Podcasts about iolani palace

Jan. 17, 2025 marks 132 years since the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and thousands are expected to take part in the annual Onipa’a Peace March to reflect on the events of that day. It’s set to begin 9:45 a.m. Friday at the Mauna’ala Royal Mausoleum. Marchers will go down Nuuanu Avenue, on the way to Iolani Palace.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday, January 17, 2025, thousands will gather in Honolulu for the annual ʻOnipaʻa Peace March and Rally, marching from the Mauna Ala Royal Mausoleum to ʻIolani Palace. The 2025 march marks the 132nd anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the beginning of u.s. occupation. The annual event, convened by the Queenʻs Court and Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, raises public awareness about the overthrow and occupation and calls the lāhui and allies to stand firm. In today's special episode, Kauwila Sheldon, a committee member of Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, shares about the history and significance of the ʻOnipaʻa march and gives context and pointers for those who would like to participate. Learn more on the Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi website at www.kalahuihawaii.net/onipaapeacemarch. We hope to see you there! Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

JT Ojerio is a self-taught artist also known as Aloha De Mele. Born and raised on Oahu, she was on track to become a Sports Performance Specialist but life events redirected her to becoming an artist. Today, you can find her work everywhere. You've mostly likely seen her iconic lei or tita bun art, murals or merch. Some of her collaborations include Aloha Collection, World Wide Walls and Iolani Palace and she's just getting started. We hope you enjoy this episode! Mahalo to our sponsors: Title Sponsor: www.cpb.bank Airline Sponsor: www.hawaiianair.com Recorded at Central Pacific Bank Tidepools in Downtown Honolulu Connect with JT: https://www.instagram.com/alohademelehttps://www.alohademele.com Connect with Andrew and Kolby: www.uncuthawaii.com https://www.instagram.com/uncut_hawaii https://www.instagram.com/kolbymoser https://www.instagram.com/_andrewtran #uncutpodcast #uncuthawaii #hawaiicreators #hawaiipodcast #podcastersofinstagram #podcastersofinstagram #spotifypodcast #newpodcast #applepodcast #hawaii #podcast #hawaiilife #hawaiian #luckywelivehawaii #podcasts #podcasting #podcaster #madeinhawaii #oahuhawaii #hawaiinei #mauihawaii #hawaiiliving #podcastshow #podcasters #podcastlife #podcasthost #podcastaddict --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uncuthawaii/support

Is shoplifting on the rise?; Challenges ahead for the Navy's $3 billion overhaul of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam drydock; Queen Liliʻuokalani's portrait returns to ʻIolani Palace

