MidWeek Column

Running On Empty – MidWeek June 19, 2024

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And… they’re off and running! Or, maybe not. The deadline’s passed for interested candidates to fill out paperwork for our upcoming August primary election, and the big winner is “unopposed”.

The number of candidates (279) for all local offices is down 15% from the 2020 total of 330 wannabes. In 2022, 401 candidates ran (more seats were available due, in part, to the once-a-decade legislature redistricting tied to the census). In 2024, it looks like the “ainokea” platform will sweep through. There are some interesting primary races and perhaps a few battles in the general election, but the excitement based on civic-minded citizens running for office here seems to be disappearing.

So what does it mean in a democracy when fewer people want to participate? Surely it results in less competition and accountability, with potentially less focus or engagement from walkover victors. After all, if you have no competition, why take chances, be bold, or make possibly controversial decisions/suggestions? 

Being a politician nowadays is not easy, with rampant factionalism, trolls constantly seeking to cause angst, every word or move being videoed or dissected, and personal lives getting disrupted to the point where some have said- “enough already”. Long hours, lots of handshaking, everybody wants something, and everyone demands your attention. State legislators wade through 3,000+ bills annually. Too much humbug, perhaps?

Incumbents have face, name, and historical recognition working in their favor… unless they screw up. They also have funding coffers open 24/7/365; it’s not easy for a start-up campaign/candidate to quickly gain traction.

True competition keeps incumbents on their toes, attentive to the masses beyond rehashed promises to get things done, serve our keiki, keep younger residents from moving by creating jobs and housing, fix roads, develop new economic goldmines, greenify our state, etc. Lots of platforms to stand on with only so much government funding to spread around. Currently, there are thousands of unfilled, non-elected, City and State jobs; maybe the allure of government work has dissipated.

We need the next generation(s) to step up, with a “if it’s to be, it’s up to me!” attitude. It takes some ego, chutzpah, self-esteem, and a lot of support to run for office and succeed. Let’s hope this diminished candidate pool is just one more post-COVID hangover/aberration, and not a sign of local democracy unwinding. Like ‘em or not, we need leaders… not impervious administrators or complacent managers.

Think about it…

Pantry Power – MidWeek June 12, 2024

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There are plenty of choices locally to choose from when deciding where/when/how to give of your time or money. Some non-profits are large and well-known, while others fly under the radar while also providing invaluable services throughout our community.

One such unheralded entity is The Pantry on Rose Street in Kalihi. This free, food distribution location is a wonder to behold. On a May field trip with Aloha United Way (my employer), I had the pleasure of visiting during peak hours. The Pantry’s operation is phenomenal for numerous reasons. 

#1- The Pantry provides much needed food to thousands of local residents. Sadly (as you’ve been reminded recently) local food demands continue soaring. May was the largest distribution month in The Pantry’s history; it served 46% more families than in May, 2023!

#2- the Pantry has just three full-time employees. Three. On average, The Pantry welcomes 45 volunteers during its limited hours of food distribution; a well-oiled, service machine. Needy people anonymously (first-name only) order on-line (limit of 10 items per person in a household per visit) and then either walk in or drive-thru, as volunteers select boxes that were custom-packed the day prior and place them into fast-moving shopping carts for quick, parking lot delivery. 

Employees and volunteers recognize multiple clients- 19% of weekly clients are regulars; 20% are kupuna; 29% are under age 18 or keiki; 39% reside in Aloha United Way’s ALICE (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) households, with household income levels above the federal poverty line, but they’re barely getting by. 

#3- volunteers possess boundless energy, working happily and harmoniously within cramped, but coordinated, Pantry confines. Neighbors helping neighbors. CEOs, active and retired military, and community members volunteering alongside one another, for a cause, for the people.

A major issue (deserving more discussion) is how to provide more fresh and nutritious food while also growing the supply chain and providing quality food, when possible. More access and coordination with local farms; more awareness of The Pantry, religious sites that offer food, and other food distribution locations. Call AUW’s 211 for additional food-availability information. The Pantry has room to warehouse more food to serve more people more often, if provided with necessary funding. This is just one example of the great social work that often goes unnoticed locally. Volunteer, donate, provide expertise, help coordinate more food distribution opportunities. Fill your soul as you help fill people’s bellies. A win-win.

