Feature Writing

Brush Strokes, FLUX Hawaii

Matthew Kaopio taps the tip of his paintbrush on the brim of a small saucer filled with water. Ripples of purple spread in the miniature basin and quickly dissolve, leaving a semi-opaque lavender pool resting on the edge of Kaopio’s easel. Different colors of acrylic paints and varying sizes of paintbrushes surround him and the piece holding his focus in the southeast corner of Kahuku Medical Center’s activity room: a nymph with auburn hair overlooking a pond where a unicorn is embraced by a blonde woman dressed in lime green as it bows down to drink from the water.

Healing Garden, Ko Olina

At Kahumana Organic Farm, which is hidden within Lualualei Valley at the base of Mount Ka‘ala, monkeypod and mango trees tower over buildings alongside fields of produce, an aquaponics system, and quiet, lush areas marked by small temples. Rachel LaDrig, Kahumana’s manager of agritourism, guides me through the farm’s grounds and explains the decades-old ethos behind its name: Those who contribute to Kahumana are “kahu,” or guardians, nurturing “mana,” the spirit and soil.

Watering Minds, Ko Olina

Almost every weekend until Abe Nahulu was in the eighth grade, he and his three younger brothers would fish or dive off O‘ahu’s west coast. Other times, they would watch mū, ulua, and humuhumunukunukuāpua‘a swim beneath their surfboards in Pōka‘ī Bay. “Observe the fish,” his father would say when out on the water with his sons. “They’ll teach you everything you need to know.”