March-April 2012

M arch-April 2012

The Life of the Land A Whole New Palate: Seed-to-Table Teaches Kids The Story of ‘Iliahi: Sandalwood, a Saga

The Life of the People The Irrepressible Alice Moon Downtown Hilo’s Dynamo Suzi Bond Helps Stars Shine Volcano’s KDEN Exec Coping with Cancer Kokolulu: a Place to Chill

The Life as Art

Digital Dream: Ready for the Big Screen

The Life in Music

Driving Fast with Brittni Paiva "Kailua-Kona"

by Cindy Coats

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"The Life" Celebrating the ar ts, culture and sustainability of Hawai‘i Island

M a rc h - Ap r i l 2 0 1 2

The Life in Spirit:

11 Aia ke Aloha ke Nānā Aku

Love is There When We Seek

by Kumu Keala Ching

The Life of the People:

17 The Irrepressible Alice Moon

Downtown Hilo’s Dynamo

37 Youth Inspire All

Sustainable Hawai‘i Youth Leadership Initiative

43 Coping with Cancer

A Journey and a Place to Chill at Kokolulu

47 A Victorian-Age Indiana Jones

Actor Peter Charlot Plays Professor Jaggar

51 Waimea Plantation Daughter

Patricia Jennings Remembers Georgia O’Keeffe

63 Suzi Bond Helps Stars Shine in Volcano

Executive Director of KDEN Likes a Challenge

4 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

73 Keeping the Magic Alive

Sleight of Mind with Arneleo and Barusky

The Life of the Land:

23 A Whole New Palate

Seed-to-Table Gives Kids a New Appreciation for Food

55 The Story of ‘Iliahi

Sandalwood: a Saga of Destruction and Rebirth

Le‘a ka pu‘uwai i ke kani ka pila.

Joyous is the heart upon the sound of music.

The Life as Art:

29 It Was a Hard Day’s Night for Cindy Coats

The Long and Winding Road Back from Tsunami Damage

33 Digital Dream Ready for the Big Screen

Local Animator Involves Big Island Youth

The Life in Music:

69 Driving Fast with Brittni Paiva

A Young ‘Ukulele Virtuoso Speeding Toward Stardom

Ka Puana --- The Refrain:

90 Legend of the Huls Moose

Children’s Book Spins a Tall Tale

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Then & Now: Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park...................... 13 Hawai‘i Island Farmers Markets...................................................60 Island Treasures................................................................................. 66 Community Calendar......................................................................76 The Life in Business..........................................................................86

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"The Life" Celebrating the ar ts, culture and sustainability of Hawai‘i Island

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 state motto.

Publishers

Barbara Garcia Bowman • Karen Valentine

Editor & Art Director: Karen Valentine, 808.329.1711 x2 Marketing & Operations:

Barbara Garcia Bowman Barb@KeOlaMagazine.com • 808.329.1711 x1

Advertising Sales & Business Development East: Adrienne Poremba, 808.935.7210 • KeOlaAds@yahoo.com West: Oscar Rigg, 808.345.0278 • oscar@keolamagazine.com North: Barbara Garcia, 808.345.2017 • barb@keolamagazine.com South: Mars Cavers, 808.938.9760 • starmars@mac.com South: Sheryl Hyatt, 808.557.6213 • sheryl@keolamagazine.com

Distribution & Subscriptions Sharon Bowling, 808.557.8703 • subscribe@keolamagazine.com

Creative Design

Michael Mark P., Creative Director, Mana Brand Marketing ManaBrandMarketing.com • 808.345.0734

Advertising Design

Tahiti Huetter – www.tahitihuetter.com Karen Fuller – fullerdesignz@gmail.com Stephanie Schreiber – 808.315.7182

Copy Editing/Proofing

Sharon Bowling • Marya Mann • Adrienne Poremba

Production Manager: Richard Price Ambassadors

Eric Bowman • Keala Ching • Ursula D’Angelo WavenDean Fernandes • Mariana Garcia • Fern Gavelek Dan Lappala • Deborah Ozaki • Greg Shirley

Contributing Writers

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.

Editorial inquiries & calendar submissions: Submit online at www.KeOlaMagazine.com (go to Contact page) Worldwide Delivery: Call 808.329.1711 x3, order online at www.KeOlaMagazine.com or mail name, address and payment of $24 US/ $48 International for one year to: P.O. Box 1494, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745. © 2012, Hawaii Island Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved

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Keala Ching • Fern Gavelek • Tim Hall Margaret Kearns • Denise Laitinen • Prana Mandoe Marya Mann • Alan D. McNarie • Robert Oaks • Shirley Stoffer Cynthia Sweeney • Catherine Tarleton • Paula Thomas

From Readers...

Publishers Talk Story...

✿ Dear Editor,

The Promise...

C

Photo by Eric Bowman

an you remember a moment in your childhood when you were inspired?

It was a summer night in the Midwest, where I grew up. I was maybe 6 or 7 years old and had already been tucked into bed for the night. “Wake up.” Our dad was urging my sister and me to open our eyes and march outside. We lay down on the grass in the front yard. I can still see the vision overhead: a shimmering, prismatic, vibrant display of colored lights known as the Northern Lights. “Wow!” That simple act by a parent planted a sense of wonder and awe in my spirit that has lasted for decades.

8 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

Gazing at the world around us in childlike wonder, we open our eyes to the future. In this issue of Ke Ola, we offer stories that demonstrate the promise of youth and the promise of our community to offer youth the opportunities that will help them make our world a better place.

A Hawai‘i Island film animation producer, G.B. Hajim, mentors high school interns in creating video fantasies—see “Digital Dream Ready for the Big Screen.” A drama producer-director coaches and encourages youth to step out on stage and express their inner light—see “Suzi Bond Helps the Stars Shine in Volcano.” In “A Whole New Palate,” kids learn to love the veggies they plant, nurture, pick and make into meals at Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School in Puna.

“Keeping the Magic Alive” awakens the kid in all of us and invites youth to learn to do magic.

Two Kona magicians are obviously kids at heart. A home-schooled musician has already become an ‘ukulele star and is barely into her 20s—see “Driving Fast with Brittni Paiva.” We also feature a story about the Sustainable Hawai‘i Youth Leadership Initiative, where the youth are taking the lead. In a memoir, Kupuna Patricia Jennings cherishes the memory of the time her parents entrusted her, as a 12-year-old, to entertain the famous artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Lastly, our “Ka Puana” feature in this issue introduces a children’s book, “Legend of the Hula Moose.”

We love being kids again!

The rainbows around here remind me of the summer night years ago when my dad— still a kid at heart when he passed away this year at age 88—awakened his children to nature’s glorious promise.

Let’s honor our promise to today’s youth by recognizing their promise to us.

K

Karen Valentine, Editor

e Ola magazine was chosen as one of three finalists for the 2012 Hawai‘i Business magazine's SmallBiz Success awards for Best New Business. At the awards event, held at O‘ahu's Waikiki Prince Hotel, I was in awe at the caliber of the business people I met. It was an amazing evening and I was very honored to be included. Beyond that, I was incredibly proud of the Hawai‘i Island businesses represented! The Kohala Center (Best Non-Profit), Martin & MacArthur (Lifetime Achievement), Kona Red and Ke Ola magazine- I'm very proud of the company we keep! Thanks to you, our readers and advertisers for making this possible.

We appreciate how much you love Ke Ola, we hear it daily. It's important that you keep doing business with our advertisers, so they can keep supporting us. The complimentary copy you're holding is brought to you by them, so please be sure to thank them and show your support.

If you would like Ke Ola delivered to your home or want to gift it to someone you know, U.S subscriptions are only $24 a year!

Mahalo nui loa, Barbara Garcia, Marketing & Operations

My wife Donna and I just had the opportunity to read the article on Aunty Fanny in the Ke Ola magazine. [“A Beloved Daughter Retires...” January/ February 2012] We are Calabash Cousins and know Auntie Fanny and the Hulihe’e Palace very well.

We were very impressed with the way writer/photographer Fern Gavelek captured Auntie Fanny’s personality and also her love of the Hulihe’e Palace.

We think your article will entice people into learning more about The Daughters, The Cousins and The Palace.

A job well done.

– Lou Lanza, Kailua-Kona ✿ Dear Ke Ola, We are coming to Kona in April & have been marking pages of advertisers who we plan on visiting!

Thanks for bringing Kona & the Big Island into our homes.”

– Tina & Randy, Wheatridge, Colorado

We invite you to visit our website, where we feature a new advertiser coupon page. www.KeOlaMagazine.com

Send us your comments, letters and photos! We take email, snail mail, submissions through our website or posts on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter!

Editor@keolamagazine.com Follow us:

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On the Cover:

“Kailua-Kona,” a fanciful painting by Kona artist Cindy Coats. Her story on page 30 reflects on the damage done to her gallery by the March 2011 tsunami and its subsequent revival.

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 9

2 Covered Lanais & 1 Open Observation Deck Stairs to Wailuku River

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The Life IN SPIRIT

A mist of heaven is seen As the sun strives upon high A place where ancestors gather Love is there when we seek

Kūlani ka ‘uhane i kupu aku Ākea ka ‘oia’i’o, pili i ka poli Linolino ke kai i ‘ike ai Aia ana ke aloha ke nānā aku

A chiefly spirit is within A wider truth indeed so dear A calm sea is observed Love is there when we seek

Ulana ka pilina i ulu aku Ulu maila ka ‘i’ini i ka pono Noho maluhia ke kino i lu’u ai Aia ana ke aloha ke nānā aku

Weaving a relationship that grows A desire grows in righteousness Peace is upon one who dives in Love is there when we seek

Kupu ka ha’aha’a i hō’ike aku Kūlana ke ola i huli wale ‘ana Nānā i luna, aia ke ala i ola ai Aia ana ke aloha ke nānā aku

Humbleness is seen from within Attitude of living is made smooth Seek above, the path is living Love is there when we seek

At the beginning of this New Year, individuals gathered in unconditional love on the shores of righteous places. There, righteousness was seen through the preparation of life for the pathway to the Higher Spirit. The mist of the heavens opened, the sun was striving above, the spirited chief rose from within, the truth was revealed, the sea was calmed, the relationships were woven, the desire of righteousness grew within, the soul appeared peaceful, the humbleness sprouted forth, a living attitude turned towards righteousness, because as one looks up, there is the pathway of the Higher Spirit. It is here one’s love is found, when one seeks it. Prepare your life for the righteousness of the Higher Spirit.

Inspired by the ocean cleanses conducted in the beginning of the year 2012.

Loea Kawaikapuokalani Hewett shares that, in life (hula), one must always remain humble (ha’aha’a), one must live the truth (‘oia’i’o), one must grow in righteousness (ulu i ka pono), one must find and maintain a relationship with the spirit, the land and its people (lōkahi) and one must have compassion within life for life (aloha). I have shared these words with my students through the simple word “hō’ula—prepare the sacred pathway of living.” I experienced this through the different ocean cleansings this year. Hō’ula!

Contact Kumu Keala Ching at kumukeala@nawaiiwiola.org

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 11

I

ka ho’omaka ‘ana o kēia makahiki hou, aia ke aloha like ‘ole i hui aku ai i ka ‘aekai i kahi kūpono. Ma laila, ua ‘ike ‘ia ka pono i ho’omākaukau ke ola no ke ala o ke Akua. Ua hāmama nō ka ‘ohu o ka lani, ka lā i kūlia aku ai, ka ‘uhane i kūlani nei, ka ‘oia’i’o i ākea la, ke kai i linolino aku ai, ka pilina i ulana ala, ka ‘i’ini i ulu pono ai, ke kino i noho maluhia nei, ka ha’aha’a i kupu aku ai, ke ola i kūlana pono ai ma muli o ka nānā ‘ana i luna, aia nō ke ala o ke Akua. Aia ana ke aloha ke nānā aku. Ho’omākaukau ke ola i ka pono o ke Akua!

‘Ohu’ohu o ka lani i ‘ike aku Kūlia a’ela ka lā i ka lewa Wahi ola nā kūpuna i lōkahi ai Aia ana ke aloha ke nānā aku

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In 1877 the first wooden Volcano House was built, featuring a large parlor with a fireplace, a dining room and six bedrooms.

It is shown here in 1890.

– Photos courtesy of Hawai‘i State Archives

hen westerners first learned about the “Sandwich Islands” in the 1700s, they were fascinated by its massive mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the two tallest mountains on earth at over 31,000 feet when measured from their bases deep beneath the ocean floor. Mauna Loa is also the largest volcano on earth in terms of its sheer mass. It is nearly 100 times the size of Mt. St. Helens in Washington state.

To ancient Hawaiians, Mauna Loa (“long mountain”) was both sacred as home to the goddess Pele and a source for raw materials such as wood for canoes.

The first westerner to attempt to reach the summit of Mauna Loa was John Ledyard, an American serving with Captain James Cook’s third expedition to the Pacific in 1779. He failed. Archibald Menzies, a naturalist and botanist serving with Captain George Vancouver a few years later, also failed in his first two tries to reach the summit in 1793.

Both Ledyard’s and Menzies’ first two tries were from the western side of Mauna Loa, starting out from Kealakekua Bay. On his third attempt, however, Menzies had the support and assistance of King Kamehameha, who advised him to follow the traditional Hawaiian route and approach the mountain from the

southeast. This time he succeeded, and Menzies became the first westerner to attain the summit.

Several years later, the English missionary William Ellis became the first westerner to reach Kīlauea. In 1823, he and a few companions made a two-month trip around the island by foot and canoe. Their primary purpose was to find a suitable location to build a mission. Ellis’ account of this journey, published in London two years later, provided a wealth of information about the island, including the first written description of Kīlauea. Upon arriving at the edge of the crater, “a spectacle, sublime and even appalling, presented itself before us…. Astonishment and awe for some moments rendered us mute.” He described a crescentshaped pit, which he estimated to be two miles in length and 800 feet deep, covered with fiery lava.

Other exploratory expeditions in the early 19th century included those led by Lord George Anson Byron (cousin and successor to the poet), who was assisted by 200 Hawaiians in his trip up Mauna Loa in 1825. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, the United States government sponsored its first international, scientific expedition, sending six ships commanded by Lieutenant

❁Continued on page 14

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 13

W

Halema‘uma‘u Crater 1890

❁Continued from page 13

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Charles Wilkes to the South Pacific. When he reached Hilo in 1840, Wilkes, having read Lord Byron’s account, was ready to climb Mauna Loa. His “caravan,” as he called it, included 200 equipment bearers, 50 food bearers and others who carried a portable house, cookware, tents and knapsacks.

There were also many mothers, wives, and children of the bearers accompanying the expedition, often grumbling and complaining along the way.

When they reached Kīlauea’s crater, Wilkes estimated that it was large enough to contain the entire city of New York.

As they continued their ascent, many in the party suffered from headaches, fever and dropping temperatures, blisters on their feet when their shoes wore out, and diarrhea. They ultimately reached the summit and spent several days conducting scientific experiments before starting back to Hilo in mid-January 1841. Upon his return to the United States, Wilkes, like Lord Byron before him, published a multi-volume account of his journey.

These accounts soon attracted others to Hawai‘i Island, especially to see the wonders of the volcanoes. By the late 1840s and early 1850s, a few curious souls made the lengthy (and expensive) journey from Honolulu to Hilo and then on to Kīlauea. Few were up to tackling Mauna Loa itself.

In 1846, Benjamin Pitman, Sr. built a grass house at the crater edge and coined the name “Volcano House,” which has remained the name throughout the many manifestations of this rustic inn. In 1866, a more substantial Volcano House was constructed, made of grass and ohia poles, with a parlor, a fireplace and two sleeping rooms. The most famous visitor to this version of Volcano House was Mark Twain, who arrived in July, 1866, as a reporter for the Sacramento Union. His first impression did not live up to his expectations: “a considerable hole in the ground—nothing to Haleakalā [on Maui]—a wide, level black plain in the bottom of it, and a few little sputtering jets of fire….”

Yet the longer he observed, the more he appreciated: “It was growing on me, and tolerably fast.” He was also pleasantly surprised by the Volcano House. “The surprise of finding a good hotel at such an outlandish spot startled me, considerably more than the volcano did.”

Charles Nordhoff, a popular 19th century travel writer, also recommended Kīlauea as a destination, but warned his readers that getting there could be arduous.

There were no hotels in Hilo, so Nordhoff suggested visitors stay with the sheriff, who apparently was a willing

Their campaign also resulted in the creation of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, located in the southeastern portion of Hawai‘i Island, the country’s thirteenth national park established in 1916.

In the beginning, the park consisted of just the summits of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa on Hawai‘i Island, as well as Haleakalā on Maui.

Over time additional land was added to the park on Hawai‘i Island, and in 1961 Haleakalā Alexander P. Lancaster, the first official was separated to guide at Kīlauea, leading a tour group create its own national in 1890 park. In 1982, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park achieved UNESCO’s World Heritage Site status, the only such designation in the State of Hawai‘i.

And finally, in 2003, the National Park Service, in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy, purchased 116,000 acres of Kahuku Ranch, above Highway 11 in Ka’u, increasing the size of the park by 50 percent to over 323,000 acres. The Kahuku Unit, as it is now known, provides hiking trails through old-growth forests, ranch land, historic sites and nature preserves that are very different from the rest of the traditional landscape of the park.

Today the park receives more than 1.3 million visitors each year, many coming to see the activity of Kīlauea, which has been erupting continually since January 1983, allowing visitors to witness an active volcano that has added 500 acres of new land to the island. Especially after dark, it is possible to see the red lava oozing from the earth. During daylight hours, the large plumes of steam created when the lava reaches the ocean are visible from miles away.

The summit of Mauna Loa is more difficult to visit because of the elevation—13,679 feet above sea level, the cold temperatures and the need to hike rather than drive. There are cabins available on a first-come, first-served basis to those who register at the Kīlauea Visitor Center. Although considered an active volcano, Mauna Loa erupted last in 1984. ❖ Contact writer Robert Oaks at boboaks@pacbell.net.

For further reading: Dougherty, Dennis and Moniz-Nakamura, J., Giant of the Pacific, Mauna Loa Reconnaissance 2003, www.nps.gov/havo/ historyculture/upload/Mauna%20Loa%202003.pdf National Park Service, “Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park”, www.nps.gov/hav

In 1866, an early Volcano House hotel overlooked Kīlauea crater. Visitors, including Mark Twain, arrived by horse and carriage. This building, which has since been moved, is now the Volcano Art Gallery.

Oaks, Robert F. Hawai‘i, A History of the Big Island. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.

Philbrick, Nathaniel, Sea of Glory, America’s Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploration Expedition, 1838-1842, New York, New York: Penguin Books, 2004.

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host. When leaving Hilo by horseback, Nordhoff warned that the traveler would “leave behind all hope of good roads.” The journey over 30 miles of jagged lava beds with many mud-filled holes meant that the traveler should insist that his horse be re-shod before leaving, and take along an extra pair of horseshoes, and at least a dozen horse-nails. Do not wait for a fine day, he advised, because it would surely rain at any rate before reaching Volcano House.

Yet, despite the difficulties, after Twain, Nordhoff, and others wrote of their experiences, the number of tourists grew steadily.

A new, larger Volcano House opened in 1877 (today the building houses the Volcano Art Center). A regular, once-monthly steamer from Honolulu to Hilo, improved roads, and eventually a small railroad, made the trip much easier. After 1870, mules became the primary mode of transportation to the summit, easing supply logistics somewhat.

The possibility of eruptions undoubtedly attracted some. A huge eruption in 1868 for a time threatened Hilo. Again, in 1880, lava began to flow slowly down the hill, and by the following year, came within seven miles of the town. By then the speed had increased, reportedly moving as rapidly as the Wailuku River.

When a day of Christian prayer failed to stem the flow, town residents called upon Princess Ruth Ke’elikōlani to intervene with the goddess Pele.

There are several versions of what happened, but supposedly the formidable Princess threw 30 red silk handkerchiefs, a bottle of brandy (or perhaps it was gin), a pig and a white rooster into the flowing lava, placating Pele, and ending the threat.

Princesses and tourists weren’t the only volcano adventurers; geologists, botanists and other scientists continued to explore Mauna Loa and Kīlauea. In the early 20th century, geologist Thomas A. Jaggar, at different times a professor at both Harvard and M.I.T., pushed for the establishment of a permanent observatory in order to monitor the volcanoes’ activities.

Scientists usually arrived on the scene after an eruption, but Jaggar insisted that was too late to learn much. He pushed for both a volcano observatory and the creation of a national park.

Jaggar was aided and supported in this quest by Lorrin A. Thurston, a lawyer, publisher and businessman who had participated in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, and who had political connections in both Washington and Honolulu. Their campaign led to the creation—100 years ago this year—of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the first such institution in the United States.

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The Life OF THE PEOPLE

I

KTA in partnership with artist Kathleen Kam, East Hawai‘i Cultural Center and KTA superstores.

Her position is one where someone could easily get mired in politics and ego, bogged down dealing with so many different organizations and agendas. Or she Alice Moon helping a customer with a bus could coast on the schedule at the Hilo DIA. past glory of her – Photo by Denise Laitinen many successful events. But Alice is neither a slacker nor one to take on airs. She sees her job as one that truly “helps improve the quality of life for everyone in the community. Whether rich or poor we all deserve a high quality of life. It has a lot to do with building events and building a sense of pride in where people come from,” she says.

Alice is proud to call Hilo home. Her family moved to Keaukaha when she was four years old. Upon graduating from Hilo High School in 1974, Alice spent several years working in the restaurant business, including stints at then-popular locales such as KK Tei and Apple Annie’s, where she worked her way up to assistant manager. In the 1980s she moved to Chicago, got married, and continued to work in the restaurant industry until health issues forced her to take an office job. She found herself working in the alumni and development office of the National College of Chiropractic. It was a turning point in her career, even if she didn’t realize it at the time.

Continued on page 18

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t’s a postcard-perfect morning in downtown Hilo, with bright blue skies and Hilo Bay sparkling in the sunlight—the kind of day that makes you feel lucky to live in Hawai‘i. With the Farmers’ Market in full swing and a cruise ship docked in the harbor, downtown Hilo is bustling with activity. Nowhere is it more so than around the Mo’oheau Bus Terminal and the office of the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association (DIA). Tourists and residents are walking about, many stopping in the DIA office to ask questions. A Hilo Hula Days performance, sponsored by Hilo DIA every day a cruise ship is in town, has drawn a crowd at the Mo’oheau bandstand.

In the midst of all this activity, Alice Moon is pointing out times and places on the County’s bus schedule to a pair of visitors outside the Hilo DIA office. The couple has no idea that the unassuming, friendly redhead is actually the Executive Director of DIA or that she is the powerhouse behind many events that have become synonymous with downtown Hilo.

