That's Not an Accent!
"You have an accent, where are you from?" The first time I was asked this, I said "America". After all, it was the truth, in fact I'm from Hawaii, I'm a Native American. "Oh I see, you're an islander". I know Hawaii used to have a professional baseball team named the Islanders, I know there are businesses in Hawaii with the word islander in their name, I also know there are little league and high school sports teams who choose the team name "Islanders", but never did I think of myself as "an islander". Five years later, I've become accustomed to identifying as an islander, as explaining my Hawaiian heritage can sometimes be difficult. Not the explaining part, but the "shake my head" amazement at what so many mainlanders don't know about the 50th state and their native inhabitants. A co-worker once told me that she didn't realize Hawaiian was a race. She just thought that anyone who res