotta do what you gotta do. This combined with her sisterly care for both family and friends get her a reputation as a tita sort of girl. (idk if tita is in common verbiage? But just in case, I use it from Hawai'ian referring to an 'older sister' type that is also a tough lady).

However appearance wise, Faye does not necessarily give off this appearance. She does believe in looking put together because she never knows when she'll run into someone. And it just makes her feel good. She also tends to put out there by example that black girls can be soft, kawaii, feminine and the like. A lot of her stuff and inspirational ideals actually are magical girls and she is not really hesitant to say that.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss

With apologies to Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, "we're on the road to Clear Lake ..."

So we're travelling along US Highway 18 in northeastern Iowa (never mind my habit of sometimes pronouncing it "Ioway," trying to effect sophistication out of the vulgate), heading towards Clear Lake and a Character Convocation timed to coincide with one of the Midwest's largest July 4th celebrations therein, thereat even, when we stop at a modest little supermarket of the small-town sort, hoping to put use to some canned Cincinnati 3-Way in the form of Chili Coneys in the old Coney Island manner, Kings Island even, perhaps at some village park ... and if you can believe it, our own Hanna-Barberian tastes for the simple, yet old-school, the real McCoy even, led us to getting some seriously old-school hot dogs.

"You know what I mean, Snag," Huckleberry explained, "coarse ground, and with natural casing besides ... those 'skinless' weiners can only go so far when it comes to taste."

"And homemade, too," I added, "don't you forget the homemade side of it."

Yet even more worthwhile, finding Hawai'ian Sweet Hot Dog Buns for our little road tiffin ... it can sometimes be worth it to be different while not being too extravagant. Especially for variety's sake; besides, one can only go so far with the white bread mindset until you start realising whole grains may be much better all along. And some shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese for the topping ... not to mention some cranberry-orange juice and club soda to blend together ... how interesting could it get, even as Huckleberry H. was working on some notes for the welcoming speech ahead of the Convocation's start just before the July 4th weekend, only to be cut short when his mobile went off and--

"Huck? No less than TC calling."

"Why, Top Cat ..."

"Remember, you can always call me TC, provided it's with dignity, as per my theme song. Where are you exactly right now?"

"Some small town in Iowa, along US 18 towards Clear Lake."

"Yeah, the character convo over the July 4th break. Know of any decent delicatessen close to Clear Lake?"

"Try the Hy-Vee in Mason City. They should answer for your desire to maintain ties to Brooklyn."

"And I hope they should also have some decent delicatessen bread ... especially something on the order of marble rye."

"Or even multi-grain ... which may answer for another old deli standby back in Brooklyn they call 'Health Loaf.'"

"Believe you me, our clowder somehow can't resist the occasional venture into delicatessen--corned beef, pastrami, thin-sliced Swiss on marble rye--"

"And might I suggest also getting some multi-grain chips."

"I admit, Huck, we're potato chip guys at heart, but we're willing to discover something new on occasion."

Geez, what exactly can our fellow characters come up with?

*************

[lizard-reads-the-world]

Book Review: Lei and the Fire Goddess (🌺 Hawai'i)

[image 1: Book cover - a girl with modern clothes, backpack, and bushy ponytail runs through Hawai'ian greenery, accompanied by a bat. There are red spider-like flowers carried on the wind, and a volcano spews lava in the background; image 2: a map showing the Hawai'ian islands in the center of the Pacific Ocean; image 3: steam vents around the Kīlauea volcano on Oahu, source: wikimedia]

Lei and the Fire Goddess

Author: Malia Maunakea

YA World Challenge Review for Hawai'i

Review

Anna Leilani is having school clique problems back home in Colorado, and she's decided the fantastical stories on the Hawai'ian side of her family are making her uncool. She's decided to put her foot down with her grandmother on this year's annual trip to Oahu. Until she pisses off the fire goddess Pele, and has no choice but to believe - and fix her mistake.

This was a wonderful adventure, with strong themes of mo'olelo (Hawai'ian oral tradition) and cultural belonging. All the creatures and legends were delightful characters - I don't think I can name a favorite, I liked them all - from the bat to the mo'o to the boar, and Pele herself. I also appreciate the character development that Anna/Lei went through. It felt realistic and in character.