Think about it… 

Tigers vs. Lions – MidWeek June 5, 2024

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With the excitement of a new Sumatran tiger now roaming at the Honolulu Zoo, it’s time to expose one of the great fallacies of the animal kingdom. The world’s tigers must change their public relations firm. It’s time for these striped, stealthy, super-cats to claim their well-earned title of “King of the Jungle”. Sorry lion fans, but check the facts. While Sumatran tigers are small (comparatively speaking), experts universally suggest that a Bengal tiger would trounce an African lion in a battle royale.

Pulse Nigeria (and other sources) point out that tigers are apex predators; stronger, faster, heavier, and even nastier than lions. They’re known for their stealth and ambush tactics; they also carouse solo- with great pride, no doubt, but without the need for a “pride” around them.

As tigers and lions don’t live together, a lion vs. tiger showdown might only occur as yet another WWE/MMA/UFC/PFL/Bellator pay-per-view battle- the “greatest cat fight of all-time”. That would showcase some great public relations work! I’ve long admired the tiger’s independence, power, beauty, and ability to handle all of this “king of the jungle” crap with apparent humility, nonchalance, and class. Oh, and lions don’t even live in “the jungle”, and elephants rightfully scare them! 

We see too little of tiger coolness and focus in our human world, with our limited attention spans and unquenchable thirsts for the newest, coolest, greatest, must-have/must-see, influenced things du jour. Andy Warhol said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”; perhaps a more appropriate concept now would be “…digitally famous- for 15-seconds”. 

We live, at times, in a post-truth world, where facts don’t seem to matter (to some). We often rely on deep, moral self-intuition when challenged or threatened by information contrary to our wants or needs (check out Jonathan Haidt’s, “The Righteous Mind”, 2012).

Unlike lions and tigers, humans do live close together. Vitriolic rhetoric sadly nowadays sometimes includes physical threats (often anonymous) aimed at those who some may not agree with- elected officials, teachers/educators, rights advocates, celebrities, business leaders, etc. We cherry pick our media/information sources where and when they fit our primal needs. 

But we can’t keep acting like lions and tigers- in relative silos and ignorant, staking our own kingdoms. Let’s stop playing “who’s the king of the jungle”? That’s an unresolvable animal act. We need to stop growling and posturing, and start interacting… like humans.

Think about it. 

Animal Attraction – MidWeek May 29, 2024

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I remember driving over the Pali Highway, Kailua-bound, about 10-years ago late one afternoon, when I noticed the cars in front of me all parting to the left or right just before the tunnel after the Pali Lookout exit. Much to my surprise, I swiftly came upon the reason- a lone wild boar ambling up the highway. Only time I’ve seen that in 40+ years. 

While we do see the occasional night marauding pig along the side of the road on the Kailua side, pigs in the middle of a highway might be something you see when, well… (you knew it was coming) pigs fly.

I thought of this chance swine swagger a month ago when I read/watched the chase for four escaped zoo-bound zebras on a highway exit in Washington. One of the volunteers who helped corral the striped wonders had worked for 15 years as a rodeo clown (no joke) and bullfighter. 

So, 30 miles east of Seattle they had a posse of puzzled people pursuing zebras. Two were forced into a pen and inevitably into a trailer on a nearby farm, while a third was also quickly penned. Ah, but the fourth escapee, perhaps an anti-loper, remained uncaged for five days. You see Shug (as she’s called) probably yearned for days of yore when zebras roamed freely in eastern and southern Africa. But eastern Seattle?

Of course, Shug became an internet sensation, and upon capture, I’m sure many onlookers booed. Now we all know that zebras are used to being booed, but that’s normally associated with the human form of zebras (a/k/a referees) during football or basketball games.

Last March, a calf escaped a slaughterhouse in Brooklyn, New York (you might think that’s an inappropriate locale for a slaughterhouse… well, just “Fuhgeddaboudit”). Happy ending with that one as public outcry ensured that the captured calf was transported to live out her days on an upstate New Jersey farm, but while running loose, the stakes were surely high (I stole that one from an unsubtle, New York news anchor). 

When humans have unexpected interactions with, shall we say, non-locals of the animal variety, the reactions are often naturally exciting and surely unrehearsed. Zebras and pigs on highways? A cow running through suburban streets?  While sometimes it sadly doesn’t all work out harmlessly and peacefully, when rarely seen or out-of-place animals encroach, it surely catches our attention.