Anyone who has lived in Hilo for any length of time has probably attended an event established and coordinated by the creative, passionate and persuasive Alice Moon, whether they realize it or not. From Shakespeare performances in the park to slack key music, World Heritage Days to Chinese New Year festivals and her signature Black and White Night, Alice has dreamed up and tackled the massive job of coordinating a litany of community events that help make Hilo a special place to live. It’s a testament to the power of one person that over the years tens of thousands of people have enjoyed special events in East Hawai‘i because of Alice.

For her, it’s about “creating a place where the quality of life is high for everybody because the people who live here are all part of the community,” she says taking a break during a lull in activity at the DIA office. “Downtown Hilo is such as small area and it has so much to offer. I want to bring people together to celebrate what we have.”

“This is my dream job,” says Alice. “I’d like to be here till I can’t be anywhere else. I want to continue to enlighten and enliven the area.”

It’s a dream job that keeps her on her toes. In addition to managing the Hilo Information Center at the bus depot where she and her staff answer tens of thousands of questions a year, Alice is in the midst of planning an upcoming community festival, collaborating with a variety of folks on downtown Hilo’s new community garden program (see sidebar), assisting with the Envision Downtown Hilo 2025 project as one of its vision keepers, working with a myriad of agencies on various community programs, and reporting to the DIA Board of Directors.

With Alice at the helm, Hilo DIA has been busy in recent years.

A promotional banner program was implemented to brighten Kamehameha Avenue and promote special events. To improve public safety, Alice helped obtain a grant from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority to install security cameras downtown. A beautification project was undertaken with a mural painted along the side of

View of crowd from above at last year’s Annual Chinese New Years event in Hilo. – Photo courtesy of Downtown Improvement Assoc.

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❁Continued from page 17 “We did events in the restaurant business, but I got much more involved in event planning at the College,” says Alice. That experience served her well. In 1990, she returned to Hilo with years of fundraising and event planning experience under her belt.

Looking around for a job, Alice’s father, a University of Hawai‘iHilo English professor, told her that the university had just hired a Development Coordinator at the college. “At the time, schools in Hawai‘i were just starting to understand the need for alumni fundraising and development,” says Alice. “I interviewed with the new development director and she hired me as her assistant.”

While working in the university setting, Alice soon recognized the need for a college degree for herself. So she went back to school full time and earned a Bachelors degree in English at UHHilo. As might be expected, Alice was very active in the Student Activities Council and helped plan several large festivals for the school. Among the events she created was the Community Resource Fair, an event that continues to this day. She also got involved in the Big Island Slack Key Festival, helping coordinate the event and writing grants to cover its expenses.

It was also during college that Alice started coordinating an event called Black and White Night. At the time, the event was sponsored by the Keawe Collection: a group of businesses along Keawe Street in downtown Hilo that wanted to draw customers to their various businesses.

“They worked collaboratively to bring people up to Keawe Street from the main drag [of Kamehameha Avenue]” says Alice.

“That hui understood the power of collaborative marketing and pooling their dollars.” At the time she had no idea that Black and White Night would become her signature event or that it would turn into an annual celebration drawing thousands of people to downtown Hilo. Back then she was just trying to juggle studies and work.

Throughout college, Alice worked as a bartender at the former Harrington’s to pay her way through school. “In addition to working and coordinating events, I still managed to graduate,” says Alice with a laugh.

After graduation Alice continued working in the restaurant business until she got a job with the Hilo Main Street Program as Project Manager for DIA. Alice wound up working at the Associa-

❁Continued on page 21

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tion from 1995 to 1997. It was, she admits, a tough time both for the organization and the community.

“It was kind of a heartbreak job,” says Alice. “Funding for the program had been cut drastically, we were in a recession, and the last of the sugar plantations were closing, causing Hilo to sink into its own recession.” Times were tough. Events like Black and White Night ceased happening because most of the businesses on Keawe Street that had been involved in the project had either moved or gone out of business. When the organization ran out of money in 1997, Alice found herself once again looking for a job.

Borders Books was about to open in Hilo and they were in need of a community relations coordinator. For the next three and a half years, Alice planned dozens of events at the store, from book signings to live music and theatrical presentations of Shakespeare. “Working at Borders helped to reconnect me with the artistic community in Hilo,” says Alice.

During her years at Borders, Alice continued to help coordinate community events such as the Big Island Slack Key Festival.

In 2001, she decided to make the leap to work on her own and launched her own promotions and event planning company: Alice Moon and Company. Her first client was Dr. Bob Ballard (famous for discovering the wreck of the Titanic) and they soon produced the Jason Project: a program designed to connect kids around the world studying the same thing at the same time.

With her own company, Alice started putting on more and more events. She revived Black and White Night and was finally able to implement her longtime dream of turning it into a townwide event. Meant to draw people to downtown Hilo, it now has a decade of successfully achieving her goal.

Attendees are encouraged to wear black and white clothing, with a costume contest and prizes for creative outfits. Many businesses stay open late and offer special promotions and/or entertainment. Live music echoes throughout the streets and sidewalks. A map/stamp game helps draw people into businesses.

Participants are given a map of vendors and a stamp card. They visit vendors around downtown Hilo, collecting stamps on their card, which is then entered into a contest to win prizes. It’s an excellent way to learn more about businesses in downtown Hilo.

“I’m pretty certain that when asked, anyone who attends Black and White Night will say they discovered something new about downtown Hilo, whether it be a restaurant, community garden, or gift shop.”

“In 2001, we had about 20 businesses on the map and about 500-700 people participate,” says Alice. “In 2011, we had 70+ businesses on the map and 14,000-15,000 people attended.” This past year Alice, in partnership with the Hawai‘i Alliance for a Local Economy, added a “Think Local, Buy Local” campaign as part of the event to encourage people to buy from local merchants.

Another well-known community event for which Alice is responsible is the annual Chinese New Year Festival. February 2012 marked ten years of the popular, free festival at Kalākaua Park that features Chinese and Hawaiian cultural displays, entertainment, demonstrations, crafts, food and, of course, lion dances.

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❁Continued from page 19 The two events were just some of the many that Alice oversaw at her business. Putting on one large-scale successful event per year can be a strain for anyone. To manage two large events with a myriad of other ones throughout the year can take a toll on a person year after year. A debilitating economic downturn didn’t help things either. So in 2009, she returned to DIA as its executive director. An event planner to the core, Alice had one condition: to continue running Black and White night and Chinese New Years.

Like other small, non-profits, Hilo DIA struggles to do more with less while still responding to the needs of the community and local businesses. Alice is proud of the work that DIA has accomplished through its many community initiatives. “We’ve built a reputation as a ‘go-to’ place,” she says.

What’s next for Alice Moon? She points out that November 2012 marks 50 years for the Hilo DIA. “I’d like to think DIA will be around for another 50 years and I’d like to be part of that growth.” ❖ Contact writer Denise Laitinen at wahineokekai@yahoo.com.

Hilo Downtown Improvement Association website: www.downtownhilo.com

Tomatoes growing in a median strip in downtown Hilo as part of the “Let’s Grow Hilo” program. The veggies are free to the public.

– Photo by Denise Laitinen

Guerilla Gardening Project Becomes“Let’s Grow Hilo”

T

aking the notion of “going green” to a whole new level, a group of folks in Downtown Hilo have started a program aimed at simultaneously beautifying downtown Hilo while filling a vital need for feeding residents.

“It started out as a guerilla gardening project,” Alice Moon, Executive Director of Hilo Downtown Improvement Association (DIA) says with a chuckle. “We just started doing it. Then we had four-foot kalo plants growing, and people started realizing what we were doing.”

‘It’, is the “Let’s Grow Hilo” project, designed to show people how easy it is to go green while providing free food for local residents. Hilo is unique in that people strolling along downtown streets can now pick fruits and vegetables for free and take them home to eat.

“Let’s Grow Hilo” came about as a result of the Envision Downtown Hilo 2025 Plan, which calls for enhancing the area’s natural beauty through landscaping, plantings and related improvements. The project started a little over a year ago with

❁Continued on page 22

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❁Continued from page 21 then-student, now graduate from UH-Hilo College of Agriculture, Samantha (Sam) Robinson.

While still in school, Sam started community gardens at University of Hawai‘i-Hilo and wanted to expand the idea on a communitywide basis. Teaming up with Alice Moon and the Hilo DIA, Sam’s been working for over a year with youth groups, including Girl Scouts and students at Connections Public Charter School, on several planters These kalo plants in along Kamehameha Avenue and in downtown Hilo were front of the old Hawaiian Telephone planted by Natural Company building on Kalākaua Farming Hawai‘i Street. Dozens of area youth are volunteers. learning how to grow food and take pride in their community.

Hilo DIA is helping Sam seek community gardening grants to expand this part of the project and make Downtown Hilo a model project for other small towns on the island.

At the same time, Chiko Arakawa with DIA’s Senior Training Employment Program has been the driving force for the plantings around palm trees and in other planters around town.

Chiko uses space behind the East Hawai‘i Cultural Center as a greenhouse and nursery. You can see his work on the pocket park at the corner of Waianuenue Avenue and Keawe Street.

Another group, Natural Farming Hawai‘i, using Korean Master Cho’s method, has joined the effort by planting taro. Drake Weinert and volunteers from the farming group have spent many a weekend planting and nurturing a kalo garden at the small triangle shape where Kīlauea Street and Keawe Street merge at Mamo Street. As this magazine goes to press, DIA and Natural Farming Hawai‘i are planning a harvest celebration for the kalo tentatively scheduled for March 10.

Plants are donated by area businesses, their employees or members of the community. Sam and Chiko have developed relationships with area gardeners and groups, with many supplies being donated. What plants aren’t donated Sam grows from seeds organically. Alice notes that there have been some instances of theft and vandalism, but the damage has been minimal and offset by the tremendous benefits.

She recalls a recent incident where she was walking downtown and a woman admired some tomatoes growing in one of the community gardens. Alice told her she could pick them and take them home, but the woman didn’t believe her. After explaining the community gardening plan to her she was finally able to convince her to take the ripe produce home.

Now that the program has taken root, Alice and others are going about creating more structure for the program. “We’re working with the County Planning Department to formalize the program and its strategic planning,” explains Alice.

“Let’s Grow Hilo” community workdays are typically held the last Sunday of every month.

For more information on the “Let’s Grow Hilo” program, to donate supplies or start your own community garden downtown, e-mail Sam Robinson at letsgrowhilo@hotmail.com.

OF THE LAND

The Life

Middle-school students Cappi Winters and Rhea Davis serve elementary students. The cooking class at Kua O Ka Lā gives them a fresh fruit snack on Friday mornings.

– Photo by Karen Valentine

group of middle-school cooks is hanging out by the blender on a picnic table at Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School (KOKL). The kids just whipped up coconut-liliko’i smoothies… oh!—and grilled beef and lime with yacon (a tuber that looks like a potato but tastes like an apple). They’ve prepared coconutsweet-potato salad, cucumber salad and stir-fried kale… banana tamales with pineapple, ‘ohelo berries and fresh-squeezed coconut cream… and steaming cups of mamaki tea. The occasion? The planning committee for the Hawai’i Island Breadfruit Festival is having lunch with the staff of Kua O Ka Lā. The kids prepared this feast AND fed fresh fruit to the elementary school in just two hours.

“I work them hard,” says their teacher, Mariposa Blanco.

Her class, ‘Āina Life Culinary Arts, cooks only locally grown foods. This means coconut oil, kalo, breadfruit in season, wild pig and the photography teacher’s cow. There are greens, tomatoes, and peppers from the school garden, plus an array of veggies from Puna area farms. The chefs and diners adjust themselves to a whole new palate. And that’s the point.

Changing people’s palate means expanding or shifting the range of tastes a person enjoys. The current “local” palate prefers white rice, meat, eggs, gravy, and sugary drinks. Think Loco-Moco

or SPAM musubi with an Arizona Green Tea, and you’ve got the picture. Unfortunately, a diet based on these kinds of foods is high in fat, salt and sugar. It’s a pathway to diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. Furthermore, it includes few locally-grown ingredients. Our society burns an expensive pollutant—oil—to ship food here. Changing our palate—‘Āina Life style—means learning to enjoy food made with fresh, whole ingredients grown or gathered on our island.

“I know it sounds gross, but it actually tastes good,” wrote one dedicated cooking student. She was referring to all the vegetables. And the class works with fruits and veggies galore!

Every Friday, the culinary arts students wash fruit, cut it up, and serve it to the younger grades for snacks. Next, they listen as Blanco—known as Aunty Mariposa to the kids—introduces the ingredients and dishes of the day. She shares plant genealogies: where the vegetables grew on island and where in the world they originally came from. For example, tomatoes were domesticated in Central and South America, while kalo migrated from Southeast Asia through the Pacific. Together, Aunty Mariposa and the students invent recipes: salsas, salads, soups, stews and surprising fruity desserts. They cook familiar dishes like beef stew (with ‘ulu!), comfort foods such as purple ‘uala shepherd’s pie and dishes they

❁Continued on page 25

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A

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❁Continued from page 23 have never heard of, like Roma tomatoes with mozzarella cheese and basil.

The ‘Āina Life class supplies lunch to participating school staff at an affordable price. It’s a way of taking care of the school’s hard workers, according to KOKL Director Susie Osborne.

Bryan Jackson embraces a bunch of kale.

The teachers, – Photo by Karen Valentine aides, and administrators sit down to their gourmet lunch in a setting that can’t be beat: springwater glistens and steams through a grove of milo trees. Waves crash just out of sight on the lava coast. Kua O Ka Lā and its parent nonprofit, Ho’oulu Lahui, are located at Pu’ala’a in lower Puna; lunch is served in an ancient fishing village within a native coastal forest. Both the food and the environment are delicious.

It thrills the students when the staff eats and compliments their cooking. Likewise, it thrills the staff when Aunty Mariposa says, “Today all the students ate everything.” A taste for “real food” that’s not overloaded with sugar or processed beyond recognition is an asset for health in today’s world! Rhea Davis, an 8th grade student, weighs in: “I think they should have a cooking class in every school.”

This past September, Davis and her classmates entered the 1st Annual Breadfruit Festival cooking competition in Kealakekua, Kona. (KOKL is hosting a sister festival in Puna on March 3rd, 2012.) The ‘Āina Life Culinary Arts class placed first for Main Dish/

Entree and Healthiest Choice. Their entry was ‘Ulu Tamales with Coleslaw and Salsa. In desserts, their ‘Ulu Pops took second. What a thrill! But winning is the icing, not the inspiration for the “cake.”

In the words of Hope Butay, a 7th grade student, “The thought of [the food] being fresh, pretty and locally-grown made me think we should do more.”

Ayu Kilborn and RJ Rowan prepare veggies for the special luncheon.

– Photo by Karen Valentine producing relationships with the earth; processing, cooking, and eating healthy, organic, locally-grown foods; and building a certified commercial kitchen.

The ANA grant includes money to outfit the inside of the certified kitchen: stainless steel counters, appliances, and so on.

Osborne is currently raising funds to construct the building in which it will be housed, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has already committed money. Let’s hope the full sum is reached soon, because the students are ready. They line up for a spot in Culinary Arts, which takes only eight students per semester. For every class, they set up and break down the kitchen in a canopy tent. But if you imagine packing and unpacking a kitchen is challenging, you haven’t heard about Agriculture.

The Kua O Ka Lā garden started with rock. In the first year, students cleared out logs, spread cinder, laid down drywall (for calcium) and shoveled dirt over it. Under the direction of Agriculture teacher “Mama” Chioke Mims, they dug holes in the lava.

They built Puna-style pu’u: raised rock rings for holding soil and moisture. They sweated and grumbled in a big way. One student described the garden site as a “rocky hell” that first year. The next season saw the first Roma tomatoes. Students looked at caterpillars under magnifying glasses. They shaped raised beds from imported Hāmākua plantation dirt. They sweated and grumbled some more. Now, in the third year, students are skimming irrigation water off plastic and tinkering with home-made catchment tanks. They are building soil by mulching paper, lauhala and Mims’ locally-resourced compost blend. They’re practicing multiple planting styles: pu’u, rock, raised-bed and vertical-greenhouse agriculture.

❁Continued on page 27

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Culinary Arts teacher Mariposa Blanco works with student Keali‘i Luis to prepare purple sweet potatoes.

– Photo by Sonia Martinez

This engagement marks success. Aunty Mariposa dreamed up ‘Āina Life for the health of local youth, and KOKL director Osborne made it happen through a grant from the federal Administration for Native Americans (ANA). Together, they created a “seed-to-table” program called ‘Ike ‘Āina. Let’s break that down: ‘Ike, in Hawaiian, is “to see, know, feel, experience, recognize and understand.” ‘Āina is the word for land and earth; it comes from ‘ai, which means to eat. So ‘Ike ‘Āina is to know the land, and KOKL’s Agriculture and Culinary Arts program focuses on knowing food from the earth. The overall goal is to develop garden and kitchen programs to support a healthy, sustainable lifestyle for Native Hawaiian students and families in Puna by: developing food-

Photo by Sonia Martinez

‘Ulu Tamales with Coleslaw and Salsa The students of the Culinary Arts class at Kua O Ka Lā entered the recipe contest for the Ho‘oulu ka ‘Ulu Festival, held in Captain Cook in September, 2011. This dish, won in the category of “Healthiest Choice.” This recipe is shared by the students and their teacher, Mariposa Blanco. “We cook only with 100-percetnt locally grown foods. All of our ingredients are grown, produced or made in Hawai‘i,” she says.

The school is hosting its own Breadfruit Festival this month. [See calendar.]

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3 large or 4 medium ‘ulu 1 cup coconut oil Corn husks Any veggies or meat you want to add for filling.

(For the competition, the students prepared a veggie mix of red onion, goat feta cheese, beet greens, red and yellow bell peppers, tomatoes and sea salt.)

Have filling ingredients in prep bowls ready to fill the tamales.

Soak the corn husks and have ready. You can also use fresh corn husks, ti or banana leaves. You will need raffia or cotton kitchen string to tie the tamale “packages” before steaming them.

Steam the ‘ulu and make into poi by pureeing while adding the coconut oil, little by little, to reach the consistency desired (best if not too sticky. If too sticky, you might need to add a bit more oil.)

When the ‘ulu poi is ready, take two leaves and place wide parts overlapping, start filling by spooning some of the poi, making a slight indentation in the poi. Start adding extra filling ingredients, not too full. Wrap and tie.

Steam for 15 to 20 minutes if vegetarian; if adding meat, steam for 25 minutes.

Yield: 15 servings The presentation included a side of green and purple coleslaw dressed with coconut oil mayo and sea salt and dry salsa made with pineapple, tomatoes, cilantro, liliko‘i, red onion and Hawaiian chile peppers.

More healthy recipes may be found in the school’s new cookbook, ‘Ike ‘Āina. For information, call 808.965.5098; or visit www.kuaokala.org

❁Continued from page 25 That’s beginning to be the feeling at Agriculture class.

Students from the first tough years are now in 9th and 10th grade. This year at Makahiki, a few of these boys dropped by as the middle schoolers practiced pounding poi.

“Is that kalo from our garden?” they asked. It was. This was the crop the 9th grade planted and the 10th Kua O Ka Lā charter school Executive Director grade prepared Susie Osborne is building a legacy, literally the ground for. The from the ground up, at the Puna charter boys sampled the school. –Photo by Karen Valentine pa’i ‘ai (thick, unmixed poi) straight from the poi board. They took a turn pounding, and they nodded approval. All their work would grace the table for the school’s feast. The whole community would eat a traditional Hawaiian staple grown by the students. That was a proud moment, a turning point.

Another pivotal moment came recently, when students excitedly discussed what to grow for the school’s first “Iron Chef of Agriculture” competition as they left the garden site.

“I want to put liliko’i and lemon in a bowl and soak yacon in it, then sprinkle grated coconut on top,” 7th grader Keali’i Luis told his friend.

That’s ‘Ike ‘Āina in action. Tradition and innovation. For most of us, it’s a whole new palate. ❖ Look for Kua O Ka Lā staff and students’ recipes, quotes, and gardening notes in our upcoming cookbook, ‘Ike ‘Āina, available at the Pu’ala’a ‘Ulu Festival and through Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School. 808.965.5098; www.kuaokala.org Contact writer Prana Mandoe at prana@hawaiiantel.net.

Students with agriculture teacher Prana Mandoe – Photo by Karen Valentine

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Are they still grumbling? Of course. The sun is hot. School time is smack-dab in the middle of the worst gardening hours possible. And many of the youth are not used to this work.

They don’t walk, mulch, shovel, pull weeds, stack rocks or carry water as a matter of course. Neither are most trained to be quiet. They are not used to observing the land, plants, bugs, and weather, or to looking, listening, and following through with care. Mims and fellow teacher Prana Mandoe (yours truly) work to awaken and develop these indigenous, human skills within the students.

Slowly, it’s happening.

Now, on a typical Friday, Mims harvests greens and vegetables for Culinary Arts. Then the students arrive and check on their peppers, cucumbers, kalo, kale, chard, mamaki and more. Many find a work groove watering or planting seedlings.

The students discuss varieties of frogs and whether a bug is a whitefly or aphid. They wash and taste string bean and tomato samples right in the garden. They recently nursed a patch of brittle, yellow peppers back from near-death. When the kids babied those plants, the leaves greened and darkened.

Life returned. The plants set Grade-A bell peppers.

“Did you know that organic red bell peppers sell for $4.99 a pound in the stores?”

Mama Chioke asks the students.

It’s a rhetorical question. The KOKL program isn’t ready for sales (except to staff ), but it’s a thought for entrepreneurMama Chioke teaches planting methods. ial students to – Photo by Prana Mandoe consider. In fact, it could become an applied math program. First, though, the kids have to know their products.

“I ate my first green bell pepper,” 7th grader Malea Morris announces.

“First in your life?” I ask.

“Yep,” she answers. “I thought it would be really spicy, but I tried it and now I’m addicted.”

Morris’s classmate, Karley Rose, has a similar take on the vegetables. She and her cousin raised a crop of cucumbers this fall. They dug holes in the lava, planted seedlings, watered, and mulched with leaves and paper. The girls watched with pleasure as the vines quickly climbed the garden fence. They also found cucumber worms and examined them on the classroom projector. (These pests eat cucumbers from the inside out, leaving only a crunchy empty shell.) When the cukes were finally ready, they supplied staff lunches and contributed quarts of cucumber salad for the school’s Makahiki feast. Rose also took cucumbers home, where she prepared them kimchee style. “It was good,” she reported.

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Call “Auntie Geri”

The Life AS ART

Cindy Coats in Cindy Coats Gallery, 2012 – Photo courtesy of the artist

olualoa resident Cindy Coats recalls distinctly the moment she declared her chosen profession.

“I was 10 years old and had just seen the most incredible movie with my mother,” she says. The movie? It was The Beatles’ animated, psychedelic undersea fantasy, “Yellow Submarine.” “I remember walking out of that theater, looking at my mother and saying, ‘That’s it, I’m going to be an artist.’ I had been drawing for as long as I could remember and loving it, but that movie sealed the deal.”

