Leslie Wilcox Blogs

Killer-Whale Computer Wallpaper

You're a human, the dominant species on land. And killer whales are considered the dominant species in the ocean.

So why not adorn your computer screen with your ocean counterpart, Kelsey? He's pretty cute and cuddly-looking, for an apex predator.

You'll see Kelsey the orca in Jean-Michel Cousteau's "Call of the Killer Whale," airing at 8pm Wednesday, April 8, 2009, on PBS Hawaii.

This photograph, with an April calendar, is available for free downloading, along with two other    computer wallpaper choices, at

                                                www.pbshawaii.org/ourproductions/wallpaper.php

Graveyards Full of Life Stories

     I didn't just happen to meet Nanette Napoleon.  Many years ago, as a journalist, I learned that she was documenting Hawaii graveyards. I called her up and asked if she'd show me what fascinated her.

     And no, she's not a morose, morbid person. She's upbeat, outdoorsy, and athletic, with a big circle of family and friends.

      Nanette and I spent an hour-and-a-half in Oahu Cemetery in Nuuanu, where names from Hawaiian history seemed to leap from tombstones. Nanette knew all of the names and dates, and what the monuments didn't have room to say. As we walked around, it was as if Nanette was giving voice to those who could no longer speak. She told their stories, gave new life to olden days.

      Studying graveyards transports Nanette into robust times of lives lived.

      Nanette is my guest tomorrow evening at 7:30pm (Tues., March 31, 2009) on PBS Hawaii's Long Story Short.  Watch---and you too will see what Nanette finds in Oahu Cemetery. You won't get depressed. But you just might become  inspired by the lives of people who've gone before us in Hawaii Nei.

      {Long Story Short also airs at 11pm Wednesday (April 1, 2009) and at 4pm Sunday (April 5, 2009) on PBS Hawaii. Audio of the conversation will be broadcast on radio--KUMU FM 94.7--on Sunday, April 5, 2009.} 

Dreaming up a New Broadcast/Media Center

     Now that PBS Hawaii has bought land on which to build a new broadcasting home, we're considering what a public television/digital media station should look like in the 21st century.

      What do you think?

     The land is on a heavily traveled roadway--Nimitz Highway, at the corner of Sand Island Access Road, just outside metropolitan Honolulu. Unlike KHON2 and KITV which created new quarters on the ground floor of  high-rise buildings in Honolulu, we expect to construct a stand-alone building.

      More than a dozen stakeholders in our noncommercial organization (viewers, students, funders, board members, staff) got together with visionary architect Francis Oda to "blue-sky"--to think hard about the future role of Hawaii's only public television (and digital media) station and its future home base. 

      The goal--to come up with major themes to aid in building design.

       It seems a little crazy to try to project 10, 20, 30 years out,  in the field of digital media, since so much of what we do now wasn't envisioned even 5- 10 years ago. And the rate of change is only increasing.

       The group spent a lot of time talking about capacity for interactivity, high-definition, multiple platforms, various delivery systems. And then we realized we were simply talking about tools. We decided to take for granted we'd have cutting-edge tools and use them strategically.

       The real question: What's the essence of PBS Hawaii going forward?

       It all comes down to values.

        Here are the major themes we'll keep in mind in crafting a new home for PBS Hawaii: 

        1) We're a trusted gathering place (literally and virtually) for people and ideas; 2) We seek to reflect and understand our community--keeping a local focus and global awareness; 3) Education and lifelong learning are defining goals.

        Dr. Oda will use these values in shaping prospective building designs. I'll share them with you as we go along. I welcome your input.

        Meantime, PBS Hawaii is seeking a tenant for the one-story building at 315 Sand Island Access Road, while we raise money to renovate and expand our new home.

       For now, our operations will stay put on the campus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. UHM, our landlord and community partner, is working with us on an interim lease.

Ocean "Monstas" that Didn't Get Away

    Even when fishermen don't bring home fish, they bring home fish stories. 

    The publication Hawaii Fishing News likes stories as much as anyone else. But it knows how creative and convincing fishermen are! (There are a half-dozen in my neighborhood--and one in my house!)

    If you want your fish story published,  you've got to show evidence it's true.

     So, the Fishing News is punctuated with photos of weary but proud men and women standing next to brawny ulua,  mahimahi,  blue marlin. (The magazine's not on-line, but it has a web presence: www.hawaiifishingnews.com/home.cfm )

      The latest edition has a couple of particularly incredible-but-true fish stories--with awesome photos--out of Honokohau, Hawaii Island. 

