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Cultural renaissance has been a dynamic force in Hawai‘i for over four decades now, and the changes in worldview, practice, lifestyle, and custom are tangible and sometimes well documented. Change works in tandem with and against continuity, and it is individual experience and recognition of these differences that map the personal, internal geography of such transitions. From the foundation of family and place, Kau‘i Sai-Dudoit reflects on how continuity has interacted with the changing personal and social world she traversed on the way to womanhood, motherhood, and nationhood. “Nothing…is so ungrateful as a rising generation; yet, if there is any faintest glimmer of light ahead of us in the present, it was kindled by the intellectual fires that burned long before us.” Ellen Glasgow It was about four o’clock in the morning when Grandma shook me gently from my sleep and whispered, “We going see Pele.” My four brothers and I, who lived in Hawai‘i Kai with our parents, spent our summers with Grandma and her common-law husband, Uncle Sam Ka‘awaloa, in Kalapana. As an adult, I realized the sharp contrast between summer and the rest of the year, but to a child, it was simply our family routine. Throughout the rest of the year in Hawai‘i Kai, there were family and friends, all the modern conveniences like McDonald’s, movies and shopping, basketball and football schedules, and school. In Kalapana, there was only space, vast expanses of space. The silence was deafening. There was no running water, only catchments; no electricity, only kerosene lanterns and boxes of cowboy safety matches to help us keep the darkness at bay. A typical morning began at the crack of dawn: first breakfast and then chores, a lot of chores. If we behaved and Grandma was in a good mood, afternoons were spent foraging in the forest , followed by the always-anticipated swimming and frolicking at Queen’s Bath. There was no television, just a radio, and batteries were a prized commodity . Most nights were spent sitting around the kerosene lantern talking and laughing, learning the strategies of a good kmau (four-man trumps) player, and listening to some of the best ghost stories I have ever heard, until from sheer exhaustion we nodded off to sleep by seven p.m. 27 Kahu i ke Ahi: Tending the Fires Kau‘i Sai-Dudoit 28 | I Ulu I Ke Kumu Half awake and not sure where we were headed, we clung to our blankets as we stumbled to the car. Our eyes struggled to focus as we became aware of the luminous orange glow filling the dark night sky. None of us spoke as we traveled through the eerie blackness of the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park road, listening to Grandma and Uncle Sam’s soft murmurings as we stopped here and there to check on a neighbor or close a gate, cautious lest any noise arouse some unwanted attention. We found a spot and huddled close together as Grandma and Uncle Sam told us stories of Kalapana and Pele, of night marchers and ‘uhane, of Hawaiians and ‘ina. Most important of all, they impressed upon us the necessity of respecting the power of nature and our kuleana as Hawaiians. We experienced something spectacular that night: in the absolute darkness of a clear Kalapana night, the dazzling brilliance of the eruption had a mesmerizing effect on us collectively, while the whisperings of our guides made a lasting impression on me personally. Regrettably, most of us are not usually cognizant of transformative moments while they are happening. We embark on our journeys lacking an adequate understanding that conversations (even the most casual) and observations (often routine) combine to transform us from youthful indifference to confident maturity , and that mistakes are a necessity of growing. The following vignettes of the significant moments in my journey play back in my mind like an old sepia-toned film that perhaps only makes sense to me, but as I conjure them to the forefront, they transform with a natural fluidity that age and maturity can appreciate. The Hearth ‘O Waipi‘o ke awwa, ‘o Hawai‘i ka moku‘ina, ‘O Lloa ke kne, pili i ‘Akahiakuleana ma Kealakaha, Hnau ‘o ‘Umialloa, ke ali‘i kani ‘ina, noho i Kapukini, Hnau ‘o Keli‘iokaloa, pili i Makuahineopalaka, Hnau ‘o Kka‘ilani, pili i Ka‘ohuki, Hnau ‘o Makakauali‘i, pili i...

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