“The Life” Cel eb rating th e a r t s, cu l t u re, a nd s u s t a i n ab i l i t y o f t h e Hawa i i a n Is la nds Hawai‘i Island Edition
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“The Life” Celebra ting the a r ts, culture, a nd susta ina bilit y of the Ha wa iia n Is la nd s
September–October 2013 Kepakemapa–‘Okakopa 2013
Art 43 Feather Art: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow By Barbara Fahs
Business
NOVEMBER 9-17 Come to Hawaii’s Yoga Coast for the intimate, empowering, and soulful Hawai‘i Yoga Festival.
67 Managing with Aloha: Ho‘omau By Rosa Say
Culture 25 The Journey of Hula Competition The Experience of One Haumana By Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco 55 Speaking the Language of Love A Conversation with Kahuna Kalei‘iliahi By Cynthia Sweeney
Home 47 Kona’s Onion House The Sydney Opera House Meets Stonehenge By Barbara Fahs
Land 13 Then & Now: Hilo Sugar Mill/Wainaku Center By Denise Laitinen 37 Success! Hakalau Forest Refuge Scientists and volunteers partner to save forest birds By Fern Gavelek
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75 Avocado By Sonia R. Martinez
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Music 69 Craftsmanship That Sings Big Island Ukulele Guild By Le‘a Gleason
People 19 Kumu Hula Etua Lopes, E Ola E Ola Mau By Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco 31 Sounds of Peace A Joyful Noise in Honoka‘a By Catherine Tarleton 63 I Live. I Love. I Race. Kailua-Kona’s Own Triathlete Bree Wee By Margaret Kearns
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Accomodations Dragonfly Ranch Healing Arts Center and B & B 70 Kalani 5 Kilauea Lodge 40 Shipman House Bed & Breakfast 36 Activities, Culture, Events Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden 39 Aloha Performing Arts Co. 76 Big Island Eco-Adventures Zipline 26 Destination Hilo Museum Pass 14 Dolphin Journeys 64 Donkey Mill’s Cool Fusion 17 East Hawaii Building Community Expo 33 FairWind Big Island Ocean Guides 62 Hawaii Forest & Trail, Echoes of Kamehameha Tour 40 Hawai’i Yoga Festival at Kalani 4 Kohala Ditch Adventures 41 Kohala Zipline 30 Kona Boys 65 Lavaland 51 Lyman Museum & Mission House 12 Palace Theatre 12 Art, Crafts, Jewelry Big Island Glass & Art Gallery 42 Cindy Coats Gallery 42 Cliff Johns Gallery 21 Dovetail Gallery & Design 18 Elements Gallery 30 Fabric Gift Shoppe 44 Firehouse Gallery 10 Harbor Gallery 16 Hawaiian Dolls 58 Hawi Gallery Art & Ukuleles 30 Holualoa Ukulele Gallery 18 Ironwood Custom Framing & Design 10 Lavender Moon Gallery 21 Living Arts Gallery 30 Kailua Village Artists Galleries 54 Kamuela Goldsmiths 54 Mary Ellen Clagett, Artist 78 Mountain Gold Jewelers 68 Pele’s Glass Creations 44 Pele’s Hokulele Gallery 53 Quilt Passions 32 Sassafras Jewelry 29 Showcase Gallery & Beads 21 Simple Elegance Gems 46 Studio of Sticks and Stones 46 Treasure Island Gallery of the Exotic 42 Trudy’s Island Arts 42 True Hawaii Blue Aprons 54 Visions of the Tropics 44 Automotive Big Island Honda 23 Lex Brodie’s Tire & Service Center 34 Precision Auto Repair 18
Beauty, Health, Nutrition Bailey Vein Institute 2 Blue Dragon Bodywork 83 Colleen Keegan, CHT, NLP 60 Douglas Dierenfield, DDS 17 Joan Greco, DDS, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery 57 Hamakua Hairbrush Co. 44 Hawaiian Healing Yoga 59 Le Spa 65 Luana Naturals 32 Monica Scheel, MS, Dermatologist 59 Natural Balance Acupuncture, Rolfing & Massage 79 Ohana Hearing Center 59 Premier Spa Services 54 Randy Ressler, DDS 36 Reiki at Klein Chiropractic Center 68 Swami’s Healing Arts 79 Valerie Cap, Master Haircutter 56 Vog Relief Herbal Capsules 64 Your Divine Light, Katie Toomey RN 36 Building, Construction, Home Furnishings Aloha Adirondack Chairs 48 Bamboo Too 48 Concrete Technologies 17 dlb & Associates 73 Garden Inspirations 27 Hawaii Water Service Co. 38 HomeWorld Furniture 50 Indich Collection Hawaiian Rugs 7 Interior Alchemy 20 Marcus Castaing Fine Furniture 78 Mason Termite 34 Pacific Gunite 50 Plantation Living 22 Pro Vision Solar 81 Quindembo Bamboo Nursery 73 Statements 49 Trans Pacific Design 51 Water Works 20 Yurts of Hawai’i 38 Business and Professional Services A Wealth of Wisdom Book Publishing 56 Action Business Services 80 Aloha Business Services 79 Allstate Insurance, Steve Budar 24 Ameriprise Financial, Andrew Spitz 66 Entrepreneur’s Source, Kari Waldhaus 66 Great American Self Storage 10 Ho‘oNani Place Adult Day Care 60 Netcom 80 Red Road Telecom 66 Scott March, Attorney 80 Education Keystone Waldorf 58
Pets East Hawaii Veterinary Center 9 Keauhou Veterinary Hospital 3 Miranda’s Pets 57 Real Estate Arabel Camblor, RS, Clark Realty 6 Cindy Griffey Schmidtknecht, RS, MacArthur & Co. 14 Coldwell Banker-Daylum Properties 60 Hawaiian Dream Properties 56 Lava Rock Realty 8 Kelly Shaw, RS, Koa Realty 54 The Commercial Group 32 The Real Estate Book 76 Restaurants and Food Aloha Lehua Café 28 Big Island Bees Honey & Museum 41 Blue Dragon Restaurant 83 Boogie Woogie Pizza 28 Chef Paul’s Sauces & Seasonings 26 Coco Island Cuisine 28 Country Coffee 38 Holukoa Gardens & Café 18 Ho‘oulu Farmers Market 72 Lucy’s Taqueria 12 Moo Bettah 53 Nevaeh’s Southern BBQ 28 Pele’s Kitchen 28 Peaberry & Galette 53 South Kona Green Market 77 Sushi Rock 30 Retail and Gifts Aloha Kona Kids- Retail 58 Aloha Kona Kids- Rentals 60 AlohaTeddyBears.com 81 Basically Books 12 Big Island BookBuyers 29 Buddha’s Cup Coffee 18 Golden Egg Cash Assets 66 Hawaii’s Gift Baskets 70 High Country Farm-Protea Flowers 41 Kadota Liquor, K’s Drive In 27 Kiernan Music 21 Keauhou Shopping Center 52 Keauhou Store 18 Kona Commons Shopping Center 24 Kona Wine Market 24 Kona Stories 53 Mama’s House 10 Mi’s Wine & Cheese Shop 22 Paradise Found Boutique 53 28 Puna Style South Kona Macadamia Nut Co. 20 Sweet Wind Books & Beads 10 The Spoon Shop 60 Travel Jet Vacation Travel Agency 65 Mokulele Airlines 36
“The Life” Ce leb ra t i n g t h e a r t s, cu l t ure, a n d s u s t a i n ab i l i t y o f t h e Hawa i ia n I sla nds
UA MAU KE EA O KA ‘ĀINA I KA PONO.
The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness. [Its sustainability depends on doing what is right.] Proclamation by Kona-born King Kamehameha III in 1843. Later adopted as the Hawai‘i state motto.
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Ke Ola is printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks. Ke Ola is a member of Hawai‘i Alliance for a Local Economy (HALE), supporting the “Think Local, Buy Local” initiative. Submit online at KeOlaMagazine.com (go to Contact menu) Community Kōkua volunteer opportunities Editorial inquiries or story ideas Request advertising rates Worldwide Delivery 808.329.1711 x3, order online at KeOlaMagazine.com, or mail name, address, and payment of $24 US/$48 to Canada for one year to: PO Box 1494, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745. Contact us for international rate. Subscriptions and back-issues available online © 2013, Ke Ola Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved
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Aloha from the Publisher
We’re excited to introduce some new ways for reader interactivity. First, Ke Ola Kālā (cash), a $5 coupon for you to clip (see p. 79), which will enable you to receive a discount at any of our participating advertisers in this issue. Choose a business you want to buy something from, or start your holiday shopping, then hele in and cash in your Ke Ola Kālā. The best part—it won’t cost the advertiser anything, so it’s a win-win for everyone! Have you ever lost your keys, phone, laptop, or briefcase? I have to admit that I’ve lost both my keys and my phone (at different times, thank goodness). Since necessity is the mother of invention, we have come up with a way to reconnect lost items with their owners without revealing your personal information and without it costing you anything. Details are on the back cover. Register on our website for Ke Ola’s lost and found service. If you don’t have online access, call 808.329.1711 ext 4, and Sharon, our wonderful subscription manager and all around go-to gal will register you over the phone. You’ll even receive a beautiful free Ke Ola key tag or sticker—everyone will want one to remind them of their favorite magazine! We’re tickled that three of our advertisers won “Best of ” in West Hawaii Today’s readers’ poll—could it be because of their advertising
in Ke Ola? In any case, congratulations to Jet Vacations, Keauhou Veterinary Hospital (5 time winner), and Trudy’s Island Arts for a job well done! Mahalo to West Hawaii Today for providing this opportunity for the community to vote for their favorite businesses. We are excited to present this issue’s stories. We’ve been in a progressive stage for quite some time and will continue to introduce new features in the near future. You may notice that our stories are geared even more towards Hawaiian culture and history, and what it takes to make this island sustainable by protecting its land, people, and animals. We proudly share the stories and wisdom of the kūpuna, kāhuna and kumu to help perpetuate the culture and history for future generations. We’re making continuous improvements to our website, so if you haven’t visited it lately, please check it out again. Two of my favorite words are kaizen (Japanese, meaning continuous improvement) and imua (Hawaiian, to move forward). As we move forward, making continuous improvements, we look forward to hearing from you! Aloha pumehana, Barbara Garcia, Publisher
From Our Readers
✿ Aloha Barb, I believe it was you who I had the conversation with regarding our missing July/August issue in da mail. I said I would let you know when we received either the one that went out originally, or the one you were resending. Yesterday I received a manila envelope with the magazine. MAHALO. AND it’s postmarked from Honolulu “July 5, 2011.” WOW! Apparently it came by slow barge and back through time courtesy of the Honolulu Post office. AMAZING. Thought you’d get a laugh out of that magic trick.
(Publisher’s Note: For a few years our subscription rates haven’t covered the full cost of postage and handling. Rather than increase rates, we mailed the July/August 2013 issue Third Class, with assurance from the post office that it wouldn’t delay delivery by more than a few days. This was an experiment gone wrong and we have resumed using First Class postage.)
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Send us your comments, letters, and photos! We take email, snail mail, submissions through our website, or posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter! HIeditor@KeOlaMagazine.com Ke Ola recognizes the use of the ‘okina [‘] or glottal stop, as one of the eight consonants of (modern) Hawaiian language; and the kahakō [ā] or macron (e.g., in place names of Hawai‘i such as Pāhoa). Ke Ola respects the individual use of these markings for names of organizations and businesses.
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We so appreciate having this magazine here on the mainland. I will keep an eye out for the one in the plastic bag. It should wash up on the shores here any day. And however long it takes to receive your magazine, it’s worth it. Mahalo hou and Blessings, Anna Hali‘a, Mill Valley, CA
The People Could Fly Artwork by Beth McCormick See story on page 43.
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Lanikepu
| Na Kumu Keala Ching
I uka, kua mana o Lanikepu Waiwai Kohakohau, i ola ai
Upland, a sacred mountain of Lanikepu Water of Kohakohau, indeed life giving
Wahi uluwehiwehi o Waiaka Ua Uakoko i Hōkū‘ula
Lush forest found in Waiaka On the hills of Hōkū‘ula is the red rains
Noho ‘ia ka wahine i laila nō Pu‘u Pu‘ulaelae hānau hānauna
A women sat there above Hills of Pu‘ulaelae, birth of generations
Pali Kapu o nā li‘i o Waimea Keonikikauniho, Waiakahaleaha, Waiauia
Cliffs sacred chiefs of Waimea Keoniki, Kauniho, Waiaka, Haleaha, Waiauia
Wai Kohakohau, Wai Waikoloa Keanuiomanō, Ka wai ola ia
Stream of Kohakohau, Stream of Waikoloa Stream of Keanuiomanō, Waters of life
Hā‘ina ka wahine ‘o Ho‘opiliahae I uka, kua mana o Lanikepu
It is told of Ho‘opiliahae Upland, a sacred mountain of Lanikepu
He mele nō ka wahine ‘o Ho‘opiliahae
A song honoring a woman, Ho‘opiliahae
K
In honor of Ho‘opiliahae’s ancestor Wao, this chant shares the unity of Mākuakaumana with Wao high in the hills of Lanikepu. The beauty of Lanikepu is found in the story of Wao’s children on the sacred hills of Waimea; Keonihi, Kauniho, Waiaka, Haleaha, and Waiauia. For the streams of Kohakohau, it feeds the surrounding lands and people through the Waikoloa stream and the Keanuiomanō stream respectively. Honoring our past through stories, chants, and songs allows us to appreciate and live within our present life acknowledging our courage to perpetuate wahi pana (sacred places), mo‘o‘olelo (stories), oli (chant), mo‘omeheu (culture), and ho‘olina (legacy) of our people for the future. Famous are the beautiful mountains of Waimea, the water source and knowledge to the lands below. Eō Lanikepu! Contact writer Kumu Keala Ching: kumukeala@nawaiiwiola.org
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
aulana ke kupuna o Ho‘opiliahae, ‘o Wao ho‘i ia. He mo‘o‘olelo kēia pili i ka hō‘au ‘o Mākuakaumana lāua ‘o Wao i uka o ka pu‘u ‘o Lanikepu. U‘i a kapu nō ‘o Lanikepu, ka pu‘u ‘o Waimea a launa pū me kō Wao mau keiki; ‘o Keonihi ‘oe, ‘o Kauniho ‘oe, ‘o Waiaka ‘oe, ‘o Haleaha ‘oe a ‘o Waiauia nō ho‘i. I Lanikepu, aia ke kahawai ‘o Kohakohau i hānai ‘ia ana i ka ‘āina ka‘apuni ona a me kona mau iwi hiwahiwa. Kaha ‘ia ka wai ola i Waikoloa lāua ‘o Keanuiomanō e ke kahawai ‘o Kohakohau.
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Celebrating 180 years since the arrival of missionaries Sarah and David Lyman • 19th-century Mission House • Hawaiian cultural artifacts • Rocks, shells, and minerals • Monday night lecture series
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Then & Now: Hilo Sugar Mill/Wainaku Center
S
In 1884, Hawai‘i Island was home to 24,991 residents and more than 30 sugar plantations, many of which were in East Hawai‘i. With demand far outweighing the available workforce, thousands of workers were imported, usually from Asia, to work the cane fields. According to an 1897 report from the Secretary of the Bureau of Immigration, Hawai‘i Island had 9,680 sugar plantation laborers—more than any other island in the state. The workers were a diverse lot: 425 were Hawaiian; 952 were Portuguese; 5,021 were Japanese; 2,995 were Chinese; with 20 South Sea Islanders, and 267 others. 1884 was also the same year that Hilo Sugar Company purchased Spencer Plantation, a large sugar cane operation just north of Hilo that had been in operation since the 1860s. Over the decades, Hilo Sugar Mill, which was owned by Hilo Sugar Company, grew as it purchased nearby smaller mills and plantations, including the Hawaii Mill Company at Ponahawai. In time, the mill included
Built in 1924, the Wainaku Center was formerly a warehouse on the grounds of the Hilo Sugar Mill
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
ituated on the sea cliffs just north of Hilo and tucked behind old concrete walls is the former Hilo Sugar Mill, which in its heyday processed 1,400 tons of sugar a day. Now, surrounded by tropical flowers and manicured lawns, the Wainaku Executive Center sits like a crown jewel overlooking Hilo Bay. Many newcomers and Hawai‘i Island visitors drive past the ornate metal gate entrance as they head north from Hilo on Māmalahoa Highway, not realizing what lies beyond the gate. Hilo Sugar Mill was a vital part of the community, providing jobs and housing for hundreds of workers brought in from countries such as China, Japan, the Philippines, and Portugal. The mill serves as a mirror of Hilo’s evolution: from the plantation era when sugar was king, to falling into ruin after the sugar industry’s demise, and revitalization in a new economy. Today the former mill site has been transformed into a 12acre oceanfront executive center with 3,000 feet of shoreline (including a massive rock retaining wall built by the sugar company in 1920), and grounds that include an amphitheater and outdoor lānai. Remnants of the mill dot the landscape and serve as a testament to the importance of the property’s former role. The interior of the two-story building is equally impressive with its wide koa wood staircase, floor-to-ceiling windows, and executive boardroom. The Wainaku Center is more akin to a phoenix rising from the ashes than royal jewelry. Perhaps no other industry has impacted Hawai‘i’s history, culture, landscape, and language as much as sugar. Although early Polynesian settlers brought sugar cane with them to the Hawaiian Islands, the crop itself took off in the 19th century with the influx of western businessmen.