The writing was polished, though occasionally I had difficulty visualizing the spatial movements described. The humor was fun between Anna and Ilikea, and the pop culture references thankfully not too overdone. I loved the descriptive tour through the Hawai'ian rainforest and volcano that we got. And lava-boarding!

I recommend this for a fun, very readable mythological adventure that is lighthearted and never too dark.

The sequel comes out in June.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★    5 stars

Other reps: #biracial #no romance

Genres: #adventure #mythology #contemporary fantasy #family #friendship

[universoulreiki]

This message was recorded before I became a supporter of the landback movement and believe that indigenous lands and public parks should be turned over to the survivors or genocide. Hawai’i especially has been SO exploited, its far beyond time we begin to make amends.

“In this special channeling filmed in Hawai'i, we invite the Hawai'ian diety of Kamapua'a to deliver a message on what it means to be a warrior. In Polynesian mythology he is the boar god of war. But he is also a lover of all things to do with enjoying life. I was particularly surprised that someone associated with being a "god of war" could be capable of such lightness of heart and incredible love.”

“After Seth introduced him, I asked what I could do to honor the island I was about to visit, and Kamapua'a asked me to make an offering for the waters, for the reefs, for the animals the creep and crawl on the land and on the ocean floor as well. I asked what that offering should be and he said it was up to me. After researching him I found that he is associated with the candlenut, or the Kukui nut. So I found a candle nut leaf, some nuts, and a blossom, and added some macadamias I bought, and some dried mango that I was really enjoying. I took my offering to the beach and reiki'd it for a good ten minutes till it felt like it couldn't take anymore, then I walked it into the ocean. When it hit the water I felt an enormous connection to the animals, the reefs, the island, even to the water itself. There was so much love and gratitude and I have to thank Kamapua'a for such a beautiful experience.”

“I want to stress that these deities from cultures that are not my own ARE real. Some are the same consciousness known by different names to different peoples. The legends about them reveal aspects of these beings as they were revealed to the people who were aware of them. Kamapua'a is sacred to the Hawai'ian people, and I am only the messenger for what he wanted to say. I am not trying to appropriate someone else's beliefs or culture. This message was delivered with every intention to honor this being and the people who were wise enough to recognize his presence.”

Recorded May 1st, 2022 on Kaanapali Beach, on Maui, in Hawai'i.

[anonymous-bastard]

Okay so I want to note I'm not from Hawai'i so I'm not familiar with the exact situation. But I know the theory.

Basically, Airbnb is bad everywhere housing is expensive. Because Airbnb drives rent prices through the roof by significantly reducing the number of available units. That's because a lot of landlords will turn their rentals into airbnbs because they mean ten times the profit.

This means housing in general gets more expensive, and it especially gets more expensive and harder to get for renters. It reduces the available units and often in large cities there also isn't enough housing to begin with. It's also a gentrifying force and destroys entire neighbourhoods.

Hawai'i has, I believe, the compounding factor that Hawai'ians are already struggling to get housing after the Maui wildfires, and a lot of non-Hawai'ians are buying vacation homes, leaving the housing market very short of housing.

Tldr: Fuck Airbnb

I saw someone else reblog that this won't be effective/ just shift the problem. I don't know about Hawai'i and this specific law to have an opinion on whether or not they are right.

Source

[brooklynislandgirl]

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Has your muse ever felt torn between what their society / culture expects from them and their moral values? What did they decide to do about it?