Work is underway on the $1.2 million roofing project at Iolani Palace. About 9,000 square feet of the roof will be replaced or repaired. The palace was opened in 1879 — and it's been showing its age.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest on this episode is Healani Sonoda-Pale, a Kanaka Maoli Human Rights advocate for Self-Determination and a Water Protector who has been organizing at the intersection of the indigenous struggle for liberation and environmental protection in Hawai'i. She is a member of the Red Hill Community Representation Initiative and the spokesperson of the Ka Lahui Hawaii Political Action Committee. Healani was born and raised on the island of O'ahu where she resides with her family.Show Notes:The Beauty of the Pandemic Shutdown in Hawai'iThe Fallout of the Lahaina Fires in West MauiNo ControlsManufacturing the AuthenticReopening for Tourism in the Midst of CatastropheLocal Schism: Those in Favour and Those AgainstThe Tourism at the Heart of the Housing CrisisKa Lahui Hawai'i Political Action CommitteeThe Water Crisis in OahuDecolonizing Tourism is an OxymoronSolidarity with Kanaka MaoliHomework:Healani Sonoda-Pale InstagramKa Lahui Hawai'i | TwitterOahu Water Protectors | Red Hill Community Representation InitiativeTranscript:Chris: [00:00:00] In the first season of the podcast I spoke to Hokulani Aikau and Vernadette Gonzalez about the attempts to decolonize tourism in the Hawaiian islands. And following that Kaleo Patterson. Who offered a deeper historical and cultural background into the ongoing us occupation of Hawaii. The military industrial tourism complex, and some of the traditional forms of hospitality that Hawaiians have engaged in. Since then, and especially because of the wildfires that spread through west Maui this past summer. Listeners have asked again and again, to return to the islands, to host the voices of those. They're now struggling with another catastrophe. Who are offering resilience and resistance. In the face of these enduring consequences. And as such, I welcome.Healani Sonoda-Pale to the pod. Thank you for joining me today, Healani.Healani: It's my pleasure to be joining this podcast and to help [00:01:00] spread the message about tourism in Hawai'i. Chris: Healani, could you do us the favor of elaborating a bit on where you're speaking from today and how the world looks like for you?Healani: Okay. So I'm a Kanaka Maoli woman, born and raised in Hawai'i on the island of O'ahu. I have been in the Hawaiian movement for liberation and self determination for nearly 30 years. I am a student of Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask, and I am on the front lines of many, many issues. The issues that we face today are, many of them are a consequence of tourism.The desecration of cultural sites. The degradation of our beautiful beaches pollution, traffic, overcrowding, the high cost of living in Hawai'i, the extremely high cost of housing in Hawai'i. These are all because of tourism. This is happening to Hawai'i. [00:02:00] As a result, direct result of the tourist industry, which Hawaii relies on.And in Hawaii, we have two businesses. We have the military industrial complex and the tourist industry. Those are the two worst industries to rely on, number one. And they are the most exploitive and extractive industries to have. They do not enhance our way of life here on, on these islands in Hawaii.They do the opposite. They have brought many of us to the brink where we are now, most of us living paycheck to paycheck. The average cost of a house in Hawaii is a million dollars.I believe Honolulu is the number one or at least the top three most expensive cities in the United States to live in. So tourism is a plague in Hawaii. It is a plague upon this place and it has caused us to [00:03:00] struggle on a daily basis, not just financially and not just socially, mentally as well. Having to deal with tourists on a daily basis in Hawaii is frustrating, so that's kind of like the space I'm coming from. I am involved with the water issue, protecting our water, which is now something that is a huge issue. I'm very much involved in the Red Hill issue. I'm involved with protecting Iwi Kūpuna, which is our traditional Hawaiian burials. I'm involved with the repatriation of our land. Again, another big issue. It never ends because the, the economic, social pressure to take and take and take until there's nothing left is relentless. So that's the space we're coming from. So you talked about COVID, right? You started this podcast in the beginning of COVID and COVID was an eye opener for a lot of people in Hawai'i. When COVID happened, [00:04:00] the state of Hawai'i shut down and tourists weren't allowed here during our shutdown.I believe it was like a year and a half. It was beautiful. Even though we were living in the middle of a pandemic, our beaches were empty. There were no lines at the stores. There was no traffic. Even the air we breathed seemed cleaner. The water we swam in, in the ocean, didn't have this sliminess on it, from tourists with suntan lotion swimming in it all day, right?So the fish came back. Even the plants and the land was happy. I mean, it was a beautiful time. Even though it was sad because we were living through a pandemic, it was a beautiful time for us as Kanaka because we got to see Hawai'i without tourists. And that really opened the eyes for people who usually are not as [00:05:00] critical of tourism, as many of us have been so more people in Hawaii started saying, especially Kanaka Mali, well, how do we move forward without tourism?But when the state opened up again, tourism came back and it came back with a vengeance.When you look at what was happening on social media and, you know, what people were posting and across all the islands, we saw some frustration. We saw people posting about interactions they were having with tourists at sacred sites and beaches. People were more aware that tourists were there after COVID because we were able to enjoy our beaches, enjoy our islands without them.And then when they came back, it was not only dangerous because we live 2, 000 miles away from the nearest continent. So, they were bringing in the COVID. I mean, from the time of [00:06:00] Captain Cook, tourists, visitors, explorers, missionaries, they have been bringing in diseases when, when Captain Coke arrived in 1778. We didn't have any immunity to these diseases, and so now, I think for a lot of residents here in Hawai'i, our eyes have been opened on what we have to give up for tourism.We have to sacrifice not only our beautiful island life, but a way forward that doesn't include commodifying who we are as a people, our culture, everything. The state's been talking about diversifying the industry here in Hawai'i, right? They wanted to look into agriculture was one. They've never seriously taken that up. And they always fall back on tourism.Chris: And why do you think that is? Because it's just so easy.Healani: Because they've invested. It's a multi billion dollar business. There's hotels. Waikiki [00:07:00] is loaded with hotels. It's business interests. It's those that have been in control of the tourist industry, wanting to keep control of that and wanting to keep their financial interests protected and keep going.So that is, that has been a problem. And of course we have strong lobbyists here in Hawai'i for the tourist industry. It is an industry that is supported by taxpayer dollars. It's one of the few industries we give millions of dollars of our money. It's a private industry supported by taxpayer dollars.So it's a private industry that we support that exploits not just our resources, our culture, but they have really degraded our way of life here. They've made everything so expensive that most of our people, most of the indigenous people of Hawai'i have moved away because they can't afford to live here.Chris: And you know, I'm curious [00:08:00] in this regard, to what extent do you think that this Government money and government decisions played a part in these wildfires that passed through West Maui in August, you know, like reading and researching for this interview and seeing what's been shared online and social media, the term management and mismanagement continues to arise in and among social movement activists.And I'm curious to what extent you think that either government action or inaction or the tourism industry had a part to play in what happened this past summer.Healani: The Lahaina Fires. was so tragic and the tragedy continues months after. The suicide rates are on the rise in Lahaina. Families are still displaced, thousands of them. They were just [00:09:00] a few days ago, I had posted about it. They were just given again, eviction letters. The last time I was in Maui was there.The first set of eviction letters that went out. So they're being housed in hotels, 7,00-8,000 of them; families that have lost everything, in hotels. And now they're being told to leave to make way for tourism, to make way for tourists. That's the enormity of the pressure that tourists, tourism brings with it. The pressure to a piece and to serve and to put tourism first.Just going back to my childhood in school. We were basically brainwashed into thinking we need tourism. Without tourism, we wouldn't have jobs. There would be no money, you know? So it's been kind of ingrained in us. And that's why I think COVID was super important because it was an eye opener for a lot of us.Because they saw really [00:10:00] what was possible, a world without tourism. And so the pressure to support, to push tourism, to... "they always say, we want to support small businesses," but it's really not about small businesses. It's about those huge, multinational corporations that have invested millions.into this industry and have supported and lobbied for their industry, for the tourist industry. That's what it's really about, to a point where they really don't care about the people, the residents of Lahaina. They're literally traumatizing these families again and pushing them around to make room for an industry that we all pay to support.And the Lahaina fires is a result of corporations, land grabbing by corporations of [00:11:00] tourism gone wild, literally. The whole culture of Hawaii is about making sure tourism is going to be okay in the future. We're one big resort. That's what we are.Hawaii is one big resort. Everything is catered for tourists first. It's always tourists first, residents last. And kanaka maoli not even considered, like we're not even in the equation, except when they want us to dance hula, and when they want us to chant, and when they want us to teach tourists how to make leis. So the whole Lahaina situation is very complicated.Tragic, and it continues to be tragic. Over a hundred people died in those fires. And Lahaina is like a real big hub for tourists, and has been. It's like the Waikiki of Maui. So having that burned down, I think, was a big loss for the tourist industry on Maui. [00:12:00] So they are trying every which way to bring that back. In fact, today they're going to unveil the strategic plan for the next few years for Maui, which again, is just a slap in the face. It's insulting to the people of Lahaina. They're actually having it in West Maui. It's insulting to the people of Lahaina to have now a discussion about how to move forward with tourism while they're still displaced. There's thousands of families that don't know where they're going to be next month.There are thousands more that don't have access to clean water, don't have jobs, that have multiple families living in their homes and they're going to have a big presentation on tourism today. That's what we have to deal with.There is a mythology that's been built around the tourist industry that basically tells us, you know, [00:13:00] we need tourism. We need tourism. For some reason, we won't be able to survive without tourism. So that's the culture of Hawaii. And that's what I've grown up in. One of the things that is concerning about tourism is the fact that there's never been an environmental assessment or environmental impact study done on the effects tourism has on Hawaii .There are no controls. There's no control of how many people will be allowed in, how many people will be allowed at a certain beach, how many people will be allowed to swim and hike up to a sacred pond.There's nothing like that. It's like a free for all here in Hawaii when it comes to tourism.With tourism comes a thriving sex trade. So we have a number of brothels that, of course, are illegal, here in O'ahu. And a real epidemic with a [00:14:00] high number of missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls. Hmm. This is the average characteristics of a victim of a missing girl is 15 years old native Hawaiian.And that's you know, that's the reality here in in Hawaii. So tourism is one of those industries that has a lot of low paying jobs. People have to work two to three, sometimes four jobs to survive here in Hawaii because Hawaii has the highest cost of living and one of the highest in the United States and it's really a struggle to make a living off of the tourist industry.Once tourism gets a foothold in your community, then it's very difficult to get tourism out. And right now, I'm in the midst of a struggle with keeping tourism out of East Maui.[00:15:00] They're expanding tourism into rural areas because they want to make these real authentic experiences for tourists.And they want to provide cultural experiences for tourists now. And the last couple years, the Hawaii Tourism Authority has done something called destination management, which is where they give money to non profits to host tourists in these real authentic settings, where they get to work in the taro patch or they get real cultural experience hiking or storytelling or something like that and in exchange these non profits get paid.The reality of this Destination Management Program that they always give Hawaiian names to -Aloha Aina, Kahu Aina -the reality of these programs [00:16:00] is that they're actually community bribes.Residents are less tolerant of tourism these days, especially post COVID. And so these programs, like the Destination Management Programs that they're now doing, and have been doing for a couple years are community bribes that help residents swallow the bitter pill of tourism. And that is pretty much how this whole thing kind of plays out.Whatever financial benefits we get out of tourism, they're short lived and they aren't sustainable. And in fact, they threaten a sustainable and livable future for residents here, especially Kanaka Maoli.Chris: Do you see any parallels between the quote return of tourism following the COVID-19 lockdowns and later after the fires? Was anything learned by the inundation of [00:17:00] COVID carrying tourists?Healani: Yeah, so I see parallels between what's happening with tourism post COVID and what's happening with tourism post-Lahaina fires. And what's very clear with the government here, the local government has made very clear is that tourism, no matter the cost, in terms of our health and safety, comes first.And that has been shown over and over. While, when they opened up tourism, the COVID numbers went up. And because, of course, people are bringing COVID in. And that put the numbers of people in the emergency rooms and in our hospitals that went way up. We don't have the capacity and we still don't have the capacity to serve thousands and thousands of residents and tourists at the same time.In terms [00:18:00] of medical health care. And so we, you know, we're in a really tight spot for that, you know. So we were really struggling because our hospital and our medical system was overrun.We had sick tourists and we had sick residents. And when you look at the numbers, it was the Native Hawaiians and the Pacific Islanders who were not just catching COVID more, but also dying from COVID more often than others. And with Lahaina, same thing. Instead of waiting, holding off on reopening Lahaina and Maui for tourists, they opened it up super early.In fact, they opened it up a month ago, for tourism. They opened up line up for tourism and families are still suffering. Families don't know what's going to happen next month, where they're going to be living next week. There's [00:19:00] thousands of displaced families still in Lahaina, yet the pressure to open up to tourism is so immense that they did it anyway. So what happened with COVID and the Lahaina fires is that they really show that what they're prioritizing.They're not prioritizing the health and safety of, of the residents, let alone Kanaka Maoli residents. They're prioritizing business interest.Chris: Mm. Hmm. Really just showing the true face, the true nature of the industry. Right. And then not in any way surprising why locals, both residents and Kanaka Maoli would be so upset and so angry, not just with the industry, but with tourists as well when they arrive having no understanding of this. Right. And so my next question kind of centers around locals there, workers, especially. And in this particular article, It says that, "as tourists returned to the [00:20:00] island, displaced residents are still in need of long-term solutions for their future, most notably in terms of long-term affordable housing. Currently. Quote, "a coalition of 28 community groups have staged what's being called a 'fish-in' on Kaanapali beach to help raise awareness of the ongoing impacts of the Malai wildfires. Wearing bright red and yellow shirts, the protesters have pledged to fish along kind of poly beach. An area usually crowded with sunbathers in swimmers, around the clock 24 7, in order to bring awareness to these issues. And so in terms of strategy and solidarity, How have local people and organizations responded in the context of these last few months.Healani: Yeah. Many locals work in tourism. So a lot of people in Hawaii felt that the reopening was too fast, too early. There were other ways they could have dealt with. They always use the term 'affordable housing,' they always use that to [00:21:00] develop. Here they use small businesses to justify prioritizing tourism. So, their whole justification for opening up to tourism early, in Lahaina, was to support small businesses. But there are other solutions. We all know that. They give billions of dollars to Israel and to Ukraine for a war that has nothing to do with us, to other countries who are doing whatever they want with it. But when it comes to this whole issue of tourism and the displaced families, they could have supported these families and for at least a year supported these small businesses like they did during the pandemic, but they chose not to.There's other solutions they could've used, but for them, opening it up was more important than making sure families were okay.So, there is a split between some residents who feel they need tourism and some [00:22:00] who don't. And it's usually, again, business owners who rely on tourists for their livelihood. And like I said before, any kind of benefit we get from tourism is really short lived and the effects of tourism, not just on our environment, but on our society and on our economic system is more detrimental than beneficial.I'll give you an example tourism fuels people from other places wanting to buy a second home here. Tourists come to Hawaii, they see how beautiful it is, they love the beaches, of course. We have like really good weather on a daily basis. So when they come here to visit, they wanna buy a second home here.⌘ Chris Christou ⌘ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Right now we have a housing crisis in Hawaii, and the reason for this housing crisis is because we have [00:23:00] tens of thousands of empty homes. In fact, we could put all the houseless people that are in Hawaii right now into these empty homes. And we would still have thousands of homes left over. And that is one of the reasons why number one, we have one of the, like the highest housing costs. The average house right now sells for a million dollars.It could literally be a shack on a piece of land. It'll sell for a million dollars in Hawaii. It's because of the demand for housing here in Hawaii. And it's because of the fact that a lot of the housing that we do have are usually second homes. And lots of times they use it for short term housing rentals as well. And I just want to clarify the numbers for the short term housing rentals. There's about 30, 000 residential housing units that are being rented to tourists, instead of residents, instead of locals, instead [00:24:00] of Kanaka Maoli, so that's part of the problem here. We don't have a housing shortage.We have a shortage of housing rentals or landlords that want to rent to residents.So, what we gain from tourism doesn't even come close to what we are losing from tourism, from the tourist industry.Chris: Uh, Wow. . It's just a. It's incredible. How so much of this, this desire to vacation, escape, have fun, rest, make money "passive income" lead so much to the detriment of neighbors, of what might otherwise be neighbors in our midst. And I know that, I think I've read the other day that there's this group Lahaina Strong, that was asking for government intervention. Is that right? Healani: Yeah. So they've asked. Yeah, that's a, that's a good point. [00:25:00] Lahaina Strong, one of the lead groups in Lahaina, have asked for the mayor and the governor to intervene and to ask short term housing rental owners to provide long term housing solutions for those, the displaced families. And that hasn't happened yet.It's been months. It's been September, October, November, over three months. And these families, their future is still up in the air. They don't even have reliable housing. So again, it just tells you what the priorities of the state is. Honestly, I don't think they're going to get what they want.Chris: Thank you, Healani and for being a witness to all this and proceeding accordingly. I'd like to, if I can ask you a little bit more about your political work. If I'm not mistaken you're a spokesperson for Ka Lahui Hawai'i Political Action Committee. Could you explain a little bit about [00:26:00] this organization? What the name means, how it was formed its principles, goals, and actions, perhaps. Healani: Okay, so yes, I am the spokesperson for Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and I am part of the Komike Kalai'aina Political Action Committee, which is a national committee of Ka Lahui Hawai'i, which means the Hawaiian Nation.We are a native initiative for self determination and self governance. We were formed in 1987 by Kanaka Maoli, Indigenous Peoples of Hawaii, as a response to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and as a way forward for our people to seek out justice and to create our own way forward by creating our own nation.I have been with Kalahui Hawaii since 1993. And I [00:27:00] joined after watching Dr. Haulani-Kay Trask do her speech on the grounds of Iolani Palace, where she proclaimed that we are not American. And that was an eye opener to me. And I joined Ka Lahui and I transferred to the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, became her student. A lot of the work that we've done has been nation building. We are a nation in exile, literally. We take stances on issues a lot of times. And the issues we've been doing has been from water issues to intellectual property rights, to land rights, to tourism. The issues we cover is literally anything that affects us as a, as a people and as a nation. So we cover a wide [00:28:00] spread of issues. Most recently it's been the water issue that we've been really focused on. And when you look at the water issue, again, you see the disparity there. We are in a water crisis on the island of Oahu. We are encouraged to practice conservation measures. However, the tourist industry, hotels with pools and fountains and large golf courses, which have to be watered daily, are not being told the same thing. They are the exception. They continue to waste water while on O ahu are concerned about the future.Of our children and grandchildren because we're not sure if number one, there will be clean water and number two, if there is clean water, there'll be enough clean water for everyone in the future, but the hotels in the tourist industry, they don't care. They have swimming pools and[00:29:00] golf courses.Tourists are not told to come here and conserve water. You know, in fact, they waste water in the tourist industry and you can see it. Are you seeing how they waste it? It's pretty visual and obvious. So Ka Lahui Hawaii has been active On the front lines with Mauna Kea issue, and we have treaties with other Native American nations. We've gone to the U. N., our past Keaāina, our governor, Merilani Trask helped to draft UNDRIP, which is the U. N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is one of the most important documents that have come out from the U. N. for Indigenous Peoples and has reasserted all of our rights to self determination.There's about 400 million indigenous peoples around the world, and UNDRIP [00:30:00] is important to every single one of us.Chris: Well, thank you for, for that and the work that you do with Ka Lahui, Healani. I'll make sure that the requisite websites and links are up on the homework section and the end of tourism podcasts for our listeners. Now, in my interview withHokulani Aikau and Vernadette Gonzalez, they spoke of various projects within the tourism sector, undertaken by indigenous Hawaiians to uncover and share with tourists or visitors, the histories of the people and place so often ignored by the industry. Now in order to do this, to educate, many people work within the confines of the structures and the systems we already have, that is to decolonize tourism, for example. Now if we weren't limited by those current structures and systems. How would you personally want to proceed hosting the other, the foreigner? How would you want them [00:31:00] to proceed towards you and your people? How might you imagine such relationship to unfold? Healani: Yeah. Yeah. Decolonize tourism. That's an oxymoron. I don't believe in decolonizing tourism. The nature of tourism, it's like colonization. The nature of tourism is to exploit, is to extract everything it can from a place and from a people and it commodifies, things that to us are spiritual, to us are sacred, tourism commodifies it all. To decolonize something that was not created from indigenous peoples is impossible.We can decolonize our world. But we cannot decolonize systems of [00:32:00] oppression because they're set up to oppress us. And so that is, I don't know what to say. It's like I said before. You know, they keep changing the name, you know, Hawai'i Tourism Authority even though they have leadership that is Kanaka and they're trying to be culturally sensitive and they are doing, you know, destination management practices kind of thing and working with nonprofits and cultural groups.It's still tourism. It's still a business that wants to benefit from our land, from our water, from our culture, from our people. And when we talk about decolonization, when we talk about working against systems of oppression, it's really about us rebuilding our own systems that counter their systems.So it's all systemic, right? It's like a system of power that benefits one group [00:33:00] over the other. It stems from colonization, which is a system of power that is working against us. So to counter that, we have to create our own systems. We actually have to reconnect and recreate our old systems. So Franz Fanon talks about this. When colonization happens, what they do is they compartmentalize our world.So, you know, where we see the world as living, as where we see ourselves as part of nature, and part of this living system where there's balance. We give and take from the land. We take care of the land, the land takes care of us. In our cosmogonic genealogies as Kanaka, it tells us basically our universal perspective on all life, which is basically we are related to all the animals and plants and to the islands itself, because what it does is it recites the birth of every [00:34:00] living thing in Hawaii that was here during the time we were here, before Captain Cook arrived, but it connects us to this world and it tells us our place in it. And when colonization came, what they did was they ripped our world apart.And they separated us from nature. They separated us from our ancient beliefs. They separated us even from our belief in ourself. And many Native people, I'm sure can relate to this, but it's like living in two worlds. We live in a Hawaiian world, and we live in the Western world. We act a certain way in the Western world because of the way it's organized. And in our world, it's different. So, it's important to understand that we cannot infiltrate a system. Without the system infiltrating us. We're going to change before the system changes because these systems have been in place [00:35:00] for centuries.So I don't even want to answer the question about hosting foreigners or others because that's not even something that's on my radar. I don't imagine tourism in my future or in the future of our Lāhui, or in the future of our people. Kalahui, Hawai'i has taken stances against tourists and tourism. It's not worth what we have to give up to host foreigners. And I could go on for hours with stories of our people, putting themselves at risk, saving tourists in the ocean, and not even getting a word of thanks. Having tourists pee on our sacred sites, having tourists throw rubbish on our beaches. It never ends. So I think it's cute that they want to decolonize tourism. It's a multi billion dollar business. You cannot decolonize tourism unless you take [00:36:00] the aspect of capitalism out of it. It's like decolonizing money. How are you going to do that? It's like you need to build systems where you can sustain yourself and your people outside of these capitalist and outside of these corporate systems of power. Healani: Yeah, so what I would want to say to those who want to stand in solidarity with Kanaka Maoli, with the Native people of Hawai'i, I would say stay home. Help us spread the message that we do not want or need visitors to come to our islands. As the Native people of Hawai'i we're building our own food systems, we're bartering. We're trying to move forward as a people away from these other systems, away from tourism, away and out from under military occupation.It's a struggle that we're in. I think for those that are listening, it's important for you to[00:37:00] spread the word about the struggle that Native Hawaiians are going through in our own homeland and our struggle for liberation and to support us in whatever way you can. So I think it's important to support us from afar, I would say.And if you're here anyway, like if you end up coming anyway, then support. Don't just come here. Give back. Help out a Hawaiian organization. Help out a Hawaiian on the street. 40 percent of all houseless in Hawaii are Indigenous Hawaiians. And we only make up 20 percent of the population in our own homeland. 50 percent of the population in Hawaii's prisons and jails are Hawaiians.We have low educational attainment. We die from diseases that other people usually don't die from. We have probably the highest suicide rates in Hawaii. High infant mortality rates. So this isn't our paradise. But we have to make it a paradise for tourists. And that's something we can't continue to do.The reality of the [00:38:00] situation is that it's destroying our future right now. And you look at what happened to Lahaina, and that's all because of unsustainable development, high cost of living, corporations running amok, diverting the rivers, water being diverted to hotels and golf courses, instead of letting water just flow freely from the ocean, from the mountains to the sea.So that's what we're dealing with, and if you are thinking about coming to Hawaii, please, please think again and just support a Hawaiian organization in their struggle to reclaim what we lost. We did something around tourism. It's a survey that we gave to tourists who are here anyway, right? So that is our pledge for tourists if they are gonna come here. And we've had it out for a few years. We've tried to get like the airlines to push it out and stuff like that to raise awareness. Now they're doing more of that, which is good. [00:39:00] And I appreciate that. But ultimately, we don't want people to come here.Healani: That would be the end goal because Hawai'ians are displaced on our own land.This is our mutual aid that we set up to help families of Red Hill who still don't have clean drinking water, which is nuts. And this is two years after, right? So if they want to help with that, we appreciate that. Chris: I'll make sure that our listeners have all of those available to them when the episode launches.Healani: Because we're basically providing services to the residents, but Yeah, that's pretty much it. I can't believe people think they can decolonize tourism. It's freaking nuts.Chris: Yeah. I keep coming back to this notion that, you know, [00:40:00] part of colonization of our minds and the wars against us tend to stem from a war against the imagination and a war against us being able to imagine other worlds and just things completely differently. And I also think that when people don't have examples to follow of what that might be like to, to imagine things differently, and then also to not have the time to do that.You know, people tend to fall back on kind of simple alternatives, I guess.Healani: I think it could be useful for a little while, but it's like, we've got to work towards not sustaining it, but dismantling it, somehow getting rid of it.I mean, look at what everything that's happened to Hawaii, COVID, Lahaina fires. Our wildfires are like happening more and more. We have more on this island now than we've had before. It's just a matter of time before we have our own huge fire that's going to be devastating on this island.Chris: [00:41:00] I'm very grateful for your time, and I can tell very clearly that you're one of those people that's offering an example for younger people on how things might be different. So, I'd like to thank you for your time, your consideration. And I'll make sure, as I said, that all of these links are up on the End of Tourism website when the episode launches and and on social media as well.Healani: Awesome. Thank you so much. You have a good day. Get full access to ⌘ Chris Christou ⌘ at chrischristou.substack.com/subscribe