       You see Greg George on a jet ski with a 612-pound marlin caught way out at sea. That's 612 pounds not counting the estimated 50-pound-or-more bite a tiger shark left in the marlin as Greg was fighting it, with his watercraft bucking like a mechanical bull. And at one point, the fisherman got knocked into the water with the struggling marlin and the shark. As the shark grabbed the marlin, the jet ski was "tombstoning." Greg managed to get back onto the jet ski and make a rescue call. Friends on the boat Sea Genie 2 came to his aid.

      You see Calvin Lai Jr. with a seven-foot-long, 61.5-pound moray eel, which came after him in 45 feet of water as he was spearfishing (and was wearing a belt stringer of caught fish). Calvin writes that he doesn't hunt eels. But he killed this one, because it was very aggressive and followed him to within 15 feet of the surface.

     Much of the dead eel was given away, happily received by shoreline ulua fishermen to use as bait. But Calvin is having his friend Bomboy Llanes mount the eel's head and part of the body, as a monument to the creature that almost didn't let him get away.

     As frightening--and true--as these stories are, they don't scare away most fishermen. They keep going back to the water and they keep telling stories.

    

 

Hawaii Volcano Researchers on PBS' "Nature"

     The work of three researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa will be on view nationally on PBS this weekend, as Nature debuts "Kilauea: Mountain of Fire."

      The program, which will be broadcast at 8pm Sunday (March 29, 2009) on PBS Hawaii, explores the processes of life and destruction wrapped up in the 26-year ongoing eruption of our neighbor, the world's most active volcano.

      The researchers to be featured, from UH Manoa's School of Ocean and Earth, Science and Technology, are Ben Brooks, Milton Garces and Todd Ericksen.

     Brooks is the director of the Pacific GPS Facility, and Garces is the director of infrasound research at the volcano's Pu'u 'O'o vent.

     Filmmaker Paul Atkins takes us to the sizzling meeting place where 2000-degree lava hits 75-degree coastal waters.

     Riveting video! And on television, you don't experience the vog that bothers many folks in the Ka'u region and other places in Hawaii where the winds take it.

     PBS Hawaii has made "Kilauea: Mountain of Fire" one of its Prime Picks--so it'll get a re-broadcast at 11pm Monday (March 30, 2009).

Dragon Bar Rotarians

       I never saw a Rotary Club like I saw last evening.

      It was a new Rotary Club--and perhaps its members are a new breed of Rotarians.

      For one thing, they were younger:  20- and 30-something. For another, they were meeting at the end of the work day, having drinks and carry-in sushi  at  a bar.

      Not just any bar--a bar with character and a San Francisco vibe. The Dragon Upstairs, a hideaway over Hank's in downtown Honolulu, is boldly red, black and gold, with huge dragons and gigantic masks on the wall.  It's got a piano bar. And a jazz group--a good jazz group--plays after the Rotary Club meets. 

       Another way the club is different--members made no bones about wanting to offer time and service, but not a lot of money. You won't see this Rotary Club expecting members to contribute $100 to the club when their name gets printed in the paper.

     "We're not rich and we have to fund retirement funds because Social Security may not be around for us," one said. "But we'd like to make a difference."

       They certainly have the values of other Rotary Clubs, wanting to do right and wanting to do good. And like most Rotarians, they're keenly interested in networking. Other Rotary Clubs have embraced the club. Laurie Steelquist, longtime Rotarian at the club that meets regularly at Waialae Country Club, was visiting.

        I enjoyed the group. These young Rotarians were impromptu, wry, enthusiastic and supportive of each other and worthy causes. 

        They believe in short meetings--no more than an hour. When members make announcements or share stories, they keep them succinct. Last night, a young woman with a role in finding discarded Army munitions in coastal waters was  too interesting to be held to brevity. Sean, leading the meeting,  called her back up to the podium to talk some more! When have you seen that happen before?

       I'd been asked to share a little about PBS Hawaii and what's happening in media. The members paid attention and posed sharp questions. One of the leaders, Connye, also  asked how they could help PBS Hawaii.

       Rotarians, in Hawaii and around the world,  have a long and distinguished history of public service. If the Pau Hana Rotarians are a sign of the future, I'd say the future looks promising.

       And it comes with gold dragons and sushi.

      

       

 

The Call of Kalo

    Hundreds of native Hawaiians gathered at the State Capitol today, demonstrating poi-pounding, making crafts, displaying treasures, sharing information, networking.

    It was great to see people in a place that belongs to the people. I know, I know--lawmakers, staff members and lobbyists are people, too. But we see them all the time at the Capitol.

    The great group of Hawaiians came from all over to mark  Kalo (Taro) Day.

     I met a taro farmer from beautiful remote Keanae, Maui, near Hana.