It’s a profession this New Mexico native has embraced passionately for decades, nearly 20 years of which have been right here on Hawai‘i Island. And then, in one of life’s ironic twists, more than 40 years after having her world rocked by The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” she found her Kailua-Kona gallery, her artwork and her spirits submerged in sea water.

A year ago this month, we remember Japan’s devastating 8.9 earthquake and the tsunami it generated, killing tens of thousands in that country and touching the lives of many here in Hawai‘i—those with family and friends at the epicenter and in surrounding environs—and those here who were directly impacted by the tsunami that reached Kona’s shoreline on March 11, 2011.

Incredibly resilient and an eternal optimist by nature, Coats admits the event initially left her “ragged and raw.” “My gallery and the dozen or so retail outlets in the Seaside Shopping Mall (directly across the road from the Kailua-Kona pier) and King Kamehameha Beach Hotel were pretty much ground zero when

❁Continued on page 30

Ali‘i Drive and the building housing the gallery, the day after the March, 2011, tsunami.

– Photo courtesy of the artist

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 29

H

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❁Continued from page 29 the largest of the flood waves arrived here,” she says.

The force of the water shattered the gallery’s multiple glass doors and brought down its north facing wall. “My husband Barry and I were able to remove about six originals before we were evacuated, everything else (hundreds of open and limited edition giclée prints, a number of originals, materials and furnishings) was lost,” according to Coats.

When the shock subsided, clarity set in. Amid hundreds of phone calls, letters and emails from friends and collectors of her work, she says she realized, “This was a disaster but not a tragedy. Thankfully, no one here was injured or killed.

What we lost was stuff, just stuff.”

The outpouring of compassion and support she received from individuals worldwide was tremendously humbling, she says, adding that it also helped her to relax and give herself permission to take as long as she needed to get up and running again. With her usual candor, she admits it took her a while to get to that space. “My career has evolved organically, nothing was ever rushed or pressured, it all just happened very naturally. Suddenly, I felt panicked; I felt I just had to get back to work and get the gallery opened again immediately, but that was all self-imposed pressure.”

“I really was shaken; I was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. In fact, with the loss of my ‘stuff’ I felt adrift.

I thought I had lost my mojo—could I still paint, could I still come up with these crazy, creative ideas again?”

She credits her father, nuclear physicist Dr. Richard L. Coats, with helping her to take the first rational steps to re-constructing her life’s work. “Of course, my dad is so analytical and organized—pretty much the opposite of me—he got me centered, suggested a step-by-step outline and check-lists to keep the re-building of the gallery and my inventory on track.”

Two other players figured heavily in her plan of attack: her landlord, Alan Kimi, owner of the Seaside Shopping Mall and the Seaside Hotel chain, and Congresswoman Mazie Hirono.

Ironman 2011 competitors Gert and James from Germany with Cindy’s 2011 Ironman commemorative art. Cindy has been commissioned by Ironman International (as of 2012) as the official artist for the world championship event.

2011 Ironman World Championship print: “You are Here”

by Cindy Coats –Photo courtesy of the artist

“All You Need is Love” “Alan could not have been more supportive, more accommodating. From day one, he encouraged all of us (his merchant tenants) to take as much time as we needed; there was no pressure to re-open before we were ready,” Cindy says. “His team did a tremendous job re-building and repairing the spaces.”

Congresswoman Hirono, she says, was in Kailua-Kona almost immediately following the tsunami to assess damage and lend her support. “She was a tremendous and compassionate resource for all us, giving us contact information for various state and federal agencies that could provide advice and assistance.”

More than that, Cindy says, it was the fact that she stayed in touch throughout the entire recovery with heartfelt concern and encouragement that touched her the most. And when the doors to Cindy Coats Gallery opened again more than four months later on July 30, 2011, a proclamation honoring the gallery arrived from the Congresswoman.

It reads in part, “It was just a few short months ago that I traveled to Kailua-Kona and saw the damage that followed the March 11 tsunami. That day, I was deeply impressed by the determination of Cindy and the neighboring business owners to rebuild and recover. Small businesses are the heart of our island lifestyle and today we see the results of the resilience of this Kona community.”

During that period of re-construction, Cindy says she learned amazing life lessons every day while working at her in-home studio. High on that list, she says, is no matter what we think, we’re not in control. Today refreshed, re-energized and more creative than ever, Cindy says what she’s noticed most about her post-tsunami work is that it is looser and freer than before. Much hasn’t changed, however. Music, underwater gardens and sea

“Dogs Love Trucks”

“Flying Formation of Fish” life, whimsy and bright, bold colors remain her signature. And The Beatles also continue to play a role. Earlier this year, one of her most coveted originals, having spent a few years in a central location at their Holulaloa home, made it down to the gallery.

Entitled “All You Need is Love,” it sold nearly immediately. While reluctant to let it go, she says the greatest joy she gets from producing her art is sharing it with others who are excited and appreciative of it.

One of her favorite quotes, painted in red on a beat-up canvas hanging in her gallery after “going to hell and back” in the turbulent ocean waters, is “Remain Calm and Carry On.” It’s a quote that carries more meaning today than ever for the artist. ❖ Contact writer Margaret Kearns at margaretkearns@gmail.com See more of Cindy's work at www.cindycoats.com “Green Flash”

Editor’s note: With the exception of one, all of the Seaside Shopping Mall merchants have re-opened their businesses.

They all have incredible stories to tell, as do the many other shop owners, hoteliers, restaurateurs and oceanfront homeowners who sustained damage and loss in the Kona District. We salute them all!

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 31

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The plot centers on Naia and Parker, both musicians. Naia, an inspired songwriter who is enslaved as a miner, yearns to be a performer. Her dream is realized when she gets tapped for stardom, at the cost of leaving Parker behind. While her success catapults her out of enslavement, stardom turns out to be a different kind of slavery. Parker, concerned for Naia, sets out to free her and redeem their love.

At root, “Strange Frame” is about love and redemption, danger and desire. It’s set in the 28th century on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. In this futuristic era, Earth is a poisoned, unlivable planet, and humans, who have become a space-faring species, have to genetically engineer their bodies to adapt to new environments. The exorbitant cost of space travel—the ticket off of toxic Earth—relegates them to lives of perpetual debt slavery that extends to their progeny. Greed, predatory lending, and dishonesty are alive and well on Ganymede.

“We set the movie far into the future where race, sex and gender are no longer issues, much in the way that “Star Trek” gave us the first broadcast of an interracial kiss back in the 1960s,” says Hajim. That gave the writers freedom to explore the struggle to survive in an unbalanced, two-class society from a personal perspective. It’s a cautionary and moving tale.

The movie’s title comes from a sentiment of artist Doty: “How fortunate are those who can frame the beauty of the strange.”

The artwork is gorgeous: Original characters are rendered with painstaking detail and delightful, softly sensual color, all of it

❁Continued on page 34

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 33

AS ART

The Life

O

n a modest rural road in Hakalau, on the Hāmākua Coast, sits a rather quaint, non-descript house. It’s an unlikely locale for a high-tech enterprise; but inside its walls is the animation studio of Geoffrey Blair Hajim, known as GB, a digital animator, writer, artist, producer and director.

Hajim is a bundle of energy and creativity packed into a 5-foot, 6-inch frame. When he talks about his new film, “Strange Frame,” his passion bubbles from the wellspring of his love for visual media and what he and co-writer/musician Shelley Doty are trying to put forth.

“Shelley and I are avid sci-fi fans,” he says. “The genre, also called speculative fiction, contains some of the most socially progressive writing that exists. We both felt that to really have a positive effect on culture and to move the discourse forward, we’d need to reach outside “the choir.”

They set about writing a socially progressive, futuristic, popular media story that brings together their combined passions for music, social “Chat,” one of the justice, and great characters in storytelling.

“Strange Frame”

Naia from “Strange Frame,” a digital animation film produced by GB Hajim on the Big Island

AxeCU from “Strange Frame”

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❁Continued from page 33 drawn by Hajim and his small crew of talented employees and interns—all of them based on Hawai‘i Island. While some of the background shots are done via computer-generated imagery (CGI), 90 percent of the scenic work is hand-drawn, giving “Strange Frame” a look and style all its own, with an aesthetic impact tantamount to the uniqueness of films like “Avatar.”

Hajim uses advanced screen tablets as the drawing surfaces, and most of the artwork is made using tools that mimic airbrushing (with masks). Creations are pre-cut into animationready elements and then programmed separately, which is called “cut-out style” animation. Because everything has been hand-drawn with a distinctive palette and aesthetic, the work is very different from anything out there. It has the potential to be a breakout style; and one very appealing to young people, futurists, progressives, music lovers, animation fans and gamers, among others.

Says Hajim, “I chose this style because it is unique and it is only done here, in Hawai‘i. It’s also efficient from a production standpoint because it takes a lot less time than some types of computer-rendered imagery.

And that was a tactical decision, given the employment situation on the island. “I wanted to make the style economical so our production costs would not be sky-high. This, I felt, was a prerequisite because we live in one of the most economically challenged areas in the country,” he says.

“I always look at the process and its effects as well as the product. The underlying values of this process—keep it efficient, hire talent for a living wage, develop a sustainable protocol— must be as true as the themes of the product: equality, freedom, opportunity, sustainability. I vowed that with my business I’d find the talent here on the Big Island, nurture it and help provide jobs as well.”

His company name, Island Planet One Productions, was inspired by the words of Hawaiian navigator, Nainoa Thompson, when he said that an island is a microcosm of the planet and spoke of the need to achieve sustainability in smaller ecosystems before you can expect it in larger ones. From that perspective, the island and the planet are one.

To develop a sustainable business, Hajim has worked with career programs through the University of Hawai‘i-Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College, as well as the East Hawai‘i high schools—including the Huiana Internship Program for youth— to build a critical mass of expertise. His indie film has been done on a very small budget—less than $2 million—and has been the training platform for high school and college interns who work alongside some hired staff. Hajim has provided invaluable work experience for more than 40 interns over the past six years.

“When I was her age I could draw as well as her, but there were no opportunities here; so when I graduated, I joined the military, then came back [and] got married, had kids, and never drew again. Thank you for me and my daughter.”

The model for the envisioned studio comes from another giant in the industry, Peter Jackson, the New Zealand-based director whose WETA Studio produced “Lord of the Rings” and most recently, ‘Tintin,” a collaboration with Steven Spielberg.

Like Jackson, Hajim is rooted to place and is committed to building a studio on the island he now calls home. Hawai‘i Island is also an ideal place for his dreams: “Almost any kind of landscape you will need to do films and production is here—desert, rainforest, snow-capped mountains—and it is all within a 50-mile drive,” he says. “It’s more diverse than New Zealand and just perfect for the Director GB Hajim, seated, with two high kind of work I do.” school interns from the So many people Huiana Internship Program have fallen in love – Photo courtesy of Hajim with “Strange Frame” in its production stage that it has attracted an A-list of performers for the voices, including Tim Curry (“Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Ferngully”), Claudia Black (“Stargate SG1,” “Farscape”), George Takei (“Star Trek, “Heroes”), Michael Dorn (“Star Trek,” “Transformers”), Ron Glass (“Barney Miller,” “Firefly,” “Serenity”), Alan Tudyk (“Firefly,” “Serenity,” “Transformers”), Juliet Landau (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Ed Wood”), and Claudia Christian (“Babylon5”).

Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd) offered “Strange Frame” a Pink Floyd song to complement the innovative style and content in the movie that caught his attention.

Academy Award-winner Gary Rizzo (“Inception,” “Titanic,” “Star Wars,” “Dark Knight,” and “The Incredibles”) agreed to do the sound mix at Skywalker Ranch.

“Strange Frame” already has more than 20,000 Facebook fans from more than 20 countries.

Big dreams come with big challenges. Now, “Strange Frame” is almost finished but needs an infusion of capital for the writing of some additional scenes before it goes to market.

While fundraising is hard-going right now, “Strange Frame” promises to be a breakthrough film that, according to some, is just what is needed to start an industry on Hawai‘i Island.

Beyond this film, three sequels, several TV pilots and other projects are in the planning stages.

And it’s all happening in a sweet little house in Hakalau. ❖ Island Planet One Productions: 808.963.5482 www.strangeframe.com

“Lone Mango” from ”Strange Frame”

To contact the writer: paula@delphipacific.com

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 35

“Here in East Hawai’i, there aren’t many opportunities for our talented, artistic, and technically-capable kids. Often, they have to choose between staying with their families, whom they love, and resigning themselves to working entry-level jobs or giving up everything they cherish to pursue a career elsewhere, and I don’t think that’s a fair choice.”

His heart is truly in the community and that drives everything he is trying to develop. How he got to Hawai’i is a long story, and it started with his college career. A Connecticut native, Hajim studied at the University of California-San Diego, starting out in astrophysics before switching to visual arts and media science. He explored culture and media with projects like performance art pieces with the Dineh (Navaho) and large mural painting with orphans in Mexico. It was during these years that he became passionate about non-Western art and African filmmaking.

He co-taught a class that compared African films to African literature and, encouraged by a professor, did field work on a topic of his choosing: the kava bowl. “I read everything written about it and wrote papers on it…I spent time in Fiji, Tonga, and Western Samoa. Everyone on my travels opened their homes to me. Everywhere I went I saw communities of people raising each other’s children and taking care of one another. I was in love with the way island people treated each other.”

He went on to graduate work in film production before becoming an islander himself, moving his young family to Hawai‘i to find, in his word, “community.”

Hajim’s love for the island induced him to study its language and immerse himself in Hawaiian culture. Within a short time, he established Screaming Wink Productions to apply his expertise to producing Hawaiian language and culture videos, working with Hau’oli Motta, Luahiwa Namahoe, Kainani Kahunaele and Kala’i Ontai. He produced, among other films, “Pi’apa `Oiwi, The Hawaiian Alphabet”; “Kalanimainu’u—the Story of the Mo’o Goddess of Moloka’i”; and “Ka’ililauokekoa,” which won the Hawai‘i Filmmaker’s Award. These projects enabled him to start honing his cut-out animation style.

Hajim dreams big and is not afraid to take on challenges.

Through “Strange Frame” and future projects, he aspires to develop a viable digital animation studio on the island so the talent that is here can stay here, work here, and get known enough to compete for the large-scale projects out of Hollywood. “It can be done,” he insists. “This project [“Strange Frame”] has been a struggle, but I always remember what one of the mothers said, with tears in her eyes, when I gave her daughter an internship:

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The Life

O

the luminous sea beyond, “is that you have one you are willing to work towards.”

Notable pioneers in the field of sustainability from every sector on the island—business, government, education, agriculture, energy, media and the arts—are hearing SHYLI’s call. To help fulfill the dreams of youth, they are collaborating to share their dreams for green enterprises and partnerships that range from organic farms and eco-friendly tour leaders to manufacturers of natural body products and state-of-the art recycling facilities.

Eco-Teens Have Deep Roots

There are a million ways to save the world. Sky, Wai and Ash know this because their parents, along with teachers the West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy’s (WHEA) and faculty from the Stone Soup Leadership Institute, have shown them.

Ashley, who dreams of being a performing artist, says her first inspiration to live sustainably came from the Youth Congress hosted by Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy (HPA) “because they showed us it was really not difficult, but it was really inviting to be eco-friendly, to be really good to the earth and to go out there ready to help. After a while, when you develop the habit of it, it doesn’t feel like you’re going out of your way to do it, to live sustainably.”

Ash later joined Sky and Wai at WHEA, an outdoor “school of choice” that serves grades 6-12 using “project-based” learning, and is probably one of the only high schools in America that has a shark tank and breeds seahorses and jellyfish. WHEA’s Green Team, a student class taught by Ben Duke, promotes sustainability through learning, ecosystem-friendly practices, video production to encourage green awareness and projects like the Youth Initiative. ❁Continued on page 38

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 37

n the sunlit day, outdoors at the West Hawai‘i Civic Center, Skyla (“Sky”) D. Graig-Murray, a student at West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy, asks this question: “How often have you asked a young person what is their dream for their life, and expect a real answer? Youth are rarely ever asked.”

Until now. Now, their dreams and their answers have clustered into a self-empowering movement which has reached critical mass and aspires to establish Hawai‘i Island as a sustainability mecca. SHYLI, the Sustainable Hawai‘i Youth Leadership Initiative, challenges Hawai‘i’s adults to look closely with them at the human habits, trends and warnings about the fate of the earth and our island, and to do everything we can to save our part of the planet.

“I’m afraid we are throwing away our world,” 14-year-old Sky wrote in her first published article. “We are destroying our land and habitats to lay down concrete roads.” Sky dreams of becoming an author and says her friend Sarah wants to become a therapist.

“Her dream for the world is to end racism, sexism, share the aloha spirit, and for everyone to get along. Our world, our land and home must be our top priority.”

Because their dreams are bigger than their fears, and their insights have potency far beyond their years, Sky and her friends, 17-year-old Wainani (“Wai”) Traub, 16-year-old Ashley (“Ash”) Mulvihill and other visionary youth have united to reach out to the larger community and help create a sustainable world.

Sky, Wai and Ash have transformed their concerns into mature, concrete and even heroic action. They are speaking out, organizing, planning and working together to create a healthy world where they can achieve their dreams. “The point of a dream,” says Sky, as she looks out at the Civic Center’s gazebo and

Wainani Traub, 16; Skyla D. Graig-Murray, 14; and Ashley Mulvihill, 16 – or Wai, Sky and Ash, as they like to be called—share the dream of an enduring, sustainable world –Photo by Marya Mann.

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❁Continued from page 37 Wai represented WHEA’s Green Team at the Institute’s Youth Leadership Summit in Martha’s Vineyard last year, brought back ideas from the summit and partnered with artist Ash on the design of SHYLI’s logo—two whale tails together, signifying natural collaborations that run deep. Sky’s article, “Calling All Big Island Youth for a Sustainable World,” invites all youth from high school and college to get involved. “Everyone can share their gifts and talents—and learn as we grow. SHYLI needs your help—from writing, to producing more videos, to working on projects with local organizations, to creating our first Sustainable Hawai‘i Tour using Google Earth.”

WHEA’s Ben Duke said at a December, 2011 meeting that, “As teachers, we aim to provide students with support and help them identify resources in the community.” One such community resource at the same meeting, Joan Ocean of Dolphin Connection, said, “The new youth leadership initiative is very powerful and timely. I think it will touch many people who have felt (as I have) the frustration of trying to assist the young people in a world that mostly is unaware of all they have to offer, all their intelligence and natural good sense. Thank you for honoring that.”

Dignitaries and devoted adults from the fields of youth empowerment and sustainability from all over the island have been invigorated by SHYLI’s potential. Councilman Angel Pilago hosted the December meeting; Kumu Keala Ching met with the SHYLI Leadership Intensive in January; Deputy Mayor of West Hawai‘i Wally Lau has attended several meetings, and a private donor has offered space for a Youth Initiative summer camp, says Ash. The urgent voices of youth and the calming voices of wisdom harmonize into one song: we want to live in an enduring world so new generations, like the ones before them, can fulfill their dreams.

Eco-Solutions

SHYLI’s message begins with personal decision-making. “If you eat healthy food, you already lead a more balanced life, because your body has more balanced nutrition. And if you grow your own food, it’s healthy and it also helps the economy as well,” says Ash. Seeing how much shipping costs, how much energy it requires, and the fact that Hawai‘i imports 85 percent of its food, SHYLI is exploring strategies for reducing dependence on shipping and expanding local island food production.

Sky recalls living in upstate New York. “There’s a recycling bin on every single corner and it’s more rural than here. But here, there are entire malls where they don’t recycle at all. It goes in the garbage. It’s like, ‘Really! How does that work out?’ But it’s worse. I mean they ship it overseas and it takes more fuel to ship over than it’s worth recycling. I’m like ‘But it’s recycling. It’s not worse.’ I think it’s a big shock.”

Ash agrees, but thinks that on the Big Island we’re more sustainable in other areas. “There’s a lot of focus here about growing your own food and being able to sustain yourself off your own residential area. It’s a massive, massive influence around here. People have been growing their own food, growing their own fruit, and eating healthy, natural food for years. So that’s a very large part of culture around here.”

Josue Cruz of Puerto Rico shares island ideals with WHEA youth at the HPA Energy Lab. – Photo courtesy of Sustainable Hawai‘i Youth Leadership Initiative

Eco-World

Eco-Future

The Youth Initiative’s next big event is to support the Grand Green Home Tour organized by the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce and the West Hawai‘i Mediation Center, to be held on April 22.

That will help further their goal of creating a visual display of sustainable practices and populations in the form of a geographic map. Collaborating with leaders in sustainable industries, the

RESOURCES: Watch SHYLI’s video: www.shyli.org Kona Kohala Green Tour: www.kona-kohala.com/Kuleana/ kuleana-green-business-program.html WHEA: whea.info/planetwhea/ HPA Energy Lab: www.hpa.edu/academics/energy-lab Stone Soup Leadership Initiative www.soup4worldinstitute.com/ Contact writer Marya Mann at Marya@LoomOfLove.com Full Disclosure: Barbara Garcia, co-publisher of Ke Ola Magazine, is on the Board of Advisors of SHYLI. Her daughter, Mariana Garcia, is also mentioned in the story.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 39

The group has so far visited and negotiated partnerships with 14 sustainable businesses around the island, and they are seeking more people who have ideas, visions and dreams to create a map of sustainable Hawai‘i. The Sustainable Hawai‘i Tour in January, led in part by the Stone Soup Leadership Institute’s Youth Director from Puerto Rico, Josue Cruz, brought together others in the Hawai‘i Island network.

Founding director of the Stone Soup Leadership Institute, parttime Hawai‘i Island resident Marianne Larned, says the servantleadership model is central to the Stone Soup Leadership’s approach to humanitarian action. She wrote a handbook for humanitarians based on the enlightened idea that “ordinary people doing extraordinary things” will improve the world by bettering people’s lives.

With stories told by individuals who are either well known themselves (Jimmy Carter, Steven Spielberg, Nelson Mandela) or are affiliated with organizations devoted to improving the world by helping others, the book’s introduction is written by “the most trusted man in America,” the late Walter Cronkite. He writes: “It’s time to take action and chart the course for our future.

Stone Soup for the World: Life-Changing Stories of Everyday Heroes features heroes, legendary people and ordinary folks, who, by conviction, imagination, innovation, persistence, hard work and moral or physical courage, have lifted their neighbors and their communities. They challenge each of us to respond in kind.

The Stone Soup Institute which Ms. Larned helped establish has a history of developing strategic public-private partnerships that have helped organize hundreds of young people in eight youth community initiatives, first on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, then in inner cities and on other islands over the last 16 years, including Oakland, California; Vieques, Puerto Rico; Virgin Gorda, BVI and now, Hawai‘i Island.

Youth Initiative seems clearly to have the passion for creating such a map, and contributing to a sustainable future.

New SHYLI project coordinator Mariana Garcia says, “It’s imperative that we learn now, before it’s too late. Young people hold the key to our future.”

The map will answer the questions: Who’s here?

Doing what? How can we support each others’ dreams? But the only real value of knowledge is in giving us the wisdom to take action.

