Lost a Newspaper? News Morphosis 2.0

Aloha, Friend.
What do You Know
Today?


you GOTTA click on this baby!

"There is one thing more powerful
than the armies of the world,
and that is an idea
whose time has come."

Victor Hugo

please excuse these "shot into the light" pictures below

John Temple



"The contest, for all ages,
has been to rescue Liberty
from the grasp
of executive power."

Daniel Webster

David Shapiro (John Stewart 1.0)




"A joke is a very serious thing."

Winston Churchill

The Provocative Sarah Lacy


"The price one pays
for pursuing any profession,
or calling,
is an intimate knowledge
of
it's ugly side."

James Baldwin

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Has your hometown lost a newspaper recently?

It was here a moment ago. It was always there.

Maybe as a kid you got up early in the morning, like I did, to deliver it to your neighbors. Newspapers have been a part of the rhythm of life in America since Thomas Jefferson said that, having to choose between government with no newspapers, or newspapers without government, he'd have to choose the latter.

Now don't worry.

This isn't going to be another boring lamentation of Journalism's death blaming all the usual things: the internet, bloggers (that's you and me, guys!), opinion-shouting cable TV (the ersatz feedback loop of talking points posing as news), decreasing attention spans in our youth (that we raised and educated). . . Blah blah blah. Yeah, there used to be these civic institutions called newspapers, public town squares that needed to sell lots of car ads to keep going, but now are being destroyed by Craigslist.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, founded in 1882 as the Evening Bulletin, published its first edition on February 1 of that year. 1912 saw it merge with the Hawaiian Star to become the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Wikipedia). Recently this institution has been put up for sale in the current panic atmosphere of cash-hemorrhage and closure among newspapers, leaving many Honolulu locals to assume that we will soon be down to one major daily, the Honolulu Advertiser (celebrated it's 150th anniversary in 2005 or `06).

Meanwhile, several of our local TV stations have recently "consolidated" their news operations, which means running the same news-cast on 2 stations, and re-broadcasting it at a different time on a 3rd station. Their news director, Chris Archer, tried to sound upbeat at a conference on March 18 here in Honolulu: NewsMorphosis 2.0 How the Transformation in our News Media is Transforming our Society. I wish him well as the operation prepares to take on it's first Merrie Monarch Festival, a revered local institution sometimes called the Olympics of Hula that brings dancers, fans, and eyeballs from around the world to sleepy Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii every Spring. You could tell he was excited about this "away game" far from Honolulu City lights. So I was much too polite a small fry in that room of somebodies to ask him why his smiling, likeable anchors regularly deliver incomplete, and sometimes misleading, information, and why the same badly-written line is read the same way on the next newscast. I call it "you know what I mean journalism." But I do wish the local HAWAII NEWS NOW team well - they're much too important to this town!

Into this trembling moment steps a millionaire. (Billionaire?) Pierre Omidyar. Omidyar who was born in Paris, came to the USA with his physician father as a boy, and graduated from Tufts in 1988 with a computer science degree, but not before spending some time as a student in Honolulu at President Obama's high school ala mater, Punahou. Among other things, Mr. Omidyar started a little on-line auction company called Auction Web in 1995 largely so his Bay Area friends could more easily trade and collect Pez dispensers. He later changed the name of that company to eBay in 1997. Cue the angelic choirs of capitalism!

This tyro with a local connection has confirmed his genius by moving back to Hawaii with his wife Pamela, and has lately been spreading the wealth around in socially constructive ways, such as a 100 million endowment of the Hawaii Community Foundation (our school kids are still being "furloughed" on some Fridays, as are many of their State employee parents, and the redoubtable Meals on Wheels program, that lifeline of too many of our Kupuna (seniors), is perpetually hurting for funds, but who am I to wonder about that stuff...).

The generous Omidyars were also instrumental in the launching of Kanu Hawaii, a grass roots movement of "9,443 islanders committed to protect and promote island living - a connection to the 'aina (land), a culture of aloha, and local economic self reliance."

Now, the philanthropists are investing in an interesting new endeavor: Peer News. John Temple, Pulitzer award-winning editor, president, and publisher of the late lamented Rocky Mountain News is the founding editor, and the newest intellectual landmark on Oahu, drawing a virtual who's who of Honolulu media, communications, policy, tech, and entrepreneurial types to the conference.

I sat between my old friend Kim Coco Iwamoto, elected Hawaii School Board member, and the sharp Susan Yamada, Interim Executive Director of the University of Hawaii's Shidler College of Business.

Star tech reporter and author, Sarah Lacy flew in from Asia for a lively panel, as did William Moss ( CNET Asia, China Economic Review). The founding Executive Director of the George Washington University Global Media Institute, former general manager of CBS Radio News, Michael Freedman spoke, as did, locally based lights including the day's informative Keynote, Avi Soifer, Dean of UH's high-ranking
Richardson School of Law.


