Ka Wai Ola News

Ka Wai Ola News Indigenous media outlet sharing news, features and events with a focus on the Native Hawaiian community

Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop December 19, 1831Bernice Pauahi Pākī was born in Honolulu at the kauhale ʻAikupika of her fat...
12/19/2025

Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop
December 19, 1831
Bernice Pauahi Pākī was born in Honolulu at the kauhale ʻAikupika of her father, Abner Kuhoʻoheiheipahu Pākī. Her mother was Laura Kanaholo Kōnia.

Named for her aunt, Queen Pauahi, she was also given the Christian name of Bernice. As the last direct descendant and inheritor of the Kamehameha lands, she placed more than 375,000 acres of ancestral lands in a perpetual endowment to educate Native Hawaiian children known today as Kamehameha Schools.

Lived With Purpose: A Grandfather’s Guide to Living with Honor, Heart and Humor by John TsukayamaA memoir that shares Ts...
12/19/2025

Lived With Purpose: A Grandfather’s Guide to Living with Honor, Heart and Humor by John Tsukayama

A memoir that shares Tsukayama's perspective on Hawaiian values and community challenges through the lens of his experiences as a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, an IRS officer, a private investigator, a security executive, and an academic.

Tsukayama, an adjunct professor at BYU Hawaiʻi, has a Ph.D. in international relations. His memoir weaves together his personal stories and professional experiences in which truth meets consequences. Despite a life spent seeking painful truth in the shadows, his memoir is a story of hope and a manual for living.

With a personal philosophy centered on Hawaiian values, hospitality, and extending the definition of “family,” his memoir is intended to pass along lessons of kuleana to future generations. A significant portion of his book details his work as an investigation team leader for the 1997-1999 Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate “Broken Trust” controversy, which he calls “the most important case of my life.”

His first book, The Process of Investigation, now in its fourth edition, is a collaboration with Charles A. Sennewald first published in the 1980s.

Available at Amazon beginning December 15.

More at kawaiola.news/hoonaauao/books-for-the-lahui-four-new-very-different-publications-to-inform-inspire-and-entertain

KAPU Series "Sacred Hawaiian Burials" by Keoni Kealoha AlvarezThe accidental discovery of a burial cave near his ancestr...
12/18/2025

KAPU Series "Sacred Hawaiian Burials" by Keoni Kealoha Alvarez

The accidental discovery of a burial cave near his ancestral home in Puna on Hawaiʻi Island set the trajectory for Alvarez’ life. He was only 8 years old at the time, but he has made it his life’s work to protect iwi kūpuna, and in particular, to watch over the iwi resting in the burial cave he stumbled upon more than 35 years ago.

Over the decades, Alvarez has immersed himself in learning about traditional burial methods, eventually producing a film, KAPU: Sacred Hawaiian Burials, along with several books that detail this remarkable discovery and what he has learned since.

There are now four books in the series, beginning with a children’s book, The Boy and his Hawaiian Cave, published in 2021 followed by KAPU: Hawaiian Burial Methods published in 2022, KAPU: “Sacred Hawaiian Burials” – the book version of his film – published in 2023, and in May 2025, Alvarez published his fourth book, a hardcover coffee table book by the same name that uses illustrations and culturally grounded narrative to help people understand traditional Hawaiian ways of honoring the ancestors.

All books in the KAPU series are available on Amazon, and the two-hour film can be viewed on PBS Hawaiʻi at pbshawaii.org/kapu-sacred-hawaiian-burials/.

More at kawaiola.news/hoonaauao/books-for-the-lahui-four-new-very-different-publications-to-inform-inspire-and-entertain

Mother Tree, Daughter Seed by Mārata Tamaira & Carl PaoHusband and wife duo, writer Mārata Tamaira and artist Carl Pao, ...
12/17/2025

Mother Tree, Daughter Seed by Mārata Tamaira & Carl Pao

Husband and wife duo, writer Mārata Tamaira and artist Carl Pao, teamed up to produce a new children’s book, Mother Tree, Daughter Seed: Lessons in Slow Growth, about the tender relationship between two koa trees, Mother Tree and her offspring Daughter Seed. Over the course of many decades, and at every stage of her development, Mother Tree guides Daughter Seed – who ultimately learns the meaning of self-worth, the value of slow-growth, and the interconnectedness of all things.

