MidWeek Column

Lots of people are running for lots of offices locally. This is due, in part, to mandated redistricting which occurs every ten years after a national census has taken place. Every state senate seat here is up for grabs this year, whereas normally only half of those seats come up for election every couple of years, since local senators serve four-year terms and terms are traditionally staggered.

With so many choices and yet so many issues to confront, what’s a conscientious citizen to do? Well, #1 is vote! Since you have a couple of weeks before you’ll receive your ballot in the mail or opt to go to a voting site, now is the time to ask questions, dig deeper, probe. Because everyone running will happily and boldly tell you WHAT he or she wants to do and WHAT needs to get done, but the devil, as they say, is always in the details. The vital question to possibly ask to help you make your selection process simpler is to find out just HOW she or he will do what they say they plan or want to do.

Growing our economic base beyond tourism, increasing affordable housing, “the keiki are our future”, getting rail costs under control, decreasing homelessness and making sure others in need don’t fall through the cracks, improving our education system, dealing with an aging population, keeping younger generations from moving away, securing a greener future, indigenous rights, mitigating coastal erosion, encouraging entrepreneurship, finding one more use for duct tape… the list goes on and on. Just like two years ago, and two years before that. 

Pandemic be damned. Many issues have been tossed around like an overdone 4^th of July burger on the grill for years, or decades. If you’re happy with your voting choices, then your job is done. If you believe that change is good, OK… but just remember, change is good only if it’s good change. Change for change’s sake is an iffy proposition, at best.

So that brings us back to you, the voter, and your current opportunity to ask for or research details from candidates (or their websites) on how they, in 2022 and beyond, are going to make those hard, but necessary, decisions that will help to resolve issues which seem to have stacked up like rush hour traffic on H-1 heading leeward at 5p… every day.

Think about it…

Happy Independence Day! With so many emotional American issues under fire (pun intended), perhaps we can all use a brief respite from 21^st century realities that (to many) seem like either a fairy tale or a horror story…

A scared skunk was captured at Honolulu Harbor two weeks ago… what can you say about this incident beyond the fact that it just stinks? And how did the variegated varmint get here in the first place? It simply doesn’t make much scents. That’s six skunks captured on Oahu and Maui over the past four years. All have tested negative for rabies, and babies, thank goodness. 

This just in… with all of the head fakes, obfuscation, seeming solutions, rebuttals, estimated costs that evaporate weekly, demands from the aggrieved, and bureaucratic folderol, Red Hill will now sadly be known as Red Hell. And no, this is not simply (clean) water under the bridge.

Firefighters recently rescued a paraglider 200-feet up the face of an Oahu mountain, thus making the uninjured (stirred, but not shaken), un-airborne individual a para-sider, I guess. On the same weekend, firefighters stabilized and transported an injured hiker near Hawai`i Kai’s Lanai Lookout, which henceforth will be known as “Lanai… look out!”

Monkeypox is no joke to those who get it; nor is it funny in the simian world, which is rightfully upset at the reference to monkeys in its moniker. The disease first emanated from rodents, and was merely isolated and identified from a monkey- which led to the mis-naming of this “oh great, another one” ailment. Let’s not go ape over this indignity, but we should acknowledge that any tainting of monkeys is a slam on all of us, since humans originated from… oh, never mind, we’re avoiding controversy this week; my bad…

New funding ideas are being proposed for a nascent, East Kapolei High School, which has been proposed, discussed, committee-d, back-burnered, and revisited since 2014 as a possible solution for overcrowding at Campbell and Kapolei High Schools. Eight years just to figure out a possibly reasonable funding methodology? As we say here, that’s HART-less. Eh, what Ewa…

As we’ve recently learned that the incessant work on Oahu’s Highway Route 61 will continue for yet one more year, wary Windward-ers will continue to plod along past street-ripping machines. Pali want a cracker? Actually, we’d simply prefer smooth pavement by now.

Think about it…

So many great lines about the game of golf. It’s a four-letter word. It’s “flog” spelled backwards. Paul Harvey allegedly said, “Golf is a game in which you yell fore, shoot six, and write down five”. The list of great golf lines and anecdotes go on and on. 

