Story, laughter, song

11 05 2013

Today’s post honors The Story. And a newly found twist. The Song.

My adult life work has been all about story—finding and writing it for the daily news, crafting ideas for a magazine, supporting college faculty with features, writing ad copy.

From the pen I gravitated toward photojournalism and photographic images to tell stories. Environmental portraiture, or people in their surroundings, became my forté for a time.

My Hawaiian landscapes in oil have no people in them. They represent scenes of which viewers may create their own stories. I paint pictures of places where you might have been and want to remember, and of places where you might rather be.

Three unrelated gifts support The Story, and I pass them on hoping they will inspire you as much as they have inspired me.

Tomorrow is Mark W. Travis‘s 70th birthday, and he is observing his big year with a trip around the world to continue his fine work as a film director and teacher of film directors and playwrights. Happy birthday, Mark! Hope to see you in the Islands.

Twice I took Mark’s Solo Autobiography workshop. I think he calls it Write Your Life now. Aside from drilling the class in clever techniques, Mark has the uncanny skill of listening to my lines and pinpointing the exact vulnerable spot in my heart that needs exploring. The real story. He stabs it right away, then twists deeper to that place where I don’t want to go. Unhhh. But that becomes the start of writing authentically. And it’s very healing.

I stopped going to his classes—too much crying—and he acknowledged, that’s okay, as long as you keep writing. I follow him on Facebook and read his blog, which is where I came across the second gift:

A story about an African tribe. It’s here: http://thegodmolecule.tumblr.com/post/48146343226/here-is-a-tribe-in-africa-where-the-birth-date-of

Since I’ve tuned in to my own music, writing down the melodies in my mind, this intrigues me. It suggests Song before Story. I hope you will click on the link to read the article. When Mark Travis swings by here in August, he will teach “Write Your Life/On Your Feet” for the first time, coaching the performance and delivery of autobiographical material. I’m on the waiting list.

Thirdly, I must point you to Playing Your Hand Right – Showing America How to Live, the funniest and sexiest writing I’ve ever read. Fact or fiction, seriously real or lovingly poking fun, it doesn’t matter, it’s hilarious! Oh, the stories! Definitely XX-rated. Damn educational if you’ve been sheltered and just read newspapers. Haha! Taylor Oceans is the author who “liked” and “followed” my blog (and everyone else’s) to attract readership to his. He says he needs to amass a following to prove to a publisher his work is successful, so he can make some honest money and buy his dream sailboat. At least that’s his story, and I say he’s there. Apologies if you find his writing offensive. It makes me laugh.

My take-away is that we always have Story. The best ones make you Laugh. But how about we listen more closely and tune in to our Song.

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : About me, Fine Art, Memoir, Music

40,058 visitors since opening day

10 05 2013

Just noticed the visitor count has rolled past 40,000 in the past 24 hours. Thank you, Everyone, for visiting Rebekah’s Studio! Remember you can plug topics into the search box on the right to see what comes up.

A hui hou! Malama pono! See you again! Take care and do the right thing! ~ Rebekah


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : About me

Tofu Acres

20 04 2013

On the spur of the moment Becky invited me to go with her and Susan to visit Leigh on Hawai‘i island last weekend. I didn’t have to think twice. Of course! We hadn’t seen Leigh in a few years . . .

Leigh’s life partner Diana told me, when I visited before she died, that she planted every day. The evidence shows now with all manner of fruits, vegetables, and flowers flourishing on the 12 acres of the farm called Tofu Acres.

As the plaque stuck in a rusty planter barrel reads, “The kiss of the sun for pardon / The song of the birds for mirth / One is nearer good heart in a garden / than anywhere else on earth.”

Citrus, papaya, banana, poha berry, guava, taro, chayote, kitchen herbs, and strawberries mingle with gardenia, cigar flower, hibiscus, ginger, plumeria, anthuriums, orchids, and roses. Hāpuʻu tree ferns, ʻōhiʻa lehua, and waiawī of the neighboring ʻŌlaʻa Rain Forest remain rooted at the borders. All embrace two small wooden cottages that Smiley built.