That’s why SHYLI wants more people involved, “because it is important for our youth to learn about sustainability. Our world is in trouble, and we are going to be the ones who will have to save it,” says Ms. Garcia.

“I also want more people to be involved so we can see that living sustainably can also mean living comfortably. A lot of times when people think of living green, they think they will have to live in grass shacks. This is just not true,” she says. “There are very high-quality, sustainable homes and I am excited for more people to see them.”

Mentors and contributing specialists to the Youth Sustainability Initiative include Angela King, Hawai‘i County Recycling Specialist; Ming Wai Koha, HPA Energy Lab; Guy Toyama, (NELHA) Natural Energy Laboratory Hawaiian Authority; Andrea Dean and Michael Kramer, Hawai‘i Alliance for Local Economy; Kristine Kubat, Recycle Hawai‘i; and Nancy Redfeather of the Kohala Center.

Get involved, they say. Grow insight as well as organic vegetables.

Teen writer Sky puts it this way: “I think that people want to help and they want to be part of things that are productive. I think just getting the word out there will bring people in. Just letting them know how easy it is and what we’re doing is the biggest way that people can help.”

They challenge us to collaborate with them, to come up with better lifestyle solutions so they don’t have to live with the karma of our and our ancestors’ poor choices. They shouldn’t have to live in fear for the very survival of our planet.

No, that’s not too much to ask.

Who wants to join in this endeavor? The Kellogg Foundation has provided seed money and everyone will want to pitch in to help the Youth Initiative make the connections and learn the skills they need to energize a sustainable new earth. ❖

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The Life OF THE PEOPLE Visitors to Kokolulu are rewarded with a beautiful view and peaceful, quiet environment. A recovering cancer patient relaxes with a book on a sunny day.

– Photos by Anna Pacheco

H

❁Continued on page 44

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e is a professional counselor who has traveled the world giving workshops in stress reduction using techniques such as acupressure and massage. He also spent 20 years studying qigong with a Chinese monk.

She is an oncology nurse and cancer survivor, who also cared for her former husband for 12 years before he succumbed to a rare form of cancer.

Together, they found their purpose—their kuleana—in creating a cancer retreat center on seven beautiful acres in Hawi. Lew Whitney and Karin Cooke believe it is their responsibility to share their knowledge and experience with others, and that’s what they do at Kokolulu.

“We have all these skills. What use is this amassed wisdom if not to be shared? It’s what life is about,” Lew says.

When someone is diagnosed with cancer, his or her life is changed forever. First of all, being in the thick of cancer treatment is like being on a hamster wheel, Karin explains. Your doctor’s office starts making appointments for you. Your family is on your case. And everyone comes out of the woodwork with a cure. The appointments, the treatments, the missed work, the insurance company, the stress—what are your alternatives and how do you sort through that mess? You forget that there are things you can do for yourself.

“We help people navigate the system and know what else is out there,” Karin explains. “You need to take responsibility for your own health. You need to take an active role in your healing. At the retreat we ask, ‘What kind of tools can you use on your cancer journey?’”

Karin, the quieter member of the duo, is a research diva. If she doesn’t know the answer to something, she will find it. She even uses a PowerPoint presentation during the retreat to show actual cancer and immune cells.

Lew answers calls and emails every day from people wanting to know more about the retreat. That call, he says, is akin to someone with a drinking problem asking for help. He knows it takes tremendous courage and tries to be as gentle as possible.

“People come (to Kokolulu) in different shapes and sizes. Some come right after their diagnosis. Some come for help in making a decision. We give people tools and teach skills. There is not a onesize-fits-all,” Lew says. “We don’t talk people into anything. We’re brainstorming for possible outcomes.”

Kokolulu is a joining of their nicknames, Lew Lew and Koko, and it means “calm blood” in Hawaiian. It’s a place away from the doctors, the hospitals, the insurance company and sometimes the family. Lew quotes Einstein, “You can’t heal an issue in the same environment it was created.”

Retreats are usually conducted in groups, a week at a time.

Individual retreats last as long as a month. (“We have a lot to share. A week is just the CliffsNotes,” Lew says) Kokolulu has room for eight guests at any one time. Lew and Karin grow an organic garden, as nutrition is part of the program. With the assistance of local chefs, French-trained Doug Seymour and Chaba’s Thai food, all meals are taken at the retreat. Seymour is also a cancer survivor—cancer of the tongue—and is now a chef without taste buds. His sense of smell, however, is incredible, Karin says.

Lew and Karin originally envisioned Kokolulu as an after-care retreat. As it turns out, however, 90 percent of the people that come here are in the full throes of cancer treatment.

The temple at Kokolulu provides a peaceful place for meditation, relaxation, and other activities such as yoga.

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❁Continued from page 43

Along with taking responsibility for their health, people need to believe in the decisions they make about their treatment. One of the tools Karin and Lew teach is guided imagery. If you decide to have chemotherapy, be 100 percent behind that decision. Watch that chemo being pumped into you with love and healing.

“The mind is so powerful,” Karin explains. “When you are sitting there getting an infusion (chemotherapy) you can make that experience transformative if you can guide those chemicals with your mind to go into your body for the highest good.”

On an island where natural beauty surrounds us, Kokolulu is one of those places where you can set aside your daily demands, sit on the large, shady lanai, look out to the ocean and, in the company of sympathetic friends, let the tears flow and the laughter erupt. As Karin explains, cancer survivors share an experience complete with its own language.

“People who have been thrown into cancer sit in the dark night of the soul. What is this all for? What is my purpose now?” Karin says, speaking first-hand. “You’re never the same person. It changes you forever. You’re different, and people treat you differently. You have new wisdom. You don’t go through this without a reason.”

Karin married her high school sweetheart, David Cooke, and they had two daughters before he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and given three to four months to live. Karin was his caregiver and primary support person for 12 years, until the cancer eventually took his life.

When Karin met Lew a year later, she was a very serious person. “Make no appointments, have no disappointments” was her motto.

“My goal was to learn how to laugh again,” she says.

Lew was exactly the right person.

“I was ‘called’ to meet her. I really, really believe that,” says Lew, who showed up on their first date with a trunk full of various bottles of blowing bubbles.

After a few years together, however, Karin found out she herself had cervical cancer. For six years her doctor had been giving her false reports on her pap smears, which had all been irregular. Though angry, she avoided litigation, seeing what it had done to a friend who went the lawsuit route and died from the stress.

But there were no cancer retreats at that time. So Karin booked herself an isolated cabin on the Columbia River Gorge and created her own cancer retreat.

“I screamed, I cried, and by the time I left I was grounded,” she said.

Karin’s decision was to have a complete hysterectomy She has now been cancer-free for 12 years.

“After the cancer goes into remission, every little thing that goes wrong in your body freaks you out. There is always the question, ‘is it really gone?” she says.

Karin points out that healing does not mean curing. And while the word is forbidden in conventional medical jargon, she considers herself “cured.”

“Attitude. The recipe for surviving a cancer diagnosis is attitude, believing in some kind of higher power, setting outrageous goals and achieving them,” Karin says. “Something to strive for that keeps you going. What is it that survivors have in common?

Everyone has faith in something—that core drive that exists and says, ‘I’m not going to quit.’”

Francine and Laurie, 9/11 First Responders

And there is anger at so many politics in the way of providing healing and treatment. But at Kokolulu, far away from the big city, Francine and Laurie were able to cry and scream and tell their stories.

Meet Franya, Mother of Three

Franya Berkman came to Kokolulu the first week in January 2012 from Portland, Oregon. Franya is married and has three children under the age of six. She has been diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer. Before she came to Kokolulu, Franya described herself as “heavy, fearful, anxious, wiped out, carrying toxic energy.” Two weeks later, Franya left the Big Island feeling “balanced, light, optimistic, in touch with Source, calm.”

Lew explained that Franya’s comments are typical of cancer guests who have been coming to Kokolulu over the last seven years. When she came, Franya was physically withdrawn, confused and feeling overwhelmed.

“I wish you could have seen Franya’s face when she arrived at Kokolulu and then the difference on the last day here. It was like night and day,” Lew said. “She was so full of life.”

A Place to Chill

Kokolulu operates as a 501c3 non-profit organization. Karin and Lew have not taken a penny for the seven years they have been in operation. No one on the island is turned away and, although there is a deposit, 95 percent of those who come to the retreat do not pay anything.

“This is a place to chill and tell your story,” Karin said. “We offer education, but the bottom line is this is a retreat and there is plenty of time here to do that.” ❖

Contact Lew and Karin at 808.889.9893 or kokolulu.org.

Contact writer Cynthia Sweeney at sweeneywrites@yahoo.com.

Karin Cooke, RN, hooks Franya Berkman to a biofeedback machine, part of the many different holistic treatments practiced at Kokolulu.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 45

September 11, 2001. More than 500 New York police officers, fire fighters—“9/11 First Responders”—lost their lives that day along with 3,000 other victims who were in the World Trade Centers when disaster hit. We remember the photos of the streets, buildings, sidewalks and people covered in ash and debris. For the next year, thousands of 9/11 First Responders sifted through that debris, looking for traces that could link to anyone lost in the tragedy, so families could put closure on the loss of their loved ones. During that time, 9/11 First Responders were exposed to immeasurable toxins. As of November 2006, according to The Village Voice newspaper, 75 percent of these 9/11 First Responders have experienced serious illnesses— many have cancer.

Francine and Laurie are detectives with the New York Police Dept. (NYPD) and are 9/11 First Responders. These are tough women who do not hesitate to put a gun in a perpetrator’s face.

They were diagnosed with cancer. They contacted Kokolulu in the spring of 2011 and attended one of Kokolulu’s week-long group cancer retreats along with other Big Island residents.

“Their stories (of 9/11) were amazing and disturbing. They were breathing toxic dust for weeks and weeks,” Karin says.

Founders Karin Cooke, RN, and Lew Whitney run Kokolulu Farm and Cancer Retreat, a non-profit organization that provides a retreat and holistic care for those affected by cancer.

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❁Continued on page 48

Peter Charlot portrays Professor Jaggar for visitors to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, describing him as “a prime example of that dying breed, the Victorian scientist/ adventurer.”

–Photo by Alan McNarie

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 47

he gray-haired figure stands on the side of a green mound next to the empty Volcano house in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

“I’m Professor Jaggar,” he tells the group of visitors, “and we’re here to save people’s lives.”

Professor Jaggar is actually Volcano playwright and actor Peter Charlot, who comes to the park once a month, dons a period suit and tweed cap, and transforms into the founder of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO): Victorian-era geologist Thomas A. Jaggar. The green mound covers the Whitney Vault, which sheltered the Observatory’s first seismometer from the rumble of wagons and carriages. Charlot, in persona, with the help of Elizabeth Maydwell, (played by Sandra MacLees), Jaggar’s assistant and future wife, leads visitors on a tour of the vault in a “living history” reenactment. The visitors themselves become actors in the improvisational play, pretending they’ve just arrived at Volcano House after journeying by boat, train and carriage in April of 1912. The performance is sponsored by the Kīlauea Drama and Entertainment Network (KDEN) with the help of various grants; KDEN just secured funding to ensure that Professor Jaggar will continue to appear throughout 2012, which marks the 100th anniversary of the observatory’s founding.

Charlot studied the scientist’s life and writings intensively to generate the portrait which is far from the usual dry image of a scientist. A tough, wiry man with bushy eyebrows and a balding pate, he impressed visitors with what Charlot dryly calls his “sartorial sophistication”—period photos show him wrestling heavy equipment on a lava flow while wearing a dress shirt, neck tie and beret. HVO’s founder was also a gifted amateur actor and magician: as a college thespian, he once appeared on stage with Sarah Bernhardt, the diva of her age, and, Charlot notes, “He was well known for pulling eggs out of children’s ears.” Jaggar was a (very bad) poet, a Red Sox fan, a Bull Moose Party supporter and a prolific inventor, creating an amphibious vehicle that became the prototype for the World War I DUCKW. Even as something of a lady’s man, he was, above all, a prime example of that dying breed, the Victorian scientist/adventurer.

“He was very much the assertive, highly intellectual, perhaps slightly nasty character combined with this very human theater player,” Charlot says.

The story of Jaggar and Hawaiian Volcano Observatory really starts on another island, Martinique, in the Caribbean. Jaggar, then a 31-year-old Harvard geology instructor, and four other scientists disembarked at a wilderness of loose stones and charred pink plaster that, only a few days before, had been the island’s capitol, Sainte-Pierre. A volcano named Mt. Pelée had sent a pyroclastic flow—a red-hot cloud of ash, steam and gas—roaring through the city, cooking to death all but three of its 38,000 inhabitants. Jaggar/Charlot recalls to his audience that he was surprised to see smoke still rising from the city, and was told, “It’s not the burning of buildings; it’s the burning of bodies.”

“When I realized that I’d been spending my time enjoying the camaraderie of the journalists and scientists aboard ship, and not thinking about where I was going….when I realized that I was seeing the fires of burning bodies, I was deeply embarrassed,” he tells the visitors. “That moment became a cathartic transformation. My entire career changed, because I found out that I’d been spending my time teaching rich, young Harvard men about rocks, but I found that saving lives was my vocation.”

Demonstrating a replica of an earthquake detector, or seismometer—the most advanced of its day—“Professor Jaggar” tells visitors, “The needle doesn’t go back and forth over the drum.

The drum goes back and forth under the needle.”

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❁Continued from page 47

It would be ten years, however, before that transformation was complete. In the interim, Jaggar became Chair of Geology at MIT, even though he was often gone on expeditions to volcanoes in Europe, Alaska, Japan and the Caribbean. In Italy, he became friends with a former electrical engineer and inventor named Frank Alvord Perret, who’d applied his electrical expertise to create instruments for monitoring Vesuvius. In Japan, he met another kindred soul, Professor Omori Fusakichi of Imperial University, who’d founded the first extensive earthquake detection network and invented the most advanced earthquake detector, or seismometer, of the day. Perret had strung specially designed microphones around Vesuvius to listen for the vibrations of lava traveling toward the surface. But Omori had found a way to make those vibrations visible, even when they were too tiny to be felt by human senses.

Sitting in the Whitney Vault, along with many instruments left there since Jaggar’s day, is a reproduction of one of Omori’s seismometers. Two 250-pound cylindrical weights hang suspended by piano wire from massive iron posts that are anchored, through a cement pedestal, to the bedrock below.

Projecting from each cylinder is a long, triangular arm with a phonograph-like needle that barely touches a role of smoked paper on a slowly rotating drum.

Charlot’s Jaggar tells visitors, “There are three things I want you to remember. First, vote for Teddy Roosevelt.” (In 1912, Roosevelt, dissatisfied with the presidential performance of his protégé, Howard Taft, formed his own “Bull Moose Party” for another run on the White House. He didn’t succeed, but split the vote enough to allow Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win.) Second, “The Boston Red Sox are going to win this year.” And third, “The needle doesn’t go back and forth over the drum. The drum goes back and forth under the needle.” When an earthquake happens, the inertia of the hanging cylinders holds the needle still, but the moving drum, also anchored to the bedrock, vibrates with the earth, tracing a jagged line in the carbon atop the paper. The instrument is so sensitive that a child jumping up and down next to it can make the needle dance—or rather, the earth dance under the needle.

In 1909, on his way to Japan, Jaggar stopped off in Hawai‘i and saw the seething lava lake that then filled Halema‘uma‘u, the “house of everlasting fire.” Here was the ideal volcano to study, he thought: comparatively safe, almost continuously active, fairly accessible, and in an American territory. A firm believer in Manifest Destiny, Jaggar had little sympathy for those who

His social life was also improving, thanks to Ms. Maydwell. The California widow and the volcanologist had lively differences on a wide range of topics, from spirituality to native Hawaiian rights to women’s suffrage, topics which Charlot and MacLees have great fun with in the vault performance. She quickly proved to be as tough and adventurous as he was, and, Dvorak noted, as capable of reading a seismometer.

“They’re a perfect couple. She loves the volcano, and there are lots of pictures of them climbing and hiking together on the volcano,” Charlot says. They married in 1917, and she moved into the house Jaggar had built on the edge of the caldera (it’s since fallen in), which they shared with a monkey named Wally, after Wallace Simpson, the American divorcee for whom Britain’s King Edward VIII gave up his throne. The Jaggars also bought land in Kona, where he became active in the local community theater.

Charlot’s path first became entwined with Jaggar’s 25 years ago, when Volcano Art Center commissioned him to do a play about Jaggar entitled “The Vision of a Scientific Missionary,” to commemorate the observatory’s 75th anniversary.

The real Thomas A. Jaggar, founder of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, geologist, inventor and adventurer. His use of instruments to predict volcanoes’ eruptions became recognized world-wide. In 1933, after his seismometers detected an earthquake in Japan, he made the first accurate prediction of a tsunami. –Photo courtesy of US Geological Survey, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

In many ways, Charlot is as much an antithesis of Jaggar as Maydwell was. Low-key and easy-going, he takes the opposite view from the scientist on many political issues—he’s a longtime supporter of Hawaiian sovereignty, for instance. The son of famed artist Jean Charlot, he moved with his family from Mexico to Honolulu when he was two years old and spent his childhood learning to “jump through the hoops” to be accepted as local. He made a name for himself as a writer of Hawaiian historical dramas on such themes as Queen Ka‘ahumanu and the Battle of Kuamo‘o, but as the sovereignty movement gained momentum, he found it more and more difficult for a haole, even a haole with his credentials, to be accepted as a playwright on Hawaiian themes.

“With a show like this, I’m staying under the radar,” he says. “I’m doing rather controversial work, talking about Lorrin Thurston and Manifest Destiny—the patronizing feelings that people had toward the Hawaiians.” Despite his differences with the flamboyant scientist, Charlot can also admire Jaggar’s vision.

“In Jaggar’s mind, the earth was a living organism,” he says. “It was alive, and it behaved in such a manner as we behaved.” ❖ Contact writer Alan D. McNarie at amcnarie@yahoo.com.

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sought to restore the Hawaiian kingdom. In Honolulu, he spoke to the Chamber of Commerce about the possibility of a geophysical observatory at Kīlauea, finding an instant and enduring ally in Lorrin Thurston, one of the chief conspirators in the 1893 overthrow.

Thurston owned the railroad that ran halfway to Kīlauea’s Summit and a majority share in the Volcano House Hotel.

Back in Boston, it took Jaggar a year to convince university officials and the Whitney Foundation to invest in his Kīlauea dream.

The pregnancy of his wife, Helen, would keep him stateside another year. It wasn’t until January of 1912 that Jaggar finally reached Kīlauea. Perret, who had arrived the year before with the Thurston family, had installed three special high-temperature thermometers funded by Whitney money; he’d burnt up two of them before successfully taking the temperature of lava for the first time. With the help of territorial convict labor, Jaggar dug out the Whitney Vault and installed his Omori-designed, German-built seismometers.

But as important as his equipment, Jaggar/Charlot recounts in the vault, was the idea of “the first scientific laboratory on earth that is designed for the saving of human life.” Jaggar knew that volcanological expeditions, in the past, had only been dispatched after an eruption was underway. But if he was going to prevent another Sainte-Pierre, he had to know what happened before an eruption—and then establish other watch posts to look for those warning signs at other volcanoes.

“I want observatories around the world…just like this one, that communicate with each other via telegraphy,” Charlot says, channeling Jaggar. The real Jaggar, before his death in 1956, would establish such observatories at Mt. Lassen in the Cascades and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, in addition to Hawai’i.

“He wasn’t the first-class mind of an Isaac Newton, though he had a first-class idea in the global system of monitoring the earth,” believes Charlot.

That brilliant scientific dream nearly came undone, thanks to human foibles. When Helen came out to join her husband, she apparently discovered that he’d been having an affair. The Jaggars’ marriage had never been an easy alliance, anyway. Helen, the daughter of a banker with connections in Boston’s high society, would have been the ideal mate for a rising college professor.

Jaggar, unfortunately, wasn’t an ideal college professor. Charlot compares him to Indiana Jones.

“He did not like colleges. He did not like academia,” says Charlot.

“He had a lifelong antipathy for it.”

Nor, probably, was Helen cut out for life on the edge of a volcano, affair or not. She got a divorce—almost unheard of in her circle in those days—and went back to Boston, where her tale met sympathetic ears. Scientific historian John Dvorak, who served as one of Charlot’s mentors for the show, wrote in an article in Physics Today that three years after arriving at Kīlauea, “Jaggar was notified that “MIT would soon disassociate itself entirely from the project, in part due to rumors of Jaggar’s ‘domestic infelicities and allied troubles.’” But Thurston and his Honolulu friends came to the observatory’s financial rescue, and it eventually gained the sponsorship of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Meanwhile, Jaggar’s ideas were bearing fruit. Dvorak notes that in 1914, after Jaggar’s seismometers detected a swarm of tiny earthquakes on Mauna Loa, he predicted an eruption—and it happened. His use of tiltmeters to record the inflation of a volcano’s crust as its magma chamber filled became recognized worldwide as a valid tool for anticipating eruptions. In 1933, after his seismometers detected an earthquake in Japan, he made the first accurate prediction of a tsunami.

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Patricia Jennings at home with her book, “Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawai‘i” –Photo by Catherine Tarleton

OF THE PEOPLE

“I

❁Continued on page 51

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know you paint flowers and skulls in the desert,” said Patricia Jennings, 12, to her family’s famous dinner guest, “and that you have a wonderful brush technique,” she added, recalling an article she’d read in Time magazine. Artist Georgia O’Keeffe laughed out loud. It was 1939 and the Jennings’ guest cottage in Hāna, Maui, was home to O’Keeffe for ten days of painting and tromping across the Maui hills, forests and coastlands, with Patricia as her guide.

Seventy-three years later, Patricia Jennings Morriss Caldwell, mother of five children, nine grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren, sits in her cozy Waimea home, surrounded by beautiful works of art: a painting by Robert Eskridge, a gallery of Kathy Long miniatures of the children, her own vibrant needlepoint cushions on the antique settee by the wood stove. It’s hard to imagine her as a nervous girl, hostessing a celebrity in Mother’s absence.

Born and raised in Kukuihaele on the Big Island, Patricia is the daughter of Marie and Willis Jennings. Jennings ran the Hāmākua Sugar Plantation, before moving the family in 1936 to Hāna, Maui, to manage Ka‘elekū Sugar Plantation, owned by C. Brewer & Co. “The road to Hāna was there, but not paved all the way,” said Patricia. “We always took a picnic lunch because you never knew how long it would take.” There in the remote and time-untouched village by the bay, the Jennings family moved into the plantation manager’s house, above what is now the Travaasa Hāna hotel, and lived there for six years.

Meanwhile, Georgia O’Keeffe, the famous 20th century painter known for her sensual renderings of flowers, skulls and desert scenes, was commissioned by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later Dole) to create two paintings for an advertising campaign.

She visited O‘ahu, the Big Island, Kaua‘i and Maui, and produced 20

paintings. (Not one included a pineapple, although she later painted a budding pineapple plant that the company shipped to her New York studio.) Her Maui visit was arranged by a mutual artist-friend, who had also stayed and painted at the cottage.