And then there’s the hole-in-one. For weekend hackers, it’s golf’s holy grail, something to talk or brag about. So meet Daniel Young. He runs Young’s Fish Market, but nowadays he might be better known as that guy who’s made six holes-in-one over the past year. SIX… Most people never make one, and he’s done it six times in 12-months! Oh, and two aces were on par 4s at Oahu Country Club (#10 and #17)!!

Ask him to what he attributes these amazing feats, and he’ll tell you “mostly luck”. True dat. Like most golfers, Daniel picks his weapon of choice, takes into account the wind, slope, and his hole history, and elegantly strikes the ball, hoping that it lands on the green. As a one-handicap golfer, often his ball does land there, and every couple of months this past year, his tee shot has ended up in the hole.

The odds of a low handicap golfer scoring a hole-in-one is estimated at 5,000 to 1; it’s 12,500 to 1 for an average hacker. If you play 25 rounds annually for 40-years, you apparently have a 20% chance of acing a hole.

But back to Daniel. Tougher than a hole-in-one (it seems) for his family was simply keeping the family business going during COVID. Catering, which represented 30% of Young’s business, became “basically non-existent”. Even today, Daniel estimates that 20% of scheduled catering jobs get canceled due to last-minute COVID problems. But much like on the golf course, he focuses and perseveres. He took over this third generation family business eight years ago when his beloved proprietor father, Alan, passed away unexpectedly in Japan while on a rare vacation. 

Daniel and dad took up golf while Daniel was at Kailua H.S. He’s simply a recreational player, at work by 6am daily, who plays maybe three rounds weekly. Odds of getting six holes-in-one in one year? I looked it up, tried an abacus, and even spoke with the National Hole-In-One Registry; apparently such stats don’t exist. But this amazing feat shouldn’t go unnoticed or unmentioned. Daniel will be the fore-man fore-ver.

Think about it…  

Thank goodness she didn’t get into medical school (discrimination) and then couldn’t get hired as a lawyer post law-school (she was a mother, God forbid!). If not for these stupid stereotypes, Patsy Mink wouldn’t have gone into politics to represent Hawai`i, and thus never would have been the trailblazer who co-authored Title IX 50-years ago, the law mandating equal treatment for men and women involved in federally-funded education programs. Simple, fair, powerful.

This week, Mink joins other noted pioneers in the U.S. Capitol hallway as her portrait is raised there. The first woman of color in Congress (1965), and thus, also, the first Asian American woman ever elected to Congress, Mink took career-altering (-shattering?) frustration and morphed it into greatness. Mink’s early-career, deflating experiences made her more committed, passionate, and focused.

Recently, Oklahoma’s near-complete domination of the Women’s College World Series softball tournament showcased Campbell High School’s Jocelyn Alo leading her Sooner team. She toyed with pitchers throughout the post-season, as the home run superstar has done consistently during her record-setting college career. Daily coverage on national sports wires and prime time TV coverage reinforced just how far women’s collegiate sports have come in the half-century since Patsy Mink and others fought for what’s right.

Check out the wonderful, local documentary, “Rise of the Wahine” to learn how Patsy Mink (alongside former UH Women’s Athletics Director, Dr. Donnis Thompson) changed the entire landscape of college sports. In the early 1970s, there was little acknowledgment of most women’s college athletics. By the 1990s, KHNL and KFVE locally were showcasing UH by televising more women’s collegiate sports events than any other TV/cable entity in America- volleyball, softball, basketball, soccer, and water polo. It was exciting, and what local viewers craved… a perfect personification of Paia Patsy’s powerful pursuit coming to fruition!

Patsy Mink fought to ban discrimination in education; she pushed for affordable child care, child development and bilingual education issues, according to USA TODAY. Honoring Mink with a portrait (an “about time” moment) helps put into perspective just how far we’ve come since Mink first went to D.C., and yet also reminds us out how far we still need to go in many areas that witnessed watershed identity politics moments in the early 1970s. As Rod Stewart once succinctly sang: “Every picture tells a story, don’t it?” The magical Mink memento now hanging in Washington, D.C. sure does.

