Haha, yeah. As a kid, we'd do Kamehamehas in front of the statue of King Kamehameha at a downtown park in my hometown when we were playing. Occasionally I'll see TikToks/Reels of tourists doing it still!

(to be clear, in that last sentence I am referring to Dole as the colonizers, not the pizza guy in Ontario who I'm fairly certain had nothing to do with the Bayonet Constitution)

(yeah hi hello I have been extremely offline lately as I've been Going Through It and I'll update both here and Patreon about that situation in the near future, but you know I will break out of any funk or distress to yap about Hawai‘i, which will always be my home no matter where on the globe I am)

Hawaiian pizza was invented by a Canadian who named it for the canned pineapples he was using, which were from the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (Dole). Understandable from his perspective, but just extra salt in the wound that this gets mistaken as a legacy of Hawai‘i and not of its colonizers, lol

As an aside, one of the white men who played a part in this story of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and its forced annexation to the United States as a sham Republic was Sanford B. Dole, of the Dole family that runs Dole Foods - yeah, those guys, who make your canned pineapples.

Folks interested should read up more on the Hawaiian sovereignty movement that calls for restoration of Hawai‘i's independence. (At the VERY least, I hope everyone reads up on the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom to contextualize where and how exactly, it falls as part of the United States.

Rest assured, the Irish are not the only ones lamenting the Union Jack's presence on the Hawaiian flag...! There's a movement among some Native Hawaiians to adopt a flag without colonialist or imperialist ties, so you'll also see the Kānaka Maoli flag flown around the islands!

As much as the flag is a legacy of a proud Pacific Island nation that commanded the respect of and recognition from the Western imperialist interests that wanted to subjugate it, yeah, it does absolutely have the Union Jack on it despite Hawai‘i never having been a part of Great Britain.

I'm not well-versed in Hawaiian history -- I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm just a dude who took Hawaiian Studies classes like any other Hawai‘i public schooler + an extra course in college. But I do know the flag came during the reign of Hawai‘i's first monarch, King Kamehameha I!

Oh, this is a great opportunity to share some history!! The state of Hawai‘i has this flag because this was the flag of the sovereign Kingdom of Hawai‘i (1795-1893). This flag survived the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, and its subsequent annexation to the U.S.

LMAOOO wait I really can, though--

I have been avoiding social media mostly due to the shame of not drawing, but I had to break it for Next Door Dad. Especially because it's spider season again...

Next Door Dad: "...And that's how I invented walking" Smallest child: "YEAH, and that's how he invented walking!!"

Next Door Dad: "You are not ready for my insults, you moldy Popsicle stick"

Next Door Dad: "There are gods of war. Gods of thunder. Gods of cheese. But all dodge in the face of the God of Dodge." *sound of rubber ball bouncing off of things that are not children* Next Door Dad: "...I shall get you all in time."

There was some more screaming, followed by singing, and then-- Next Door Dad: "Enough about the history of the universe. Are you ready for more DODGE. BALL."

Kids: "RAAAHHH" Next Door Dad: "You call that a war cry? You wanna hear a REAL war cry? Here it comes." Next Door Dad: "*sucking in air*" Next Door Dad: "...WAR CRY."

Work has slowed down a fair bit over the last few months, I've got the final issues of 2 series left on my plate and THAT'S IT for 2026 so ya girl is very much looking for gigs!