Fragments || Accepting

There's a certain intersection that exists namelessly in liminal space maybe as thin as a single atom and yet holds the life's breath of the universe; an amalgamation of chronic insomnia, vigilante justice {although some might consider it heroism}, and a level of friendship that means no one is setting off alarms when a window's cracked open in the dead of night, and no one is testing just how effective a brutal and gory skill-set is against a costumed neighbourhood spider is when dealing harm instead of healing those in need. Maybe what stays her hand is the soft call of even the modulated voice is familiar to her. The city lights ~New York has enough electrical pollution and saturation that it's never truly dark~ provide enough illumination for her to see the tall, lank frame crouched in her window-sill. The one she keeps unlocked and free of any debris for occasions such as this. He isn't the only occasional visitor she gets at odd hours. The fact that he can find her apartment is, in its own way, telling. The hem of her nightgown flutters at her ankles as she sits up and swings her feet over the side of the bed before she gets up. Wraps a thin robe around herself and beckons him to come down off the ledge. She disappears out the door and moments later the sound of the bean grinder can be heard from the open kitchen. The process of making coffee and fixing him a to-go snack ~Ku'u won't eat in front of her but he can take celery sticks and Nutella, a handful of wheat-thins, and a sliced apple for portable sustenance~ gives her time to consider both the question, and the reason behind it. When he comes into view and settles at one of the bar-stool, she nods. "All da time, really. My grandfaddah's people t'ink all 'dirtwalkers' are eiddah food or enemies, an' I don't blame dem completely. Wha' people do to sharks is terrible, what dey do to Sea an' Unsea is even worse. Livin' a haole life to suit the Admiral is a direct contrast to wha' I believe as a Hawai'ian. In a million ways, dere's contradiction between my Tradition, an' da Cat'olic Church. Pretty famous for it....considerin' da Inquisition an' hunters dat still exist in a sort of shadowy cold war even today." She shrugs, before sneaking two cups out of the still brewing coffee maker. "I t'ink my bes' advice is t' examine wha' you feel in your heart, an' ya head. Try an make peace where you can but ultimately you goddah live in a way dat makes you feel alive an' happy. I try an' do da best amount of good dat I can. Sometimes dat's dangerous, sometimes it's lonely, but I can look myself in da mirror an' respect myself. But I don' really feel like dis is about me, so if you have a minute, sit. Have coffee. Tell me what's weighin' on your t'oughts. Mebbe I can help you work out da disconnect ya might be feelin'." She catches her lower lip between her teeth. "Or, you know, we could talk about somet'ing else, if you don' wanna. But dis somet'ing bad happen tonight?"

[tangleweave]

[ A Christmas Submission by @brooklynislandgirl​ ]

Everyone has somewhere to go, something to do for the holidays. Of this she is sure. The team has taken a few days to disperse, some together and some apart, leaving only herself and Phil as the odd men out and so it feels like kismet. She invites him over to her place and he politely declines. Something about impropriety.

But maybe Phil forgets that she's tenacious in her own right, able to pursue what she wants with the faithfulness of a bloodhound.

Her Santa bag is full of tools for the occasion: burgers from that place he likes in DC ~she's gotten the cook to come up and make it fresh at her place~ and gifts. There's popcorn and cocoa. There's ornaments she made by hand, and some that she saw that reminded her of him. A small tree. An armful of the best holiday movies, and of course, matching socks.

She invites herself over, and she thinks that maybe he's a little surprised that she knows where he lives. Everyone assumes he never leaves headquarters no matter where that happens to be, but Beth knows better.

And when he opens the door? She carefully drops the bag and launches herself into his arms, savouring the warmth and the comfort of him. In a lot of ways, Uncle Phil feels like everything she's ever missed all at once though she can't really explain it.

"Mele Kali--" A pause as she eventually extricates herself even if she doesn't really want to. "I mean... Merry Chris'mus, Phil Coulson. As one'a Santa's lil menehune, it is my joy an' duty t' bring you some holiday cheer. I hope is workin'."

~*~*~*~

[ Tangleweave ]

In the year since his effort to recruit her, Phil has found Beth to be one of the most valuable resources at his disposal, and indeed he would even deign to say to the entirety of SHIELD as an organization. To have even one of her is a privilege beyond measure, because she is absolutely not the kind of person who would join a global intelligence network. She is neither spy nor saboteur… neither analyst nor field officer.

Except that she has proven capable at all of those crafts, and more. At first by necessity… and then, because he had asked her to.

He has not spent a single moment regretting or even questioning his decision to pluck her from the life she had been enduring, so that he could offer her one worth living.

Not even now, as he stands perplexed at his apartment's doorway, seeing the vivacious young woman bearing a red cloth bag over one shoulder, a green stocking cap over her raven tresses, and a beaming smile on her face that wrinkles the sides of her nose. He'd been meticulous about keeping this address out of public record and off most books anyone would bother to check. He pays rent in cash money and the landlord doesn't know his real name. How in the world had she discovered it?

The question vanishes from his mind as she jumps and throws her arms around his neck. It hardly throws him off-balance -- despite her increasing muscle mass from combat training, she's still about equivalent to a soaking wet Raggedy Ann doll -- but he still circles his arms around her by instinct. He isn't typically one to initiate embrace, but he can hardly leave her to be the only one making an effort.

