WIMR: Rachel Ross, Ironman Triathlete

What I’m Reading | Rachel Ross
Ironman Triathlete, Web Designer

Q&A with Christine Thomas
January 2008

-What are you reading?

I just finished reading “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” because I didn’t know anything about Barack Obama, but I knew he was a local boy and wanted to learn more about him. I’m not a political person so I’m trying to get more knowledgeable before the next elections. I also have a book that lives in my car, that’s my Bible. It’s called “Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes” by Monique Ryan. With all my kids’ activities I have little moments, like a half hour, to read while one is at sports. I’ve never read it cover to cover, but it’s a good reminder of what I should be doing for my body with Ironman and other training.

-How do you discover them?

My coach gave me the sports nutrition book because I was training like a full time endurance athlete and racing like one, but not eating like one. Barack’s I took from the library recycling shelf. We spend a lot of time at the library—my kids are at that age so we’re at the library once a week. And I went to Punahou and Barack went to Punahou so I thought I’d read about him.

-What stands out about Dreams from My Father?

It’s interesting to see his background. I’ve never followed his political career so I’ve enjoyed reading about his start and all that he went through. He’s always been so driven--I can’t imagine having that drive. He’s known what he wanted to do since high school—known that he was going to be a leader. I’m driven in different ways—in athletics—but it’s interesting to read about this political driven person. It’s also fun reading about Punahou in the `70s—it's something I can relate to a little more.

-You didn’t start out wanting to be a triathlete, as Obama wanted to be a leader, but does his passion for politics resonate with your own for athletics?

I definitely relate to his drive. People ask me how I do what I do—you decide you love something and you have to see how far you can go with it and that’s a parallel that I see. I didn’t have the drive from a young age, and as far as career goes I’m not there with him, but I’ve found something I enjoy pushing myself at. What I’m doing is personal, but he’s changing lives—so I’m certainly not doing things as big as he does. I’m just enjoying what I do and pushing myself, and hoping to motivate people and women along the way.

WIMR: Tom Moffatt, Concert Promoter

What I'm Reading | Tom Moffatt
Concert Promoter

Q&A with Christine Thomas
January 2008

-What are you reading?

I’m just reading “Don Ho: My Music, My Life” by Jerry Hopkins. It’s fascinating. I’m also reading “Latinization of America: How Hispanics Are Changing the Nation's Sights and Sounds” which is a big book, 1100 some pages, written by Eliot Tiegel, an old friend of mine; when I met him he was editor of Billboard Magazine. I just finished up “Red Sky at Night" by Bill Bigelow. It’s a novel. It’s really good.

-How did you discover it?

I was involved in the Don Ho book because Jerry Hopkins, the author, also wrote my book The Showman of the Pacific - 50 Years of Radio and Rock Stars". So I helped Jerry a bit on this because Don died suddenly and he was trying to finish it up. I get most books from people I know or as a columnist people send me a lot of books.

-What do you like about Don Ho: My Music, My Life?

In Don’s book, there are so many memories in there—that’s what I like about it. It reviews all the people that went to see him and his life and a lot of things people didn’t know about him and I didn’t know about him.

-And the others?

I’ve been kind of bouncing around it, especially with reading about Hawai`i and the entertainment I brought in. It goes back to the original Spaniards and then what’s happened in the last couple of decades. It gets into sports and music and business and all of it. It has always fascinated me how all of a sudden everything is bilingual in the U.S. [Red Sky at Night]—it’s fascinating. It’s about something that’s hard to believe could happen but it could.

-Your concert promoting has made your life an adventure—so do you also look for fascinating adventures in your reading?

Yes. I like serious reading too, but I like a good novel that moves. The way I move sometimes it’s hard to stay with a book though, but I love books that I can’t put down.

WIMR: Betty White, Sacred Hearts

I interviewed the head of Sacred Hearts Academy, Betty White, upon the recommendation of a woman who works with her. The edited version of our conversation appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser in November 2007, but is no longer available online. I've included our entire conversation here.

What I’m Reading | Betty White
Head of Sacred Hearts Academy

Q&A with Christine Thomas
November 2007

-What are you reading?

I just finished reading a book called “Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” by Greg Mortenson, and another book called “The Power of Play: Learning What Comes Naturally” by David Elkind. Most of my reading—and I read a lot—but most of it is connected in some way to the school or to girls. I have a stack of books I want to read, but I don’t really get a chance to read for pleasure.

-How did you discover them?

Greg Mortenson presented at a meeting of the National Coalition of Girls Schools this past summer in Baltimore. And then David Elkind comes to Hawai`i quite often, and about eight months ago he was in Hawai`i and gave presentation for especially preschool and early childhood teachers.