“Bob Eskridge was a very close friend of the family,” said Patricia.

“Lady Nancy Astor was his first cousin, I think,” said Patricia. “He used to go to England and stay, and come back with wonderful stories about having dinner with Winston Churchill… He must’ve met Georgia in New York. He told her she must go to Hāna.”

“Mother told everybody at every occasion,” said Patricia, “and she always added ‘of course she has the reputation for being difficult.’”

When Mother’s mother became ill and she went to the mainland for several months, taking care of O’Keeffe became Patricia’s responsibility. “I was terrified,” she said.

O’Keeffe would drive the family car to favorite island sites with Patricia as her companion and guide—then send the girl off to amuse herself while she painted. The one exception was when a sudden ‘Īao Valley shower made them retreat to the car. Patricia watched, without speaking, enthralled by the brush in her hand, the effortless glide of oil paints onto canvas.

“It was a very happy

❁Continued from page 52

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relationship as it turned out,” said Patricia.

After Hāna, O’Keeffe visited the Big Island and stayed at Volcano House, briefly. “I didn’t care for that place,” she wrote to her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. “I don’t like steam coming out of the earth and holes in the road where Georgia O’Keeffe the earth has opened –Photo courtesy of Koa Books up and not closed properly.” She also stayed at the Kona Inn, but unfortunately for us, did not paint.

Patricia’s memories of her time with the celebrated artist have been captured in a book, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawai‘i (Koa Books) by Patricia with Maria Ausherman. Included with Patricia’s story are all 20 paintings, a detailed, scholarly introduction by Jennifer Saville, and a collection of letters from O’Keeffe to Stieglitz, sent from Hawai‘i.

“I think I got three or four letters, only one of which survived, and that was miraculous,” said Patricia. “It had been in my desk at Punahou School on December 7, 1941.” According to Patricia, when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, the Army Engineers took over the campus and evacuated students in the middle of the night.

“All of our things were bundled into sheets and thrown into the basement,” said Patricia. “I didn’t get them back for six months.”

Her parents happened to be in Honolulu at that time for the Sugar Planters Annual Meeting, so Patricia was able to join them at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. “I don’t think we believed how bad it was. It wasn’t till the next day, when we went out to Aiea. I remember standing looking down at Pearl Harbor, still smoking—the capsized Oklahoma, where they were drilling a hole in Photo of young Patricia and her dog, Lucky the bottom to get –Courtesy of Patricia Jennings survivors out.”

“We cried,” she said.

After one semester on Maui, Patricia returned to and graduated from Punahou. She went off to college in Massachusetts, married W. A. Morriss, and moved to St. Louis where they lived 17 years and raised their family. They returned to Hawai‘i in the 1960s, when Patricia’s husband and father started a macadamia nut project in South Kona: the Honomalino Agricultural Company.

“Waimea was much, much greener than it is now,” said Patricia.

“And it was much colder, definitely.” The family home is over 100 years old, and the wing where Patricia resides was added in 1947.

Her living room window overlooks new subdivisions where horses used to graze. Patricia remembers getting a call once, from one of Waimea’s most famous horsewomen, “Auntie Anna.”

“When we first moved here in 1967, she was doing ‘Old Hawai‘i on Horseback,’ and we had horses,” said Patricia. “The phone rang – ‘This is Anna Perry-Fiske’ she said. ‘I need a skinny haole who can stay on a horse.’ My husband played Charles Reed Bishop after that.”

For some time, Patricia ran a knitting shop at one end of the old Waimea General Store, which is now Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy’s lower campus. Widowed for 11 years, she remarried and lived in Australia for 17 years, which is where the book project began.

“Some time in the early ‘90s, Jennifer Saville at Honolulu Academy of Arts called me in Australia. They were having a special exhibit of the 20 Georgia O’Keeffe paintings and she couldn’t find the photo of Georgia when she was here in 1939,” said Patricia. “I was happy to lend it.”

Teacher and author Maria Ausherman, mother of two teenage daughters, read the Exhibit Catalogue and was inspired. “She had wanted to write a book, with the idea of giving to adolescent girls the concept of what an artist could mean in their lives,” said Patricia.

Ausherman contacted Saville, who connected her with Patricia, and

eventually produced a manuscript for Arnie Kotler of Koa Books. The book was a labor of love for everyone involved for over four years—from writing and funding to tracking down the paintings, discovering and transcribing the letters from O’Keeffe’s unusual cursive.

“It never would have happened if Maria hadn’t got me thinking about it and writing things down,” said Patricia. “Papaya Tree, ‘Iao Valley, Maui” by Georgia As to what the O’Keeffe –Photo courtesy of Koa Books artist meant in her life, Patricia writes, “… the deepest gift she offered me was the experience, in some way for the first time in my life, of really being listened to and appreciated for who I was.”

Of her, O’Keeffe has written, “The child is too lovely—a flower in full bloom with the sun on it.” ❖ Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawai‘i is available at local booksellers, www.KoaBooks.com and Amazon.com Contact writer Catherine Tarleton at catherinetarleton@gmail.com

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 53

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OF THE LAND

The Life

Mark Hanson, “Sandalwood Man”

he smelled the sweet aroma of Hawaiian sandalwood, and the captain’s discovery put Hawai‘i on the map as an important trading country. There was enormous demand for sandalwood in China, where the fragrant wood was used in the manufacture of incense and fine pieces of furniture. The traders received good prices for the sandalwood by trading it for silks and porcelain, which they sold in the U.S. for huge profit.

Most of the sandalwood sold in China was white and was imported from India and the East Indies. At the end of the 18th century, the supply of this wood was insufficient to feed China’s demands. As the value of sandalwood increased, the Hawaiian islands emerged as a major source of heartwood sandalwood. Hawai‘i soon became known as “Tahn Heung Sahn,” the sandalwood mountains. A traditional Asian unit of weight, a picul—defined as a shoulder-load, or the amount that a man can carry—was 133-1/2 pounds. One picul sold for $8. In the early years, American entrepreneurs dealt with the King and chiefs, and King Kamehameha eventually had an exclusive monopoly over the sandalwood trade.

He accumulated large amounts of luxury goods, often paying inflated prices. With promises of sandalwood payments, he purchased many ships. He even bought his own brig, which he named Ka‘ahumanu, and tried to enter the sandalwood trade himself. In 1817, he set sail with Captain Alexander Adams. His

Photos by Tim Hall

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venture failed to make a profit (a result of brokerage fees and port hen the first humans stepped from their sailing charges at the Chinese port). He came to recognize the value of canoes onto the shores of Hawai‘i, the islands were covered with charging pilot and port fees, and the King quickly applied this (‘iliahi)—sandalwood. They brought with them a number of practice at Honolulu Harbor. Every ship was now required to pay alien species; almost all were brought on purpose. Others were 80 Spanish dollars for anchorage at the inner harbor. hitchhiking, hiding in the time capsule in which they traveled The common people were ordered by the King to go up the such a far distance. Pigs, dogs and chickens were introduced mountain to cut sandalwood and carry the ‘iliahi harvest to the intentionally, whereas other animals, such as rats, geckos, skinks harbor. After the bark and sapwood had been adzed off, the men and many other species were stowaways. would tie the heavy wood bundles on their backs and carry it These first Hawaiians also brought their traditional ways of down trails to areas that were dug to the same dimensions as life and resource management. clearing the lower forest land the hulls of the cargo ships that transported the sandalwood to for agriculture and diverting streams to artificially irrigate China. The carrying of this oil-rich wood constructed pond fields (lo‘i), where created calluses on the shoulders they cultivated the staple of their diet, of the men. taro. They also constructed rock walls Hawaiians had a name for them, in shallow reef areas and created fish Kua-leho, or callous back. ponds. This was part of their concept of Much of this sandalwood was stained stewardship for the land - the ‘āina. with blood, and many Hawaiians Hawaiians used sandalwood mainly died from the corroding effects of for minor medicinal treatments and exhaustion, disease, malnutrition, and to scent kapa, the bark cloth used for exposure to chilly, wet mountain winds clothing and bedding. They couldn’t without adequate clothing. They would comprehend foreigners’ singular cut sandalwood by day and, with the obsession with the tree, a revered aid of sandalwood torches, at night. and precious treasure in Asia. In All the people—chiefs and 1790 Captain John Kendrick made a commoners—worked at cutting stop at Kaua’i to replenish the ship’s Native Sandalwood wood supply. On his sail from Kaua’i Continued on page 56

Sandalwood Flowering

❁Continued from page 55

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       

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and carrying sandalwood. Consequently, the crops were neglected and famine fell like a dark cloud over the sandalwood mountains.

When Kamehameha realized that his kingdom was in the grip of famine, he ordered the chiefs and commoners to not devote all of their time to cutting sandalwood. He allowed them to return to their villages and placed a kapu (ban) on the cutting of small sandalwoods in an effort to conserve this resource.

In 1819, King Kamehameha died, passing the throne to his son Liholiho. The old kapu system was abolished, and he was persuaded to give the chiefs a greater share in the sandalwood trade. The 1820s were an era of active sandalwood trade.

American ships were selling 1,400 tons of the wood per year to China. The King and chiefs bought ships and many expensive items on credit from the American merchants, with no regard for how much debt they owed.

By 1821, the native debt had risen to $300,000. The King and chiefs could purchase items by merely signing promissory notes. This was disastrous to the welfare of the maka’āinana and the sandalwood. Soon the easily accessible stands of sandalwood had been harvested and they had to go farther up the mountain. The new king had a short life. He died in 1824 of a contagious disease he contracted on a royal visit to London.

The kingdom was passed on to Kamehameha III along with a huge debt of $500,000 owed to the American traders.

The pressure on the King was great. In December, 1826, the kingdom’s first written law, a sandalwood tax, stated that every man was required to deliver one-half picul of sandalwood to the governor of the district to which he belonged, or to pay, in lieu thereof, four Spanish dollars, on or before September 1, 1827. Every woman 13 years and older was required to weave a 12-foot by 6-foot mat, or a quantity of tapa—or kapa—cloth of equal value. Again, commoners were forced to abandon their crops, and food shortages plagued the islands. The accessible sandalwood was all gone, making it more difficult to locate trees with adequate heartwood to meet the new tax requirements.

Unjust demands caused so much hardship for the commoners that they pulled up the young sandalwood trees so that their children would not be forced to live the same life.

By 1840, the Hawaiian sandalwood trade had come to a halt because of the low quality of the remaining heartwood in the islands. The Americans introduced cattle, goats and grasses into the native forest. This did not provide the ecological conditions conducive to regenerating native vegetation. For many years

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the trade fell dormant, and destruction of the sandalwood was widely native forest, all seeds assumed to be extinct. of endangered or The earliest recorded attempt rare plants would to re-grow native sandalwood be collected from was between 1851 and 1871 by the forest. Nurseries Dr. William Hillebrand, an avid would be created botanist and horticulturist, on to grow these rare his Honolulu homestead. His plants, and the state efforts to grow the tree were a nurseries would be total failure, and he attributed used for propagating the problem to the parasitic native plants only, nature of the species, indicating until the forest is no “all attempts to propagate longer threatened. them” in his garden failed.

When native plants The Territorial Division are deemed ready for of Forestry was formed in planting, the youth 1903, and the first modern of Hawai‘i’s schools “Mother Sandalwood Tree” at Mauna Kea State Park forest reserve system was will take care of established in the islands. the planting. The The major objective was to improve watershed conditions by purpose and objective of this act was to create and maintain a removing alien cattle and replanting large areas of uplands that balanced environment and preserve the natural wealth had been cut, burned and overgrazed. The division also began of our ‘āina. the development of commercial forestry with some native plant The reforestation program rolled along, planting thousands of propagation and protection. As a result, some populations of trees at schools, parks and forest reserves. Hanson started a freenative sandalwoods made a comeback in the first three decades. tree giveaway on Earth Day in April, 1994, and gave away more In 1930, Indian sandalwood was selling for $500 a ton in than 5,000 sandalwood trees per year. In 1996, he grew a native New York. Pound for pound, this wood forest in an area in west Maui, put up new was the most valuable in the world. The fences, and moved the cattle off the land. forest service had begun importation of Within three months, everyone saw dramatic seeds from India in 1930 and started an changes on the land. Today more than 400 experimental grove in Hawai’i of more than trees survive, along with a few sandalwoods 1,500 plants. This was finally a success; and koa trees in protected areas. they paid attention to sandalwood’s In 1998, he moved the program to Hawai‘i need for a host plant, without which the Island and obtained permission to plant seedling perished before reaching a year native trees at Mauna Kea State Park, where old. The host plant used was Acacia Koa, there are now sandalwood trees over a very fast-growing Hawaiian hardwood. six feet tall.

Headlines in the Honolulu Star Bulletin A year ago, Mark went to Washington read “Sandalwood, Once the Gold Mine D. C., and gave Congress and lawmakers of Hawai‘i, is Coming Back.” They also Young Sandalwood with Koa Leaves over 5,000 native trees from the area to raise tried a few native Freycinetianum awareness about global climate change. You sandalwoods, but they never can meet Mark on Sundays at Maku‘u market in Puna. ❖ germinated. Most all the trees died, and one that survived Contact writer Tim Hall at timhall@om1111.com attained a trunk diameter of less than six inches after a quartercentury. The interest in growing sandalwood by the forest Email Mark Hanson: 1Sandalwoodman@gmail.com service faded fast.

In 1992, a man named Mark Hanson had a dream in which the REFERENCES island of Kaho’olawe was crying out to him. She told him to go Daehler, R.E.,1989, TAHN HEONG SAHN to the mountain, pick the native seeds, grow the trees,and plant Gast, R.H.,1976, Contentious Consul them with the youth of today for their tomorrow. He hiked the Hillabrand, W.F., 1965, Flora of the Hawaiian Islands mountain and gathered many native seeds from sandalwood and Hirano, R.T.,1997, Propagation of Santalum any other native species he could find. In March of the next year, Judd, C.A.,1926, The Natural Resources of the Hawaiian Forest the first sandalwood sprouted in his nursery.

Regions and their Conservation Two years later, 41 sandalwoods and 30 other native trees were Judd, C.A.,1933, The Parasitic Habit of the Sandalwood Tree planted on one acre of Kaonoulu ranch land. That same year, a Kepler, A.K.,1983, Hawaiian Heritage Plants. youth group concerned with native environment, planted 50 Kirch, P.V.,1992, Transported Landscapes sandalwoods and 25 mamane trees in the Kula Forest Reserve. At Kotzeboe, O.,1830, New Voyage Round The World this time, they nicknamed Mark “The Sandalwood Man,” Kuykendall, R.S.,1938, Hawaiian Kingdom a modern-day Johnny Appleseed.

Lydgate, J.M.,1916, Sandalwood Days In 1994, Hanson started the “Hawaiian Reforestation Program” Tan, P.,1951, A Historical Survey of Sino-Hawaiian Trade and drafted the first “Forest Recovery Act Bill.” To stop the Daws, G.,1968, The Shoal of Time

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Keauhou Shopping Center

Everyone gets their reading material at Kona Stories!

Huge selection of Hawaiiana.

MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 59

New & used books, toys, cards, gifts, events, bookclubs & fun!

North

Saturday & Tuesday: Hawi Farmers Market, North Kohala, across from Post Office and Nakahara Store, under the banyans (Saturdays 8 a.m.

– whenever everyone goes home; Tuesdays 2 – 6 p.m.)

Saturday: Waimea Town Market at Parker School, 65-1224 Lindsey Rd., Waimea/Kamuela.

8 a.m. – 1 p.m.

60 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

Saturday: Waimea Hawaiian Homestead Farmers Market, 64-759 Kahilu Rd., located at Kuhio Hale Bldg. (off of Mamalahoa Hwy., two miles east of Waimea town). 7 a.m. – noon Saturday: Honoka‘a Farmers Market, Mamane St., Honoka‘a, Honoka‘a Trading Co., Old Botelho Bldg.

7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Tuesday & Friday: Kekela Farms Organic Farmers Market, 64-604 Mana Rd., Waimea. 100% organic.

2 – 5 p.m.

Wednesday: Midweek Farmer’s Market, Anna Ranch, 65-1480 Kawaihae Rd., (nestled beneath Hoku‘ula, aka Buster Brown), Kamuela.

12:30 – 5:30 p.m.

East

Sunday: Laupāhoehoe Farmers Market.

Next to the Minit Stop on Hwy. 19. 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Sunday – Monday: Pana‘ewa Hawaiian Home Lands Farmers Market, Puainako and Ohuohu Streets

by Walmart, Hilo.

8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Thursday: Hilo Farmers Market, corner of Mamo and Kamehameha Ave., downtown Hilo. 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Sunday: Akebono Farmers Market.

Luquin’s/Akebono Theater parking lot. 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Sunday: Maku‘u Farmers Market, Kea‘au-Pahoa bypass road. 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Sunday & Thursday: Pepeekeo Farmers Market.

Off Hwy. 19 on Ka‘akepa St. Produce and foods. Sundays dawn to 2 p.m.; Thursdays 2 p.m. – dusk.

Tuesday – Saturday: Kea‘au Village Market, 16-6550 Old Volcano Rd., Kea‘au.

7 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday: Kino‘ole Farmers Market.

Kino‘ole Shopping Plaza, 1990 Kino‘ole St., Hilo, 7 a.m. – noon Saturday: Keaukaha Pana‘ewa Farmers Market. Railroad Avenue, across from Home Depot.

Homegrown produce offered

by Hawaiian Homelands lessees. 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Saturday: SPACE Farmers Market, Seaview Performing Arts Center for Education, 12247 West Pohakupele Loop, Kalapana. 8 a.m. – noon Saturday: Hilo Coffee Mill, 17-995 Volcano Rd., Mountain View (on Hwy. 11 between the 12 and 13-mile markers).

8 a.m.–1 p.m.

Saturday & Wednesday: Hilo Farmers Market, corner of Mamo and Kamehameha Ave., downtown Hilo. 6 a.m. – 4 p.m.

South

Friday: Green Market, Ocean View Community Center, 92-8924 Leilani Circle, Ocean View.

2 – 6 pm.

Sunday: Volcano Farmers Market, Cooper Center, 1000 Wright Rd., Volcano Village. 6 – 9 a.m.

Saturday & Wednesday: Na‘alehu Farmers Market, Ace Hardware lawn.

8 a.m. – noon

West

Saturday: Keauhou Farmers Market, Keauhou Shopping Center, Keauhou. 8 a.m. – noon Saturday: Waikoloa Village Farmers Market, 68-3625 Paniolo Ave., Waikoloa Community Church parking lot across from Waikoloa Elementary School.

7:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Sunday: South Kona Green Market, Captain Cook, Kealakekua Ranch Center (behind ChoiceMart and Ace Hardware). 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Kings’ Shops Farmers Market, Waikoloa Beach Resort, Kohala Coast. 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Ho‘oulu Community Farmers Market, Keauhou Beach Resort/Outrigger.

10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Wednesday-Sunday: Kona Farmers Market, corner of Ali‘i Drive and Hualalai Rd. 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Please send info on new markets or changes to editor@keolamagazine.com.

Spotlight:

Purple Sweet Potato

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By Sonia Martinez

Contact writer Sonia Martinez at cubanwahine@hawaii.rr.com

Purple Sweet Potato, Yacón and Watercress Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette Sweet potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed Yacón, peeled and ‘shaved’ in strips with a veggie peeler Fresh watercress sprigs May be served as is or on a bed of garden greens. Sprinkle with the citrus vinaigrette.

The citrus vinaigrette is very light, slightly sweet; neither the rice wine vinegar nor the mustard are overpowering.

Citrus Vinaigrette

2/3 cup rice wine vinegar 1/2 cup orange juice 1 Tablespoon olive oil 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1 teaspoon honey Fresh ground pepper Whisk all ingredients together and keep refrigerated. May be kept refrigerated for up to a week.

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hen walking around the farmers markets that dot our islands you might notice some strange-looking sweet potatoes or, as they are called in Hawaiian, ‘uala. Some vendors will have a couple of them cut in half so that you can see the color of the flesh. Although the outside of the sweet potato can be light brown or almost white, the inside will be a deep purple! We call these Hawaiian or Okinawan sweet potatoes.

The taste is sweeter than the orange sweet potatoes you might be used to eating. The purple sweet potatoes are free of fat and cholesterol; an excellent source of vitamins A, C, B6, potassium plus iron; loaded with antioxidants and minerals, besides being a good source for carbohydrates and fiber.

According to studies and research done by the College of Agriculture, University of Hawai‘i, the sweet potato is the seventh most important food crop worldwide and, along with taro, was a major staple of the early Hawaiians. Originally there were about 230 varieties of sweet potato cultivated in old Hawai‘i. Of these, 24 were still cultivated in the 1940s, with about six varieties growing today.

Sweet potatoes are very versatile as they can be boiled, roasted, sautéed, fried or baked; dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried; mashed and mixed with coconut cream and ginger and made into a delicious soup, and prepared in many more different ways, from simply mashed, in salads and also as delicious filling for sweet potato pie!

The leaves and tender shoots can also be eaten by throwing them into soups or stews or chopping them into a stir fry.

Sometimes the same vendor selling the purple sweet potatoes will also sell the green shoots.

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OF THE PEOPLE

The Life

I

formed a non-profit theater company to keep the tradition alive.

The result was KDEN, which started with a road production of Man of La Mancha in 2002.

“It was another one of those challenge things,” she recalls.

“You tell me, ‘You can’t do it,’ and I automatically need to try it. I was told I couldn’t take a show on the road and not lose money, so I said, ‘Watch me.’”

In the nearly ten years since then, the company has steadily cranked out quality productions, mainly of classic musicals and operettas: Kiss Me Kate; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Bye Bye Birdie; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and lots and lots of Gilbert and Sullivan, the great Victorian writers of comic operettas.

“Probably my legacy after all of this is said and done, is that I brought Gilbert and Sullivan back to the Big Island. There’d been no G-and-S in 15 years before Pirates of Penzance in 2004,” she muses. Since then, the company has mounted The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore and Patience.

“The plan is to do all of the Gilbert and Sullivans before I die, or until they kill me,” she says. “I love the music, I love their tongue-in-cheek attitude towards society in general, and each show has turned out to be as relevant to today as it was originally.” She notes that Patience, for instance, “is talking about the aesthetic movement of the 1880s and it’s equivalent to the rock stars today. They [the show’s cast] didn’t get it until I told the them, ‘Think of Bunthorn as Justin Bieber.’”

