Writing a column without recourse to hard news is an interesting experience. One reader called me recently to say that she felt my columns were progressively better and that the last one had actually brought a tear to her eye.
Writing a column without recourse to hard news is an interesting experience.
One reader called me recently to say that she felt my columns were progressively better and that the last one had actually brought a tear to her eye.
But another reader wrote the paper last week, and the best thing she could say about me was that I was in some ways “adequate.” She called the column a “space-filler.” Ouch! I would say e-mail over the four months I’ve been chiming in with my little thoughts each Wednesday has brought maybe 25 responses. Approximately 15 have been positive, six or seven have brought a tear to my eye – some of you guys are tough – and three have suggested column ideas they should probably work into shape and submit themselves.
I appreciate all the feedback, though, be it pro, con or a genuine attempt to help me find new subjects.
Christmas week will mark my five-month anniversary at The Garden Island, and although I still have a lot to learn about Kaua`i, I have begun noticing ways in which this place is similar to, and different from, my seven previous stops.
One way Kaua`i is like elsewhere is there are certain folks who think they know what’s better for all the rest of us.
They are not always right.
For example, more and more local people call and e-mail me. Some suggest stories. Some complain I’ve missed something.
One retired policeman wanted to talk political philosophy, and another retiree recently gave me his list of serious “local-focused” stories TGI’s new haole reporters could do better on.
Yet despite all this feedback from locals, there is always a person or two telling those of us who are relatively new here that local people will never call, never express their opinion, never trust The Garden Island.
“That’s just not their way,” these super-bright folks explain.
I think such an attitude is patronizing, misguided and most importantly, wrong.
Local people don’t seem to have any trouble giving me an “atta boy” or a kick in the butt.
Most African-Americans I know will, if prodded, tell the story of some well-intentioned white person at a party who wanted them to explain the whys and wherefores of Jesse Jackson or Charles Barkley. They can’t.
Hey, I can’t explain Al Gore or George W. Bush. I speak only for myself. I have no trouble doing that, and it’s my humble opinion that local people have no trouble speaking for themselves, either, especially if their explainers just get out of the way.
Another thing: At the grocery, in restaurants and bars, over at Borders, the people I meet on Kaua`i, workers, locals and fellow customers, are some of the nicest, friendliest folks I’ve met anywhere.
Put these same people behind the wheel of their cars and outsized trucks and it’s Indianapolis on Memorial Day. And don’t tell me it’s all those visitors.
C’mon, there’s nothing wrong with a turn signal now and then.
And if you’re going to pull out in front of me, do it right away.
Don’t wait and watch me until I’m 20 feet from you and then creep out into the middle of the street.
Let’s put a little intelligent aloha behind the wheel, too, yeah?
Thanks for listening.
TGI staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and [ HREF=”mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net”>dwilken@pulitzer.net]