Hawaiʻi-based author Mārata Tamaira is Māori with ancestral links to Ngāti Tūwharetoa. She has a doctoral degree in gender, media and cultural studies and has published widely in academic journals, book anthologies, and periodicals. Mother Tree, Daughter Seed is her first children’s book and her first book collaboration with her husband, celebrated ʻŌiwi artist Carl Pao, an art teacher at Kamehameha Schools whose work has been featured in both private and public collections here in Hawaiʻi and abroad.

Blending contemporary storytelling and vibrant illustrations, Mother Tree, Daughter Seed is rooted in an ethos of social emotional literacy and ecological stewardship reinforced with ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian values. It is available from UH Press, Native Books Hawaiʻi, Barnes & Noble, UBC Press, and Amazon.

More at kawaiola.news/hoonaauao/books-for-the-lahui-four-new-very-different-publications-to-inform-inspire-and-entertain

Writer Pete Britos was born to a family of musicians and traveled the world playing music as a child. In the 1980s he co...
12/16/2025

Writer Pete Britos was born to a family of musicians and traveled the world playing music as a child. In the 1980s he competed in professional level racquetball in California, and after leaving the sports industry worked a variety of jobs including as a logger and painter. In the 1990s he landed in the Los Angeles film industry writing, producing, and directing.

After earning an MFA in screenwriting and a Ph.D. in critical media studies, he returned to Hawaiʻi, and helped develop art, film, digital media and animation programs at UH Mānoa, Hawaiʻi Pacific University (HPU), and the State Foundation for Culture & the Arts. He is currently a professor at HPU.

Valley of Spiraling Winds by Peter J. Oluloa Britos

Britos’ debut novel, Valley of Spiraling Winds, is a groundbreaking, speculative sci-fi novel – the first novel by a Kānaka Maoli writer published by UH Press – and is the first of a planned trilogy. The book explores the roots of contemporary Hawaiʻi through the lens of a dystopian future. It is an edgy, time-hopping novel that follows the journey of a mixed-race Hawaiian family over three centuries.

Britos has also written and directed an indie film, House of the Shark, that will be released in 2026. Valley of Spiraling Winds is available from UH Press, Native Books Hawaiʻi and Amazon.

More at kawaiola.news/hoonaauao/books-for-the-lahui-four-new-very-different-publications-to-inform-inspire-and-entertain

To be considered a “historic home,” a house must be at least 50 years old and be considered significant under certain cr...
12/15/2025

To be considered a “historic home,” a house must be at least 50 years old and be considered significant under certain criteria.

The Hawaiʻi Register of Historic Places (HRHP) should consider historic designation applications for wahi pana. And Native Hawaiians should not have to adhere to bureaucratic requirements to gain HRHP protections for cultural resources and historic places.

It is possible for historic preservation to preserve one lens of history without sacrificing another. Hawaiʻi can’t change how past historic preservation decisions were made, but the state can ensure that a more holistic approach is adopted moving forward – one that doesn’t just preserve the history of colonizers.

It’s vital to include Hawaiian culture in the historic preservation evaluation process and fill the existing Hawaiian culture and history seat on the Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board (HHPRB) without further delay. And perhaps it is time for an alternate pathway that encourages and fosters proactive preservation of wahi pana alongside this system built around development.

Read Who Decides What is Historic? by Maxx Ramos online at kawaiola.news/aina/who-decides-what-is-historic.

This hoʻomanaʻo is intended to recognize and honor the extraordinary contributions to our lāhui of those profiled. These...
12/14/2025

This hoʻomanaʻo is intended to recognize and honor the extraordinary contributions to our lāhui of those profiled. These are individuals who are widely known in our community, and this is a mere snapshot of their achievements based on information compiled from various community resources.

Read more online at kawaiola.news/kaiaulu/hehoomanao/ua-lele-na-manu-i-kahiki-remembering-and-honoring-some-of-those-we-lost-this-year-2

As ever, our readers are invited to submit Haliʻa Aloha (fond remembrances) of their loved ones for publication in Ka Wai Ola newspaper.