January 17, 2024 is the 131st anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Each year, Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi Political Action Committee and the Queen's Court convene the ʻOnipaʻa Peace March and Rally to make sure the overthrow is never forgotten. In this podcast short, Healani Sonoda-Pale from Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi shares about the importance of this event. To learn more about how to participate in the 2024 ʻOnipaʻa Peace March from Maunaʻala Royal Mausoleum to ʻIolani Palace, visit kalahuihawaii.net/onipaa. To listen to the full interview with Healani from 2022, see episode 34 in our feed. Tags: Hawaiʻi, Hawai'i, Hawaii

 On today's episode of HI Now Daily, we're live at Iolani Palace to showcase what you'll see if you go for an evening tour this time of year. Plus, we're celebrating National Cookie Day with a new sandwich cookie, packed with island flavor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So the US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland made a quiet visit to Hawaii and was hosted for an event at the Hawaiian Kingdom's Iolani Palace. She talked about restoring the building but not restoring the Palace to its rightful owners. My long time friend Kaiulani Mahuka joins me for trip to the past and an update to where we are now.

Welcome to another episode of the Comrades Classroom Podcast! We are finally back.  Our team has been hard at work trying to keep our two core programs running. In this episode, we listen to a speech from Haunani Kay Trask, a scholar poet, and champion of sovereignty for the Hawaiian people. Her life's work was dedicated to the liberation and self-determination of the Indigenous people of Hawaii. This month, our curriculum is centered around her best-known book, "Notes from a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii." We thought it would be fitting to study her, best-known speech which she gave at the 'lolani palace in Honolulu on January 17th, 1993, which was the centennial of the illegal, overthrow of the Hawaiian people. If you fuck with the work that we do and you want to help us keep our programs running, there are $1, $5, and $20 dollar donation levels on our Patreon, which is crucial to our core programs. Joining and sharing is the best way to help us keep our programs stable for the long term. Everything for everyone. Nothing for ourselves. Free the land.

April is National Poetry Month    We celebrate and promote the art of poetry and storytelling.  We recognize the place and possibilities that poets and poetry have in civic life, including helping communities address issues of importance.   Kealoha is the first Poet Laureate of Hawaiʻi. As an internationally acclaimed poet and storyteller, he has performed throughout the world -- from the White House to the ʻIolani Palace, from Brazil to Switzerland. He is the first poet in Hawaiʻi's history to perform at a governor's inauguration, was selected as a master artist for a National Endowment for the Arts program, was named an American Academy of Poets Laureate Fellow, and delivered the keynote address for MIT's special commencement ceremony in 2022. Kealoha's latest work, The Story of Everything, is a science-based theater production that has toured in various cities throughout the United States and premiered as a feature film at the 2022 Maui Film Festival and the 2022 Hawaiʻi International Film Festival.   Here is a link to the list of Academy of American Poets Luareate Fellowships from state and year, including Kealoha!  As always leave a review if you enjoyed these stories and follow us on Instagram or visit the webpage of the Wyoming Humanities! Sign up for the podcast newsletter using the QR code of follow this link: http://eepurl.com/igy4fH

Veteran journalist Paula Akana shares the story of ‘Iolani Palace from a different seat: as Executive Director of The Friends of ‘Iolani Palace. Support the showFollow us on: YouTube Instagram Twitter Facebook TikTok

Aloha Spooky Listeners and welcome to 2023! We're back after the holiday hiatus..... and Dr. Evan is cold. It's snowy here, so let's travel to Hawaii! Dr. Ed tells us some history and background of Polynesian beliefs Dr. Evan discusses the royal hauntings of Iolani Palace and the Sheraton Princess Ka'iulani Hotel. Dr. Ed explores the alleged kasha in the Kaimuki neighborhood of Honolulu. What is a kasha? Think corpse eating ghost, that sometimes is a cat, that can choke you out. Hawaii: paranormal paradise? Oh, and if you visit don't be a dick.

We're in Honolulu, Hawaii, with Claire Tak of ClairesHoliday.com. We discuss taking the Koko Head Hike, exploring the Makapuu Lighthouse, and learning about Hawaiian history at the Iolani Palace. Show notes & our 1-page guide are at WeTravelThere.com/honolulu. Miles and points make travel affordable but tracking them is difficult. That's why I use AwardWallet to monitor my rewards, reservations, and free night certificates. Sign up for free at WeTravelThere.com/awardwallet.