Think about it…

Perspective. We approach things with our own viewpoints, based perhaps on our background, upbringing, education, or lack thereof. Views might be skewed based on one’s tribes, parents, peers, and/or mentors. But perspective is vital nowadays with far too much fragmentation and far too little active listening, empathy, and compassion.

Even visual perspectives can be tainted by our personal history, what we know, or at least think we know. Example- last week I took my lunchtime break at Sand Island State Recreation Park; just because. I grabbed a sandwich, parked at the park, and casually gnoshed while watching fishermen, passing ships, parasailers, birds, and peripatetic park patrons. 

As I turned to leave, there it was- downtown Honolulu across the water… from the “other side”. I espied cloud-draped mountains behind downtown buildings which I’d always seen from a completely different angle. It was almost like looking at a different cityscape, with green, rugged peaks as the backdrop- not Aloha Tower Marketplace or the pier one might glimpse while driving down Bishop, Vineyard, Nimitz, Ala Moana, et al. Same place, different viewpoint.

How often do we approach issues from a different perspective? How often do we do a 180 and actually listen when we find ourselves in disagreements with others? How often do we seek to gain diverse perspectives before allowing our own beliefs and deeply-chiseled opinions get in the way? Having strong convictions can be self-assuring, but it can also cut into one’s emotive capabilities to try to see things from a different angle; and I’m not rationalizing anti-facts-ers.

That brusque coworker? You have no idea what’s going on in that person’s brain, at home, or what his/her background might be that led to this behavior. I know, that may not be your problem, but it is your attitude. 

I’m not excusing anti-social behavior or beliefs that are an affront to the human race. I’m suggesting that actively listening or letting go of one’s entrenched vantage point is possibly a fair way- maybe the only way- that we’re going to narrow chasms that only seem to widen these days. 

Absolute gun rights, vaccination validity, native and women’s rights, TMT, the rail, short-term rentals… Pick a topic and everyone’s got an opinion… and a belly button. Sometimes, we can’t see the forest for their trees. I just discovered downtown from Sand Island, and it sure looked a whole lot different.

Think about it…

One thing that’s surfaced from the pandemic is the local sense that we really need a “Plan B”; something alongside tourism as a dependable, economic driver here. As horrific as bubbles, isolation, quarantining, social distancing, and staying put have been, the more people you talk to here, the more you realize how nice many feel this place is without huge crowds, constant traffic, parking dilemmas, short term renters, et al. Geez, what a concept.

But reality indicates that, despite omicron’s ominous overtures, the vital visitors are back, and so are the discomforts many feel with that additional human crunch. Yes, tourism is the engine of our economy, with huge ripple effects felt throughout so many other industries. We got it. But now that we’ve had a glimpse of what Hawai`i looks and feels like when the visitors don’t arrive in droves, wouldn’t today be a really good time to focus on Plan B and even C?

Since we didn’t solve the local alternate-economic-source dilemma during 1995 or 2009 recessions, and since inflation, supply shortages and workers malaise are also a reality today, now would be a great time to pool local and outside brainpower as we seek new options, rather just speculate, pontificate, and ponder?

Can Hawai`i become a bigger haven for remote workers due to its natural charm, friendliness, and all of the other reasons one might want to live here but work elsewhere? Can public-private partnerships or tax incentives allow Hawai`i to become a hub for alternative energy corporations, cybersecurity firms, think tanks, or other sectors that might keep a workforce well-paid and engaged?

Plan B could be an all-encompassing effort to keep 25- to 55-year olds here, rather than continue to see the emigration we’ve witnessed over the past five years. For if we don’t get serious about Plan B, the “B” will stand for Plan Bale, Plan Bumbai, or Plan Bye-Bye, as floundering residents will continue seeking greener pastures elsewhere.

And before you say “good, if no can, no can” relative to people staying, take a look at our aging population. Who’s going to provide the resources, labor capital, and tax base for everyone’s golden years if we don’t act now?

A series of all-inclusive, action-oriented strategy conferences might provide tangible, actionable, and even legislat-able answers needed today, not in 2035 or 2050. Maybe, just maybe, Plan B could evolve into “Plan Brilliant”.

