Category: Living Life

Me Before You, the No. 1 New York Times bestseller written by Jojo Moyes in 2012, was made into a film in 2016.

Although it seems like a believable romance story, it is a work of fiction. However, Me Before You raises awareness about some very real life-and-death issues.

The premise (no spoiler alert): A young woman is hired as a caregiver for a young man who has been quadriplegic since a motorcycle accident. The man had made a previous suicide attempt after his request to to end his life through Dignitas, a Swiss-based assisted suicide organization, was rejected. When the caregiver learns of his plans to pursue his plan to edit it all, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. A love story ensues.

Although the plot of book and film have been criticized for even suggesting that life may not be worth living for some with severe disabilities, it has opened the door to discussion and has raised questions regarding end-of-life issues such as aid-in-dying medication, euthanasia, suicide and America’s public policy.

In the face of unbearable suffering, profound pain, terminal illness or devastating disability, can life become not worth living? If so, who should make that decision? Should public policy strive to improve care and expand choices for the end of life?

This film may help you decide for yourself.

Me Before You, the book and movie, are available online and in local bookstores.

O‘ahu’s 90th Annual Lei Day Celebration will be held on Monday, May 1, at Kap‘iolani Park. The theme for the 2017 celebration is Lei Kula — the gold lei of the golden years.

Hawai‘i’s Lei Day has a very rich and colorful history, incorporating a variety of ethnic traditions.

The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is seeking applicants for the 89th Annual Lei Court Selection event, which will be held on March 4, 2017, at McCoy Pavilion in Ala Moana Regional Park. The event is free and open to the public.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the city’s Lei Day and Lei Court selection events, the DPR has added a new age group to the three existing groups. The 2017 selection will accept applications from Nā Mākua ‘Ō‘ō (The Elders in Training) group.

Court applicants for 2017 must be between 46 and 60 years of age by Saturday, March 4, 2017. The deadline to apply is Friday, Jan. 6, 2017.

Age groups will rotate each year to highlight a different phase of life.

The DPR staff will provide free lei-making workshops in preparation for Lei Day festivities and contests. The schedule will be available to the public by the end of December at www.honoluluparks.com.

LEI DAY CELEBRATION
Kaiulani Kauahi, Chairperson
808-768-3041 | rkauahi@honolulu.gov.

T. David Woo’s highly textured memoir of his life as a Hawai‘i Island plantation doctor provides a fascinating look at the days when sugar cane was king.

Plantation Doctor: A Memoir of Hawai‘i is filled with anecdotes, rare photos and detailed maps of ethnic camps during Hawai‘i’s booming plantation era.

Woo was born on the Big Island just after the turn of the century. He left home at age 14 to attend school in China. After earning his medical degree in 1935, he returned to his island home to become a self-professed “cowboy doctor” at Parker Ranch; physician for the Hakalau, Pepe‘ekeo, Honomū and Onomea plantations; and co-founder of the Hilo Medical Group, providing medical care for thousands of ranch hands, plantation workers and other Big Island residents.

His interests also extended to horticulture, a field in which he hybridized award-winning orchids. He was also a horse-breeder, playing a key role in continuing kanaka mustang (Hawaiian horse) bloodlines.

The posthumously published memoir was compiled by Woo’s three children, who shared, “As we age, we have come to more full… appreciate his optimism and positivity in serving his fellow man, community and family.”

Available at www.bookshawaii.net
($19.95 for softcover, prices may vary)

Everyone has a story to tell. And what better way to leave a legacy, and pass down family values and traditions than through your own words, in your very own book that can be passed down through the generations, inspiring legacies to come.

But getting started can be a daunting task. Staring at that blank page or computer screen can be an unnerving experience. Where to begin?

Writing the Hawai‘i Memoir: Advice and Exercises to Help You Tell Your Story by international bestselling author and writing instructor Darien Gee can help guide you from start to finish.

The book describes how to begin, what to do and how to do it with the aid of 29 writing exercises along with writing tips and inspiration from more than 20 of Hawai‘i’s best-known writers, teachers and storytellers.

Through this awardwinning how-to book, budding writers can learn tips to recall and organize life events into a story, discover life themes, overcome writer’s block, assess the “warts and all” aspects of storytelling, keep motivated and how to choose the best way to publish or share the finished memoir.

If your story is still waiting to be told, this book just may hold the key to unlocking your writer’s block, so you can share yourself — your story — with future generations.

Available at www.bookshawaii.net
($14.95 for softcover, prices may vary)