Hawaii
LET me share something with you that only a few of us knew until now. Hawaii has one of the top Shakespearean performers in the country. Her name is Cassandra Wormser, which even sounds Shakespearean, and portraying Juliet she was the winner in the Hawaii English-Speaking Union's high school Shakespeare competition a couple of months ago. I was one of the five judges, and we unanimously agreed she was the best of a talented bunch. That judgment has now been borne out in New York where the Seabury Hall junior represented Hawaii in the national competition against 53 other regional winners (8,000 competitors in all) and was voted runner-up, bested only by an Othello who was deemed "marvelous." Cassandra progressed further than any Hawaii student has in the years the E-SU has been sponsoring the contest. The winner, incidentally, won an all expenses paid trip to the United Kingdom to attend the Oxford School of Drama. Cassandra had to settle for a $500 savings bond along with her trip to New York, but there's always next year - she's only a junior ... THERE'S an old adage that if you want to get something done, you go straight to the top. That's not always possible, of course, but if the top comes to you, go for it! That was the philosophy of Manele Bay Hotel waitress Kendra Sabin when she encountered First Hawaiian Bank chairman Walter Dods on his recent visit to Lanai. She had his attention, you see, so on behalf of her fellow residents on Lanai, she gave him a spiel about how they had no 24-hour banking service on the island, and wasn't his the bank that says, "Yes"? Dods is nobody's fool, particularly when dealing with someone who may have something to say about when his meal will be arriving, so he agreed with her completely and said, "Yes, yes, yes." And so it is that First Hawaiian Bank today installs Lanai's first ATM at its Lanai Avenue branch. And in gratitude for her services, the bank is displaying a sign in the lobby honoring Sabin. Now that's what I call a good tip ...
FORMER Boyd's bartender Tommy Conger has come out with a book of short stories called "Banana Moon." But those of us who used to frequent Boyd's, Honolulu's foremost singles bar, can breath easy - like any good barkeep, Conger holds his confidences like he holds his cards: close to the vest. Instead of a tell-all book, "Banana Moon" is a collection of stories, many set on the neighbor isles where TC now spends most of his time when not looking into his proprietary interest in Northern California's Mount Konocti Winery. Conger will be holding his first book signing tomorrow at noon at Borders, Ward Centre ...
ALOHA magazine publisher Rick Davis wasn't feeling well the other day, so he went to see his doctor in the Queen's Office Building. Davis had undergone a heart bypass in the past, and the doc felt it was no time to take any chances, so he told Davis he was going to have him admitted to Queen's. Davis said fine, he'd drive over. No, no, the doctor said, and they strapped the bemused Davis to a wheelchair, rolled him downstairs and into an ambulance, which took him the absurdly short distance to the hospital. He's still there undergoing tests and complaining about the food. "The meatloaf here makes the Columbia Inn taste like gourmet fare!" Ah, sounds like he's feeling normal ...
