Uncle Bo’s is hip to local tastes — stylishand open late.

From the Hip l | D3

Christine Thomas rounds up books with aChinese connection.

Books | D4

Think green, deeply, with the artists of“Eco/Logic” at The ARTS at Marks Garage.

Art | D5

Pets blogger Leslie Kawamoto tells all onher adventures in fur-clipping.

Island Tails | D10

Meet HawaiiMoms.com Mom of the WeekNadia Kawaihaola Kikuyama.

çOhana | D11

HONOLULUADVERTISER.COM/islandlife

FEATURES EDITOR | ELIZABETH KIESZKOWSKIE-mail: ekieszkowski@HonoluluAdvertiser.com | Telephone: 525-8034SUNDAY | August 10, 2008

S E C T I O N

D][

Island Life

War on Terror, saysauthor Robert Scheer,is a huge boondoggle

BY MIKE GORDONAdvertiser Staff Writer

For more than 40 years, jour-nalist and author RobertScheer has covered politicaland social issues, often takingaim at U.S. government offi-cials.

Scheer, 72, covered the Viet-nam War, interviewed everyU.S. president from RichardNixon to Bill Clinton — he gotformer President Jimmy Carterto tell him he had lust in hisheart — and worked at the LosAngeles Times for 29 years asa national reporter, a national-ly syndicated columnist and acontributing editor. His rangeincluded the Soviet Union,arms control, national politicsand the military. He is now theeditor of TruthDig.com, an on-line magazine specializing incurrent affairs, and his nation-ally syndicated column isbased out of the San FranciscoChronicle.

The author of nine books,Scheer recently published“The Pornography of Power:How Defense Hawks Hijacked9/11 and Weakened America”(Twelve Books), a scathing at-tack on the nation’s military-in-dustrial complex. Scheer ex-amines U.S. military expansionthroughout the world, its nu-clear strategy and what he calls“the immorality of corpora-tions profiting in Iraq.”

Scheer argues that U.S. mil-itary spending — $625 billionfor fiscal year 2008 — is “ab-surdly disproportionate to thetask at hand.”

Terrorism could be fought

Tilling the

landFarming program offers world ofopportunities to Wai‘anae youths

Takinga hardlook atdefense

Popularity of plastic,recycling mean fewercolored gems to find

BY PAULA RATHAdvertiser Staff Writer

When I was growing up on theNorth Shore, I always tried to bethe first person on the beach in theearly morning so I could have firstdibs at the beach glass scatteredacross the sand. Our family beach-

glass rules were strict: no see-through pieces, no jagged edges;those did not qualify as beachglass yet and were to bethrown back in the ocean to bepolished to perfection by the

sand, the sea,and time. In the’60s, I could of-

ten find a dozen pieces in a givenmorning; by the late ’70s, when Iwalked the beach with my son, Dun-can, we seldom found more than apiece or two. By the late ’90s, a tinysliver of beach glass was a rare find.Now beach glass seems to have dis-appeared from our stretch of sandnear Laniäkea.

During the first decade we livedat the beach house, the family col-lected enough beach glass to fill two3-foot high apothecary jars. To fillthose now would take a lifetime,

Beach glass is a treasure of the past from the seaCOMMENTARY

SEE SCHEER, D6

This beach glasshas been tracedto its probableorigins. Clockwisefrom top left: blue(chemist’s bottle),gray-green (winebottle), red(shooter marble),gray (bottleneck),blue (end-of-dayglass), clear(bottle stopper);amber (signallight), green(bottleneck rim).

National GeographicMagazine photo

Robert Scheer will be in Hawaiçito sign copies of his latest book.

SEE GLASS, D6

BY LACY MATSUMOTOAdvertiser Staff Writer

Dressed in a MA‘O T-shirt, jeans and aplastic apron thatpractically swallowsher whole, Mandy

Qutal stands in front of a steelbasin in the farm’s wash room,gently cleaning greens headedfor a Honolulu farmers market.She washes each leaf gently, hertiny hands barely big enough tograb more than six leaves at atime.

At 17, Qutal is the youngest ofthe 25 students attending theMA‘O Organic Farms educa-tional program this summer.

“I heard about this programfrom a few friends at school.I applied so that I could go tocollege,” she said.

TOP: Mandy Qutal, 17, washes onions as part ofMA‘O’s educational program. She says she’s inthe program so she can go to college.

BOTTOM: At MA‘O Organic Farm, work is amuddy endeavor for the student interns.

Photos by JEFF WIDENER | The Honolulu AdvertiserSEE FARM, D8

D6 | Sunday, August 10, 2008 The Honolulu Advertiser •

with police work and not $2.5 billion submarines to battlea foe that doesn’t even own aboat, he said.

