Judi Babcock art

We are happy to announce www.hilopowwow.com is updated with all the information you need to make your plans to attend the Fifth Annual Hilo Inter-Tribal PowWow which takes place May 29-3, 2010 at Wailoa Park in Hilo.

Be sure to check out the great room rates provided by Naniloa Volcanoes Resort and Dollar Car Rental discounts.

Troy and Liz De Roche

By Herb Kawainui Kane

Sails hang slack in the Doldrums as Polynesian explorers take to their paddles, moving through a calm and hoping to find a breeze.

My 1969 painting is a conjectural reconstruction of an “Eastern Polynesian” canoe during eras of exploration outward from islands regarded as culturally “Tahitian” as well as the Marquesas Islands.

The “age-distribution” theory assumes that features of a culture found to be most widely distributed are likely to be the oldest, changes being more rapid in the center from which diffusion originated than in the outer fringes. For example, German National Television recently sent a crew to an area of Texas settled by 19th century German immigrants to record how the language was spoken at that time;  and we may still hear echoes of 18th century English in the West Virginia mountains.

The painting depicts similarities of sail and hull design that persisted in the Marquesas, Hawai‘i, the Cook Islands, the Austral Islands, New Zealand, and on a rock-carving on Easter Island. Completed in 1969, the painting preceded my design for the voyaging canoe replica Hokule‘a. Read the rest of this entry »

up! Magazine photo by Jared Sych

Both local fabric designer Sig Zane and surfboard shaper Jeff Hunt are featured in the February 2010 issue of up!, the in-flight magazine for WestJet, a Canadian airline that flies direct to Kona from Vancouver. Sig Zane is listed as one of Hawaii’s surf icons for the fact that, a few years ago, he started having Jeff put his legendary textiles on the decks of longboards.

In one of the published photos of Sig, a longboard Jeff has created for Sig leans against a wall in the background. It’s the 9′6″ bearing the ulu, or breadfruit, of which, the article correctly notes, the wood was traditionally used for boards, drums, and canoes.

“It’s an important image for us,” Sig told up! writer Eric Rumble of the ulu, which means to grow or inspire. “On a surfboard, on hula costumes, on things that are very important, we want to embellish them. You want all that positiveness.”

Thanks so much to Jessica Ferracane of the Big Island Visitor’s Bureau (BIVB) for sharing with Rumble and up! photographer Jared Sych the tip that Jeff and Sig have this working relationship.

If you look to the right, you will see that both Sig Zane Designs and Jeff Hunt Surfboards sponsor this blog.  Jeff Hunt is my husband.  Every board that Jeff has made for me since our start together has had fabric fiberglassed onto the deck.  He asks me what I want for art on my board, and I always decide on fabric. Fabric lends so much to aesthetics.

I was in his Sig’s office one day while doing publicity work for him in 2007, and my eyes fixed on a framed picture on the wall beside his desk.  It was a depiction of a surfer standing with a longboard bedecked with fabric. Noticeably, the fabric was not one of Sig’s designs.  It was then that I had my aha! moment. I suggested Jeff make him board with his own fabric.

That led to a Sig Zane-Jeff Hunt collaborative that has resulted in a board for Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, boards for Outrigger Hotels & Resorts executives, and others in the last few years who appreciate the craftsmanship of both Sig and Jeff.  The two of them have a lot in common.  With fabric and textiles and with surfboards, mass production is threatening product quality and craftsmanship for craftsmanship’s sake.  Working together, Sig and Jeff can offer a product that far more interesting and unique than anything that is popped out from a mold and otherwise mass produced.

Surfers and collectors of surf memorabilia, put some fabric on that surfboard, and let it be both a hand-shaped surfboard and fabric from a local designer!  I can attest that a surfboard like that has a lot more mana than a pop-out from China. Mahalo, BIVB, Jessica, and up! Magazine for shining the spotlight on these guys and inspiring me to make the point.

(Editor’s Note: Following are thoughts shared by Guenn Adare. She writes about life’s journey of joy and sorrow, of fulfillment and loss, of gaining wisdom out of loss and pain, of healing and transcending our suffering, and of being of service to humanity and to one’s God  — unrequited agape love for all and everything.)

