TV REVIEW
Sept. 11 special zooms in on island connections

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

•	'Hawai'i to New York: The Aloha Spirit Lives' An "Emme's Island Moments" special 9 p.m. tomorrow (repeats at 1 p.m. Sunday) KGMB

The special is devoid of the images of carnage and the flaming towers that we've all seen in news reports.

Instead, Tomimbang tracks the island connections in the Sept. 11 tragedy, focusing on personal stories of hurt, hardship and healing in "Hawai'i to New York: The Aloha Spirit Lives."

Clearly, the mending continues as we approach the first anniversary of the airliner hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Here, Tomimbang does what she does best, zooming in on the little guys, sharing heart-tugging tales and working in the Hawai'i connection.

A segment with two daughters who lost their firefighting father in the trade center disaster is one of the highlights. Lauren and Kaitlyn Meisenheimer, 14- and 12-year-old Long Island students, enact a ballet performed to the live vocal of "Our Nation in Song" by DisGuyz, the island band with members Jason Lent, Calsen Aiwohi, Ian Ayson and Kimo Montgomery.

The girls encountered the tune and the group when they came to Hawai'i last Dec. 3 with their mom, Joanne, as part of the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau's mission to bring a little aloha to families of those who died in the attacks. This time, DisGuyz flew to New York to sing, in person, the tune dedicated to the girls' father and other victims.

For composer Lent, the journey brought new depth to the song he and fellow writer Elan Markos wrote in response to the events of Sept 11. "I felt a connection," Lent said.

Connection is what the show is all about, examining threads that yield a gigantic lei of aloha sewn by ordinary folks. There's Esther Lau, a Red Cross volunteer from Hawai'i dispatched to help at the height of the New York rescue effort; Roger Dickson, CEO of Red Cross operations in Hawai'i, viewing Ground Zero in person for the first time; and Ken Lee, mental health adviser, who openly admits, "I cried for six months after (the World Trade Center attacks)."

Melissa Short, a former Miss Hawai'i in search of a New York performing career, was enlisted to sing "Amazing Grace" and "America the Beautiful" at Rescue 3 in the Bronx, which lost eight men at WTC. As Captain Ralph Tiso says, he knew he was responding initially to a fire call, but a "1060" designation meant the mission was "significant, with casualties." Little did he suspect the magnitude of the loss.

There's Jim Dangle, chef at Roy's in the financial district, reflecting on the aloha spirit as the Hawai'i-linked restaurant strives for recovery. "It's been a re-grand opening for us," he says.

There's local boy Jim Simpson, directing a play by Anne Nelson titled "The Guys," the first drama coming out of the disaster. It originally starred Simpson's wife, actress Sigourney Weaver, who is starring in a film version of the modest work with maximum impact, telling of the camaraderie provoked by the shared grief and loss and the need to come together in harmony.

As Weaver says, after visiting Ground Zero and acting in this play about the real-life recuperation under way: "There's so much love and compassion for each other" on display here.

Capt. Tiso, the firefighter, visits the set of "The Guys," a play about folks like him.

There are updates, too, on six with Hawai'i ties who perished: Heather Ho, Rich Y.C. Lee, Maile Hale, Christine Snyder, Georgine Corrigan and Patricia Malia Pitchford Colodner. The placing of lei at a memorial fence is a fitting tribute, and one of many ways survivors, friends and family commemorate their feelings and pick up the pieces.

Since completing the special, Tomimbang has heard from Joanne Meisenheimer that a piece of her husband's helmet has been found. Now, the family can have a burial and find a little more peace.