ABOUT

     Welcome to Namakani. Thanks for dropping in.
     This site features stories and other compositions by Al Arney.
     Allow me to introduce myself. I was extremely lucky to to grow up in Honolulu, Hawai'i, as our family moved there in 1963. Hawai'i had become the 50th state of the United States in 1959, and was just starting to experience tremendous social changes that continue to this day. We came from north Minnesota, and were part of a wave of American immigrants / carpetbaggers that arrived in unexpected and overwhelming numbers. I had experiences that were  both exhilarating and devastating, and I have wanted for years to share those by writing about them. 

     Writing from the edge. One foot in the grave and the other one on a bar of soap. I planned on having a completely different kind of writing career, but life got in the way. New perspectives opened up, and I can share different points of view. Come take a walk with Al. We can get out to those edges and back safely.

      Some stories just have to be told.

     INIKI was the name of a hurricane that hit the Hawaiian islands in September, 1992. I was near the summit of Mt. Haleakala, on Maui, when it struck. Even though the storm did not hit Maui directly, the winds in the upper elevations were enough to fling me through the air, and chill me to the bone. I consider it a miracle that I survived, and you can see why here. Hawaiian words will show up, like Iniki, Haleakala, Maui, and more. If you aren't familiar with Hawaiian words, don't worry. They will be explained in due time.

     POLAWA is not a Hawaiian word, as far as I know. It stands for: Police Officers Lopes, Aina, Wingo, and Akagi, and is an account of my personal experience of police misconduct. From an initial physical assault, through the courts, to a settlement out of Court, we follow various steps in pursuit of justice. This is intended as a report only - all litigation in the matter is over and done with, and I believe that you can fact check my version in the public record.
     It is a personal report, though. To say that it is "fair and balanced" would imply that I write from the perspective of some omniscient "objective" reality.  Polawa is as true as you are going to get - it is the truth as I experienced it. You will see resentment in just about every paragraph, and that resentment is lasting and true, it's not going away. Believe me, though, I cleaned it up a lot. There are many terms I could have used to characterize the officers,  but I've tried to stick with "criminals." They probably won't like this. Hard luck … they should have considered that before they decided to commit criminal acts.
     I sat on a wall with my hands in my lap and let these officers punch my head until one of them knocked me unconscious. Then they used their positions as officers to bring false charges against me and try to give me a criminal record. That's their half.
     I fight back with these words. There's your fair and balanced.

      Recent events in the United States have made police "misconduct" a national topic, and the way various city, county, state, and federal governments deal with such behavior is under review.

The Honolulu Police Commission was the agency that handled such issues in 1996, and I was lucky  to receive documentation about my case, which I will share with you. Does your city have such policies and investigations? Would you want to be treated the way I was? If your police break the law and kill somebody, is that a crime, or  just misconduct?

    The accounts of the assault and the trial are as I first wrote them in 2002. They are documents of their time, in several ways. In 1996, when the assault took place, police were already changing from friendly neighborhood cops to armed squads. The Honolulu station had been a former Sears building, and was replaced by an ultra secure fortress. I was still expecting Honolulu Police officers to bring calm, and try to defuse situations, rather than exacerbate them.
     By 2002, when this was written, I had spent years clawing my way up from injuries, financial ruin, and struggling through the legal system. They were stressful and traumatic years, and I don't care to revisit  them for re-writing and corrections, so please take the first sections as they are. They are  true to what actually happened, and how I felt about it.  One of the points I'm trying to make in Polawa is that certain police officers and policies create lasting resentment from their victims, and that resentment lingers, and extends to all police officers. For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.          

     TIM / MILKY WAY  / DEPTH OF FIELD is a celebration of and memorial for my brother,  Tim Arney, and a celebration of our place in the universe by way of looking at the "whole sky" view of the Milky Way. These two concepts weren't originally supposed to be together, but have been united by time and circumstances. Tim was a passionate artist, and few things could excite him more than discovering a new point of view, or finding a way to share a new perspective. To me, the best sight we have from planet Earth is of the galaxy we are part of, and Tim agreed, when he was able to see it. (He lived most of his life in Alaska, which is so far North that the galactic center isn't really visible)

     Anyway, the Milky Way Observance should have been presented while he was still living, and dedicated to him, but since he's died, it's become part of his memorial.  
     This is an attempt to get as many humans as possible outside at night, to a place where they can see and appreciate the tremendous panorama that we live in. This used to be our birthright, but so many people live in cities nowadays that they are lucky to see any stars at all, let alone get a perspective on our galaxy. You are NOT going to get that perspective here or on any screen - you will probably have to work a bit, and get to a place where you can see the sky from horizon to horizon.

     BUSKING:  To entertain by singing and dancing, especially in public places.

     Ah, well. Entertain 2): To extend hospitality.  Here we are, in a public space. You are invited to come in, and visit some other spaces. One of the aspects of Art is that it allows you to see (or hear, or perceive) from other points of view. Whether it's a portrait, a landscape, a song, or a story, a work of art presents us with a scene from a new perspective, and broadens our experience. The Busking section features some trumpet recording I did through the years, but everything in Namakani  is part of the hospitality. Every piece is a place that you can visit.

     I did most of the horn recordings in places where there were echoes, particularly in the Koolau Mountains above Honolulu, the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and streets and alleys in Honolulu and Fort Collins. You can "get" a feeling of the space in these places, although you probably need headphones. The echoes are all natural, though, with no electronic effects. Anyway, just enjoy the songs...

     Other scenes are more serious. Maybe you don't feel like freezing to death in a hurricane - it sounds so uncomfortable - but I was able to go (almost) there, and tell you about it.

     You probably don't want to don't want to sit on a wall and let the Police assault you until you are unconscious or dead. Police misconduct has become a major issue in modern society, it is  extremely relevant, and we are overdue to make some serious decisions. I experienced the whole process, from being beaten on the street through the Police Commission and the courts and saw how how the officials skirted the law to protect dirty cops. I didn't want to get this particular story, but I did, and here you are.

     Or maybe you'd rather sit on the edge of the galaxy, and dangle your feet in interstellar space. Yeah, that's the ticket. You're sitting there already.

     So. Yes, Namakani is a dot com, but it is run by Al Arney. This is as close as we are going to get to word of mouth advertising. I'm not going to show up at your door, or in your e-mail, or randomly online. And yes, money is the lifeblood of our society. I have to eat, and pay for the site, feed the cats, and ... ah, well.    Patrons, here's your chance.        Or just pass it on.

     Once again, welcome to  Namakani.  This is just the beginning. Hopefully, there will be much more added in a few months, so stay tuned. So far, all text and images are by Al Arney, except for:

     The beautiful Milky Way Panorama, by and courtesy of Axel Mellinger.   
     The Joy Today - an original poem by Tim Arney, and the accompanying photo of him by Liz    

          Nakoa.

     More "stuff" by Tim, as we go through his works.
     The memorial essay by Tim's "old friend" Barbara.
     Thanks, everybody.
     Otherwise it's just Al.  

     Aloha.

     NOT in Namakani:
     Advertisements
     Cookies (at least not authorized by me)
     Narcissistic fluff  (well, you could consider the whole thing my narcissistic fluff, but we don't need to go there…)                                               

    Blogs  (Sorry, I'd love to have some conversations going, but I'll be lucky to
         finish what's already pending before I get old and decrepit)

    Content and opinions mandated by corporate owners of the media




     

     

NAMAKANI

THE WINDS