Post from Jewel on her homepage!!!
Hello!
I'm headed to Hawaii, I'm so excited!!! I have a private show there, and will get to have a day off as well! Ty came along, and I brought Amy (my assistant), Unicorn (my sounds guy) and Schwy (my tour manager), who is bringing his wife since they got married in HI a couple years ago. Sometimes shows take u to fun places!
I lived in Hawaii when I was 13, in Oahu,Kaneohe. I had an Aunt who visited us in Alaska. She offered to take me to live in HI with her and her husband and 2 year old daughter for a year. I had to earn enough money (singing at night with my dad in bars/restaurants and babysitting) to fly myself there. I got a one way ticket, and when I landed it was beyond exotic!! It was so hot compared to Alaska, I thought I'd pass out! Though looking back, I bet it was only 80 degrees!
Hawaii was an all around shock for me. Suddenly I lived with a strict military family that had rules. I was raised by a single dad who let us kids govern ourselves. We woke ourselves up, cooked, did chores. We were like little adults, so rules weren't my style. Especially the wacky strict ones. In fact, that's a long strange sad story. But, suffice it to say, my new home was hard. It was like going from the kettle to the fire.
Anyway, I was just a scared lonely child, who left a tough home life, and went to Hawaii and found myself in a tough new home, and going to a tough new school. If you guys don't know, local schools are hard core in Hawaii! In fact, most white kids get home schooled or go to Catholic school, even if they aren't Catholic. The local kids beat up "Howley" kids- and I mean break arms, ribs- hospitalize them!! I went to a local school called King Junior High. I came from a town with a total popuation of 5,000 people, and wound up in a school with 2,000 kids. That was only seventh and eight grade kids!! Talk about culture
shock! I went from a rural life of milking cows to a vey urban environment. I got pushed around and called names and beat up. It was so scary and strange. It made me feel claustrophobic, like my life was crowding in on me. So much pain filled my young heart. My life was upside down and out of my control.
I had gone from a stable home as a child, through a divorce, and on to a new town with a parade of new schools with a single father. So I left Alaska after 7th grade and thought I'd escape to warm exotic Hawaii, only to find it was no better... and I was stuck! My family didn't have the money to bring me home. It was up to me. I had to wait until I could make enough money for a ticket back.
I began finding odd jobs. I was stranded and withdrew further into my writing. It took me six months to earn the money for a ticket home. If I recall, the anual Alaskan dividend check helped (If you are a citizen, you get money every year from the oil pipeline) AND, on the up side, school got easier as I learned to fit in. I began speaking Pigeon (local slang) and when the kids found out I could yodel, they stopped beating me up if I promised to yodel whenever they wanted- which was a lot! They loved yodeling! Who knew?! Yodeling DOES save lives!
I can't say leaving Hawaii made my life better or easier. I moved out on my own just 2 years later, at age 15, and it would be many many years until things turned around for me. More importantly, it took time to learn to take control of myself, and learn habits that would lead me to a life I wanted, not a life I mindlessly fell into. I didnt want to be another statistic. I think it has worked out pretty well!! Here I am, going back to Hawaii for my own show! I'm all grown up, married and in a healthy relationship with a man I love and who loves me. I never did drugs to numb the pain (writing is way better!), and I'm doing a job I love! It's definitely worked out way better than I could have dreamed!
I can't thank my fans enough for sticking with me all these years and buying my music- and for caring about music and art- and me!
The plane's landing.... Aloha!
xxj