-What do you like about them?

Elkind is very adamant that we are scheduling our children too tightly, that they just need time to be spontaneous and do the things they want to do and not to be scheduled in sports and all sorts of after school activities by their families. He thinks that computers can wait, that limiting TV is good. He tells us that if we want to make play dates with our young children, then let them decide what they want to do, rather than us telling them 'today we’re going to do this.'

Many of us grew up in a time when we were told to go outside and play with the neighborhood kids. These days many kids don’t have neighborhood groups, but even if they do they’re getting home late at night because they have ballet and sports and computer classes and there’s no time for them to relax and do the things they want to do. He also says homework is overdone, that instead of giving a child homework 3 to 4 hours a night they need time to listen to music and do the things they need to do. He plays heavily on the idea that most of the anxiety of children is caused by the parents because they want to get the leg up for getting them into the right school.

I agree with this because I think too many of our children are going from early morning until late in the evening with no time of their own. And then on weekends they have sports and other obligations and there’s no time for them to just relax, lay back and do what they want to do. There’s not enough hours in the day.

-What stands out about Three Cups of Tea?

It adds a humanistic perspective to the war and one of the most impoverished areas in the world. And when I was reading it—at the present time Sacred Hearts is building a $10 million building here on campus and sometimes we get discouraged with fundraising and whatever else we have to accomplish. When I read what Greg Mortenson went through to build a $12 thousand school for girls it really inspires us to keep going.

-Are you also moved by Mortenson’s story because you view such powerful examples as one of the most important teaching methods?

Yes, I think that the story that Greg Mortenson tells would be a beautiful example to bring to any classroom, where a fellow is so inspired to help others that he risks his life and goes across the country to raise money, staying away from his family for months at a time, in order for young girls to have a chance at an education in the world.

Our newspapers are filled all the time with the turmoil of the war and lots of times we’re forming opinions and giving opinions without really knowing the culture. I like this book because it gave me a sense of the many challenges that people are faced with.

WIMR: BJ Kobayashi

The full interview with Honolulu real estate developer BJ Kobayashi. The edited version was published in the Honolulu Advertiser December 2007, and is no longer available online.

What I’m Reading | BJ Kobayashi
President, CEO Kobayashi Group

Q&A with Christine Thomas
Published in the Honolulu Advertiser December 2007

-What are you reading?

I just finished a book and a monograph—both I really enjoyed. The monograph is “Good to Great and the Social Sectors” by Jim Collins. It’s only about 40 pages. It was assigned for me to read as member of the board of Hanahau`oli School … It’s a complement to “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't,” by a Stanford professor, about what differentiates good companies from great companies in the private sector. So this is about taking good nonprofits and differentiating them from great nonprofits. I just finished another book I bought in the airport in LA and it’s called “All the Money in the World.” It’s basically a book about the Forbes 400 past and present.

-Do you usually pick up books while traveling, or find them through work?

It’s a combination. Many times I’m in an airport and pick up a book or two. I also go on Yahoo a lot and they have good recommendations on what to read. I read a lot on finance and investing and a lot on nonprofits. My reading is sporadic. Sometimes I’ll read a few books in the span of a week and then none for a few weeks.

-Is your reading list for pleasure or work, or both?

It’s just what I’m interested in. Investing is a hobby of mine; it’s not directly related to what I do in real estate. It’s interesting to me to hear about how different people in different industries became successful.

-What do you like about these books?

The monograph probably has more meaning to me because philanthropy is really big in my life and I believe wholeheartedly in giving back to the community and making it strong. In a selfish way that helps the giver, but also the community who needs support.

This monograph gives a step-by-step approach to people who work at nonprofits. In business there is input of money and output of money, and in many cases that’s how the success of a business is measured. Among many concepts described is that in nonprofits, money is going in but on the way out it’s not really money but the delivery of a service that benefits the community. Too many times when you’re sitting on the board of a nonprofit the discussion is about how much money you raise, and that’s how they measure their success, but if they focused more on what makes an organization really stand out and what the people in the organization do very well—if you focus on that, the natural byproduct will be that the organization will be able to help more people and raise more money. When I read this I incorporated that in the nonprofits I participate in, where I could.

-This book obviously connects to your philanthropy, but does it also influence your thinking about the real estate business?

There is a connection there because obviously if you have that same principle as to what makes your company special and great, and focus on that and not the output of money, it would makes sense that would result in greater returns on your investment. But there’s a lot more pressure to really focus on the monetary output of a project in the real estate business, because quite frankly there’s more at stake because you spend more time on your business than on your nonprofit. And it’s business and it’s competitive, but there’s a stronger connection to focus on returns. In a nonprofit when you’re raising money usually some of the biggest donors are going to want to be sure you’re viable, but it’s the story that’s going to inspire them to give.