. . . Becky and Leigh were my first two Lanihuli-Drive-apartment roommates, one after the other, in college. We were all journalism majors at the University of Hawai‘i in the late Sixties and started our careers writing the daily news. Leigh is still a reporter, Becky became an attorney, and here I am the blogging fool. Susan latched on to us sometime along the way.

Leigh didn’t have a choice in the matter. We three descended on her private world, inviting ourselves to spend Saturday night and all-day Sunday. Just us girls. For a few hours, time stood still . . .

Tofu Acres sits between Mountain View and Glenwood on the way to Volcano.  It is home to 9 dogs, 5 cats, 1 black pig, 1 goat, 1 mynah bird, 7 ducks, about 40 chickens, and Leigh—who rescued most of the animals and has names for all except some of the chickens.

Did I mention fresh farm eggs for breakfast?! That’s what we woke up to after an evening of pathetic Scrabble and reminiscing. You know, journalists and their words are almost as bad as linguists. The romantic glow of antique lamps was no help as we ladies fumbled for our reading glasses. From the four rocking chairs we moved the game to the brighter-lighted big beds, serenaded loudly by the unmistakable coqui frogs into the night.

Before Leigh had shown us the supply of bottled drinking water, I took some meds with water from the tap, to her obvious concern. “It’s okay, isn’t it?” I asked. She said she never thought to tell us city folk. At that elevation she’s on rain catchment. “I don’t know,” she replied still concerned, “I’ve just always drunk bottled water. I’m sure it’s okay, it must be okay.” Did she brush her teeth with it? “No.” Not knowing what to do, in sympathy she filled a tumbler half full of tap water and downed it. That’s my friend Leigh.

The after-breakfast routine is to greet and feed all the animals and gather more eggs. That takes some time on Tofu Acres. It’s a bright and sunny morning. Smiley has emerged respectfully from his house trailer parked recently in Leigh’s driveway, announcing he’s washed the dogs and picked up some supplies.

He’s assembled a potting shelter down the way, and this morning he’s tending systematically to new tomato seedlings. He’s a kind, sweet man, a wonderful friend who appears when you need him the most. Leigh told us that when Diana died, Smiley prepared the land for Diana’s crypt in the pouring rain (you’re allowed to be buried at home with the proper permits). When some lōlō showed up with Leigh’s car after it disappeared for a few days, Smiley was there to greet it and advised Leigh to call the cops.

As the poignant story unfolds, we learn from Leigh that Smiley’s wife is ill, and that he and their son take turns caring for her. Smiley comes to Tofu Acres for respite.

Before heading out for the day to explore some property, to go shopping, and to visit the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where we bought our senior passes for life—yay, age has its privileges!—we went to see where Diana rests peacefully in a lovely setting.

Diana'sCrypt

 . . . Of course we roomies know the next chapter of the story, even though dear Leigh doesn’t.

True friendship is clairvoyant. Cultivate your friendship like a garden and hold it close to your heart. Be kind and take care of each other, the animals, and the land, for we are One.

Roomies at Halemaumau. I didn’t get the red-sandals memo.

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : About me, Friends & Family, Memoir, Reiki Healing

Last night

31 03 2013
 
Moonlight sonata
wakes me at three forty-five
streams in my window
 
Silence of peacocks
differs from the night before’s
loud cacophony
 
In the cool stillness
I fall back into dreamland
until rooster crows.
 
Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke
 

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Categories : About me, Memoir, Music, Poem

Kudos and thanks to my foodie friends Linda and Lori

4 03 2013

Two women I am lucky to have as friends each reached a milestone in their lives and careers in the past few days, and today’s post honors them. Both happen to be foodies. Both have Hakka “blood,” as do I.

Author Linda Lau Anusasananan’s The Hakka Cookbook received the Best Chinese Cuisine Cookbook in the World for 2012 award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards ceremony in Paris. It’s a crowning achievement following a full career as a food editor at Sunset magazine, where we met, and many years researching around the world the “cuisine” (if you can call it that) of her ancestral Hakka roots.