By Guennigirl

I didn’t tell you, but last week I talked to the grandmother of one of the students on my bus.  She and I have been friends ever since I got to this island, because she knew a Mormon missionary who was my neighbor in the 1970’s.  He is about 80 now.  When he heard I was in Hawaii, he started to cry.  He served from Ninole to Ookala, including Laupahoehoe.  He has such fond memories of here, and his family and I liked each other.  When he found out I was here, he wrote a letter to me that week, and I showed it to my friend here.  She was so happy.  She and he exchanged letters.  Since then, she and I, and her family, we feel close to each other.

I am now assigned to visit teach her.  We were talking last week, I was in her living room, and she had piles of paper all over the floor.  She is doing her genealogy, even though she does not go to church.  (She is Mormon but her husband is not.)  She said that she and her sister-in-law have so many memories between the two of them that would be lost when they die. I told her I would love to get her and her sister-in-law together, and write down what they said while they reminisced.  She was very receptive to having me do that.  She knows I do the church interviews, she likes to read them and comments to me about them, because often she knows the people I am writing about.  I told her I have a friend who is very interested in the history and the people of the Hamakua coast, that he might enjoy getting involved in the project of documenting her history, with me.

By Curtis Narimatsu

Hilo police detective Dickie Carter wiped out organized crime with Henry Huihui’s conviction over a quarter century ago, and enabled Henry to turn government witness.   Dickie was known to terrorize Puna pot growers, but Dickie had a measured hand for mob figures whom Dickie put away.   Dickie died before his time at age 58 from a brain tumor.  Dickie’s early death relegates him to obscurity today, but for those of us who felt both his wrath and wonder a generation ago, his name evokes tremendous reverence.   Dickie had a bone to pick with Larry Mehau (born 1929), in that allegedly had Larry not mediated/been a peacemaker among warring mob factions three decades ago, the mob would have self-destructed, allegedly as you see with Hilo’s Malu Motta’s Pali Golf Course carnage.  That Honolulu DA Chuck Marsland was a whole cheeser/lone ranger didn’t help law enforcement efforts to unify Statewide to investigate Mehau for criminal activity.  Dickie held the Big Island prep shot put record for over 3 decades, to make up for Dickie’s crybaby ways as a huge but fragile-emotioned child.

An aside, Hilo’s Henry Chong (born 1952) was a motor patrolman who testified as the ticketing officer vs. a motorist for speeding.  He truthfully said that the defendant was not the person he ticketed, at which point the prosecutor dismissed the case.   Being that the traffic courtroom was a full house gallery including fellow police officers, Henry felt utterly humiliated that Henry couldn’t  ID the defendant motorist.   Read the rest of this entry »

Photos by Peter Frost

Just wonderin’,  is the trash pile at the beginning of Old Govt. Rd. in Hawaiian Beaches cleaned up? No? When I opened the dryer door, I was just praying to god I didn’t find a dead missing child. So is it all still there? Is there more? I’ll find out tomorrow when I go see.

Peter Frost

Here Tom Lackey suggests former Puna Councilman Gary Safarik is going to try once again to reclaim the Puna Council seat that Emily Naeole-Beason took over after defeating him in the 2006 election. As you recall, Safarik challenged Naeole-Beason in the 2008 General Election, and Naeole-Beason won by less than a 1,000 votes.

In a recent Big Island Chronicle interview with Safarik, he held his cards close to his chest, not saying either way if he would be contending in the upcoming election.  He did say that he misses being a council member.  More details on our interview the next writing moment I can get, but for now I thought I would share this humorous cartoon from Lackey. Note that the woman he depicts is speaking to her daughter Coco.  One would think Lackey spoofed my daughter and me, if you don’t already know that Tom nicknamed his daughter Coco. Is it really true that Gary Safarik did more for Puna than any other council person? I ask you.  I’m a big fan of Helene Hale, and I think she did a lot for Puna as both a council member and a state representative.  Those who swim at the Pahoa pool can thank Helene.

Story and photos courtesy of Peter Frost

Restore, reuse, remake, rebuild, remanufacture, recycle, or redesign before you buy new.

New things are getting cheaper and cheaper, and not just in price. You get less for more these days, and finding a GOOD investment is always with the old, solely because back then they used better materials — metal, rubber and generally little to no plastic. Things used to last longer, and you didn’t need “extended warranties.”

