Hang Loose

PAPERS AT HOME

A Writing Notebook Memoir of News Thoughts and Lifestyle of an Unemployed Writer

"Garrett, the title 'Hang Loose' is about our lives and what we read in the newspapers and magazines."  

The samples:

1.

     Merry Christmas! "Home for the holidays" is printed in today's Insight edition of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The headline title that is on the front page in Section F. When I read the words "Home for the holidays" my mind focuses on seeing images when I was a lot younger in age. A special time to remember visualizing my childhood memories of growing up, celebrating with my loving grandparents who are no longer living at my mother's house. Grandpa Suguru Shinno had been the first to die in April 1999. The day was on the thirteenth. His wife and my grandmother Haruye Shinno died ten years later. The date of her passing was July 2, 2009. I'll always miss and cherish both of them dearly. Now my aunt and two cousins celebrate the holidays on their own and even my younger sister. She also celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas, on her own, with her husband and his family. The only family that I refer to as having a feeling of being "home for the holidays" are at home with my mother, uncle, and black cat. Specifically, Mother Mabel, Uncle Douglas, and Midnight. 

     At 43 years old, I'm still thankfully receiving a monthly Social Security Disability Income (SSDI). Don't be fooled. I'm not disabled. It's a long story. As a new writer, I hope to "break out" of this mode as soon as the media and those who are in the entertainment field of profession begin to recognize me after I publish several books at Blurb.com.

     After reading Connie Mitchell's article "IHS offers practical help, and much hope," I feel somewhat blessed. I understand the emotional feeling of her first paragraph: "Going home for the holidays or inviting friends into our home is what so many of us look forward to during the holiday season. But for hundreds of people on Oahu, home has been lost for a long while, or recently left behind. Either way, there's no place to call home. No place to feel safe, to find comfort or to celebrate life's ups and downs...No place to feel loved and cared for...or is there?" An excellent question. Every homeless individual on this island, Oahu, is different at seeking and asking for help. It's not so simple and rather uneasy. Confusing. Gratefully, in much appreciation, The Institute for Human Services, better known as "IHS" has been, for 33 years, "reaching out with practical help and hope to those who have been devastated by homelessness." Sheri Shibuya. That's me. Amen. I'm inspired. Never heard of this type of service before. Especially when the IHS invites people to come in, enjoy hot showers, meals, and safe slumber. No home for the holidays? Begin life anew. Merry Christmas. Founder Father Claude Du Teil of the IHS invited hungry homeless people who are willing to come and "talk story" as they ate peanut butter sandwiches and soup. 

     Sounds great. Here is a life thought to ponder. If people made changes in their own behaviors, then they could start a new chapter in their lives with a new job and an affordable, decent place to live. Hum. "Home for the holidays." Affordable housing, but how affordable? The average working adult, if living alone, in my opinion, needs to work, stated in this article, more than 40 hours a week in order for the individual to comfortably afford in buying a home and/or renting an apartment.
     "In the face of these obstacles, people are still clinging to dreams and IHS continues to offer hope and encouragement through the stability of a temporary home until they can get back on their feet."
     Amen. Merry Christmas and "Home for the holidays" during today's not quite so friendly economic reality drama in our every day lives of daily living.

Mitchell, Connie. "IHS offers practical help, and much hope." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 25 Dec. 2011 : F1.    

2.

     The award season is upon us. In William Pesek's "And The Winners Are: Asia was ravaged by Mother Nature over the past year, but there was notable human activity there as well" article, he listed 10 awards for the countries, people, and companies that shaped Asia's tumultuous year.
     I knew about the severe earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand and heard of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's recent death. But floods in the Philippines and Thailand? Chinese droughts? And volcanic eruptions in Indonesia? Need to catch up on the news.
     Yesterday afternoon, Hawaii time, I watched the CNN Heroes award on its broadcasting station Channel 14 I haven't seen the entire program. Not at the start, but almost toward the end. Anyway, the 10 listed awards printed in Pesek's article have its uniquely original named theme such as the Homer Simpson Award, Ready or Not Award, Reality TV Award, Overwhelmed Freshman Award, Coming Out Party Award, Underdog Award, Grrl Power Award, Clueless Executive Award, Contrarian Indicator Award, Meredith Whitney Award.
     If I could add an award, then my award would be the "unemployed" award. Speaking of unemployment, a quote by Eugene Tian, Acting Economist, Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, on new that two hospital closures will throw nearly 1,000 people out of work: "While most of the other states have declining unemployment rates, it turns out our labor market condition is getting worse."

Pesek, William. "And The Winners Are:" Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011: A13.

Tian, Eugene. The Last Word. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011: A13.

3. 

     After reading "Internet is everywhere but long-form journalism lives" by David Brooks, I began to think about the meaning of public policy essays. The best of the year essays "tackled the inter-connected subjects of inequality, wage stagnation and the loss of economic dynamism." Brooks recommend, for a deeper understanding of these issues, a diverse "melange" of articles: The Broken Contract by George Packer in Foreign Affairs; The Inequality That Matters by Tyler Cowen in The American Interest, The Rise of the New Global Elite by Chrystia Freeland in The Atlantic, and Beyond the Welfare State in National Affairs by Yuval Levin.
     Sounds too complicated enough to read? There are a bunch of letters that the public wrote to the editor. In today's Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the majority had written difficult or, rather, unfamiliar subject discussions that are headlined as the following---"Democrats share blame for gridlock" by Ray Graham of Waikiki," "Congress ignoring founding principles" by David Johnson of Hilo, "Upheaval might help North Korea by Sam Gillie of Hawaii Kai, "New law enables mass detentions" by Jan Becket of Honolulu, and "Ban 'spiking' for state employees by Curtis Wheeler of Waikiki.
     I somewhat understood the concept meaning of the letter that Kailua resident Tony Rizzo had written to the editor. The Star-Advertiser's Dec. 17 article, "PUC OKs Young Bros' new inter-island shipping rates" reminded him of a big mistake he had made when he bought a business.
     "I should have gotten one where if business got slow, I could go to a public agency and ask for money, no strings attached. And when things got good again, I would not have the lower prices or pay back any of the money." Rizzo wrote in his letter to the editor.
     But, I guess, I didn't quite get his laughter at how "Young Brothers President Glenn Hong says he is so concerned with the people and business of Hawaii. They asked for a 23.97 percent rate hike and only got 16.58 percent. With new math, look how the people came out ahead."
     I liked the 'new math' part, though, because math isn't my strongest nor my most wisest subject. It's a battlefield of mixed numbers, signs, letters, symbols, and so forth. Math. One of these rare days, I'll write a memoir about tackling to learn this subject.
     The final printed letter is about the "Demand for puppies hurts dogs." It's the only subject in this morning's edition, that I could easily have understood as I read the contents of what Martha Tanimoto of Pearl City had written to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's 'letter to the editor.' Most of us islanders wouldn't argue "while having a puppy may boost the quality of life for people, it should never be done at the expense of the puppy's parents. There are always hundreds of homeless, loving animals at the Hawaiian Humane Society in desperate need of a family. We must end the trend of puppy mills, which exist only because of the incessant (continuing without pause or interruption) demand for puppies."
     I also agree, in Tanimoto's letter, that justice is brought to those responsible for the deplorable (shockingly bad) conditions of the dogs at the Waimanalo puppy mill were forced to live. It's not a life that any animal should have to live. We both hope that the guilty party are sentenced next year.
     Today's "Our View" is on physical fitness. The whole article, in print, sounds challenging for a middle school student who, don't know whether or not it's voluntary or required, will take part in after-school sports at schools including Waianae Intermediate, Nanakuli High and Intermediate on Oahu; Kau High/Pahola Elementary (a K-12 school), Keaau Middle School and Pahoa High/Intermediate on Hawaii island.

     In the "After-school sports worthy of support" article, the sports activities will be incorporated into the present After-school All-Stars program. Students must maintain a 2.0 grade average and attend a year-round, academic-based element of After-School All-Stars. And also when not playing sports in the after-school program, they must take part in the academic facet, which includes classroom-style instruction, not merely monitoring school-time homework.

     This is credited to the Hawaii's public education system joining a national program (in the last school year) to provide after-school activities to middle school students whose parents work outside the home, leaving their children unsupervised by adults at the end of the school day. As a result, the program's recipients have shown improvement in grades, test scores, school attendance, and a drop in criminal activity.