His lips curl into a smile that's equal parts genuine and sardonic when she cuts herself off from putting forth the Hawai'ian greeting and instead gives him one more customary to his neck of the woods. He can't quite keep the clever twinkle out of his eye or his tone when he replies. "I'll take you at your word you're a menehune, because you do fit the criteria for one… though at this point, I might also believe if you said you were an imp."

He pulls away just far enough to look at her properly, and he breathes a sigh of capitulation through his resigned smile. "Yeah, all right… come in."

He holds the door open for her and stands aside as she bears her gift bag over her shoulder again, and as she passes by him he smells the sinful temptation of the warm food within it. He only speaks again after closing the door. "You know you got me like fifteen different ways, Agent Riley. Coming here in the first place, and I'm sure we'll discuss that at some point, but then coming at me with Hawai'ian when you know how much I love Bing Crosby? And don't think I didn't notice the smell coming from that bag. You've got a knack for reaching a man where he lives."

His expression softens, and the smile that had begun as an expression of resignation turns to something more heartfelt. No matter his feelings on propriety, he knows her sentiment comes from the deepest recesses of her heart. If there is anything he's learned about her in the last year, it is that above all else, she wants to make the world a better place. More joyful. More generous.

She is more full of love than anyone he knows. Is it so wrong to let her know her efforts aren't in vain?

He brings one hand up to the center of his chest, his fingers hovering over the scar that everyone knows and no one speaks of. It is perhaps the most honest gesture he can show her in this moment, to let her know that while he leans on professionalism and protocol for daily guidance... she is a North Star for how to have a heart.

"Mele Kalikimaka, Elikapeka."

[loverphilosopher]

#savehawaii #savepololuvalley

Pololu Valley is sacred land in Hawai'i and recently it was put up for sale. They are planning to pave paradise and put up a parking lot and I fully believe we have the power to stop this.

Everyone has their price and the power of the internet is strong! The listing is up for 2.8 million. The money raised will be used to counter the offer and allow us to preserve this land for the foreseeable future. 

We have contacted the real estate company and are waiting for further communications. 

Any additional funds will be used to reinvigorate the land in any way the Hawai'ian people see fit!

There is a petition currently happening as well. Please sign! 

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-land-and-natural-resources-protect-pololu-valley

[manda-kat]

Chicken Pin! I got this one from the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was the second pin I got from there and I found it in the gift shop called Goo's Plantation I believe. (Technically it was from the International Marketplace which is a collection of stores just outside the Cultural Center)

I loved the feral Hawai'ian chickens and had to have this pin. It was 4.99

This Hello Kitty pin was from a cute little store (the one that had more mermaid dolls after I bought my mermaid). Hello Kitty was 5.99 and absolutely adorable. There was actually a huge amount of Sanrio merchandise, but most of it actually gave characters like Hello Kitty a tan. It was cute, but it kind of felt like a mandella affect thing. Like I accidentally stepped into an alternate reality where we got Aloha Kitty instead. I kinda wish I found this same pin, but with the Hawai'ian tan. They would be cute next to each other.

I got this pin on our last night for 4.99. I found it at a clothing store. This series of collector pins must have been available for basically any store to carry. In fact a lot of identical collectibles seemed to have been liscenced out to a wide variety of stores. It made it easier for me to collect pins without feeling the need to grab more than one at each location, since I could trust more to appear if I really wanted them. It was still worth it to check multiple shops since they always had something unique hiding inside. This store had an old Japanese lady who would stare you down until you bought something. She scared me.

This turtle came from the Polynesian Cultural Center. Laie is the area where the PCC can be found. (The actual town holding the PCC also has a famous Mormon temple and a Mormon college. The Cultural Center is also owned by the Mormons and from what I heard you can't work there if you aren't Mormon. Hm) This turtle is super adorable and sparkly! It was 6.99.

I got Rosie from Pearl Harbor. The gift shop was actually tax free and it had gifts for every history buff or military loved-one you have. I love Rosie the Riveter and think this pin is awesome. I'm not much of a history person, so Pearl Harbor wasn't on my list of things I really cared to see, but I think doing a few historical tours when visiting a new place can be really important, especially when they're able to explain things in a way that isn't condescending or inflamatory. The amount of American and Japanese tourists paying their respects at the Arizona Memorial was pretty moving.

