[Third edit: When I wrote this post day before yesterday, I was unaware that the use of the term “hapa” by non-native-Hawaiians was contested. But in the last 48 hours, I’ve learned that the term is a product of a specific historical situation of colonization, and many native Hawaiians understandably object to its use by non-native-Hawaiians. Thanks especially to the commenter Leah, for steering me toward this eye-opening article, which I definitely recommend to all our readers. Now that I’ve learned this, I’ve decided to do a strikethrough of the word “hapa” in the post, leaving it there as an invitation to others to reflect on issues of language, power, and identity.]

The first I heard of the UCSB shooting was on Saturday, when I saw a Facebook reference to a “massacre” in Isla Vista. I’m from northern California, went to college at a UC in SoCal, and…