Bond is a walking paradox, a diminutive, sleepy-eyed dynamo who manages to be both low-key and high-energy at the same time. She’s a self-described “massive multi-tasker” who usually has at least a couple of projects going at once. In addition to her KDEN productions, she works on productions for other

❁Continued on page 64

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t’s a rainy November evening in Volcano. A small group of aspiring actors have gathered at the Kilauea Military Camp Theater (KMC) to try out for Kilauea Drama and Entertainment Network’s (KDEN) annual winter musical—this year, it’s “The Fantasticks.” Director Suzi Bond knows most of the people here; they’ve worked with her on other productions. Pedro Ka’awaloa leads the group in a series of warm-up exercises, including musical scales and tongue twisters (“Say ‘rubber baby buggy bumpers’ five times”). Then each would-be performer sings a musical number while Bond watches from the second row of the auditorium; it’s all pretty pro forma, since she already knows what most of them are capable of.

Then a young, local woman takes the stage. She’s a little nervous at first; her body is stiff and her voice is tentative, a little breathy. But she gradually relaxes into the music; her voice gets stronger, her body swings into the rhythm. By the time she finishes, she’s not just singing the song, she’s radiating it.

The other performers break into applause, and Bond joins in.

Over the decades, she’s seen a lot of moments like that, both in adults and kids.

“In the beginning they’re looking at the floor and they can’t look up,” she remarked earlier, at a café in Volcano. “To watch them blossom to the point where at the end of the show they’ve got their faces up and they’re singing into the audience is just magically rewarding.”

Bond has been a driving force behind East Hawai‘i’s community theater scene for just about as long as anybody involved in it can remember. For years, she was performing arts coordinator for Volcano Arts Center, and produced Volcano’s annual summer musicals. When VAC decided to drop the musicals, Bond rounded up a few friends and benefactors and

Suzi Bond works with actor Roch Jones at tryouts for “The Fantasticks.”

– Photos by Alan D. McNarie

❁Continued from page 63

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theater companies and coordinates concerts and events.

“I’ve worked concerts like Heart, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffet, Olomana, Rap, Andy Bumatai, Kalapana…. I’ve done weddings, Suzi encourages Volcano School of Arts funerals; I’ll and Sciences 8th grader Michael Manuel coordinate any event. The only thing I’m not allowed to coordinate is Thanksgiving dinner, and that’s up to my baby sister.”

Every Friday, she drives from her home in Lower Puna up to Volcano to teach theater at the Volcano School of Arts and Sciences. On Wednesdays, she makes the trek up again, to practice with the Volcano Festival Chorus.

She’s a past master of what she says “we used to call Guerilla Theater. This is what we have and this is what we need. How do we create this from this? You learn to be extremely creative with aluminum foil and pie tins and coffee cans…. The building would say that it had a 10-foot ceiling and it really wasn’t, but your sets were, so you’d have to adjust and do things at a slant.”

She did productions in the Aloha Theater in South Kona in the 1970s, before the wiring was fixed, and had to worry about throwing a random switch and having the whole theater go dark. She mounted a production of Peter Pan in the KMC Theater: “The theater has 11-foot ceilings, so you can’t fly anything there, and yet we flew people there for Peter Pan, because we were crazy.”

Bond grew up on O‘ahu, and was exposed to the arts early on. One of her grandmothers, Anna Charlotte Derby, was instrumental in starting the Honolulu Academy of the Arts.

The other, Dora Cooke Derby, was a founder of the Honolulu Symphony and took her to performances. “Grandma Derby” also taught Bond to sew.

“While we were sewing, she’d be playing records and classical music would be on…,” she recalls. “Thank you, Grandma. Sewing has saved my life more than once, financially.”

At 15, she got involved with the Diamond Head Community Theater.

“For the theater’s 90th anniversary, there were a whole lot of pictures,” she recounts. “In one of them, standing on top of a truck of junk that we were tossing from the theater at the time, was a very cute, skinny young girl. I stared at the picture for a long time, and then thought, ‘Oh, my God, it’s me.’ My next thought was, ‘I want that body back.’”

That skinny girl quickly learned that theater was about a lot more than acting, and set about becoming a jack-ofall-theater-trades. She put her sewing skills to work in the costuming department. She built sets and props and learned directing. She mastered the art of lighting.

“The first light board I ever worked, each dimmer was a big handle—36 dimmers on one wall—and you had to work it with two hands and one foot,” she recalls. “I remember doing one light cue where the top of my foot was under one

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 65

dimmer, my knee was under another, I had both hands on dimmers and I was pushing one with the top of my head.

Now you push a button and poof!” But computerized lights, she notes, have their own challenges. “Now with computers, it’s so sophisticated that if something goes wrong, you have to shut down the whole thing. You can’t go back, basically. It only moves forward…. I wanted to have one moment when the lights could fade by pools, and they couldn’t do that for some reason. It had to be programmed a certain way or it just wouldn’t run. It’s one of those cases where computers couldn’t make it better.”

In 1986 she decided to try her luck in Hollywood. She worked on a few movie productions, including Rob Reiner’s “The Big Picture.” Then she got a job at a post-production company and also started “a referral service for people in the production industry.” She got married and had her son Stephen. Then, in 1993, “I came home because I wanted to raise my son in Hawai‘i.”

Tragedy struck the next year, when Stephen’s father died.

Bond got the job at Volcano Art Center so she could support her son and her beloved craft at the same time.

“I’ve liked the Big Island since I was a little girl, and I still like it,” she says. “For me, I’m the perfect-sized fish in my pond. I’m not so big that people are attacking me, but I have enough face recognition that people say, ‘I know you.’ People know me and know my work and respect the quality of my work enough that they come and see a show because my name is on it. I like that. It may sound conceited but I do.”

Among the great rewards of her life has been the many children that she’s introduced to the theater.

“Since I started working at the Volcano Art Center, I’ve probably touched the lives of at least 500 kids. I like it when they come up and hug me at the mall,” she says. She notes that some of her protégés have “gone on to major in music for autistic kids and theater with special needs kids, and that really makes me proud.”

The teaching she does at Volcano School of Arts and Sciences, she says, “is almost as important as the theater is to me. That program culminates in a night of play performances by the kids. But it’s not just about teaching theater, she says. “It’s about giving them the confidence so that when they stand in front of a group, they don’t have to think about the group but they can think about what they’re saying.” ❖

A

Exquisite Pastries, Hawaiian Style

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t e-claire’s bakery, on Waianuenue Ave. in Hilo, you’ll find Hawaiian-style, custom-made cakes, pastries and desserts to impress everyone! The little shop, owned

by Clare and Tom Gehweiler, offers the most exquisite designs for an elegant presentation at your special event. Pastry chef Clare, who was once known as “The Cake Lady” at O’Keefe & Sons Bakery, puts a tropical, Hawaiian spin on each item.

“Our liliko‘i pureé, which we juice ourselves, goes into our liliko‘i cake, liliko‘i cream pie, liliko‘i chiffon pie, liliko‘i tarts and our tropical ‘triple chocolate suicide.’ In fact, we’ll trade pastries for your local liliko‘i,” Clare says.

“We also use mac nuts in all our recipes, because we like to use our local nuts. Baklava is made with mac nuts instead of the traditional walnuts. Mac nuts are in our Hapa-Haole Brownies, and our Choc-Orange-Mac cake and Macnut Cream Cake are encrusted with mac nuts. Also, our most popular cheese Danish is the macnut one, because the customers say it has ‘crunch.’”

Other tropical treats include Coconut Cheese Danish, Piña Colada Cake, Haupia Cake and “purple popular” Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Haupia Topping.

e-claire’s bakery creates exquisite pastries and cakes for every day and special occasions.

“The Hawaiian Sunrise Cake is the most popular of all. It was inspired by the colors of the sunrise and rainbows we see every day in Hawai‘i.”

Add to the list of e-claire’s specialized cakes: Banana Split, Rocky Road, Tres Leches, Mexican Chocolate, Kahlua and Cream and more. Pick some up to tempt everyone’s taste buds.

Clare and Tom moved to the Big Island in 1976 and, in the ‘80s, Clare learned her excellent baking and decorating skills at a little bakery in Waiakea Villas called Kay’s Creations. During the ‘90s, she was pastry chef at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, where she was charged with keeping a 20-foot-long dessert bar filled with delectable treats four times a week, plus every holiday, she says. On Mother’s Day they would sometimes serve more than a thousand guests in one weekend.

As “The Cake Lady” at O’Keefe & Sons, she made all the cakes until the business closed in 2008. That’s when the couple decided to open their own “mom-and-pop” bakery. Stop by and appreciate homemade heaven!

Located mauka of the downtown Hilo Post Office and right before the Library, you’ll find e-claire’s at 268 Waianuenue Ave. Hours are Tues., Thurs. and Fri. 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Wed. and Sat. 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. Call in your order: 808.961.3848.

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 67

he whining sound of that tiny demon, the mosquito, as it zeros in on your tender skin is a nuisance at best. Does it ever seem like they seek you out while they leave others alone? Not only are mosquitoes a pest, they are a health hazard.

A local business, Mostly Magik Solutions, owned by Gaillen T. Wraye, Anita Mitchell and Iolani Deva, has created a liquid you can take orally, and it makes your skin a natural mosquito repellant!

Mosquito Magik is an immune stimulator. About 2 ml is swished in the mouth for about 30 to 40 seconds and absorbed into your blood stream, keyed to skin cells. Mosquito Magik stimulates skin cells to produce vapors with the body’s own compounds, according to Wraye.

“Your immune system creates the mosquito protection.

No smells or toxic chemicals are associated with it. The vapor confuses mosquitoes,” he says. “Some do land on the skin, acting erratic, yet do not bite. It takes about 10 minutes to ‘kick in.’ The first time you take it, it lasts up to four hours. Taken daily, the time frame can extend to 12 hours .”

The product comes in “all natural” or peppermint scented, as well as plain, which is for chemical sensitivities and homeopathic users.

Mosquito Magic was formulated by Wraye, an environmental technician and Quantum Naturopath. He was inspired to create this natural health product following initial research on mosquitoes, which showed how malaria can devastate the health and finances of affected countries. “I felt then, my creative techniques could be useful for creating a mosquito protection formulation. Not only are mosquitoes very annoying, mosquitoes are vector carriers of disease, globally.”

As the product developed, the company coined the mission statement, “Creating Magikal Solutions for Global Challenges.”

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Brittni’s faith is very important to her, and she makes reference to it in some way on all her CDs. She is Jewish by faith, not by race. “I can’t imagine going through this career stuff without my faith supporting me. I think I’ve had a lot of grace in my life. A lot of things having to do with being in the right place at the right time, and lucky breaks that couldn’t just be coincidences, are because of it, I think. I haven’t had any bad experiences with the music industry, which is known for being ruthless. I feel protected. Also, I believe that I am supposed to share what I have been given.”

She married her husband, Brandon, four years ago at age 19. When asked if marriage has affected her choices regarding touring, gigs, etc., she says no, not really. “It was a big adjustment, with more responsibilities—running a household and my music career, too—but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

❁Continued on page 70

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IN MUSIC

The Life Brittni Paiva – Photo by LeAnn Takayama-Paiva

T

he music world keeps opening new doors for Brittni Paiva, the 23-year-old ‘ukulele star from Hilo. She has been making music since the age of four, when she started playing piano. At age 11, her uncle gave her an ‘ukulele and there has been no looking back since! Brittni produced her first three CDs herself—the first at age 15—and has received many awards. She was honored with the prestigious Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for “Most Promising Artist of the Year” in 2005 and the 2007 Hawai‘i Music Awards’ “‘Ukulele Album of the Year” for her third album. Her fourth CD, “The Fire Within,” was co-produced by Charles Brotman, winner of the first Grammy award for Hawaiian music.

Brittni’s first trip to the mainland was at the age of 17, when she performed at the Cerritos ‘Ukulele Festival in Southern California. “It was a huge culture shock,” she says. “I went online to try to see what it would be like, but there was no way to prepare for it!” Now her music is taking her all over the world, and she has exciting recording projects and collaborations on the horizon. She has just released a DVD, “Brittni Paiva; Living Ukulele”, which includes, among other things, a segment on her recent trip to Australia and another on her jazz collaboration with saxophonist Tom Scott.

When you meet a young artist like Brittni Paiva, you can only imagine the tremendous amount of dedication and motivation they must have possessed early in life to enable them to achieve so much so soon. Her family was very supportive of her choice to become a performer at age 13, and Brittni also gives a lot of credit to homeschooling for providing her the freedom to create and ample time to learn her craft from a young age. “I have to laugh when I hear people say that homeschooling is anti-social or lonely,” she says. “For one thing, there are homeschooling organizations that support you when you’re doing it. I played soccer too, where I met a lot of friends. I could interact when I wanted to or get away from the distraction of my peers when I wanted to. It was perfect for me.”

aui t t on M om Sco a-Paiva T h it w ms yam Brittni ja y LeAnn Taka b o t o – Ph

PERFORMANCES

❁Continued from page 69

70 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

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She did have writer’s block for a couple of years at the beginning of her marriage, she says, before she realized she needed a special place in her home for creating music.

“Environment is so important for creativity.” Brittni likes to pamper her husband by cooking his favorite dishes, and says, “I like taking care of people; I try to be a ‘traditional wife’ when I can.”

Brandon introduced Brittni to the fun and excitement of racing cars—customizing them and competing in drag racing. It’s now become her hobby as well as his. She is very enthused about her “new baby” - a 2005 Mazda 3 Hatchback Limited Edition that she acquired in October, 2011. “I really wanted one. They only made 3,500 of them, total,” she tells me, “and this is #400. It’s in great shape and it has a Bose sound system!”

Computers arrived on the scene when Brittni was around nine years old. Since then, she has become very tech-savvy, like most of her generation, and often uses technology in her performances—sometimes to the chagrin of “’ukulele purists”, she says. She has become extremely proficient at the difficult and precise art of “looping”, which sets up background tracks for the artist to play over. “It takes lots of practice,” she says.

“Your timing has to be perfect.”

Though she was raised around Hawaiian music, Brittni generally does not perform it, choosing instead to push against “’ukulele music barriers” by exploring as many different genres as possible with the instrument. “I try to think ‘outside the box’,” she says. On her CDs there are a wide variety of musical treats: her originals, some jazz, some classic rock, some pop. Again taking advantage of available technology, she recorded a long-distance collaboration with Johannes Linstead, a Latin guitarist from Toronto, Canada.

She is currently working on a CD with internationallyknown saxophonist Tom Scott, who has won three Grammy awards for solo albums and appears on many other artists’ recordings, from Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand to Joni Mitchell, the Grateful Dead and George Harrison.

Brittni and Tom met at the first Lana’i Jazz Festival in June of 2011, and hit it off immediately. They recently performed together in “An Evening of Jazz” at the Ritz-Carlton on Maui

and at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on the Kohala Coast. Their CD will feature originals by both, and there’s even one song that they are composing together for it. “There’s a song that I just couldn’t finish. I wrote the first part, but just couldn’t get the second half. I sent it to Tom, and he got really excited about finishing it. We recorded some of the album on Maui and will finish it in his recording studio in L.A.” The CD should be ready for release in the Spring of 2012.

During the week, Brittni gives private lessons through her Brittni Paiva School of Music, which she conducts out of her home in Hilo. She’s working on making Skype lessons available, as well. She is well-versed in music theory, sightreading, and due to the Suzuki method of piano training she had at age four, playing by ear. She studied slack key guitar with Keoki Kahumoku, but she considers the guitar to be a “side instrument” for her. She teaches ‘ukulele lessons at Keoki’s annual Hawaiian Music and Lifestyle Camp each November in Pahala. Her second favorite instrument is drums, and her third is the electric guitar.

As we parted, Brittni told me how thrilled she was to be meeting her guitar idol, Orianthi, at the annual NAMM show (originally the National Association of Music Merchants) the following week in Anaheim, California, where Brittni was to be a featured artist at the L.R. Baggs booth. “I think she’s probably the best young female electric guitarist around today. She’s 24 and was picked by Michael Jackson to be on what would have been his come-back tour.”

“You know,” this young slip of a woman continued, “I was really feeling old the other day when I realized that I’ve been playing music for 20 years!”

Brittni Paiva’s career is accelerating, with no slowing down in sight. ❖ Contact writer Shirley Stoffer at shirley@konaweb.com Brittni Paiva School of Music: info@brittnipaiva.com DVD available at your favorite music supplier or from Brittni’s website: www.brittnipaiva.com

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Brittni a nd her priz ed 20 05 M az 3 H a tc h d a bac k Limited Edition – Photo by Shirley S to f f e r

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 71

To learn more about upcoming projects in your area,

72 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

OF THE PEOPLE

The Life

A

What is magic? Love is magical. Cats and ozone-scented waterfalls have a magic about them, but what is stage magic, really? “Magic is the willing suspension of disbelief,” says Arnie. “I never claim to be magical. I always tell people this is for entertainment.

People will believe what they want to believe.”

People who want to laugh and enjoy the card tricks, coin tosses, scarves, knives and a sorcerer’s enchantment with chairs, tables, ropes and top hats, “will go down the garden path with me,” says Arnie. “It’s psychology and timing, but I do mainly comedy magic. It’s mysterious, but that’s just the vehicle to build tension, and when you get a laugh, it’s funnier. I always try to create a shtick. I involve people and build a dramatic story along the way, having some fun with them.”

Magic isn’t for everyone. He’s been called “the devil” by a woman in a children’s Halloween spook house and once onstage doing his Kellar Knot Trick, when audience volunteers are asked to come and tie the magician up, he’s had grown men try to screw him up completely.

It’s impossible to escape, but Arneleo does, just like the iconic escapologist and stunt performer Harry Houdini, who actually named himself after the more revered French magician Robert Houdin according to Arnie. “Before that, the French government sent the original Houdin to Algeria to subdue the natives. He did a trick similar to the one David Copperfield does on TV: Houdin bit a chicken’s head off, spit it out and picked it up, put it back on the chicken’s head and the chicken walked away. The headman bowed and said, ‘You have superior power.’ And that’s how,” concludes Arnie, “Houdin subdued the entire country of Algeria.”

How did he do that?

“Very well, I’d say,” the maestro teases.

Can you tell us how?

“Can you keep a secret?

Yes! “So can I,” he says, a glint in his eye.

Resisting the temptation to tell how a trick works is a finelyhoned ability for Barry too. He’s more likely to share notes on the delicate art of bonsai gardening, a beloved hobby that enchanted him after moving to the Big Island in 1970. Embracing the hippy lifestyle while farming on a commune in Honaunau, the selfdescribed “poor haole Jewish boy” born and raised in Washington,

❁Continued on page 74

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lthough the element of surprise is the capstone in the magician’s pyramid of tricks, magic is no accident. Just ask two Kona tricksters who found serious commitment in a very funny business.

Is it optical illusion or supernatural sympathy with a universe that follows the magician’s bidding? All will be revealed. So sit back, relax and enjoy the performance. The magic will set you free.

Arneleo the Great, also known as Arnold (“Arnie”) Rabin, received his first magic kit at the age of five and has been continuously perfecting his craft for more than 60 years. After cutting his theatrical teeth with Berkeley’s Moving Company Street Theater in California, he performed with Rapid Transit Street Theater in Chicago, and, by way of the Woodstock Festival in 1969, he arrived in South Kona, along with a cadre of other hippies escaping the dominant paradigm during the ‘70s.

Like many, he found a true love, married, had children, and embarked on his “day job” as owner of A Real Estate Concern in West Hawai‘i. As Principal Broker, he admits with a conspiratorial wink while sitting in his Kainaliu realty office – fingering a deck of cards on his desk --that he sometimes uses magic in closing real estate transactions.

It’s a tricky job, but somebody’s got to do it.

On the other hand, Barusky the Great, also known as Barry Gitelson, was so shy as a child he failed a class once by refusing to stand up and read a report he’d written. Arriving on the Big Island around the same time and era as Arnie, they became friends.

Barry discovered his theatrical calling when Arnie offered an adult education class at Konawaena High School in 1972. “Arnie said, ‘Will you come take my class? It’s free, and if you take it I get paid. I just need 13 people to sign up and I’ll get paid. You don’t even have to come, just sign up.’ So I did,” says Barry.

And abracadabra! Soon after, Arneleo needed a new assistant for his magic puppet show. Barusky was his man. They threw away all previous scripts and performed together impromptu—a captivating team. Eventually, they dropped the puppets too and began dwelling in a world of spontaneity, cultivating their instincts to surprise, astonish and make everyone wonder: what in the white rabbit world is going on? “We wanted to wake people up out of their complacency,” says Arnie of their improv theater days.

The early days of Arneleo and Barusky: “I feel like I’ve got a hole in my head!”

–Photo courtesy of the magicians

The Great Barusky practices magic, both onstage and at home. –Photo by Marya Mann

74 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

❁Continued from page 73

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D. C. discovered the magic of growing plants for food, which grew into an appreciation for bonsai. Hooking up with David Fukumoto of Kurtistown, “one of the true great masters of bonsai,” he eventually became the President of the Big Island Bonsai Association.

Ah, but where did he learn how to swallow a six-foot-long balloon?

“It’s so simple to misdirect somebody,” explains Barry. “One thing they’ll do is they’ll follow the moving object, if you move your hand. Or if you use a person’s name, as soon as you say it, they’re going to look at you. My hands could do anything.”

We are standing on his lanai in Captain Cook, surrounded by the graceful miniature trees he meticulously shapes, when he introduces me to his wife Kris, one of the Great Barusky’s first fans.

Did she ever assist her husband on stage by letting him cut her in half?

“No,” she laughs.

“Of course not,” quips Barry. Without blinking, he says, “That was my sister. Now she’s my half-sister.”

Barely inside the doorway, Barusky has a deck of Bicycle playing cards in his hand. “You’re into neuro-linguistic programming, aren’t you? Come sit here for just a moment.”

He points to the chair in front of a wood table.

Okay.

“A deck of cards. Shuffle to your heart’s content. Now, I may as well tell you. . .Relax. Now, you think you’re shuffling. It’s completely free will, of course. And I am controlling every move you make. Tell me when you’re done.”

Following directions, the shuffle happens.

“Just like I was hoping you’d do,” he says. Cut once. Three piles. Choose a card. Shuffle shuffle. Watching closely, using all 100 billion neurons in the brain, observant eyes, seeking out the decoy movements behind the patter and manipulative, attention-diverting moves.

“Is this the card?”

It is. How did he do it?

“It’s all pure physics.”

Can you explain it?

“That’s actually called ‘The Trick that Can’t Be Explained.’

You’re pulling my leg. Are you lying to me?

“Would I lie to you?”

The irony of a magician’s skill-set is that they create subterfuge to spark a deeper truth. They use illusion to break

“day job” as manager of the Kona Coffee Mill provides a good fit for his performing lifestyle.

Together, they have sustained one of the longest-running show business traditions in Hawai‘i Island history: The Magic Spectacular, an extravaganza that offers magic, mystery, mirth, perhaps some mayhem, and most delicious of all, lots of laughter.

The 26th Annual Magic Spectacular on March 17 features these two local legends as well as Big Island Magic Club members, performing onstage with headliner magician Stephen Bargatze, known as the “funniest comedian in America,” at the Aloha Theater in Kainaliu.