Think about it…

Field Goals – MidWeek May 22, 2024

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It’s too nice here. Really. That’s why so many of our parks are in regular need of repair. Our weather is simply too good too often, so fields and park areas rarely get a chance to heal from overuse. When it comes to myriad soccer fields statewide, the first place the wear and tear shows is right in front of the goal area. And after it rains, teams immediately trod on the weary sod, causing vulnerable fields to wear down even more.

So, it’s nice to see the state’s largest soccer concern, the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), along with other leagues working in conjunction with the City & County of Honolulu to put a timeout on play at the expansive Waipio Soccer Complex for about two months. This should allow for much-needed aeration, weeding, and seeding to help the fields return to tip top shape in time for upcoming summertime tournaments.

With 23 fields, including an enclosed, 4,500+ seat stadium, Waipio has hosted numerous national and international events throughout its 25-year existence, including the National AYSO Games, with estimates each time it was held here of more than 10,000 youth soccer players and their families/fans in 2002, 2008, and 2019.

What’s also great about the timing of this down time is that Waipio will remain a soccer facility. A month ago, the City was being considering the site as a new, garbage dump as it looks to replace the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill by March, 2028… until that date is pushed back, again.

The early coordination with leagues made this shutdown decision a bit easier for all, though finding alternate fields in the interim is problematic. Leagues have kicked in huge amounts of sand to help the Department of Parks and Recreation kickstart the refurbishment; individual teams are weeding. Great coordination and a strong communal effort- the public sector meets the general public as it takes a village to make for a nicer soccer mecca.

No one likes to see fields close down, but close they must, or we’ll end up with more pockmarked parks and unhappy users. Kapi’olani, Wai’alae Iki, Kapāolono, Kānewae, Maunawili, Lanikai, Ala Wai- pick a park and you’ll often see an overused field in need of rest and restoration. 

It will be a treat to see “the beautiful game” (“o jogo bonito”, as Pelé called it) played on more beautiful fields in the months ahead.

Think about it…

Seal of Approval – MidWeek May 15, 2024

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Dorothy, the youthful protagonist in the 1939 classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz”, assured us repeatedly that “there’s no place like home”. Yet the very next year, vaunted author Thomas Wolfe wrote a novel that plainly stated, “You can’t go home again.” 

Well, leave it up to Kaiwi, the celebrated Hawaiian monk seal, to remind us that yes, indeed, you can (and should) go home again, as two weeks ago she gave birth to her third little one on O`ahu’s Kaimana Beach. As has become the norm, people are urged to provide ample room for mom and pup to do their thing. With monk seals an endangered species, all new births are reasons to celebrate, even from a distance.

The nursing and early training window for monk seal keiki runs up to about seven weeks, so curious onlookers may peek, but also should saunter else to sunbathe and swim for now. And as everyone knows, you never wanna get between an animal mom and her new offspring.

It is reassuring when humans take a back seat and let nature do its thing as we try (sometimes) to live in harmony with the unique creatures we’re blessed with here. Leave the nēnē geese alone, hang back from approaching sea turtles… the requests are simple and valid.

Beginning on May 1, O`ahu overnight camping sites (including Bellows Beach) were shut down for the summer to ensure/secure unobstructed sea turtle nesting sites. While sea turtles elsewhere are rarely seen during the day, things are cool (or warm) enough here so that we do see our fair share of these magnificent creatures during daylight hours, and wafting in the waves. This opportunity provides for learning, mindfulness, respect, and caring for honu adults and keiki. Hmmm… if only we could do that more often with humans…   

Add in spinner dolphins, humpback whales, Hawaiian hoary bats (ōpe‘ape‘a), crested honeycreepers (akohekohe), Hawaiian hawks (io), and even Hawaiian tree snails- and we have a good number of endangered species. Our fragile ecosystem, which most here love and helps to make Hawai`i so special, must be treated with reverence for preservation purposes. 

So, here’s to Kaiwi at Kaimana and the honu hovering along our shorelines. Here’s to flying rarities and gentle swimming giants. Here’s a quack out to the koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck). They’re all components of what makes our environs unique, special, and sacred.

