Local Roots

This past Saturday we took the beautiful drive along the Hamakua Coast to Laupahoehoe for the Laupahoehoe Music Festival. The weather was spectacular and the music was really great.

As we turned off the main highway and descended down the winding road that took us to Laupahoehoe Point Beach Park, the ocean opened up before us in all of it's glorious expansiveness. As the road narrowed on our way down, drivers on the opposite side of the road got friendlier and friendlier as each us became more and more aware of the others' presence.

When we got to the beach park, festival staff members guided us through the parking area and onto a grassy area. I rolled down my window to get parking directions from the guy working the grassy area. His instructions went something like this,
"Ho--OK bruddah--hea's wat you going do--Pull up ova dea an den back um in right in front of da black cah ova dea--Make shua you leave nuff room so da oddah guy can get out." Simple enough. I nodded, said, "tank you--my bruddah.", and parked.

As I got Bodhi out of his car seat, he looked at me a little puzzled and asked, "Daddy, how come the Uncle( the parking lot attendant) was talking so funny?"

Kim and I shot each other "Uh-OH!" glances.

We consider ourselves very conscientious parents. We work hard to make sure that he has as many experiences that we can set up for him to aid his development. But that morning at Laupahoehoe we realized that we had neglected an area. It was about exposure. He wasn't getting enough doses of his local culture, he wasn't hearing enough Pidgin English.

Kim and I basically speak Standard American English and so does our very articulate three and half year old. I grew up speaking primarily pidgin. The pidgin is part of who I am and part of my cultural make up. It, like any other language is part of how I understand and perceive the world. It is a vibrant language with many subtle nuances. Also, it is a connecting point for people who grew up in this glorious place.

There have been attempts in the past to squeeze the pidgin out of Hawai‘i's youth and homogenize the language into Standard American English. I actually hear less and less pidgin being spoken as Hawai‘i's local culture has become more closely aligned with the culture of the rest of the Continental U.S. I hear more of our youths' language emulating the stars they see on MTV, rather than that of their local culture.

Perhaps I have a cultural responsibility to expose my son to more Pidgin English. It is a growing language. It is very different from the pidgin my grandmother spoke on the plantation to communicate with all that gathered here to make a new life. But it is still a part of the culture of this wonderful place.

So---Afta we wen pahk da cah, we wen go check out da music an all da ono grindz had fo eat. Burah, was so good fun! Me an Bodhi wen go check out da watah. He neva have da kine swim shorts, so he wen jus go in wit his bebahdees. He neva keah. Bodhi had one Redondo Hot Dog fo lunch--he wen bite um, look at me and say--"Ho Daddy--dis Hot Dog is winnah, winnah--chicken dinnah."

Actually, I made the last sentence up. He actually took one bite of the hot dog and said, "Daddy, this hot dog is really yummy." We're working on it.