     Back to Brooks' article, "Internet is everywhere but long-form journalism lives." How many newspaper readers will agree that they and Bill Gates enjoy the Internet, important new pharmaceuticals and good cheap food? I, for one, could enjoy the Internet a lot more when I know that there isn't a hacker spying every day on what I do online. Investigate and research. Don't know the importance of new pharmaceuticals. The definifition, however, according to the concise Oxford English Dictionary, is relating to medicinal drugs or their preparation, use or sale; a compound manufactured for use as a medicinal drug. And I'm not into eating foods that are from fast-food restaurants.

     The hacker should read Marcia Angell's series "The Epidemic of Mental Illness: Why?" from The New York Review of Books. Too bad he, the hacker, doesn't look like a model posing within the pages of GQ or Details magazines. Then perhaps an attractive girl or a beautiful woman would stop and think twice of wanting him to continue his pursuit of 'whateverness." 

     Besides this hacker problem, Brooks mentions a fine article, "The Movie Set That Ate Itself" by Michael Idov, that had been printed in GQ. According to Brooks, it is about the movie director Ilya Khrzhanovsky who set out to make a film about Stalinism, which is the ideology and policies adopted by the Soviet Communist Part leader and head of State Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953), based on centralization, totalitarianism, and the pursuit of communism.

"After-school sports worthy of support." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.
Becket, Jan. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.
Brooks, David. "Internet is everywhere but long-form journalism lives." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011: A13.

Gillie, Sam. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.

Graham, Ray. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.
Johnson, David. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.

Wheeler, Curtis. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.

Tanimoto, Martha. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 26 Dec. 2011 : A12.

4.    

     The Jesus examples, so far, in three letters to the editor---Jesus would be with 99 percent OWS violates the golden rule and Jesus would have supported OWS---remind me of a presidential or a governor election debate. Not on television, but in words printed in a newspaper.
     In the first letter, Nov. 30, 2011, "Jesus would be with 99 percent," Hawaii Kai resident Bruce Lee wrote that before the big banks and mega-corporations hijacked much of our government of the people, by the people and for the people, our country seemed to have a reasonable balance between capitalism and socialism. Ever since the inhumane greed and power of the one percent has infiltrated our government, the devastating effects of "trickle-up economics" have never been clearer.
     Who or what is the "inhumane greed and power of the one percent? And specifically what are the devastating effects of "trickle-up economics"?
     Is the 'religious right' the Democrats? Lee, in his letter, also wrote that the marriage between the Republicans and the religious right seems hypocritical because the Republicans support many of the very things Jesus would oppose such as their affinity for military expansion and aggression. This stands in direct opposition to "thou shalt not kill," and the story of "Jesus ridding the temple of money changers."
     Lee included a quote of Gandhi "The best way to fight evil is to expose it," and believed Jesus would have stood with the 99 percent who are courageously doing this in so many cities around the world today.
     The second letter, Dec. 21, 2011, "OWS violates the golden rule," is a comment response toward Lee's, Nov. 30, printed letter "Jesus would be with 99 percent" in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Kalihi resident James Quimby wrote in his first paragraph that it was an odd letter from a writer (Lee) who connected Jesus and the 99 percent. He, Quimby, continued with "of course Jesus would be in the 99 percent. He was not a multimillionaire. However, I doubt he would approve of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I do not think he would like the destruction of public and private property, the deaths, the public urination and defecation (discharge feces from the body), the drug usage, the fighting with police, the alleged rapes, the foul language, the destruction of private businesses, and the tons of trash left behind."
     A debate clarification. In my opinion, the Occupy Wall Street movement is not a pretty picture, but a scene taken out of the sixties known as the "hippies" or could be a scene out of a riot.
     Three paragraphs toward the end of Quimby's letter, he preached, to us readers, "I know he (Jesus) said do unto others as you would have done unto you." And "Jesus is much more like the religious right than OWS. Remember, Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's." In other words, pay your taxes and also honor your God. Jesus just might be in the 53 percent of us who still pay taxes."
     And in the third, for now, written at this time, final, letter, which was printed on Dec. 27, 2011, expressed another opinion or point-of-view titled "Jesus would have supported OWS."
     Alfred Bloom, of Kailua, wrote that James Quimby criticizes the Occupy Wall Street movement for violating the golden rule promoted by Jesus. However, he overlooks other important passage showing that Jesus would support the OWS movement. Namely, the Magnificat [the hymn of the Virgin Mary, Luke 1:46-55, used as a canticle (a hymn or chant forming a regular part of a church service), especially at vespers (evening prayer)  and evensong (evening prayers, psalms, and canticles) in Luke 1:46-55:
   
      "He hath shewed might in his arm:
          He hath scattered the proud in
     the conceit of their heart.
          He hath put down the mighty
     from their seat,
          and hath exalted the humble.
          He hath filled the hungry with
     good things;
          and the rich he hath sent
     empty away...".

   Another translation of Luke 1:46-55 comes from the New International Version in the Life Application Study Bible. Mary said:

      "My soul glorifies the Lord
          and my spirit rejoices in God
          my savior,
      for he has been mindful
          of the humble state of his servant.
      From now on all generations will
          call me blessed, for the Mighty
          One has done great things for
          me---
          holy is his name.
     His mercy extends to those who fear
          him, from generation to generation.
     He has performed mighty deeds with
          his arm; he has scattered those
          who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
     He has brought down rulers from their
          thrones but has lifted up the humble.
     He has filled the hungry with good things
          but has sent the rich away empty.
     He has helped his servant Israel,
          remembering to be merciful
     to Abraham and his descendants forever,
          even as he said to our fathers.

     Returning to Alfred Bloom's letter. He noted in Mark 11:15-19 that Jesus used force to cleanse the temple, driving out "those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers..." And, in addition, there is also Jesus' controversial statement: "I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword...(Matt. 10:34)."
     The NIV translation of Mark 11:15-19---
          On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:

          "My house will be called
                 a house of prayer for all nations?
           But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

          The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
          When evening came, they went out of the city.

     And Matthew 10:34---

          "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
                 I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

     Writer Bloom concluded, in his letter, that the Bible clearly sides with justice against exploitation of the common people by the rich who have economic and political power.
     Since I'm on the subject of "Jesus," I would write a novel, in the future, A Reporter In Jerusalem: Covering the Arrest, Trial, and Death of Christ and a self-help book, Crossroads: Perception to the Journey of my Life.

Bloom, Alfred. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 27 Dec. 2011 : A10.
Lee, Bruce. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 30 Nov. 2011 : A15.
Quimby, James. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 21 Dec. 2011 : A13.

5.

     A public safety concern regarding Hawaii's prison system ought to be thought of in the future. In the "our view" article Prison System Overdue for Reform, the main themes centered upon bringing back all of Hawaii's inmates who are serving sentences in mainland prisons and a new study that is providing policy direction, which promises to be pivotal (of crucial or central importance) for state administrators and legislators to increase efficiency in the prisons system, lower the inmate populations (and thus costs to taxpayers), and improve outreach re-integration without compromising public safety. Can all of this be possible?
     According to this article, the data also showed a surge in the number of high-risk inmates who have "maxed out" prison terms and been released into the community without any monitoring. As a result, to this troubling situation and national trend, there is a need to wiser sentencing terms that give high-risk inmates greater incentives to undergo monitoring as a condition for lower minimum-year sentences. Does this bargaining sound fair? It depends on the inmate. 
     How 'high-risk' is he as an inmate to undergo monitoring and then becomes released, out of prison and into society, sooner than the usual sentenced term? 
     City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro opposes "the idea of releasing inmates if it is based solely on the need to save money or because of the lack of prison space." 
     But as the study notes, in this "our view" article, there are systemic deficiencies that sometimes meant incarcerations (imprison or confine) longer than what is shown effective for protecting public safety. 
     Jodie Maesaka-Hirata, the State Public Safety Director, noted that a shortage of community-based services, which are needed as a condition of release, has existed for years because of 'no-in-my-backyard' resistance. 
     "If Hawaii can make inexpensive changes to realize substantial savings, without compromising public safety, these would be welcome indeed" as states within the final paragraph of this article. 

"Prison system overdue for reform." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 28 Dec. 2011 : A11

6. 

