Nā Wāhine Piko o Molokaʻi: Pacific Women's Connections to Place

Abstract

Like the kolea, or Pacific Golden Plover, I have spent my life in flight migrating between North America and the Hawaiian Islands. My journey of a thousand miles began on the wings of a giant air-conditioned machine, the lifeline vehicle to bring me to and from, from and to home. Transition is now methodical, second nature. I was born in Colorado, moved to Hawai'i Kai with my father at the age of nine. I went back to Colorado the following year where my mother then relocated us to Minnesota when I was twelve. I finished high school in Minneapolis and attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Throughout the first twenty-five years of my life, Hawai'i became the only consistent place.