With the enviable freedom of a visiting writer whose reporting continues to be sought, lauded, and deservedly rewarded,
Sarah Lacy pointed out that in today's landscape of personal, even portable, news options, the "traditional media is doing a worse job. I read things in the New York Times tech section that is just wrong." She also made the attending local newspaper pooh-bahs squirm when she scorned inauthentic "astro-turf tweets that are just re-packaged paragraphs by established news people who don't really comprehend the medium."


Mr. Temple inspired some stirring of excitement as he spoke of "lots of reasons for optimism in this age of surprises, twists and turns." Content being the critical issue, not platform. "I am not prescient," he said, but "we're gonna approach things differently at Peer News. "People feel concerned and disconnected. PN is aimed at providing a different voice, giving folks entre` and a fresh start.
Our mission statement is simple:
To Create a New Civic Square.
Citizen contributions will be as integral as paid journalists.
The reporting is a resource, sort of a living history on topics as things develop. Big Picture will be inherent, not just today's 'story.' We'll start with the readers' needs, and be question-oriented, driven by asking 'why?' Let's talk about community. Reporter/hosts working for readers, not as detached chroniclers, no slightly re-written press-releases.
And no faceless comments.
In the civic square we can see each others' faces.
Discussion and debate will be hosted.
It's about speaking to hard issues but with Aloha
which I am beginning to learn about.

I envision a dialogue with other views, straightforward, to fulfill common needs." Temple says that he expects to present "content and an experience worth paying for' and to launch early in the second quarter of this year.

The pithiest remarks of the day came from my favorite truth-teller,
much respected local editorialist/blogger, David Shapiro
who responded to his introduction as one of the best Hawaii journalists by saying that it was
"like being called one of the best dinosaurs in the tar pit."
He commented on the hubris-panic of the traditional "gate-keepers" by advising them to realize that the gate is "now a swinging door" and that they have morphed perhaps into filters.

Now David is a kind reader of my little Hawaii novel, and a respected long-time internet friend. His often brilliantly funny jabs at the local circus of power called State and City government are the best thing in the Advertiser and @ their website.
Yesterday I got a chance to hug him local-style.

Wish I had thought to build on his swinging door analogy by wittily adding to it:
"Yeah, a swinging door. Just don't let it hit you on the okole!"

So I am sorry if you are losing one of your local institutions,
but I'm happy to say that our Honolulu seems poised to enjoy the birth of something truly hopeful and groundbreaking.

One thing I DO know, is that a local outsider, small fry, columnist/ blogger walked into that conference feeling like a nobody, but I walked out feeling empowered, feeling like the future, feeling like a million comments on this blog!

ALOHA, cloudia

Morning Downtown

Aloha, Friend!

It's

Friday.

Let's take an early morning walk

through downtown Honolulu

Click da pics!

I love our older buildings.

They are reminiscent of the monarchy era,

of territorial days,

and the early statehood days of the 60's. . .

"I have an affection for a great city.
I feel safe in the neighbourhood of man,
and enjoy the sweet security of the streets."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There are sweet touches everywhere.

Of course my beloved Chinatown (just a few blocks away)

is a different world that we've visited before.

Today I have an errand in the business district.

"The city is what it is
because our citizens are
what they are."

Plato

The spiral is EVERYWHERE!

See the 3 news boxes?

The WEEKLY is an indispensable "alternative" to the two major dailies.

It seems that we will lose one of the majors very soon

and become a one-newspaper town

like many other American cities.

Sleepy Fort Street Mall

where homeless mix with college students and business people. . .

"Clearly, then, the city is not a concrete jungle,
it is a human zoo."
Desmond Morris, The Human Zoo

First Hawaiian Bank's modern tower,
with 70's cement to the right.

"Towered cities please us then,
And the busy hum of men."
John Milton


ALOHA! cloudia

A Day

Aloha, Friend!
It's Thursday in
Honolulu

One of the most achingly lovely songs of all time:


click on the images!

Honolulu's Aloha Tower,
one-time site of the comings and goings of passenger ships.
You can almost hear the Royal Hawaiian Band playing, smell the lei for sale, and see the splashing children as they dive for coins tossed by the passengers - even today.
As your departing ship passed Waikiki, it was custom to throw your flower lei into the swells. If it floated towards the verdant shore you could expect to return once more to these magic isles.

Ganesh arrived safely!

"Best be yourself
imperial, plain
and true!"

Elizabeth Barret Browning

Which green would YOU choose?


"Show me a man who claims he is objective
and I'll show you
a man with illusions."

Henry R. Luce


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On yesterday's post,
friend Dinesh Chandra left me this comment:

"Hi good pictures great blog to read, great post
how r u, say something about u.
regards
dinesh chandra"


So today I want to say something personal,
something about me.

I been crying in my car today.
This morning I drove out of Honolulu,
up the Pali,
over the Ko`olau Mountains
to the windward side
of Oahu.

The mists arose from the forested hills.
Hawaiian music played on my radio.
On this day I would accomplish many
every-day tasks.

And I would do them with the help
of people I love,
on an Island I love.