You can expect tricks, surprises, glamorous lighting, sobering amazement, zany comedy, even awe at these magic performances, but beyond the illusions, the broader magic may be taking place offstage. The Magic Spectacular will benefit another magical resource, SKEA, the Society for Kona’s Education & Art, a vital cultural center founded in 1981 by Arneleo’s late wife, Teunisse Rabin, to provide classes, exhibits and events for people of all ages in the community.

Anyone who wants to know the secrets behind the magic, the explanations for tricks that can’t be explained, the impossible escapes and supernatural conjurings that are essential tools in the master magician’s tool belt will want to take Arneleo or Barry’s classes. They mentor youth, teens and adults through the Big Island Magic Club.

What does magic offer a boy, girl or adult?

“Definitely a possibility of a way out,” Barry says, and he’s not just talking about escapology—or is he? “I mean, you can find employment eventually. It’s not steady work, but you can get well paid (for parties, concerts, events). And the rewards are way beyond the money, way beyond. I’m not a big illusionist. I mean, I have a guillotine, I can saw someone in half, I can do a chair suspension, I can do illusions. Illusions are easy. They are usually just pieces of equipment you have to know how to work. But what really inspires me is the humor.”

The non-profit SKEA, offering the magic of arts instruction, art camps during school breaks, and a community center in South Kona for everyone, deserves to benefit from the Magic Spectacular, says Barry.

“SKEA has been an amazing part of the community here. They have brought art into the schools when the government failed us and they are so important, I mean for kids to have that, and to have a community meeting place that has been there for all these years – a place where you can go take classes or go to a concert or do anything. It’s just an important part of the community; we can’t lose it.”

The Magic Spectacular will help keep the magic alive.

Magic, it’s not just a trick of the imagination. It’s the perpetuation of the imagination. ❖

RESOURCES: The 26th Annual Magic Spectacular will be performed on Saturday, March 17, at the Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu with a matinee at 2:30 and evening show at 7:00 p.m. See calendar for more details, and for information, call 808.323.9707.

SKEA is located on Mamalahoa Hwy in Honaunau, at the site of the historic Japanese Language School, between mile markers 105 and 106. For more detail, call SKEA at 328.9392.

Reach Arneleo the Great at 808.322.3677 or arneleo@gmail.com Reach The Great Barusky at 808.323.9707 or alohamagic@aim.com Contact writer Marya Mann at Marya@LoomOfLove.com.

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illusion, create an unnatural—or is it supernatural?—maneuver, an artful dodge, to alert us to a truth. We don’t know everything.

There’s a lot going on we can’t see. To trip people up, magicians trip the light fantastic, take us on a trip.

They hack the neural net that shapes our perceptions, making us see with fresh eyes, shaking us up enough to be stunned and tickled back into the present moment. We’re not in Kansas, Tahiti, or worrying over the laundry. Or trying to focus with such complete attention as to not be tricked into seeing something that isn’t real. But we are tricked anyway—by surprise, flash, daring, chutzpah and humor.

We want to believe the incantations, sleight of hand and spellbinding spectacle that stir the ever-alive child within. Novelist Tom Robbins writes that we need magic because, “Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and business.”

“Otherwise they are just living in this Maya, you know,” Barry shakes his head, sympathetic. “The illusion of what’s going around them.”

Nothing is beyond the reach of devoted magicians. Rope-tosilk tricks, card tricks, flying deceptions and daring adventures that thrill the imagination. But no death-defying acts—unless you consider life itself to be a death-defying act. No self-destructive media events like Houdini, who performed straitjacket escapes while dangling upside-down from the roof of a building for publicity. “He easily could have died doing many of his tricks,” says Barry.

So what’s the difference between you and Houdini?

“Basically none. Except he didn’t do comedy and I don’t risk my life,” Barry chuckles. “And we’re not doing it for the money.”

These two Kona tricksters do a couple of noble tricks that Houdini didn’t do either. In the early days, they performed shows at Kona’s Hale Halawai for all the handicapped children on the island, “The Very Special Arts Show.” They’ve gone into schools, homes, senior care centers and community centers. They perform at least two volunteer shows every month.

“It’s fun,” Arneleo says, “To have powers and abilities far beyond the abilities of mortal man. You catch the bug. If you like to entertain, tap dance, sing, it’s the kind of thing that gives you energy when you give it.”

Barry agrees. “It just feels natural. At first it was nerve-wracking and there were still those butterflies. Before every show, Arnie and I will peek through the curtain, like at the Aloha Theater for our Magic Spectacular, and we’ll look out, and we’ll put our arms around each other and we’ll go, ‘We love you, just so you people know.' " Both magicians participate in the Big Island Magic Club, which meets on an irregular basis. “We show each other tricks and teach each other. We need young kids to start getting interested because we’re getting Arneleo the Great is certified by the International Order of Magicians as a member older and we need someone here to of the Order of Merlin.

–Photo by Marya Mann. carry this tradition on,” says Barry, whose

March-April 2012 ❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖

MARCH Art Exhibit: Hawai‘i Volcanoes: 1880s to Present Through March 31 Hilo In celebration of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s centennial, historic paintings, photographs, film footage, oddities and curiosities are on display at Lyman Museum. Art by Hitchcock, Bailey and Furneaux as well as vintage film footage of the Halema‘uma‘u (1930s), Puna (1955), Kīlauea Iki (1959), and Kapoho (1960) eruptions are among the highlights. Kama‘āina admission available. 276 Haili St. 808.935.5021 or visit www.lymanmuseum.org.

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Pianist Soyeon Lee in Concert Friday, March 2 Waimea A 2010 Naumburg Competition prize winner, Soyeon Lee has been hailed by The New York Times as a pianist with “a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style,” while The Washington Post has lauded her for her “stunning command of the keyboard.” 8 p.m. at the Kahilu Theatre.

Tickets, 808.885.6868 or online at www.kahilutheatre.org.

The Great Waikoloa ‘Ukulele Festival Saturday, March 3 Kohala Coast 12th Annual musical festival honoring Hawai‘i’s well-known instrument with a day of Hawai‘i’s top ‘ukulele musicians and entertainers performing at the Kings’ Shops and Queens’ Marketplace at the Waikoloa Beach Resort.

10 a.m. – 7 p.m. 808.886.8811 or visit www.waikoloabeachresort.com.

See Spotlight.

Puna ‘Ulu Festival Saturday, March 3 Pū‘āla‘a Along with taro, breadfruit or ‘ulu was one of the staples of the ancient Hawaiian diet. New festival celebrates the versatile foodstuff, with a cooking contest, care and cultivation of ‘ulu trees

and ‘ulu preparations plus kids activities and musical entertainment. Free.

9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School in Pū‘āla‘a.

808.965.5098 or visit www.breadfruit.info.

speaker presentations, alumni awards, pupu and music. 5-7:30 p.m. Tickets for the Celebration available online at www.tcmch.edu. 808.981.2790 or email ce@tcmch.edu.

“Healthy Aging” Spring Health Fair

Monday, March 5 Kailua-Kona The Kealakehe High School Robotics Team heads off for National Competitions in style with a pep rally for the whole family! Enjoy robotics demonstrations, food vendors, local businesses and one very dramatic makeover for the team’s coach, whose ponytail will be donated to Locks for Love if students can reach their goal of raising $2,000! $5 in advance, $10 at the door.

Kealakehe High School Cafeteria, 6-9 p.m. 808.430.6939.

Saturday, March 3 Hilo The theme of Hawai‘i College of Oriental Medicine (formerly TCMCH) Spring Health Fair and Celebration is “Healthy Aging.” Health classes for the public, continuing education for LAc/ND/DC and LMTs, authentic Asian music, local businesses offering services, enjoy free qigong, Chinese and Japanese acupuncture, tuina sessions, acupuncture facelifts and gifts. Free admission from noon to 4:30 p.m. at Hawai‘i Naniloa Volcanoes Resort. Celebration Party includes a sake intro and tasting, keynote

Robo Rally

Spotlight:

The 12th Annual Waikoloa ‘Ukulele Festival

‘Ukulele w o with Roy S rkshop akuma Saturday, March 3 South Kohala A musical festival honoring Hawai‘i’s well-known instrument with a day of top ‘ukulele musicians and entertainers performing at the Kings’ Shops Center Stage and Queens’ MarketPlace Coronation Pavilion at the Waikoloa Beach Resort. A great event for residents or visitors. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. 808.886.8811 or visit waikaloabeachresort.com.

Event Itinerary: • 10 a.m. – noon: Free ‘ukulele workshop with Roy and Kathy Sakuma at Waikoloa Beach Marriott (please bring your own ‘ukulele) • Afternoon performances on stage at Kings’ Shops and Queens’ MarketPlace with MC Danny Kaleikini

• ‘Ukulele making demonstration • ‘Ukulele lessons • Lei-making with the Ladies of the Ka‘ahumanu Society • ‘Umeke making with Aunty Donna Jensen • Nine ‘ukulele giveaways from top-of-the-line companies • Evening Concert at Waikoloa Bowl at Queens’ Gardens Admission $15 adults, $5 keiki.

Lawn seating, no alcohol 5:30 p.m. gate opens 5:45 p.m. Music by Kevin Kealoha, Kuna Galdeira 6:30 p.m. The Lim Family (Mary Ann Lim, Sonny Lim, Nani Lim Yap and Lorna Lim) 7:30 p.m. Raiatea Helm – Photo by Warren Higuchi

❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖ A Brewers’ Pa‘ina Friday, March 9 Keauhou Dining Under the Stars: A Brewers’ Pa‘ina kicks off the Kona Brewers Festival with a beer and food pairing dinner on the lawn at Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort. Explore a diverse selection of Kona-brewed beers paired with delectable pupu, salads, sides, entrees and desserts. Hawaiian-style entertainment and silent auction benefiting The Kohala Center and The Bill Healy

Foundation on behalf of the 2011 Kona Brewers Festival beneficiaries. 6–8 p.m.

Tickets, 808.331.3033 or visit www.konabrewersfestival.com.

Aloha Friday “Boat Day” Luncheon Friday, March 9 Hilo Experience the nostalgia of Hawai‘i’s old-time boat days, complete with colorful flower lei, graceful hula, lively Hawaiian music and four-course luncheon on board the elegant m.s.

Rotterdam cruise ship docked in Hilo

Harbor. The benefit luncheon takes place in the ship’s elegant La Fontaine Dining Room on the promenade deck.

Fundraiser tickets are $65 and benefit the non-profit Friends of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. Group rates are available for parties of five or more.

11:30 a.m. Tickets, 808.985.7373 or visit www.fhvnp.org. Due to security regulations, tickets are not transferable, photo ID is required and RSVPs must be made by March 5.

Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10 Kailua-Kona Annual festival promotes craft brewing and recycling in Hawai’i. Expect about 60 craft beers from the Aloha State and U.S. Mainland, plus gourmet food.

Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. 2:30 – 6:30 p.m. Tickets $60. Related events: Brewer’s dinner, golf tourney and “Run for the Hops.”

808.331.3033 or visit www.konabrewersfestival.com.

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Holualoa Village Coffee • Art • History

Kona Brewers Festival

Highway #180, Hwy above #180 Kailua-Kona http://www.holualoahawaii.com above

D

Kailua-Kona http://www.holualoahawaii.com

Drive up scenic Hualalai Road from Queen Ka‘ahumanu Hwy (190).

Turn Left at Mamalahoa Hwy (180), where art studios and local shops now occupy historic buildings from Hawai‘i’s past.

Take a leisurely stroll through our quaint village...

You’ll be glad you did.

Contemporary, fine arts, and craft pieces.

Furniture custom designed and made for your application.

H

To right of Kona Hotel Tue-Sat 11a-5p 322-6838

Fresh Baked Cookies Daily

Fresh Brewed 100% Kona Coffee

4 miles south of Holualoa Village on Mamalahoa Highway Try look! www.KeauhouStore.com Ph 322-5203

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Cinderella’s

antiques, art art antiques, and jewelry and jewelry

❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖

❁Continued from page 77

HILO

COFFEE MI L L

Paradise In Your Cup!

Run for the Hops 5K/10K Saturday, March 10 Kailua-Kona Preceding the Kona Brewers Festival, this fast, fun and family-friendly footrace gets an early morning start and follows a course seaside route.

Registration at 6:15 a.m.; race at 7:30 p.m. Post-race festivities. 808.326.7284 or visit www.pathhawaii.org.

Na Mea Hawai‘i Hula Kahiko

Open 7am till 4pm Mon-Sat •Coffee Roasting •Free Tours All Day •Fun Family Farm •Food, Ice Cream •Full Espresso Bar •Free Wi-Fi Farmers’ Market Every Saturday

Mountain View, Hawai’i 808-968-1333 www.HiloCoffeeMill.com

Saturday, March 10 Volcano See traditional hula and chant performed outdoors featuring Hālau o Po‘ohala at 10:30 a.m.; also Hawaiian cultural demonstrations from 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Both at Volcano Art Center Gallery at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply. 808.967.8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.

Pahoa Community Garden Workparty Saturday, March 10 Pahoa The East Hawai‘i Timebank and Pahoa Museum co-host a Community Garden

Workparty to help the community bond and create a beautiful garden. Bring your own tools, gloves, hat, sunscreen, water and potluck dish. 3 p.m. Pahoa Community Garden on the main street

by Island Naturals. 808.982.8925.

Sundays) takes participants on guided walks along the trails of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Monthly hike routes, distances, meeting places and times vary. To register, 808.985.7373 or programs@fhvnp.org.

“First Person: Seeing America”

Puana Ka ‘Ike Lecture

Saturday, March 10 Hilo “First Person: Seeing America” combines iconic photographs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the music of Ensemble Galilei and narration

by NPR’s Neal Conan and actress Lily Knight to create a remarkable, powerful performance. 7:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Theater at the University of Hawai‘i–Hilo. Tickets, 808.974.7313 or visit www.artscenter.uhh.hawaii.edu.

Thursday and Friday, March 15 and 16 Hilo and Keauhou Part of an ongoing series of lectures sponsored by the Kohala Center, Puana Ka ‘Ike (Imparting Knowledge) aims to provide an educational forum for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of Hawaiian culture, history and tradition. Dr. Keanu Sai speaks on “1893 Executive Agreements and their Profound Impacts Today.” Thursday, noon – 1:30 p.m. at University of Hawai‘i-Hilo; Friday, 5:30 – 7 p.m. at Convention Ballroom, Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa.

Keauhou Bay Clean-Up Saturday, March 10 Keauhou Meet at the Keauhou Canoe Club Hale, 7– 11 a.m. Free refreshments and t-shirts. Visit www.keauhouresort.com.

Sunday Walk in the Park Sunday, March 11 Volcano This monthly program (on second

Healing through the Arts, Healing through the Heart with Shawn Gallaway Friday, March 16 Pahoa Visual artist, singer-songwriter and healer has traveled throughout the world sharing his message of healing

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Naumberg Competition 2010 1st Prize Winner

Pianist Soyeon Lee Friday, March 2 8pm

Tickets: $25-$60

First Person: Seeing America Friday, March 9 • 8pm Tickets: $25

Raul Midon

The Brothers Cazimero Saturday, June 2 • 8pm Tickets: $25-$60

Sunday, March 25 7pm Tickets: $25

Makana Series Events

There is no charge for admission to any events in the Makana series Mar. 3, 8pm FILM - Holy Wars Mar. 30 8pm LECTURE - Howard Dicus Apr. 1 4pm Kamuela Philharmonic PDQ Bach Spectacular Apr. 19 7pm KECK LECTURE Astronomer Richard Wainscoat

Visit WWW.KAHILUTHEATRE.ORG

BOX OFFICE 885-6868 M–F 9am-3pm

❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖ through the arts. Shawn has recently shared the stage with the Dalai Lama, authors Gregg Braden, Bruce Lipton, Robert Holden, Darren Weissman, T. Harv Ecker, and with rock and pop masters Orleans, Jimi Jamison of Survivor, Dave Jenkins from Pablo Cruise, Allan Parsons and Robbie Dupree. Pahoa Village Museum, 7 p.m. $10-$15 sliding scale admissions. 808.329.3030 or visit www.shawngallaway.com.

Also see March 31 in Kona.

Zen Pen with Tom Peek Saturday, March 17 Volcano Village Go zen with the power of the pen!

Deepen the conversation with your soul by using writing as a means to explore the human spirit, foster compassion for others and ourselves, understand suffering and ease anger and conflict.

Peek leads the workshop, “Zen Pen Writing as a Spiritual Practice.” Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus.

9 a.m. – 5 p.m. 808.967.8222.

The 26th Annual Magic Spectacular Saturday, March 17 Kainaliu Magic Spectacular is a benefit for SKEA, a non-profit organization that provides

education in the arts to children and serves as a community center in Honaunau. Two shows at the Aloha Theatre—2:30 p.m. matinee and 7 p.m. evening show—stage magicians from Big Island Magic Club plus headliner Stephen Bargatze, known as the “funniest comedian in America.” Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for children and seniors. Tickets for sale from SKEA, at Kona Wine Market, from Magic Club members or at the door. 808.323.9707 or 808.328.9392.

Concert for a King Saturday, March 17 Keauhou This 12th annual free concert remembers Hawai‘i’s King Lani Kauikeaouli, also known as Kamehameha III, who was born in Keauhou, Kona in 1813.

The event features hula and Hawaiian music under the stars on the Hawaiian lawn at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and Spa in Kona. Entertainers include Marlene Sai, Iaukea Bright, Nephi Brown, Nina Kealiiwahamana, Na Palapalai, A’Oia, Ho’okena, the Ladies of Na Lei O Kaholoku and many more.

5 – 10 p.m. 808.930.4900.

Kokua Kailua Village Stroll Sunday, March 18 Kailua-Kona Ali‘i Drive is closed to traffic from 1 to 6 p.m. to visit arts, crafts and food vendors in historic downtown Kailua Village. Enjoy hula and the Hulihe’e Palace Band on the lawn of Hulihe‘e Palace at 4 p.m. Bring your own beach mat or chair. Enjoy oceanside cafes and visit gift shops. For info about the palace event, phone 808.329.9555; for the Village Stroll, 808.936.9202, email dorlenechao@yahoo.com or visit www.historickailuavillage.com.

Sam Choy’s Keauhou Poke Contest Sunday, March 18 Keauhou Hawai‘i’s favorite pupu gets its due with culinary fun offering over $10,000 in prizes. Cooking demo, Hawai‘i Island Marketplace with fresh fish sales, sustainable acquaculture presentation, judging, awards and poke tasting. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and Spa. $3 admission (keiki 12-and-under free) benefits culinary facilities at future Palamanui campus. Visit Sam Choy’s Keauhou Poke Contest on Facebook. 808.222.0795.

❁Continued on page 80

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PRESENTS

❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖

❁Continued from page 79 Big Island International Marathon

Ka Pā Hula Nā Wai Iwi Ola, under the direction of Kumu Keala Ching presents:

Pana Ka Pu’uwai Ho’okahi Our hearts beat as one

Saturday, May 5

Waikoloa Bowl at Queens Gardens

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Gates open at 1 pm—show begins at 2 pm $15 General Admission $25 Reserved Seating

Hula hālau from around the world will perform both hula kāhiko (ancient style) and hula ‘auana (modern style) in a family friendly setting. Featuring musical guests Jerry Santos and Olomana, Aunty Diana Aki, with special appearances by Loea Kawaikapuokalani Hewett and Kumu Hula ‘Ula Hewett & more. Keoki Kahumoku will lead his famous ‘Ukulele Jam session, so bring the family and come and share the joy of hula and music.

Tickets are available online and at the door.

For tickets and information please visit us at www.nawaiiwiola.org

Sunday, March 18 Hilo Get fit on a 26.2-mile marathon, or your choice of 13.1-mile and 3.1-mile fun runs. A flat course traverses old Hawai‘i coastline, tropical rainforest, rushing waterfalls and black lava beaches to finish at the historic Hilo Bayfront.

808.969.7400 or visit www.hilomarathon.org.

Haili Men’s Invitational Volleyball Tournament March 19 – March 24 Hilo Now more than a half-century old, this popular sporting event features novice to nationally ranked AA players from around the nation. The five-day tourney is at the Hilo Civic Auditorium and other locations. 808.961.3633.

Mauna Kea Resort Golf Demo Day Saturday, March 24 Kohala Coast Enjoy a day at Hapuna Golf Course; 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Meet at Hapuna Driving Range and visit with vendors.

808.880.3000 or 808.882.5400.

“Fire ‘Em Up With No Ice” Car and Bike Show Saturday, March 24 Kailua-Kona The Big Isle Chapter of Sober Riders Motorcycle Club presents its second annual car and bike show, a community awareness event for the Hawai‘i Meth Project. Free to the public, registration for show participants is $10 per car or bike. Drive-up registration starts 9 a.m. with voting from 10 a.m. –12:30 p.m. Trophies awarded 1 p.m. for people’s choice in multiple classes. Live music, food, raffles, silent auction and vendors. Sponsored by Lowes, Kona.

808.895.4310 or email paidinfull4u@msn.com.

Day At Hulihe’e Saturday, March 24 Kailua-Kona The annual fundraiser at Hulihe‘e Palace begins 8:30 a.m. with a traditional Hawaiian blessing and continues until 4 p.m. Hosted by the Daughters of Hawai’i and the Calabash Cousins, the celebration includes arts and crafts, bake sale, ono food and the ever-popular “Classy Tutu’s Attic.” Debuting at this

❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖ year’s fundraiser is the new cookbook, Just Like Tutu Made With Love, which features recipes from palace volunteers and supporters. Hula by local hula hālau and prize drawings take place throughout the day. 808.329.1877, 808.329.9555 or visit www.daughtersofhawaii.org.

Jazz at the Volcano Saturday, March 24 Volcano Village Jazz musician extraordinaire Ray Brown returns from a Mainland tour to join fellow Hawai‘i Island jazzmen Junior Choy, Brian McCree, Gary Washburn and Bruce David for a scintillating evening of old standards, new tunes and improv. Sure to be a hot ticket. 7 p.m. at the Volcano Art Center Niaulani Campus. 808.967.8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.

“Singspiration” by Kona Festivale Chorale Saturday, March 24 Kailua-Kona Annual vocal concert at Mokuaikaua Church, the state’s oldest Christian church, is a concert of inspirational, sacred music and featured artists. This one-of-a-kind event is free. Ali‘i Drive,

across from Hulihe‘e Palace, 7 p.m.

808.331.1115, email kfchoral@hawaii.rr.com or visit www.konafestivalechorale.org.

Portal to the Past: Hawaiian Kingdom Property Taxes Wednesday, March 28 Kailua-Kona Another in a monthly community lectures series on a variety of historical and cultural topics featuring speakers from around Hawai‘i. Tom Woods of the Mission Houses Museum in Honolulu talks about what past property taxes tell us about society. 5:30 – 7 p.m. Free.

West Hawai‘i Civic Center. 808.323.3222 or visit www.konahistorical.org.

app with Aloha in the iTunes Store

Art Exhibit: Reef Fish Portraits Friday, March 30 Hawi Opening reception at Living Arts Gallery in Hawi, 4 – 7 p.m. Refreshments and pupu. Reef fish portraits in watercolor

by Karen Spachner. 808.889.0739.

