Introduction to Hawaii Tales Retold

Aloha mai kākou!

My name is Raene Kaleinani, freelance writer and blogger. The excerpts you read here were from a featured series printed in the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper submitted by columnist, Clarice B. Taylor, in a titled series called "Tales about Hawaii" that dates from the 1950's. I am simply retyping to retell these unique stories of Hawaii history, culture and thinking of the time.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin Daily Newspaper

Readers keep in mind, when playing the visual scene in your mind as you read through each excerpt, the author is telling her story from the influence of her time period, her personal background and hear-say. Therefore, feel free to make your own discernment of what is factual or otherwise.

How "Hawaii Tales Retold" Was Conceived
When my grandmother, Anna May Nawili Palama (Swain) passed away in the year 2000, her belongings were treasured with newspaper clippings of genealogy, recipes and news articles of interest to her. Many months after her passing, Grandma visited me in a dream and led me to a vault, that gave me an impression of it being like a sort of time capsule. In the vault was a mound of papers which was typical of her home when she was living. Grandma turned to me and said in a clear, almost hopeful tone of voice, "These things are for you to learn." 

Ten years later, I pulled out a folder with clippings of "Tales about Hawaii" that Grandma had saved during 1957 and 1959 (unfortunately, 1958 was not in the collection). I was drawn to these short stories of Hawaii and a diverse people, which are a part of who I am - Hawaiian, Chinese, Caucasian.

I have never read the collection before and will learn about each literary piece as I type it into this blog. Whenever possible, my own photos and  photos/images from other sources (referenced) will accompany some of the posts. I don't quite know what shape this work will take, only time will tell.

In proxy of, I present this makana from my grandma, Anna May Nawili Palama (Swain).... "These things are for you to learn."  I think she would be really happy that her earnest collecting of near daily clippings are being shared with our generation.

Me ke aloha pumehana,

Raene Kaleinani ame Anna May N. Palama (Swain)

Disclaimer: The original series, Tales about Hawaii, is being typed word-for-word, paragraph-for-paragraph and is not the making of my own interpretation of the original author's work. I do not make claims of ownership to the works of the author and original editor of this series. The purpose of my work is to provide education and insight to what Hawaii may have been like before the late 1950's - before statehood. I try to insure to re-type each series typo-free but I am still subject to conditions of human error... no laila, e kala mai ia'u.