     An informative interview of Bill Maher, the TV star of "Politically Incorrect" and "Real Time" on HBO, is printed in the Dec. 21-27, 2011 issue of "Honolulu Weekly." Maher lives at home in LA. On a side note, I once resided in the South Bay of Southern California. The years were from April 1991 to Nov. 1996. My previous employment had been from an airline employee, in reservations, to an accounting assistant.
     How thoughtful and considerate of Maher to choose his 'first gig' in Honolulu for his New Year's show. "Well come on, that's what we call a no-brainer in show business," he said to Matthew Kain in the Q & A section of the Honolulu Weekly. "Where would you rather be on New Year's, Hawaii or Pittsburgh?"
     On New Year's Eve, I'd say I would be sitting in my mother's Waipahu house watching TV. My black cat, Midnight, wouldn't be too enthusiastic that I wasn't in his company at home. I would like to think that Maher was referring this quote to me when he said in his interview that there are a lot of smart people in Hawaii; it's a state now; they get the newspaper; they watch television; I think they'd really like a show like this.
     For those who hadn't picked up a free copy of the Honolulu Weekly and would want to know how Maher celebrate Christmas, he answered that he certainly doesn't celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, but he is also not down with the hardcore atheists who say we shouldn't call it Christmas.
     "First of all, it's a national holiday. Second of all, I have too many great memories of Christmas. I was a kid once. Christmas for me is my family; we have all those great memories of sitting home and playing our Robert Goulet Christmas records. No one is going to take that away from me because it uses the word Christ in the name, that's silly."
     Robert Goulet. He is one out of the twenty-three male celebrities with the first name "Robert" in an entertainment article that I supposed to write, but didn't, for the Associated Content at Yahoo! Contributor website. For those who are curious, including Bill Maher, here are the list of the 24 guys (presently alive and deceased) who are and were known as "Robert" in non-alphabetical order: Robert DeNiro, Robert Guillaume, Robert Keller-Kelly, Robert Kennedy, Robert Knox, Robert Newman, Robert Pattinson, Robert Sean Leonard, Robert Schwartzman, Robert Wagner, Robert Woods, Robert Ulrich, Robert Redford, Robert Mills, Robert Mann, Robert Hays, Robert Buckley, Robert Adamson, Robert Belushi, and Robert Parker, Robert Webber, Robert Goodman, and Robert Duvall.
     So how did I came up with the idea of this 24 guys list named "Robert" themed article? Simple. As soon as I received the May 21, 2010 issue of "Entertainment Weekly," I thought about creating an interesting concept based on the article "What's So Funny About Rob Lowe?"
     Matthew Kaine, Honolulu Weekly, had asked Bill Maher "Do you have any New Year's resolutions?" Maher answered, "My resolution this year is to do the resolution I made in 1996, which I still have not gotten around to."
     Speaking of New Year's resolutions, my 2010 New Year's resolution that I had intended for the actor Zac Efron were to drink one cup of coffee a day, spend less, read at least three books during the "2010" year, don't try to control his then Disney's High School Musical girlfriend Vanessa, go to only one party and see what happens, exercise every day for 45 minutes to an hour, sending more e-mails instead of talking more on the phone, talking more on the phone instead of sending more e-mails, start writing in a food diary/journal, and take care of your skin.
     Time or perhaps circumstances have slightly changed my upcoming New Year's resolutions for the 2012 year. The ten list: Drink one cup of coffee a day, Drink one cup of herbal tea a week, read at least two books during the 2012 year, don't worry too much about people I can't control, Don't go to any parties, exercise daily for at least an hour, write a book about my life and the news that I read in the paper, lower the debt on my credit card, use my debit card more to buy hot food and salad bar at the Honolulu Down to Earth grocery store, and take care of my hair scalp and facial skin.
     Back to Maher's 1996 New Year's resolution, which is his resolution for 2012. He has a thought provoking answer to his question that his "track record of fulfilling resolutions isn't good." He explained when people get to a certain age they just stop making them because they realize that life is really about evolution. It's certainly not about the fact that when the calendar turns from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 you're going to somehow be a whole new person.
     Somehow that is what I had exactly thought for myself, "becoming a whole new person as each new year rolls along" when I was a member of a Christian church in the South Bay of Southern California and, for a short while, when I was a member of a Christian church in the Leeward district on the island of Oahu.
     Speaking about religion, Maher brought up the subject of the Mayan calendar when he was asked the question of whether or not he is worried about any ancient prophecies coming true in 2012. Maher had guessed or precisely answered Honolulu Weekly's Matthew Kain's question correctly. "Well, I would say if Newt Gingrich gets elected president, I'm going to take a very serious look at the Mayan calendar."
     According to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, the word "Mayan" is a large family of American Indian languages spoken in Mexico and Central America; relating to Mayan and to the Maya people.
     The "prophecies" that I knew had been in the past scriptures of the Bible such as the coming of the Messiah known as (Jesus) Christ. Remember that prophecy is a prediction and the Messiah is the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. "Jesus regarded by Christians as the Messiah of these prophecies." Then there were prophecies that had been featured in the Sun, a weekly newspaper that, in my own opinion, isn't really news. Not real news, anyway. Not the type of news that are reported in the community's daily and even weekly newspapers.
     Several of the prophecies that came from the front page of the Sun were "Bible Code Reveals...Secret Doomsday Warnings," "World Will End on 5/11/08," "Nostradamus' Most Chilling Prophecies." "7 Years After Twin Towers Horror...Chilling Prophecies For 9/11/08 From World's Most Accurate Seers Young Edgar Cayce, John The Baptist, Virgin of Guadalupe, and the Great Nostradamus," "7 Miracle Prophecies That Will Come True on Easter Sunday," and "7 Deadly Signs Prove...Judgment Day is 11/9/09!"
     Bill Maher said that at this point he is out of the predicting business regarding "does he have a prediction on who will be the next GOP presidential nominee" because it changes so quickly. "I never thought Newt Gingrich would come from the back of the pack lead the way, so I am not going to be making predictions."
     For the most part, Maher has been an Obama supporter and would like to see him go up against Mitt Romney instead of Newt Gingrich because Romney is a very reasonable business-type, old-school Republican. Maher's preference would be for running this country, but said that, at least, Romney (as president) won't destroy this country completely.
     Good luck to Bill Maher and his New Year's Eve show at the Waikiki Shell.

Kain, Matthew. "Working Overtime." Honolulu Weekly 21-27 Dec. 2011 : 5.
Rice, Lynette. "What's So Funny About Rob Lowe?" Entertainment Weekly 21 May 2010 : 48 - 51.
Front Page. Sun 25 Feb. 2008 : 1.
Front Page. Sun 24 Mar. 2008 : 1.
Front Page. Sun 21 April 2008 : 1.
Front Page. Sun 1 Sept. 2008 : 1.
Front Page. Sun 2 Nov. 2009 : 1.

7.

     A political cartoon in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser featured a drawing of three Saudi Arabia women in black robes standing in line to vote. They are at a table where a guy wearing a white attire said, in a bubbled caption, that he needed to see their driver's license.
     This reminds me of a 2001 event when I encountered a problem of having my driver's license renewed. I then wrote about an unpleasant experience in an essay "Nightmare at the Pearl City Police Station." Not only this incident reminded me of the words 'driver's license.' A past conversation, I vaguely remembered, during the year 1996, had been when I resided in the house of a married couple and their nanny. Three of them, as I had previously  known, attended the same church as me while I was living in Rancho Palos Verdes. We, the nanny and her female friend and I, had gotten into a discussion about keeping a driver's license in another state. I don't remember how or why we had started talking about driver's licenses and what had been exactly said. What we were even discussing about.
     Returning to the political cartoon in the above stated daily newspaper illustrated an article about the women in Saudi Arabia. They can now buy lingerie in stores from female sales clerks instead of the men who used to staff the counters.
     I'm fortunate to be residing in an island that has the full benefits of a democracy-based government. Hawaii became a part of the United States of America, the 50th state, on August 21, 1959.
     But could Saudi Arabia change its policy toward women? In regards of Doyle McManus' article, "Women's liberation takes place at glacial pace in Saudi Arabia," women in Saudi Arabia, unlike the illustrated political cartoon, aren't being allowed to drive. It's still forbidden. Most of the time, also forbidden, these women cannot work, travel, or open bank accounts without the approval of a male guardian.
     The strict lifestyle of these Saudi Arabia women reminds me of a memoir Reading Lolita In Tehran: A Memoir in Books. The only difference is that the girls who had been featured within the pages of the author Azar Nafisi's memoir are from the Islamic Republic of Iran. And, in addition, a novel Prayers for the Assassin by the author Robert Ferrigno.  
     In McManus' article, last June, the Saudi women's movement won international attention when, at least, five women had been arrested for driving cars in the country's cities.
     One of the new generations of Saudi women's activists, Eman Nafjian, told the Los Angeles Times columnist McManus, over coffee in the capital, Riyadh, "This is the beginning of a real social change. It will allow more women to work in shopping malls. And that's a step toward more opportunities for women's employment in general."
     I can relate in terms of "employment." Right now, I'm unemployed. I receive, with eager gratefulness, I may add, a monthly Social Security disability income. It's a painful past story.
     Nafjian said in McManus' article, printed in the opinion and commentary, Insight pages within the "Views & Voices" section of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, more important than driving are issues such as basic legal rights, employment, and the persistent rural practice of forcing young girls into marriage. Examples of such as these are a women's testimony in court, which still gets only half the weighted value of a man's, and women are still restricted to certain jobs (teaching, nursing, and now, most recent, sales work in women's shops) where they won't be able to mingle with men. As far as the "persistent rural practice of forcing young girls into marriage" Nafjian said that it's socially acceptable to most Saudis, but it's a tradition, so there's a lot of resistance to outlawing it.
     Even though I reside in the island of Oahu it's interesting to know a revolution like the ones they had in Egypt and Tunisia would be, according to Nafjian, the worst-case scenario here in Saudi Arabia.
     "Most Saudis are conservative. A popular uprising here would make the (militant) Salafists in Egypt look like liberals. We would turn into Taliban."
     McManus wrote if Nafjian is right, then the country's liberals, democrats and cultural modernizers are trapped in the odd predicament of relying on an 87-year-old king and his male heirs for protection. However, Nafjian said, in this article, the best case scenario would be for a progressive wing of the royal family to rise to power. Men who would continue nudging the Saudi economy into the 21st Century while keeping the nation's politics firmly rooted in the 7th.
     In the "7th"? There is no guarantee, I learned in this article, that the heir to the throne, crown Prince Nayef, 78, is a noted conservative.
     "Saudi Arabia's women will keep organizing through private coffee circles and Internet chatrooms," Nafjian said. "We can't be a formal association. That's illegal."
     Hope all goes well for the women living in Saudi Arabia.