On this episode of Hawaii's Best, Bryan talks with the co-founder and CEO of Shaka Guide, Andrew Fowers. Get Episode Show Notes Here:  --> hawaiisbesttravel.com/episode58

The passing of Abigail Kawānanakoa is announced on the steps of ʻIolani Palace; the State reminds Hawaiʻi Island homeowners to review their insurance policy in light of the Maunaloa eruption; and two Big Island conservation scientists talk about their experience working on a film for The Pope

Hawaiian royal heiress Abigail Kawananakoa, known as the “last alii” and a revered philanthropist who used her vast wealth to support Native Hawaiian culture and causes, died Sunday at 96. Her death was announced in the Hawaiian language at Iolani Palace on Monday morning. The cause of Kawananakoa's death was not discussed, but she had been struggling with her health.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hawaiian royal heiress Abigail Kawananakoa, known as the “last alii” and a revered philanthropist who used her vast wealth to support Native Hawaiian culture and causes, died Sunday at 96. Her death was announced in Olelo Hawaii at Iolani Palace on Monday morning. The cause of Kawananakoa's death was not discussed, but she had been struggling with her health.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hawaiʻi Tourism Japan reviews loosening travel restrictions; Hawaiian Airlines aims to reduce carbon footprint; Waikīkī coastline challenged by climate change; ʻIolani Palace hosts Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee festivities

In 1895, to save her kingdom from being torn apart, Queen Lili'uokalani signed over her authority to the US government.  Subsequent to that event, she was imprisoned in her own bedroom in her palace–‘Iolani Palace–for ten months.  Her closest companion stayed with her, voluntarily, throughout her confinement, leaving only on Sundays to see her family.  During the time that she was under house arrest, Queen Lili'uokalani worked in crazy quilt style–the most popular quilting style of the day–and created much of the 97″ x 95″ Queen's Quilt that is now on display in ‘Iolani Palace. Join host Deborah Moebes for a peek into how the Queen's Quilt serves as a symbol reflecting the way sewing has impacted Hawiian culture, and continues to demonstrate how sewing can be an act of revolutionary identity.   Read more here:  https://whip-stitch.com/the-queens-quilt-podcast

The Honolulu Department of Community Services director explains the strategy for improving conditions in Chinatown; a Honolulu architect walks through Chinatown to open our eyes to some of its charms; ʻIolani Palace's historian takes us back to the 1890s when Honolulu was a bustling international seaport; and an investment manager on Kauaʻi discusses the art center he's developing in Līhuʻe

HPR reporter Ku'uwehi Hiraishi breaks down long-range studies of Hawaii's stock of bottom fish like opakapaka and onaga; SERVCO Pacific adapts its campaign of giving back to the community; Iolani Palace celebrates King David Kalakaua's birthday; and our producers break stuff in a new local business that's all the rage

1. TELEVISION: What was the name of Jay's dog in “Modern Family”? 2. MEASUREMENTS: How many pecks are in a bushel? 3. GEOGRAPHY: Which continent has regions in all four hemispheres of Earth — north, south, east and west? 4. MUSIC: Which singer is known as the Queen of Disco? 5. U.S. STATES: Which state has the only royal palace in the United States? 6. GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: How many federal holidays are recognized by the United States? Answers 1. Stella 2. Four 3. Africa 4. Donna Summer 5. Hawaii, Iolani Palace 6. 11 annually, with Juneteenth as the most recent...Article Link

This is a special Bonus Episode, presented as a poem stitched together with music and memory, story and reflection. I am a sound artist and this is how I feel most comfortable to share a bit of my own story, who I am on this planet, how I maintain community, connection to land and assert ally-ship to the various communities who I love and who love me. This episode was the first broadcast to open a series of 18 episodes presented by Broken Boxes for Radio Coyote and aired March, 2021. You can hear the full series archive at Radiocoyote.org. Ku`e loosely translates from Hawaiian language to mean, “To Oppose, Resist: Stand Different”. My life I have always been different, it used to feel like a point of trauma, not belonging, but now as I grow older, I feel like this understanding of relationship to self and land is what makes me so strong. I am proud of who I am and where I come from. This broadcast is the memory of home. The land I was born in/with/for and the people and locations and songs that informed my being on the planet. In the middle of the pacific ocean, the water and the land of Hana on the island of Maui, Hawai'i. This broadcast is my memory of that place, it is a vulnerable love story. Kumu Kama, a teacher of mine from my youth used to say “You have to honor the land, songs and dance of where you are from in order to honor the that of others you may want to support and be in community with.” Thank you to my family and friends for sharing your memories of home transmitted here in a mixtape format to set up this series. Music featured in this episode: Artist: Olomana  Song: Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u  Artist: Hapa Song: Lei Pikake Artist: Paula Fuga Song: Loloiwi Audio recording from the late Kanaka Maoli activist Haunani Kay Trask. This excerpt is from a speech Trask gave On the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in 1993, where Trask famously spoke in front of Iolani Palace. Artist: Composed by Hinaleimoana Wong Song: Kū Haʻaheo E Kuʻu Hawaiʻi Thank you to my dad, my hanai sister Pamakani Pico and my dear friends Christy Werner and Angelica Belmont who contributed to this episode by sharing stories from home!

This is a special Bonus Episode, presented as a poem stitched together with music and memory, story and reflection. I am a sound artist and this is how I feel most comfortable to share a bit of my own story, who I am on this planet, how I maintain community, connection to land and assert ally-ship to the various communities who I love and who love me. This episode was the first broadcast to open a series of 18 episodes presented by Broken Boxes for Radio Coyote and aired March, 2021. You can hear the full series archive at Radiocoyote.org. Ku`e loosely translates from Hawaiian language to mean, “To Oppose, Resist: Stand Different”. My life I have always been different, it used to feel like a point of trauma, not belonging, but now as I grow older, I feel like this understanding of relationship to self and land is what makes me so strong. I am proud of who I am and where I come from. This broadcast is the memory of home. The land I was born in/with/for and the people and locations and songs that informed my being on the planet. In the middle of the pacific ocean, the water and the land of Hana on the island of Maui, Hawai'i. This broadcast is my memory of that place, it is a vulnerable love story. Kumu Kama, a teacher of mine from my youth used to say “You have to honor the land, songs and dance of where you are from in order to honor the that of others you may want to support and be in community with.” Thank you to my family and friends for sharing your memories of home transmitted here in a mixtape format to set up this series. Music featured in this episode: Artist: Olomana  Song: Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u  Artist: Hapa Song: Lei Pikake Artist: Paula Fuga Song: Loloiwi Audio recording from the late Kanaka Maoli activist Haunani Kay Trask. This excerpt is from a speech Trask gave On the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in 1993, where Trask famously spoke in front of Iolani Palace. Artist: Composed by Hinaleimoana Wong Song: Kū Haʻaheo E Kuʻu Hawaiʻi Thank you to my dad, my hanai sister Pamakani Pico and my dear friends Christy Werner and Angelica Belmont who contributed to this episode by sharing stories from home!

This episode I speak with artist Lehuauakea. Lehua is a māhū or Queer, Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian and mixed heritage interdisciplinary artist and kapa maker from Pāpaʻikou on Moku O Keawe, or the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. We caught up this summer on the ancestral lands of the Tewa/Towa people of what is now known as Santa Fe, NM during their residency at the School for Advanced Research this summer where Lehua was working on making some large scale Kapa and other projects. We chat about the intention Lehua takes in how their culture is embedded in all they make, their ways of practicing art and producing kapa, and how the act of making keeps Lehua connected deeper to their land and ancestry. Opening the episode we hear an audio recording from the late Kanaka Maoli activist Haunani Kay Trask. This excerpt is from a speech Trask gave On the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in 1993, where Trask famously spoke in front of Iolani Palace. About Lehuauakea: Lehuauakea is a māhū mixed-Native Hawaiian interdisciplinary artist and kapa maker from Pāpaʻikou on Moku O Keawe, the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. Lehua's Kānaka Maoli family descends from several lineages connected to Maui, Kauaʻi, Kohala, and Hāmākua where their family resides to this day. Through a range of craft-based media, their art serves as a means of exploring cultural and biological ecologies, spectrums of Indigeneity, and what it means to live within the context of contemporary environmental degradation. With a particular focus on the labor-intensive making of ʻohe kāpala (carved bamboo printing tools), kapa (bark cloth), and natural pigments, Lehua is able to breathe new life into patterns and traditions practiced for generations. Through these acts of resilience that help forge deeper relationships with ʻāina, this mode of Indigenous storytelling is carried well into the future. They have participated in several solo and group shows around the Pacific Ocean, and recently opened their first curatorial research project, DISplace, at the Five Oaks Museum in Portland, Oregon. The artist is currently based between the Pacific Northwest and Pāpaʻikou after earning their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting with a minor in Art + Ecology at Pacific Northwest College of Art. Follow the work of Lehuauakea: Website: https://lehuauakea.com IG at @_lehuauakea_ https://www.instagram.com/_lehuauakea_/ Music featured on this episode by Hawane Rios https://www.hawanerios.com Songs: It's Everything & Warrior Rising

This episode I speak with artist Lehuauakea. Lehua is a māhū or Queer, Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian and mixed heritage interdisciplinary artist and kapa maker from Pāpaʻikou on Moku O Keawe, or the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. We caught up this summer on the ancestral lands of the Tewa/Towa people of what is now known as Santa Fe, NM during their residency at the School for Advanced Research this summer where Lehua was working on making some large scale Kapa and other projects. We chat about the intention Lehua takes in how their culture is embedded in all they make, their ways of practicing art and producing kapa, and how the act of making keeps Lehua connected deeper to their land and ancestry. Opening the episode we hear an audio recording from the late Kanaka Maoli activist Haunani Kay Trask. This excerpt is from a speech Trask gave On the 100th anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in 1993, where Trask famously spoke in front of Iolani Palace. About Lehuauakea: Lehuauakea is a māhū mixed-Native Hawaiian interdisciplinary artist and kapa maker from Pāpaʻikou on Moku O Keawe, the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. Lehua's Kānaka Maoli family descends from several lineages connected to Maui, Kauaʻi, Kohala, and Hāmākua where their family resides to this day. Follow the work of Lehuauakea: Website: https://lehuauakea.com IG at @_lehuauakea_ https://www.instagram.com/_lehuauakea_/ Music featured on this episode by Hawane Rios https://www.hawanerios.com Songs: It's Everything & Warrior Rising

