User:Kamaikiokalani

Who is Kamaikiokalani?

E aloha kakou. My full name is Sterling Kamaikiokalani Kekoa and I am fervent Wikipedia reader, who only recently [18-JUN-2008] decided to help out by making a few minor edits to pages I happened upon, and perhaps later make contributions of my own.

As you may have deduced by my name, I am indeed part native Hawaiian. My father, who was born on Moloka`i, is half Hawaiian, which makes me a quarter. Though I remember hearing Hawaiian spoken as a boy and can translate some phrases, often with some difficulty, I would not begin to assert that I understand the language. My overall comprehension is remedial, at best.

Presently, I am 47 and live on the windward side of O`ahu, the island where I was born, but lived much of my life on the mainland, in a few different cities - and moved back to Hawaii about ten years ago from Seattle. I confess I do have a personal interest in Hawaiian language, history and culture; an interest that led to my first Wikipedia edit, but it does not reflect the true underlying reason why I decided to become directly involved.

Over the years, Wikipedia has been a great resource and has helped me find information on innumerable subjects. With exceptions too few to mention, I am continually impressed with both the quality and expanse of Wikipedia's knowledge base as well as its open source operating model. In my humble opinion, Wikipedia's astounding success is a credit to an ingenious, well-conceived idea and the collective energies of smart, diverse and like-minded individuals worldwide. To that, I would like to add that I share one Wikipedia's essential core beliefs, namely its commitment to neutrality. It is such an important tenant to the success of any social enterprise like Wikipedia that I only wish it were similarly adopted by the much larger sphere of global human endeavor.

That said, I must reiterate that I am new to this entire process, so please be patient with me. I'm bound to make a few mistakes, typical of "newbies", but I promise I learn fast. Honestly, I would appreciate any pointers you may have that would help make this experience a little less awkward for me, and perhaps everybody else as well.