| By Denise Laitinen
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Hilo Bayshore Tower on the far left, warehouse on right several buildings, including the mill itself, a boiler room, auto and truck repair shop, supply warehouse, and administrative offices. As technology improved and production increased, the amount of sugar cane the plantation grew and produced also increased. In 1887, Hilo Sugar Mill was producing 3,500 tons of sugar a year, whereas by 1948 it was producing 1,400 tons of sugar a day. The sugar company was able to produce so much sugar because it owned vast tracts of land on which it grew sugar cane. In 1938, Hilo Sugar Company owned 4,051 acres of land on Hawai‘i Island and leased an additional 3,720 acres. That required transporting the sugar from the fields to the mill, as well as creating a system of conveying water for growing the crops and processing. By 1938, Hilo Sugar Mill had built 52 miles of permanent water flumes and 15 miles of portable flumes. The concrete-lined ditches carried water from the uplands to crops and provided a way to float the cane downstream to the mill. You can still see the Hilo Sugar Mill flume running across Māmalahoa Highway in Wainaku about a half mile north of the Wailuku River. Growing up in Pāpa‘ikou in the 1930s and 1940s, 82-year-old Michio Oyakawa recalls how he and his friends used to pluck cane from the flumes and suck on the sugar cane. “The mill was down by the seashore and the fields were up in the hills,” explains Michio, who currently lives in California. “We would sit by the side of the flume and watch the cane go by. If we saw a juicy piece of cane we would pluck it out of the flume and suck out the Hilo Sugar Company Invoice sugar. A lot of us
Construction of the Wainaku Executive Center
In December 1955, the two companies merged and became known as Hilo Sugar Company Ltd. A decade later, in July 1965, Hilo Sugar Company merged with Onomea Sugar Company and became Mauna Kea Sugar Company. Sugar was king and it seemed it would reign forever. “When I was growing up I don’t remember kids talking about life outside the mill,” says Caryn. “The mentality was that kids would grow up and go to work in the mill. There wasn’t much talk of going to college. When I was young, I thought the only place that sugar came from was Hawai‘i,” adds Caryn. “I didn’t realize sugar came from anywhere else in the world. That was my reality.” Reality came to a crashing halt in December 1976 when the mill shut down. By the 1970s, competition from foreign markets was heavily impacting Hawai‘i’s sugar cane industry. Mechanization reduced the need for workers. The global economy was changing. Mills started consolidating or closing. In Hilo, those factors were compounded by the devastating tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 that had destroyed businesses and homes, as well as the railroad system that delivered sugar cane from the fields to the mills and harbors. “I don’t think it sunk in with a lot of people when the mills starting closing,” says Caryn. “When one mill closed they moved to another mill.” When the island’s last mill closed, there was nowhere else to go, and many had to search for a new line of work or move off island. Hilo Sugar Mill itself spent the next two decades falling into disrepair and ruin. “It was basically a dilapidated piece of land that had rusted metal on it,” says Andrew Hara, art director and managing archivist for Edmund C. Olson Trust II. “The steel and metal was removed from the site during the 1970s,” says Andrew, adding, “the concrete foundation was sitting there for about 20 years.” In 1996, C. Brewer & Co., one of the “Big 5” sugar companies in Hawai‘i, bought the rundown mill with the intent of renovating the property and using it as its corporate headquarters after it moved its operations from Honolulu to Hilo. (In addition to growing sugar, C. Brewer owned the
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
had very bad teeth as a result. There weren’t a whole lot of dentists around then. We had to go into Hilo. It was terrible; there wasn’t anesthesia back then.” Caryn Mine, who grew up in Wainaku in the 1960s also remembers the flumes. “In some areas people would jump into the flume and swim or ride the flume,” says Caryn. “I always remember being told by my mother not to go into the flume, that it was too dangerous.” The sugar company built more than just operational facilities and flumes. Like other plantations of its time, Hilo Sugar Company built housing and recreational buildings for its workers, even creating a dairy in order to provide milk to workers. A 1920 annual report, written by Hilo Sugar Company Manager John Scott, notes that the sugar company was in the midst of building a dairy above the cane fields in order to provide “an adequate and good milk supply” to its employees, estimating it would eventually need to provide 1,000 quarts of milk a day. The same report also mentions that during 1920, the company built 12 four-room cottages for laborers, 4 six-room houses for supervisors, and a bungalow cottage for a skilled employee. Many of the homes built during those times can still be seen today in the Wainaku and Kaiwiki areas. As was the case elsewhere, workers were housed according to ethnicity. “All the Portuguese [people] lived near each other,” says Caryn. “All the Japanese [people] lived near each other and there was one general store. It was a small, close knit community.” Caryn’s family moved to Wainaku from Hakalau in the mid1960s when she was in the second grade after her father took a job with the American Red Cross in Hilo. Caryn recalls that in those days the “whole area was surrounded by cane fields.” And although Wainaku is only a mile from Hilo, the two areas were worlds apart. “Even though Wainaku is close to Hilo, once you go across the [Wailuku River] “singing bridge,” you’re in the country,” says Caryn. “Wherever there wasn’t a house, there was a field of sugar cane. The mentality was that they would never get rid of the sugar mills.” Indeed, by the mid-1960s, Hilo Sugar Mill and its parent company had done nothing but grow. In 1947, Hilo Sugar Company had formed a subsidiary in California called Hilo Sugar Bone Coal & Fertilizing Co. Letter Plantation Co.
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Company and other specialty food companies, related agribusiness interests, and real estate.) C. Brewer & Co. renovated a former warehouse, which had been built in 1924, and turned it into a two-story 11,800-square foot business center. Renovations included an expansive staircase made of koa wood harvested from the Hāmākua Coast, as well as a large executive boardroom with koa flooring, wainscoting, and ceiling. A second story lānai was built on the ocean side of the building, providing commanding views of Hilo Bay. The building’s new career as corporate headquarters wouldn’t last long. Less than five years after renovating the building, C. Brewer & Co. dissolved in 2001. Undeterred, C. Brewer’s chairman, John W.A. “Doc” Buyers, bought the property for a reported $3.5 million with the intent of turning it into a resort. Unfortunately, Buyers became ill a few years later and died in 2006 before implementing his vision for the property. After Buyers’ death, office space within the renovated center was leased out to different organizations, including the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo College of Pharmacy program. The property was put up for sale in 2010 and languished on the market for two years before a new owner with a new vision came along. In 2012, Wainaku Ventures LLC, whose principal is the Edmund C. Olson Trust II, bought the 12-acre property for $7.7 million. Focusing on sustainable agriculture, natural resource conservation, community development, and renewable energy, the Trust owns more than 15,650 acres of agricultural and conservation lands on Hawai‘i Island and O‘ahu. Its operations include Ka‘ū Coffee Mill, Big Island Eco Tours, Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company, and OK Farms, among others. Trust President Ed Olson’s plans for the property include using it as an event venue, convention center, and art gallery. After purchasing the property, the Trust quickly set about improving the grounds and landscaping, as well as making interior improvements, including the addition of extra bathrooms. And it didn’t forget the past. During the renovation process, Andrew realized that boxes of old materials related to the mill’s earliest days were sitting in dumpsters. Staff of the Edmund Olson Trust Archive, which is based at the Trust’s headquarters in the old Onomea Sugar Plantation office in Pāpa‘ikou, spent months restoring historical documents pertaining to the mill and plantation life. Today, the Trust’s Archive and Gallery features employee records, maps, financial transactions, reports, and other material documenting the sugar industry on island. The Trust has partnered with the Hawaii Plantation Museum, also located in Pāpa‘ikou, to showcase displays of plantation life in Hawai‘i.
Hilo Sugar Mill train tunnel
Hilo Sugar Mill
Wainaku Executive Center
In addition to honoring the past, the Trust is moving forward as the Wainaku Executive Center enters a new phase of life. One of the most prime oceanfront locations in Hilo, the property is frequently used as a wedding venue, as well as for conferences and private parties. In June it hosted the first-ever Hilo Beer Festival. A key part of the Center’s charm is the various remnants of the sugar mill scattered around the property, including a tall concrete tunnel used by the sugarcane trains. For decades, sugar was carried across the highway on an elevated bridge that led to the top of the tunnel, where it was unloaded into trucks.
Since the Trust owns a parcel of land mauka of the highway, Olson plans to create a parking area on the mauka side with guests walking or taking golf carts across the bridge. Plans are also in the works for a restaurant and coffee shop, featuring coffee from Ka‘ū Coffee Mill, one of the Trusts’ other ventures. ❖ For more information: Edmund Olson Archive Trust: OlsonTrust.com Hawaii Plantation Museum: MemoriesOfHawaiiBigIsland.com Contact writer Denise Laitinen: wahineokekai@yahoo.com
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Kumu Hula Etua Lopes offering ho‘okupu at Halema‘uma‘u crater Kīlauea Volcano, 2013
Kumu Hula Etua Lopes, E Ola E Ola Mau | By Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
hen the moments in between chicken skin are filled with laughter or tears, you know you are in the presence of the great storyteller, Kumu Hula Etua Lopes. Born on August 29, 1953 in Damien Track on the outskirts of Honolulu, Edward (Etua Lopes) is the youngest of 10 siblings. The Lopes’ ‘ohana moved to Kāne‘ohe when Edward was three years old and lived in a quonset hut beside acres of ginger and fruit trees. It seemed like the idyllic life of a local country boy until you hear Uncle Buzzy Histo (Kumu Etua’s nephew) energetically exclaim, that Edward “was not too happy when I came along!” Etua being the youngest of the Lopes’ siblings made him the uncle closest in age to the next generation of nieces and nephews. Buzzy, six years younger than Etua, laughs at how they played tug-of-war over being the youngest and their antics at the apron strings of Virginia Lopes, Etua’s mother and Buzzy’s grandmother. Buzzy says, “Edward could never do wrong in anyone’s eyes.” Of course, that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. Etua relays a story from his childhood about his fervent dislike of liver. “If you weren’t at the table for dinner, you missed that meal of the day.” His eyes glisten and sparkle, giving way to laughter. Etua recounts how he could pick out every meal that his mother prepared just by a whiff of her cooking. Perched high above the kitchen, clinging to the water pipe, Etua’s body shivered as the smell of simmering liver wafted up through the kitchen window. Scurrying back down the pipe, he ran into the fields and gathered fresh fruit and hid under the front porch steps while his mother called him to dinner. His sisters cleaned up after the meal and Etua was sent to his room for missing dinner. Licking his fingers all the way, Etua’s 21st birthday with a belly full of fresh fruit, this in Waikīkī little boy had won over the liver. He
says his mother never knew, however a mother’s eyes and heart always know, and it is perhaps her true love of her youngest son that let him play this game without him ever knowing her wisdom. Best friends and hula brothers, Etua and Ray Fonseca spent their teenage years under the tutelage of Uncle George Na‘ope, Kumu Hula and iconic legend in the Hawaiian hula, music, and entertainment world. Etua and Ray began drumming in seventh grade when Ray asked Etua to be on a float in Honolulu’s 1966 King Kamehameha Day Parade. Ray was drumming and convinced Etua that he could too. Etua asked, “What do we wear?”—a classic question that remains at the forefront of Kumu Etua’s mind for every performance. Etua’s mother sewed Aloha shirts for them, and off they went to their first official performance together. The cheering crowds sparked what would evolve into a long, close bond between these two young boys. From this parade experience, Etua and Ray were asked to drum for the dance classes at the Nani Loa Hula Studio in Kāne‘ohe, managed by Aunty Pauline Patican and teacher, Aunty Lokelani Anderson, Aloha Deliere’s oldest sister. Etua reminisces, “They were so loving, we became their sons. We spent more time there than we did at home.” On an eventful day at Nani Loa Hula Studio, Uncle George Na‘ope walked in to visit with Aunty’s Pauline and Lokelani. Uncle George Kalihi-Palama Culture & Arts Society’s said he wanted them hula class perform in the King Kamehameha Hula Competition, 1970s to teach (Etua is standing third from left) kahiko and
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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bring the ancient hula back. He asked Lokelani if they had any Clorox® bottles. She had plenty. In a few short moments, Uncle George had the boys lined up with their imagined ipu out Kumu Etua’s first Keiki Hula class at of plastic bleach Kahalu‘u Beach Park, circa 1980 bottles and began teaching kahiko to the boys. Uncle took Etua and Ray under his wing to elevate them to their next level. They practiced every day, every moment they could, and so did the dancers. Etua curiously and Kumu Etua’s 2012 Keiki Hula astutely watched class at the Hulihe‘e Palace every step and motion that Uncle was teaching the dancers. Knowing the dances himself, yet studying his own corrections of drumming, at age 16, this was hula: this was his life. While Uncle George was the taskmaster, Aunty Pauline was, as Etua says, “My angel. She taught us so much about life and spirituality. She taught us to pray; we prayed all the time— before class, after class, on the way to a show, on the way back.” Etua continues, “She taught me the spirituality in the power of asking and receiving and thanking and completing that cycle. She reminded us continuously of this cycle—there is a Lord and He is the Creator.” Years later, after performing in some of the top Polynesian shows in Waikīkī, Etua, Ray, and Uncle George returned to the Nani Loa Hula Studio in Kāne‘ohe. Etua and Ray became alaka‘i and Etua says, “Where I was once a student, I was now a teacher.” The saying that hula is life, became literal for Etua. What he had been groomed for was now occurring. Hula was his job, paid or not. It was his kuleana (responsibility). Etua and Ray heard of an audition for the famous Tavana. Uncle George took both young men to the audition and Etua’s heart sunk as he looked around the room at hundreds of young men waiting to audition. In the end, both Etua and Ray were hired and upon seeing their brilliance, Tavana asked Uncle George if he could give Edward his stage name. Uncle George said yes, and three days later, Tavana came back and announced that Edward had been changed to Etua. Tavana explained to Uncle George and Etua that the word Etua in Tahitian means second or two, and he thoughtfully recited that Etua was second only to Uncle George. In 1978, Etua and Ray had their ‘uniki (formal graduation for kumu hula) by Uncle George. They made their own drums, mats, and costumes.
Uncle George sent the boys to study with many of the legendary Hawaiian masters of the time, learning traditional crafting and the arts of the hula, music, and culture. “Imagine,” says Etua, “Being so young and put in the hands of these masters.” Even with the additional Kumu Hula Etua Lopes and teachings, Etua says there Sophie—hālau mascot was only one kumu for him and Ray; no matter where they were in their lives, they would do anything for Uncle George. Thirty years ago, Etua did everything from sleeping on the beach, to living in a small studio, while starting to teach hula to six keiki at Kahalu‘u Beach Park. Aunty Fanny Au Hoy shares the story of when her mother, Lei Collins, saw Etua teaching at Kahulu‘u Beach Park and she exclaimed, “Do you know who your teacher is? Why are you teaching hula at a beach park?” Kumu Etua explained that he had nowhere else to teach and Uncle always told him that if there are keiki who want to hula, you teach them. “It is not about the money,” says Etua. “It is about the love of hula and the keiki.” In a moment that would set the course for the next three decades and beyond, Aunty Lei invited Etua to bring his hula to the Hulihe‘e Palace. Kumu Etua glows with tear-filled joy about how a local boy was now sitting in the home of the ali‘i when all he ever did was read about it or peek in the door. Soaking in all the mana‘o of that day, Etua was humbled to learn that Aunty Lei had talked with the Daughters of Hawai‘i, and from that day on, he was the kumu to hold classes at the Hulihe‘e Palace. He has not missed a performance or task; he gives back and pays forward everyday in recognition of the kuleana he has to the Palace. Kumu Etua says, “We have always done for the Palace here and in Honolulu. To this day, we still provide for both Palaces.” He continues, “You are Then: Kumu Hula Etua Lopes with chosen to dance on his 1976 Merrie Monarch Miss these grounds, and Aloha Hula Cheryl York all the keiki at the Palace have learned their purpose here.” Aunty Fannie remarks, “There are many dancers who say they dance at the Palace, however the only real Palace dancers are those of 37 years later: Kumu Hula Etua Kumu Etua’s hālau.” Lopes preparing former Miss Aloha One of Kumu Cheryl York at the 2013 Merrie Etua’s longMonarch performance time dancers,
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Anita Okimoto, recounts moments under the instruction of Kumu Etua, where he would create the most intricate costumes, adornments, and hulas that were truly one-of-a-kind of performances. She spoke with amazement of a Miss Kona Coffee Contest where Kumu created the opening number. He dressed his dancers in cellophane skirts and crinkly material. He put dark stripes on their face and made photo by their hair bushy. “The dancers Gayle Greco started running onto the stage and all you could hear was Kumu Hula Etua Lopes the clicking of the cellophane, making lei for just like crickets, click-clack2013 Merrie Monarch click.” Anita speaks through the laughter and continues, “We were the crickets on the coffee farm. Kumu Etua saw this; we never knew what it was going to be. No one sees what he sees, I’m sure of that.” Anita says, “I want to tell Kumu this, thank you for teaching me. You gave me something that I didn’t know I needed in order to fulfill a part of my life that I am using today. Only because of you, I have the confidence and can do anything. Tell him,” she says with a smile that shines from her heart, “Tell him, I can finally see the colors. He will know what that means. It comes with commitment and dedication.” Kumu Etua says, “The experience is about being quiet and learning, being humble, having respect for yourself, and understand how well you accept humility. Everything has to start with you. When you learn the mele, you see the evolution and how it repeats itself. You listen to the stories of the chants and relate it to your family and your life. Custom has changed but the initial kuleana is the same. Tradition is only what you behold at that time. Your tradition of today will be the tradition for tomorrow; it’s carried on. We want to teach what our kupuna taught us is tradition. Hula is everything. It is so well rounded and pertains to everything in life.” While Kumu Etua and I were talking story at the Palace, a man walked up and said, “Etua?”
Aunty Lei Collins, Uncle George Na‘ope Aunty Fanny Au Hoy, circa 1990s
Hālau Hula Na Pua U‘i o Hawai‘i 2013 Merrie Monarch Kahiko Competition Kumu replied, “Yes.” The man continued, “In 1987 my four-year-old daughter and I were visiting and you were teaching the children hula on the lawn here,” as he points to the back of the Palace. “My daughter asked me, “Can I go over and watch?” I said yes, and you graciously let her join the line. She was so inspired that when we got home, we enrolled her in hula classes, and today, 24 years later, she has won multiple national titles in Tahitian and hula. Your mana is so strong. I want to thank you for what you gave my daughter. Her life changed from the time she danced with you. Thank you.” He shook Kumu’s hand and left, leaving behind an aura of silence filled with gratitude. After a chicken-skin bath and blinking away tears, Kumu Etua emerged from his feelings and exclaimed, “Wow! And that is the reward; the reward of patience, humbleness, just everything. When I get rewarded like that, it is so good for me. Out of the blue someone will say, ‘I enjoy’ or ‘I have seen you’ and that is the reward. This is why I teach hula.” ❖ Photos courtesy Kumu Hula Etua Lopes, Suzi Derryberry Contact Kumu Hula Etua Lopes at Hulihe‘e Palace: 808.329.9555 Contact writer Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco: gayle.greco@gmail.com
photo by Gayle Greco
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Kumu Hula Etua Lopes’ dances on stage 2013 Merrie Monarch
In the echoing sound of forty years teaching hula, you can hear the chant of decades embracing Kumu Etua as the voices of the wind say: “Malama Pono, Aloha Ke Akua, A Hui Hou, Class dismissed. Mahalo Kumu.”
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Halau Hula Na Pua U’i o Hawai’i 2012 Kūpuna Hula Festival, Kailua-Kona
The Journey of Hula Competition The Experience of One Haumana |
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Aloha Kakou,
Looking around my house, I have garment bags of costumes and dresses, bobby pins and hairnets and flowers for my hair, hula suitcases with everything from measuring tape to wire cutters, five kinds of makeup, and different changes of clothing. I could have a garage sale with just what I brought to and from the hotel each day! Here we were at the Sheraton Keauhou Convention Center for the day of our soloist’s performance. For those who have been to hula contests before, you know the soloist day is a day of much preparation and one of keeping her centered and quiet. It is a special kuleana to give kōkua to the kumu and his dancer on the day of competition. Early in the morning, we settle into our hotel room, while in the lobby the craft vendors are setting up, musicians are
arriving for sound checks, and dancers start lining up for their one allowed rehearsal on stage. Kumu Etua Lopes had choreographed a beautiful hula to the mele Nani Hulihe‘e, written by Aunty Lei Collins, in which he was honoring the Ali‘i of the Palace where our hālau resides and practices. Julie Viloria, a Kailua-Kona native who has been dancing with Kumu Etua for about 10 years, had lost her husband in 2011 and took a break from hula since that time; she had just returned to the hālau classes late last year. It was wonderful to have Julie chosen as the soloist as she was doing this for her late husband, who had faithfully come to every practice just to watch her dance. Kumu Etua had designed a ‘period’ piece, so Julie was dressed in white lace with a pale blue background, full long sleeves, and a puffy lace petticoat that made her look like a princess. During the day, Julie remained quiet as she had Julie Viloria different hairstyles and
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
hen you are asked to be in a hula festival, contest, or competition, the journey for oneself starts at that moment. Inevitably, it is really not about the contest at all; it is about the passage that you travel as a dancer; the dedication, commitment, and the stretch and confidence that your kumu instills in you. The kūpuna class of Hālau Hula Na Pua U‘i o Hawai‘i participated in last year’s Thirtieth Kūpuna Hula Festival in Kailua-Kona, and when it was all pau, I wrote this letter to my close friends who had supported my move here, my new hālau, and my hula.