-Does reading hone your analytical skills, like reading the real estate market for new opportunities?

Not as much. Certainly I do read for my business and that’s a good source of information. But usually when you’re reading it everyone’s got it—they’ve got the same PBN or Advertiser article. Usually in my business—it’s a highly fractured business so usually it’s about relationships and talking to people.

WIMR: Kapua Sproat

My interview with Earth Justice Official Counsel Kapua Sproat is no longer available online at the Honolulu Advertiser site, so I've printed our full, never-before published interview below for your pleasure.

What I’m Reading | Kapua Sproat
Assistant Professor UH Law School, Center for Excellence and Native Hawaiian Law / Official Counsel, Earth Justice

Q&A with Christine Thomas
Honolulu Advertiser Nov. 2007

--What are you reading?

I’m in the middle of two books right now. I started reading “The Omnivore's Dilemma” by Michael Palan. And then as part of my work, I started doing some research and reading “Native Planters in Old Hawaii: Their Life, Lore, and Environment,” by Handy and Handy.

--How did you discover them?

A lot of people I know have read [The Omnivore's Dilemma]—my sister, best friend—and they just loved it. So, I was looking for plane reading and that’s how I picked that up. The other is just a cornerstone for anybody interested in Hawaiian history, and what this place used to be like before.

--What do you like about them?

[The Omnivore's Dilemma] is a natural history of four meals--it basically looks at where our food comes from and it traces different kinds of meals, and just talks about the social, ethical and environmental impact of where we get the food we eat and the impact that has on the global market and society. It really takes on the idea of industrial agriculture and where our food comes from, and I think that’s really important for people in island communities, like people in Hawai`i. We have limited resources here and everything we use comes from some place, and there’s a cost associated with it--it makes you think about the footprint we’re leaving on the planet.

Especially in the work I do, agriculture has a big part in that and also our quality of life in Hawai`i, and that also relates to “Native Planters.” I actually come from a family of fishermen and farmers on Kaua`i’s North Shore. I’m just a simple girl from the country. I was really fortunate to grow up in late ‘70s and early ‘80s during a transitional time from plantation agriculture to a tourism economy, to grow up in a Native Hawaiian family that valued our natural an cultural resources, and really lived close to the land. It gave me an interest and an appreciation for where we get the food we eat and the impact it has in the world and on our community here at home.

As a kanaka maoli I’ve also been very interested in how our ancestors lived in this place before. It’s really neat to be able to look at the cultural landscape and how people lived in places that in this day and age have been really modified and are very different.

--Are you drawn to these because you also see the way forward as bringing foundational perspectives to environmental stewardship decisions?

I agree with that completely. I just read what I’m interested in and never really thought about how what I’m reading now reflects on the work I do or what is important to me. As a kanaka maoli it’s very important to recognize the culture, and the value and significance of this place and really honor that in the work we do. That’s something a lot of my family and the work we do includes, and also my work at Earth Justice and here at the law school. It really gives us a sense of place, as an educational tool but also as a way to inform how we live now and the way our life and work impacts this place. And I think Hawai`i, like many other places throughout the world, is really in a time of transition and the decisions we make now about how we live in this place will have a huge impact on generations to come.

--So it’s bringing the Hawaiian, cultural perspective to local but also global environmental stewardship?

Hawaiian culture is a state of mind, it’s a way of life, it’s not just what’s written in “Native Planters,” but our culture and traditions continue to live and grow into the present. So it’s important to look at how we live our lives now and how that impacts our future generations.

Photo linked to Earth Justice.

WIMR: Dee Jay Mailer | Kamehameha Schools

Born and raised in Hawai`i, and a 1970 Kamehameha Schools graduate, Dee Jay Mailer stepped into the CEO position in 2004, leaving her former position as COO of the United Nations Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. Her leadership has been characterized as focused on the mission, and emphasizing proaction as the best protection. Every decision at KS is weighed against five values: environment, education, economic, cultural and community. It's not surprising then, that her reading choice embodied all.

Read the full interview, never before published, below.

What I’m Reading | Dee Jay Mailer
CEO Kamehameha Schools

Q&A with Christine Thomas
October 2007, Honolulu Advertiser

--What are you reading?

I just finished a book called “Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time,” by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. It’s a nonfiction book and the reason why I picked it up is because the cover has three young Afghanistan girls reading, and they are really engrossed in their books. And I thought, my goodness, if we can fight terrorism by building schools in villages then I want to read that book.

