In case you missed it this week on The Conversation we spoke to local education leaders about what the possible dismantling of the federal DOE could mean for Hawaiʻi; a Waikīkī visual artist working to bring back old-school baseball; the Honolulu Council chair about his third attempt to tax empty homes; a Hawaiian Airlines employee who was terminated for her cultural tattoo; and artists of the new Cirque du Soleil ‘Auana show about their highlights thus far.
DOE School Superintendent Keith Hayashi & Board of Education Chair Roy Takumi
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to get rid of the federal Department of Education. He has nominated retired wrestling industry professional and businesswoman Linda McMahon to lead the effort to dismantle the DOE.
Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but it's unclear if the president-elect will have enough support to make good on his threats.
HPR talked to Hayashi and Takumi about the threat to dismantle the federal DOE and what that could mean for the state.
"I'm not saying you have to take it with a grain of salt, but I think you have to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best," Takumi said. "Election promises and actual policy-making are two very different things."
Waikīkī visual artist Matías Solario
Waikīkī visual artist Matías Solario has been working to bring back old-school baseball. Through the “Aloha Vintage Base Ball Association," which he founded, he plans to create a baseball league.
The association will follow the 1886 rules set by "Spalding's Official Baseball Guide," which Solario said showcased the game's similarity to what we know it as now.
Being an artist himself, he has designed various uniforms for the upcoming league.
"To be able to try to envision what these clubs might have looked like and bring them back from the dead is just beyond fun. It just brought me so much joy to put all that together and bring it back to life," he told HPR.
Honolulu City Council Chair Tommy Waters
You know what they say, the third time’s the charm! This will be Honolulu Council Chair Tommy Waters’s third attempt at implementing a tax on empty homes.
If Bill 46, also known as the Empty House Tax, is passed, empty homes could be taxed up to 3%. Waters told HPR that the goal of the bill is to encourage outside investors to be a part of the community by renting out their property to local families — or paying more in taxes.
He also emphasized that Hawaiʻi has the highest rent in the nation. According to the UHERO 2024 Housing Factbook, 67,000 people left the state in 2022.
"That's our friends, family, neighbors that can't afford to live here. So we are in a housing crisis. That's why I'm thinking — gotta be bold. We've got to be decisive. That's why I wrote Bill 46," he said.
Hawaiian Airlines employee Tracy Sialega
Hawaiian Airlines customer service agent Tracy Sialega was terminated for violating the company’s tattoo policy.
Her traditional Samoan hand tattoo, a tualima, honors her father and his health journey, she told HPR. Sialega said she was using makeup and disposable gloves to cover up the tattoo.
She also said that the tattoo policy disregards Samoan culture and beliefs.
"If we as an airline and as a company can use our culture like markings and such for our uniforms, and all of this like decorative things, why can't we wear it as employees of the company and showcase it that way as well? I just feel like it's something that needs to be changed to better support our culture and beliefs as Polynesians and as a Polynesian-based airline," she said.
Hawaiian fashion designer Manaola Yap and performer Salvador Salangsang
The acrobats, artists and musicians of the new Cirque du Soleil show ‘Auana debuted on Dec. 5 to the first paying audience in Waikīkī.
The show has made its home at the Outrigger Beachcomber Hotel and is an opportunity to showcase not just Hawaiʻi culture but Hawaiʻi talent as well.
HPR talked to Hawaiian fashion designer Manaola Yap and performer Salvador Salangsang about their highlights thus far.
"It's definitely a dream come true to just see it and even more so a dream that I never had imagined — that our Indigenous Hawaiian art would be elevated on a platform like this with Cirque du Soleil to celebrate our stories of Hawaiʻi in that way. So it's definitely been an enriching experience," Yap said.
These interviews aired on The Conversation from Dec. 2 to 6. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. This story was produced by Tori DeJournett.