By Gayle ‘Kaleilehua’ Greco
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makeup put on. Kumu Etua began teaching three of us how to make lei out of lehua flowers, which he had picked earlier in the week, looking for the fullest of the yellow, orange, and red lehua blossoms. This was not a common lei of stringing flowers together. What ended up taking three of us five hours to make was simply magic. Kumu Etua had us cut each lehua blossom at the spine of each spike and when that was all done, we began threading each one onto either a string or wire as he instructed. One color at a time, until we had three strands of each color. Through this time we were silent as we wove our mana‘o into Julie’s lei, and other times Kumu would talk story and tell us about how he learned this technique, or a funny story about life, or how and why he chose this type of lei for the competition. We had a room overlooking the ocean and every now and then Kumu would go out on the lanai, gaze out to the horizon and then come back in and add another amazing technique to what we were doing. In what seemed to be an instant, and yet it was hours later, Kumu Etua picked up the final strands of our weaving and asked us to hold one end while he began to twist and turn these lei with palapalai that he had woven separately. I stood there in awe watching what was being created in front of me, as if with a magic wand, he produced out of lehua blossoms, what appeared to be a feather lei. He asked Julie to come over for a fitting of the lei po‘o, and when she saw his creation, she began to cry.
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Kumu Etua adorns Julie Viloria before her solo dance
As he adorned her with the lei, it was as if the two of them were transported to another time and place, an honoring of the Ali‘i—and yet here it was, a tender and private moment between a Kumu and his soloist. Another hula sister arrived and began to iron Julie’s costume, while another kumu finished her hair and makeup, and we made her a meal. All the while, there were moments of laughter, stories, last minute instructions, and quiet too. In the last hour before her performance, we left the room so that Julie could have her time with Kumu. Julie walked on stage like an angel with a smile so bright, and from her first move, she owned the dance. She was in her zone, and all that followed was simply a channeling of her hula self. While the other soloists were lovely in their own right, we all knew that Julie had done something special on stage. After waiting through the second day of performances to get to the awards ceremony, it was all confirmed when Julie won first place in the women’s division. She and Kumu Etua were humbly overjoyed, and we, as the hālau, gave them a standing ovation to their accomplishment, as did many others in the audience. Our first 15-hour day was over with, and it was back home to reorganize and get ready for the group dance and competition on Thursday night.
Day Two
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
We arrived at the hotel at 8 am, and as I walked through the vendors’ area, I realized, “Wait a minute, I haven’t even had a chance to shop!” Since I was a few minutes early, I ran into the craft area, and who do I bump into but our Kumu Etua. So funny, a few other hula sisters were milling around the vendors too. My thoughts of shopping were short lived, as I now was on ‘Kumu time,’ so up to the hotel room I went again. One by one the dancers started arriving hauling in their costumes, clothes, ironing boards, food, and everything but the kitchen sink. Actually, I wish we had brought an extra sink as we could have used it throughout the day and evening! Kumu Etua had designed our costumes with material he brought from Tahiti years ago, a very bright traditional print. In his vision, he saw us each in a different color dress representing the happiness of the mele we were dancing in honor of his Kumu, Uncle George Na‘ope. This was the thirtieth year of Hats and practice pā‘u skirts the Kūpuna Hula Festival and the event was dedicated to Uncle George, well known for starting this festival along with many other hula celebrations in the islands. Kumu Etua had chosen Ku‘u Papale and incorporated I Kona into the mele to honor his kumu, who was known among many other things, for his hats and love of Kona. For our adornments, Kumu Etua decided on using the fruit from the hala tree, where the lau is taken to weave the traditional lauhala hats. Kumu had made head and neck lei of the hard fruit by cutting it into designs of bright orange, yellow, and green, once again weaving them with palapalai and even making a hatpin out of the hala and kukui nuts. Eleven Auntys had woven the hats for
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each of us, which was such a special gift of their ancestral art. Kumu Etua began placing the hala lei onto the hats and fitting them on the ten of us, one by one. Then came the neck lei with equal attention. As this was going on, we were each sent to have our hair done. No one would think that by wearing a hat, there would be much to do with your hair. Oh my, we each sat in the chair as our hair was put into braids, extensions, stuffing, teasing, spraying, pinning, all that was needed so that all ten of us looked exactly the same no matter how long, short, thick, or thin our hair was. We had beautiful braided cocos (buns) that fit right under the back of our hats, and perfectly coiffed hair that softly supported the sides. Each of us emerged from the hotel room wrapped in a scarf, looking and feeling like we were coming out of a temple. Up in the elevator, we went to get checked out by Kumu Etua for any last minute touchups. Back up to the room where our dresses were freshly ironed, the hat blocker came in to do the final blocking. Our makeup was applied, and Kumu Etua began the process of placing the plumeria, liko, and palapalai in our hair. Painstakingly precise, he modeled each of us after the other one until Blocking the hats to perfection each hat and cluster of
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Matching hair and flowers flowers looked identical side-by-side. And now the dresses and the lei were put on and double and triple checked. In a moment’s time, we were transformed into Kumu’s vision to honor Uncle George, all in brightly colored dresses, hats, and flowers. Now, it was time to pule. Hand holding hand, Kumu led us through a beautiful prayer to Ke Akua and we tried to hold back the tears so we didn’t ruin our makeup. Time for silence and waiting. We knew our dance, now it was time to perform. In silence, Kumu led us through the halls and elevator, many times being stopped by other hālau and guests who were stunned at our beautiful appearance and wanted to take pictures. We arrived
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at the convention center back stage door in the waiting area, and again were noticed by many. All the while, trying to stay in our centered space, respecting the pule that had been given to us. Soon, the wait was over and our call to the stage came. The rest is a blur. We Gayle Greco and Kumu Etua were introduced and as we each walked up the stairs to the stage in our different colors; the cheers and applause heightened; out we came: red, yellow, blue, green, orange; the colors kept coming as pua blossoming on a tree. Our musicians started to play, and the fun began. In our flowing missionary style dresses, we floated, smiled, teased at the sassy parts, and revered at the solemn chorus, and within what seemed to be a minute, we were pau, time to ho‘i off stage. The audience was so kind and the cheers and accolades were many. We knew we had done the best we could. We were greeted by our Kumu and we knew he was pleased. We quickly changed out of our costumes into our white dresses, still keeping on our lei and hats, and then scurried down to the convention center again to watch the rest of the hālau perform. Such creativity and dedication went in to each of the dances. Twenty-two hālau from O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Maui, Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i Island, as well as Japan and California were represented, so the competition did not lack for talent. The awards ceremony began, and we had just seen Julie Viloria receive her first place award, so now it was time for the group awards. We were so excited to receive second place with a very close point score to first place. It was such an honor and a joy to acknowledge Kumu Etua for his vision, dedication, and teaching each of us to be better at our hula than we were before we started this journey. And he, in turn, had that twinkle in his eye and knew what we had accomplished. We ran back up to the hotel room to celebrate the months of practices that brought us to this point. The hotel room looked like a rummage sale with clothes, undergarments, flowers, ice chests, awards, paper towels, scissors, material, ‘ukuleles, champagne, musubi, cheese, cookies, and snacks of all kinds. Our only care at that moment was to raise our glasses, laughter, and heartfelt cheer to this long 17-hour day. Then, of course, it came time to leave, and like most hālau do, within moments, the hotel room was cleaned up and looked like it was ready for check-in. For us, the 2012 competition participants, the journey has ended. For our Kumu, he is, today, on to the next production—a concert at the Palace, followed by the keiki competition next month and Merrie Monarch in 2013—as well as preparing all the classes and coordination that lead up to these events. A Kumu Hula’s life is one that runs on an endless energy stream. I see this in Kumu Etua as I did with Kumu Pilialoha in California. I am feeling very blessed learning and growing with all that they share; hoping that, as haumana, we can replenish our kumu with love and light. Mahalo for your continued love and support of my hula journey and life here in Hawai‘i Nei. ❖
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Sounds of Peace
A Joyful Noise in Honoka‘a |
Students worked on peace education projects before the parade
With about 40 different acts, the parade transforms the usually quiet, former sugar cane town into a celebration of peace for a day, enjoyed by hundreds along the way. Stepping off from Honoka‘a High and Intermediate School (HHIS) at 4 pm, the parade proceeds down Mamane Street as a “moving stage” of music, dance, and circus performers. It concludes at the Honoka‘a Sports Complex for an open-air community festival, with food booths, a lineup of entertainment, keiki games, and more. Locally, it brings the community together from schools, churches, clubs, and the arts. Globally, it’s part of the United Nations International Day of Peace, established in 1982 as a worldwide ceasefire and series of concerts, festivals, and educational events. In the summer of 2006, a teen group, the Hawai‘i United Federation of the Junior Young Buddhists Associations, lobbied for the establishment of a Peace Day in the State of Hawai‘i. As a result, on April 19, 2007, then Governor Linda Lingle signed legislation declaring September 21 as Hawai‘i’s Peace Day, the first state in the nation to do so. That inspired Miles Okumura of Honoka‘a Hongwanji Buddhist Temple to bring Peace Day to Hawai‘i Island. A teacher at HHIS who had worked in Chicago’s entertainment industry, Okumura wanted to create Peace Day events that were not necessarily political or religious. The goal was to share the many expressions of peace, compassion, and interdependence in ways that were, above all, entertaining.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
hat does peace sound like? In Honoka‘a, on Peace Day, September 21, it sounds like marching bands and taiko drums, ‘ukulele music, bon dance, bells, and gongs. It might sound like rock and roll with a mix of chant and laughter, or the buzz of robotic engines rolling down the street. It sounds like fun. “The Peace Day Parade and Festival are all about fun,” said Peace Committee Chairman Miles Okumura, who began the annual event in Honoka‘a in 2007. “We’ve held to that, and tried to make it better and more entertaining every year. This is not just a procession down the street, waving at the crowd or carrying signs.”
By Catherine Tarleton
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Hula hālau, Hele‘i Pua O Waipi‘o shares aloha “We have a circus act, magicians, marching bands, creative dance troupes, taiko drummers and robots. We will have school kids in costume, on decorated floats, or riding the Peace Train. Along with them, you will see the Senior Club singing group, Hare Krishna devotees, hula hālau, Filipino stick dancers, and rock bands. Our event is truly multi-cultural and intergenerational. Peace in action and peace in motion, it’s going to be a fun, fun night for the family!” Miles said. Every piece of the Peace Day Parade and Festival has a story, as do the many people who join in the celebration year after year. Adding elements of the big top to Peace Day, Graham Ellis and the “Hiccup Circus” take it to the streets with unicycles, tall stilt-walkers, acrobats, clowns, twirlers, and more. Teamed up with international twirlsport artist Annetta Lucero and Terminal Circus, the group brings tall and small performers of all ages to town, with bright costumes, great skills, and high energy. “We wouldn’t want to miss Peace Day,” said Annetta. “The big, exciting news is that Graham has started the program again, and it’s going on all over the island.” Annetta’s three children are part of Hiccup Circus: Jacob, 13, is a juggler, Calli, 11, is a contortionist and Lucas, 7, is a circusstyle character who rides the rolling globe. Based in Puna, Hiccup Circus is a successful education program for children and adults, directed by Ellis, a long time Hawai‘i resident and co-founder of the Seaview Performing Arts Center (SPACE). “Hiccups” perform in numerous island parades and festivals, and participate in self-esteem, sustainability, and drug and alcohol prevention productions across the state and beyond. Terminal Circus, created by Annetta Lucero, provides high-level cirque-style entertainment for corporate functions and private parties, with a wide range of options on their performance menu. In collaboration, the circuses were invited to do 10 shows at the Hawaii County Fair, some of which take place on Peace Day. With more than enough performers to cover both, Hawai‘i Hiccup Circus Clowns for Peace Island audiences
will have plenty of opportunities to enjoy their talents. “It’s wonderful working with Graham, and we are so happy to be part of Hiccup Circus,” Annetta said. On a somewhat quieter and more traditional note, bon dance plays a big part on Peace Day every year, both dancing in the Parade and leading the mass-dance at the Festival afterward. “I just really, really love it,” said Berni Ruiz of Honoka‘a, a bon dancer for the last nine years. Berni and a faithful group of seasoned dancers practice year-round to perfect the dances they know and learn new ones. The traditional Japanese folk dance is part of annual Obon celebrations that honor departed loved ones with temple services, dancing, special food, and family reunions. During Obon season, from mid-June to the end of August, Berni and the dancers are busy “touring” the temple festivals to support and share in the bon dance.
Berni Ruiz and sister dancers perform at island bon dances
Women, men, and children of all ages enjoy bon dancing to the driving rhythm of taiko drums and favorite songs. Although there’s really no dress code, many wear the short, cotton “happi coat” in different colors to represent their home temple. In Hawai‘i, favorite dances tell stories of sugar cane workers that originated here in the 19th Century. “In Honoka‘a, everybody goes to Obon and we all celebrate,” said Berni. “And the practice Ocean Yagi of Honoka‘a is good exercise. We do it all year round to keep our bodies going. It’s easier than Zumba! It’s also kind of a trancelike thing. So it feels like you are indeed dancing with spirits of loved ones who have passed, and asking them to join you— it makes it very special.” At the Peace Festival everyone is invited to join in a mass community bon dance on the grass, led by the dancers and soon joined by hundreds—from kūpuna to even the smallest keiki—who follow along, happily clapping their hands to the beat of the drums.
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Hale Aloha O Hilo Habitat for Humanity®, Hawai’i Island REALTORS®, and General Growth Properties have teamed up to create a home ownership expo and “FUNdraiser,” to support Habitat for Humanity’s affordable homebuilding program.
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A different style of taiko drumming is presented by Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko (RMD). Based in North Kohala and Waimea, RMD adds excitement to the Peace Day Parade, or any occasion, with their pounding rhythms and energetic dance moves. Hawai‘i Island Leader Kathy Matsuda has been playing drums for five years. “Yes, it’s a lot of fun, and a lot of exercise,” said Kathy. “Ours is traditional Okinawan art of ‘Eisa. We have lots of dancing, lots of expressing the Okinawan spirit. Everything comes from the heart,” said Kathy. “We want to build bridges around the world and share the art of taiko.” In a special sharing Augusts 3, Matsuda’s group joined RMD’s around the world, all playing at exactly the same time, 6 pm HST, during the international synchronized Eisa pageant, which coincided with the Hawi Jodo Bon Dance. Unlike the large, stationery taiko form, RMD drums are handheld, and range in size from about 12-17 inches, depending on the size of the drummers, who can start as young as five. Her group has about 25 members currently, of various ages and nationalities. “There are no age requirements,” Kathy said. “Come try a class and see how you respond to it.” The group practices in Kohala Wednesdays and Thursdays, and in Waimea on Sundays and Mondays. “We’ve been there pretty much since the beginning,” said Angel Prince of Prince Dance Company and Prince Dance Institute, featured Peace Day Parade artists. Angel started dancing at age three in Connecticut, and attended Hofstra University in New York. She came to Hawai‘i in
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Puna’s Hiccup Circus Unicyclists
2003 where she started teaching and choreographing, mostly in Waimea. She began Prince Dance Company in 2007, the same year as the first Peace Day Parade. She feels that dance is an important part of life. “Everybody can learn how to dance. Everybody can dance. We were born to dance,” said Angel. “There’s a dance style for everyone. Find a style of music that speaks to you and there’s a dance style for it—contemporary, partner dancing, freestyle— and it’s good for your brain, body, and spirit.” Angel offers dance classes, workshops and programs for all levels. Dancing to all kinds of different drummers, making their own kind of music and joyful noises, many talented musicians, dancers, and other performers come together to celebrate the spirit of peace on Peace Day. “Peace doesn’t have to be complicated, or serious, Prince Dance Company or restricted to religious or political settings,” said Miles, who received a Distinguished Peacemaker Award in 2010 at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. “Peace can be entertaining, it can be artistic, musical, beautiful, and relaxing; it can be good exercise, and it can be a lot of fun.”
Sadako Sasaki and Her Thousand Paper Cranes The Peace Committee is honored and very excited to welcome members of the Sasaki ‘ohana from Hiroshima to the Peace Day Parade and Festival on Saturday, September 21. Their ancestor, Miss Sadako Sasaki, miraculously survived the atomic bomb at age two, then died of radiation-caused cancer ten years later. In the last weeks of her life, Photo by Taisyo Sadako and her friends folded origami cranes, trying to reach the magical 1,000 that would grant her one wish. Since 1955, Sadako and her paper cranes have become symbolic of peace and anti-nuclear war movements worldwide. Her statue stands in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, surrounded by countless origami cranes. The Peace Committee is “enfolding” the cranes into its thematic events this year in numerous ways. Observers may see church and school groups marching with colorful strands of 1,000 paper cranes, Mamane Street storefronts decorated with cranes, children's Peace Posters and Parade tee shirts with crane imagery. Ultimately, the Committee's goal is to send 199,000 paper cranes (the number of people killed in the atomic blast) from Hawai‘i to the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima, to honor Sadako Sasaki. Groups who create at least 1,000 may participate in the parade, and cranes will be accepted at the Peace Day Festival on September 21, where the Sasaki family may see the special tribute to Sadako. For more information: Facebook.com/PeaceDayParade How to fold a paper crane: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_crane
Honoka‘a is the place to be at 4 pm on Saturday, September 21, 2013 for the Seventh Annual Parade and Festival for the United Nations International Day of Peace. The parade concludes at the Honoka‘a Sports Complex, where the outdoor Peace Festival begins at 5 pm, with ringing of the Peace Bell, a release of doves and a Hawaiian blessing. It continues until 8 pm, with a variety of local and ethnic food booths, crafters, live bands onstage, a silent auction to benefit the Peace Committee, and large community bon dance for everyone to join. Admission is free and all are welcome. ❖ Honoka‘a Peace Parade: PeaceDayParade.org Photos courtesy Sarah Anderson: SarahAndersonHawaii.com Contact writer Catherine Tarleton: catherinetarleton@gmail.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Student Peace Poster Contest
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
After planting Koa Hakalau Ridge 2007
Before planting Koa Hakalau Ridge 1993
Success! Hakalau Forest Refuge
Scientists and volunteers partner to save forest birds |
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We know birds can fly to Hawai‘i from afar because it happens every fall with the annual arrival of migrating shorebirds like the kōlea or Pacific golden plover, Pluvialis fulva. This seasonal native, which prefers open, grassy areas, is less than a foot tall and flies more than 2,000 miles between Hawai‘i and Alaska to overwinter in the islands.
