When I was young, my thoughts of Hawai’i centered around its touristic qualities: palm trees bending in a warm wind, white sand beaches kissed by the tranquil blue sea, hula dancers, plumeria leis, and beautiful sunsets. Hawai’i is truly what dreams are made of. I had visited the islands as a tourist many times and with each visit, leaving became more difficult. I took my interest in the landscape and the experience and carried it with me until I arrived at Monmouth University as an undergraduate student. During a history of the English language course with Dr. [Heide] Estes, I took my interest in Hawai’i and applied it to my term paper examining Hawaiian Pidgin English. Never before had I so thoroughly enjoyed writing a paper. Hours spent in the library flew by as I researched Hawaiian history and culture.

With that experience fresh in mind, I entered the Monmouth University Graduate Program and knew that I wanted to further incorporate my interest into my thesis. I have been studying literature for the past six years and realized that I had never once come across a Hawaiian text. What is Hawaiian literature and why is it missing from the American literature classroom? The idea came into focus during a New Jersey literature class with Dr. [Stanley] Blair as I questioned how to locate literature as the literature of place. From this, the infamous Dunkin Donuts example was born and I was fully committed to my topic. If a Hawaiian comes to New Jersey, goes to the Dunkin Donuts on route [sic] 35, orders a pineapple filled donut (which may or may not exist), and writes a poem, is that Hawaiian literature or New Jersey literature? I felt a personal responsibility, because of my interest in Hawaiian culture and literature, to argue that Hawaiian literature belongs in mainland classrooms because it is a state. I cultivated this idea for over a year and ultimately produced a thesis that I am not only proud of, but connected to because I put so much of myself into it.