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My Kind of Town Don Chapman |
Something’s in the air
» East-West Center
The sweet smell of plumeria rode down Manoa Valley on a warm and gentle trade wind.
But there was more than a tropical scent in the air.
There was tension. Anticipation. Some fear. Some let's get it on.
All because an attempt had been made on the second Lama Jey Tsong Khapa's life when he appeared in public yesterday. It was well-documented in the Star-Bulletin and on all the local TV stations. CNN and Fox News even picked it up. (Bill O'Reilly, pleased that his show is now being seen in China, and factoring in the opportunity to sell mugs and books to the most populous nation on Earth, refused to touch this story, as he had any other involving abuses by the Communist bullies who rule in Beijing. Canada, though, now there's an enemy. Hey, you can't get FN up there. Boycott the bums.)
So twice as many media types showed up at Jefferson Hall -- even some radio folks, for cryin' out loud! -- as had covered the young lama's visit to his parents' home in Liliha. He could be attacked again. Live footage at 6.Ê
The media were again joined by 200 monks in orange mendicant robes, chanting, ringing bells, clicking prayer beads.
They were joined by a large group of people who attend bull fights hoping for a goring, hockey games hoping for a fight, auto races hoping for a crash, the day after Thanksgiving at Macy's hoping to see a woman crumble under the numbing weight of her purchases.
Of course there was a group that always showed up to support anything they perceived as liberal.
And members of the Tibetan student association had set up a table to promote the annual Free Tibet kegger during Homecoming Week.
Police kept them all well back from the graceful plaza surrounding Jefferson Hall. Security was especially tight after the FBI just minutes ago busted a Communist sympathizer, a student from Iowa, as he sighted a rocket-propelled grenade launcher out of a top-floor window of Manoa Hall at the plaza where the lama and his entourage would soon arrive. Barriers had been erected. Riot police in full battle regalia stood at the ready.
Eyes scanning the crowd, HPD Detective Sherlock Gomes chatted with columnist Cruz MacKenzie and extreme photographer Johnny B. Goo.
"This is nuts," MacKenzie muttered. "This young man, this kid really, comes to talk about peace, altruism and compassion, and they practically have to call out the freakin' Marines."
There was, in fact, a young Marine in the audience. Kai Chang, a Kamehameha grad, spoke Mandarin and was in military intelligence, currently attached to the FBI's counter- terrorism department. For this occasion he was dressed casually, undercover.
The crowd's excited buzz rose to cheers and shouts as the lama's limo turned up East-West Road.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Don Chapman is editor of MidWeek. His serialized novel runs daily in the Star-Bulletin. He can be e-mailed at dchapman@midweek.com