It’s the story of Mortenson’s own life. … He was a mountain climber…he had tried climbing K2 and almost died doing that. In the process of getting down from the mountain he met various people in villages and realized that the people in general were very happy but the thing that was missing was any kind of education. There were no schools or books—most of the education came from the land and the elders who told stories. So after that his mission became building schools in Afghanistan. … He’s now built 55 schools in that region through money he got from philanthropists and from an institute he was funded for called the Central Asia Institute.

--How did you discover it?

One of the people that I work with, Rod Chamberlain, he’s an avid reader and he’s always picking up these wonderful tales of education. So he had picked up this book and wrote me an email and said you’d love this book...so I picked it up from his reference.

--What do you like about it?

What was really so meaningful to me was the journey he took from being a mountain climber, where his heroism was focused on himself, to equal heroism focused away from himself and on building schools in Afghanistan, where the spotlight is on the deed that was done and not on the hero. The spotlight was more than just him but a spotlight on the village and the spotlight on the courage and conviction they had to educate their people. That seems to be a universal value among people—education for people and children. … It’s an indication that fortitude, perseverance, and being tenacious are incredibly important in parts of our world to bring something of value to other people. Instead of climbing a huge peak he was climbing a different kind of peak to help people in the villages of Afghanistan. … Coming to build schools was the universal peace offering.

--How do you find time to read? Is it just for pleasure or is it necessary to you as a person or the work you do?

I wish I could say it was something I had to do. Because I’m in education it gives me insight and perspective about how you can educate people just with fortitude and not a whole lot of resources. But more important for me—it’s an escape from all of you have day to day. It takes me away from my world for a moment to other places in the world where I can live through someone else’s story rather than my own.

--How does Mortenson’s story affect your thinking about serving the needs of immediate Kamehameha Schools’ beneficiaries while also fulfilling the mission into perpetuity?

The first truth for me is that when you are educating people you need to listen to those people first. So when Kamehameha works with our communities, which we do a lot, we need to listen to them and we need to understand the circumstances that they face, and we need to be patient to be sure that we cover all the bases that are important to the community. By the same token, we never should give up, just as Greg [Mortenson] didn’t. We should always know that there is an end to the journey and always keep our sights on that, and never let the milestones in between stop us from going forward.

And the community will be with us along that journey because education is what can rescue all people from challenges and despair, and that outcome of freedom from being hopeless to hope is a universal aspiration. When we work with our community, everyone understands the value of education and wants that for their children. … For me it’s an affirmation that people around the world have a will to live, but that they need the knowledge and worldliness to do so. If you mix will with knowledge and understanding of what’s going on in the world, that’s where people thrive.

WIMR: Joan Gencarelli, Honolulu Pen Women

What I’m Reading | Joan Gencarelli
President of American Pen Women, Hawai`i

Q&A with Christine Thomas May 4, 2008, Honolulu Advertiser

--What are you reading?

"Atonement" by Ian McEwan. I wanted to read the book after I saw the movie, because while the movie starts out as a love story destroyed by an overly imaginative eleven-year-old, almost half of the film was devoted to scenes from WWII, and focused on basically one character and the young sister who destroyed the lives of two people. The ending was surprising and to me split the movie into three distinct parts. I wanted to see how true the screenwriters had been to the original book. They were faithful, and made minor changes to the ending, which actually worked well.

--What do you like most about it?

I am enthralled that a grown man [McEwan] can create a young woman—her thoughts, her actions, that are so much in character, and the visual images he creates, the tension that I felt physically, the surprise ending—though I felt a bit cheated there, as if he wrapped it up a bit too soon.

--So you didn’t want it to end?

Not that I didn't want it to end, and the ending was clever, but McEwan was so much into detail throughout the book that I felt he rushed through the ending, and I found it anti-climactic. It was rather as if Hercule Piorot were to go straight to the guilty without putting all present as suspects. Before the final dramatic ending.

--How does experiencing McEwan’s ability to enter another’s point of view so thoroughly help you think of new ways to reach and inspire the many different creative Pen Women members?

His writing style inspires me to think of ways to present exercises to my writing groups who are stuck on point-of-view. His overall talent inspires me personally to reach beyond what I would normally do and take chances—be bolder, push my own boundaries.

WIMR: Kaui Hart Hemmings

What I’m Reading | Kaui Hart Hemmings
Author

Q&A with Christine Thomas
April 20, 2008
Honolulu Advertiser

--What are you reading?