The City and County of Honolulu is implementing its vision to bring food, culture and connection to the community throug...
12/13/2025

The City and County of Honolulu is implementing its vision to bring food, culture and connection to the community through food access hubs at the new skyline (rail) system stations.

Image: Full moon planting of mea kanu and lā‘au lapa‘au. Photo: City and County of Honolulu.

Read Restoring Abundance Along our Skyline by Kealoha Fox, Ph.D. online at
kawaiola.news/hookahuawaiwai/restoring-abundance-along-our-skyline.

Alika Spahn Naihe, Jeffrey Vierra and Jack Hobbs co-founded a gaming business called TheoryCraftist Games.“Usually, the ...
12/12/2025

Alika Spahn Naihe, Jeffrey Vierra and Jack Hobbs co-founded a gaming business called TheoryCraftist Games.

“Usually, the games that we create address some kind of a social issue that’s happening in the community,” noted Vierra.

Images: Jack Hobbs (left) and Alika Spahn Naihe (right) demonstrate how Hoa Kaua is played at the Hula ʻOni E festival in August. Standing behind them is Jeffrey Vierra. The Hoa Kaua gameboard features artwork by Alika Spahn Naihe. - Photos: Donalyn Dela Cruz

Read Culture and Imagination at Play by Donalyn Dela Cruz online at kawaiola.news/hoonaauao/culture-and-imagination-at-play/

For more game information visit theorycraftist.com.

I kēia lā i ka makahiki 1830, ua hānau ʻia o Lota Kapuāiwa Kalanimakua Aliʻiōlani Kalanikupuapaʻīkalaninui. On this day ...
12/11/2025

I kēia lā i ka makahiki 1830, ua hānau ʻia o Lota Kapuāiwa Kalanimakua Aliʻiōlani Kalanikupuapaʻīkalaninui.

On this day in 1830 Prince Lot was born. His mother was Elizabeth Kīnaʻu and his father was Mataio Kekūanaōʻa.

Prince Lot became Kamehameha V in 1863 after the passing of his brother Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV. His reign lasted for 9 years, when he fell ill and passed on his birthday Dec. 11, 1872. He was the last ruling monarch of the Kamehameha line.

With no heir at his death, the next monarch would be elected by the legislature. Kamehameha V's cousin William Charles Lunalilo, related to the Kamehameha line through his mother, became the first elected king of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Dr. Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio became dean of UH Mānoa's Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge in 2017 aft...
12/11/2025

Dr. Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio became dean of UH Mānoa's Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge in 2017 after decades of service as a professor and as the former director of Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies. His leadership has been instrumental in Hawaiʻinuiākea gaining recognition as the only Indigenous-knowledge college at a Research 1 institution.

Under his leadership, in 2024 Hawaiʻinuiākea also earned a 10-year accreditation renewal from the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC), reaffirming the college’s essential role in revitalizing Hawaiian language, culture, and educational practices.

UH Mānoa Interim Vice Provost for Student Success Kapā Oliveira, a former professor of Hawaiian Language at Kawaihuelani, will chair a committee to select the next dean of Hawaiʻinuiākea.

Read A New Chapter at Hawaiʻinuiākea by Malia Nobrega-Olivera online at kawaiola.news/hoonaauao/a-new-chapter-at-hawaiiunuiakea.

Dr. Kēhaulani Natsuko Vaughn’s career trajectory changed after reading the late ʻŌiwi academic Haunani-Kay Trask. Motiva...
12/10/2025

Dr. Kēhaulani Natsuko Vaughn’s career trajectory changed after reading the late ʻŌiwi academic Haunani-Kay Trask. Motivated by Trask’s work Vaughn wanted to use her own work as a researcher and an academic for community good too.

“It really blew up my world in a great way,” she said. “My education became more healing.”

Although she feels the yearning to return to the ʻāina, that will probably be for her retirement.

“For now, I think there’s also such need here in Turtle Island for Hawaiians to know that they’re Hawaiian enough,” she said.

“Our culture is grounded in ʻāina, but our kūpuna have always been travelers,” Vaughn said. “We’ve always created expansive worlds.”

Read this month's Faces of the Diaspora
by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton online at kawaiola.news/on-the-continent/uplifting-indigeneity-on-turtle-island.

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