CAM. Political Cartoon. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 28 Dec. 2011 : A13.
McManus, Doyle. "Women's liberation takes place at glacial pace in Saudi Arabia." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 28 Dec. 2011 : A13.


8.

     An interesting read is the "Five-0 Cheer" letter, written by Honolulu resident Emily Lewis, printed in the Dec. 28, 2011 edition/issue of Midweek. She is a big fan of "Hawaii Five-0" and has never missed an episode.
     "It's wonderful that so many local people are employed by the show, and I enjoyed getting to know a little bit about Teilor Grubbs, Kala Alexander and Dennis Chun," Lewis wrote in her letter to Midweek. "I didn't know his father was the original Kam Fong!"
     Who is Kam Fong? Search the Internet, later, when there is an adequate amount of time. For now, however, at this moment, Lewis noted, in her letter, she was delighted to see Midweek's "Very Five-0 Christmas" cover story.
     Thankfully, my mother Mabel hadn't thrown away the Midweek's "Hawaii Five-0" cover story into the recycling bin nor took it with her to work at the Waipahu Kamaaina Kids. I searched a stack of newspapers that are on top of the sofa and pulled out last week's edition. So the Midweek's cover story "A Very Five-0 Christmas" lays on the computer desk's pull-out keyboard table. In fact, I have just finished reading all of this cover story on pages 38 and 61. It's a very well written feature piece by Yu Shing Ting that spotlights the local actors and actresses on "Hawaii Five-0."
     In this article, according to Hawaii Casting Director Rachel Sutton, for each episode, the show casts between 200 and 400 extras in which half to two-thirds are locals.
     How can I get cast as an extra when there is a hacker controlling all of my computers at home? Wonder what he or she thinks of as I type the words to the website at rachelsuttoncasting.com? Sounds crazy, but, in life, you never know. Once again, I wonder and it's hard to believe. I know.
     Besides the extras, there are those who have recurring roles on the show. So far the lucky three are Kala Alexander (Kawika, a member of the Kapu system), Dennis Chun (HPD Sgt. Duke Lukela) and Teilor Grubbs (Danno's daughter Grace).
     No need to search the Internet to discover who is Kam Fong in regards to Emily Lewis' letter in Midweek. Yu Shing Ting's Midweek cover story had included information about Dennis Chun's late father, Kam Fong Chun.
     'Kam Fong' played Chin Ho Kelly in the original "Hawaii Five-0" series from 1968 to 1978. Currently, the actor Daniel Dae Kim now plays the role of Chin Ho Kelly.


Lewis, Emily. Letter. Midweek 28 Dec. 2011 : 4.
Ting, Shing Yu. "A Very Five-0 Christmas." Midweek 21 Dec. 2011 : 38, 61.        


9.

     New Year's Eve. Who are the "good people all around us" and those who are "making a difference" every day?

     My list of top ten:

     1. Those who donate to reliable charities.
     2. The volunteers of organizations.
     3. Take care of the elderly at hospitals and at nursing homes.
     4. Feed the homeless
     5. Are kind to stray animals and who works at the animal shelters.
     6. Support a child in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs.
     7. Keep our island beaches clean of litter and debris.
     8. Show compassion to those in need.
     9. Give blood to Hawaii's blood bank.

     And...
 
     10. Organ donors.

     There is a letter to the editor about lives that are saved because of the "generosity of Hawaii's organ donors; individuals who died and gave a gift of hope and new life to others through the generous gift of organ donation."
     This letter is from Felicia Wells-Williams, the Family Services director of Legacy of Life Hawaii. She also wrote how the families (of those who had agreed to donate their organs after they had died) spent their first holiday season without their loved ones, looking beyond their own sadness and appreciate the fact of organ donation, so another person could live.
     "It is my hope that these donor families will feel the warmth and support of our larger Hawaii ohana as they journey through grief toward healing and renewed hope," Wells-Williams had said in her letter to the editor at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
     I will not describe the character portrayed in an example of an organ donor who was shown in several episodes before the final taping of the past daytime soap opera As The World Turns. Just know that he willingly and voluntarily donated his "heart" organ to a male patient at the hospital.

"Good people all around us." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 31 Dec. 2011 : A14.
Williams-Wells, Felicia. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 31 Dec. 2011 : A14.


10.

     The Hawaiian language or any foreign language is, well, different than, of course, the English language. Take, for instance, the excerpt from a column, printed in the 'Views & Voices' section of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, that is coordinated by the Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii at Manoa:

     Aloha Makahiki Hou

     Synopsis: Happy New Year.
     A lot of things happened in
     2011. Let's be prepared for
     2012.
     __________

          "Aloha Makahiki Hou e na
     makamaka heluhelu. Eia no
     Kakou i ke ahiahi makahiki
     hou, ka hopena ho 'i o ka
     makahiki 2011.
          Ua 'ike 'ia no ka ho 'omau
     'ana o ke kolea e po'alo i ka
     maka o ka Hawai'i, 'a'ole
     paha e pau. Ua luku 'ia
     kekahi mau 'aina e ka 'ino,
     'o ke ola'i 'oe, 'o ke kai
     ho 'e'e 'oe, 'o ka wai halana
     'oe. Aka, ua 'ike 'ia no ho 'i
     ka hana maika 'i i piha i ke
     aloha, 'o ia ke alu like 'ana
     o kanoka i ke kokua aku i
     na kanaka o ia mau 'aina i
     paluku 'ia e ka 'ino..."

     Ho 'ohiki e inuwai

     Synopsis: A call to not
     drink and drive. Instead utilize
     the free service from AAA
     Hawai'i.

     __________
   
          "'Auhea 'oukou e na maka-
     maka koni i ka wai hu 'ihu 'i,
     e kau leo ana ko ' oukou
     mea kakau, e komo i ka
     pu'ali inu wai a mai puni i
     ka inu wai 'ona ma keia
     ope aku. 'O ke po'o man-
     a'o e kau a'ela i luna, 'o ka
     inoa ia o kekahi mele e
     paipai ana i ka ho'ole i ka
     inu i ka wai ka'ili ao.
          1. Hoohiki pu kakou ano,
          Aole e pa waiona e,
          Baroni ula, hoolalau,
          Wiseke wela, ona mau,
          Ka rama hoopoino no.
          Ke gini pu e waiho ae.
          Okolehao, ka saida, bia,
          Na mea ona hoi a pau.
          2. Hoohiki paa, e inuwai,
          ka wai maikai o kahawai,
          E kue mau, e kinai no,
          Na mea ona no a pau,
          I pomaikai Hawaii nei,
          Ka home lai, aloha e (Kulu
          Wai Liilii : He Mau Mele
          Hoole Waiona, 'ao. 70)..."

     The natural feeling of amazement and silence after reading a foreign language such as the Hawaiian language on New Year's Eve.

Solis, Kekeha Na. "Kauakukalahale." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 31 Dec. 2011 : A15.


11.

