Why I Started This Blog

Most of my life, I have been aware that there are two separate but related modes of presentation: self-expression and communication. As an artist of any kind you operate mainly on one or the other track. For me, communication ranks higher than self-expression. Self-expression tells the truth about you. Communication tries to tell universal truths.

In my landscape career, I have had to do a lot of communicating and a lot of creating. I felt I often needed to communicate that, although I may seem to have a big personality, I have zero ego. I am not here for myself. I am here for the world.

So I did not start this blog to “express myself.” I talk to myself all the time -  no worries there. I started it because I have very big truths to tell and they should be communicated to the world. I have been given the gift of communication skills and facility with language as a tool. Tools are given to us to get the job done.

The second reason I started this blog is because I need to be supported financially in order to have the time and tools to get these words out to the world. I want you to read this blog and share this blog with others. $50. a year or $5. a month is a modest sum that many people can afford. If a few such people would contribute this would make a huge difference in my daily existence.

The reason I will be starting a podcast Hawaii: The Other Side of Paradise and including some of its themes in this blog is because I am living on that other side. Unfortunately, millions of people visit Hawaii each year and never see the other side. On that other side is beauty, tragedy and complexity. Too many outsiders (malahini) view Hawaii in their mind the way little kids imagine Candyland. A never-ending stream of all the delicious stuff you can't have at home. This is a falsehood. Paradise is everywhere on this earth and Hawaiians and Hawaiian residents experience all the same bad stuff other people on the planet do.

I hope to launch this podcast in January. The first episode will include interviews with friends on Maui who are growing native plants specifically to restore the landscapes that burned at Lahaina with less flammable more eco-sensible ones - and a report on the Great Banyan tree there. I knew from the first video I saw of the destruction that it would survive and become a symbol of the resurrection and renewal that, frankly, all of Hawaii — and all of this planet — so desperately need.

You will hear about the launch here first. So please subscribe and share - and consider kicking in your extra coffee money. I need plane fare to Maui.