Volunteers transplanting seedlings
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
awai‘i’s geographical isolation means that the plants and animals found here have evolved unlike any other species found on earth. Human interaction and interference with once untouched habitats has rendered Hawai‘i the endangered species capital of the world. However, there is a place on Hawai‘i Island where forest bird populations are recovering due to the effort of biologists, refuge managers, and volunteers. Located high above the tiny town of Hakalau on the eastern flanks of Mauna Kea, the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge (HFNWR) is home to several endangered bird species and some of the finest remaining stands of native montane rain forests in the state. Established in 1985, the refuge is the only one of its kind solely dedicated to the conservation of forest birds. Over the last 25 years, an extensive volunteer program replanted native forestry to make it more hospitable to native birds, and as a result, their songs are returning. To realize the plight of these birds is to understand how birds colonized Hawai‘i. Along with plants and insects, birds first came to the most isolated land on earth on their own, with a new species surviving the long journey only once every 20,000– 40,000 years. Over time and adapting to their new environment, these birds became better suited to survive here.
By Fern Gavelek
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Koa planting corridor Recent DNA evidence shows a single colonization of a finchlike bird from Asia is the parent of Hawaiian honeycreepers, according to Jack Jeffrey, a retired wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) who worked at HFNWR. This bird came to Hawai‘i five-to-six million years ago, evolving into a unique sub-family of birds with more than 50 species. Birds, who made it here on their own and evolved to be different than any other species on the planet, are Hawai‘i’s endemic birds. They typically have Hawaiian names, like the endangered state bird: the Nēnē, Branta sandvicensis. Hawai‘i’s indigenous birds—those who got here on their own and are also found elsewhere—can be spotted at all elevations. Most of these natives, like the ‘auku‘u or black-crowned night
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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heron, Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli, live here year round. Found worldwide, this bird is locally called a “fish hawk;” it hunts near seaside ponds. Introduced birds, like the Northern cardinal, came to Hawai‘i with man and hail from all over the world. These immigrants commonly live in Hawai‘i’s urban areas and make up its avian melting pot. Hawai‘i’s endemic forest birds are more elusive. They are found only in high-elevation forests, where colder temperatures deter introduced, disease-carrying mosquitoes. One of the most readily seen of these unique-to-Hawai‘i birds is the scarlett, curved-beak ‘i‘iwi, Vestiaria coccinea. While it is not endangered, this honeycreeper is called a “specialist,” feeding only on nectar. “The ‘i‘iwi is one of the most important pollinators of our native plants,” notes Jeffrey. “Unfortunately, one bite from a malarial mosquito will result in death for an ‘i‘iwi within two-tothree weeks.” A mere mosquito bite is tragic because Hawai‘i’s endemic birds lived here in isolation for millions of years, shedding past predatory defenses. They have no resistance to introduced diseases like avian malaria or pox. Other factors contributing to the plight of Hawai‘i’s native birds include Volunteer planting koa loss of habitat; predation by
introduced rats, mongoose, cats, and dogs; and competition for food with non-native birds. “Out of 120 bird species found in Hawai‘i in the 18th century, half are extinct today,” Jeffrey laments. “Of the remaining bird species, almost half are endangered.” HFNWR is home to three species of endangered, endemic honeycreepers, including a marvel in the avian world—the ‘akiapōlā‘au, Hemignathus munroi. Considered an “extreme specialist,” this honeycreeper acts like a woodpecker. Most birds can’t move their upper bill as it’s fused to their skull, but this bird evolved so it can use both bills separately, and each has its own specialized function. “It’s like the ‘aki is outfitted with a Swiss Army knife,” points out Jeffrey. “It uses its lower bill to peck and find the wood boring beetle larvae, then it reaches into the hole with its long, thin, curved upper bill to hook the insect and pull it out.” “Many of Hawai‘i’s specialist birds are extinct,” says Jeffrey. “There are less than 1,000 ‘akiapōlā‘au in the Big Isle’s koa forests, which have shrunk considerably due to cattle grazing and logging. However, numbers of ‘aki are increasing at Hakalau and the refuge boasts the highest density of ‘i‘iwi.” In fact, all the bird species at Hakalau Forest are increasing according to annual surveys done since 1987. “When you fix the habitat, everyone is happy,” notes Jeffrey. Creating a forest habitat at HFNWR hasn’t been easy. The Hāmākua slope of Mauna Kea was chosen for the bird refuge as the area was already rich in species diversity, with high densities of ‘aki. However, the refuge was formerly a ranch, thick with pasture grass due to 150 years of cattle grazing. “We fenced in 14,000 acres and removed cows and pigs,” details Jeffrey, who retired from HFNWR in 2008. “Between 1989 and today, the refuge and volunteers have planted tens of thousands of koa trees.” Help was needed for the daunting task and a weekend volunteer program was started in the late ‘80s. People from all walks of life stepped up to pick koa seeds, nurture seedlings in the greenhouse and then plant the fast-growing koa in mauka to makai (mountain-to-sea) corridors that were three trees wide, spaced 12 feet apart. Volunteers, who hailed from across the globe, started at a 6,500-foot elevation, where there was only pasture, and planted down to 6,000 feet. The new swaths of trees went about a mile and a half in some areas down the mountain, sprawling across 5,000 acres of Mauna Kea.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
‘Akiapōlā‘au
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Third in a series of special tours supporting conservation, education and culture-based initiatives on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Echoes of Kamehameha Learn how North Kohala shaped a king and kingdom Image courtesy Ethan Tweedie
Image North Kohala Community Resource Center
Image North Kohala Community Resource Center
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Saturday, September 28th
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Join us to benefit the North Kohala Community Resource Center. Trace the footsteps of Hawaii’s first king, Kamehameha, as we journey to some of North Kohala’s most significant and historic landmarks. Tour highlights include very special visits to Mookini Heiau, Pololu Valley and Puukohola Heiau.
“The plan was for the birds to use these corridors,” explains Jeffrey. “Early on, it was thought maybe the birds would drop seeds for other native plants to create an understory, but it didn’t happen quickly. So we helped out the effort by planting ‘ōhelo berry, ‘ōlapa, pilo, ‘ākala (Hawaiian raspberry), and others. These plants provided food for birds and then the birds followed.” The bird credited for most helping create the understory of the forest is the fruit-eating ‘ōma‘ō, Myadestes obscurus. Known for its lively song, the endemic Hawai‘i Island thrush was luckily already living in Hakalau, and it readily spread seeds through its droppings. Jeffrey said plant seeds germinate better “when they go through a bird’s gut.” In addition to native fruiting plants, ‘ōhi‘a trees were planted for nectar-loving birds. Isles of vegetation formed and over time, these pockets connected into forest. The planted koa corridors attracted birds up to the higher elevation and their droppings brought seeds. The area below 6,000 feet already had ‘ōhi‘a and koa trees, but the understory was gone due to grazing. By dropping seeds, ‘ōma‘ō helped restore the understory vegetation in this area as plants were no longer vulnerable to cattle. “The reforestation effort is for all of Hakalau’s forest birds, including the ‘io (Hawaiian Hawk, Buteo solitarius),” notes Jeffrey. It is only found on Hawai‘i Island. The volunteer service program has been crucial to recovering the refuge’s forest bird populations according to refuge horticulturist Baron Horiuchi. He has been working for 17 years with the many weekend service groups at Hakalau. Horiuchi says groups of 8-10 people, hailing from organizations like hiking clubs and scouts, spend weekends planting seedlings, pulling weeds, and working in the greenhouse. Groups come from across the globe, and some are made up of friends, with fun names like “Girl Power.” Horiuchi says volunteers are dedicated, putting in 10-hour days and often “napping during lunch” as the work can be exhausting. “We have nearly a half million trees planted in the ground, and without the volunteers, none of this would have happened,” Horiuchi emphasizes. “I want to thank them all for making Hakalau what it is today.” Longtime volunteer Lorri Ellison of Kea‘au says its been “exceedingly rewarding” to witness the tremendous change at Hakalau in the last 25 years. “We’re seeing and hearing birds now at the volunteer cabin, an area that was grassland when
Tour Time: from Hawaii Forest & Trail headquarters, 8:30 to 4:00 Includes: Guided tour, lunch, beverages, snacks and access fees. Restrictions: Must be able to walk over uneven and rocky terrain. Dress Code: Closed toe walking shoes, hat and sunglasses.
Reserve Now. Tour limited to 24 participants Proceeds benefit North Kohala Community Resource Center
$159.00 per adult Reservations & Information: 808-331-8505 www.hawaii-forest.com
conserve our natural resources
Exploring the Big Island of Hawaii since 1993
‘I‘iwi with Ōhi‘a flower
we started,” she details. “The reforestation effort is working.” While HFNWR is blushing with biological success, it’s facing continuing budget cuts. Volunteer service trips have been cut back to 36 weekends a year, and they are already booked, according to Horiuchi. At this time, he is unable to take any new volunteer groups. “There is still a lot of work to do,” notes the horticulturist, who is also propagating and planting endangered plants, including three different endemic lobelias. Two of the varieties were in severe trouble, with only a handful living in the wild. Even though group service availability is closed, Ellison says people can get involved with the refuge by joining the Friends of Hakalau Forest. FOHF helps with fundraising for refuge projects and also does periodic service trips. In the past, FOHF funded a new roof for the volunteer cabin and a water tank. Details for FOHF can be found at their website. Donations can be made using the membership form, including to the Jack Jeffrey Conservation Education Grant. The grant helps to finance ‘Imi Pono no ka ‘Āina, a conservation-themed educational program that brings keiki to work at the refuge. Started in the mid-90s, the program boasts youth participants that have since made careers in environmental law, education, and science. Steve Kendall, HFNWR wildlife biologist, says another way to support Hakalau is to contact local legislators to encourage funding for the refuge. “It’s always a struggle to restore plants and keep out the ungulates,” he notes. “We’re always just getting by each year.” As Hakalau Forest is a refuge, public access is restricted. However it rolls out the “green carpet” annually for an open
house set for 9 am–3 pm, Saturday, October 19. Short, guided hikes are offered through bird habitat and visitors can see the volunteer ‘Ōma‘ō with Pilo Berry reforestation efforts, along with the greenhouse. Conservation displays are available, along with a chance to meet FOHF members. Visitors must provide their own four-wheel-drive transport to the refuge and reservations are required, phone 808.443.2300 by October 17. Directions will be emailed. There are other ways to visit HFNWR. As weather permits, the Maulua Tract is open to visitors for hiking, birding, and photography on weekends and holidays. In addition, a handful of commercial tours offer guided visits. Ellison concludes, “This is our backyard, and what is happening up there is a tremendous success story. It’s an incredible place of native forest birds, native plants, and a wonderful volunteer effort in support of FWS’s management of this special area.” ❖ For more information: FriendsOfHakalauForest.org Weekend visits: fws.gov/hakalauforest/visit.html Photos by Jack Jeffrey: JackJeffreyPhoto.com Contact writer Fern Gavelek: ferng@hawaii.rr.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Hawaiian Chief’s Feather Cloak (‘ahu ‘ula) and Helmet photo by Gary Sizemore
public domain photo
The Lady Franklin Cape Memoirs Bishop Museum Vol. VII, Plate II.
Feather Art: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
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a lima mili hulu no‘eau is a Hawaiian expression that means “the skilled hands that touch the feathers.” It honors the ancient art of feather lei, capes, headdresses, and other ornaments. In today’s world, it can easily be extended to include other forms of feather art that might not be strictly Hawaiian and yet, which still reflect a strong Hawaiian influence.
History and Evolution of Feathers in Art
Restricted to ali‘i, or royalty, in accordance with the ancient system of kapu that ruled early Hawaiians, only men were allowed to make feather garments and ornaments. Feather cloaks, lei, and other pieces were relatively rare because the feathers could be difficult to acquire. Special feather collectors existed in ancient villages whose life work was to collect feathers from native birds. One of the methods of humanely trapping birds was to use a sticky substance called birdlime. The feather collector smeared it on tree branches where birds such as the now-extinct ‘ō‘ō were known to exist. After a bird became stuck in the lime, the collector plucked the feathers he wanted, cleaned the bird’s feet, and then set it free. Some birds, such as the ‘ō‘ō, had only six prized yellow feathers, which made the task of collecting a sufficient number arduous and lengthy. The classic example of ancient feather work is the cape worn by King Kamehameha I (pictured above), which contains millions of small red and gold feathers. It is said that featherworkers spent more than two generations making this astounding piece and that Kamehameha had not yet been born when they began working on it. Nowadays, feather artists do not capture birds to obtain the feathers they need for their work. Instead, they purchase them. Many common bird feathers will suffice: common birds, such as chickens, pheasants, doves, ducks, and canaries supply today’s feathers. Sometimes feathers are dyed brilliant colors. Laws and restrictions exist that dictate which birds’ feathers may be used: raptors, even those that have been found dead, such as owls or hawks, are King Umi and King Liloa’s feathered malo not allowed.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Flower lei are a cultural icon of Hawai‘i that most visitors have probably experienced. The early Polynesians introduced them to our islands in prehistory. These lovely ornaments represent welcome, protection, and mercy. Feather lei, capes, and other decorative pieces are not as widely known. They date back to antiquity in many of the Polynesian cultures that predate Hawai‘i. The Maoris in New Zealand made capes from their native birds’ feathers. In what is now known as French Polynesia, Tahitian peoples of a former era made feather ornaments, and Marquesans made headdresses. It is from these latter parts of Polynesia that the ancient voyagers embarked on their journeys of discovery that led to the birth of the Hawaiian people and their culture. Although the feather work in other parts of Polynesia was intricate and beautiful in its way, “nowhere do we find such an intricate and highly developed technique of feather work as we do in Hawai‘i,” according to the State Council on Tahitian featherwork Hawaiian Heritage.
| By Barbara Fahs
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Hamakua
unique hairbrushes made with aloha on the Big Island in curly koa and other local hardwoods
available at Hawaii’s finest galleries & on the web
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
hamakuahairbrushco.com
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Kumu Aunty Doreen Henderson Creates a New Generation of Feather Artists
Aunty Doreen Henderson’s life revolves around keeping the tradition of feather lei alive. At 88 years young, she is a vibrant bundle of energy who wants to live to be 125 so she can continue to teach how to make these lovely lei. With five classes each week, “I don’t have time to eat!” Doreen joked. Doreen Henderson “I knew about feather lei as early as age 12. My uncle was a lima lei hulu, and he would pay my sister and me to gather the feathers from his canaries. The work was a bit too tedious for us as children, so it wasn’t until I met Master Kumu Mary Kahihilani Kovitch, a student of Mary Lou Kekuewa, that I became a student and fell in love with feather work,” she shared. Doreen served as the very first queen, or mō‘ī wahine of the Merrie Monarch Festival in 1963. In 1988, she returned to Hawai‘i Island from California to appear in the 25th Merrie Monarch Festival, and in 1991 she moved back to her home island. This year, we were honored by her appearance at the 50th Merrie Monarch Festival in April. Doreen rode in the parade behind the royal float and was also honored by Hawaiian Airlines. She wore a feathered wristlet Doreen’s beautiful feathers she received from one of her 2013 Merrie Monarch students, a collar she fashioned this year from peacock feathers specifically for the dress she wore, and a peacock hairpiece she saved from the first Merrie Monarch Festival. Aunty Doreen explained, “I learn something different every day from my students and many of them are actively making feather work and selling lei. I love that once they get started making these beautiful lei they don’t ever want to stop.” “We have a class at the Kea‘au Senior Center on Wednesdays, and for younger students we meet at my nearby home two nights a week. I also teach in Pāhoa and on Friday and Saturday I travel to Hawaiian clubs and hālau. I don’t have time to make many lei anymore, but I love teaching,” Doreen concluded.
Feather Art Today: Beth McCormick Takes the Art To a New Level
Beth McCormick has made her career from the feather art she began creating 30 years ago. “I started working with feathers when I was an art student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and I am mostly selftaught,” she shared. “I needed work and found an ad in the local newspaper for a feather worker. Since I had been a potter
and was interested in all forms of art, I started making necklaces, earrings, hair combs, and other feathered wearables.” “Every artist wants to find that piece of fresh turf that is uniquely their own,” she continued. “And it turned out that Beth McCormick creating her art feathers were mine. I took inspiration from ancient Hawaiian culture, tribal cultures from around the world, tai chi, and meditation.” Delving into the creation of three-dimensional shields and masks of faces she fashions from media such as porcelain and cold-cast bronze, McCormick combines feathers with sculpture. “I use parrot and macaw feathers, which were collected when the birds shed, or molted. Many people have gathered feathers for me. I prefer to use only naturally-occurring colors and avoid dyed feathers.” A lovely example of feathers she received as a gift is represented in her work entitled “Dreaming a Different World.” It contains the perfectly matched tail feathers of an Australian Rosella as its headdress. A friend of Beth’s, who patiently collected feathers for 11 years and then sent them to the artist, owns the bird, named “Loki.” Beth expressed her amazement and joy by saying, “Where would anyone find such a perfect collection of feathers—more than a hundred tail feathers from one fairly small bird? I knew I had to make a special piece with these feathers.” Evoking the “appearance of artifacts from an obscure civilization that never actually existed,” according to her website, McCormick’s feathered shields and sculpted porcelain masks have contributed to a new genre, a new artistic medium. Her artwork has been shown in more than 90 galleries nationwide and abroad. It is in many private collections, including the Michael Rosenberg Collection in London, and the Chris Hemmeter Collection in Hawai‘i. “The Gallery of Great Things in Waimea has some of my pieces here on Hawai‘i Island,” McCormick added. “I want to encourage young artists to have the courage to take a traditional craft like this into a new dimension. It is possible to make a living from your art—you just need that fresh turf, Blue Feathers something different, (see the finished piece in the something that no one Onion House story, page 47) else has done before.”