Plastic is great for the manufacturer, but not necessarily for you and me.

I bought my first vintage truck 30 years ago, and it was just a shell too.

The steel in it is twice as thick as new cars. This truck, being from Montana where they put sand not salt on snowy roads, bears little rust 20 years ago after I got it.

My hanai brother Dave Isbell and I finished the last legal requirements on this truck six years ago. On its 70th birthday, we had it back on the road, better than it was originally. Why? ah… Well, first of all, no part is on its original application. It’s all remanufactured, hand-built.  The original GMC wiring harness was better than a new one, so we reused it. This project was not built up for the usual reasons people build “hot rods.” It’s not for show; it’s for daily use.

The body style of the late 20s and 30s was from the last depression and is very appropriate for this time. The running boards and big fenders were perfect for dirt roads, and still are today. Read the rest of this entry »

Image courtesy of ReusableBags.com

I want to express heartfelt thanks to Hawaii County Council members Pete Hoffmann, Brenda Ford, and Emily Naeole-Beason for having enough sense earlier this week to vote in favor of Hoffmann’s legislation calling for a ban on plastic bags.  Double thumbs down to the remaining six council members who voted against the measure.  They are Chair J Yoshimoto, Donald Ikeda, Dennis “Fresh” Onishi, Dominic Yagong, Guy Enriques, and Kelly Greenwell.

Image courtesy of Staywithgreen's Blog

Those council members obviously don’t give a rip that even the Department of Environmental Management supports the ban and spends — shoots, I can’t recall the exact figure at this time — hundreds of thousands a dollars per year to clean up plastic bags that have blown off the landfill.  These council members that voted against the bill obviously don’t have the slightest regard that plastic bags make their way into the ocean and negatively impact our marine life.  And these council members obviously could care less about Hawaii being considered a progressive county that truly supports measures like sustainability and renewable energy.
Read the rest of this entry »

Frank Francis Fasi. Image courtesy of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. To See July 28, 2006 Star-Bulletin article entitled, "The Fasi Legacy," click here.

(Editor’s Note: Frank Francis Fasi,  a former territorial senator (1958), Honolulu councilman (1965-1967), governor (1994-1996), and the longest serving mayor of the City and County of Honolulu at 22 years ( 1968-1974, 1976-1978, 1984-1994)* died this week of natural causes at the age of 89.  Following are thoughts about Fasi and his connection to Hawaii Island from Curtis Narimatsu, a lifelong resident of Hilo who writes about the forgotten past such as the old plantation days & untold heroes.)

By Curtis Narimatsu

Art Rutledge strikes vs. Weinberg’s HRT. Fasi sits them down to break the deadlock/no bus service. They no can agree on anything. Fasi goes to D.C. w/wife Joyce Kono [Na'alehu-Hilo's Ryuichi's daughter] & corp counsel Paul Devens, purchases 60 busses, comes home, where Rutledge/Weinberg scoff at Fasi. Fasi starts his own city bus system. Rutledge/Weinberg — A-holes like you neva’ see before, shell-shocked by Fasi’s do-er mentality/audacity. Thereafter, both old farts totally worship King Fasi. Weinberg’s epitaph is that Fasi the only guy Weinberg couldn’t rip off.

Joyce Fasi never pandered to Hilo voters because she had enough self-respect not to cause family feud inasmuch Hilo Trans’ Gunji Kono’s son Russ [& Elaine Kono's hubby Hiroaki] was Ariyoshi’s gang member [vs. Fasi 1974/1978]. Russ got judgeship/patronage. Russ/Hiroaki were Joyce’s 1st cousins [Joyce's dad Ryuichi/Gunji were brothers]. Before Joyce married Frank, she was boxer Seiji Naya’s girlfriend.

*Source: Wikipedia

Tom Lackey cartoon

Today, Feb. 5, 2010 and next Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 are furlough days for the Department of Education.  In March, furlough days will be on the 5th and on the 12th.  In April, furlough days will be the 23rd and the 30th.  In May, the 7th and the 14th are furlough days.  The state Department of Education has opted for 17 days of furloughs this school year in order to help offset a budget deficit.  With the furlough plan, Hawaii has less school days per year than any other state.