My dad and his brother spent their childhood summers at Puako Lot 4. They ran across the red-hot a`a with fishing nets, catching manini and looking for sharks. The Black Tip Reef Sharks are my cousins. There is a legend in Puako that a still-born child from the Kaono family was put to rest in…
Category: Personal Essays
Great Value Punk
It was hard growing up punk on a budget. Punk then emo because my middle school pubescent rage turned into awkward angst once I started high school. It’s a strange sentiment because ideally, being part of the punk subculture was never supposed to be something one could or couldn’t afford. After emigrating to the states,…
On My 18th Birthday
Today I turn 18. As always, this birthday has prompted self-reflection, perhaps even more so as I sit quarantined in Saybrook College at Yale. I cannot help but wonder what life would have been like if this pandemic had never happened. It is quite likely I would have ended up at a different university. I…
An Open Letter to Professors
Dear Professors, Stop assuming that I know things. In fact, assume that I don’t know anything at all. Assume that I only have two old brain cells left and they’re only enough to remember my name and birthday. When you feel yourself starting to say, “You should’ve learned this in high school…” remember that me…
Cultivando la Milpa
“Culture, Consciousness, and Movement Building: Las Tres Hermanas” These three concepts acted as the foundation of the community organization I interned at throughout my year at community college, Motivating Individual Leadership for Public Advancement (MILPA). It is based on Las Tres Hermanas (the three sisters), the indigenous farming technique of planting beans, corn, and squash…