Enjoy Feather Art In Person
Hulihe‘e Palace A feather kīpuka (short shoulder cape) and kāhili (feather standard, symbolic of royalty) can be found at the Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona. Lyman Museum Hilo’s Lyman Museum holds an annual feather lei exhibit every May for two to four weeks, in conjunction with the Merrie Monarch Festival. During that time, Aunty Doreen Henderson holds court every day to teach and demonstrate her master art form. “Aunty is still experimental—she still has ‘it,’ and her mission is to keep the art form alive,” said Jeff Flox, Lyman Museum’s exhibit manager. “Hers is a living art, and although she bases her designs on the past, she always pushes the envelope. I think that’s one of the main reasons she attracts so many students.” For more information: Hulihe‘e Palace: HuliheePalace.net Lyman Museum: LymanMuseum.org Contact Doreen Henderson: 808.982.5571 Contact Beth McCormick: OnionHouseHawaii.com Contact writer Barbara Fahs: hiiakas@lava.net
Mele Inoa Ali‘i, after Kuluwaimaka From the Master Chanters of Hawai‘i Collection ‘Ike ia Kaukini he lawai‘a manu He ‘upena ku‘u i ka noe ko Pokahi Ke ho‘opuni la i ka ‘ohu Ke ho‘opuni la i ka ‘ohu na kikepa Ke na‘i i ka luna o Ka‘auana ‘O ka ‘uahi ke kapeku E hei ‘ai ka i‘a manu o Puoali‘i ‘O ke ali‘i wale no ka‘u makemake ‘O ka luhi o maua me ‘ia nei ‘O ka makou le‘ale‘a no ‘ia
You will recognize Kaukini, the bird catcher Spreading his nets like the mist of Pokahi The mist stretches Stretching the mist-like nets around And over the uplands of Ka‘auana The dark smoke will drive The bird Puoali‘i into the net I delight in serving the chief Whom I and others care for This is our joy
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The following is a listing of birds which are known to have been used in ancient Hawaiian featherwork and suggested substitutions of natural feathers. Dyed feathers trimmed to shape also may be used, although they will fade in sunlight and are more easily damaged by moisture. This list is incomplete and research continues. ‘akialoa (Hemignathus obscurus) green canary, parrot, saffron finch, parrot, parakeet ‘alalā (Corvus hawaiiensis) black mynah, chicken, duck, turkey, bulbul ‘amakihi (Hemignathus virens) bright yellow to yellow-green saffron finch, yellow-fronted canary, parrot, parakeet
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
koa‘e (Phaethon lepturus dorotheae) white cattle egret, white dove, goose biots mamo (Drepanis pacifica) dark golden yellow golden pheasant, canary, parrot moa (Gallus gallus) reddish brown, iridescent black game cock, Rhode Island Red rooster Nēnē (Branta sandvicensis) grey, brown grey goose
‘apapane (Himatione sanguinea) deep crimson red-crested cardinal, yellow-billed cardinal, parrot
‘ō‘ō (Moho nobilis) lemon yellow, black, black with white golden pheasant, kalij pheasant, mocking bird, parrot, commercial coque
‘i‘iwi (Vestiaria coccinea) red red-crested cardinal, yellow-billed cardinal, parrot
‘ō‘ū (Psittirostra psittacea) green parrot, meijiro, canary
‘io (Buteo solitarius) brown, tan pheasant, duck, partridge, turkey, barn owl
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‘iwa (Fregata minor palmerstoni) black, grey dyed turkey, duck, dove, mynah
pueo (Asio flammeus sandwichensis) brown, tan duck, pheasant, partridge
Kona’s Onion House
The Sydney Opera House Meets Stonehenge |
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hey said it couldn’t be built. Later, they said it couldn’t be repaired. Yet the Onion House stands proudly today in South Kona as a living work of art and innovative architecture. Thanks to the vision of two people—owner Elizabeth von Beck and architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg—this one-of-a-kind structure began in 1959, when Elizabeth commissioned Kellogg to build her a home in a sleepy little fishing village along the Kona coast. The niece of the founder of the McCormick Spice Company, Elizabeth was determined to create an enduring work of art influenced by Polynesian culture. Elizabeth’s love of the Pacific Ocean and its people was almost inborn. In 1887, her father sailed with the first scientific expedition to map and study Easter Island (Rapa Nui). The sea captain later shared his adventures in this faraway, exotic land with his daughter, who always felt an affinity with the Pacific islands.
separate vision in designing and creating the Onion House. Kellogg called it the “House of Shells,” and today, many people comment that it reminds them of the iconic opera house in Sydney, Australia. Because of its extensive rockwork the April 1991 issue of Hawaiian Island Home, described the Onion House as “the Sydney Opera House meets Stonehenge.” When Kellogg presented Elizabeth with his original blueprint, she was completely entranced and told him on the spot to build it. No contractors would touch the unusual project, claiming it could not be done because it had so many unorthodox features, including a lack of right angles. So Kellogg decided to build it himself. He moved his young family to Hawai‘i Island and lived there for two years while undertaking this seemingly impossible project.
Circa late 1960s Circa late 1960s
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
The Long Road to Completion
Ken Kellogg was not yet 30 when Elizabeth contacted him after admiring a house he designed in San Diego that was inspired by his mentor Frank Lloyd Wright. The Onion House was Ken’s third project. “Ken was an idealistic, young visionary, who wanted to create original living spaces in harmony with the natural environment,” Elizabeth’s niece, Beth McCormick explained. “My Aunt Elizabeth needed to live in a piece of art, and she saw in Ken the ability to create what she wanted.” The Onion House represented Kellogg’s creative breakaway from Lloyd Wright. Although the famous architect’s influence exists in both feeling and construction, Kellogg expressed his own
By Barbara Fahs
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Ken Kellogg and Bill Slatten with the fireplace
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After purchasing the essential materials he needed— a pickup truck, a cement mixer, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow— he embarked on the ambitious project. He used as many local materials as possible, such as lava rock and koa wood. He needed to order other materials, such as Italian tile, redwood, and even plumbing fixtures, from the faraway mainland—and they had to be transported by ship. Beth recalled, “Both Ken and Elizabeth were pushing the envelope, far beyond the levels of what anybody was comfortable with, in order to prove what was doable.” Kellogg recruited fellow San Diegan, architect, and metal smith, Bill Slatton, to design and construct the Onion House’s ornate ironwork, including the spires that grace both the main house and the separate master bedroom. Slatton also fashioned several sculptures and the ornate gate at the Onion House entry. He had created ironwork at Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home, Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona, from 1956 until 1959, so the Onion House benefited from two craftsmen who were strongly influenced by the legendary architect. Beth recounted, “Bill was Ken Kellogg’s right hand during the entire two-year construction project.” Stained glass artist James Hubbell soon joined the team to create the many highly colorful, creative, distinctive panels, which, remarkably, have remained mostly intact to this day. Beth praised both Hubbell and Kellogg by saying, “Both visionaries went on to create completely original lifetime bodies of work.” They both helped to originate a movement known today as Organic Architecture, which promotes the creation of buildings that are harmonious with nature. Beth elaborates, “There is nothing square in the entire place. Each door is a different shape from any other door. The arches are not equal. Even the roof shingles are all different shapes! Today, it takes special craftspeople to maintain it because nothing in the house is a standard size or shape.” By 1963, the home was complete, and not Aunt Elizabeth without controversy.
Beth wrote, “To the neighbors, it was as bizarre as if Elizabeth built a space shuttle.” One neighbor remarked, “The damned thing looks like an onion!” Instead of taking offense, Elizabeth loved the concept and adopted the name “Onion House” for her beloved home. “It was an appropriate name on several levels,” Beth added. “Not only did it look like an onion, but the McCormick Spice Company had made powdered onion as one of their early products. My aunt was an innovator who was way ahead of her time.”
Making the Property a Work of Art
Elizabeth’s vision for her home extended far beyond architecture. She was intent to grow some of her own food and planted mango trees as a starter crop because she firmly believed that Hawai‘i needed to become self-sufficient in food production. As the years went by, she planted other food crops such as jaboticaba, soursop, and pomelo, as well as ornamentals such as jacaranda, snow-on-the-mountain, and palms. Some of her original plantings remain to this day and adorn the one-acre property on which the Onion House is located. Elizabeth lived in the Onion House for 20 years and entertained the likes of the queen of Tonga, according to local legend. “I can’t confirm that this is true,” chuckled Beth. Elizabeth held frequent parties; the first, her housewarming party, lasted three days and three nights, with all of Kona invited.
Her love of the Polynesian people and culture extended to her many friends, including ‘Iolani Luahine, a famous hula dancer who lived at Hulihe‘e Palace, the royal residence of Hawaiian monarchs in Kailua town. Beth recalled, “Aunty ‘Iolani was a tiny, ever-mischievous darkskinned sprite with eyes that shot fire, who would always greet us with elaborate ritual, even if we happened to see her at the post office. It was only much later that I understood that Aunty ‘Iolani Luahine was held in a sort of reverence among Hawaiian practitioners.”
Ruin and Repair
Elizabeth in a ti leaf raincoat
Over time, Elizabeth was unable to maintain the Onion House and its grounds. Even as the jungle began to reclaim the estate, Elizabeth and Aunty ‘Iolani Luahine frolicked through it, according to Beth. “It was like a ruined Mayan temple overtaken by the rainforest—the Onion House was draped in climbing vines and
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Onion House Floorplan
foliage that masked its distinctive arches. Whatever mixture of caprice and acumen that inspired my Aunty Elizabeth to build and bankroll this extraordinary home did not include the work of maintaining it.” Maintenance was not in Elizabeth’s vocabulary, it seems. Beth also recalls her aunt’s car, a red Mercedes Benz 350 SEL. Elizabeth was a tiny woman, unable to see over the steering wheel. Beth added, “She peered out a narrow arched portal underneath the steering wheel, so from the outside, only the top of her head, wearing a large cluster of hibiscus flowers, was barely visible. Crusted in a layer of brown dust, its paint color unrecognizable, the Benz would cruise by with apparently nobody driving!” Elizabeth neglected to change the oil, so in time the car simply gave up the ghost. The Onion House suffered from the same neglect, and the jungle threatened to take it over by the time the bank was ready to foreclose in 1984.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Like a Phoenix From the Ashes
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Because her aunt and the Onion House meant so much to Beth and both had greatly influenced her life, she stepped in and purchased it within weeks of the foreclosure. “I was only 30,” Beth explained. “I didn’t know how I was going to handle it because it was the first home I’d ever owned. My aunt, in a personal decline that mirrored her surroundings, came with the deal.” Beth took care of Elizabeth the final three years of her life, and the world lost her in 1987 to cancer. Beth was becoming a respected artist, creating unique featherwork, sometimes in combination with sculpture. For 16 years, she made the Onion House her home, and little by little, transformed it while also creating Blue Blue Feathers Feathers completed completed her masterful works (see Feather story (see Feather story on on page page 43) 43) of feather art.
PHOTO: Mary-Kay Cochrane
“The house has its own life story,” Beth related. “It gets better all the time. A friend once told me that this house shows her the potentials in this life, that it embodies a sense of what is actually possible. I’ve decided that art is something you live.” Beth found that it was necessary to meticulously study every small detail in the house and tend Tango In Midair to each of them by Beth McCormick Tango In Midair in front ofby a curved window individually. For Beth McCormick in front of a curved window example, the roof was made of a fiberglass material called Alsynite and certainly did not present a typical roofing job for a standard roofing company to undertake. “We decided to treat the roof as if it were a surfboard,” explained Beth. “During the restoration, we had it re-fiberglassed in much the same way you would refinish a surfboard.” In 2000, after 16 years, Beth completed restoring the Onion House. As her life took new directions, she began sharing her home with the world after carefully selecting competent caretakers. “The house has its own life force,” she reflected. “My work of stewarding the Onion House is a tribute to the sense of flamboyant joy that inspired its creation.”
Susan J. Moss
Professional Member ASID, LEED Accredited Professional
Kamuela, HI PH: 808-885-5587 www.trans-pacificdesign.com
The Onion House Today
Contact Beth McCormick: OnionHouseHawaii.com Contact writer Barbara Fahs: hiiakas@lava.net
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
In the same spirit that Elizabeth von Beck created the Onion House as a tribute to her passion for Hawaiian culture and as a joyful gathering place, it exists today as a living museum where vacationing art lovers and lovers of all kinds come to stay. The many guests who have made the Onion House their temporary home have given rave reviews of their time and experience at this unique dwelling. One guest from Colorado shared his impression by stating, “I’ve never experienced a place that, day after day, made ALL of me feel so fine! This place is an oasis of Zen!” The Onion House inspires creativity in those who stay there, including Beth McCormick, whose feather work was greatly shaped by her years living at the Onion House. A recent guest went so far as to recreate a model of the Onion House when she got home using seashells, stained glass, and volcanic rock walls. She said, “Nothing in this world truly prepared me for my first impression of the real thing. My camera clicked at each new image: step, wall, artwork, room, and so forth. The only negative thing I can say about staying at your home is that the four of us NEVER wanted to leave, and I was dragged kicking and screaming to see Hapuna Beach and the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park!” ❖
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Speaking the Language of Love A Conversation with Kahuna Kalei‘iliahi |
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years in California. Her home in Orchidland now is filled with fairies and photos and precious, sacred relics from all over the world. Her banyan tree, “Miracle,” plays a large role in her life. She says her connection to the ancients and a new energy, a feminine energy, is affecting us on a global level.
What kind of kahuna are you?
A Kahuna Pule. Pule is prayer, and more than that it means I make words that are holy, and these words help others to heal. Therefore I am a Spiritual Healer, using the power of the word to guide, love, and heal others in need of my Light. All problems on the planet have a spiritual core; otherwise, you’re just treating symptoms. If you solve the spiritual problem, it’s more permanent. I’m an ambassador. My ancestors live inside me. I can see the light and divinity in people.
You were raised with Christianity. How did that affect you?
Hawaiians were forbidden to practice their spiritual ways, and Christianity had pretty much taken over as a religion in the islands. But a kahuna is born a kahuna and carries all the sacred knowledge and wisdom and mana in their DNA from their ancestors. It was part of my journey to discover what I had felt
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
ur kāhuna, or our indigenous elders are our spiritual and physical connection with where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. Kāhuna have optimism about our spiritual evolution on this planet and how well things are going, despite what we see and hear in the news. Kalei‘iliahi is a “current kahuna” with an ancient message. She has a website and frequents Facebook. She uses words like “quantum” in explaining how she thinks and observes the world and muses that science is just now catching up with things the ancients have always innately known. She laughs and is moved to tears easily, and when she talks about the ancients, especially Pele, her visage changes: her eyes take on a dark glow, and there is an aura that commands attention and respect. Born and raised on O‘ahu, Kahuna Kalei‘iliahi spent 30
By Cynthia Sweeney
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all of my life as a child—I carried something different. I knew it, just not what it was called until later. Now I know: I am a kahuna from a great lineage with a responsibility I carry with honor.
You spent a long time living in California. What were you doing there?
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I was born in Kalihi Valley on O‘ahu. I’m a Hawaiian priestess born into this lineage. I did my spiritual work in California and made trips back to see my family and connect with the land. [California is] where I was needed. Not just as a Hawaiian who carries the beautiful mana and aloha that we represent: I’m the ancients’ ambassador. My role is to touch others with my love and to spread my sacred mana wherever I go. I also got to learn about many different cultures and meet many different people from all over the world. I was exposed to so many different spiritual paths, and I saw the common connection among all of us. My teacher taught me to teach by example. So my work is by example, all of it. All of the trials and tests that I’ve been through, some pretty hard things in my life. All of it was for a reason. To strengthen me and to empower me into an even more compassionate human being because people from all walks of life come to me with all kinds of stories and pain, and I’ve been there, I can speak their language. When I would do sacred ceremonies in California, people would come from their own cultures and I always asked them to do their own prayers and speak in their own language. It was so beautiful. The Hindus would do their prayers and people from France would speak their language. I would learn that these people all had a way to honor the creator (tearing up). It’s emotional to think about this because it was so beautiful. The love of God isn’t exclusive to anyone; it’s for all of us. And everyone had a beautiful way of expressing it.
What was it like coming home to Hawai‘i?
Renée
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AWealthOfWisdom.com CS@AWealthOfWisdom.com PO Box 390038 Keauhou, Hawai‘i 96739
When I came back home, the ancients said, “Now people will be coming to you from all over the world and you will be able to speak their language. If they come from a different culture, a different religion, you will be the kahuna who can talk to them on their level. They will feel a bond and connection that you know them and understand them. And also by your love for them they are going to feel that we’re all just the same—we are the same.” I saw the wisdom of why I had to be away so long, to meet the people I met, and the things I had to learn. I wouldn’t have
learned it had I stayed here in Hawai‘i. I wouldn’t have known there was so much more out there. I remember the Dalai Lama said that he was grateful the Chinese government made them leave their country, because he would never have known there were all these different people worldwide—he thought there was only Tibet. And he would never have fallen in love with his human family. He would never have known. What a beautiful concept.
You say you don’t speak Hawaiian. How does this affect you being a kahuna?
I know enough Hawaiian to communicate. When I do my chants my ancestors come through me, it’s their voices that I’m singing. And that’s why people cry. I think they can feel the mana, the love, the sacredness, how ancient—it goes far, far back. I communicate with my ancestors. They’re all around me. They’re the wisdom. They’re the ones who went before me. All of my ability, all of my profound wonderful gifts have come from them. I am their ambassador here to carry on what they said. They said if I spoke all this information only in Hawaiian it would reach only a limited group of people. They want me to speak the English language because it’s a universal language that allows me to communicate with people all over the world. So from that standpoint they were saying that you are current, we want you to be able to reach as many of the human family as you can that want to hear, because people are hungry for this
You say you are a “current kahuna.” What does that mean?
My ancestors were all brilliant metaphysicians. They understood the quantum energy, how to communicate telepathically, and they passed all of this down through the lineage to the Hawaiian people, to the Polynesians. That’s why we were so good at what we did. We became brilliant celestial navigators. And we did things with the plants, we did things with energy for thousands of years because we knew how to think in a quantum way. It was a different language they spoke, yet the information, the knowledge, and the wisdom is the same. I am a current kahuna because I can use the current language, and also
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knowledge—from us Hawaiians and indigenous cultures worldwide. People are going all the way to Machu Picchu to learn from the Incas from Peru. In Australia they’re trying to find the aboriginals. People worldwide are beginning to question that there’s got to be more than conventional religion and spirituality— maybe God is much bigger than we’ve been led to believe.
MOVED TO SUNSET PLAZA!
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communicate with the ancients. To put it together in the current terminology so I can speak to you about it. Ancient kāhuna did not call themselves kāhuna. They didn’t need to. Everyone knew who they were and the elders knew them when they were born. The kāhuna went into hiding when it was forbidden to practice their spirituality. No one addressed them when they walked amongst the people so they would not be identified. My ancestors have told me it was now safe for the kāhuna and indigenous shamans all over the world to share the wisdom and knowledge to those seeking it. By addressing myself as a kahuna I am making it easier for people across the globe to find me. “It is time,” my ancestors have told me. I trust the guidance of my ancestors (even though many Hawaiians may not agree with me).
How does the female energy play into all of this?
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
That’s the best part! Finally. Finally we’re having this beautiful female energy, compassion and the nurturing, the soft energy delivered to the planet and awakening in the hearts of human beings. This is a time of the divine feminine on the planet.
