The best single discussion of racism in Hawaii I've seen and I've read 'em all:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hawaii/comments/1e4qpio/how_bad_is_racism_in_schools/
The one guy saying he saw no racism in Kaiser High School is correct - I went there and there's none. Haoles being maybe 20-25% of the student body meant there were enough of us to stand up for ourselves plus most of the rest of the students Asian and knew studying was better than fighting. Same situation in McKinley, of the public schools. Those are the two good ones. As for the rest they range from bad to really bad. And this continues on into adult life which is why I think it's such an important discussion to link here. This is what I'm avoiding by not going back. The mainland has spoiled me...
Will I run into racism in Israel? I'm sure my Hebrew, at best, will be surprisingly good for an immigrant but still rather horrible and with an accent. Discrimination will be based more on things like that, my being Reform, things like that. I have a feeling I'll be mistaken for a local a lot. I'm pretty brown for an Anglo.
Today the internet and radio bring some humor. There's the conspiracy theory afoot that Trump's near-assassination was faked, for a variety of reasons. The variant I like is that Trump staged it to try to gain more support, kind of like when Teddy Roosevelt got more support after he was nearly assassinated. The difference being that Teddy was a wonderful person who was loved for his good work for the American people, and in the end the Bull Moose party didn't win anyway.
I'm going to push this fun theory though. I want to see protesters bringing those little ketchup packets to throw at protests, the way baseball fans used to throw hypodermic syringes (sans needles) onto the field with Barry "U.S." Bonds played, because it was believed he was on steroids. Ketchup packets are messy and fun and not harmful, and it will boost ketchup sales a bit.
In other news, the plaques commemorating my maternal grandparents will go up any week now, which is great. What's not so great is I'm not hearing from my Big Island friend at all. I'm pretty sure I can contact his neighbors, though, because they have a small business, an art gallery or something like that.
I've also been trying to email a guy on Craig's List about a cornet, a Conn Connstellation which is a good "pro" instrument but for some reason he states how long it is and I checked, I wouldn't be able to stick it into my bike bag and zip the bag up. I want something I can stick in there and no one knows it's there.
This has me back to thinking I might buy a new Schagerl that's a "shepherd's crook" model which is nice and short. Can stuff it in my bike bag. The reason this is a concern is, I can get downtown on Friday evenings a bit earlier, and fit an hour of busking in before going to the temple. It can make a real difference in my finances.
Thanks to buying that $12 4-pack of Guinness, I'm back down to no money to spend until I get paid. I have $60 in a jar and if I get to my next pay check without spending it I'll send another $60 to the Biden campaign. It's a tiny bit irritating that once I'd sent them $60 I got messages saying "send us another $60" but as it's them I don't mind.
My thinking is this: In an ideal world, I'll go on election day to that very same bar I did in 2016, and Biden will win, and I'll have $100 or more on me to buy drinks for people. So, what if instead of hanging onto $100 or a bit more to buy drinks, I sent that money to the campaign? That makes a lot more sense.
I packed some things and got out of here the usual time. I found some packing stuff and a few things to list and then stopped by Tom's and hung out a while. Tom made popcorn and I had some, and drank the two beers I've left with him because he's not going to drink them, and while we talked Tom got out a package of crepes (finally) and made some chicken and cheese roll-up things, eating three and saving two for his wife, who seems to sleep the days away. She's very worried about her son. I hope he pulls through too. It will be disastrous for her if he doesn't.
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