Last night I attended a tweet-up of social media friends and supporters of Hawaii’s governor, Neil Abercrombie, at Tiki’s Restaurant in Waikiki. Abercrombie first encountered many of us at an annual Geek Meet at Ala Moana Beach Park’s Magic Island last spring. He said it was then that he realized there were other ways to get his messages out beyond traditional media.
It isn’t so much that social media types are drawn to Abercrombie, but our efforts did keep him floating above the mosh pit that is Hawaii’s politics. Abercrombie is seen by many of us as a departure from The Old Boy Network in the Islands. He’s refreshing. Once elected he set about to surround himself with talent that other leaders might not have been comfortable with. Young, articulate, some nerdy, some beautiful, all deeply passionate, all pieces of a plan he has to pull Hawaii out of its economic doldrums.
I’m not much for evening events, but I thought to myself that I didn’t know how many other chances I’d have to talk story with Neil before his job kept him from visiting with people in beach-side restaurants. I fed the meter at Kapiolani Park and walked along the beach watching the sunset, watching the people watching the sunset, the waves and the boats. I decided before heading up to the gathering that I’d watch the sunset, too. So I shot a mini 11-second video.
A sunset signifies a day’s end, but for those of us in Hawaii, especially those of us who use Twitter, Facebook, and write blogs, there is no day’s end. Rivulets of missives from people we know and people we don’t know pour into our iPhones and laptops and we’re instantly enlightened about news from near and far. For news junkies like me, it’s an irresistible drip of news hooked up to my iPhone vein.
Last night’s news? I’m burying the lead here for sure, but I tweeted it just as Abercrombie told us last night:
Lavagal 
You can still serve God in a secular job.
True, but apparently you cannot also serve the Catholic Church.