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This last Venus Transit was about the deliverance of the divine sacred feminine energy to the planet because it’s been imbalanced for so long with male energy. That’s why there were so many wars and so much fear and killing for so long. There’s going to be a time—and it won’t be that long, several generations from now—where the idea of war will be considered barbaric. We’ll have ended it. And that’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re doing. The feminine energy is that energy that will allow for that to happen. There’s no female who wants to go to war, no female who supports the idea of killing. The idea of the feminine is compassionate, nurturing, life-giving. It’s powerful. Have you noticed all the dictators falling away and all these things—that’s all beautiful; we did that, we created the light. All the young people are now the ones—you go on Facebook and it’s exciting what they’re doing. They have pictures with the Israelis and Iranians and Palestinians hugging and saying, “we want peace.” They don’t want to live in the hatred that their parents lived in for generations and generations. They’re done with it. Those are the new kids. Beautiful. There’s so much good happening in this world. There are miracles and nobody’s reporting them. There will come a time when people aren’t going to be interested in
watching the dramas and reality shows and the rock’em sock’em, blow’em ups and all this horrible stuff. Drama is an old energy concept. It does not suit the consciousness of an enlightened human being. A peaceful human being doesn’t need drama. So it’s going to change. People are going to want a good news channel. And the young ones are going to say, “We’re tired of this. We want to hear some good stuff. Let’s make a good news channel.” And they’re going to report all the true miracles that are happening worldwide. The internet is wonderful because it allows us to share the light and the love of God and reach people in a broader, vaster way than we could before. With all this light on the planet, we will not be able to have secrets. Secrets are kept in the dark, right? There’s so much light now. The internet is a beautiful example of light shining on the atrocities like those committed in Africa. Remember the killing, the rapes, and all these horrible things? Now the internet [is here] and everybody knows about it. If we didn’t have the internet, it would have continued for another 500 years. Now we’ll narrow it down to one or 50 years because now there’s going to be enough humans waking up with that compassionate feminine energy that says we’ve had enough of this. We won’t allow it. Some people say, “What do you mean some things are getting better? You are crazy. You and your metaphysical talk and stuff. Look at the news. It sounds terrible!” I calmly respond, “No. What you’re seeing is what’s been there all along. I celebrate that we can see it because now we can do something about it. Before we couldn’t see it, and we didn’t do anything about it and that’s why it continued. Like the Holocaust. That isn’t happening again. Atrocities committed in
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the world are being revealed so we can stop them, so we can bring our light, bring our prayers, and end them, and say, “No more.” The other thing that’s happening with all this beautiful light is the financial system, how it’s falling apart because of lack of integrity. This is an example of how we can’t have secrets in this new energy. Businesses and corruption will be exposed, dictators are going out. To me it is a grand time on this planet. We didn’t ever think this would happen. We really thought we were headed for Nostradamus’ prediction. We changed it. We’re changing it beautifully. We’re all interconnected in some way—that energy field— we’re all part of this beautiful soup, and we’re all at the core good. We all want the same things, and we’re raising the consciousness to create that in a way that we never did before. How beautiful. This planet is becoming a brilliant bright star. ❖
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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Crossword Puzzle | By Myles Mellor
This page is for Ke Ola readers to have FUN while learning about the Hawaiian culture and this wonderful island we call home. Some answers are in English, some are in Hawaiian. Some answers will be found when you read the stories and ads in this issue. Feel free to use the online Hawaiian electronic library. wehewehe.org Oh yes, you can find the answers on page 77 Your feedback is always welcome. HIeditor@keolamagazine.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Across 1 Industry that heavily impacted Hawai‘i’s history and culture 4 Executive Center on the sea cliffs north of Hilo 8 Hawaiian abbreviation meaning north 9 ____ mili hulu no‘eau, meaning the skilled hands that touch the feathers (2 words) 11 Hawai‘i’s most stellar professional female athlete, Bree ____ 14 House in South Kona that is a living work of art and innovative architecture 16 Indigenous elders, spiritual connection with the Hawaiian culture 18 Fishermen’s equipment 20 Hawaiian word for a sound of chanting 21 The value of perseverance (Hawaiian word used in the Managing With Aloha series) 24 Bee’s home 26 Drink that can be hot or cold 28 Great storyteller, Kumu Hulu Etua _____ 30 Migrating shore birds that come to Hawai‘i 32 Type of bean, also called a butter bean 35 Have 36 Makes better, medically 38 Dyed 39 Hawaiian word for a kind of fish, a kala 41 Hawaiian word for a large plant like a taro 42 Hawaiian word for by 43 Original Hawaiian dance
Down 1 Like some beaches 2 Young lady 3 Jar’s lip 4 Hawaiian word for smooth, gray barked tree in the mango family 5 Hawaiian bird that feeds only on nectar 6 Hawaiian word for hit or strike 7 It’s short for ‘ukulele 10 Hawaiian word for strong 12 Many, many years 13 Hawaiian word for the first attempts of a baby to move 14 Large fish like a mackerel 15 Hawaiian word for fragrance 16 Hawaiian word for dart or spear 17 Makes warmer 19 Ball support at golf 22 Hawaiian word for to lay a foundation 23 Hawaiian word for to jerk 24 Town on the east side of Mauna Kea that is home to several endangered bird species 25 Fine hula dancer, Julie _____ 27 They are used to track bird populations and migration patterns 28 Flowers you can make a lei from 29 September 21 is ___ Day 31 Lady sheep 33 Frozen water 34 Hawaiian word for to break a rope 37 It shines almost all the time in Hawai‘i 40 Hawaiian word for at or beside
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Bree Wee with son Kainoa after the 2012 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona
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I Live. I Love. I Race.
Kailua-Kona’s Own Triathlete Bree Wee |
bike with fuel as if it were a full Ironman. “I had bars, Sharkies, gels, four drink cages, and an aero bottle! I was terrified of ‘bonking.’ I heard so much about that and thought I should be well-prepared.” During the final event, the run, Bree clearly remembers thinking she would never do a triathlon again. “At that point I really thought my first tri would be my last tri. Funny thing happens though, once you finish, the pain goes away and you sign up for another one!” It was watching the 2003 Ironman World Championship run literally through her back yard when a goal that would change her life forever was penned. It read simply, “I have to do Ironman.” And four years later, in 2007, she did just that, winning the 25-29 age group, and in doing so also set the amateur course record. In 2008, she said goodbye to her third grade class, trading chalk and gold stars for a professional athlete card, although she continues to substitute teach when she’s not traveling to compete in triathlons worldwide. It was that same year that Bree competed in her first Ironman as a pro—the 2008 Ironman Japan— where she took second place in the event. Four years later, she chalked up her first professional win at the 2012 Ironman Louisville.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
ice.” Who would expect that to be the first descriptor for a fiercely competitive triathlete? That, however, is the word heard repeatedly from fellow competitors, fans, sponsors, and trainers when asked about Hawai‘i Island’s most stellar female professional athlete, Bree Wee. Beneath all the warmth and charm, however, beats the heart of a champion and an intense will to win. This 33-year-old native of Florida arrived here with a freshly earned teacher’s degree in 2002 and has never looked back. “Eleven years ago I didn’t even know what a triathlon really was, and there was certainly no part in my mind or heart that ever believed that one day I would be a professional athlete,” she says. “Life happens and dreams grow, doors open, and before you know it, you are far beyond what you ever thought possible.” It was a flip of a coin that brought her to Hawai‘i Island rather than Costa Rica following graduation. She received teaching offers from both locations, both attractive options to her, so when she tossed the coin and it turned heads up, Hawai‘i was it. Who knows if she would have received the same encouragement from friends there—encouragement she received in big doses in Kailua-Kona that ultimately led her to start running, join the Kona Aquatics swim training, then to buy a bike, and then to begin competing in triathlons? Of her very first triathlon (a short course), Bree admits to being scared to death. “My friend Jen was in it with me, and during the swim I would not leave her side. Every breath, I would look to make sure I was next to her— I didn’t know about drafting then—so I swam stroke for stroke with her on fear!” Then during the transition to the bike, she says, she packed her
By Margaret Kearns
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KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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Bree’s most sought after career goal, however, has eluded her—to be the first person from the state of Hawai‘i to finish in the top 10 of the Ironman World Championship sponsored on the west side of Hawai‘i Island each October, with both the start and finish line at Kailua-Kona Pier. Since landing the win and amateur course record in 2007, Bree has qualified and competed as a pro in the World Championship here in 2009 and again in 2010. This year, she says, “I’m holding onto the edge of a cliff. I haven’t clinched a spot yet.” As of press time, Wee was 41st in a field of professional women competing for just 35 available spots. She had two more qualifying races to complete in August—the Philippines 70.3 where she placed third in 2011 and second in 2012 and Ironman Mount Tremblant in Canada—to move up in the rankings and earn a slot in the 2013 Ironman World Championship, now in its 35th year, on Saturday, October 12. In the meantime, she says, her days are spent training—on the bike, in the pool, or in Kailua-Kona Bay, and running—and concentrating on creating a good life balance as a mother to her seven-year-old son Kainoa and girlfriend to Mike Masada. Nights, she says, are usually spent shuffling through plans to make that top 10 finish here a reality. “It really has been the people in my life, not things or outcomes of races, that have helped me stick to my guns. We find inspiration in each other; we find hope and lessons from others. And of course, there are a dozen saved emails of those reaching out to help me with this dream to make it into the Kona race,” Wee says. As with all pro athletes, in the end, it all comes down to hard work and determination. Bree trains an average of 30 hours a week, adding that the schedule really depends on whether she’s building up to a race or it’s race week. Most triathletes spend the most time training on the bike, she says, and that also varies depending on what they perceive their weakest event to be. “I’m pretty well-rounded, pretty solid in all three events, and the bike is probably my strongest,” Bree says. While her swim coach is still Steve Borowski of the Kona Aquatics, Bree’s overall coach since 2009, Jimmy Ricitello does his work long-distance from Tucson, Arizona. “It’s mostly online coaching at this point, although Jimmy will come out for certain races. That’s important because he knows what I need to do and tells me to do it,” she says. “Steve is a great mentor to me. He sees me every day, and he’s a part of my real life, and that’s really important for me,” Bree adds. As for diet, she eats mostly whole foods and nearly nothing that comes in a box or can. Her go-to food in the middle of long bike rides, she says, is an island favorite loaded with protein, carbs, and fat—Spam Musabi.
Bree Wee can be reached at: PO Box 1033, Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i 96740. Be sure to include your mailing address to receive the promised newsletters and postcards. Photos by Tek Mapon: TekMaponPhoto.com Contact writer Margaret Kearns: margaretekearns@gmail.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
“I don’t say no or never to anything. My son has a birthday coming up, for example, and I will definitely enjoy some of his birthday cake,” Bree says. She offers this advice for those starting out: “During races really try to focus on the ‘now:’ how you feel, how you’re pacing, and don’t think too much about how far you have come—it will only make your body feel tired knowing how much it has already done! And don’t think too far ahead, either, it will tire you out knowing how much you have left to go…And always try to keep a positive state of mind with whatever is happening, good or challenging such as weather conditions or pain. Remember, too, there is no better way to stay committed, focused, and motivated, than to state a goal and then be held accountable.” Since Kainoa was born, she also shares that she has adopted a pre-race ritual: writing his name with black marker on the top of her hand. “It helps me to remain focused, to remember his support, my family, and Mike’s support. When I see it, I know that win or lose they are all still there for me,” she says. Now you can be part of Wee’s support team, too. On one of those long bike rides this summer, Wee reflected on all of the emails from both friends and strangers throughout the world, reaching out and offering to help her reach her goal. She came up with an idea to share her journey even more personally. An email blast went out saying, “If you want to help, thank you, I need the help. Phew, got that out, humbled but refreshed. And here is how I can give back. Wherever I race over the season, I’ll send you a postcard from that race destination, so you can see what my eyes see, and read what I’m feeling. I know this is such an opportunity to race amongst the best, line up with great athletes, and be in places some only dream of seeing, so now you can come along on the journey more closely with me! With any support, great or small, I’ll also send a monthly newsletter to your house with what my favorite workouts have been, a recipe, and pictures of the training going on. I just want to make it more personal since people are caring more personally about me. That’s all I can offer now.” Bree appreciates life and holds it gently with both hands, not taking anything for granted. She’s the first to admit, “Life has been very good to me, although not because it’s been handed to me. I’ve often fallen out of trees by life’s surprises; I’ve just never been good at staying down. I want to climb until I get to see all the views I could ever imagine in this life!” In the meantime, Bree says, “I live. I love. I race.” ❖
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One Vendor. One Bill. Finger pointing? Only when you dial. Replace your business phone & internet service.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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Coaching Tip
#4:
EmployEEs = AssEts Two of the greatest challenges for any business are: 1. hiring the right people and, 2. keeping them. Employees’ contributions are a business’s most important assets. #1 Decide What You Want and Need: Make a list of must-have, should-have and nice-to-have skills and qualities. Write a job description to keep your focus. #2 Search in the Right Places: Don’t underestimate the value of networking when you’re seeking a special employee. Let your friends and business colleagues know what you’re looking for.
#3 Conduct a Thorough Interview: Good questions, prepared in advance, lead to revealing answers. #4 Hire the Right Person: Use your gut instinct, assess their accomplishments, attitude & personality – but be objective! #5 Hang on to Good Employees: Employee retention is as important as the initial hire. Considerate bosses are as hard to find as great employees.
Kari Waldhaus
Business Coach
808.339.7728 kwaldhaus@esourcecoach.com Ke Ola Tip 4 DRAFT.indd 1
Ke Ola Sept-Oct 2013.
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Penny Pagliaro, Panale‘a Corp. 315-7776
Ho‘omau
The value of perseverance. To persist, to continue, to perpetuate. Never give up. Fifth in an ongoing series.
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Managing with Aloha: Ho‘omau
rather obvious: we will quickly say, “Giving up is not an option.” When we instinctively feel that certainty in our gut, go with the intuitive feeling of inner Aloha wisdom. Other times, and much more often the case, we simply don’t know when to quit and regroup. We aren’t sure. In these cases, Ho‘omau will truly shine if you have welcomed the kaona of its full meaning into your workplace culture, for those who have input for you will have Ho‘omau as their way to voice their suggestions and offer their help. You can break down and examine your ‘hold ‘em or fold ‘em?’ decision into PERSIST to then, CONTINUE, and then, PERPETUATE, or change course. The Ho‘omau language of intention will help you separate sound reasoning from justifiable defensiveness: we want to get our job done in the best possible way—we don’t want an excuse not to. In our next Managing with Aloha installment of this series, we will talk about Kūlia i ka nu‘u, the Hawaiian value of achievement and excellence. As preview, Kūlia i ka nu‘u focuses on articulating the achievement you want in a definitive way: you focus on a precise goal so you can begin your work with that goal in mind. In comparison, Ho‘omau focuses on the experimentation of work process when the exact end goal may not yet be defined and on the rewards of working through that discovery. The process of work becomes the way to articulate what you must, then CONTINUE and PERPETUATE, weaving successes into your working culture to stay, building strength upon strength instead of as dictated by tactical achievement. Ho‘omau helps managers take leaps of faith by trusting in the competence of their people as doers and in their workplace as a learning culture. To trust in Ho‘omau as either an individual’s value-driver of persistence or as the workplace culture’s valuedriver of process perseverance is to perceive little risk in taking those leaps of faith: you will always emerge through them being the stronger for it. To trust in Ho‘omau is to trust in the process of finding. It is liberating to know you don’t need to have all the answers at the get-go. What you have instead is the confidence and courage to discover the answers you’ll need because you have your people, and you believe in your collective Ho‘omau capacity. ~ Rosa Say Next issue: Kūlia i ka nu‘u, the value of achievement in excellence. Contact writer Rosa Say: RosaSay.com, ManagingWithAloha.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
everal managers have told me Managing with Aloha’s chapter on Ho‘omau is their favorite, and I can easily understand why, for I love this value too! Once you get that far in the philosophy, having read through the values of Aloha, Ho‘ohana, and ‘Imi ola (as we have in this, our Ke Ola series), Ho‘omau gives you the feeling you can jump in, apply what you’ve already learned, and enjoy the swim. You’ll be glad you jumped. The water’s fine and you’ve become buoyant! Focused work on Ho‘omau is extremely rewarding: It’s a value to aspire to in the depth of its meaning, and you can immediately incorporate it in your workplace culture building in smaller chunks, satisfying your most pressing need for it. A Ho‘omau plan of action can be broken down into three parts: Persist, Continue, and Perpetuate. PERSIST as in don’t give up easily: be resolute—admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering in your resolve to get something done. CONTINUE as the value of continuous improvement: don’t just repeat, get incrementally better each and every time you execute. PERPETUATE as in the creation of resilient worth, as a refinement of process: cause whatever good you have engendered to be long-lasting yet supple—flexible, adaptable, and timeless. No matter what your mission, vision, or performance parameters, Ho‘omau PERSEVERANCE as the resulting strength of the Persist, Continue, and Perpetuate habit, is pure yumminess you can sink your managerial teeth into, whether you decide to start personally or with organizational intentions. Ho‘omau is a wonderfully pragmatic value: it guides habitbuilding in practical ways that tackle obstacles. We self-train beyond pure willpower, which alone, never seems enough; working on muscle building actions we connect to our strengths and to character building in focus, tenacity, and endurance. Setbacks in every workplace are both real and imagined: we grapple with facts as much as suppositions. The gift of Ho‘omau value intention in a workplace culture is increased confidence and courage. Ho‘omau answers the “real, or imagined?” question about any workplace situation with, “It doesn’t really matter if this is fact or supposition; we can tackle it, and we can overcome any adversity as we need to.” If there is any difficulty within Ho‘omau deliberation, it’s as described in those Kenny Rogers’ lyrics, “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.” Sometimes our options are
| By Rosa Say
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Tai Lake and the Hawai‘i Artists’ Collaboration
Kaka‘ina Hana Hou |
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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First in a series of follow-up stories
e Ola published an article on Holualoa-based artist Tai Lake and his family in the November–December 2011 issue which included a sidebar about the Hawai‘i Artists’ Collaboration. Though the mainstay of his work remains woodwork and fine furniture created by he and his family, another heartfelt, passionate project is helping artists connect with each other and the world. In 2011, Tai and fellow Hawai‘i Island artist, Cliff Johns, created the very first Hawai‘i Artists’ Collaboration event. The event produced a tsunami of interest—both among artists, who describe it as a life changing experience, and collectors who love the opportunity to acquire the unique artworks created during the event. The Hawai‘i Artists’ Collaboration 2013 will present the results of its third gathering, Holomua Kakou (moving forward together), with the theme, “A Show of Hands,” at a noreserve auction October 26 at the Holualoa Inn Pavilion. Holomua Kakou describes a journey that begins when people from different backgrounds and cultures cross boundaries to combine their talents and explore new ideas. Just four days prior to the auction, 35 artists from O‘ahu, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i Island, and invited artists from Canada, New Zealand and Maine, USA, will gather to collaborate, cooperate, cross pollinate, consult, and conspire with each other to create works that would be impossible or improbable to produce working alone. Media represented will include glass, raku, printmaking, woodwork, bowl turning, copper and blacksmithing, jewelry, fine art painting and encaustics, native kapa, carving, drum making, tattoo, cordage and lashing, furniture and found object assemblage. In 2012, 75 unique pieces were made and presented at auction. Proceeds from the auction are used to fund the Collaboration, provide support and scholarships for artists and to create more opportunities for artists to share their knowledge within our communities. The invitational artist event reconnects and reinvigorates artists who want to share experience with others, while also learning from their peers. “Artists here tend to work alone and stay very busy. This collaboration provides a way to get back in touch with what’s going on in Hawai‘i and around the world. The work that is produced is spontaneous, and it reflects lifetimes of experience coming together,” Tai says. Contact the Collaboration: hawaiicollaboration@gmail.com 808.776.1927, facebook.com/hawaii.collab Sponsored by Hawai‘i Artists’ Collaboration. If you would like a follow-up story, please call 808.329.1711, x1.