I just finished “Revolutionary Road” by Richard Yates. It’s a novel set in the ‘60s and it’s just about a young couple who live in the Connecticut suburbs who think they’re superior to the suburban life they’ve found themselves in. They have these contentious knockdown fights and decide to move to Paris, and of course their plans get thwarted and then everything goes in this downward spiral. It’s exactly the kind of novel I like—intimate, focused on a small group of people in a very specific time and place, just about people’s relationships but yet it’s not by any means like a quiet domestic novel. There’s so much tension and suspense, too. And I just love Richard Yates.

--How did you discover it?

It came out a while ago, and my publisher Random House just started this film division so they’re starting to read books for adaptations and this one was the first pick to adapt into a movie. It’s a classic book I’m also embarrassed I haven’t read yet.

--Do you read novels while you’re writing, such as your most recent book “The Descendants” which just came out in paperback?

I’m always reading. I usually have about two to three novels around that I’m always looking through, and I know when I’m writing that something is seeping into it. Whatever I’m reading at the time, stylistically it has the tiniest bit of influence. But I like it because where I get my inspiration is reading other people’s work, maybe because I want to answer back in some way.

--How is Yates seeping what you’re working on now?

I never really know at the time what it’s doing, but I am working on something that has nothing to do with the plot but it is focused on a small group of people with not necessarily these huge problems but these minor tensions between one another. I love the way in his novel they sort of moved completely into something huge at the end. It wasn’t just about relationships— something happens in the novel, which I’m very big on. I don’t like just a lot of internal reflection. So reading his novel reminds me to keep that tension as if it’s a suspense novel, even though it’s not at all—to have something happen.

WIMR: Aulani Wilhelm | NOAA

The Northwest Hawaiian Islands Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument was proclaimed by a landmark presidential decree on June 15, 2006. Superindendent 'Aulani Wilhelm spoke with me almost a year later (during her maternity leave) about what she's reading and why preserving nature is important. I've included the full interview below, not previously published.

What I’m Reading | ‘Aulani Wilhelm
NOAA Superintendent, Northwest Hawaiian Islands Monument

Q&A with Christine Thomas
May 2007

-What are you reading?

I don’t know if this is weird but I’m reading three different books at once. I’m a nonfiction reader typically, and I guess because of my work I usually read conservation-related books. But now that I’m on maternity mom time I find myself moving toward that. One book I’m reading is “Raising Cain” by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, and it’s about protecting the emotional life of boys. I have two boys now, and I find myself, especially watching my toddler grow up, I really need to understand boys and what it takes to raise them and what are they facing now as little boys in our society. This book was recommended by a colleague of mine in California who is also raising a boy, and is by two PhD psychologists. It basically talks about how in our society and lots of societies boys are raised to be stoic and think they’re not supposed to feel. It’s not a how-to book on how to raise your boys, but how to understand. I think boys have the added pressure of having this tough guy image. I want my boys to grow up to be sensitive toward other boys and other girls—to be empathetic.

The other book that I’m reading is called “The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter” by Katherine Ellison. Two things turned me on to this book. She’s a co-author of a book I loved called “The New Economy of Nature: The Quest To Make Conservation Profitable” that she co wrote with Gretchen Daily. It’s about how nature can drive the economy and ways you can protect nature while still having a successful economy … She was a foreign correspondent who was also a mom. She used to hear all these comments that you become a mom and lose your mind, so she was afraid of what motherhood was going to mean because she prided herself on her career and didn’t want to be come a brainless mom. What she found in her research is that motherhood actually makes you smarter and more focused. … so she’s found that actually you become more efficient, and you use your brain differently and become even more decisive than ever before. … It helps to read something and focus on something that’s my own—not just a nighttime children’s story.

But I couldn’t stay away from my conservation background so I’m reading an almost scary book called “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder” by Richard Louv. I never heard about this guy before. He was also a journalist who ended up writing seven books. His conclusion is basically that he links the absence of nature in the way that children are growing up today—what he calls the wired generation, you know Nintendo and iPod—he links the absence of nature to disturbing trends like the rise in obesity, attention disorders and depression. He’s collected research from around different publications and scientific journals. His conclusion is that we need direct exposure to nature and that we’re becoming the last generations who are exposed to nature and that more and more kids are not exposed to nature. That’s creating those disorders because they don’t have those peaceful places they go to, and that’s important to their emotional and physical health. It feeds my hunger for research, conservation, but you can really apply it to your life.

… Some of why we’re not connected to nature has to do with development and how we’re paving nature, but at least in American society with homeowners associations, rules determine where kids play. Rules, both private and public, are making it more difficult for kids to find public places to play. And, it’s not as safe for kids to just go wandering and parents don’t have the time or desire to wander with them. It’s interesting if you’re into conservation, and if you have kids, and that’s where I am right now. It’s common sense but puts it into a book and presents it a way you can think about it.