Hawaii - Myths - Legends - Kings - Queens - History - All The Stuff Tolkien Loved!   Hi, I'm Christy Shriver and we're here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.    I'm Garry Shriver and this is the How to Love Lit podcast.  This week we are going in a totally different direction – literally and figuratively- doing something we've never done before.  Inspired by Tolkien's love of mythology and genealogy, his fondness for names and the combination of all these put together, we are going to spend a week talking about one of the most enchanting and remote places on earth- the islands of Hawaii.  Christy, from a historical perspective, Hawaii's history is fascinating, and in some ways a micro-expression of a lot of what has happened all over the world.  It is a place of immense beauty, incredible tragedy- a place where people have been exploited and brutalized, but also a place that starts and ends every conversation with a greeting of love- aloha.  I went there for the first time years ago and lived for a short while.  As a teacher, I was on summer break and I spent every day in the sun with my beautiful three year old daughter, Emily.  We played on the sand of the beaches and watched the surfers- mostly just soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of a place that felt so far away from the MidWest of my birth or Memphis.  I had hardly ever even flown on an airplane up to that point in my life.  It was the only time in my life where I had a tan I could be proud of.  I'm one of those people that burns and not tans.  I was mesmerized by much of it.    I was always enchanted with it as well- without ever having been.  I remember when my grandparents went there on their 50th anniversary.  My grandmother, who married my grandfather at the age of 15, who never went to high school, who worked for the telephone company all of her life, came back gushing from Hawaii talking about how beautiful and magical it was.  She also talked about meeting Tom Selleck, but that's another point.  Today, though, we're going to explore just a little bit about the stories that make up this amazing place.  We also want to put Hawaii into the larger context of the Polynesian islands.  It's a part of the United States as a state, but that is only its most recent history.  The history of Hawaii is rich and old; its language and culture deep, charming and connected to a much larger story.  If you go to Hawaii, one of the must do's is to participate in a Luau.  It might feel like a touristy thing, but it's more than that really- it's a story.   The Luau started in 1819 when  King Kamehameha II  ended the taboo system that forbade men and women from eating together.  It's a feast.  There is always music, food, hula dancing and stories.  They might be a family story celebrating a rite of passage, but it can also be the story of the island.  Today, we are going to look at the stories of Hawaii: a few ancient myths- a true story turned myth, but we're going to end with an inspirational true story of a great and inspirational woman- Queen Lili'uo-kalani . Her legacy lives and is most definitely not a myth as we understand that word, but enduring fact.    Sounds like we have a lot to get through….    I know- it may be too much, but let's see how it goes.  First, let's start with the big picture- what is Polynesia?  We know Hawaii is a Polynesian island but what is that.      Well, it's certainly not one place- so dispel that myth- pardon the pun- the word poly means many and there are over 1000 islands scattered over 800,000 square miles.  What is interesting is that even though there are many different indigenous people that live quite separately on these different islands, there are actually many things they have in common- including their DNA- they share a common origin.  When James Cook first landed in Hawaii, one of the things that shocked him was that the language of the Hawaiians shared cognates with languages used in  other islands thousands of miles away.  He thought he was a discoverer, an explorer, and he was in the sense that he was discovering and exploring what he didn't know- but he was not uncovering something formerly unknown or unconnected.  There were connections of language, of culture, of religion that were far-reaching.  The Polynesian islands of Hawaii makes up a triangle and Hawaii is the top of the Triangle. - Easter Island off the coast of Chile makes up one end of the triangle, and new Zealand is the third point in the triangle- so – if you can imagine just a gigantic triangle across the Pacific ocean, that's Polynesia. If we look at a globe instead of a map, we can see just  how much space this triangle covers.  In fact, it's actually incredible to think that well before the Vikings and the Europeans were making ships to cross the Atlantic ocean, Polynesians had already developed the technology to travel over thousands of miles of water- and were doing it for thousands of years using the stars and even the oceans currents- that's a very interesting story in and of itself, but for another podcast.    Well, Disney cashed in on the story of Polynesia, although I'm embarrassed to say I haven't watched the movie, although I know it's popular.  I just kind of quit watching cartoons when my girls grew out of them.  I probably should have watched it before this podcast, but I didn't, so I did the second best thing and googled about it.  What I wanted to know was  how well-received  the movie version was to people who love the real story of Polynesia.  And unsurprisingly, I g got mixed reviews.  On the plus side, Disney picked a good name for the heroine of their story.  The word “moana” means Ocean.  For Hawaiian people- not just Hawaiian people, but we'll center our focus on Hawaii, the ocean is  not  something that divides the world, but something that connects it- which I think is a nice idea.   So, Moana is a nice choice of a name for your protagonist.  One inaccuracy that annoys people is with the demi-god called Maui.  Now, Disney's Maui is an orphan- and even though there are 20 something slightly different versions of the Maui story across Polynesia, an orphan is in none of them.  .  Hawaiian tradition has four Maui brothers.  The  Maui stories are very important and are one of those links between the islands that lets modern people see how connected these people were culturally- as technologically impossible as that seems.  But another point of annoyance with the movie is that Hina is missing.     Who's that?      A Goddess- Maui is just a demi-god.  But Hina is different things in different islands, but in all of them she is a god connected to Maui.  She is The wife or sister or even mother of Maui, depending on the version of the legend.  But in all cases, she's a powerful female deity, why would we want to delete that?      HA!  I'm sure you wouldn't have had you been the Disney executive in charge. Did you really read that a lot of people are upset she's not in the movie, or is that just your opinion?    No, that's a real thing… but let's get to the legend of Maui.  There are lots of myths we could tell, some probably more important than the ones we're going to tell, but Maui is the most recognizable name of Polynesian legends- in part because of the movie, but also because of the island named Maui.  First of all, the Hawaiian word  Mo'olelo can be translated as legend, story or history- which an important point to start with as we talk about myths, legends and histories in general.  And it's interesting to point out the distinctions that are NOT being made by using the same word for history as you use for myth-  these things intermingle in Hawaiian culture- they would definitely agree with Tolkien that myths are true.  And histories may be legends.      Well, I want to point out that and I'll point it out very specifically later in the podcast, but history and myth intermingle in all cultures and with all peoples- we just don't highlight that the way the Hawaiian language does.      I also think it's interesting how there are protocols about how important  stories, histories, legends should be told.  There were specific highly skilled people trained to remember the tales- for the sole purpose to make sure the stories were kept intact and authentic.    The Hawaiian people, called Kanaka Maoli, have an incredibly strong oral tradition.  Their language was an oral one for most of its history.  In fact, the Hawaiian language did not even have a written alphabet until 1826 when Christian missionaries created one and then went on to develop the written form of the language.     Doing that is Something that has gotten mixed reviews from historians and cultural critics as time has passed- Print culture as well as missionary influence.  Next week we will introduce Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart, I want to get into a little more about the controversy of Christian missionaries and local cultures because in Africa that is a large part of the narrative, but in Hawaii, the Christian influence has been, although checkered at times, more well received by indigenous people, and definitely not the most controversial part of the story we are going to tell today.  However, we're getting ahead of ourselves.  Let's go back in time to Maui.    Okay..one version of his story goes like this, one day Maui realized that people were being held down by the sky.  They couldn't stand up.  The sky had flattened leaves and was keeping plants and trees from growing.  People were suffering.  He realizes he needs to help.  So, he visits a Kahuna, a Hawaiian priest or healer.  The Kahuna tattoos Maui with a magical symbol on his forearm giving him great powers.  He also went to a Kapuna, an elder, and she gave him a drink for her gourd.  This made him supernaturally strong and he was able to push the sky above the mountains where it is today.      At another time, Maui's mother, Hina complains that her kapa cloth doesn'thave time to dry because the days are too short, so Maui climbs to the top of the Haleakala volcano and waits at the top for the sun to rise.  He uses a. magical lasso made from his sisters hair andsnares the the sun's rays.  The sun agrees to slow its pace across the sky increasing the growing season.    And here's another one- probably the most widely known, one day Maui pulls p the Hawaiian islands by tricking his brothers into paddling their canoes with all of their might to haul up each island.  He then went on to hook them using a great and magical fishhook called Manaiakalani.  The brothers thought they were pulling up massive fish, but really they pulled up all the Hawaiian islands.    These stories are really fun.  Lots of them are short.  But if you just want to look for some literary stylistic things that are distinctive- you will see that lots of them glorify the hero of the tale, who in Polynesian cultures corresponds to the chief, of course, as these groups are all non-democratic groups led by chiefs.  The myths use a lot of hyperbole and metaphor to enhance his attractiveness and his deeds.  There is a rich use of personal names- names are very important in these cultures.  Natural things like rocks, valleys, even the sun have been modified by the hero and nature is anthropomorphized- in another words, is its own character- like the sun.  Nature is beautiful and spectacular but engages the characters as its own character.    Well, there are some things that cross over with the Greek myths we're more familiar with, but some that are definitely unique.    For sure.      Before we leave Maui and the ancient myths, I think we should share the one where he discovers fire.      Okay,  again Maui is out fishing one day with his brothers and he sees a very small plum of white smoke.  He goes over to see what it is and discovers an hen stamping out and trying to hide the fire.  Maui hides and watches the hen start another fire.  The next day, the hen goes out to make her fire but sees that Maui isn't in the canoe with his brothers, so she doesn't make the fire.  Maui realizes the hen is on to him, so the next day, he puts a large human-shaped thing in the canoe and tricks the hen into thinking he's gone.  The hen makes the fire rubbing limbs together.  Maui jumps out, grabs the hen by the neck and demands to be taught how to make fire.  At first the hen lies to him telling him to rub water plants together, but eventually she shows him how to rub the dry sticks together.  Maui, as punishment for lying to him, burns the crest on the top of the bird head- and that is why the adult alae-‘ula or Hawaiian hen has a red crest.  There you go.    Well, let's transition from ancient myths to more modern ones.  And this is where the Hawaiians are on to something by using the same word for myth and history and the point I was making earlier.  The next story I want to share is not a myth, but something that actually happened, but over the years, because of how we record history, the events have been exaggerated not too differently than the Maui stories, really.      So, On January 19, 1778, the Hawaiians welcomed a British explorer, Captain James Cook.  He is considered the first European to ever visit the islands, although that's not undisputed.  I mentioned him before.  He's a very famous person in British history during this time period.  .  He sailed all over the world up and down the coasts of Canada, three expeditions into the Pacific islands, to Antarctica, ,He was very successful in terms of what he was setting out to do and the things he was learning about the world made a huge impact in his home country.  He was disciplined with his crew, kept them alive by keeping an eye on their behaviors and their diets, and just this made him very successful.  But one reason history remembers him so well, is the same reason we remember Florence, Italy so well.  We talked about this during the Machiavelli episodes.  Cook kept copious records, not just about what happened but what he was learning.  He recorded scientific discoveries, cultural discoveries, language discoveries.  Lots of things that were new to Europeans, and as I've said before- history belongs to the one who records it.  So, since we have so much written by him, he gets to frame a lot of the record.      What we know about that encounter was written down eventually by both native Hawaiians as well as in the record log of Captain Cook himself.  However, even though there is some direct record, over the years, the narrative of the events that took place has evolved based on people's interpretations afterwards, and many would argue were mythologized likely inaccurately for a variety of different reasons.  So, in some form or fashion, the long and short of it, Captain Cook showed up and as circumstance would have it, it was during a holiday event where local islanders were celebrating the Polynesian god, Lono. Lono is one of the four gods in Hawaiian mythology- ironically the god of peace and agriculture.    Let me point out the that's different than Maui who was a demi-god-.      In the mythologized version- which was accepted as fact for many years, the locals believed that Captain Cook WAS the god Lono and treated him like a god because he arrived during this celebration in a sacred bay dedicated to Lono.  Apparently, the ship was well received and they had a wonderful time with the natives- some of these activities introducing diseases to the island- again another story for another podcast.  But they stayed a month before leaving to hunt for the Northwest Passage.  The part that historians have come to question over the years is if the locals really think he was a god, or is that just something that has grown out of the story because of cultural misunderstandings of what was going on and what was being said?  We know the Hawaiians were impressed with some of his iron because Cook mentioned in his log they recognized it.  He made note of it because they had seen it before which struck him.  Is there enough evidence to support the whole god- thing? There is some, but it's not clear cut, and that's not the end of the story.  Captain Cook and his crew leave Kealakekua Bay, but unfortunately they get into a storm and have to come back because their ship, the Resolution is messed up.  This time when they come back into the bay, there's a brawl of some sorts for reasons that are not entirely clear.  Captain Cook actually was killed in the altercation as well as 30 plus Hawaiians.  Now, the part of the original versions that  has been questioned over the years as to why Captain Cook was killed.  The original story states that the Hawaiians realize he's not a god and kill him for that because in the Lono myth, he's not supposed to come back.  But honestly, more recent scholarship that reads the first hand accounts of both Cook and the Hawaiians who later recorded the story, tell a story that is less dramatic and more humanized- maybe even accidental.  Of course, what actually happened, we can never know for sure.  But Captain Cook's name is heavily associated with the history of Hawaii especially as it begins to interact with the Western Colonizing world.  In fact, when we end the podcast, reading an introduction to a translation of an Hawaiian ancient text, Captain Cook's name and this story is mentioned.      So, why did the story become fact that the native Hawaiians thought Cook was god.    It's interesting, at least for us who are interested in how history is recorded.  We believe it because that is how a Hawaiian named Kamakau wrote this history in 1866.     Well, that sounds definitely and clear cut.      But it isn't.  Culture is never clear cut.  The events happened in 1778- that's 88 years previously and Kamakau wasn't a witness.  He was recording in written form what had been passed down orally, and what have we just learned from reading the Maui legends, Hawaiians often use hyperbole when describing the chief- in their oral tradition.   They also use a lot of metaphors.  That's cultural.   If a Hawaiian used the word Lono to describe Cook later, it's possible it was a comparison like what they were thinking when he showed up- not a literal interpretation.  Also, as the leaders of the Hawaiians spoke to Cook, isn't it likely they used flattery in order get what they wanted.  They may have called him Lono, the person who told the story heard it as such, but it wasn't because the Chiefs thought that is who they were actually talking to.  We know for a fact that Cook gave them a knife during their first meeting.  So, there are many possible explanations as to the encounter.  It's just one of the many problems historians have- and so that's why I say, making the word myth and history the same, in some sense, is likely a smart thing to do.  That way, everyone knows, that some things are potentially questionable or at least open to multiple interpretations.    Well, I want to end with a story that is very very documented about a real person- and this person history inarguably is a great American hero- although, she was never American-at least not by choice.  Queen Lili‘uokalani,     As a little girl they called her Lydia.  She was born on September 2, 1838, attended missionary schools and was highly highly educated- notice also that is only 60 years after Cook shows up in Hawaii for the first time.  That is not long.    No, it isn't.  HOW she became the Queen of Hawaii is interesting in itself- genealogy and names are such an important part of Hawaiian culture, but that is a story for another day.  Long story short, she became queen after her brother died and she was the heir apparent.  This again will show you how inglorious history is.  Hawaii, after being discovered by Western people, quickly became a popular spot in the Pacific.  It was geographically in the middle of the Pacific ocean.  The weather was perfect.  Growing conditions were perfect.  So, obviously financial interests, specifically American financial interests saw an opportunity to grow sugar cane, among other things.      Long story short, and this happened not too long before Queen Queen Lili‘uokalani began her reign, Her brother King David Kalakaua signed what today we “the Bayonet Constitution” which basically limited the power of the monarchy and disenfranchised the native population.      Why would he do that?    He did it because the businessmen on the island literally forced him to at gun point.  That's why it's called the Bayonet Constitution.  This constitution linked voting rights to land ownership which cut out local people who did't own land, and allowed non-native immigrants to vote just because they did.      When Queen Liluokalani became queen, her first order of business was to amend the bogus constitution, restore her own power and re-enfranchise the native Hawaiians.  Local businessmen, afraid of the influence of the queen and how it would affect business, basically conspired with the American media/technology industries of their day to use their influence to run a dis-information campaign about what was happening in Hawaii.  They villainized her, got the House of Representatives in the United States to get involved, and were able to bring in the US Marines to force Queen Lili‘uokalani to surrender the Hawaiian Kingdom to the United States in 1893.  Ironically, the person who was proclaimed the president of the Republic of Hawaii was a man by the name of Sanford B. Dole- yes, as in Dole Pineapples- he was the son of the most influential businessman on the island.      It's a terrible story.  Queen Liluokalani was imprisoned for 8 months at the Iolani Palace which you can visit to this day.  Those were dark days for her and she really had no assurances she would be released.  She was and actually went to Washington DC to advocate for her people and for herself.  She met with President Cleveland, held a reception for reporters and members of congress and their families.  She also attended the inauguration of President McKinley and then made a formal appeal to the US Government. Let's read it:    I declare such treaty to be an act of wrong toward the native and part-native people of Hawaii, an invasion of the rights of the ruling chiefs, in violation of international rights both toward my people and toward friendly nations with whom they have made treaties, the perpetuation of the fraud whereby the constitutional government was overthrown, and finally an act of gross injustice to me.  Because, the official protests made by me on the 17th day of January, 1893, to the so-called provisional government was signed by me and received by said government with the assurance that the case was referred to the United States of America for arbitration.  Because, that protest and my communications to the United States government immediately thereafter expressly declare that I yielded my authority to the forces of the United States, in order to avoid bloodshed and because I recognized the futility of a conflict with so formidable a power.  Because, the President of the United States, the Secretary of State and an envoy commissioned by them reported in official documents that my government was unlawfully coerced by the forces, diplomatic and naval, of the United States, and that I was at the date of their investigations the constitutional ruler of my people.  Therefore, I, Liliuokalani of Hawaii, do hereby call upon the President of that nation to whom alone I yielded my property and my authority, to withdraw said treaty (ceding said lands) from further consideration. I ask the honorable Senate of the United States to decline to ratify said treaty, and I implore the people of this great and good  nation, from whom my ancestors learned the Christian religion, to sustain their representatives in such acts of justice and equity as may be in accord with the principles of their fathers. And to the Almighty Ruler of the universe, to Him Who judgeth righteously, I commit my cause.  Done at Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America, this seventeenth day of June, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.  (Signed)  LILIUOKALANI.    Well, it just wasn't ever going to happen.  All of world history, not just American history, world history is the story of these kinds of conflicts.  In 1898, William McKinley signed into law a joint resolution of Congress to annex Hawaii to the United States, although, the legality of doing something like this is obviously disputed to this day.  This was just a few weeks before Queen Liliuokalani turned 60 years old.  She would never be queen again.  On Queen Liliuokalani's 73rd birthday, she gave a birthday present to her people.  She had her trustees set aside a piece of property to create the Liliuokalani Garden, then when she died, in her will she created an estate to provide for orphan children of Hawaiian blood.  It's since been amended to include other races of children as well.  But her legacy lives through the ongoing Liliuokalani trust which is still active today supporting orphans.      Her story is so intermingled with the story of Hawaii which is shocking looking back, but it's also encouraging on a personal level.  She didn't win her battle, but she never stopped advocating for her people- the ones she loved.  In spite of all that was so discouraging, losing her country- she still made her life count in a significant way and has improved the lives of many years after her death.      She also left an important literary legacy- and that's the last thing I want to talk about.  While she was locked up imprisoned she used her time to do two things: first she made a quilt- an important Hawaiian tradition- but in her case, besides just a piece of art, she was making an important political document.  She wanted to document the overthrow of her government.  You can see the quilt today in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.     And of course, in 1894, when the Hawaiian flag came down and the American flag went up, many many people began making quilts out of the Hawaiian flag, as a form of protest.  Often they would hide them under their bed, but they had them.  They wanted to remember the monarchy.      The second thing that Queen Liliuokalani did while locked away was to translate a sacred Hawaiian text- called the Kumulipo.  It's a creation chant.  She transcribed over 16 eras that incorporate the emergence of sea creatures, insects, land plants, animals and eventually humans.      We'll end the episode today by reading the preface to the chant…allowing Queen Liliuokalani to speak directly to use.  The chant itself reads like a genealogy and would be difficult to read, but you can look at it online.  Her translation is also an important historical document.  Let's read her introduction, remember, she is writing this while imprisoned.     THERE are several reasons for the publication of this work, the translation of which pleasantly employed me while imprisoned by the present rulers of Hawaii. It will be to my friends a souvenir of that part of my own life, and possibly it may also be of value to genealogists and scientific men of a few societies to which a copy will be forwarded. The folk-lore or traditions of an aboriginal people have of late years been considered of inestimable value; language itself changes, and there are terms and allusions herein to the natural history of Hawaii, which might be forgotten in future years without some such history as this to preserve them to posterity. Further, it is the special property of the latest ruling family of the Hawaiian Islands, being nothing less than the genealogy in remote times of the late King Kalakaua,--who had it printed in the original Hawaiian language,--and myself.  This is the very chant which was sung by Puou, the High Priest of our ancient worship, to Captain Cook whom they had surnamed Lono, one of the four chief gods, dwelling high in the heavens, but at times appearing on the earth. This was the cause of the deification of Captain Cook under that name, and of the offerings to him made at the temple or Heiau at Hikiau, Kealakekua, where this song was rendered.  Captain Cook's appearance was regarded by our people then as a confirmation of their own traditions. For it was prophesied by priests at the time of the death of Ka-I-i-mamao that he, Lono, would return anew from the sea in a Spanish man-of-war or Auwaalalua. To the great navigator they accordingly gave a welcome with the name of Lono.  She goes on to list the geneology of the monarchy and makes historical connections that consist of a lot of names, we might get lost in if I read them, but I want to pick back up her words at the end where she says this…  It will be seen, therefore, that as connecting the earlier kings of ancient history with the monarchs latest upon the throne this chant is a contribution to the history of the Hawaiian Islands, and as it is the only record of its kind in existence it seemed to me worthy of preservation in convenient form.  I have endeavored to give the definition of each name as far as it came within my knowledge of words, but in some cases this could not be done because the true signification has been lost. The ancient Hawaiians were astronomers, and the terms used appertained to the heavens, the stars, terrestrial science, and the gods. Curious students will notice in this chant analogies between its accounts of the creation and that given by modern science or Sacred Scripture. As with other religions, our ancient people recognized an all-powerful evil spirit: Mea was the King of Milu as Satan is of the infernal regions, or hell.  I hope that to some interested in all that pertains to Hawaii, this may give one-half the pleasure which it gave to me in the translation and preparation of the manuscript.    And that is our hope with this podcast as well.  We hope we've introduced you to just a small part of the long and complex story of a wonderful people – the Hawaiian people- a people that greet and send off everyone they meet with aloha- a way of life where you share your essence of love and friendship at every coming and going.  Oh, and if you recognize the song that we're playing on at the beginning and at the end, it was written by Queen Liliuakalani herself, and even Elvis Presley has recorded it.    This week instead of saying peace out- we say aloha!   

