Author: Katherine Kama‘ema‘e Smith

  • An Interview with Leslie Wilcox

    An Interview with Leslie Wilcox

    Our “can do!” island culture values resourcefulness and cooperation when faced with challenges. “We know a guy” and where to get things, and have honed skills tūtū taught us. We don’t expect anything in return for helping out. “If can, can; if no can, no can.” We put ourselves to the task. PBS Hawai‘i (KHET…

  • Kawaiahaʻo Church – Keeping the Faith for 200 Years

    Kawaiahaʻo Church – Keeping the Faith for 200 Years

    In his epic historical novel Hawai‘i, James A. Michener created fallible heroes and villains who have lived in our memories for over 60 years now. But when the missionaries are interpreted in the norms of their times, the tenets of their beliefs, we see their abiding faith to bring the gospel of peace to Henry…

  • Choosing Peace: Our Care, Our Choice

    Choosing Peace: Our Care, Our Choice

    Dying at home can be traumatic for loved ones. We long for a peaceful walk into a beautiful sunset. But most have never seen anyone die and that first indelible experience will stick with us. We may wish to die in our sleep, suffer an accident where we “never knew what happened” or drop dead…

  • Shopping for the Best Online Shipping

    Seniors with family and friends on the mainland know what high shipping costs can do to a budget. Hawai‘i small business owners hurt even more. They pay to ship in supplies and inventory, and high shipping costs prevent them from competing with big box stores and online retailers.

  • Mom’s Date Cake – A 1945 Holiday Treat

    This satisfyingly sweet and moist cake makes up in 10 minutes and a small piece turns morning coffee or afternoon tea into a special occasion. At my home, the women sat down for tea before starting to cook the evening meal or when “the people” came to visit. Funny how a sweet treat triggers fond…

  • The Gift of Food

    The Gift of Food

    We know how food gets distributed at the market to people who can afford to buy it. For those who can’t, every day, a network of Hawai‘i nonprofits work together to collect food donations and deliver them to the hungry. They serve seniors on a fixed income, low-income families, disabled persons and homeless persons who…

  • Kō Ā Moana: Those of the Ocean

    Kō Ā Moana: Those of the Ocean

    Anona and Joseph “Nappy” Napoleon love the sea. Their kuleana is to respect and care for the sea by practicing and perpetuating cultural traditions of their ancestors who lived on and near the ocean. We call them “watermen.” Kō ā moana may be men or women, surfers, fishermen, paddlers, sailors or divers.

  • Maui Pink Paddlers Give Us Hope

    Hope and togetherness for persons affected by cancer is Mana‘olana Pink Paddlers’ specialty. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, cancer patients, survivors and supporters pull together, paddling their pink double-hull canoes across the ocean off Kīhei on Maui. Oct. 12 and 13 will be their 10th voyage and overnight on Lāna‘i with The Pacific Cancer Foundation’s…

  • A Paddler First, a Cancer Survivor Twice

    Tammy Osurman of West Maui has competed in 10 Nā Wāhine o Ke Kai canoe races — a grueling 42-mile paddle across the treacherous Kaiwi Channel from Moloka‘i to Waikīkī. This “Paddle Bunny” is in the canoe three days a week with the North Shore Renegades. Tammy has paddled in all 10 of the Pacific…

  • Breast Cancer Warriors: A Sisterhood

    Breast Cancer Warriors: A Sisterhood

    Generations Magazine recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a resource article about women affected by this disease. Their stories, the education and research that Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation® provides, and new treatment trends available in Hawai‘i will encourage you to become part of the More Than Pink movement.