January 12, 2015: 1 step forward. 2 steps back.

By default I was just subjected to the trailer "The Boy Next Door."

The general plot was as follows:

- Frustrated working housewife/mother can't divorce her cheating husband. Has a one night stand with the strapping neighbor boy. Neighbor boy goes berserk when he can't get more. Neighbor boy turns into a revengeful stalker, ultimately putting the entire family at risk. Thus ensues the suspenseful chase scenes, violence, big explosions, and horror.

What I took from the trailer was as follows:

- Woman knows her husband is an arrogant, lying, cheating fuck-wad. Although she is stunning (Jennifer Lopez), gainfully employed as a teacher, and has support from her friends, she can't leave him. In a moment of "vulnerability," she sleeps with the neighbor boy who lusts for her. Rather than ask her husband for an open marriage, or perhaps an orgy with the neighbor boy and the secretary her husband fucks on the daily, she stays in a fearful silence. So now, she's terrified to tell her husband the truth, terrified to tell the school (where she teaches and the boy is a student) the truth and is subsequently stalked, threatened, emotionally, and physically tortured. And there is nowhere for her to go.

That - is an extremely fucked up message.

In summary:
- Men: Do whatever the fuck you want. Fuck whomever you want. Threaten the lives of whomever you want.
- Boys: It's okay to harass, stalk, threaten, and abuse women if they won't sleep with you.
- Women: Male infidelity is acceptable. Shut up, smile, and nod. Stop acting on your desires and deal with the violent consequences when you do.

Funny, this one time I thought it was 2015....not the fucking inquisition of 1515.
My mistake.

"We are the granddaughters of witches you could not burn."

December 28, 2014: Mālama ʻĀina Maui

Bringing the kū to kūʻē.

www.malamaainamaui.com

November 6, 2014: ¡Sí, se puede!

Maikaʻi nō, Maui County. After $8,000,000 of corporate campaigning, the measure still managed to pass. Celebration is real and well earned. It was a close vote, so it is vital that we also work to prevent and to heal any fractures our communities may be facing right now. Let us humbly stand in the truth to address what concerns may arise.

>> JOBS: We must kāko'o our entire community in this transition. This means standing in solidarity with our farmworkers and calling bullshit on Monsanto when they try to use our people as pawns in their expensive political game.

There is no sound reason jobs have to be lost. Monsanto and Mycogen may continue farming all crops other than GE as well as finish with whatever experiments are currently in the ground. According to the law, they may use approved chemicals if they choose. They do this elsewhere at inordinate profits.

Farming is laborious. Thus, if they are actually farming, laborers should be in high demand. Look, they just dropped $8 million on an ineffective propaganda campaign. Surely they can find a way to preserve their assets whilst protecting the lives of their farmworkers.

Let me be clear here - ANY attempt by these chemical companies to leverage the livelihoods of their employees in order to gain political traction is unnecessary, irresponsible, heartless, ruthless, selfish, foolish, dishonest and a down right abomination. No one, no initiative, no entity is forcing Monsanto et al. to close their doors. Maui County remains an economically viable location to do agri-business. The ONLY entities responsible for what jobs may or may not be lost in the wake of this win are the biotech companies themselves.

As massive biotech corporations, they have a legal obligation to their shareholders. They must do their due diligence, such as developing a contingency plan that accounts for the clear political environment against GE, the clear market shift towards organic, and clear public opinion fearful of GE. By ignoring these factors (whether by arrogance or choice) and not having a post-GE trajectory that respects the lives of their employees is, simply put, bad business practice.

>>> People don't need to lose their jobs. If they do, that blood is on Monsanto's hands, not ours and we will be there to support those whose livelihood was unnecessarily taken from them. I will not be held accountable for Monsanto's arrogant refusal to get their shit together just because I'm protecting my family and this 'āina from irreversible health consequences <<<

Biotech has everything it needs to turn a profit without the presence of GE. So, just as we won the battle to protect the health of our people and our 'āina, we must rally to protect the lives of those who Monsanto et al. may use as pawns. In the spirit of farmworker and labor leaders such as Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers, Si se puede! Yes, we can! We just proved it yesterday, and the struggle continues as we reach across the aisle to stand in solidarity with our farmworker brothers and sisters!

November 4, 2014: And so it is written...