On this episode of Hawaii’s Best, Bryan talks with the co-founder and CEO of Shaka Guide, Andrew Fowers. Get Episode Show Notes Here:  --> hawaiisbesttravel.com/episode58 hawaiisbesttravel.com/episode58

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority faces possible funding cuts; ‘Iolani Palace seeks financial support amid pandemic; Reality Check with Civil Beat: Honolulu police shoot, kill man in Nu‘uanu

Makani's Full 4K Interview Video: https://culturised.com/zamora​ A third-generation seamstress, Kiniokahokuloa “Kini” Zamora has viewed his world through the eye of a sewing needle since age 10. Under consistent tutelage from his Aunty Delilah, this interest turned into a hobby that sparked a lifestyle. Kini attended Honolulu Community College's Fashion Technology program and New York's Fashion Institute of Technology. Kini has been a finalist on both. He continues his strides in fashion with a full calendar of events Fashion shows, workshops, speaking engagements, pop-up shops, and working daily at his studio The Clique by KZ. The Clique is home to his retail store, manufacturing, embroidery, hair, makeup, and photography studio. His local and custom designs are ever-changing, relevant, and in demand for an assortment of consumer and industry needs. Active in the community, Kini is generous and giving of his time, product, and aloha to a variety of local and international organizations, charities, and events to benefit businesses and individuals. You can find his recent community work at Iolani Palace getting to recreate the Coronation Gown of Queen Kapiolani. His natural talent and appreciation for Hawai‘i and its people inspire him to elevate the art and industry of fashion. Kini is the true embodiment of an artist who loves to share himself through his designs, soul to soul.

The home to Hawaiian royalty was also the first to have electricity and flushing toilets.