Think about it…

Inter- esting – MidWeek May 8, 2024

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You gotta ask stuff to keep the mind growing and going, especially as you get older. We all know people who think they know it all. I checked… they don’t. I also checked on something that’s simply never made sense to me: why do we have “interstates” in Hawai`i, the most isolated, unconnected, populated spot on Earth? Pretty sure we’re not latched to any other state, though I’m sure I could find yet one more ludicrous “news” website that claims there’s a secret tunnel to California.

It’s a fair question to ask why our so-called interstates are not labeled as “intra-states”. I’ve wondered for years, never actually bothering to find the simple, yet logical explanation. So as the school year winds down this month, here’s a history lesson and semi-scintillating breakdown that should remove any future queries as to why Hawai`i is home to interstates.

Hawai`i was admitted as the union’s 50th state on March 18, 1959. Looking at Hawai`i (and #49 Alaska), the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) hierarchy identified possible in-state routes, utilizing “…the same criteria applied during a 1957 expansion of the Interstate System: national defense; system integration; service to industry, fishing, agriculture, mining, and forestry… and population” (U.S. Dept. of Transportation Federal Highway Administration). So, on the basis of BPR’s 1960 report to Congress, the interstate network statute subsequently no longer required that qualifying roads be located just in the continental U.S.

Our interstates are labeled H-1, H-2, and H-3 in contrast to interstates throughout the continent that begin with the letter “I” (“Interstate”). Alaskan interstates begin with “A”, and in Puerto Rico, they start with “PR”. H-3, our latest addition, was designated in December, 1997. A 4.1-mile slab of Moanalua Freeway was upgraded in 1990 without using Interstate Construction funds, and was not called H4, but rather is known as H-201. Huh? All of our interstate roads are “built to interstate standards”, according to the Dept. of Transportation.

So, thanks to former President Eisenhower, the BPR, and Congress (back in the halcyon days when it actually tried- and succeeded- in getting stuff done…) for our paid-for road reality here with H-1, H-2, H-3 (hike), and outlier H-201. Hawaii has almost 55-miles of interstate; Alaska has 1,082 miles; Puerto Rico has 250 miles.

Getting federal funds throughout the decades probably helped us remain “the Aloha State” as opposed to the “I’ll Owe Ya State”.

Think about it…

Academy Awards – MidWeek May 1, 2024

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We often hear about our public high schools when things aren’t going well. Too many students being taught by too few teachers, chronic absenteeism, stifling heat (still…) in classrooms, test scores stagnating or going down, annual concerns raised by legislators, Board of Education members and paid staff leaving… you’ve seen the headlines.

But have you heard about the Hawai`i Academies (HA)? It’s a partnership among 27 local, public high schools on five islands that aims to “…improve educational outcomes by implementing smaller learning communities through career academies”? The HA/Dept. of Education program began with just six schools in 2008. Workshops occur regularly as schools share information to make individual programs even better.

According to the Hawai`i Academies’ 2023/24 booklet, these smaller, real-life programs help raise kids’ grades, test scores, attendance, and graduation rates. The HA programs provides focus and consistency, which helps foment personal success for energized participants. Course offerings are diverse and future-focused. For example: 

‘Aiea High offerings include Academies in Health Sciences, Business, Culinary, Education, and Hospitality. Baldwin offers Digital Design, Computer Programming, and Sustainable Hospitality. Campbell has an Academy of Energy, Natural Resources, and Business. Kapa’a provides Health, Natural Resources, and Industrial Engineering Technology. McKinley offers Building & Construction. Hilo and Waiākea have student-run credit unions- for students! In conjunction with the DOE and Hawaii Pacific Health, Waipahu just opened its Academic Health Center, the first school-based health clinic in America!

HA entity represents more than incremental progress; it’s a marketable, thriving, success story that should be regularly acknowledged and loudly celebrated. You wanna talk about “growing our own”? Well, it’s happening via HA. I’ve actually witnessed the excitement in action at Kalaheo High through its Academy of Media & Design, where kids learn, innovate, and compete successfully at annual national competitions.  

Perhaps someday we’ll see this exemplary program expand to all 65 Hawai`i public high schools through more available resources and grants, with innovators, and individual school champions leading the charge. Greater sharing of best practices will further enhance the program as it continues to evolve and flourish. Getting teens excited and engaged in developing their own successes will propel them to become tomorrow’s local innovators, change-masters, ambassadors, and leaders. 

Amid the very real issues our public high schools face, big props to the Hawai`i Academies/DOE partnership. “My Voice, My Choice, My Future” is the HA mantra. And that future’s looking bright, indeed!

