My best wishes for a happy and meaningful New Year! Today is New Year’s Eve, the day that often brings introspection and resolutions toward better behavior in the coming year. As we look toward another journey around the sun, it is worth taking a lesson or two from the lava tubes.
I assumed that the ongoing negotiations of land use between scientists and traditional faith leaders was the only reason for “respect for cultural practices.” I was wrong. I watched a group of four visitors create strikingly beautiful poses in response to the imposing natural panorama. Artists of all kinds can’t help themselves.
My wife and I have gotten to know the local Catholic community of Sacred Heart, Na’alehu. This rural community gathers together the whole range of Hawaiians including those from indigenous heritage to those whose families originate from the US, Europe, Japan, China and the nations of Polynesia. The author James Joyce once described the Catholic…
The Tour To compose music about volcanos, I need a crash-course in volcanology. This is Dr. Don Swanson from the US Geological Survey, my “go-to guy” for all geological things during my artist-in-residence with the National Parks Arts Foundation. Today, Don led me on a tour of the Hawai’i Volcanos National Park, trying to get…
In the blur of jet lag from New York to Hawaii, I met some of my new neighbors. These sea turtles come to the Punalu’u to lay their eggs. This black sand beach is just down the road from Waiohinu and Na’alehu, my home for the next month as Artist in Residence for the National…