     Happy New Year! A brand new start of fulfilling dreams, achieving goals, and obtaining life's hopes to live a healthy, happy, and rewarding life. Besides our own individual day-to-day activities of living, it's time to focus our thoughts on the island in which we all reside in Oahu or as a whole, Hawaii.
     "Turn hope into change." It's the 'Welcome 2012' headline in the 'Our View' column of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
     The first paragraph expresses the end of a year after embracing January, the new year: "Another bright and shiny new year is arrayed before the world today, and in America that's always been one of the undeniable, traditional pleasures bringing the holiday season to a close."
     And in the second paragraph these words within a sentence rings with truth to forget the past and begin a new chapter: "...the first day of the year is always the occasion to look ahead with hope."
     12 months in 2012 could represent old obstacles (the rail transit, education reform, homeless, and state's economy) and new challenges (energy investments, employment opportunities, and leadership outlook) for us residents in Hawaii. Therefore, analyzing a month is heavy. Let us take each day in stride. In other words, we need to live "one day at a time." A past TV show. In fact, life was different, then. For us old-timers, it's a saying and not to get confused with the "old-timers" of the past.
     Reading letters of "New Year Hopes and Wishes." Remember the subject of the organ donor letter to the editor at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser? And the add on comment about a gay character who voluntarily donated his "heart" organ to a male patient at a hospital in Oakdale, shown in the last remaining episodes of the past daytime soap drama "As The World Turns"? In today's modern society, viewers had been involved with watching gay and lesbian couples on television. So is the letter "Gays still no fully equal" written by Michael J. Golojuch Jr., the Honolulu Pride chairman in Makakilo.
     "What happened at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve is not the ushering in of equality. It is but a stepping stone toward full equality."
     His letter to the editor addresses that Civil Unions are not marriages, not even close to being equal. But it will provide protection for Hawaii's LGBT couples.
     "The goal of full equality requires vigilance from all who seek and demand a better society for everyone," Golojuch Jr. also wrote in his letter.
     All of us in Hawaii's society and community could treat the LGBT couples and citizens as humans, hoping that they, just as us, live a life of full equality.
     Speaking of mentioning about Soap Operas, think I'll change the story not into a "soap opera" style novel that I was considering to write as either "St. Patrick's at Calhoun's Pub" or "An Irish Bar In Waikiki."
     Hawaii Kai resident Jayde Tandaguen is Filipino, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and Irish descent. A mixed plate as locals would call it, she said in her letter to the editor of 'keep pursuing your dreams.'
     Tandaguen is a nurse assistant in home health care and looks forward to going back to school to further her education so she could complete her career goal of becoming a therapist or a counselor. She wishes "All of Hawaii the best in the New Year. May we all prosper in glory."
     Amen.
     I'm working on this book, at this very minute, which I thought of naming my writing notebook memoir "The Unemployed Diary" or "A Roof Over My Head." Both of these memoirs centers around the themes of news thoughts and local lifestyle.
     If my 'writing notebook' memoir isn't accepted after I submit the pages of my manuscript to Bess Press and Mutual Publishing, then at least I tried. But as Joyce H. Cassen, M.D. of Hawaii Kai said, in her letter to the editor, "Make the best of every situation. When one door closes, another opportunity will present itself."
     A door closes on my writing notebook memoir; another opportunity of self-publishing a novel Stories To Write will present itself. A novel that I had been working so hard on in typing the first draft at Kinko's Fed Ex or simply just known as Kinkos. I renamed the novel "To Write A Story."
     Joyce's hope for the New Year---as she had written in her "one door closes, another opens" letter---is to appreciate the health, happiness and life that we have. "It is within ourselves to create a bright New Year." She wrote to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in her letter to the editor.

Cassen, M.D., Joyce H. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : F3.
Golojuch, Jr., Michael J. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : F3.
Tandaguen, Jayde. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : F3.
"Turn hope into change." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : F2.


12.

     Taking care of an aging family member could either be a joy or a burden, depending on who it is that is providing the necessary care for them---sibling, relative, or caregiver. In the most recent article "Aging (with dignity?) in Hawaii" featured within a page of the Honolulu Weekly, Jane Callahan wrote, as stated on print above the headline, "The stressful, anxiety-provoking topics of aging, adaption, and change."
     She talked to Scott Spallina, the Deputy Prosecuting attorney supervising Hawai'i's Elder Abuse Justice Unit. He said families are increasingly burdened because care for senior's is ridiculously expensive.
     There is no sense in writing how much the average home-care aid agency charges (in Callahan's article, the current cost is $22 an hour) and the yearly rate (the recent amount, stated in her article, once again, is $120,000 a year) at the senior living facilities (with assisted care) cost because these amounts may change in the future.
     My mom Mabel and her sister and younger brother all helped their mother Haruye and their father Suguru live their lives until they died. Grandma Haruye, after she fell in the bathroom near her bed, died during the early morning hours between 12:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. on July 2, 2009. Grandpa Suguru, my grandma's husband, didn't need any long-term care assistance, unlike Haruye, when he became suddenly ill. The ambulance arrived at my mother's house and several days later during the weekday, he died on April 13, 1999 in the hospital at the Hawaii Medical Center towards Ewa.
     According to this article, there are people who leave their jobs to learn home care rather than hire home care attendants. The reason for the occupational change is due to expenses of caring for "aging loved ones."
     Another alternative, for a family member, is to bring their loved one(s) to a care facility. Karen Koles, in this Midweek article, of Elder care Hawaii, a community of individuals and agencies committed to eldercare planning and support, said those who are put in a care facility usually die within two years because of depression or exposure to germs in an enclosed population environment.
     "A lot of people think of caregivers as the young taking care of the old," Scott Spallina said in Callahan's "health" article in Midweek. "That's not true. These are [often] husbands taking care of their wives, or vice versa." He emphasizes the problem of those who suddenly find themselves in the role of caretakers is that they don't get the necessary training at how to correctly move an individual or how to hold a person who can't control him or herself.
     In this morning's editorial section of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's "Views & Voices" section, there are two opinion-based essays that dealt with the subject of affordable health care. The first, "Yes, the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act will help lower health costs for everyone," written by Mark Weisbrot, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the opposing second, "No, medical costs are increasing now even faster than before reform was enacted," written by Grace-Mrie Turner, president and founder of the Galen Institute, which is funded in part by the pharmaceutical and medical industries.
     Both of these two essays were distributed by McClatchy-Tribune news service. So which side am I on in regards to the topic of affordable health care? The "yes" side with Weisbrot or on Turner's side of the "no"? I remain neutral because the State of Hawaii helps pay for the majority of my healthcare coverage, hopefully as long as I'm receiving a monthly Social Security income. In my own opinion, the correct answer of "yes" or "no" depends solely on the individuals' lifestyle of his/her own healthcare provider or healthcare plan. Thus, as a result, each of us could either answer a "yes" or a "no." All of us are in the same boat or on different levels of healthcare.
     "Portrait of 'Ohana'" demonstrates the touching love of a sibling, her daughter, and a relative, her son-in-law, to provide a comfortable and caring home in a story titled "Caring for an aging parent can be stressful, but this family is making it work." It's written by, then, Advertiser staff writer Zenaida Serrano.
     When the 94-year-old mother moved from Kahului, Maui to live with her daughter's and her daughter husband's house in Kaneohe, Oahu, the married couple adjusted their daily routines of giving her their spacious first-floor master bedroom and, in addition, setting aside favorite retirement pastimes such as traveling. This story is an example of a close family that are in peaceful unison---husband and wife---to take care of their spouses's parent in which this situation had been the wife's mother.
     Family members are not the only ones who are aging. "Graying of Hawaii" was a four part special report that had been printed in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18, 2010.

    Part 1 By the numbers taught me about the generation sizes for the United States: There are approximately 44 million people born in 1925 to 1945. They're the "traditionalists," the "baby boomers," 80 million, are those born in 1946 to 1964; the 46 million of "generation X" are those born in 1965 to 1980; and the 78 million born in 1981 to 2006. They're the "millennials." This special report stopped here and hadn't name those born in 2007 to the current year of the newspaper's publication, which was 2010. The current year today is 2012.