My eyes filled with tears
for all the good
that pours down on me
everyday.

Overcome with gratitude,
eyes filled with beauty,
a heart bursting with Aloha,
I drove and drank
in the treasures of the day.

My blog was off making friends.
When I got home
I marveled at this
friendship
you & I have discovered.

Today I cried in my car.
Cried for joy,
cried my thanks.

That's something about
me, Dinesh.

And I thank you
EACH
most sincerely
for spending some of your precious
life
here with me.


Bless You! cloudia

Always With Us

Aloha,
Inter-Species Friends!


clickity!

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words
but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”

Winnie (the) Pooh

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together,
there is something you must always remember.
You are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.
But the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. i'll always be with you.”
Winnie (the) Pooh

Stolen from a great blog. Yours?



“You can't stay in your corner of the Forest
waiting for others to come to you.
You have to go to them sometimes.”
Winnie (the) Pooh

Stolen from another cool blog. Thanks fellow blogger!

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In the infancy of humankind
the other creatures
were our companions-
not merely our prey,
or threat.


They taught us much.
We clothed our gods
in their forms.
We emulated them
in ceremonies, yoga, and kung fu.



In each of our childhoods
the animals were there:
The crib companion
(dear Teddy Bear)
household pets,
fascinating insects,
patient farm animals,
and always the birds in public.


Still their stories
touch and teach us.


Thank you dear Charlotte,
Winnie,
Big Bird.

ALOHA, cloudia

Just Thinking

ALOHA, Friend!

><>


please click on the photos

The world is so much more basic and mundane than I ever realized;
and so much more magical.

We are all veterans of something. . .

Often it is the ways we don't fit in,
the things that don't go smoothly,
that lead us to the real treasures
of this life.

Emotions are like weather.
Sometimes storms just
arise. . .


Glad that we are in it
together!

Warm Aloha, Cloudia

Happy Sunday

Aloha Sunday,

Friend!

Did You SPRING ahead
to Daylight Savings Time?

(Steady, parts of Indiana! We know you don't Spring or Fall in time.)

><>

Hawaii remains (as always) in Hawaiian Standard Time.
New York City is now 6 hours ahead of me.
7 AM HST = 1 PM Eastern Daylight Savings

Click on the photos

"When I feed the poor,

they call me a saint;

when I ask why they are poor,

I'm called a communist."

Anonymous South American Priest

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures

from the shelter of compassion and pity,

you have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."

- St. Francis of Assisi

"As long as you are kind and there is love in your heart;

A thousand hands will naturally come to your aid;

As long as you are kind and there is love in your heart;

You will reach out with a thousand hands to help others."

Dr. Sha

Thank You for taking your time to visit Da Spiral today!

cloudia

BONUS:

Honolulu Walk

Aloha Friend!

Let's Walk Around

Honolulu Today

and Look at all the Tall Buildings

Click on the buildings to see them grow!

"In the depth of winter,

I finally learned

that within me the lay

an invincible summer."

Camus

"People in the West are always getting ready to live."

Chinese proverb

"If you constantly think of illness,

you eventually become ill;

if you believe yourself to be beautiful,

you become so."

Shakti Gawain

It's a good time for a fresh look at what we value; not with our words, but in our day to day actions.

We post-moderns have gained much materially, but we have surrendered lots of the real texture, flavor and meaning of life.

Now the spell of "more & more" seems to be melting away.

But the things left standing are the real life treasure:

a warm bed, a healthy body, family & friends,

a quiet moment to contemplate the night sky,

while riding the earth as it ticks off time in seconds and in ages. . .

Sure there will always be day-to-day details,

but we've seem to have taken our eyes off of the treasure

to specialize in details, and we have become dull.

As I go about renegotiating the values in my life

a passage comes to mind:

"They shall mount on eagles wings."

This is a heroic cliche` of an image to someone who lived in a city.

But once I got to Hawaii and watched the IO, the red tailed Hawaiian Hawk, circling over the Big Island, what I saw was a bird going around in circles. They don't fly straight to the heights like a superman, or a rocket. No. As in a flying meditation they retrace the same circumscribed repetition in the sky. Over and over. But I noticed something else too: each circuit takes them imperceptibly higher and higher till they are friendly with the snow covered tropic mountain, Maunakea, and conversant with the clouds and early moon.

Finally, their view is unrestricted.

Stress and striving don't buy them that view.

They attain it by following their true nature.

Perhaps the groaning of the world economic system

will lead us to lives of paradoxical richness?

But just for right now: go outside into nature.

(after you leave your comment ;-)

Play with a child, pet, or childlike adult who you know well,

or just this moment met.

Stop and breathe and go to your heart.

All the answers you need are there patiently waiting.

I've found that stress defeats itself.

Believe me: the experiments were exhaustive and went on for years!

So take it from me: Walk the gentle path . . .

and you may just find yourself spiralling into control. . . effortlessly. Mounting on the wings of your grateful heart.

A L O H A! Cloudia