Think about it…

Too much heaviness too often can make the weights seem too great to bear. Inflation, war in Ukraine, omnipresent omicron, American tribalism, health care… the beat goes on. This week, in tribute to the great George Carlin tribute documentary that recently debuted, we go from the sublime to the ridiculous!

Americans love to identify, celebrate, be festive, and fête just about anyone and anything. So here are a few (I kid you not) “official” things celebrated in June, besides those items really worth noting this month (LGBTQIA Pride Month, Father’s Day, Men’s Health Month, et al.). With tongue firmly planted in cheek…

National Give A Bunch of Balloons Month– no joke here; this is about giving a seriously ill kid or one going through rough treatments a bunch of balloons; just, because. I love it.

National DJ Month– ahhh, where would we be without those peripatetic platter spinners? Let’s rave about raves as you celebrate your favorite local techno stylists.

National Accordion Awareness Month– as if you’re not familiar with the omnipotent, omnipresent squeezebox. And a “Weird Al” Yankovic biopic debuts this fall, starring Daniel Radcliffe- a/k/a Harry Potter, so bone up now on your zydeco and polka.

National Candy Month– celebrating its 38^th year! Dude, some of us celebrate this every day; c’mon, a few Kit Kat/M&M Almonds/Raisinets/Skittles/Li Hing Gummies/Lychee Jelly/Yan Yan are surely part of mental health. Floss and brush, of course. 

National Dairy Month– I speak of this with complete and udder respect for Lani Moo.

National Papaya Month– probably not a big deal in Kentucky or Maine, but locally- this bulbous delight is about as good as it gets. National Mango Day is July 22. Ho-hum… 

Turkey Lovers Month– no, this is not about fans of the U.S. Congress. But why is this celebrated in June, as the cross-marketing effort to get people stuffing turkeys outside of November has failed miserably? 77% of turkeys are sold in November; I’ve kept abreast of when people hoard (turkey) breasts.

National Homeownership Month– well, it used to be a worthy dream, didn’t it??

National Pollinators Month– no joke here; we need more busy bees… please.

National Safety Month– because I guess we simply let ourselves go the other 11-months annually. But, what the heck, check those smoke alarms and first aid kits at home.

So much to celebrate and so little time! Enjoy June (carefully, of course).

Think about it…

We’re coming to the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, but for those in need of help, May 31^st won’t signal the end of anything. While the stigma of people coming forward to knowledge mental health issues has lessened in many ways, there is still a great need, especially as we begin to come out of these last two years of heightened anxiety, for people to come forward and get help without judgment.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in any given week over the past two years, between 29% and 43% of U.S. adults experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders. The calls and cries for help have been growing locally. The National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) Hawaii has been doing its part through a multitude of offerings and services to anybody, any ethnicity, any age- CEOs, caregivers, teens, front line workers, lawyers, retail clerks, retirees, et al. Mental health concerns are ubiquitous, but the great news is that assistance is available no matter how seemingly benign or how dire your circumstance may be.

Support, mentorship, and peer groups, online or phone chat opportunities with absolute anonymity (if desired) can help people today. Now is as good a time as any for you to check-in and check-up. As Alice in Chains sang, “somebody check my brain”.

Braveness shown in this arena by celebrities like Naomi Osaka and Michael Phelps going public is wonderful, and I’ve read a few columnists opening up about personal mental health issues recently, but it’s really about your concerns, friends, family, co-workers and/or neighbors. Busy therapists might be tied up for months, but a counselor or support group may provide an immediate beacon of hope for you. Crisis lines are also available locally if the need is immediate, sporadic or acute. 

People freely discuss heart issues, cancer recovery, or nagging knee ailments. Talking openly about mental health should be just as easy and cathartic. Yoga, meditation, nature, music, learned coping skills- there are myriad ways to deal with what ails you, but don’t wait or let anxiety build. 

Find what works for you, now, June 2, or around the holidays. Go to www.namihawaii.org, call (808)-591-1297, or call 211 for a referral. Please don’t let creeping mental health issues fester. And if you’ve got a personal mental health success story to share with others, how great might that be?

