Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox - PBS Hawaii

Long Story Short – John Clark – Keeping Hawaiian Stories Alive

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:28:18 +0000

In this edition of Long Story Short, Leslie Wilcox talks story with a true Renaissance man. John Clark relates how learning to surf at a young age led him to become a waterman, lifeguard, fire fighter, historian, and writer. The author of a series of books on Hawaii’s beaches, John Clark took the innate curiosity that we all have and hunted down the source and mo’olelo, or stories, behind the names of Hawaii’s surf spots and shoreline landmarks. Find out how this descendent of a sea captain is doing his part to keep Hawaiian stories and characters alive.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Barbara Kawakami – Remembering Japanese ‘Picture Brides’

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:32:11 +0000

Leslie Wilcox talks story with Barbara Kawakami who, just three months old in 1921, arrived in Hawaii with her family and a ship full of Japanese “Picture Brides”. These young women were about to enter into arranged marriages to plantation laborers. Barbara has devoted the last thirty years collecting the clothing and preserving the almost-lost accounts of first generation immigrants, many of them picture brides.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Sam Cooke – Preserving Historical Hawaii

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:30:12 +0000

A member of one of Hawaii’s most prominent kamaaina families, Sam Cooke shares his passion for the restoration of Hawaii’s cultural and historical treasures. A descendant of early missionaries who established a business empire with Castle and Cooke, Sam, along with his wife Mary, established the Manoa Heritage Center to promote the stewardship of ancient heiau located near their historic home in Manoa Valley.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Monty Richards – Pioneering Rancher & Farmer

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:50:38 +0000

Leslie Wilcox talks story with Monty Richards, fifth-generation family member of a ranching dynasty and former President/General Manager of Kahua Ranch on Hawaii island. Known for his pioneering efforts in high intensity rapid rotational grazing techniques and diversified operations like hydroponic farming, Richards is also recognized as a lifetime community volunteer.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Kelvin Taketa – Building Links Between Subcultures in Hawaii

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:15:20 +0000

Kelvin Taketa talks story about growing up in Aina Haina in the 1960’s; and his journey from law school, to the Nature Conservancy, to his current life as President & CEO of the Hawaii Community Foundation. Kelvin also talks about the mentors that inspired him along the way and the life-changing epiphany he had when he realized his role in society is to be the link between subcultures that don’t normally interact with one another.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Hōkūlani Holt – Drawing Strength from Hawaiian Heritage

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:33:58 +0000

Maui-based kumu hula and Hawaiian cultural/language specialist Hōkūlani Holt talks story with Leslie Wilcox about growing up on Oahu and Maui, being hānai’d (adopted) by her grandparents, and growing up in a well-known hula family. Hōkūlani also talks about juggling her demanding yet fulfilling life as a kumu hula, Director of Cultural Programs at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, and her active roles in a long list of community organizations. Through it all she draws strength from her Hawaiian heritage and a family history of strong, independent women.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – James Scott – Part Two

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:52:43 +0000

Join Leslie Wilcox for the second part of a two-part discussion with Dr. James Scott, the Waimanalo-born Native Hawaiian who has been president of Punahou School since 1994. In this episode, Dr. Scott talks about the balance he tries to maintain for Punahou between traditions from the past and innovations for the future. He characterizes that balance as the art of “holding the tension”. He credits, in part, lessons he learned as a pitcher on the Punahou baseball team for his ability to strike this delicate balance. He also talks about his wife Maureen, raising two children in their on-campus home, and the challenges of separating work and home-life when one’s home and workplace are really one in the same. Dr. Scott also talks about a Punahou initiative that helps public school students get ready for college and speculates on his future as the school’s president.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – James Scott – Punahou School President – Part One

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:28:37 +0000

James Scott is a Waimanalo-born Native Hawaiian who has been president of Punahou School since 1994. Scott is the first Punahou graduate to serve as its president. While Punahou has often been stereotyped as the school for Hawaii’s privileged class, Scott came from modest beginnings with parents who scraped and sacrificed so that he could attend. He also augmented his tuition by working in the school cafeteria.

Scott talks with Leslie Wilcox about his memories of Punahou as a student, his vision of the school as its president, his management style, and his thoughts on the changing face of education.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Kealoha – Honolulu’s “Slam Poet”

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:49:11 +0000

Leslie Wilcox talks with Honolulu born and raised slam poet Kealoha. He has represented Hawaii seven times at the National Poetry Slam and is the founder of local events like First Thursdays – the largest registered slam poetry competition in the world with an average attendance of 600+. In 2009, Kealoha was featured on HBO’s Brave New Voices series.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Leona Rocha Wilson – Maui-Based Entrepreneur and Inventor

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:31:09 +0000

Leslie Wilcox talks story with Maui-raised and based entrepreneur Leona Rocha Wilson, a one-time national spokesperson for the home sewing industry and inventor of the “fashion rule”, a tool still in use today. Leona is also a passionate advocate for education, and uses her Maui-based cable show, Go School, No Come Like Me, to inspire people through stories of lives transformed by family support of education. Her colorful life, which included a stint in the military and writing a book, is a shining example of how to constantly reinvent oneself.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Puakea Nogelmeier on the Hawaiian Language