Craftsmanship that Sings Big Island Ukulele Guild |
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In previous times, instrument making was somewhat of a family secret, passed down from father to son. Today, things have changed. “There’s been a renaissance in ‘ukulele making where people have shared what they know. It’s more of a sense of having community around the world than having a trade to protect,” said Woodley.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
am no stranger to the tangy smell of sawdust and the intense groan of power tools, as my father is an ‘ukulele and guitar builder who has successfully made a name for himself over the last thirty-plus years. Where our story and this story connect is through the Big Island Ukulele Guild and its importance as an organization devoted to knowledge surrounding ‘ukulele building. The late Andy Berard of O‘Kona Ukulele started the Guild in 2001. Andy built ‘ukuleles and taught ‘ukulele making, where the idea evolved out of group interest from his students. Its function is to promote and further the craft of ‘ukulele making through the shared knowledge of its 50 members. Many of the members are people who build instruments for fun, while some depend on building for their livelihood. Guild President Woodley White has been building instruments for 21 years, primarily classical guitars. When he began building ‘ukuleles, it was with a simple plan he’d purchased. He built four ‘ukuleles, and before long they had sold on consignment in local shops. “I think it’s really a great group of people. There’s a lot of different participation…the whole range of different levels of interest. I think the goal is to share information and help people become the best builders. I find the group to be a really cool organization and inspiration,” said Woodley.
By Le‘a Gleason
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Sitting at a Guild meeting on Woodley’s deck in Nā‘ālehu, it’s impossible to say any two members are alike. Each have a uniquely different interest in building, employ different techniques, and have their own personality. What’s common is the desire to keep a treasured craft alive. To detail the intricacies of each member would be impossible. Here are just a few.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Mark Evans—The Country Craftsman
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Mark Evans hails from Opihikao, where he lives in an open-air home built entirely out of mango trees that grew on the land. His humble workshop sits nearby, filled with tools passed down from his father and grandfather. This passionate Southern Californian has been surfing for more than 40 years, working with wood for almost as long, and has built ‘ukuleles for the last 13. “I like to think sound is like waves. I’m into the waves. I know the ocean well. I think of the sound traveling through my instruments like the sound of the waves. I round and smooth everything so there’s no place for sound to get stuck,” Mike said. Mike began building when a pawnshop ‘ukulele he loved to play broke. He’d been raised to believe that whatever he wanted, he could build instead of buy. “I just looked at it and said ‘I’m gonna build a ‘uke’…so I just kind of felt it out and figured it out and started making up my own method. It was a little messed up, but the things that were the mess-ups allowed me to learn,” Mike said. Since then, he’s become hooked. “I could sit and watch glue dry building ‘ukes, I’m so enamored. I get so sucked in, I get out here in the morning and I won’t leave till dark,” Mike said. Mike, who lives off the grid, has built a name for himself entirely by word of mouth. He prefers to build more traditional looking instruments and makes each one unique. “As I’m building ‘ukuleles I think about the people I’m building for and it makes a difference. I made a ‘uke for Jack Johnson, so during that build I was thinking of his music and how he plays. No two instruments are the same,” he said. Mike is divinely connected with his craft. “The wood talks to me. It tells me where it wants to be, how it wants to be. If I don’t listen, I have troubles. I go by my na‘au, the voice inside, and I think we all should,” he said. With each order, Mike thanks his customers before building. “The first thing I tell them is ‘thank you, my family thanks you, you are enabling my experiment to continue’,” he said.
Crist Pung—The Inlay Guy
Chris Stewart—The More-Than Beginner
Chris Stewart, a retired photojournalist, has recreationally built 10 or so ‘ukuleles over the past five years, the first of which he built in a class taught by Sam Rosen, who owns Holualoa Ukulele Gallery. “I didn’t really do much woodworking [before], so this is all new to me,” he said. “I would sit there for hours trying to figure out how to do things, and I don’t know how to do those things because I’m not a luthier.”
Contact the Ukulele Guild: BigIslandUkuleleGuild.org First page photos courtesy: Chris Stewart Photos on page two and three by Le‘a Gleason Contact writer Le‘a Gleason: lgfreelancehawaii@gmail.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Crist Pung, a retired fireman, has been woodworking for over 30 years and building ‘ukuleles for just seven. This Keaukaha native wanted to build guitars, which he began by first building ‘ukuleles. “I’ve been putting away pieces [of wood] that I knew would make good instruments. I knew I had to make that switch [to building instruments] seven years ago. Since then, I’ve been trying to get a good instrument to come out of my shop. I’ve been finding out that it’s really not that easy,” Crist said. Crist built his first crop of ‘ukuleles 30-at-a-time, then soon learned to slow down. He now attempts six over a period of two months. While he continues to strive for a better sound and “playability,” Crist is best known as “the inlay guy” for the meticulously crafted, vibrant images he creates like collages with mixed media. “I like to do inlay work. Guys ask me a lot of questions and it’s nothing that anyone else can’t do. I watch YouTube a lot. If I see an instrument I like I just look at it and try to analyze what material the guy is using,” Crist said. The difficulty of his job is mostly in obtaining the materials, he says. “When I see something…I gotta find out what it is, then try to find out who sells it and how to get some. That in itself is a lot of hours on the computer,” Crist said. Crist said ‘ukulele building has changed his life. “Since I’ve been making these ‘ukuleles, nothing is impossible. Things I thought I couldn’t do before, I have no problem learning about it and doing it. That whole feeling of confidence it came along with—I didn’t expect it to, but my saying is if you can make an ‘ukulele, you can do anything,” Crist said.
Chris has a small shop in his garage in Kailua-Kona, where his focus has been to play with the shape of the bodies of the ‘ukuleles he builds. photo courtesy Chris Stewart “I’m not a person who normally sees something from beginning to end, so with this…I’m starting to think in terms of whole picture, so that’s kind of a different thing for me. I’m not a very patient person. It’s taught me patience. Now, if things aren’t working right I’ll just back off and go to the beach. Patience has been a good thing,” Chris said. All the members can agree on one thing: that the Guild has been the glue to hold them together. Woodley says he wouldn’t be building ‘ukes without it, while Chris says it “inspires him to keep going.” And in the spirit of sharing information, the Guild will celebrate its annual exhibition this October at the Wailoa Art Center in Hilo. Last year’s show featured 48 handmade instruments, in addition to invitational woodwork, and was hailed as the best exhibit of 2012. “I love seeing what other people do. I love seeing what people have tried to do whether it worked or didn’t work. These were all built by somebody with various levels of skill,” Chris said. Rounding out the show are Saturday kanikapila “jam sessions” with Andy Andrews, and informational demonstrations on ‘ukulele building throughout the month. All events tie in with the astounding art of crafting ‘ukuleles. “‘Ukulele building will reveal your best and worst personality flaws. You can choose to accent the ones that are good and correct the ones that are bad. It’s nice to do something you can feel pride about. How many people have something at the end of the day they can say ‘I created.’ Most of us don’t have those jobs. Most of us don’t get that feeling. I can say ‘I made that’,” Chris said. The Ukulele Guild Exhibit runs October 4–24 at the Wailoa Art Center. The opening reception will take place October 4 from 5–7 pm. ‘Ukulele kanikapila will take place Saturdays October 5, 11, and 18 from noon–3 pm. ‘Ukuleles are supplied for those without. An ‘ukulele building demonstration will take place October 11. ❖
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Aloha Adirondack —Hilo
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| By Sara Hayashi
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
ames Sutherland likes to make “old fashioned things that are comfortable and make people smile,” and his simple, beautiful chairs do just that. Aloha Adirondack chairs are New England style chairs with a Hawaiian feel. James was first introduced to Adirondack chairs by a friend in Costa Rica who gave him the original plans in the mid-90s. He has since improved the classic design by creating a curve in the upper cross-piece that cradles the back for optimal comfort. He also brought the back upright to the ideal angle for eating, drinking, and chatting with visitors. When he first began, James was working as a firefighter on O‘ahu, where he was born and raised, and made chairs for family and friends in his spare time. After retiring from the State and moving to Hilo, he turned his attention to becoming a better craftsman. He attended the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine in 2010 where he learned to make more complex, traditional designs that he hopes to incorporate into his products in the future. Aloha Adirondack mainly does custom orders and can also make matching footrests or low tables to fit between the chairs for pūpū and beverages. Wood for each chair is then carefully selected and assembled with stainless steel screws to prevent rusting. This winter, James made his 100th Adirondack chair using beautiful mango wood.
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Painted Chairs These chairs are available in any color of the rainbow and can be custom made to match your deck if you choose. Each piece is painted individually and touched up after assembly for maximum durability against rain and sun. Repurposed Chairs These chairs use reclaimed wood— mostly Douglas fir or redwood salvaged Manin i Mermaid from sheds, old houses, and other tear downs—that are still in good condition and would otherwise go to waste. Some chairs are made with more durable wood and can be left unfinished for an older, weathered look. Clear Finish Chairs These top-of-the-line chairs are made of native koa, ‘ōhi‘a, milo, kamani, naio, and other rare species or Hawai‘i-grown trees. They are given a clear finish to protect the wood while letting its natural beauty shine through. Aloha Adirondack offers free delivery Mango Wood anywhere on Hawai‘i Island. You can even arrange to test drive a chair before you buy. Have a seat and relax with Aloha Adirondack! Aloha Adirondack 34 Spring Street, Hilo 808.961.9095 AlohaAdirondackChair.com
If you have a locally-made product—an Island Treasure—that you would like to see featured here, please call 808.329.1711 x 1.
Garden Inspirations, Inc.—Kailua-Kona
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breezeway, the fountains, benches, statues, lanterns, and stepping stones work well outside as well as indoors. You can find these unique pieces at Garden Inspirations in the Luhia Center in the Old Industrial Area. Smaller pieces are available at Pele’s Hokulele Gallery and Showcase Gallery. They ship small pieces Botanical Art reasonably and source through many local landscapers and designers. Garden Inspirations, Inc. 74-5604 Luhia St., Bay #6, Kailua-Kona Monday thru Friday, 9 am–5 pm 808.326.9392 GardenInspirationsHawaii.com
Pink Koi Planter
Balinese Fish Planter
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
arden Inspirations creates cast stone outdoor décor— decorative and functional concrete pieces that include fountains, planters, furniture, and statues. Each piece is stained and finished so it performs well in our tropical environment as well as reflecting the design styles prevalent here. Their products are made from concrete from Kona lava gravel, lava sand, and locally made cement, so 100% of each purchase supports our local economy. They have a low carbon footprint due to the transportation costs. The Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce designated Garden Inspirations a Green Business at the Building and Design Expo. The botanical art is hand-pressed concrete representations of authentic leaves or flowers. Each piece is finished with decorative stains and sealants. They can take on the appearance of other materials such as stone, metal, wood, and even close to glass. Every one is unique and will have its own character, even when groups of matching pieces are made. Lori McLaughlin, owner of Garden Inspirations, is inspired by the versatility of the pieces, the creativity of the molding process, and learning about state-of-theart staining and finishing products for concrete. The inspiration for the botanical art came from experimenting with forms that were smaller, lighter, more organically shaped pieces. If you have a garden, entryway, lānai, or Ganesh
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Hawai‘i Island Farmers Markets West
East
North
Sunday 9 am–1 pm Laupāhoehoe Farmers Market. Next to the Minit Stop on Hwy. 19.
Saturday and Tuesday 2–6 pm, Tuesdays 8 am–pau, Saturdays * Hawi Farmers Market, North Kohala, across from Post Office and Nakahara Store under the banyans.
Daily 8 am–5 pm Pana‘ewa Hawaiian Home Lands Farmers Market, Puainako and Ohuohu Streets by Walmart, Hilo.
Saturday 8 am–1 pm Waimea Town Market at Parker School, 65-1224 Lindsey Rd., Waimea/Kamuela.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Saturday 7 am–noon Waimea Hawaiian Homestead Farmers Market, 64-759 Kahilu Rd., located at Kuhio Hale Bldg. (off of Mamalahoa Hwy., two miles east of Waimea town).
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Saturday 7:30 am–2 pm Honoka‘a Farmers Market, Mamane St., Honoka‘a, Honoka‘a Trading Co., Old Botelho Bldg. Tuesday and Friday 2–5 pm Kekela Farms Organic Farmers Market, 64-604 Mana Rd., Waimea. 100% organic. Wednesday 9 am–4 pm Waimea Mid-Week Farmer’s Market at Pukalani Stables, site of the Paniolo Museum. Pukalani Road in Waimea.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 7 am–4 pm Hilo Farmers Market, corner of Mamo and Kamehameha Ave., downtown Hilo. 30 vendors. Wednesday and Saturday 6 am–4 pm * Hilo Farmers Market, corner of Mamo and Kamehameha Ave., downtown Hilo. 200 vendors. Saturday 7 am–noon * Kino‘ole Farmers Market. Kino‘ole Shopping Plaza, 1990 Kino‘ole St., Hilo, Sunday 7 am–2 pm Akebono Farmers Market. Luquin’s/Akebono Theater parking lot in Pāhoa. Sunday 8 am–2 pm * Maku‘u Farmers Market, Kea‘au-Pāhoa bypass road.
Sunday and Thursday 2 pm–dusk, Thursdays Dawn–2 pm, Sundays Pepe‘ekeo Farmers Market. Off Hwy. 19 on Ka‘akepa St. Produce and foods. Tuesday – Saturday 7 am–5 pm Kea‘au Village Market, 16-6550 Old Volcano Rd., Kea‘au Wednesday Evenings 5–9 pm Farmers Market Kalapana end of Kalapana-Kopoho Rd, (Rte 137), next to Kalapana Village Cafe. Local grown produce, ono grinds and live music. Saturday 7:30 am–4 pm Keaukaha Pana‘ewa Farmers Market. Railroad Avenue, across from Home Depot, Hilo. Homegrown produce offered by Hawaiian Homelands lessees. Saturday 8 am–noon * SPACE Farmers Market, Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education, 12-247 West Pohakupele Loop, Kalapana. Saturday 8 am–1 pm * Hilo Coffee Mill, 17-995 Volcano Rd., Mountain View (on Hwy. 11 between mile markers 12 and 13).
* EBT accepted: KohalaCenter.org/ebt/markets.html
Saturday 8 am–noon * Keauhou Farmers Market, Keauhou Shopping Center Keauhou. Saturday 7:30 am–10 am Waikoloa Village Farmers Market, 68-3625 Paniolo Ave., Waikoloa Community Church parking lot across from Waikoloa Elementary School. Sunday and Friday 9 am–1 pm South Kona Green Market Captain Cook, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden Wednesday 8:30 am–1 pm Kings’ Shops Farmers Market Waikoloa Beach Resort Kohala Coast Wednesday 9 am–2 pm Ho‘oulu Community Farmers Market, Sheraton Kona Resort at Keauhou Bay Wednesday – Sunday 7 am–4 pm Kona Farmers Market, corner of Ali‘i Drive and Hualālai Rd.
South
Sunday 6 am–9 am * Volcano Farmers Market, Cooper Center, 1000 Wright Rd., Volcano Village. Saturday and Wednesday 8 am–noon Na‘ālehu Farmers Market, Ace Hardware lawn.
Please send info on new markets or changes to sharon@keolamagazine.com
The Avocado | By Sonia R. Martinez
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it is ready to cut open. Once it is cut, it will oxidize fairly fast, so I wait until I’m ready to serve or to complete a dish before I cut into one. If you need to cut it open earlier, be sure to squirt citrus juice all over it to delay oxidation.
Chilled Avocado Soup
During the hot months of summer, we eat a lot of chilled soups. By the time this issue comes out, it will be early September and our weather will still be comfortable for cold soups. 2 avocadoes, pitted and peeled 1 small sweet onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 small red Hawaiian chili pepper, seeded and deveined 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock 1 cup thick yogurt, cream, or half & half Sea salt to taste 3 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice 1 teaspoon lemon or lime zest for garnish Place all ingredients except for the zest in a food processor or blender. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. Serve in a bowl, glasses, or shot glasses as an amuse-bouche. Garnish with the zest if desired or use your own favorite garnishes. Yield 4 servings.
Shrimp Sauté in Salsa
Since you barely cook the veggies, this is one of our favorite ‘summer salads’. I love to serve it in an avocado boat. 1 pound raw shrimp 1 medium sweet onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 2 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped 1-2 small red Hawaiian chili peppers, seeded and deveined Small bunch of cilantro, parsley, or watercress 2 Tablespoons olive oil Heat the oil in a medium sized skillet and add all ingredients at one time. Sauté, stirring everything quickly, until shrimp just turn pink. Serve on half a small avocado. Yield 4 servings. Photos by Sonia R. Martinez Contact writer Sonia R. Martinez: SoniaTastesHawaii.com
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
s you visit the different farmers markets around the island, you will find avocadoes being sold in all of them during season. This is because although Kona’s terrain is known to be suited best for growing avocadoes, there are varieties that will grow and produce fruit from sea level to about 1,600 foot elevation all around the island. There are hundreds of varieties of avocadoes and Hawai‘i is home to many of them. Avocado season can be a long one since there are so many varieties that produce at different times of year. The avocado (Persea americana) originated in Central America; they were called ahuacatl by the Aztecs and known as aguacate in Spanish. I consider the avocado one of the most complete foods in the tropical world. It can be eaten as is, used in appetizers, soups, salads, entrées, side dishes, and even desserts! I don’t think I will ever tire of avocadoes. Besides being delicious, avocadoes, contrary to what many believe, are a healthy food. A diet high in avocadoes, although high in natural fats, can have a very positive effect on the health of your heart by keeping your cholesterol levels lower. Consuming avocado in a meal increases the ability of the body to absorb two key carotenoid antioxidants provided by other foods— lycopene and beta-carotene, and also helps regulate blood sugar absorption from other foods. The fats contained in avocado are high in anti-inflammatory benefits, and the oleic acids in the fats are a boon to your digestion. They are also loaded with fiber, vitamin K (good for coagulation), vitamins C and E, and various forms of vitamin B and potassium. Isn’t it wonderful when a delicious natural food is good for you? Most avocadoes don’t ripen on the tree. When selecting an avocado, look for firm fruit with no blemishes. Some avocadoes will turn color as they ripen, although color is not an indication of ripeness, as some will still be green when ripe. Unripe, firm avocadoes can take up to five days to ripen at room temperature. Bring it home and let it sit on the counter or in a bowl and check it periodically. Do not refrigerate until the fruit softens or until you cut it. When the fruit gives a little when pressed slightly,
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Hawai‘i Island Happenings
Wondering what’s happening around Hawai‘i Island? Visit these businesses and organizations websites for the most up-to-date event calendars. Use provided contacts for information.