Linda Lau Anusasananan

Linda Lau Anusasananan

Hakka Chinese people descend from Han people who emigrated and still emigrate from their original land for a variety of reasons. Where they ended up in the world—in China it was mostly in the south in an area known as Meixian—they were not the first, therefore were known as “guest people” who did not get the best land. They were farmers, and their food was humble and of peasants. The book’s subtitle “Soul Food from Around the World” announces the good eats the reader can learn to make from the recipes Linda tested and fine tuned for the home cook. I guarantee they will work for you.

This is what Hakka families everywhere have looked for. The recipes show how regional cuisine influences basic Hakka food. Linda’s work fills a cultural need as well as explains what “Hakka” is with added stories and historical notes. Ultimately, it is a universal story about food, families everywhere, and how the world has gotten smaller.

Lori A. Wong

Lori A. Wong

When I left the magazine test kitchens in Menlo Park, California, those many years ago, Linda became the person I would call when I had a question about food science. Then I met Lori on my island.

This week Lori A. Wong, with her mother Marian, closed Byron’s Drive-In, the last remaining of their 17 or 18—it’s easy to lose count—restaurants on Oahu, ending 58 years of feeding islanders. Old-timers will remember Leon’s tavern, Andy’s Drive-In in Kailua, Orson’s Restaurant, Orson’s Bourbon House, Wong’s Okazu-ya, The Chowder House, Byron II, Andrew’s, Coral Reef, The Chinese Chuckwagon, Fishmonger’s Wife, Oinks, Big Ed’s, Andy’s Ebb Tide, The Little Red Hen, Henny Penny Chicken, Orson’s Chowderette, and The Seafood Emporium.

The landlord is planning to redevelop the land near Honolulu airport where you could get a good meal before boarding your plane. On Feb. 28 it was bye-bye Byron’s Drive-In. The rummage sale starts tomorrow, March 5, through Friday in the parking lot. Everything must go.

Now that you know of the Wong Family restaurant empire, and as you read the list above, most started by Lori’s father Andy Y. Y. Wong who died in 1985, and others by Lori and her mom, you are probably thinking, “They owned that restaurant, too?!”

Yup, and Lori’s first thought is that they had a really good run and that the restaurant business is pau (finished, over).

I became acquainted with Lori through our mutual Reiki teacher and friend Alice Anne Parker. Both Lori and Alice Anne certified me as a Reiki Master. Lori is a healer and was working with hospice patients. Over time I figured out Lori was a foodie. She’s taught in the Food Service department at Kapiolani Community College and now teaches cooking to middle school students at Punahou during the summer. She free lances as a food and beverage consultant.

She loves to try new restaurants with friends—as does Linda (the more dishes foodies can taste and disect, the better; lucky for me), but she rarely mentioned her family’s restaurant empire. But now that it seems to have ended, the word’s out. Bob Sigall wrote a nice column in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Both Linda and Lori deserve a crown and a long rest, but I doubt they will rest on their laurels. These are my friends for a lifetime.

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : About me, Food, Friends & Family

Kamaipuupaa, the Prince Lot festival hula mound

22 02 2013
Painting en plein air

Painting en plein air

One of my favorite sanctuaries on Oʻahu is Moanalua Gardens where I went with my students to paint en plein air earlier this month. A pleasant place to rest, picnic, and entertain, it is privately owned but open to the public. I find it peaceful and healing to go there.

We can go there for free during daylight hours most days. It is popular with young families, pre-school groups, Japanese tourists, artists, and lovers. That sounds busy, but the park is large enough that you can find a spot for yourself. Lucky for us at least a bit of the area of the cultured Gardens remains, for it used to cover three times the area. Imagine the beauty back when.