Today, 11/4/2014, the citizens of Maui County passed the very first Citizen's Initiative to make its way onto a ballot. The bill places a Moratorium on the Cultivation of Genetically Engineered Organisms until they can be proven safe. A reasonable request rooted in the Precautionary Principle.

Despite the $8,000,000 well-oiled propaganda machine, Maui County voters prevailed. Democracy in action. We made history. We are setting a precedent. It's only the beginning, we know that.

But what a beginning it is.

October 31, 2014: Boo!

Imperialism is like glitter at a Halloween party.

It sparkles.
You didn't ask for it.
You ended up with it.
It takes for fucking ever to scrub off.
And just when you think you've rid yourself of it, it mysteriously appears in your underwear drawer.

 

October 29, 2014: Home Grown

October 26, 2014: ʻAʻole GMO

The same machine running the same game.
Different century. Different names.
Same consequences. Same shame.

1,700 from Maui, Molokaʻi, Kauaʻi & Oʻahu, marching for the freedom not be murdered.
 

October 24, 2014: Kūʻē no Nā Wai ʻEhā

H  awaiʻi Commercial & Sugar
E   ast Maui Irrigation
W  ailuku Water
A   rrogance rules your landscapes

ʻNuff already.

Mai ʻaihue
Stop stealing.

E ola mau ʻo Nā Wai ʻEhā.
Long live The Four Great Waters
 

October 13, 2014: Ola i ka Wai

ʻAʻohe wai, ʻaʻohe ola.
No water, no life.

(I am finding it challenging to articulate the immensity of today. But being speechless doesnʻt last long for this wahine walaʻau...an unfortunate convention for those near and dear.)

ʻOʻopu, ʻōpae, hīhīwai, and hapawai waiting to come home, loʻi kalo waiting to quench their thirst, and ka wai, the water, long waiting to be released, finally set free on a day that is celebrated across the United States as "Columbus Day" or "Discovererʻs Day" or "Indigenous Peoples Day" ---> a linguistic trail of gestured acquiescence as the long tail of the once indomitable empire slowly retreats in-between its quivering, gaunt, capitalist legs.

The arrogance of illusory entitlement.
The irreparable vandalism of avarice.
The sanctioned ignorance of privilege.

Encountered, met, and overcome by:

The auspiciousness of timing and release.
The virtues of patience and steadfastness.
The indefatigable spirit of doing what is righteous.

As above, so below.
As below, so above.

Ua loku, ʻōlapa ka uila, kuʻi ka hekili.
So as to match the freshwater figuratively rushing from the mountain to the sea, in an act of biospheric solidarity, the sky today is marked by water rushing from low clouds, lightning shamelessly brandishing its brightness, and thunder beating the drums of the heavens. In celebration. In affirmation. In proclamation. A reminder in the midst of our (mis)perceived human greatness, of our inherent human smallness. Which is to say, the water will always find a way to run its course, whether by the laws of man or the laws of nature.
We best be choosing our allies wisely.


"After 10 years and 4 months...which included a long drawn out contested case, protests, marches, documentaries, a dissenting opinion, appeals, and a Supreme Court ruling, Hui o Nā Wai ʻEhā along with Maui Tomorrow and Office Hawaiian Affairs and Earth Justice have secured the release of stream flow from Wailuku Water Company and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company diversions that have been used for 152 years...E ola ka wai a Kāne."
- Hui o Nā Wai ʻEhā

He lā makaʻi nō kēia, o ke kanaka, o ka wai, o Hawaiʻi nei, and a stand for the planet as a whole. My heart has been personally enraptured with restoring stream flow for as long as I can remember. Thus twenty years later to see the fruits of victory begin to ripen, the results of an arduous and continual journey, which has far preceded me, is an honor, a privilege, and a motivation to keep moving forward. Holo i mua, mauka i makai.

"Monday, October 13, 2014 will go in the history books as a monumental victory for so many who have for generations worked tirelessly fighting to re-establish mauka to makai flow of the 4 great waters known as Na Wai Eha. Although this is a victory, we cant forget there are many others still fighting for their share of the water, especially in East Maui. So as we celebrate with those in Central Maui, lets also re-commit support to East Maui residents who have seen more than 100 streams negatively impacted by diversions for more than 100 years."