This blog is not about me. I will write it, of course, but, it’s to be about the 24 Hawaiians I interviewed in 1998 — an aged generation (then) who spurred and encouraged the renaissance of Hawaiian culture that happened in the 1960s and the 1970s. They are all experts in different aspects of their culture, so, if you want to learn Hawaiian culture, their interviews can teach you, as they taught today’s generation of Hawaiians.
It was my job as a journalist to write what the kupuna wanted to teach, and, after several years of these questions and answers, we had a book that is found in every Hawaiian library and is taught in many classrooms. I also make sure it is on the shelves of prison libraries where Hawaiians are incarcerated. I know these stories inspire.
Most of these elders (kupuna) are dead now, and for many of them, their interview in VOW is their legacy and their last testament.
I have decided to no longer print VOW as a book since it has been in print for 15 years, and now ebooks and pdf books trump print. Still, I want it to be available for generations to come. Digital does that.
– mj harden, author