Every July, the day-long Prince Lot Hula Festival draws an audience of about 10,000 people who relax in the shade of the trees and enjoy viewing the dance by invited hula hālau (troupes) on the outdoor hula mound. This year the event is scheduled for Saturday, July 20, 2013, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On three outings there this month, while busloads of Japanese tourists came to photograph the famous Hitachi tree (Hitachi, Ltd. pays for the rights to use the image of the grand, old monkeypod tree as its logo), while the gardeners operated their loud maintenance equipment, and while the elementary school children next door enjoyed their recess, I could still find my zone to paint the hula pā, romantically back-lit by the morning sun.

Japanese visitors come to see the “Hitachi tree” and have their photo taken in front of it.

Moanalua pond

A koi pond adjacent to a loʻi kalo (taro garden) attracts ducks, youngsters and photographers. The banyan in the background is just one of many mature trees here.

My finished painting “Kamaipuupaa,” 24″ x 18″ oil on canvas panel. The grassy hula mound is the venue for the annual Prince Lot Hula Festival at Moanalua Gardens in July. If you plan to go this summer, please verify the date in local news media.

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : About me, Fine Art, Hawaiian, Travel

Returning to the basics, or learning them for the first time

18 02 2013

BCCC © 2013 Rebekah LukeThe child got up from her chair in the middle of class, twice, sat on the floor in the lotus position, closed her eyes and ohm-ed audibly. In the bucket-list painting class, an adult began to doze. Out in the landscape I wondered if my suggestions were simply going in one ear, if at all, and out the other.

I don’t have a Hawaii fifth-year university teaching certificate, but I do have a few years experience in the field under my belt and consider myself in the “working professional” class of faculty, like the teachers who taught me—desirable by a top art school I know and distinguished for excellence from the rest.

But in the first Saturdays of February, I see I can still learn something about human nature and various styles of learning. I’m finding it a challenge. And I like challenge! Like DH who’s developed an immense respect for mothers since taking on the role of caregiver for his two granddaughters, now ages 3 and 1, since their birth, now I have a huge respect for classroom teachers.

We each come to “class” with different paradigms, different backgrounds and existing points of view, and previously learned behaviors. Somewhere, sometime, I hope the twain will meet.

If I may generalize, there are two approaches to teaching/learning art. One is by beginning with the basics and then allowing our abilities and talent to develop. The other is for students to freely express themselves, uninhibited, and color “outside of the box” right from the beginning.

I advocate starting with the basics. By learning the basics, what follows is so much easier. In visual art, much is about the logic of light. In life, much is about kindness, gratitude, and respect.

One of the reasons I decided to offer art lessons to kids in the neighborhood is that the public schools allegedly do not teach it anymore. It appears there is more than art that they aren’t teaching anymore, i.e., I see what other educators describe as “out of control” in my own studio. The other reason is I want to pass on what I know how to do and give something back to my community in return for what I have received.

There are two adult students this semester who wanted to join an advanced class without taking the basic courses. Before giving the okay, I asked to see their portfolios or that they enroll in Painting I—in fairness to the other students who have done the lessons in sequence and to have everyone on the same “page.” I am so glad I did because it prepared me for their added and different energies, and to spot what is missing.

Both my youth and adult classes are designed with the same curriculum, but the lessons naturally vary. For the children, who are bright youngsters, I know I must change the activities often to accommodate their attention span and high energy, as well as to challenge them so they don’t get bored and act out. I give them individual attention, rest breaks, and try to make the time fun with surprises. They really keep me on my toes!

As for the adults, I understand that we are older now and perhaps our brains are starting to slow down, so I will be patient and offer reinforcement, such as assigned chapters to read in the textbook in addition to demonstrations. I’ll encourage them to remain open and to try something new, even though they are used to doing things in a familiar way.

Colds and flu have been reasons for absences already, but, yes, please stay home if you are ill and you can catch up later. We will wash our hands when we first arrive, just as we learned in early ed.

I wish we would all get a good night’s sleep on Friday and eat breakfast before coming to class. Do meditate first. Then, please show up with your tuned senses. I am happy to share what I know. And as your aunty and kumu (teacher), I am so very grateful to learn from you.

Copyright 2013 Rebekah Luke

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : About me, Fine Art

« Previous Entries Next Entries »