The K-Love concert was giving out free prizes to anyone who spun a wheel. I got a tube of sunscreen. Ngl, I was grateful for it. It may not be a glamorous souvenir, but it smells like coconut and it saved my bacon. Or it saved me from becoming bacon.

Also from the K-Love concert! My mom spun the prize wheel and also got sunscreen, but the girl at the booth just threw a whole t-shirt in there as well. My mom gave it to me so now I have something to wear to Sunday School.

Speaking of shirts, I also grabbed this fuzzy sweatshirt from the Houstin airport for just twenty bucks. The flight from Honolulu to Houstin was unbelievably cold and the Houstin airport was freezing as well, so I bought a sweatshirt. Turns out, Texas keeps their airports cold because Texas is REALLY FREAKING HOT outside! Who would have guessed that Texas is hot? I nearly melted wearing this thing, but I'm glad I have it because it's adorable and perfect for Virginia winter.

Sunglasses they handed out at the concert. Literally they were just giving people free stuff. I bet they'd give me one of Crowder's guitars if I asked nicely. (Crowder has way too many guitars. That man needs to stop learning to play different kinds of guitar. He used a different kind of guitar for every song. STOP GIVING THIS MAN GUITARS-)

Flip flops I bought because I brought old flip flops and they broke after I took one step in them. These are cute and I like the color.

Souvenir Role Call!

I'm home! I'm sleepy, but as promised, I'm gonna show you guys everything I got. I ended up with lot of items, but honestly a lot of these were either free gifts or my mother bought them for me. Also, I'm more a fan of cheep thrills. I'll include prices if I can remember them. Now let's a go!

The first thing I got was this San Francisco pin. It was 5.95. I had a lot of options of tourist attractions to choose, but since I didn't see any of those on my doomed trip to San Fran, I just got a liscense plate. I saw plenty of those.

(The next things will not be in chronological order. I'll post them in order of what I unpacked first so I can sort through them easier.)

This mermaid doll was from a store called Kawaii Kawaii Hawaii, which is the cutest name for a Japanese/Hawai'ian shop. (There is a LOT of Japanese stuff in Hawai'i. Apparently more Japanese Americans live on Oahu than Native Hawai'ians or White Americans) It had a bunch of nick nacks but I was enamored by this mermaid. The doll is super cheap and feels like a rip-off of a more popular brand, but her face is so cute! Her hair's pretty natty though when you look closely. She was fifteen dollars, which is hard to find a basic doll for nowadays, so I'd consider it worth it since I had never seen a doll like this before. Then literally two doors down we found a store selling these exact mermaid dolls, but with added angel wings for the same price. I wasn't about to buy two, but I was tempted.

A seashell lei given to hotel guests at the Waikiki Sunset. It was a nice pistachio green hotel only a few blocks from the beach. The people were super nice and the amenities were pretty good. I've been at a better hotel, but that one was because I had a discounted rate on the room, so this was a great option. I really wanted to stay at the pink palace just because of how cute it looked, but that was out of the question. It was very closeby though and I was able to see it when we went to the beach. The pistachio palace ended up being just right.

At the Polynesian Cultural Center I found one of these wooden frog guys. I think he was seven dollars or something. He's one of the frogs that you can run a stick down his spine to make a lovely noise. What I didn't know is that he makes every sound echo. The hollow body means that even gently bumping the side with your finger will make a dreamy little sound. A fine addition to my frog collection.

Not really souvenirs, but hey look. Wristbands. Perfect to say I'm gonna put them in a photo album and then forgetting to do so.

I got this pin at the ABC store. It was about five dollars. The lady at checkout was surprised to see it and told me a lot of people were looking for this one specifically and she thought they sold out. I can't imagine that considering how many of these I saw.

Dole Whip pin! In Hawai'i if it can be flavored with pineapple, it will be. The ice cream was good, but I feel like it was a bit overhyped. There was a line out the door for it and honestly I feel like it might have just been the summer vibes making everyone crave ice cream. I would definitely have another bowl if someone offered. I had the soft serve, so I'm not sure if there's a more popular way to prepare it that makes people go wild, but it was definitely good.

We shall be continued with more photos in a bit! Stand by!