Hi, Mr Biggs,
Your post interested me very much, and I have a few thoughts:
I've been to two District conventions in Hawaii. My best friend lived there for two years when her Army Ranger husband was stationed on Oahu. I went there the first time to make sure she actually went (crowbar in hand) and the second time to watch her get baptised. I spent enough time there to get to know the other witlesses, attend the other meetings, and go out to acquire numbers to put on a slip of paper to validate my existence. Oh - and even a witness Tupperware party!
Ironically, my friend attended the Mililani congregation.
The ratio on Oahu of witnesses to regular people is staggeringly high, as is the number of those who pioneer. In some areas they cover their territories in like a couple of hours. I guess the number of witnesses living in the community is such that their potential affect on the local economy and influence on people must be "accommodated" if not outright capitalized on by the press. (An average person encounters a witness virtually every single day; the culture is very oriented around being well-mannered and polite, so there is very little slamming of doors there. One can only surmise that many conversations on many topics take place (just to keep the "time" going for the jw; just to not bring disgrace upon the family by being curt or rude for the non-jw?).
I see the "feature" article of course from this cynical viewpoint.
Hawaiian women are extremely beautiful..... I've never seen so many acrylic nails, perfectly accessorized outfits, and expert, flawless grooming in one place, ever, in my life. I have to say, though that "modest" is NOT an accurate typification of style. New York's most prominent socialites would look "dowdy" in comparison with these bejeweled princesses... guess it depends on the definition of "modest;" most jw propaganda leads on to believe 'modest' is not calling undue attention to your self. That being said, at one point my friend and I were out walking during the lunch break, and I laughed upon seeing a hooker hanging around the perimeter of the convention site - "guess she won't get much business around here hardy har har" - then we noticed her name badge....
My friend, who'd been my best friend for almost 20 years, who'd grown up in New York, who could take a linebacker down with her pinky and out-swear any sailor, who was a former owner of a health and weight-training business, became a virtual invalid after accommodating the jw lifestyle. She was stubborn enough to force herself to embrace it mentally, but her internal "this is screwed up" alarms would eventually find a way to manifest through physical, inexplicable chronic pain.
She lost her husband, and life savings, and 'spark'. I have pleaded with her to contact me "HEY - we are both out now - let's get on with our lives here!!!" but she will not. I don't know why; perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I felt compelled to threaten to squeal on her after one occasion of reefer madness if she didn't go straight to the elders and turn herself in (OMG - the entire spiritual welfare of her congregation was at stake here and my children would not survive the big A if I didn't do what was "right"...
Val, if you could know how much I miss and need you, and how much I regret being the one to introduce you to this nightmare.....