-How did you discover Louv’s book?

A mentor of mine, Laura Thompson, got the book and gave it to me for Christmas. She read it and said this is a book that every parent should read. I’m really grateful and she’s right. It’s really eye-opening. And she’s from a generation that grew up in nature, and she’s seen now three generations after her of transition from that. On an island where we live, although we have the ocean, still a lot of our ocean and mountain access is cut off. Space and wilderness is at a premium. On an island we definitely have to think about it. How do we protect these wild places that we love? And if nature has a chance of being preserved kids need to have contact and access to it or it’s going to become a story they see on TV or Nintendo.

-Does this book reinvigorate your long-term work to promote conservation?

Yeah I think that and “The Mommy Brain” both do that. For one thing, the Northwest Hawaiian Islands was such a long, draining fight. And you get to the end of that and you need a recharge. You need something that reminds you that it was all worth it and to re-inspire you to continue on. And having another child makes me think, should I be working this hard? Am I gypping my kids in the interest of conservation? This book really helps me think about it in two ways, that part of protecting my kids is working to protect nature and instilling in them those values. These books help to give me new perspective and other people’s perspective, not just the writers but the researchers and scientists they share quotes from. I’ve been really single-focused working on the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, so it’s good to have something fresh. So it is stimulating actually.

WIMR: Sig Zane

In 1987 when Hilo clothing designer Sig Zane began experimenting with fabric, he told another interviewer was because he “wanted to create gifts of love.” His designs for men and women are always linked to Hawaiian culture and hula (his wife is Kumu Nalani Kanaka`ole and his son Kuhao, COO, also dances), most often featuring designs of Native Hawaiian flora, and other everyday yet meaningful objects like eucalyptus seeds, as well as local places. Because Zane grounds his designs in the land, he focuses on educating others this way about culture and principles and values through plants.

We talked last October about one place he gets inspiration, and I include the full interview below.

What I’m Reading | Sig Zane
Designer

Q&A with Christine Thomas
October 2007

--What are you reading?

There is one book that I always refer to and that is “The Polynesian Family System in Ka'u Hawaii,” and by E.S. Craighill Handy and Mary Kawena Pukui.

--How did you discover it?

It’s been a book that we’ve referred to many, many times in my family here. My wife’s family is from Ka`u and ohana to Mary Kawena Pukui. What it also does for me is, it’s just a return to reading about the foundation values of the family. I always go back to it. There’s many, many things in there that talk about traditional values, rearing, kinship—just a very important book. It really talks all about life, totally.

--What parts do you often revisit?

Well, one of the last parts I was reading was about the calling out to people when they’re passing the house. You call out and invite them in—it’s a manner of hospitality. I was just reading hat because I needed to share that with somebody, but in a modern day society. I was working with a company with that. I went to tell them that in the old style this is what it was like, but we can still use the same values in today’s society.

--Does this book, as well as your own family, help you to better educate others about Hawaiian values through design?

All the time. Even the Hawaiian dictionary—these are things that are always at my side. I’m always referring to it. It did come about specifically when I met my mother in law. She was the one who told us that we need to share our experiences and our knowledge so that the next generation has something and they know how to practice and know our belief system. It was she, in the mid ‘70s, who told me this and I was so inspired by her. So since then I’ve been doing it.

WIMR: Wally Famous Amos

Late last year, I met Wally Amos at his Chip & Cookie store in Kailua for a chat about what he's reading. In the end, he read to me in his measured, animated voice, two heart-opening children's books. Always unexpected and positive, it's was one of my memorable interviews.

What I’m Reading | Wally “Famous” Amos
Literacy Advocate, Famous Entrepreneur

Q&A with Christine Thomas
December 2007

--Before the interview proper:

What a coincidence. I just walked out of the Honolulu library where I read a chapter of The Joy Luck Club—I’d never read the book before and I really enjoyed it so I checked it out. It’s funny because I visit libraries all the time to read for children but I wasn’t sure I even had a card. I had a fine from checking out Catch-22 twenty years before.

--What are you reading?

When I travel I like to have a book. I like reading novels and things, and I can’t wait to get started on The Joy Luck Club I read a chapter yesterday for Project Read, and liked it so much I checked it out of the library.

I’m also reading a book—it’s probably the second or third time I’ve read it—called Make it an adventure by Marcus Bach. He wrote thirty books, probably about all religions of the world and long-living people of the world. He was a great friend and a neat, neat guy. I always go back and grab one of his books because I always find something new every time. It’s a great reminder—I’m on a chapter called Being Courteous, about how life can become an adventure just by being courteous.