Lavaman Sunset Fun Run Friday, March 30 Kohala Coast This short (5K) evening fun and fitness run for the whole family serves as a

❁Continued on page 82

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❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖

❁Continued from page 81 kick-off for the Lavaman Triathlon on Sunday, April 1. Registration at 3:30 p.m.; race at 5 p.m. at the Queens’ Marketplace at the Waikoloa Beach Resort .

808.326.7284 or visit www.pathhawaii.org.

Tahitian Competition and Multi-Cultural Festival Saturday and Sunday, March 31 and April 1 Kailua-Kona Two, fun-filled days of music, dance and food at Old Airport Beach Park. From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Maka’eo Pavilion.

808.652.1775, email tcarolcasil@gmail.com or visit www.temanarose.com.

Healing through the Arts, Healing through the Heart with Shawn Gallaway Saturday, March 31 Kailua-Kona Visual artist, singer-songwriter and healer has traveled throughout the world sharing his message of healing through the arts. Shawn has recently shared the stage with the Dalai Lama, authors Gregg Braden, Bruce Lipton,

Robert Holden, Darren Weissman, T. Harv Ecker, and with rock and pop masters Orleans, Jimi Jamison of Survivor, Dave Jenkins from Pablo Cruise, Allan Parsons and Robbie Dupree.

Aloha Center for Spiritual Living, 7 p.m. $15 admission. 808-329-3030 or visit www.shawngallaway.com.

APRIL Hawaiian Spirits: Earth Angels on the Big Island April 1-30 Hilo and Pahoa Exhibit by fine art photographer Michael Philip Manheim.

Photographs feature Big Island people in expressive poses.

First exhibit of “Hawaiian Spirits” at One Gallery in Hilo beginning April 1. Reception and book signing by Manheim during First Friday on April 6, 6 – 8p.m.

Another segment is on display at Kalani Oceanside Retreat from April 10 – 16.

It is complemented by paintings of Rose Adare and textural costumes of Tess Howell. Opening reception on Tuesday, April 10, 7:30 p.m. Both segments combine after that at the One Gallery and are exhibited there for the remainder of

Spotlight:

errie at 2011 M Pa‘u ridersh Royal Parade Monarc

Annual Merrie Monarch Festival April 8 – 14 Hilo Hawai‘i’s most venerable hula celebration and competition, with week-long festivities including exhibitions, musical entertainment, arts and crafts fairs, parade and Miss Aloha Hula Competition, kahiko (ancient) and ‘auana (modern) hula contests.

Except for the hula competitions,

2012 Festival Events • Ho‘olaule‘a (celebration): 9 a.m., Sunday, April 8, Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium. Free admission to watch performances by local hālau • Free Mid-day Entertainment: Daily (Monday through Friday) entertainment Hawai‘i Naniloa Volcanoes Resort (noon) and Hilo Hawaiian Hotel (1 p.m.)

• Arts and Crafts Fair: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, through Friday, April 13, and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, April 14, Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. Free event features local artists and crafters

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events are free.

Edith Kanakaole Stadium and broadcast live April 12-14 on KFVE-TV. 808.935.9168 or www.merriemonarch.com.

• Hō‘ike: 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 11, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium. Free exhibition night of hula, international performers and music • Miss Aloha Hula: 6 p.m., Thursday, April 12, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium.

Individual competition for the title of Miss

Aloha Hula with contestants performing hula kahiko, hula ‘auana and oli (chanting) • Group Hula Kahiko: 6 p.m., Friday, April 13, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium. Hālau hula perform ancient style dances • Group Hula ‘Auana and Awards: 6 p.m., Saturday, April 14, Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium. Hālau hula perform modern style dances with an awards presentation for all group winners.

• Merrie Monarch Royal Parade: 10:30 am, Saturday, April 14. Colorful and fun event for the entire family, parade begins and ends at Pauahi St. and winds through downtown: Kilauea Ave. - Keawe St. Waiānuenue Ave. - Kamehameha Ave Hilo Event Locations: Edith Kanaka‘ole Tennis Stadium, 350 Kalanikoa St.; Afook Chinen Civic Auditorium, 323 Manono St.

❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖ the month of April. To see the images online: www.MichaelPhilipManheim. com/hawaiian-spirits

Kamuela Philharmonic PDQ Bach Spectacular Sunday, April 1 Waimea An uproarious April Fool’s Day concert of music written by the composer who was “born too late to begin many works.” Selections include Eine Kleine Nichtmusik, a sportscast of Beethoven’s Symphony #5, Sonata for Four Hands and more. Fun for all, free. 4 p.m. at Kahilu Theatre. 808.885.6868 or visit www.kamuelaphil.com.

Lavaman Triathlon Sunday, April 1 Kohala Coast The 14th Annual Lavaman Triathlon Festival features an Olympic distance triathlon open to individuals and relay teams of all ages and abilities at the Waikoloa Beach Resort. Starts 7:30 a.m. with a 1.5k swim in Anaeho’omalu Bay, continues with a 40k bike race on the Queen K Highway and then a 10k run through the resort’s hotel grounds and lava fields, finishing on the beach. ETA of race leaders is 9 a.m. at

Anaeho’omalu Bay. The event is a major fundraiser for Team in Training as well as local area non-profit organizations.

Related events include 5-K sunset fun run, Lava Kids aquathon, health and fitness expo, awards party and beach barbeque. 808.329.9718 or visit www.lavamantriathlon.com.

Hawaiian Children’s Book Chapter Reading Saturday, April 7 Hawi Teacher/author Christine Sprowl Tetak reads from Legend of the Hula Moose with puppets at Hawi Gallery, Art and ‘Ukuleles in downtown Hawi. Coloring art contest (for children of all ages); entries are available at Hawi Gallery, Akoni Pule Highway, 206.452.3697, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday – Saturday.

Print out coloring pages at www.egendofthehulamoose.com.

Annual Merrie Monarch Festival April 8 – 14 Hilo Hawai‘i’s most venerable hula celebration and competition, with week-long festivities including exhibitions, musical entertainment, arts and crafts fairs, parade and the Miss Aloha Hula

❁Continued on page 84

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❁Continued from page 83 Competition, kahiko (ancient) and ‘auana (modern) hula competitions.

Except for the hula competition, events are free. Edith Kanakaole Stadium.

808.935.9168 or visit www.merriemonarch.com See Spotlight.

Kokua Kailua Village Stroll

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Sunday, April 15 Kailua-Kona Ali‘i Drive is closed to traffic from 1 to 6 p.m. while you visit arts, crafts and food vendors in historic downtown Kailua town. Enjoy free hula on the lawn of Hulihe‘e Palace at 4 p.m. Bring your own beach mat or chair. Stroll along oceanside cafes and visit gift shops.

For info about the palace event, phone 808.329.9555; for the Village Stroll, 808.936.9202, email dorlenechao@ yahoo.com or visit www.historickailuavillage.com.

Na Mea Hawai‘i Hula Kahiko Saturday, April 21 Volcano See traditional hula and chant performed outdoors featuring Hālau Hula

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Spotlight: Earth and OceanFestival at Keauhou Saturday, April 21 Keauhou Beach Resort Targeting families, this free event is designed to showcase and emphasize the unique treasures of Hawai‘i Island via booths and educational activities on coral reef and ocean stewardship; hands-on, traditional Hawaiian cultural practices; products and foods made in Hawai‘i and conservation education. Families are encouraged to stroll

through the grounds and meet “Humu” the walking, talking fish. Learn from ReefTeach, Fish for Knowledge about the Sea and participate in tide pool adventures, plus whale and dolphin games. Enjoy Hawaiian entertainment, including vocalist Darlene Ahuna, a multiple Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award winner. Ride your bike to the festival, special bike parking. 808.329.1758 or visit www.kona-kohala.com.

Ka No‘eau at 10:30 a.m.; also Hawaiian cultural demonstrations from 9:30 a.m.

- 1:30 p.m. Both at Volcano Art Center Gallery at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Free, park entrance fees apply.

808.967.8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.

Earth and Ocean Festival Saturday, April 21 Keauhou This event is a family/community based program featuring many booths, exhibits and fun activities that showcase environmental and recycling programs, coastal restoration, ocean literacy,

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❖ H A P P E N I N G S ❖ energy conservation, cultural activities and more, plus live music and entertainment. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Keauhou Beach Resort. 808.329.1758 or visit www.kona-kohala.com.

See Spotlight.

sharing and inspiration. Improve the emotion, depth and potency of your work via intensive writing exercises, friendly reading of work and engaging group discussion. Open to all levels.

808.967.8222 for fees and housing information or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.

friendly setting. Queen’s Marketplace at Waikoloa Beach Resort. Gates open 1 p.m., show starts 2 p.m. Entertainment

by Jerry Santos and Olomana, Aunty Diana Aki, Keoki Kahumoku and special surprise guests. Tickets available at the door and online at www.nawaiiwiola.org.

Wednesday, April 25 Kailua-Kona Hear the history of Kona through the experience of all-around waterman Sonny Tanabe—author, former Olympic swimmer and an avid and accomplished spear fisherman and freediver. Sonny has recently authored his second book, Evolution of Freediving and the History of Spearfishing in Hawai‘i after finishing his beautiful pictorial “Spearfishing on the Island of Hawai‘i” in 2008. 5:30 – 7 p.m. Free.

West Hawai‘i Civic Center. 808.323.3222 or www.konahistorical.org.

MAY

Disclaimer: Calendar listings are submitted by the producers of the events and are subject to change. They are accurate as of the time Ke Ola goes to press, which is sometimes one to two months before

14th Annual Weekend Writer’s Retreat

Saturday, May 5 Kohala Coast Hula hālau from around the world perform both hula kahiko (ancient) and hula ‘auana (modern) in a family-

Spearfishing and the History of Kona

April 27 – 29 Volcano Join an intimate community of writers in a focused weekend of writing,

He Mo‘olelo o Ka Lei Tuesday, May 1 Hilo This free Lei Day event kicks off a celebration of the “story of the lei” for the month of May. Fun features Hawaiian music by well-known entertainers, hula, lei-making demonstrations and the heritage, history and culture of the lei. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Kalākaua Park.

808.961.5711or visit www.leiday.net.

Pana Ka Pu‘uwai Ho‘okahi Hula Festival

the event. Please call the contact number in the listing to confirm the event. Ke Ola is not responsible for event changes or cancellations.

If you have an event you would like included in this calendar, please submit via the form on our website, www.keolamagazine.com, or email to editor@keolamagazine.com. Deadline for inclusion in the May/June issue is March 30, 2012.

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 85

The Life in Business...

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‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i Ka’iu Kimura, Executive Director

he mission of ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i—located next to the campus of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo—is “to honor Maunakea [sic*] by sharing astronomy and the Hawaiian culture to inspire exploration.” The Center’s interactive exhibits: 3D full dome planetarium, award-winning native plant landscape, programs and events engage children, families, visitors and the local community in the wonders of science and technology found in Hawai‘i.

‘Imiloa, meaning “to explore” or “to seek knowledge or profound truth,” was developed in the mid-1990s by a team of educators, scientists and community leaders to fulfill a need for a comprehensive educational facility to showcase the connections between Hawaiian cultural traditions and the astronomical research conducted at the summit of Maunakea.

U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye helped secure federal funding from planning to construction, while the University of Hawai’i at Hilo continues to lead the effort to develop the vision of ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.

‘Imiloa’s executive director is Ka’iu Kimura, who was raised in Waimea and is a graduate of the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, with formal education in Hawaiian language and literature.

“UH-Hilo is committed to working collaboratively with private and public enterprises, both locally and throughout the world,” said Kimura. “We have been busy participating with national and international partners and organizations. From ‘Imiloa programs being offered at other national science centers, planetarium show productions, culture and science integration consultations, to coauthoring grants and publications, ‘Imiloa has active connections with the global community!” she outlined.

‘Imiloa is located in the 300-acre UH Hilo Science and Technology Park, adjacent to the university and close to the multinational astronomy base facilities. Though it is also a visitor attraction, the primary audience for ‘Imiloa is local youth, their families, and all who have an impact on their lives, says Kimura.

It offers a venue for local organizations or families to rent, a monthly “Maunakea Skies” program, hosted by top astronomers and annual events such as the KTA Family Free Day in February and ‘Imiloa’s Hilo Wayfinding and Navigation Festival.

Location: 600 ‘Imiloa Place, Hilo (off Komohana and Nowelo Sts.) Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday (closed Mondays) Phone: 808.969.9703 Email: jharman@imiloahawaii.org Website: www.imiloahawaii.org * There are differing viewpoints about the spelling of the mountain: Mauna Kea or Maunakea. Jeff Harman of ‘Imiloa Center explains: “At ‘Imiloa we use it as one word.... Maunakea is the name of our mountain and properly is one word, Mauna Kea is simply two words meaning white mountain.”

Ke Ola. 1/4 page, 4 color. Contact Penny, Panalea Corp, 315-7776

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Owners Jeff and Miliana Johnson

The Life in Business...

‘Ohia Fields Farm

Location: O’okala Mauka, Hāmākua Coast Phone: 808.430.3847 Email: ohiafieldsfarm@gmail.com Website: https://sites.google.com/site/ohiafieldsfarm/

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hen Jeff and Miliana Johnson started talking seriously about getting married and starting a family, the two discovered they both had dreams of farming. “We wanted to farm in a place where it would make a difference, where farming would be helpful. We chose a CSA (community-supported agriculture) model in part because it directly serves the local community,” says Miliana.

Customers subscribe to the home-delivered produce plan. “It comes with a newsletter and recipes. Every season is different and we enjoy testing a variety of crops no one else is growing— things you can’t find in a grocery store or even at a farmers’ market. We bill our service as a culinary adventure.” Miliana outlined.

‘Ohia Fields Farm is located at Ho‘okala, on the Hāmākua Coast, which historically gets a good amount of rainfall. “Since we’re completely off the grid, we needed to be in a place where we could collect enough water to raise our crops,” said Jeff.

“Miliana’s mother lives here (born and raised in Hawai‘i), and we wanted to be within driving distance of one set of parents.”

The farm strives to keep its customers satisfied. CSAs typically have a high turnover rate. “We greatly appreciate the 60-75 percent of customers who do return (which is a higher rate than average on the mainland),” says Miliana.

CSA customers are people who want to eat healthier, support local agriculture and the local economy—those who know that food grown nearby is nearly always going to taste better and be better for you than food flown in from 3,000 miles away.

Jeff is from New Jersey and Miliana is from Honolulu and Los Angeles. Jeff has a degree in literature and Miliana holds two degrees in environmental architecture. Miliana had summer farm experience in high school and in between degrees, and Jeff has a magical green thumb, says his wife. When the economy took a downturn Miliana lost her job in architecture and they used the opportunity to farm full-time, planting crops and raising sheep and egg hens.

“We strongly feel that, by building a business that is off the grid, that supplies a locally-made product and that sells to local customers, we are being a part of the answer to the issue of sustainability on the island. ‘Buy local’ has far more impact than we realize,” says Miliana. “We’re proud to be part of a fundamental, empowering shift in the way we think about ourselves and what we can do with and for each other as a community.”

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88 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

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L I F E

Great American Self-Storage

I

Glimpses into the stories

Resident Manager Jana Powell

ana and Mack Powell, resident managers of Great American Self Storage in Kailua-Kona, found a service business that almost everyone can use. Who doesn’t need a place to put extra “stuff?” Businesses with excess inventory; restaurants needing space for decoration, catering and excess items; construction companies, people moving on and off the island, businesses wanting warehouse-type space at a low cost—these are some of the customers they serve.

Great American Self Storage is in a central location, easily accessible, yet a little off the beaten path. It’s easy to find when you know it’s right behind the new Target store. When Target went in that helped immensely with our drive-by traffic,” says Jana.

“We provide a clean, pest free, secure facility with driveup units, air conditioned units and we are the only facility to provide units with electricity (not to live in though). Our facility not only helps people to store their stuff, but sell it as well!” Jana explains. “Three times a year we hold Kona’s Largest Garage Sale as a way to help our tenants sell items they may not want to hold on to!! It is also a great event for the community. We make it fun for the whole family, serving food and shave ice. More than 35 families are here, selling various items from clothes to tools to even boats! There is also a huge blow-up, bouncy castle to keep the keiki entertained! We treat our tenants as our ‘ohana and love getting to know them!”

Jana and husband Mack visited Kona four years ago, following her recovery from being a liver donor for her uncle.

“We knew this was the place for us and moved here two months later,” she says. “Going through something like that gives you a priority shift, and we wanted to focus on quality of life—which we found here—and bring it to the business as well. I have been in sales and marketing my whole professional life. I love to help people solve problems by coming up with the solutions that best fit their individual needs.”

The Powells say they are dedicated to helping the community in various other ways, too, such as holding fundraisers for local organizations.

Location: 74-5499 Loloku St., Kailua-Kona Phone: 808-329-8700 Email: gaselfstorage@gmail.com Website: www.KailuaKonaStorage.com

B U S I N E S S

Island Spirit

Healing Center & Spa

K

The Life in Business...

N

s behind a few of our ads

Owners Ken and Christine Bevis

Location: 81-6587 Mamalahoa Hwy. , Kealakekua Phone: 808-769-5212 Email: info@islandspiritspa.com Website: islandspiritspa.com

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MARCH/APRIL 2012 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | 89

en and Christine Bevis, both healing practitioners, had worked in many different places, both in Hawai‘i and internationally. They wanted to take the quality of service they could provide to the next level and decided to open their own business with an eclectic menu of services.

The couple chose the location of the former Hawai‘i Island School of Massage, which was closing its doors at Pualani Terrace in Kealakekua, and the space became available. “The school always had such wonderful energy,” Ken explained, “and the area is known for its healing properties.”

Island Spirit is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., offering a full range of massage therapy and spa services, plus herbal hand-and-foot care, facials and waxing. “We also offer acupuncture, shiatsu, reiki, lomi lomi, hypnotherapy and more. We take most insurance that supports acupuncture and massage. We feel fortunate to have attracted our excellent team of therapists,” says Ken. The couple has lived on the island for 10 years. Christine has a masters’ degree in health education and has worked with Olympic athletes in Switzerland, along with owning her own fitness studio. Ken studied hypnotherapy in the ‘80s, then added many different styles of healing therapies and has continued to expand his range of experiences in physical and metaphysical arenas. Both have studied many kinds of massage therapy, are nationally recognized and licensed.

“Island Spirit has a wonderful healing atmosphere that has to be experienced to be appreciated, Our primary goal is to have our guests feel safe and comfortable and to match them with the best therapist possible. If you are looking for relaxation, stress- or pain relief and desiring a deeper level of healing or just simply wanting to look and feel more beautiful, we invite you to stop by,” offer Ken and Christine.

Bookkeeping • Payroll • Accounting Taxes • Consulting • Payment Processing

—THE REFRAIN

Ka Puana 90 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

Book illustrations by Diane Lucas

A new book, designed for children of all ages, tells the improbable tale of two moose who land in Hawai‘i in 1793, as part of a shipload of cattle intended as a gift to King Kamehameha. It was an honest mistake, says the story, as the crew of Captain George Vancouver’s sailing ship thought they were a type of cow. Thus begins the tale, in which the moose eventually escape into the mountains.

T

[Excerpt from Chapter 10]

heir favorite hideaway to visit was a pond below a waterfall.

They spent many days at this cool, refreshing place.

One time the moose were knee-deep in the pond when they were startled by a strange sound. They stood very still, frozen for a moment. The hair on their back humps stood straight up.

Their ears lay back when they heard horses galloping and human voices.

The cowboys stopped suddenly when they caught a glimpse of the moose. Lopaka and Keena retreated quickly, disappearing into the forest.

The cowboys had little time to wonder about their sighting.

Night was approaching and they needed to drive the stray cattle back to the ranch before darkness fell.

Soon after arriving back at the ranch, they told the other paniolo at dinner about seeing moose near the mountain-top. The cowboys chuckled with disbelief at the amazing story. They laughed it off, thinking the story a joke or just an imaginary tale.

Throughout the years there were more sightings, usually rejected by most as a fable.

These stories spawned the Legend of the Hula Moose. However, anyone with good sense knew that there were no moose in Hawai‘i!

“Legend of the Hula Moose” is published by Hula Moose Farm LLC and distributed by The Islander Group: www.islandergroup.com. The book is available at bookstores and gift shops exclusively in the State of Hawai‘i, including Target Stores Hawai‘i and ABC Stores.

Website: www.legendofthehulamoose.com

An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language. ~Martin Bubar

Animals love unconditionally. They love you regardless of size, color, race, wealth, religion and gender. We could learn a lot from animals.

A cat is a puzzle

LOVE

Get your pet tested annually for Heartworm.

Walk though life with a pet by your side and you will walk through life with a smile on your face.

Pets ENCOURAGE you to get out and EXERCISE.

Always feed your pet on the low end of the range given on the bag. This will help combat pet obesity.

Dogs are great for making LOVE connections. Dogs are a great conversation starter, so step away from your computer and get out there.

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms. ~George Eliot

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ~Mahatma Gandhi

The average dog is nicer than the average person.

~Jeffery Moussaieff Masson & Susan McCarthy, When Elephants Weep

STRESS is related TO 99% OF ALL ILLNESS.

Studies show that animals lower blood pressure and help decrease depression. People with animals handle stressful situations easier.

Animals are, like us, endangered species on an endangered planet, and we are the ones who are endangering them, it and ourselves. They are innocent sufferers in a hell of our making.

Petting a cat is calming, it can help reduce anxiety and take your mind off your worries. Cat owners live longer lives. Makes you want to consider owning a cat, right?

Pets are on average a 10-15 year commitment.

Make sure you are ready to commit long term.

Pets can improve your mood. Research supports the mood enhancing benefits of owning pets.

solution.

Heart attack patients who have pets survive longer than those without. Male owners have fewer signs of heart disease, lower triglycerides and cholestrol levels than non-pet owners.

for which there is no

LOVE, PURR, BARK & CHIRP

Decrease your chances of developing allergies. Having animals at an early age helps trigger immunity. Studies show that having a pet before your children are born may decrease their chances of developing allergies to pets.

All of the animals except man know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it. ~ Sam Butler

Annual wellness exams actually save money in the long run, by helping to identify illness before your pet is seriously ill.

A dog is the only thing on earth that will love you more than you love yourself. ~ Josh Billings

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. ~Anatole France

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92 | www.KeOlaMagazine.com | MARCH/APRIL 2012

S P E C I A LT Y & G I F TS Bike Works Beach ’n Sports Claire’s Genesis Galleries Hawaiian Quilt Collection Island Gourmet Markets Island Pearls Kama‘aina Diamond Company Local Lizard & Friends Pacific Nature SooooGood Chocolate Starbucks S E RV I C E S Blue Wilderness Dive Adventures Hilton Grand Vacations Club King and Queen Salon & Day Spa Ocean Sports The Studio Waikoloa Realty

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