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:57:04 +0000

In part two of her interview with the Hawaiian language scholar, Leslie Wilcox talks with Puakea Nogelmeier about this thirty years of work perpetuating an appreciation of the richness and intricacies of the Hawaiian language and culture. They also discuss the herculean task of translating into English the 500 page “Epic Tale of Hi’iakaopoliopele,” and Puakea’s collaboration with others to translate into English many 19th and 20th century Hawaiian newspaper articles and put them online. Puakea also explains the true meaning of the word kaona (it’s not what most people think), and what it’s like to be the voice of The Bus.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Layla Dedrick – Young Business Leader

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:04:06 +0000

Leslie Wilcox talks story with Layla Dedrick, Pacific Business News’ 2009 Young Business Leader of the Year. Layla is C.E.O. of Bella Pietra, a natural stone company, and she runs her business on values that are part of her Hawaiian heritage: Kuleana (responsibility), Malama (caring for), and Kupono (doing the right thing in the right place). She talks with Leslie about her journey from her childhood in Waianae, to attending Kamehameha Schools, to teaching special needs children, to running a highly successful business with her husband.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – DeSoto Brown – A Passion for Hawaiian History

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:59:56 +0000

DeSoto Brown is a lifetime collector and Hawaiian historian who has the perfect job for someone with a passion for preserving the past: he is the Collections Manager at the Bishop Museum Archives. Descended from famous 19th century Hawaiian historian and writer John Papa I’i, DeSoto surrounds himself with personal and political possessions from Hawaiian Ali’i, as well as stacks of other materials representing Hawaii’s cultural and natural history.

DeSoto tells Leslie about starting to collect pieces of the past at the tender age of seven and how his passion has grown ever since. Lines are blurred between DeSoto’s professional and personal life, because collecting the past is what he loves the most – on and off the job.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii

Long Story Short – Corbett Kalama – A Community Leader from Humble Beginnings

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:27:27 +0000

Leslie Wilcox talks story with Corbett Kalama, Executive Vice President and Region Manager at the Oahu Office of First Hawaiian Bank and Bishop Estate Trustee. Corbett comes from humble beginnings – he grew up in a 900-square-foot house in Kailua with a family of 13 – but his road to success was not the typical dog-eat-dog climb up the corporate ladder. It was, instead, formed by his family’s Hawaiian values of family, education, and community.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – W.S. Merwin – Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:37:25 +0000

In his more than fifty year career, William S. Merwin has received nearly every major award for poetry, including two Pulitzer prizes. He has traveled widely and lived in Europe, but since the late seventies Haiku, Maui has been his home. It is also where he found an affinity for native Hawaiian culture and where he crafted a mythical, Hawaiian narrative. He talks to Leslie about how his love for words began as a child, when his mother would read to him. He also reads from some of his poetry collections.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Mary Bitterman – Leading PBS in Hawaii and Beyond

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:02:03 +0000

Leslie Wilcox visits with Mary Bitterman, who was the Executive Director of PBS Hawaii (then referred to as KHET) from 1974 to 1979. The youngest Executive Director of a PBS station at the time, she headed KHET at the time of the groundbreaking production of Aldyth Morris’ “Damien”, which won the George Foster Peabody Award and was aired on PBS stations nationwide. She went on to become the President and CEO of KQED – the PBS television station in San Francisco – and was board chair of PBS. Mary is now Chair of the PBS Foundation and head of the Bernard Osher Foundation, which provides scholarship funding to selected colleges and universities.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Puakea Nogelmeier – Advocating and Promoting the Hawaiian Language

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:27:06 +0000

A year out of high school, Marvin Nogelmeier arrived in Hawaii on his way to Japan and stayed on a whim. Whether by happenstance or destiny, over thirty years later he has become Puakea Nogelmeier, Hoku-award winning songwriter, Kumu Hula, and Associate Professor of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii. He tells Leslie about some of the choices he made, how they led to a career advocating and promoting the Hawaiian language, and how he got his name.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Meli Watanuki – On Location at Kalaupapa

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:26:31 +0000

Like many Hansen’s disease patients at Kalaupapa, Meli Watanuki experienced loss from a very early age. Diagnosed with Hansen’s disease at eighteen, she was abandoned by her husband who took their young son with him. Years later, their bond could not be reconnected. Yet she explains how she found happiness and a new love by choosing to live in Kalaupapa. She and fellow Hansen’s disease patient Boogie Kahilihiwa voice their contrasting views on whether or not children should be allowed into Kalaupapa. This is the third in a series of Long Story Short shows shot on location at Kalaupapa on Moloka’i.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa – On Location at Kalaupapa

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:23:48 +0000

Hansen’s disease patient Clarence “Boogie” Kahilihiwa decided to move to Kalaupapa after patients were no longer forced to live there. Today, there are fewer than twenty Hansen’s disease patients living in Kalaupapa, but he remembers when there were more than five hundred patients on the peninsula. He talks to Leslie about living there and his effort to establish a monument listing the names of all who were sent to Kalaupapa. This is the second in a series of Long Story Short shows shot on location at Kalaupapa on Moloka’i.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.

Long Story Short – Norbert Palea – On Location at Kalaupapa

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:18:14 +0000

Hansen’s disease patient Norbert Palea of Kalaupapa was only five years old when he was sent there, without even being officially diagnosed with the disease. In spite of that sentence and its hardships, he endured, with no regret. He tells Leslie, “Even if they sent us here… look around. They gave us the most beautiful home in the world.” This is the first in a series of Long Story Short shows shot on location at Kalaupapa on Moloka’i.

Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is a production of PBS Hawaii.