Think about it…

Swimming Upstream – MidWeek April 24, 2024

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Perseverance, resiliency, persistency, adaptability. Emotions, traits, or learned skills? These concepts can represent powerful tools in one’s personal arsenal. ‘Twas Charles Darwin who said: “It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.” In our lives we often come to crossroads, and while change can be quite difficult, change we must… sometimes. 

Change is good… as long as it’s good change. Simply suggesting change doesn’t make it good or correct in and of itself. Leaders or hopeful change masters need buy-in when advocating for change. They need impassioned rationale that can be embraced and/or believed in. Ah, but sometimes you gotta adapt and change on your own.

Like on March 29 in Northeast Oregon… A 40-ton trailer overturned while transporting 102,000 live salmon (who counted?!) to be released in the Imnaha River to invariably migrate to the ocean, thereby circumventing the many northern river dams in place. This man-made process has moved fish downstream for 40 years.

So here comes the amazing part of this semi-disaster. The crashed tanker slid down an embankment of Lookingglass Creek. More than 76,000 smolts (young salmon) slid or flopped down the creek embankment in desperation, making their way into the creek, and most are expected to make it down through the Grande Ronde River to the Pacific Ocean- the original goal. Incredible! Without a GPS. Members of the Nez Perce tribe, hatchery workers, and the local sheriff’s office worked together to guide those who couldn’t make it into the water on their own, and cleaned up those who perished.

A fine example of perseverance, true grit, adaptability, and instinctual survival tactics. A life-saving example that when things go haywire or don’t work out- live to fight another day. Longtime Washington Post advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, recently wrote back to a querying parent about whether or not to coddle troubled teenagers by suggesting that they need to experience adversity along the way. “They need this because every life has some element of frustration, loneliness, rejection, mistreatment, misunderstanding, raw deals, disappointment, disaster and dream-crushing. And after that comes Tuesday.” 

Philosopher Friedrich Nietsche said: “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”. 77,000 salmon found strength amid disaster. Life’s road is not an easy, smooth ride; it sometimes feels like an overturned truck. Yet overcoming adversity is an integral part of growing up, right through adulthood.

Think about it…

Animal Farce – MidWeek April 17, 2024

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I awaited my pick-up order at a well-known restaurant recently, one which serves patrons both inside and outside (with closed doors between); and what should I see just poking along, amid unfazed diners, but a chicken, a free bird. Well, she seemed to be free, as she had full range of the place, and no one seemed to care. Entertained diners even tossed scraps to the chicken.

I guess we’ve gotten so inured to the pesky presence of plucky poultry that we’ll apparently let them roam wherever they’d like. As I awaited my Thai Chicken phone order (seriously), I couldn’t help but think- someone should tie this chicken! But whatevah!

A day earlier, I was in a well-known supermarket and the person behind me in line was saying, “Sit! Sit”. Yes, of course, he was commanding a dog, a gorgeous golden retriever, friendly as they (almost) always are. We’ve had four goldens over the decades- truly, marvelous friends. But why a non-guide dog would be permitted inside yet another food establishment was beyond me. Perhaps the dog was guiding his owner to the gouda or brie; I don’t know, but at least the canine was on a leash. Alas, we’ve gone to the dogs.

As a fellow dog lover, folks I’ve wondered about are the friendly, neighborhood walkers or beachgoers who think that allowing their obedient pet free rein is just fine. Er… Hawai`i has a public property leash law, and there are valid reasons for that. When a heretofore friendly dog does something wrong (like say… bites someone or barks contentiously) we normally hear from the stunned owner that “he/she has never done that before!” Well, all it takes is once. You might consider your Fido to be a friendly sniffer, but perhaps it’s uncool when Fido’s cozying up to someone who (unbeknownst to you) has been bitten before or was once traumatized by a dog. So please, can’t we just (publicly) love ‘em and leash ‘em?

And then we have those wandering neighborhood cats, feline pets perusing our great outdoors, sometimes serenading us at 2am or digging in the dirt beneath our bedroom window at 4am. It’s a cat-astrophe… but perhaps these carousing kitties might (at least) scare off proliferating free birds clucking things up in far too many neighborhoods. Here’s to human appreciation for the sedate animal kingdom, but let’s keep ‘em under some control.

Think about it…