I’ll walk forever if I’m walking with you.

:)

Happy.

Happy birthday to the man who’s made me smile everyday he’s been in my life.  Great night eating local at 12th Ave. Grill Craft Bar and drinks at SALT to say hauʻoli lā hānau.  So happy to have him in my life and get to celebrate with him.  

Smooth.

Man, I love this man’s voice and the newest single.  ”Can I wade in your water, can I wade in your water, can I wade in your water ‘til I catch a wave.”

Help us sing hauoli la hanau to Na Wahine Oiwi on Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 8.30a in Waiahole at Homestead Poi!

March 30th marks a year from the inaugural meeting of Na Wahine Oiwi.  April 23rd marks a year since our first community event.  On Sunday, April 22nd, we will come together to celebrate our very first year together as a hui.  We will also take this opportunity to welcome into the space, Hui Kane, the men’s group that will mirror our shared vision of community.  

The day will start with welcoming and sharing of Na Wahine Oiwi and Hui Kane respectively.  We’ll continue to forge our bonds working in the loi kalo and around the farm.  We’ll make our table for the future together making paiai and laulau together.  And we’ll eat and be merry together with even more ono food, drink, and kanikapila.  Hanale Bishop and Ke’opu Reelitz will be on deck to get the music rolling, but no shame, bring your uke, guitar, or favorite songs to play and sing along.  

Check out the official event page for more details.  And check out the other fb pages for more info on each individual hui coming together.  Wahine, kane, keiki, family, friends, new faces, old friends, and any and all interested are welcomed to join us.

This is an especially momentous event for me, having taken a leap of faith and started the ball rolling for Na Wahine Oiwi and us co-founders a year ago.  I still can’t believe how far we’ve come in a year.  I can’t wait to celebrate :)

Finally got a chance to get a new performance lined up.  Catch me playing on Saturday, April 21st from 4 to 5p at Chez’s in Aiea.  I’m supporting my high school class to fundraise.

Tickets are $20 pre-sale and $25 at the door.  Head over to the fb event page for more info on the event and tickets.   Hope to see you there!

Spontaneous serenade by the Yale Alleycats at Mānoa Starbucks.

This totally just happened on this super rainy, stormy, windy day.  To be sure, these kinds of random song break-outs are not normal for Hawai’i.  The woman working next to me, around my age, and I both looked at each other and smiled when they began.  We both were asking ourselves “seriously?” and laughed in confirmation.  Then of course, we both took out our phones and started snapping shots and video.  

I can’t believe this just happened.  It was an incredible treat.  It totally made my day.

Mirror

I finished this song today.  It’s the first ballad I’ve written in over a year.  It was only after I revisited it that I realized how many different people and experiences are threaded through the words and melody.  It’s short and simple on its face but loaded and heavy in depth.  

It’s for the people who hold the mirrors and those we reflect.

(p.s. kala mai for the very poor quality)

Join Nā Wāhine ʻŌiwi for our March community event on Tuesday, March 13th.  We’ll be taking in the show at ARTS at Marks Garage - featuring a few local artists we know as well as inspired by other Hawaiian art and activism.  Then, we’ll head over to one of the ‘ono eateries to catch up, talk art, and plan the two big events coming up: our first birthday of community events (April) and the summer event discussed during our January event.  Meet at ARTS at Marks at 5p on Tuesday - kala mai, wahine only this month. 

MORE ON NĀ WĀHINE ʻŌIWI
Nā Wāhine ʻŌiwi has monthly community events where we participate in a service project and/or otherwise immerse ourselves in our community.  You can get more info each month from our facebook page.  

Our theme for 2012 is “When violence surrounds us, we find safety within and among ourselves.”  Events are geared toward addressing violence and creating the safety internally and around us.  Our events are sometimes exclusive (wahine only) and sometimes inclusive (keiki and kane welcome).  If we don’t indicate the contrary, we invite everyone to join us.  

We are dedicated to the support of Hawaiian women and endeavor to make a future for ourselves, our kane, and our keiki founded strongly in our roots.  If you are a kane interested in this kind of community, please check out our brother organizaiton, Hui Kane.

Connect.

La’akea taking video of Uncle Imaikalani Kalahele talking story. Got to spend the afternoon taking in his art at Indigenous International and listening to his stories. The best was getting to kanikapila (play music) with him. So thankful La’a brought me to the space to experience this amazing artist.

I am so very excited to the announce the launch of Hui Kāne.  Hui Kāne endeavors to mirror and share the goals and visions of Nā Wāhine ʻŌiwi.  It is a group to help create an open space for Hawaiian men and their individual and collective identities and voices. Together Nā Wāhine ʻŌiwi and Hui Kāne work to create a community respectful of our individual, group, and collective spaces and voices.  

This organization has been discussed for some time now.  It is with overabundant joy that I share its birth into our universe.  My hope is that together we can recreate the community so much of us had as children but lost through the divisiveness of Western influences.  It is my desire that both Hui Kāne and Nā Wāhine ʻŌiwi create that space and community through the re-rooting in our shared history, culture, and ‘aina and the vision into a collective future.

Kāne or wāhine head over to the fb page, “like” it, and stay updated.