As a child growing up on Hanapepe, Kaua'i, my home life and my school life remained separate entities. My father's family defined my personal world outside the public education system. My father was a proud Nisei, having served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Pacific during WWII. My mother was half-Hawaiian and half-haole (Caucasian, originally used in the Hawaiian language to refer to a white person, foreigner), whose family lived on the other side of the island and on O'ahu and Moloka'i. Grandma, Mom and Dad, Aunty Yukie, Aunty Momo, Uncle Tsuka, and Uncle Toru provided the rich fabric of existence. My favorite foods were chazuke (rice with tea), tsukemono (pickled vegetables), tofu (bean curd), and tamago-rice (egg with steaming hot rice). Chopsticks were standard, and forks were kept in the kitchen drawer. Although my days with friends were filed with phrases like Eh, you goin. go bon dance?, You get crown flawa yo house?, and We go den!, we also attended Japanese language scho...