      Part 2 Graying of Hawaii focused on "All in the Family: Culture and cost place care of seniors on offspring's shoulders." In this article, Hawaii residents are educated to know the concerns of the "baby boomer" population. For example, a lot more siblings will find themselves taking care of their parent(s) 24/7 as the population of Hawaii's baby boom generation becomes elderly. According to a survey conducted for the State Legislature, there is already a quarter of Hawaii households that have at least one person caring for an older adult. "As people live longer, extended families will stretch further with more generations needing care," as written by Susan Essoyan of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
     She also wrote, in her "Graying of Hawaii" article, the differences between the senior citizens of today---baby boomers have fewer kids and rockier marriages than their parents and are more likely to live alone in their "twilight years." In addition to Hawaii's children often reside an ocean away (usually in the mainland) from their parents---to those from the past generation: most elders retire or live a few years, then die before needing long-term care. Those who lived longer could depend on their son(s) and/or daughter(s) to look after them.
     Another concern, in Essoyan's Star-Advertisr article, is the number of residents 65 and older in Hawaii. According to state projections, between 2010 and 2030, there will be an 81 percent increase of Hawaii residents who are turning older while the remaining population on this island grows only by 5 percent.
     Similar as the article "Portrait of 'Ohana," written by former Honolulu Advertiser staff writer Zenaida Serrano, caring for an older parent or relative isn't easy. But for the couple, featured in this story, their hard efforts of helping his wife's mother turned into a joy such as in this "Graying of Hawaii" article of family caregiving can bring people together by joining a support group for caregivers, which is sponsored by Project Dana. The volunteers offer help and compassion to homebound seniors.
     Without the support of fellow caregivers, life could feel uneasy. It takes a toll. There are people who quit their jobs, unable to earn retirement benefits or they spend their retirement money while caring for their parent(s) or grandparent(s). According to the Executive Office of Aging, more than half said caregiving has affected their work, and a third said it has cut into their personal time and sleep.
     The decision is difficult when it's time to find a good and reliable foster home for an elder when he or she is released from the hospital or when the family can no longer care for an elder at home.
     Paying for long-term care is a hurdle and should be, advocates said, in Essoyan's article, an issue that is high on the local agenda.

     Part 3 talked about the deeper issues of "the state is unprepared for the costly combination of more retirees and fewer workers to support them" in the Honolulu Star-Advertier's front page headline "Trouble ahead as boomers call it quits."
     Ask any customer, neighbor, pedestrian, fellow worker, classmate, roommate, relative, and even a stranger, on the street, whether or not he or she knows about Hawaii's growing senior population that would become "a problem for our state economies when the 'baby boomers' reached retirement age and left the work force in large numbers" as stated or written in Alan Yonan Jr.'s story, "Hawaii faces challenges in living up to promises made for workers' retirements." Any person of the above could have given an answer. Just as me, my answer, "I don't know."

     What I "do know" is that I'm currently unemployed, at this moment, receiving a monthly Social Security income that automatically goes into my Bank of Hawaii checking account. And this is the main reason why I'm creating this book---my 'writing notebook' memoir, "The Unemployed Daily." The title that I had just chosen instead of "A Roof Over My Head."I will turn, this coming February 2012, 44 years old. Can't waste life.

     Part 4 is the last of the four parts in this special "Graying of Hawaii" report series. It's a hard and controversial topic discussion that I cannot change the result of the government retirees' health care in the story "State did not plan ahead for workers' retirement" written by Star-Advertiser staff writer Kristen Consillio.  
     There were two additional articles on these pages: "Services more to technology, team care" and "Aging population amplifies health care shortages."


Callahan, Jane. "Aging (with dignity?) in Hawai'i." Midweek 28 Dec. 2011 - 3 Jan. 2012 : 5
Consillio, Kristen. "State did not plan ahead for workers' retirement." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 18 Nov. 2010 : A12 - 13
Consillio, Kristen. "Services move to technology, team care." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 18 Nov. 2010 : A 12
Consillio, Kristen. "Aging population amplifies health care shortages." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 18 Nov. 2010 : A13
Essoyan, Susan. "All in the family." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 16 Nov. 2010 : A1, 8 - 9
Serrano, Zenaida. "Portrait of 'Ohana." Honolulu Advertiser 12 Oct. 2007 : E1
"Trouble ahead as boomers call it quits: The state is unprepared for the costly combination of more retirees and fewer workers to support them." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 17 Nov. 2010 : A1
Turner, Marie-Grace. "No, medical costs are increasing now even faster than before reform was enacted." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 2 Jan. 2012 : A9
Weisbrot, Mark. "Yes, the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act will help lower health costs for everyone." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 2 Jan. 2012 : A9
Yonan, Alan Jr. "Hawaii faces challenges in living up to promises made for workers' retirements." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 17 Nov. 2010 : A8

13.

     An interesting letter was printed in the Honolulu Weekly's "Letters" section of the community newspaper. It was written by attorney Seth M. Reiss, representing the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association (HLA) in their complaint against "One of its updated WSS, namely the "Strong Current" symbol was featured verbatim on the cover of your [Nov. 30] issue of Honolulu Weekly...HLA is unaware of any permission for the use of the WSS having been sought or given to Honolulu Weekly, and no attribution to HLA was given." But, however, Reiss noted, in his letter, that their client doesn't object to the Honolulu Weekly's use of its WSS Strong Current symbol and agrees, in most cases, that using the WSS in the context of editorial content would amount to a fair use of the work. At the end of this letter, Reiss wrote, advising the Honolulu Weekly to obtain HLA's advance written permission, in the future, should the newspaper desire to use HLA's WSS and "in any such use, whether or not specifically authorized, be accompanied by an appropriate copyright symbol and attribution to HLA as the owner of the copyright in question."
     What a coincidence of appropriate timing to say that I called the Honolulu Weekly last week and spoke, on the telephone, with the Production Assistant Hideyo Kusano to ask him the question: "How could I cite the 'Honolulu Weekly' as a source reference for writing a book about what I read in the newspaper?"
     Mr. Kusano replied, "I don't know how you can do that, but you could document [your work] in the APA format."
     "I'll apply it to the MLA," I said, adding, "There is a format on how [that is part of the newspaper] could document a letter." I then asked Mr. Kusano what are the Honolulu Weekly's editorial section. "What does the editorial section consist of?" I named names. "Honolulu Diary?"
     "Editorial," he answered.
     "Q & A?"
     "Editorial."
     "What's your name?" I asked.
     He said, "Hideyo."
     "How do you spell?"
     "I'm the production assistant."
     I wasn't worried because I already knew where his name would appear in the first, second, or third pages of the Honolulu Weekly in which the editor of the Honolulu Weekly did respond to the HLA Reiss' letter. It was printed in a column below or right after his printed letter had appeared within the "Letters" section on page 3 of this Honolulu Weekly dated Dec. 28, 2011 - Jan. 3, 2012.


Reiss, Seth M. Letter. Honolulu Weekly 28 Dec. 2011 - Jan. 2012 : 3.

14.

     What is a "bag law" and is it necessary to impose on Hawaii's residents? In Ashley Komoda's article "Plastic bag laws well-intended but cause more harm than good" educate us readers to be informed about issues such as "The on going bag battle in Seattle." According to Komoda, Seattle's bag battle is an example of ineffective bag policy with catastrophic consequences.
     A lesson to be learned.
     In 2008, in her article, the city council members approved a 10-cent bag tax. As a result, this led angry Seattle residents, who are voters, to initiate a referendum (a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision, a definition from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary) vote against the city council members' imposed, on approval, 10-cent bag tax.
     The Seattle residents' votes resulted in a 58 percent outcome of opposing the plastic bag tax law. But, however, as explained in Komoda's article, not more than three years after King County voters in Seattle had successfully overturned the bag tax, the city council members, there, surprisingly, passed a new bill during the holidays that would reverse the public's votes.    
     Sorry to say that I'm thankful to be living in Hawaii because at least our government listens to its residents. For instance, Komoda wrote, in her article, printed in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, that past efforts to defeat bag legislation are now useless.
     "The Seattle City Council swiftly reworded and approved their new bag law to finance street cleanup."
     I agree with Komoda in regards of her writing about the "attempts at controlling consumer behavior with laws not clearly understood simply do not work. It distracts us from tackling real environmental challenges."
     Each time I shop at a health food grocery store, I would always say to the cashier that I need a plastic bag, so I could dispose my cat's daily poop and urine waste. According to Kimoda's article, households reuse plastic bags as trash liners, pet waste disposals, wet item storages, transports and more. Plus, there are no better alternatives than using plastic bags. Not even reusable totes, although each of these totes do serve its purpose, for the failure to wash them increases the risk of developing food-borne illnesses after these foods had been placed in an unclean tote.
     Back to the plastic bag bill. Hawaii lawmakers ought to take heed of Komoda's mantra of reduce, reuse, and recycle as an alternative to mandatory plastic bag laws, which are, according to Komoda, nothing short of irresponsible, incorrect and costly emotional claims based on bad science.
     The "science" Komoda is referring to happened in 2008 when a teenager discovered a method of decomposing plastic bags much quicker than nature. She wrote, in her article, of his method---
     "He mixed landfill dirt with yeast and tap water, then added ground plastic and let it stew, isolating the microbial munching heroes that can eat up a plastic bag in just three months: bacterial genus pseudomonas and the genus Sphingomonas."
     I'll remember, as the reusable tote, not to reuse plastic bags without prior washing because bacteria thrives in hot weather. In addition, the plastic bags are for my cat Midnight's urine and poop waste and as 'trash liners' for the bathroom and bedroom rubbish bins.


