Wednesday, April 22nd – from HPR2, it’s The Conversation
WalletHub Eco-friendly States Report: Jill Gonzalez
With so much attention on protecting Hawaii's land and the waters that surround it, it may not come as a surprise that our state has been rated in the top ten of eco friendly states. The WalletHub report released this week has been well timed to coincide with Earth Day... which in Hawaii looks like it might percolate into daily life. Jill Gonzalez is the spokesperson for WalletHub and she joined the show via phone from her office in Washington D.C.
- Intro Music: Apache by Incredible Bongo Band
- Outro Music: Benedict Boogaloo II by Frootful
Art and politics are often an uneasy mix, and it’s never easy to convey a political message to audiences who see performing arts as a means of escape from the everyday. But Shen Yun, an extravagant presentation of Chinese dance and music that tours the country every year, is a show that wants to educate audiences to a political reality in today’s China: the continuing suppression of the Falun Gong, the religious organization that sponsors the show. As the director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Montreal said, “It is propaganda, but it’s propaganda that tells the truth.” Hong Jiang is a professor of Geography at UH Mano’a who is a local supporter of Shen Yun, and she joined the show to tell us more.
- Intro Music: Benedict Boogaloo II by Frootful
- Outro Music: Diqing (Music from Shen Yun Compilation, Vol. 1) by Fly Project
Valley Isle Bonsai Club: Roger Clow
If art can be thought of as holding a mirror up to nature, then the thousand year old Japanese art of bonsai must occupy a special place. It doesn’t so much reflect nature as alter it, reducing trees to a fraction of their natural size and fitting them onto a tabletop container. There’s a great deal of lore that goes into bonsai – part science, part tradition – and it’s kept alive by organizations like the Valley Isle Bonsai Club, which is dedicated to keeping the art alive on the island of Maui. Roger Clow is its president, and he joined the show via phone to tell us about bonsai.
- Intro Music: Boogie Blessed by Breakestra
- Outro Music: Wakimizu by Yoshida Brothers
