Student interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Upper Divison English, clip 3 of 14

Abstract

Brief excerpt from interview: My topic, or my area of interest, came easily because I've been working on Kahuku for maybe a year with my personal art-making. Some of the difficulties [were in] bringing in the dynamic of mapping, just different cartographies and the history of maps and tying that in. Researching was kind of difficult too. Some of my research involved newspapers in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, so I had to try and translate it, and my little sister went to Hawaiian immersion, so I was like 'HELP ME!' I've taken three years [of Hawaiian]... It's enough to get the gist of what was being said in the newspapers, so I tried my best. Huku means projection or to jut out. It's known as the land that was once afloat that was wafted by the winds, so there's moʻolelo that suggests that it wasn't connected to Oʻahu. In Hiʻiaka, when she's traveling to find Lohiau... when she travels into Kahuku she is met with Lewa. Lewa is the supernatural woman of Kahuku... Kahuku Lewa is also identified as the wind of Kahuku, and Lewa means to float, and it has to do too with how Kahuku was floating over the ocean and the winds that made it shift back and forth. So anyway, Hiʻiaka says that Lewa will forever be remembered as the woman of Kahuku, and so the Wai o Lewa, which are the breasts of Lewa, which are hills in Kahuku... I think I found them, but I'm not too sure... By reading newspapers and other accounts of the moʻolelo, I tried to pinpoint where exactly they were. So I went driving and kind of across Turtle Bay Resort, there's hills and they do look like breasts of Lewa... Kalaheo Kahipa is a ridge in Kahuku and it's said that between Kalaheo Kahipa and Nā Wai o Lewa, that is the place where Kahuku is hooked to Oʻahu. So there's supposed to be a hidden secret cave, which I think I found too. It was really cool just doing all the research and then coming across that newspaper. The newspaper in Hawaiian, it pointed out where it is... It was like a hunt. It was a treasure hunt... I think we found it, but I'm not too sure. I've been meaning to ask some kūpuna in Kahuku just to make sure.