There was a queen that was overthrown here. So I was affected by all of that and felt profoundly grateful for the opportunity to live in Hawaii, and I set out at once to try to fit in.

We live in Manhattan. Where else can you be more affected?

I think it's a perfect fit with her roots here in Hawaii and that fact that she has played here in the past. It's almost like watching one of your children grow up.

Land began to be seen as something to be owned privately and exploited for private interests, and never was entirely reconciled with the old ideas that land should be utilized in common for the good of all.

I remember saying to the chairman after serving the first year, ''Why are we doing this? Why don't the Hawaiians have control?'' ''Well, we have no mechanism to do it,'' I was told.

Are the Native Hawaiians going to be able to control their own land and their own money? When the land was seen as worthless, nobody gave a damn.