In today’s episode of Works Not Cited: Open House, I’m taking you on a material culture dive into the lives of the Hawaiian monarchy with a tour of the corner room in Iolani Palace where former queen Lili’uokalani was imprisoned for about eight months in 1895. Listen in to learn about the aesthetic power of Iolani Palace, a brief look into the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, Lili’uokalani’s passion for composition and her famous Queen’s Quilt, and more! I fell down a lot of rabbit holes researching this episode, so if this also sparks your interest in the Hawaiian Kingdom, check out the episode notes for lots of resources to learn more! Tune in on Anchor, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! Images from Iolani Palace.org; a full view of the corner room where Lili’uokalani was imprisoned, as seen on the virtual tour; Iolani Palace; Queen Lili’uokalani; the Queen being led up the stairs of Iolani upon her arrest; a close-up of the Queen’s quilt. Learn more and bibliography-- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yvSnxNOkQDvVU-9G_ExYsiP3d_1kQ_cIG_eOH3KIAeo/edit?usp=sharing --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Paula Akana – Executive Director of Iolani Palace View the entire podcast on https://culturised.com/blogs/shows/paula-akana Paula Akana is much known for her 30 plus years as a broadcast journalist for KITV Island News. Paula is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. Paula has served with a number of local nonprofit organizations over the years, including the Board of Directors for YMCA Metro Honolulu and Ma‘o Farms and is a member of the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu. She has also volunteered with the Polynesian Voyaging Society for many years, working on education initiatives, voyaging planning, and fundraising efforts. Culturised features different cultures within Hawaii, such as Samoan, Filipino, Korean, Japanese and Chinese that have contributed to what has today become known as “Island Culture.”

Views on a changing visitor industry and Iolani Palace update; Community view from Lanai; Using state lands for the homeless in Waimanalo; Displaced from Crane Park; Hui Aloha helping the homeless; Perpetuating Hawaiian music

*We apologize in advance for all the loud background noise throughout this episode* This episode tackles the many different early encounters as well as experiences Europeans have documented through their art and or journal of the Native people of Oceania. From places like Tahiti, Guåhan, Marquesas Island, and even Hawai'i, many foreigners have looked at our communities as: helpless savages in need of a colonial fixation into civilization. We also talk about the hyper sexualization of our Native women and how it's crucial to have some understanding of Pacific Islander cultural and religious contexts when looking at these early encounters, especially with the naked artwork we commonly see. As this podcast slowly drew on to getting more heated, we decided to look at some of the positive influences of Western concepts like education and religion. We also looked at other forms of influences such as ‘Iolani Palace. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bekautiousstayhumble/support

The palace that was home to Hawaiian Monarchs is a popular attraction and served as the official royal residence in Hawaii.

We “hit the high notes” and give you a top line summary of takeaways from Alicia Keysʻ skincare routines. Alicia Keys- "Get Unready with Me" VideoAlicia Keysʻ Guide to Wellness-Inspired Beauty | Beauty Secrets | Vogue Whatʻs new in Hawaii happenings? Famous historical site ʻIolani Palace needs our kokua. Hydration is a game changerWhat product is a “heart opener” What product Alicia used on her face that smells “like someone farted” and why we prefer MSM (organic sulfur) instead.Why Kina has a bone to pick with Alicia Keysʻ routine and how itʻs a culprit for more blemishes.A key “trick” about stating intentions that she practices spurs conversation about the language we use with ourselves. Connect with us on Instagram: @moeahawaii or www.moeahawaii.com

Trash update on Hawaii Island; Getting the State Historic Preservation Division up-to-date; Honolulu rail starting up service this year; Priorities at Iolani Palace

Here, have a podcast. This week we talk about the haunted Iolani Palace in Hawaii and the former Perron home, which was the inspiration for the movie The Conjuring.   Rate, review and subscribe!

Like what you see? Please give generously. http://www.thinktechhawaii.com A study of litigation, firm building, service to the Judiciary, Iolani Palace and the community. Last week Willson came around to discuss his retirement as a senior docent at Iolani Palace. Thi week he'll tell us about his career in the law, about his decision to be a litigator and about his career in aviation litigation, and about his community service, including served to the Judiciary and Iolani Palace The host for this episode is Jay Fidell. The guest for this episode is Willson Moore.

Like what you see? Please give generously. http://www.thinktechhawaii.com I Mua E Nā Pōkiʻi, Move Forward, O Youth. The 42nd annual Prince Lot Hula Festival takes place at the historic Iolani Palace on Saturday, July 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sunday, July 21 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Prince Lot Hula Festival is the largest non-competitive hula celebration in Hawai‘i. It honors Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, who helped reprise hula in the 1850s and reigned as Kamehameha V from 1863 to 1872. The host for this episode is Kecia King. The guests for this episode are Kaiulani Worsham and Pauline Worsham.

Like what you see? Please give generously. http://www.thinktechhawaii.com On Community Matters. The host for this episode is Jay Fidell. The guest for this episode is Willson Moore.

An excerpt from our sound installation, "Wiliau: Entwined Currents", as experienced by Art World Escape on April 28, 2019. "Wiliau" is an interactive work composed of sound and plants that explores and reinterprets music and poetry written by Queen Lili‘uokalani during her imprisonment at ‘Iolani Palace.

Kealoha is the first Poet Laureate of Hawaii and the first poet to perform at a Hawaii governor’s inauguration. He is an internationally acclaimed poet and storyteller who has performed throughout the world from the White House to ‘Iolani Palace. His latest work "The Story of Everything" is a creation story (in epic poem format) that traces our origins from the big bang to now using science, poetry, storytelling, movement, music, visual art, and chanting. Based on multiple knowledge systems. It explores the question “Where do we come from?” He is of multi-ethnic heritage with Hawaiian, Chinese, and Caucasian descent. With a degree in Nuclear Engineering from MIT in 1999

Description: Adam describes the homes of Queen Liliuʻokalani at Haleʻākala, Paokalani, Washington Place, Muʻolaulani, and ʻIolani Palace to Nohea Hirahara. Sponsors: Hawaii Council for the Humanities

Hello Internet! We're back from vacation and we're so excited to share what we learned while we were away! This week is all about IOLANI PALACE on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. It is the only Royal Palace on US soil! To learn even more, you can visit www.iolanipalace.org!