--Is Bach one of your touchstones?

Yes, his books are like that. I wanted him to work with me on my first book—I really wanted to write a book to promote Famous Amos, and he said he would and time went on—he died in 1994 and he was so busy all the time—finally he says I want to but my schedule and my time is so limited ... I’m just not going to do it but I’ll give you some advice….write like you talk.

His books are like that. I always get the feeling that I am holding him in my hand. So now that he’s no longer alive it’s like having him around. ….

I love reading inspirational, spiritually-based books because I think they definitely give you a guide about how a productive life is to be lived—give you real insight into leading a meaningful life.

--What about The Joy Luck Club made you check it out right away?

It is a fun book with a great sense of humor, great sensitivity that tugs at your emotions, and I’m amazed how you can be reading and all of a sudden the words get right in your body and manipulate your emotions. It surprises you sometimes—you don’t even know it’s coming. … It’s personal with a book; it’s you and the book and you have to visualize it, so you become a part of the book also. The reader and the book become one.

--How does your own reading help you keep inspiring people to transform their lives?

I love reading because this is a great reminder of how live is supposed to be lived. … The things with children’s books is that you have to read them to kids over and over and over again so the message really saturates their little brains, so it impacts them in a way they never ever, ever forget. This isn’t a children’s book—parents become better parents, become stronger families. That’s why I promote reading aloud—that can change the world. Books are really, really incredible.

--So reading is just part of your life adventures?

It’s a great part of my adventure. My ultimate goal is that this store, this company and business will be so big and so successful that I’ll have nothing to do with it. My passion and what I really want to do is just saturate the United States with the message about how important it is to read aloud to children, if only ten minutes a day, from birth to six years old. You will change the life of that child.

WIMR: John R. K. Clark

Late last year I interviewed John Clark (right) about what he was reading, soon after the publication of his most recent book, Guardian of the Sea: Jizo in Hawaii, which I reviewed for the Honolulu Advertiser. In the full text of our conversation below, find out why Clark is doing research to help him bring the count of Waikiki books in print to 10,001.

What I'm Reading | John R. K. Clark
Former Honolulu Deputy Fire Chief, Author

Q&A with Christine Thomas
November 2007

--What are you reading?

I’m reading every book that was ever written about Waikiki and surfing, which is the subject of my next book. I decided that ten thousand books on the subject aren’t enough, so I’m going to make it ten thousand and one. I think everybody and his cousin has written something on Waikiki. But on my nightstand right now are “The Hawaiian Canoe” by Tommy Holmes and “Waikiki Beachboy” by Grady Timmons.

For pleasure I’m reading “Warriors Super Edition: Firestar's Quest” by Erin Hunter, and my children, Saachi who’s 10 and Koji who’s 12, are avid readers and all three of us read a lot of tween and teen adventure series together. “Firestar's Quest” is the fifteenth book in the Warrior Series. That’s one thing that’s been really neat. Over the past few years. I look for quick reads. When I’m in my writer zone I make a conscious effort to not get into the 100-page Stephen King novels, so the Warrior Series and other books like them have been a really good fit for me. They’re quick, they’re easy reading--I can pick them up and put them down, and they have given me something to share with my kids. They’ve also given me good insight on what contemporary writers are writing for our children.

--How did you discover that series?

Sachi loves animals and she started reading the first book in the Warrior Series—it’s a fantasy adventure series about four clans of wild cats who live in a forest, and their form of government is the warrior code. The books are very well written—they’re fun, entertaining, and educational. Of course, the four clans also mirror human society in many ways.

--How about the others?

I’ve been methodically researching all of the books that deal with surfing and Waikiki and both of those books are two obvious choices. If you’re going to write anything about Waikiki and surfing, those are must-reads.

--What stands out about Holmes’ and Timmons’ books?

Both of the writers were very good researchers and rather than just repackaging all of the material that’s out there from other sources, they went back to primary source to get information. In fact, Tommy Holmes did an exceptional job of going back to primary sources in researching “The Hawaiian Canoe.” In other words, he didn’t just go back to someone else’s book and paraphrase what they said, he actually went back to people’s journals, Hawaiian language newspapers, and he did oral interviews with people who were actually living—that’s original research.

--Is that what you strove for in your new book “Guardian of the Sea,” to seek out stories of those who actually lived through past events?

In “Guardian of the Sea” I tried as much as possible to do that, and do so in all my books. I try to let my informants reveal what the material is—I try to let them tell the story rather then stepping in and trying to paraphrase and interpret. I think it’s a good way to tell history accurately. You’re letting the people who actually lived the incident tell it in their own words. So they’re speaking for themselves, and I’m not speaking for them. I think that makes it more objective. It also gives us a good snapshot of the culture and the people, and even the language of that particular time that the incident occurred.

