At the October 9th Honolulu Pen Women meeting, speaker
Maile Meyer, founder of Na Mea Hawai'i, Native Books in Ward Warehouse, offered
a presentation incorporating the theme of Queen Lili'uokalani and her life and
works. Bridging people through creativity,
food, words, books, music and outreach, Maile brought the audience to tears and
laughter with her inspired presentation, lacing her profound cultural lessons
with personal stories.
Nancy
Mower told us the following story about Maile:
“My
granddaughter was Maile’s buyer a few years ago. Maile held a lunch for her employees and my
granddaughter invited me along. I was so
impressed with the way Maile handled the meeting. She said things such as, "How many of you
are taking the ukulele class?" and "How many are involved in … craft?” (I can't remember exactly what craft she
mentioned but it was another of Maile's ways of involving her employees.)
There were other cultural activities she asked about. I could tell from that luncheon that this was
not an employer talking to her employees.
Instead it was an `ohana in which Maile was the leader who wanted to
involve all of her `ohana in a cultural experience.”
Waimea and Ilima welcoming Mail with Oli Aloha
Maile closed with a narrative performance, involving audience members reciting readings from “Hawai'i’s Story by Hawai'i’s Queen.”
Thank you, Maile, for all your wonderful work!