Komoda, Ashley. "Plastic bag laws well-intended but cause more harm than good." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 3 Jan. 2012 : A11.


15.

     I kept a section of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's "Nation & World" that had to do with a 'question and answer' about comparing "the radiation a person receives from the TSA airport body scanners and a normal chest X-ray" in the "You Asked" column. The provided answer by Lori Johnston of Cox newspapers, was --- "The American College of Radiology reports that 'a traveler would require more than 1,000 such scans in a year to reach the effective dose equal to one standard chest X-ray.'" According to Johnston's "You Asked" column, this information is based on findings by the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements, which found that "a traveler would need to experience 100 backscatter scans, used by the Transportation Security Administration, per year to reach what they classify as a 'negligible individual dose'."
     The reason behind this keepsake paper of information is very simple. First, one of these days I would like to travel and secondly, I was working in reservations at the United Airlines building in El Segundo, California from April 1991 to May 1992. A long time ago. Over 10 years, and sadly, short lived. I call this time the "golden era" of traveling. Not during the 1950s, but a pleasant time of traveling. Free meals on the aircraft, less luggage restrictions, and no TSA body scanners and backscatter x-rays.
     Om Wednesday's Honolulu Star-Advertiser, an article had been printed in the "Views & Voices" section of the newspaper. Jeffery Goldberg pointed out that there are no advanced passenger-screening machines at the Marine Air Terminal, which relies on an old-fashioned metal detector in his article "TSA subjects us to radiation while ignoring obvious threat."
     So why would the federal government not equip the Marine Air terminal with its most advanced screening devices? In Goldberg's article, according to the TSA (Transportation Security Administration), the devices are too big. "Space constraints and checkpoint layout," prohibit their installation, a TSA spokesman wrote Goldberg. The agency is trying to "work through" the problem, he [the TSA spokesman] wrote, once again, to Goldberg.
     On Goldberg's last visit to the Marine Air Terminal, a TSA officer, on duty, told him that the terminal's floor would crack under the weight of one of the new screening devices. "Why not hire a building contractor to buttress (a projecting support of stone or brick built against a wall, this definition is from the Concise Oxford English Dictionary) the floor and expand the size of the checkpoint?" Goldberg asked, in his article. The TSA officer told him, "This was a good idea."
     Goldberg, a Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for The Atlantic, wrote at the end of his article that "The government believes it is in possession of a technology so vital it is willing to dose its citizens with ionizing radiation, but a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks it still hasn't figured out a way to utilize this technology in one of America's most sensitive airline terminals. It's not for nothing that Sen. Collins is skeptical of the TSA."
     Senator Susan M. Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate's Homeland Security Committee, could relate to Lori Johnston's "You Asked" column question in regards to the 'dosage from the TSA body scanners.'
     In Goldberg's "A Brief Detour" section of his article, he wrote about Sen. Collins. She is one of the few senior legislators who has repeatedly questioned the use of the backscatter x-ray machines which have shown that such "radiation" increase the risk of cancer.
     "As a frequent flyer, I just cannot believe that it is good for people who are traveling every week, or for TSA employees who are operating these machines, to be exposed to ionizing radiation," Sen. Collins said to Goldberg. "I'm not asking for weaker security, but it's almost inevitable that some people are getting stronger doses. Just think about how many machines there are, how many screeners there are. Just think what would happen if the machines weren't properly calibrated." However, TSA Administrator John Pistole, in Goldberg's article, said that these new machines are indispensable and clearly superior to the technology previously in place when asked the question of "Whether the American public is being subjected to unnecessary hi-tech probing by a callous federal bureaucracy in the name of a particular security threat that may or may not be relevant any longer."


Goldberg, Jeffrey. "TSA subjects us to radiation while ignoring obvious threat." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 4 Jan. 2012 : A13.
Johnston, Lori. You Asked. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 18 Nov. 2010 : A5.


16.

     I had totally forgotten the use of biodegradable disposable bags until I read a letter in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's "Views & Voices" section of the newspaper. This letter was written by Manoa resident Allison Ikeda who commented about Ashley Komoda's article, which was also published, a few days ago, in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's "View & Voices" section.
     Ikeda uses plastic bags, whether biodegradable or not, to line her garbage cans and to dispose of kitty litter. I guess it's better to refer these 'plastic bags' as to line a garbage can than as a trash liner. But we (Ikeda and I) can surely agree on using these biodegradable (or not) plastic bags as a means to get rid of our kitty's or our cat's waste or, ah, litter.
     There is a health food store that I shop quite often. The plastic bags that are used for the store's customers are made out of biodegradable materials(s). So I guess that the "science" Komoda had written in her article probably is about how to decompose a plastic bag faster than nature could have in its tight grip on making a plastic bag disappear. But science did so when creating a plastic bag that is "biodegradable." As a result, how could this science be bad for the environment?
     Besides Paul Perretta, who wrote a positive reply, there is another response letter written by Richard Manetta of Honolulu in today's (Jan. 6, 2012) "Views & Voices" section of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
     Ashley Komoda isn't entirely to blame, in his letter, about promoting disposable plastic bags as being environmentally sound. Another reader, who previously commented on Komoda, had written in her letter of "biodegradable disposable bags are just as good as traditional plastic bags with far fewer environmental consequences."
     Manetta's alternative is reusable cloth bags, which needs to be regularly washed just as bath towels. He also explained that plastic bags are made from petroleum, take a long time to decay, and many of these plastic bags end up fouling waterways, sewer systems, and, in general, the environment. Therefore, he noted, restricting the use of disposable plastic bags will encourage people to use reusable bags. "No one is hurt by bag laws except the producers of plastic bags."
     Think I will re-read Ashley Komoda's article again and ponder five-cents into finding a deeper meaning between the plastic bag laws and protecting our environment.


Ikeda, Allison. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 5 Jan. 2012 : A10.
Manetta, Richard. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 6 Jan. 2012 : A17.
Perretta, Paul. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 6 Jan. 2012 : A17.


17.

     The emerging "food truck" should be on the high list of discussion to talk about during City Council meetings. It's a hot topic for those who are in the House of Representatives, the Senate, Mayor, and why not even include the Governor? The Honolulu Police Department is already involved. In fact, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser writer Gordon Y.K. Pang's "Food Truck crackdown spurs move to alter law" story, the mobile food vendors said that the Honolulu Police Department has been issuing a few citations and a slew of warnings to them in recent months.
     According to this article, the law says no vendor or peddler can operate for more than 15 minutes in one spot on a street or public highway. However, under a new proposal, by city councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard, a bill, introduced on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, would allow a food truck and/or lunch wagon to park on the roadside for two hours. A supportive sign for the mobile food/lunch vendors. "The irony is two days ago I hear (President) Obama saying, "'We gotta put people back to work,'" a female employee said of her own mobile food truck business. "I'm working! I'm working harder than I ever have! I started a business."
     I can relate, but in different "working" terms. It's not in the food industry; it's in the field of writing. A letter to the editor was printed in Friday's (Jan. 6, 2012) Honolulu Star-Advertiser in regards of "Cut strict rules on food trucks."
     Phoebe Marrall of San Marino, California is in favor of supporting the food trucks and/or lunch wagons on Oahu. She wrote, in her letter, of the City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard's introduction bill for a more liberal law that would provide a "welcome to the food entrepreneurs instead of (receiving) threats of jail and fines."
     Marrall recommended that it's a mutual benefit for the police department and the community leaders to come to a harmonious agreement pertaining to "regulate" small business.
     As a result, in my opinion, the roadside parking of food trucks and/or lunch wagons during business hours should be made legal. Perhaps, one of these days, the homeless could benefit from the presence of these vendors too.


Marrall, Phoebe. Letter. Honolulu Star-Advertiser 6 Jan. 2012 : A17.
Pang, Gordon Y.K. "Food truck crackdown spurs move to alter law." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 31 Dec. 2011 : B1.


18.