     He  told me that tour buses have taken to stopping near his home. Visitors peer out the windows to look at a bit of old Hawaii.   

     "That's my home," Ed said. "And the road is small."

      He asked the tour bus driver where he lives. The bus driver told him.

      "Okay," said Ed, "I going come down your house with a bus full of Hawaiians snapping pictures at you. How you going feel?"

        Ed was enjoying himself at the Kalo Festival. He's  fine with show-and-tell and wants to let others know the importance of taro, the staple food of the Hawaiian culture.

         Just don't go rumbling down to his home in a monster tour bus.

What Am I Getting Into Now?

     I never know what I'm getting into most Tuesday mornings about 8:45 a.m. Chances are, with radio DJ Frank B. Shaner in the picture, it's a lot different than what's planned!

     Tuesday mornings are when I'm invited to call the live radio program that Frank hosts with Mandy Suganuma on KUMU FM Radio 94.7.  It's a chance to let listeners know what guest is being featured on that night's telecast of Long Story Short on PBS Hawaii.

      Too bad I have to make cold calls--that is, not listening to the radio--because I'm at the office and usually just coming out of a meeting.

      Suddenly I enter a spirited ongoing discussion in Frank and Mandy's radio world--about best movies of all time, whether a woman should take a cheating partner back, the appeal of oddball singer Tiny Tim, anything.

       Today, when I called, Frank had just played Tiny Tim singing one of my favorite old songs, "Stairway to Heaven," and Mandy was objecting strenuously, as well she should. Good fun... Frank loves to embrace ridiculous points of view and stoutly defend them. Mandy is amused but thankfully, sane.

       Somewhere along the line I mentioned that the guest on Long Story Short tonight is local author Nora Okja Keller, who wrote Comfort Woman and Fox Girl.

      And I thought--how great that in the hilarity and silliness and music of live radio, there's room to make a point about a thoughtful discussion with a writer, coming up tonight (Tues., March 24, 7:30pm) on Hawaii's public television station. 

      Thanks to Frank, Mandy, and locally owned radio group Visionary for their graciousness and for caring about diverse things (zany times, music, and interesting books) that give a lift to our lives in Hawaii.

Hawaii's Ceded Lands Issue

         I've been asked a number of times in casual conversations what I think of the important ceded lands issue.

         My sense is that what I'm really being asked to give  is not my opinion--but a simple explanation. This is a long-running controversy, with twists and turns at different times in history in different venues.

        The issue, involving 1.8 million acres of land in Hawaii,  defies a one-sentence summary.

        Also, the word "ceded" is confusing to many people. It's generally not used in mainstream conversation.

        I remember school debates in which participants were asked, "Do you cede the point?" So what comes to my mind instantly is granting, yielding, surrendering.

         Last week (Thurs., March 19,2009) Insights on PBS Hawaii carried a live, call-in program about the ceded lands issue, and it's available for viewing online:

          http://www.kmeb.org/insights02.htm

        Sorry there's no quick explanation here. But in this hour there are answers to questions from different perspectives.

For Crying Out Loud, in South Point

        Earlier this year, when PBS Hawaii lost service temporarily in southeast Hawaii Island, a father in the remote little community of South Point called us to find out when our children's programs would be back on the air.

         A staffer apologized, telling him that, unfortunately, it would be several days, as the result of a shipping delay beyond our control involving customized equipment.  The father, still on the phone, excused himself and called out "Just a few days, son."  Our staffer heard the toddler break out crying.

        The dad kinda wanted to weep too. For his son, PBS Hawaii children's shows are fun. For the dad, they're a way for his boy to gain valuable literacy and thinking skills to prepare him for school.

         Other commercial broadcasters and cable TV don't reach South Point. It's not profitable for them to serve the communities in that area. Satellite TV service is available, but it costs.

        The only "free" TV is PBS Hawaii. We're the only over-the-air broadcaster that spends time, energy and money to reach the under-served in a large southeastern area of Hawaii Island.

         We do it through a series of translator stations, which pick up our signal in Hilo, and pass it along, all the way down to Na'alehu and South Point.  We must go to out-of-the-way places to build and maintain these translators.

           For example, the translator serving Na'alehu requires a 19-mile drive off a main road, through security gates, to Kulani Prison. Then our 4-wheel drive vehicle goes another five miles or so through the Kilauea Forest Reserve to the Kulani (Cinder) Cone. That's where the translator is. It's the Kulani Cone translator that "feeds" the South Point translator, located on South Point Road.

           And from that South Point translator, we can assure you a little boy in South Point is happily watching fun, noncommercial, violence-free learning programs  like Curious George, Sesame Street, Between the Lions, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Sid the Science Kid.