Reflections on the third annual HONUA Scholars Laulima Symposium and Proposal Competition

A brief, post-election reflection and a reminder of what’s at stake

This past week was jam-packed with events — a symposium, a public talk, a night market, a work day — and opportunities to reconnect with old friends and build pilina with new ones.

Even though I love math, I've never considered myself a quantitative data scholar. Maybe it's the majoritarian belief that statistical data is neutral or the dominant practice of leaving Indigenous Peoples out of large-scale data projects, but quantitative data analysis never spoke to me in the way that qualitative analysis has.

After talking with friends and colleagues about publishing peer-review articles, I was inspired to dedicate a few blog posts toward deconstructing the publication process.

In this post, I reflect on Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 2009 TEDGlobal talk "the danger of a single story," which warns audiences of the violent consequences of failing to consult multiple stories and perspectives on diverse cultures and circumstances.

In this post, I reflect on the highs and lows of June 2024 and share a few personal ruminations on "productivity" during the summer months.

This past week, I spent some much-needed time engaged in ʻāina, cultivating new friendships, and nurturing old ones. Last Saturday, I went out to a loʻi and got to talk story with college students and recent graduates about their relationship with ʻāina, and I'm always amazed and inspired by the depth of ʻike our youth have when it comes to Aloha ʻĀina work.

This month has been such an emotional rollercoaster — lots of highs, a ton of lows. Through it all, my family and friends have really shown up to kūkākūkā and kōkua.

This week, I was reminded about the significance of intersectionality, a framework, theory, pedagogy, analytic tool, lens, and lifestyle that recognizes the interlocking nature of social identities and their subsequent impact on an individual's experiences with systems of oppression.

During a 1-1 meeting for work yesterday, a colleague and I discussed previous comments I made on May 3 after student protesters at UCLA and Dartmouth were attacked by zionists and brutalized by campus and local police forces.

This April was filled with family gatherings, community work days, critical learning, and personal growth.

Anishinaabe water protector, activist, educator, politician, and community leader Winona LaDuke calls on us to "be the ancestor your descendants would be proud of." As I continue to learn of new uprisings and encampments in support of Gaza across the U.S. continent, Winona's wisdom is ever present. But what does it mean to be a good ancestor today? What does it look like?

In this post, I reflect on my relationship with planners and calendaring.

In this post, I reflect on personal experiences with rejection in academia and how I bounce back from feelings of failure.

In this post, I process and reflect on my experience publishing peer-reviewed articles as a graduate student and a first-generation college graduate.

Growing up, I wasn't the biggest fan of reading. When given the choice to read or watch TV, I always chose the latter. In elementary, I often lied about the number of pages I read in weekly reading logs. By middle school, I skimmed chapters and didn't care if I missed important details. This attitude stuck with me for most of high school, too