     Development of renewable energy in the wind, seas, and sun could be found in a resource that is buried far beneath the surface. "Keep close eye on geothermal funds," the headline printed in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's 'Our View' column reveals that Hawaii island, the southernmost island in the Hawaiian Islands chain may, richly, be the most island that is provided with a certain quality or ability of yielding geothermal energy.
     The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines "geothermal" as relating to or produced by the internal heat of the earth. Therefore, according to this article's column, Hawaii island sits atop the meandering (pattern of winding or interlocking lines) volcanic hot spot that created one after the other each of these Hawaiian Islands.
     Furthermore, the electrical utility data showed that Hawaii island already gets most of its power from renewables---nearly a quarter of the energy is supplied geothermal.
     People who are tracking this resource believe it could be further developed, but will take money, which needs to be properly managed.
     There is a great deal, according to this article, of potential for Hawaii island in the development of geothermal energy. "The state is pursuing other renewable energy sources, including biofuels, solar and wind, but none produce as much power as cheaply and reliably as geothermal."


"Keep close eye on geothermal funds." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Jan. 2012 : A8.


19.

     The plastic bag debate continues in regards of passing a bill that would allow legislators to add a 10 cents fee for shoppers who need a plastic bag when they shop at a retail store in Hawaii. According to Jonathan Lott's "Plastic bag bans work well, on land and at sea" article that was published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii County recently joined Kauai and Maui in banning plastic bags from retails stores; the bill awaits Mayor Billy Kenoi's signature.
     "This is a serious effort to lessen our addiction to wasteful plastic, the type that gets used only once or even a handful of times, and then winds up in the landfill, or worse, as litter," Lott wrote in his article that appeared in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser this past Sunday.
     In my opinion, each of us, in the community, uses plastic bags differently. For example, the plastic bags that I had brought home after shopping are put to good use as either a liner for the trash cans that are in my bathroom and bedroom. And, not to mention, as a product to hold Midnight's daily cat liter. But, however, how productive or should I say successful are the plastic bags that are made out of biodegradable materials?
     What if all of the plastic bags in the retail stores are biodegradable? If so, then would this change the outcome of "our addiction to plastic is doing to our oceans, our marine life, our food system and the aina"?
     Such as in a Scripps Institution of Oceanography study, in this article, more than a percent of the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" fish that were caught in the nets of those who are researchers had plastic waste in their stomachs.
     Lott wrote that these fishes are part of the food chain, which leads to the fish we consumers buy and eventually put on our tables. He also noted that 11 percent of the trash found on worldwide beaches are plastic bags because thousands are given out to shoppers and these plastic bags weigh very lightly, which, when trashed, blow effortlessly in the wind.
     Here, in Honolulu, Lott expressed, these plastic bags, on any given day, could be seen tangled in fences, stuck in trees, flying across roads, or floating in Ala Moana Harbor.
     A journalist turned activist, Stiv Wilson, explained, what happens to the plastic bags that find their way onto beaches and into the ocean:
     "Thin, flimsy plastic like HDPE with a lot of surface area (like the common bag from grocery stores) photo-degrades faster than thicker plastic," Wilson told readers in Lott's commentary article. "Ultra-violet rays from the sun break the polymer chains of hydrocarbon molecules into smaller pieces and what you end up with is small fragments like the .15g pieces."
     These are the type of plastic bags that researchers found in the stomachs of fish they catch in their nets. Lott advised the public to support their legislators by asking them to pass a bill that will impose a fee on plastic bags so the pollution inflicted on the planet can be taken out of the system and, as a result, make it a cleaner, healthier place for generations to come.
     Our voice could help get a statewide "bag bill" passed in 2012. But in my opinion, this wouldn't matter. People will still pay the plastic bag fee whenever they need a bag or for whatever reason such as a laziness to bring their own reusable bag or out of plain forgetfulness. I apologize, however, for my lack of insight if my opinion isn't right. Hopefully, the bag bill and the plastic bag's environmental problems could be solved now or in the near future.


Lott, Jonathan. "Plastic bag bans work well, on land and at sea." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 8 Jan. 2012 : F2.


20.

     Better late than never. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser's front page headline "Pivotal year for rail, elections, and public schools," printed on its Sunday edition, the first start of the new year---January 1, 2012---signified its time for Oahu residents to think about 'looking ahead' in terms of business sense such as the upcoming elections, Hawaii's public schools, and the long awaited rail transit.
     First, the elections. Derrick DePledge's "Elections" article, to me, is vague. It's unclear, not really stating who will run against who in a certain category during the election.
     Okay, well. Let me write this down. According to DePledge's article, U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, a liberal, and former congressman Ed Case, a moderate, are expected to have a "contentious" August primary. The issues, at stake, are likely to be the economy, creating jobs, and, not to mention, which Democrat is more capable to eventually succceed U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye as Hawaii's senior senator.
     What happened to U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka's seat?
     The briefly written article, "Pivotal year for rail, elections and public schools," that was printed on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's front page, informed readers that U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka's retirement has created the first open U.S. Senate seat since 1976.
     As a result, former congressman Ed Case and U.s. Rep. Mazie Hirono are competing against each other in the Democratic primary to replace Akaka.
     Another leading competitior in the Republican campaign are former Gov. Linda Lingle and former state lawmaker, now attorney, John Carroll.
     Back to DePledge's "Elections" article. U.S. Rep., D-Hawaii, Colleen Hanabusa and former congressman Charles Djou could clash in urban Honolulu's 1st Congressional District, a potentioal rematch of the 2010 election.
     His article mentioned that there are two wild cards in the campaign: President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Inouye.
     "Inouye would lose his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and his title as Senate President Pro Tempore if Lingle helps Republicans take control of the Senate, a potent theme for Democrats. Another landslide by the Hawaii-born Obama---he won with 72 percent of the vote in 2008---could doom Lingle's chances of attracting enough independents and moderate Democrats to win."
     The issue of public schools is the second topic of importance to tackle in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's "Pivotal year for rail, elections and public schools" article. In Mary Vorsino's article, titled simply as "Public Schools," the pressure is on for Hawaii's school system, in 2012, to prove, whether or not, that its state will be able to achieve the $75 million federal 'Race to the Top' grant.
     To receive this grant, "Hawaii pledged to undergo a redesign of the state's public school system, focusing its efforts on boosting student achievement, improving teacher effectiveness and turning around the lowest-performing schools."
     Later this month, a U.S. Department of Education team will visit Hawaii to check progress since getting the grant and conclude that Hawaii could, indeed, hold onto its 'Race to the Top' promises.
     Last month, however, the (U.S. DOE) team had reprimanded Hawaii for an "unsatisfactory performance" in obtaining its 'Race to the Top' goals and, as a result, put the state's grant on "high-risk status."
     Interesting to know that Hawaii's 'Race to the Top' grant is the only grant to be deemed as high rsk. According to Vorsino's "Public Schools" article, Hawaii's state education officials are scrambling to prepare for the U.S. Department of Education's team visit. The officials in Hawaii will try to convince federal reviewers that a "new found momentum can make up for a slow start to the 'Race to the Top' efforts," which resulted in delays of the state's reform plans.
     This article also mentioned that the state encountered difficulties in meeting grant targets early because, in part, of staffing and procurement problems. The biggest problems, however, have centered on a labor dispute with teachers. This dispute has stalled several major projects, including efforts to reach a union agreement on "revamped" evaluations for teachers.
     Besides worrying about the 'Race to the Top grant, there are several additional issues that Hawaii's school system will address in 2012: "Progress on efforts to overhaul Hawaii's charter school system; discussions about how to lengthen the school day; and steps taken to deter bullying."
     And finally the rail transit. It's the last subject of concern in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser's "Pivotal year for rail, elections and public schools" feature.
     The main themes of Kevin Dayton's Rail article are the cost of building the 20-mile elevated rail system and the opposition of stopping this rail project. For instance, the rail transit project costs approximately $5.27 billion, which probably includes the $195 million to build a train maintenance and storage facility in Waipahu.
     Those who are supporting the rail hope there would be no more obstacles, so that the project will pull through without further delays.
     As the city nears construction of building the rail, opponents, however, are expected to push their views into court, hoping the federal judge would listen to their reason(s) why they are against having a rail transit built in Oahu.
     Next year, 2013, according to Dayton's Rail article, the city officials expect to begin borrowing money to provide the necessary cash flow of keeping the rail projects construction moving.


Dayton, Kevin. "Rail." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : A10.
DePledge, Derrick. "Elections." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : A10.
"Pivotal year for rail, elections and public schools." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : A1.
Vorsino, Mary. "Public Schools." Honolulu Star-Advertiser 1 Jan. 2012 : A10.