Ke Ola Magazine Hawai‘i Island Edition
KeOlaMagazine.com calendar@keolamagazine.com Sharon Bowling, 808.329.1711 ext 4
Konaweb
KonaWeb.com shirley@konaweb.com Shirley Stoffer, 808.345.2627
Hawai‘i The Big Island
BigIsland.org calendar@bigisland.org Sherry Bracken, 808.334.1521
Aloha Theatre - Kainaliu
Aloha Performing Arts Company ApacHawaii.org info@apachawaii.org 808.322.9924
Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
BishopMuseum.org/greenwell pvandyke@bishopmuseum.org Peter Van Dyke, 808.323.3318
Basically Books
BasicallyBooks.com bbinfo@hawaiiantel.net 808.961.0144
Donkey Mill Art Center DonkeyMillaArtCenter.org 808.322.3362
Downtown Hilo Improvement Association DowntownHilo.com 808.935.8850
East Hawaii Cultural Center EHCC.org arts@ehcc.org 808.961.5711
Food Hub Kohala
FoodHubKohala.org karla@andreadean.com Karla Heath, 808.224.1404
Hawai‘i Homegrown Food Network HawaiiHomeGrown.net editor@hawaiihomegrown.net
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Volcano Art Center
VolcanoArtCenter.org julie@volcanoartcenter.org Julie Callahan, 808.967.8222
Honoka‘a People’s Theatre HonokaaPeople.com hpt@honokaapeople.com 808.775.0000
Hulihe‘e Palace
daughtersofhawaii.org info@daughtersofhawaii.org 808.329.1877
‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i ImiloaHawaii.org jharman@imiloahawaii.org 808.969.9703
Kahilu Theatre - Waimea
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
KahiluTheatre.org 808.885.6868
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Kailua Village Business Improvement District HistoricKailuaVillage.com kailuavillage@gmail.com 808.326.7820
Lyman Museum
LymanMuseum.org ebenton@lymanmuseum.org Emily Benton, 808.935.5021
North Kohala Community Resource Center NorthKohala.org info@northkohala.org 808.889.5523
One Island Sustainable Living Center One-Island.org/hawaii hawaii@one-island.org 808.328.2452
Palace Theatre - Hilo HiloPalace.com info@hilopalace.com 808.934.7010
UH Hilo Performing Arts Center ArtsCenter.uhh.hawaii.edu artscenter@hawaii.edu 808.974.7310
Waimea Community Theatre WaimeaCommunityTheatre.org 808.885.5818
West Hawaii Dance Theatre and Academy Contact Virginia Holte vh2dns4@ilhawaii.net 808.329.8876 whdt.org
Resort and Shopping Center Cultural Events Log onto websites for event calendars
Keauhou Shopping Center KeauhouVillageShops.com 808.322.3000
Kingsʻ Shops-Waikoloa KingsShops.com 808.886.8811
Kona International Marketplace KonaInternationalMarket.com 808.329-6262
Kalani Oceanside Retreat
Prince Kuhio Plaza
Kona Historical Society
Queens’ MarketPlace–Waikoloa
kalani.com 808.965.0468
KonaHistorical.org khs@konahistorical.org 808.323.3222
Kona Stories Bookstore KonaStories.com ks@konastories.com 808.324.0350
Living Arts Gallery LivingArtsGallery.net 808.889.0739
PrinceKuhioPlaza.com/events 808.959.3555
QueensMarketplace.net 808.886.8822
The Shops at Mauna Lani
ShopsAtMaunaLani.com/events.html 808.885.9501
Community Kokua
To submit volunteer information for your non-profit, email kokua@keolamagazine.com (Listings provided on a space available basis)
AdvoCATS
Methodist Church Palani, Kailua-Kona 3rd Saturday, 10 am.
Contact Cathy or Nancy Trap, neuter, spay, community education, colony feeding, management. advocatshawaii@aol.org 808.327.3724 AdvocatsHawaii.org
Boys & Girls Club of the Big Island Hilo, Kea‘au, Pāhoa, Pāhala Oceanview, Hāmākua Monday–Friday, 2:30 pm–5 pm.
Volunteer Opportunities
Hamakua Youth Foundation, Inc. Hamakua Youth Center, Honoka‘a Daily, Mon. Tue. Fri. 2–5:30 pm, Wed. 1–5:30 pm, Thu. 2–8 pm. Serving Hamakuaʻs school-age kids. Contact T. Mahealani Maiku‘i HamakuaYouthCenter@gmail.com 808.775.0976 HamakuaYouthCenter.wordpress.com
Hawai‘i Island Humane Society Kona Shelter, Kailua-Kona Monday–Saturday, 9 am–5 pm.
Volunteers needed for after-school youth programs Contact Matthew S. Therrien Matthew@bgcbi.com 808.961.5536 bgchi.com
Need volunteers 16 or older, parent/child team 6 or older. Contact Bebe Ackerman volunteer@hihs.org 808.217.0154 hihs.org
Calabash Cousins
Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund
Kailua-Kona Hulihe‘e Palace Grounds 2nd Tuesday of the month, 1 pm–2:30 pm
Men and women who support the mission of Daughters of Hawai‘i. Contact Sabine Andresen ccousinskona@gmail.com 808.329.9555 CalabashCousinsHawaii.com
CommUNITY cares
Kailua-Kona Monday–Friday, 9 am–5 pm., Saturday, 9 am–2 pm.
Community suffering from cancer, medical hair loss, domestic abuse. Contact Tiana Steinberg communitycareshawaii@gmail.com 808.326.2866
Donkey Mill Art Center
Holualoa Holualoa Foundation for Arts and Culture Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–4 pm
East Hawaii Cultural Council Hilo Monday–Friday, 8 am–3 pm.
Volunteer in the art galleries, performing arts, classes, workshops, festivals. exec@ehcc.org 808.961.5711 ehcc.org
Friends of NELHA
Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i Keahole Kona Monday–Friday, 9 am–noon
Share Ocean Science/Technology using deep ocean water. 808.329.8073 EnergyFutureHawaii.org
SE Hawai‘i Island beach cleanups.
Ongoing 7:45 am.
Contact Megan Lamson meg.hwf@gmail.com 808.769-7629 WildHawaii.org
Hospice Care
North Hawaii Hospice Waimea Monday–Friday, 8 am–4:30 pm.
Care for families facing serious illness. Contact Catrinka Holland, Volunteer Coordinator volunteer.coordinator@northhawaiihospice.org 808.885.7547 NorthHawaiiHospice.org
‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i Hilo Tuesday-Sunday 9 am–5 pm.
Assist with tours, shows, education programs and membership. Contact: Roxanne Ching, Guest Service Manager rching@imiloahawaii.org 808.969.9704 imiloahawaii.org
Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center Kahalu‘u Beach, Kailua-Kona Daily 9:30 am–4:30 pm.
ReefTeach Volunteers educate visitors on reef etiquette and protection. Contact Jean BevanMarquez jbevanmarquez@kohalacenter.org 808.987.6249 KahaluuBay.org
Kalani Retreat Center Kalapana
Varied Schedules Seeking volunteers: skilled trades/maintenance, housekeeping, kitchen, horticulture. Contact Volunteer Office volunteer@kalani.com 808.965.7828 Kalani.com/volunteer
Contact Jaynie Reich jaydon2@aol.com 808.896.6840 KonaMusicSociety.org
Lions Clubs International
Various Locations, Kailua-Kona 2nd Tuesday, 5:30 pm.
Sundayʻs Child Foundation Kamuela
Serving at-risk youth aged 6 to 17 Volunteers needed islandwide. Contact Lauren Rainier requests@sundayschildfoundation.org 877.375.9191 SundaysChildFoundation.org
“We Serve” is the motto of Lions Clubs International. Contact Lani 808.325.1973 lanika@hawaii.rr.com
Make-A-Wish Hawaii
Granting wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions.
Ongoing
info@hawaii.wish.org 808.537.3118 Hawaii.wish.org
North Kohala Community Resource Center
Kohala Welcome Center, Hawi Daily 9 am–noon or noon–3 pm.
Greet people to North Kohala with aloha. Contact Juanita Rivera juanita@northkohala.org 808.889.5523 NorthKohala.org
Paradise Ponies, Carousel of Aloha Hilo Coffee Mill, Mountain View Ongoing
Seeking volunteers to create the Carousel of Aloha Pavilion. Contact Katherine Patton carouselofaloha@gmail.com 808.315.1093 CarouselOfAloha.org
Parrots in Paradise Sanctuary Kealakekua Flexible hours Monday–Friday Sanctuary for displaced parrots. Contact Dorothy Walsh Dorothy@parrotsinparadise.com 808.322.3006 ParrotsInParadise.com
Soroptimist of Kona Kailua-Kona Monthly Meetings
Enriching the lives of women and girls in our community for over 40 years. SIKona.org
Snorkel Day for People with Disabilities Kahalu‘u Beach Park 3rd Friday, 10 am–2 pm.
Volunteers needed. Contact Stephanie Kovatch snorkelday@deepandbeyond.org 808.326.4400 x 4017 DeepAndBeyond.org
CROSSWORD SOLUTION
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
Volunteers help in arts education program. Contact Anne Catlin donkeymill@gmail.com 808.322.3362 DonkeyMillArtCenter.org
Wai‘ōhinu Coastline, Ka‘ū
Kona Music Society
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Big Island BookBuyers
Talk Story with an Advertiser
| Sara Hayashi
Mary Bicknell Owner and Manager
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
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ith books stacked from ceiling to floor, Big Island BookBuyers is a refreshing sight for anyone who still loves the physically printed word. Whether you’re looking for a guide to the island or a literary adventure to another world, there is something for everyone. Owner and manager, Mary Bicknell enjoys sharing her love of books with her customers, many of whom have expressed their surprise and appreciation at finding an “old fashioned bookstore.” She opened the Pāhoa location in 2008, shortly after moving to Hawai‘i Island with her husband and realizing there was a need for books on the island. After hearing that Pāhoa’s little library had one of the largest circulations in the state she chose to stay close to home with the original location. Mary learned a good deal about the used book business from friends in California and began accumulating books to open a store. After a successful beginning in Pāhoa, they decided to open a second location in downtown Hilo last October. Both locations are open seven days a week, and Mary says, “I am looking forward to more people realizing that there are some businesses open and worth checking out on a Sunday afternoon.” Big Island BookBuyers hopes to instill the love of books in young readers. They recently completed a successful children’s summer reading program and are now planning an ongoing reading program to be held in the Hilo store where there is a space designated specifically for children. Used bookstores like Big Island BookBuyers are great options for book lovers on a budget. The buy-and-sell aspect of the store leads to an inventory as diverse as the people who walk through the door. Prices are very affordable—usually 60% off the original cover price. They also have a wide selection of movies and discounted calendars. With affordable books of every genre and a friendly atmosphere to host them all, it is unlikely any bookworm will leave empty-handed. Big Island BookBuyers Pāhoa: 15-2901 Pahoa Village Road 808.854.6681 Hilo: 14 Waianuenue Ave 808.315.5335 BigIslandBookBuyers.com
Mon-Sat: 10am–6pm Sun: 11am–5pm Mon-Sat: 10am–5pm Sun: 11am–4pm
ProVision Solar Inc.
Talk Story with an Advertiser
Kim Auberson Sales and Marketing Manager
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ProVision Solar, Inc. 69 Railroad Ave., Suite A-7, Hilo 808.969.3281 Provision-Solar.com These stories are special features for our advertisers. If you have a business you would like to have featured, please call 808.329.1711, x1.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
roVision Solar is Hawai‘i Island’s first solar electric construction company. When solar was a relatively new concept, it was challenging to convince people that the technology was safe, reliable, and would actually save them money in the long term. Now, the biggest challenge is navigating an ever-changing sea of bureaucracy and policy. Kim Auberson, the company’s sales and marketing manager says, “We are pleased to say that we have been very successful in this, and have efficient processes in place to get the job done quickly with exceptional quality. We have the best people working for us, which makes all the difference.” Kim’s primary motivation for going into renewable energy was the Exxon Valdez event. It broke her heart to see the destruction of the Alaskan coastal ecosystem and the consequential impacts on the Alaskan people who depend on that ecosystem to make a living. The oil in that tanker was headed to a power plant in California. She knew there had to be a better, cleaner and safer way to generate electricity. It took 20 years until states like California and Hawai‘i started offering financial incentives to install solar systems. ProVision Solar offers what few others can—the principals’ more than 30 years of experience in the solar energy field, licensed professional electrical and structural engineers on staff, a statewide referrals list of satisfied customers, and an unwavering commitment to getting it done right the first time. “Every time a person replaces their energy production with a PV system, it’s a win-win-win: a win for them because they are saving money, a win for the environment because oil is not being burned to generate that electricity, and a win for contractors like ProVision who get to make a living by doing the right thing,” says Kim. If you buy your electricity from HELCO, ProVision, a licensed and insured electrical contractor, can design a solar system for you.
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Mi’s Wine & Cheese Shoppe
Talk Story with an Advertiser
Chef Morgan Starr and his wife Ingrid Chan Owners
Tax planning is a year round event!
Paula Wilson, EA • Action Business Services
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
808-329-3403
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organ Starr graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in June of 1997, just two years after graduating high school. First, he worked in New York, then, Las Vegas where he helped open the Venetian Hotel. While still in his early 20s, Morgan met and married his wife, Ingrid Chan (who is originally from Malaysia and earned her Bachelors Degree from UNLV in Hospitality Administration). They were interested in moving to Hawai‘i, and in 2001, Morgan found an opening at the resident’s restaurant at Hualalai Resort where he was hired and worked for three years. After that, he and Ingrid took a sabbatical for a couple of years—the first year to travel together, the second to build a house together in Hawai‘i. Afterwards, they determined they were well-suited to start a business together. In 2007, they opened Mi’s Italian Bistro. In 2012, they opened Mi’s Wine and Cheese Shoppe in Kaloko. The location was chosen because they believe as Kailua-Kona grows, the Kaloko area is where everyone will do more commerce, specifically for food and beverage shopping. Their primary market is people who love good Italian food. Chef Morgan Starr loves everything about food and he cooks from the heart. He has an amazing charisma in the dining room. He also is an artist, loves singing, and is the tenor for the Kona Music Society. Ingrid and Morgan’s two daughters, Yi and Mei are part of the family business, too. The family is committed to serving only Hawai‘i Island grass fed beef and local produce, both of which are grown at their greenhouse and through Adaptations. The Shoppe is the only place to find handcrafted preservativefree ready-made meals. They make everything in-house from scratch: fresh pasta, bread, soup, salad dressing, and desserts. The hard work and dedication from this family results in a fabulous dining experience at the bistro and fun wine and cheese shopping with gourmet items to enhance your home cooking experience. You can taste the local freshness and aloha in their products. All residents are welcome to join their free VIP Club. Just text “Winecheeselover” to 71441. Discounts and offers will be on their way. Every Thursday is wine tasting from noon-5:30 pm. Come in to receive a discount on purchases made that day. Mi’s Wine & Cheese Shoppe On the corner of Hina Lani and Olowalu in Kaloko-Kona 808.329.3880 MisWineAndCheeseShoppe.com
Fabric Gift Shoppe
Talk Story with an Advertiser
H
Honya Sawinski, Owner
Fabric Gift Shoppe 74-5599 Luhia Street D-5, Kailua-Kona 808.329.8177 FabricGiftShoppe.com These stories are special features for our advertisers. If you have a business you would like to have featured, please call 808.329.1711, x1.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
onya Sawinski’s background is business and theatre. After college she got a job at the Hayloft Dinner Theatre in a barn with a big silo in north Virginia. Besides waiting on tables, she worked with the costumers. One day, she was asked to make an apron. She didn’t want to tell anyone that she didn’t know how to sew. She took the apron pattern home and created the apron. After a few months, she became their costume designer. Honya moved to Hawai‘i in 2000 and worked in a couple of fabric stores before meeting Ed Hughbank who owned the Viking Sewing Center. Working with Ed to sell Viking sewing machines and watching people create things was a dream come true and the best job she ever had. Then, Ed became ill with Lou Gehrig’s disease. At the time, Honya and her husband were adopting a child from Russia, so they were not able to buy the business. Another couple bought the business and shortly after, it closed. Ed was good friends with Rose Gomes, the owner of Fabric Gift Shoppe. Honya also became friends with her during Ed’s illness and the adoption process. Honya started working at home doing alterations so she could be home with her child. Three years later, she was thinking about taking the lead costuming job at the Aloha Theatre. The same day, she found out about the Fabric Gift Shoppe being up for sale, as Rose had become ill. Honya spoke with Rose’s husband on a Saturday, she met with him on Monday, and on Tuesday bought the shop. Three and a half years later, Honya loves it. She loves fabric. She loves to see people get really excited about creating. Her favorite thing is putting fabric combinations together and seeing the joy in people’s eyes. Fabric Gift Shoppe has expanded and is filled with beautiful fabrics. They’ve added classes and machine repairs and service. Sewing enthusiasts, quilters, and fellow fabric-aholics are invited to go meet Honya and see what you can create.
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Ka Puana–The Refrain
Excerpt used with permission of the Friends of the Library Waikoloa Region.
Joy is multifaceted,
Joy is a soothing word,
Joy
By Jacqueline McBride Koscil
T
KeOlaMagazine.com | September/October 2013
here are many wonderful ideas that I believe in, but choosing joy in all circumstances tops the list. Some people may think of joy as a superficial and short-lived state of euphoria. My idea of joy is a state of being content that comes from deep within the essence of who I am, no matter what the prevailing circumstances are in my life. “Choose joy.” I’ve used this phrase often to advise myself and others in difficult situations. I have found that to decide on responding in a joy-filled manner will bring positive energy to an otherwise ugly environment. To help me remember my own advice, I have written the word joy in large bold letters on a magnetic board, and have placed it on the door of the refrigerator in my kitchen. It is a daily encouragement and reminder of my belief. Joy can be a sustainable state of being when individuals repeatedly are mindful to let go of criticisms or complaints and instead adopt a more optimistic outlook in every challenge. By reacting with uplifting thoughts and actions to a problem, joy becomes the inevitable result.
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Jacqueline McBride Koscil, now in her 60s, grew up in an Irish Catholic family in southern Connecticut. Throughout her life she has pursued art and design as a hobby. Married after graduation from nursing school and working in her chosen field, she and her husband raised three children. Jacqueline is now retired and enjoying the endless summer environment as a resident of Waikoloa.
This We Believe can be found at Ackerman Galleries in Kapa‘au, Basically Books in Hilo, Gallery of Great Things in Waimea, Harbor Gallery in Kawaihae, Hawai‘i's Gift Baskets at the King's Shops, Kona Bay Books, Kona Stories in Keauhou, Makana O Hawai‘i at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, The Gallery at Bamboo in Hawi, Waikoloa Golf Pro Shop, Waikoloa Mailbox, and the Waikoloa Village Association office. Contact Friends of the Library–Waikoloa Region: library.waikoloacommunity.org
as a rock crystal
an act of kindness
Joy is a loving smile,
and laughing eyes
Joy is contentment,
exuding confidence
Joy is a peaceful soul,
resting in gratitude
Joy is a bubbling spirit,
sparkling with life
Joy is friendship,
shared abundantly
Joy is listening,
filled with patience
Joy is understanding,
present in the now
Joy is lighthearted,
detached from grief
Joy is taking time,
to be true to self
Eat. Celebrate. Relax.
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