In a piece published by the New Yorker on Wednesday, Cora Currier reflects on Hawaii’s experience hosting APEC last week. 

Like many others, Currier wrote about President Barack Obama‘s decision not to have world leaders don aloha shirts for a traditional “family photo,” and the protest song that the musician Makana sang at an APEC dinner. 

Currier, who says she grew up in the Islands, also points out the persistent mainland view that Hawaii is nothing more than a “slice of paradise.”

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