  The Lord’s word came to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to Nineveh, that great city, and declare against it the proclamation that I am commanding you.” 3 And Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, according to the Lord’s word. (Now Nineveh was indeed an enormous city, a three days’ walk across.) Jonah started into the city, walking one day, and he cried out, “Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!”  And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on mourning clothes, from the greatest of them to the least significant. God saw what they were doing—that they had ceased their evil behavior. So God stopped planning to destroy them, and he didn’t do it   In the book of Jonah, we find one of the most interesting characters in Scripture, the book’s namesake, a man who has been asked by God to be a truth-teller, a prophet, but who does everything possible in order to not do what God asked him to do. I know that most of us know this story because we were brought up on it as children, and the focus and fascination was always around that fish, and Jonah being swallowed up by it. But that fascination with that unbelievable element of it has often allowed us to ignore the incredible adult wisdom found in this tale, especially around the vagaries of human nature. You have some who desire to make this story a historical narrative, something that happened in history, whereas all the evidence is that this really meant to be a wisdom story, told first around campfires throughout the Middle East, and then finally written down by our spiritual forbearers, in order to make a point about who we are and who God is. Even the detail in verse 3, where Nineveh is said to be “three days walk across” would make it, by ancient measures of how a day’s walk would have been calculated, it would make the city almost 60 miles wide, a size unheard of by the archeologists studying the cities of that era. This is not history, but truth telling, a story meant to share a deeper truth about God and humans. One of the stories I often share with our confirmands as they begin to read Scripture with more adult eyes is one about how often ancient native American speakers would begin their own storytelling around their own campfires – they would say, “I don’t know if the story I am about to tell you happened this way, but I know the story is true.” Friends, perhaps this story is not history, but so much of the book of Jonah is true, this story that wrestles with human nature, and God’s nature. We find Jonah running from his calling from God to warn the people of Nineveh of impending disaster, and we find God being more merciful to humans than Jonah is to his fellow creatures, and we find a God who is persistent, who can meet our intractable reluctance with an equal amount of tenacity. Jonah is called by God to warn the Ninevites that Israel’s God will destroy this great city of the Assyrian Empire, the Assyrians being Israel’s enemies. Jonah is not chosen to be a prophet to his own people, but to foreigners, and not just any set of foreigners – he is called to be prophet to people who have oppressed his own people, to say to them that Israel’s God will destroy this Assyrian city if the city does not repent from its wickedness. Jonah objects to his calling and he quite literally sets out in the opposite direction of Nineveh by boarding a boat going somewhere, anywhere other than Nineveh. God sends a storm that threatens to sink the ship, and after the crew through its cargo overboard to prevent disaster, they cast lots among the crew and passengers to see who the gods are trying to punish through this stormy calamity – and Jonah is found to be at fault. He confesses that he is running away from God and he tells them to throw him overboard, which they do, only to find himself being swallowed up by a great fish. Inside the belly of this sea-faring beast, the water starts to close in around him, and he prays for deliverance, hoping God will give him another chance. God does, and the fish spits him up on the beach. Still deeply cynical about his task, about whether these people, these foreigners, this enemies, can really change, he does what he is told, and he proclaims in Nineveh that the city will be overthrown if the city does not repent of its sins. Forty days is given, forty being such an important number in Scripture, as the deadline given for them to change their ways, to repent, which quite literally means to go in a opposite direction from the negative path one is following. Surprisingly, the unthinkable actually happens – Nineveh actually repents, it goes in the different direction than expected, it actually changes its mind. Keep in mind that despite God’s sending of prophets to the people of Israel, the insiders, and to people like the Assyrians, the outsiders, these prophets rarely ever had any success– people rarely actually changed their minds and their lives. But here, here, we have a story in which human beings were told that they needed to change for their own wellbeing – and they actually did it, they repented, they went in a different direction and the city was saved from God’s wrath. Later in the story, we will find Jonah actually bitter and angry that the city wasn’t destroyed, primarily, I suspect that he actually wanted the city demolished, because they were, after all, the enemy of Israel, and oftentimes a brutal oppressor. Ironically, Jonah was successful in the mission God had given him, but deep in his troubled soul, well, he was hoping he wouldn’t be, which is a sad commentary on human nature. I also think that this same soul held the same kind of cynicism we often harbor about change, about the ability of humans to actually change our minds and behavior. What’s the point of going to Nineveh, if, in reality, so few of us ever really change our ways, right? People never really change, we say about our friends, our enemies – people may say they’ve turned over a new leaf, but, really, have they, and if so, it probably won’t be long before they revert to their old thinking, their old behavior, or that old thinking or way of being just naturally shows up again? For me sometimes that comes out in my ideas about extreme thinking –I often say that people who were once fervent fundamentalist Christians often become fervent atheists, or people who were once fervent and absolutist in terms of their politics simply transfer that absolutism to the other end of the political spectrum. People who are absolutist, people who don’t like the grey or the messy or the complicated simply shift their extremism from one end to another, I often say to myself, and others. That reflects perhaps my own cynicism about the possibility of change, about whether or not people can actually change their lives, or, frankly, whether or not God can change them, or maybe even change me. So, can we human beings actually change? Can we be changed, either by ourselves or by God? In the past, I’ve preached on the topic of whether God can change God’s own divine mind, so to speak, on whether or not God can change course, which is no small theological issue, despite the seemingly obvious answer found in the Bible, which is yes. And surely the answer would be same for us humans, right? There are calls all over the Bible that mimic Jonah’s call to the people of Nineveh, calls for people to repent, to change, to move in a better direction, calls made even by John the Baptist and Jesus himself, and the assumption in that invitation, that call towards change is that humans can actually change, they can stop moving in a destructive direction and go in the opposite direction, a more life-giving direction. Surely change is possible for us humans, and yet some of us, including myself at time, wonder, really, if it is really all that possible. Do people really change, is human nature changeable, or do we simply put new veneer over the old? Even as a minister I’ve wondered about the nature of spiritual change, about whether or not conversion to Christ actually always changes people. I once knew a guy who was a pretty cruel and mean guy and when he became a Christian he just became a cruel and mean Christian. Now, we and I can certainly question his conversion – if a decision to follow after the way of Jesus doesn’t end up making us kinder and more loving persons over the long haul, perhaps, just maybe, we aren’t actually following Christ, despite our words and intentions. Deeds actually do actually have to match words in our Christian faith, at least some of the time, though God knows all of us fail our own words many times, our own intentions, all of the time. Still, if being a follower of Jesus doesn’t create change that goes in a generally life-giving direction, which is life geared towards love, which is who and what God is according to Jesus, then I think we can wonder if that divine change, which is something that happens all through our journey of faith, is really happening to us, or even to others, who seem to use their religion as a weapon of cruelty and harm rather than as a source of love and kindness. Despite all those questions and examples of people who don’t quite change or completely change, either by divine means or through a personal program of self-transformation, all of these examples that we all can surely name, I do want to endorse or make the case for the general Biblical sentiment that human beings are capable of real change, sometimes even substantial change, even if it is not always complete transformation, at least on this side of eternity. It’s interesting – I do think that of all the creatures that God created, we humans are the ones that are the hardest to change, and perhaps that has something to do with being created in God’s image, after all. Sometimes the ability to be the same and the same, over and over again, is needed – ask any parent about the importance of a regular schedule for their children, the need for familiar patterns in order for children to survive, if not thrive. But that same divine gift, the ability to do the same and be the same, is also a shadow burden, laid upon our heavy shoulders when that sameness, that regular pattern is found in our sins, our challenges, our addictions, our old death dealing patterns with others. And yet, the witness of Scripture, and certainly the witness of our text is that human beings can change, we can be different and do differently. I can change, you can change, I can better at this, or that – I can actually make choices other than the ones I’m making right now, for good and ill, of course, but change does happen to human beings, and even to organizations – in fact, change probably has to happen for human beings to thrive – repent, turn around, do something different – that ancient call is a truth across all of our human endeavors, including the personal and the communal, the economic and the social. And the truth about change, that it is actually possible, both personally and culturally, might also give us some hope in these divided times. Obviously, we live in an especially divided era in this country, where we look across the political divide that come between us and we wonder if there is a possibility that those “others” could possibly change their minds and their actions. Some of us are very cynical about that possibility, and some of the social science research shows that there are some scientific reasons why change, especially political change, is rare, and is becoming rarer in our day and age. Yet, again, the overall witness of the Bible is that we humans can change, we can go in a different direction, we can do things differently – and if we couldn’t change, if it weren’t possible to go in the opposite direction than the one were going on yesterday, I don’t think you would have God issuing that invitation to change, to repent, all over the Biblical narrative. And that perhaps means we ought to be careful about assigning categorical judgments about others and their ability to change, or even our ability to change. Perhaps we cannot be a Jonah or even any of the other prophets, issuing a constant call to change to our friends and family and ourselves – it is exhausting work, and, it might get us cut off, or cut out from those human connections that do matter to us – ask the prophets how often they were either exiled, excluded, or executed for their persistence. Maybe the best we can do with those closest to us is to set the door wide open, as the father did with the prodigal son, hoping and believing that his wayward son could change his mind, and if he did, the door was open to receive him. We are at best when we allow for the possibility for a change of minds, of hearts, in ourselves in others. This past week I was speaking to our confirmation class about some of things that make wild and heady mix we call the United Church of Christ, and we talked about how the United Church of Christ, unlike many parts of the church universal, has a particular gift for changing its minds. In 1993, Dr. Paul Sherry, the formal General Minister and President of the UCC, a position that our own John Thomas once held in the early 2000’s, apologized to the native Hawaiian people on behalf of UCC for the actions of some the Congregational missionaries who helped to overthrown the native Hawaiian government. Dr. Kaleo Patterson shares his remembrance of this moment with these words: After attending services at Kawaiahao Church, and processing to the grounds of Iolani Palace where thousands of people had gathered, the Apology to Na Kanaka Maoli was given by Dr. Paul Sherry, President, of the United Church of Christ on January 17, 1993. With tear-filled eyes and deep emotion his historic words were heard by the young and old, and many were touched with the hope of a new day. Latter in the day Dr. Sherry delivered the same Apology address, on the grounds of Kaumakapili Church under a large luau tent. In that apology he said said these words: We acknowledge and confess our sins against you and your forebears, na Kanaka Maoli,.  We formally apologize to you for “our denomination’s historical complicities in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1893,” by unduly identifying the ways of the West with the ways of the Christ, and thereby, undervaluing the strengths of the mature society that was native Hawaii.  We commit ourselves to help right the wrongs inflicted upon you.  We promise respect for the religious traditions and practices, the spirituality and culture that are distinctly yours.  We promise solidarity with you in common concern, action and support.  We will seek to be present and vulnerable with you and the Hawaii Conference of the United Church of Christ in the struggle for justice, peace and reconciliation. Instead of sharing in the planned reception and meal after the Kaumakapili event, Dr. Paul Sherry, Dr. Kaleo Patterson, and Dr. Haaheo Guanson, returned to Iolani Palace to participate in a religious ceremony consecrating the newly constructed ahu – altar.  As the group of Hawaiian leaders gathered, the manuscript of the Apology was placed on the altar being blessed by Parly Kanakaole. The ahu - altar was made of stones – pohaku that were brought from all the islands to commemorate the day, and the hope of unity.  This date January 17th, 1993 was the 100th Anniversary of the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy. Not only did we issue and apology, showing that we changed our minds about the justness of our earlier actions, but 3.5 million dollars was given to UCC churches, and to an organization in Hawaii that served all the churches on the island. You know, so much of the spiritual journey is just setting the door wide open for the possibility of change, change at God’s hands, or the change possible within human beings. If we don’t have the door open, the door of our hearts, how can God walk in, how can another human being, one as fallible and yet changeable as all are walk into our hearts? Change is possible – I can be changed, you can be changed, we can be changed, and so, despite some of our cynicism about human nature, about what is possible with the human heart, may we leave the door of our hearts wide open to change, in welcome, and with hope. Amen.

Jack founded Klahm and sons 43 years ago in Hawaii and moved the business to his current location in Florida. He has experienced a variety of opportunities to learn his craft. He began with forging steel, and 20 years later he entered into the aluminum and bronze world of forging.  He has been a member of NOMMA since 1978; and has done numerous demonstrations, and videotapes for education.  Over the course of being a NOMMA member Jack's business has received more than 100 awards, and they are a two-time Mitch Heitler award winner. What We Talked About Jack’s father was a high school Industrial Arts teacher and Jack learned a lot about the metal field through osmosis from his father. 1972 Jack and his parents created the business “Klahm and Sons”, first as a furniture business, then it eventually became a full-on metal blacksmith business making gates and doing large restoration commissions. His shop was 12 ft by 12 ft, with a hand shear, a railroad track for an anvil, oxy/acetylene set up and an AC buzz box. Jack has a family history of metalsmiths – his great grandfather was a blacksmith and grandfather was a stainless steel metal worker in Germany. His shop now had 3 other smiths working with him and they have been there for 10 years. Jack’s first restoration project was the Iolani Palace in Hawaii. The project was to bring back the original metal color on a half a mile of fencing, 4 driveway entrance gates and 8 pedestrian gates.  The second restoration project was the Royal Mausoleum in Hawaii, where all of the Hawaiian kings and Queens are buried. Jack’s family moved to Florida in 1985 and received another restoration project working on Samuel Yellin’s driveway gates at the National Historic Landmark of Vizcaya. His skills have all been self-taught. Growing up with dyslexia strengthened his perseverance to succeed, that paired with a high mechanical aptitude has grown his successful business. In 1992, Jack was commissioned by a client who didn’t want any rust to show up on the work for years to come, this is when Jack started to work primarily in Aluminum. Jack has learned over the years that the stories you can tell about your work. Projects and relationships with clients really sell your work for you. The ABANA 2016 Conference committee has asked Jack to be a demonstrator this summer. He will be giving demo’s on forging aluminum and bronze as well as a slideshow on Saturday showing his works over the past 43 years.  The demonstrations will have a metallurgical flair to them, talking about the different alloys of aluminum and bronze.  1992, in Asheville North Carolina, was Jack’s last ABANA demonstration, where he was the first person to demonstrate forging aluminum. Jack has been a member of the NOMMA organization for many years, this has given him the ability to teach many students who have gone on to win NOMMA awards. Jack has also made teaching videos for NOMMA on creating curved staircases. When asked if he could learn from any blacksmith for a day, dead or alive, who would that be – he said from the people who aren’t with us anymore, Bill Gichner, Ernest Wiemann.  He also mentioned Steve Swerzer, who lives close to Jack, Michael Bondi and Bob Bergman.   Guest Links Klahm and Sons Website - http://www.klahmandsons.com/ ABANA Demonstrator Link - http://www.abana.org/Conferences/2016/contents/en-us/d16_Jack_Klahm.html A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – ABANA 2016 Conference, http://www.abana.org/Conferences/2016/index.html If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would support the show by: telling your friends. sharing this episode using the social sharing buttons below. subscribing to the show and leaving a rating and review in iTunes.  Not sure how?  Just follow these simple steps here or watch the short video tutorial, http://youtu.be/rq4OCyRGjHc?list=UUH3MfNZLXlKgionAs6kMT_Q subscribing to the show in Stitcher, http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=54499&refid=stpr Thanks so much for your support!

The first Flickr Friday lunch meetup of 2009 was held on the grounds of Iolani Palace. Two dozen local photographers gathered to talkstory, trade tips, and take pictures. Flickr Friday - January 2009 (FlipMino HD) from hawaii on Vimeo. I took video clips with my Flip MinoHD camera, and decided to also edit it entirely using the FlipShare software that comes with it. (I use a Mac, and would usually use Final Cut Express or iMovie.) It's not something I'm likely to repeat. The FlipShare software is very rudimentary, and best for connecting a few clips, and definitely becomes unwieldy with 30 clips like the set I used for this movie. There's a basic clip editor to set start and endpoints, but it requires to to save over or save a copy in order to use the edited clip. Also, all you've got are dissolve transitions and two title slides - one at the beginning, and one on the end. There are a handful of music loops, and I used one for this movie. But even set to be 'quieter than the video audio,' it's pretty overpowering. The one upside to using FlipShare to something like Final Cut Express or iMovie is that FlipShare works natively with the video format, resolution, and bitrate of the Flip MinoHD's clips. So the final movie retains all of the quality of the original clips (such as it is). The above is the embedded video player from Vimeo, one of the few online video hosts to serve up HD content. To see the HD video (and not a scaled and compressed Flash version), however, you need to view it at Vimeo or download the original movie file (375MB/1280x720/MOV). It should look great on an Apple TV. You can also watch this video via low quality but fast loading Flash players at YouTube, Yahoo! Video, Viddler, and Blip TV. And several versions of this video (including high-definition MPEG-4 and DivX) can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Subscribe to the HawaiiVog video podcast via iTunes, or in the media aggregator of your choice via RSS.