WIMR: Keola Beamer

What I'm Reading | Keola Beamer
Musician

Q&A with Christine Thomas
January 2007

--What are you reading?

I have some interesting tastes in reading. I’ve always been a reader, have always enjoyed reading my whole adult life. I’m really fascinated by the deep undercurrent of Hawai`i’s past and how some of these ancient ideas relate to contemporary living and contemporary science. I’m particularly interested in what we Hawaiians call mana, life force. The Chinese, who have been practicing internal arts for thousands of years, call this Qi.

Because a lot of ancient information about mana has been lost, it’s a difficult subject to explore. However, modern science has done some interesting things lately to try and understand what this is and how it can be quantified.

I’m reading a really fascinating book now called “The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe” by Lynne MacTaggart. It’s a readable scientific detective story that offers a picture of an inter-connected universe and a new scientific theory that makes sense of this kind of phenomenon. It’s really interesting reading. I’ve also started “The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles” by James Lipton. This is kind of a summary of new biology and information concerned with this subtle force.

--How did you discover these books?

I guess in my exploration of the web, and some friends also recommended them. For Hawaiians, we believe there is a level of existence that sometimes we term the 'aumakua level of existence. This is a higher level of existence where we believe that inspiration comes from, from our relatives and ancient ancestors.

--Do these touch on that?

In a sense these things are all interconnected. I look at the way I look at the universe and my own life. As we all age sometimes we get a little enclosed in our beliefs, and I’m really trying to resist that and go forward with an open heart. I’m trying to stay open to these really interesting and fascinating possibilities in my life.

I’m always interested in artists and how they think—how inspiration works. In my own work I try to set aside my own story and connect to this 'aumakua level. You ask writers in Hawai`i, “How did you write this song?” and they will inevitably say, “It came through me.” If our lives are so full with our own egos, we miss some of these stories. So we have to quiet our own ego and our own story.

--So if we're always trying to 'do', we're not connecting?

My students ask how do you get your inspiration? But there's no recipe. I can't tel people how. A lot of my work comes from love, out of aloha for a place, love for a person, love for something in our life that connects us.

--Do these interests reflect your longtime focus, through music, on continuity and innovation?

We have to honor our past and those that came before and remember the contributions of, in my case, so many wonderful musicians. At the same token, we are not museum pieces; we grow and breathe and change. There’s an interesting dichotomy as native Hawaiians. We have one foot in the past and one moving into the future. The art of living is somehow combining those two influences and somehow creating a human life with meaning.

--Then these books help you along that path?

Yeah, I think so. It validates some of my own suspicions. And what I really like is it really helps to open the imagination. I love that feeling of reading opening new worlds of thought and creative discussion.

Run Like Murakami

With help from The Global Game editor, over the weekend I read an interview with Haruki Murakami in Germany's Spiegel, about his running addiction and new memoir (not yet out in English) "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running."

If you aren't aware, Murakami, the most popular living Japanese author, not only writes copiously but runs a marathon every year--there's even a web site that tracks his marathon movements called Let's Haruking on Foot, although it only goes up to 2005.

He runs to be mentally and physically fit, strong enough to dig into the dark places his stories inhabit, and most important to find his way up again.

Here's an excerpt of this funny, intimate interview:

SPIEGEL: Are you a better writer because you run?

Murakami: Definitely. The stronger my muscles got, the clearer my mind became. I am convinced that artists who lead an unhealthy life burn out more quickly. Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin were the heroes of my youth -- all of them died young, even though they didn't deserve to. Only geniuses like Mozart or Pushkin deserve an early death. Jimi Hendrix was good, but not so smart because he took drugs. Working artistically is unhealthy; an artist should lead a healthy life to make up for it. Finding a story is a dangerous thing for an author; running helps me to avert that danger.

SPIEGEL: Could you explain that?

Murakami: When a writer develops a story, he is confronted with a poison that is inside him. If you don't have that poison, your story will be boring and uninspired. It's like fugu: The flesh of the pufferfish is extremely tasty, but the roe, the liver, the heart can be lethally toxic. My stories are located in a dark, dangerous part of my consciousness, I feel the poison in my mind, but I can fend off a high dose of it because I have a strong body. When you are young, you are strong; so you can usually conquer the poison even without being in training. But beyond the age of 40 your strength wanes, you can no longer cope with the poison if you lead an unhealthy life.

Read the whole interview here.

There's also a helpful page for Murakami-philes on Guardian UK web site, listing articles an updates on publications and events.