Tiki sculpture from Hawaii
WRap It Up
by Keith Mylett
© 2000 The Gobbler: Spring Flower
| Editor's Note: Keith Mylett is recent a graduate
of Panama Central School and an English major at
the University of Hawaii. |
It was a warm Sunday night in front of the
Waikiki Movie Theater on the busy street of Kalakaua. On various
sarongs sat Ra and his two female companions. In front of
them were hemp necklaces, beads, and multicolored threads
that were displayed for sale. Ra, a rather husky fellow standing
at about six feet tall with a mohawk consisting of three one
inch purple spikes, was all smiles. To accentuate the tiki
god tattoo on his sternum, Ra was wearing a blue, tiki god
striped aloha shirt, blue Adidas shorts and blue Converse
with no socks. His face was decorated with black and red tribal
designs as well as the Hebrew word YHWH on his forehead.
It would seem, that with such a unique and
striking appearance he would have been more intimidating,
yet his warm smile and kind eyes revealed something else.
Ra emanated what could only be described as a love for his
fellow human beings.
When asked if I could interview him, Ra smiled
and replied "Sure." Then he spread his designer arms to the
girls and said, "Interview all of us." Due to lack of preparation,
I had to decline this offer, although I definitely would have
liked to get to know the girls better. Ra conducted the interview
with such ease that it seemed he was interviewed daily.
Not wanting to stifle the process by asking
boring and robotic questions, I just let Ra fly. He began
by telling me he was from Long Island, NY. Most of his youth
was spent in catholic and military school. While telling me
of his schooling, Ra did not seem resentful in the least bit.
Rather he told the tale quite indifferently. By the time Ra
was a teenager, he was fed up with the strict lifestyle which
he had been leading and said to his mother "Take me out of
this place." She apparently concurred and rescued him from
disciplined bondage. Ra's mother realized that she already
had a son who became a lawyer and decided the other should
be an artist. It was at this point during his life that Ra
learned the skill of hair wrapping. He perfected the technique
of wrapping under the guidance of his mother and her friends.
To this day, Ra is an artist of sorts in
the field of "hair wraps." He has been making his living solely
from wrapping hair for six years now; five of which have taken
place in Hawaii. Ra came to the islands for an intended week
vacation, and has stayed here ever since. He had experienced
the regular "nine to five thing job thing" but later became
aware that, for himself, it was more important to "do what
makes you happy. I mean the only person you got to live with
is yourself, right?" Ra believes in "pleasure before work,
especially in a relationship," and he accredits his successful
engagement to this philosophy. Ra's fiancee lives on Maui.
She has some tattoos but still wants more.
Tattoos had been a childhood dream for Ra,
"I wanted tattoos, its just what I wanted, ya know, just like
how some people want to be, I don't know, an astronaut or
something." Ra's left arm is covered with various Aztec designs.
His right arm is wound by a centipede. He tells me he wants
an eel to accompany the centipede. At the age of eighteen,
the first ink was permanently etched on his body. Now, eleven
years later, he is still enthralled with tattoos and he still
thinks of his body as a canvas that is a "work in process."
Ra does not feel his tattoos really make him all that different
from the ordinary Joe. "Just cause I have tattoos I'm not
a biker, I'm like anyone else, ya know, I got a good heart."
Perhaps the most striking tattoo of Ra's
is the Hebrew word for God on his forehead. This tattoo is
loosely translated as "Yahweh." During the course of the interview
a group of Israelis walked by, doing a double take at Ra.
Then one of them proclaimed, "You have Hebrew on your forehead!"
Ra simply smiled and the Israeli followed up with "Why?" "Why
not, God is the best!" replied Ra. The man with Yahweh on
his forehead told me he goes through this routine with Israelis
all the time.
Obviously Ra is a firm believer in God. He
also believes in all of God's messengers whether Jesus, Mohammed,
or Buddha. Ra is adamant in the faith of creation and totally
dismisses evolution as a crackpot theory. Organized religion
is not Ra's cup of tea. It is his belief that "They [organized
religion] just want money," and don't cater to people's
real needs. When I asked if he considers himself spiritual,
Ra said "No, I just believe in God," in a rather matter of
fact way.
Our conversation was interrupted when a girl
with her boyfriend stopped to look at the merchandise. Instantly,
Ra turned up the charm and transformed into a salesman. He
informed her that she can get a wrap with three colors and
beads for fifteen dollars. She only wanted two colors, yellow
and black, with no beads. So, they settled it at ten bucks.
Once he started wrapping her hair, a crowd gathered to watch.
Ra seemed to glow with all the attention and every now and
then said, "Hello", "Hi" or "It's OK, gather round." At one
point a bystander asked, "how long has this [hair wraps]
been around?" Ra chuckled then said "This has been around
longer then I've been around, they were doing this in Egypt,
heh heh."
Once done with the hair wrap, the crowd dispersed.
It did not seem there would be any more customers. Ra started
to pack up his gear and told me it was time to "wrap it up."
I knew the interview had come to an end but I decided to squeeze
off a few more questions. "So when are you getting married?"
I asked. " Well, that's a personal thing, ya know, not something
you can arrange over the phone. I gotta talk face to face
with her to arrange that." Then I asked if he did drugs. He
told me "No, not anymore, I just smoke pot or drink on occasion."
My final question was about the spelling of his name. "Its
Ra, just like ra ra shish boom ba!"
If you ever want a hair wrap or hemp necklace,
not to mention good conversation, just look in front of the
Waikiki Movie Theater. Ra can often be seen there with his
plethora of tattoos and warm smile. He is the kind of person
who can totally take you off guard and surprise you with the
amount of warmth, kindness and freedom one person can have.
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