Lee Cataluna

[lorider]

Lee Cataluna

I know, I know, everyone loves Lee Cataluna. And please - of course we're all glad she seems to have recovered from whatever it was that ailed her. But am I the only person who feels like almost everything she writes is a strange mix of anger, resentment and bitterness?

For example. The other day she had a great column about the new development in Kaka'ako. Great. But a couple days before that, she filed a piece that seemed, very subtly but unmistakably, to advance the argument that Hawaii people are better than New Orleans people, because we didn't loot after Iniki. And a few weeks before that, she wrote a piece that reeked of xenophobia vis a vis tourism.

Today's piece was okay, but it too was loaded with this lecturing, spiteful tone that just hits me the wrong way.

I agree with Lee much more often than I disagree. But there's something about the delivery that I just can't relate to.

[lavagal]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

Lee earns a paycheck in the mainstream media, for a company called Gannett, after all. She, her parents, and her parents parents, ad infinitum, have been part of "the machine" in some way, all their lives.

At least Gannett doesn't shut her down. She's a treasure and Gannett, or Ganette Hawaii knows it. I'm not sure how well her columns would float on the mainland, but she certainly is effective here. I don't always agree, but she's been storing up some good prose. I wonder what will run Sunday?

[cezanne]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

Major life events have a way of making you step back and look at the big picture. And she certainly has a way with words, to make a broad, complex issue so crisp, and to evoke a feeling so strong.

Lee's definitely hitting the notes... *thumbsup*... Welcome back.

[pzarquon]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

It sounds like Lee has spent her recovery time brooding over The Way Things Are.

Major life events have a way of making you step back and look at the big picture. And she certainly has a way with words, to make a broad, complex issue so crisp, and to evoke a feeling so strong.

Still, the digs at lookalike Kapolei houses and kids who hang out at malls - even if just thrown in for color - also reveal (as always) a particular, and not universal, perspective. Lots of people who sneer and gripe at all the housing being built would also probably fall to their knees in gratitude were they finally able to buy one for themselves. One (likely home-owning, middle-class) person's suburban blight is another person's lifelong dream. And hell, kids have been hanging out at malls since there were malls... and while you could say all malls are bad, you could roll that back to where commerce is bad, or all money is bad, or, hell, all forms of entertainment that involve anything besides what you're born with is bad.

Lee earns a paycheck in the mainstream media, for a company called Gannett, after all. She, her parents, and her parents parents, ad infinitum, have been part of "the machine" in some way, all their lives.

Yeah, Hawaii's changed, and I lament the things we've lost as much as anyone. But some things never change, including change. We all want progress until it gets us to where we want to be, then wish it would stop for everyone else. And, yeah, we all think that kids these days just don't get it. Our parents thought the same things of our generation.

So she doesn't like rail because it means other people will be able to live here, work here, and get around here... like she does. A fair point, I suppose, but if growth is inevitable, the question can't be "how do we stop it and go back to the beautiful '20s," but "how do we manage it before it gets worse than it already is?"

I, for one, will give rail a chance before I see H-1 widened to twenty lanes or double-decked from Hawaii Kai to Kapolei.

[kimo55]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

i hope she's just expressing her opinion about these things and is not in any way surprised by the logical sequence of events. after all, we do live in a capitalist/consumerist society....

She is expressing quite a few people's opinions, in words that don't usually come easily to many.
she is laying it bare in all its ugly clarity, the depressingly vacuous lives we lead wherein physical aquisition is the be all, end all... as if this defines us: "hey when i get depressed, i go shopping!"
It is the logical sequence of events for those members of the masses that lead an unexamined life.
and on all levels; we live by rote;
Hey; they do this on the mainland so, let's overdevelop here. Rail works there, so it'll work here.
Stripmalls are everywhere so why not here! Cookiecutter cheap housing is needed, cuz we gotta supply the demand, so why not here and now!
Shopping is what we americans do, and do best!
I've not seen it, the general overview of the problem/situation, vocalised so well as in her column today.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

It sounds like Lee has spent her recovery time brooding over The Way Things Are.

[shaveice]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

"...the soul-corroding pressure to keep up with the omnipresent "top 10" lists that tell us what we should have, how we should act, what we need to worry about and who we ought to admire..."

"...Growth must follow growth to lead to more growth, which, don't forget, is the constant goal...."

"...while their latchkey kids zip over to mill the mall at Pearlridge honing their American consumerism value system..."

i hope she's just expressing her opinion about these things and is not in any way surprised by the logical sequence of events. after all, we do live in a capitalist/consumerist society....

[kimo55]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

DAMN, she's good.

[lurkah]

Tita tells it like it is

"And so goes the bumbling, numbing way in which Hawai'i becomes more and more crowded, developed, urban and expensive. We have to have rail because of the traffic problems that have resulted from all the housing development, and by the way, this will allow more housing to be developed. Fabulous.

Sadly, there isn't much choice. Paradise has been paved and the parking lot is overflowing. Growth must follow growth to lead to more growth, which, don't forget, is the constant goal."

[buzz1941]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

She is an honest-to-god Hawaii treasure.
(Snark mode off, I'm not kidding.)

[Moto]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

Glad to see that Lee is back.

[lavagal]

Re: Lee Cataluna's back!

Great to see her back and ready to geev 'um again! I like when she's sassy and political, but I also like when she's warm and fuzzy. Hope we see both kinds of columns!

[Glen Miyashiro]

Lee Cataluna published a new column today! She's back!!

Yay, Lee!!!