TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Necessity isn't always the mother of invention. For Denise Moreland it was a gradual dawning that grew while driving to school. An onboard tour guide
without the kitsch
or corny jokesShe had been in Hawaii for three years in the 1980s, and "didn't get it at all." She returned to the mainland and eventually married an Air Force man who would bring her back in 1993. Moreland wasn't thrilled but as many a cross-stitch wall-hanging says, "Home is where the Air Force sends you."
She took a Saturday morning Hawaiiana class on the way to finishing her business degree at Hawaii Pacific University. Driving over Likelike Highway as the sun was coming up, "during that semester, studying the history, having that experience, the valley on the other side started speaking to me," she said.
Moreland learned more, met key people in the Hawaiian community and wrote a script for TourTalk Hawaii Nei, a recorded drive-guide.
"We wanted to keep it pure, no advertising," she said. She and her husband, Michael, funded development of the project for five years.
"It's done in informal talk-story style by (entertainer) Joe Recca and (radio personality) "Sistah" Sherry Clifton. "It's like having your own kupuna in your car." Other voices, music, chants and sound effects accompany the narration, which promises that tour-takers won't get lost unless they want to.
It comes with a 72-page booklet with a pull-out map.
Kumu hula Iwalani Tseu served as cultural advisor, helping Moreland share what she's learned of the deeper meaning of aloha, ohana and other concepts local folk take for granted. Cultural correctness was of crucial concern to Moreland, who has become Tseu's hanai sister.
"Let's not sell (visitors) the oyster, let's give them the pearl," she said.
TourTalk Hawaii Nei is advertised in visitor publications and, starting today, on in-room visitor channels in hotels. Its agreement with Hawaii's Best Fulfillment Inc. will deliver the guide on CD or cassette to any Waikiki hotel room by 5 p.m., if it's ordered before noon. Booklines Hawaii Ltd. will distribute the guide for the visitor, military and traditional retail market for $24.95. Its Web site is www.tourtalkhawaii.com.
"It's like my hanai sister tells everybody, a Hawaiian heart doesn't necessarily always come with brown skin," Moreland said.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com