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 after sufficient deliberation 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 considerable difficulty, I would not begin to assert that I understand the language. My general comprehension of Hawaiian is remedial, at best. "See Spot run!" would be not be an unreasonable corollary.

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 incidentally led to my first Wikipedia edit, it does not reflect the entire reason I elected to become directly involved.

Over the years, Wikipedia has been an invaluable 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 am staunch supporter of one Wikipedia's essential core beliefs, namely its commitment to neutrality. It has proven to be such an important aspect to the success of a social enterprise like Wikipedia that I only wish it were similarly adopted by much larger spheres of global human endeavors.

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 quite likely for a few other Wikipedians as well.