[Edwin F. Lesperance]

I have the experience of being both a ‘mainlander’ (a new term for me) and resident of Hawai`i for a long time (Kama`aina, ‘child of the land’ is used for me now). When I first arrived here I often talked about being ‘from the states,’ since I was unfamiliar with the term ‘mainland.’ People corrected me, largely because of the relatively RECENT state status (more like, we’re one of the states now, too). Younger have kinda taken an ehnocentric view of the responses, since for most of them Hawaii has been a state forever. I watched it become a state. Mainlanders typically view or think of ‘the states’ as the 48 states prior to 1959. We can drive to all of them. We know Hawaii and Alaska are states, but they are further beyond our reach. That is the mainland’s ethnocentrism. Ed L’Esperance

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Name : Edwin F. Lesperance, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Polyamorous, Disability : sorry, that's private, Race : Mixed Caucasian/Asian, Religion : We don't name it., Age : 56, City : Kahalu`u, State : HI, Country : United States, Occupation : Anthropologist, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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