Think about it…  

“Three things cannot be long hidden- the sun, the moon, and the truth.” I enjoy that quote, often attributed to Buddha. But I’ve also seen it attributed to Confucius, and others simply suggest its origins are unknown. Wow; a quote about the truth, and we can’t even agree on its truthful origin.

As for the moon, I realized its power when trying to comfort crying toddlers decades ago. Simply take the tot outside at night, point up and say, “Look, the moon!” Sure, it’s a diversion, but it usually works wonders to calm the teary storm. We now hear talk about revisiting the moon, perhaps colonizing it, or even Mars. Ho-hum. Perhaps we should first figure out how to make this mortal coil more habitable before we start planning escapism into celestial realms. Talk about getting away…

The sun is life-giving, of course, and after coaching a tough soccer defeat, I would query my AYSO soccer tyke teams by asking, “Hey team… is the sun going to come up tomorrow?” Perhaps confused or at least (again) diverted from their sadness, they’d all nod affirmatively. “Good,” I’d say, “because as long as the sun rises tomorrow, we’ve all got a chance…” whatever that meant.  Looking back, I realize that perhaps my most profound pronouncements worked best with two- and nine-year olds, surely easier groups to cajole or compose than tainted adults.

We see, feel and celebrate the sun and moon; and then there’s the truth, which has taken a beating of late. Opinions are like belly buttons- everyone’s got one. Politician/philosopher Daniel Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.” Alas, that seemingly pragmatic, rock solid truism has been sorely tested. Mark Twain presaged today’s reality when he allegedly said: “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

Which brings me to our upcoming 2022 local elections that become reality in mid-July, when mail-in ballots will be sent out statewide. Now would be a good time to search for the real facts via objective candidate observations on issues which matter to you. Go beyond perennial posturing, pontificating, and pandering, and search for substance to help you make educated choices.

Hmmm… somehow I’ve now transitioned this treatise from referencing a possible classic Buddha quote to suggesting that we all study up to be ballot-ready. Must be the full moon.

Think about it…

It’s been almost a month now since we first learned of reported illnesses. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting- well-known unpleasantries that should never be an integral part of one’s diet plans. The alleged culprit? Hang on now… Lucky Charms. 

Yes, that most basic yet vital food staple, cherished by many as one of the four major food groups along with Fruity Pebbles, Cap’n Crunch, and Cocoa Puffs (allegedly Hawaii’s favorite cereal), is being doubled-checked by authorities after over 450 reports about folks reportedly feeling ill soon after eating the sweet morsels. So much for being “lucky”… or charms.

Reports with details are available at https://iwaspoisoned.com, an actual website that aggregates comments when people report eating something(s) that made them feel yucky, and that site is now populated with marshmallow-y tales of physically off-putting symptoms noted after eating the marbits (yes, a word concocted when the cereal was concocted back in 1964, combining “marshmallow” and “bits”).

Now there’s nothing funny about food-borne illnesses, of course. But seeing that the alleged culprit here is not poorly-washed lettuce or spinach, undercooked chicken, raw eggs, bacteria-laden sprouts, or tainted seafood- but rather a dry cereal made from oats, corn starch, corn syrup, dextrose, etc.- is rather bizarre.

And I know it’s been a tough, debilitating and weird couple of years, but did you ever think you’d hear about Lucky Charms being a possible health hazard? Again, the jury is still out, but this revelation reminded me that occasionally we all crave food that’s simply enjoyable and fun. One can only consume so many cruciferous veggies, after all. In moderation, of course, sometimes you gotta eat for your mental health, like when pounding down that XL bag of butter-laden popcorn and mochi crunch at a movie, or munching massive malassadas, or scarfing down tri-colored, shave ice (watch for brain freeze).

We understand empirical advice to avoid overdoing it with sugar, salt, alcohol, fat, trans fats, red meat, fried and processed foods, white rice, artificial additives, soda… the list seems endless. Yes, sometimes you just gotta have whatever you prescribe as food for your soul. We know people didn’t pile on that so-called “COVID-19”, as in pounds gained, by noshing on kale, broccoli, and almonds, but sometimes, just sometimes, you just gotta have it. And that’s what makes this mysterious Lucky Charms scenario so potentially unappetizing; like a soggy bowl of, well… you know what.

Think about it.