“What we have seen since 9/11is the military-industrial com-plex has roared up to take onan enemy that can buy its arse-nal at Home Depot,” Scheer saidby telephone from California.“To combat that kind of an ene-my, we now spend more thanall of the nations of the worldcombined.”

Sheer, who will be in Hawaiçifor two book signings, spokewith The Advertiser by phonefrom California.

Q. Would you consider your-self anti-military?

A. I have covered defense is-sues a lot. I don’t think of my-self as anti-defense. I think ofmyself as anti-waste. A reallyhuge amount of money is go-ing to this stuff, and it hasnothing to do with fighting ter-rorism.

Q. Why do you think Ameri-cans are not paying attention totheir nation’s military expan-sion and what you describe asthe arrogance of their leaderswhen it comes to foreign policy?

A. I think they are paying at-tention now. It’s always catch-up. We conquered the countrythat had the second-biggestsupply of oil in the world, and

the price of oil went up five-fold under Bush. Imperialismdoesn’t pay, and people prettymuch know that when theypump their gas.

Q. Who do you blame for thissituation?

A. In part, I blame the politi-cians. The Democrats and theRepublicans are all afraid. Thisis the elephant in the room.Everyone wants to be tough ondefense and take it to the ene-my. They don’t want to talk ra-tionally on that. But peoplecan see that the money is leak-ing in all directions and notgoing to stuff they need. Mostof us don’t benefit from this.

Q. Which of the two presiden-tial candidates has the skills todeal with the problems of Iraqand Afghanistan?

A. I think both of them havethe skills if they would play totheir better nature. I thinkJohn McCain has been a goodsenator in that regard, in cut-

ting Pentagon waste. I thinkBarack Obama is absolutelycorrect in saying we have tostart negotiating with thesepeople and not try to be thepolicemen everywhere.

Q. But do either McCain orObama have the desire to pur-sue that challenge?

A. I am worried about that. Ithink the pressure has to comefrom people and the media. Ithink the media has not playeda good role. ... When it comes todomestic programs, we look un-der one microscope, but whenit comes to defense spending,we don’t have any microscope.Go ahead, take what you want,make any claim you want andeverybody panics. We need po-litical leadership.

Q. Hawaiçi has a large mili-tary presence. What will beyour message to your audienceshere who depend on that?

A. I am aware of how impor-tant the military is in Honolu-lu. My message is this: I don’twant to fire anyone. We cangive these people golden para-chutes. These people can bepaid to make electric cars.They’re smart people. Theyare hard-working people. I amall for job retraining. I am allfor being humane about it.

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or525-8012.

ScheerCONTINUED FROM D1

ROBERT SCHEERWILL BE IN HAWAIÇIFOR TWO BOOKSIGNINGS: • 12:30 p.m. Wednesday atthe Maui Tropical Plantation,1670 Honoapiçilani Highway,Maui.• 11 a.m. Aug. 23 at Barnesand Noble, 1450 Ala MoanaBlvd.

and a lifetime may not be longenough. Beach glass has becomeincreasingly rare on Oçahu’sbeaches. Now, it seems, thesefrosted gems may be endangered.

In the August issue of Nation-al Geographic magazine, writerMargaret G. Zackowitz says wecan blame the disappearance ofbeach glass on the arrival of plas-tic. She quotes Mary Beth Beuke,president of the North Ameri-can Sea Glass Association:“We’re at the end of the sea glasswindow. ... There is less glasspackaging now and more recy-cling.”

Of course, Zackowitz pointsout, beach glass “started out assomething not worth keeping.Trash tossed off ships or washedfrom dumps must spend yearsin the water to become good seaglass. Wave churn, shore terrain,water acidity and compositionof the glass itself all play a part increating the smoothed shards’characteristic matte texture.”

My family feels fortunate tohave a treasure from the sea thatmy parents found on the beach atPunaluçu on their honeymoon in1940: a lavender glass ball, 14inches in diameter. They alwaysjoked that if it ever broke, theywould divorce. Needless to say, itis still intact and more beautiful— and rare — than ever.

Reach Paula Rath at paularath@aol.com.

GlassCONTINUED FROM D1

Bureaucracy BusterThursdays inside

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Barnes & Noble photo

Scheer’s latest book focuses on U.S. war profiteering. Terrorism couldbe better fought with police work rather than $2.5 billion submarinesto battle a foe that doesn’t even own a boat, the author asserts.

See a comprehensive listing atwww.honoluluadvertiser.com/islandlife.

SPECIALGIRL FEST HAWAIÇI is acceptingsubmissions for performers, filmmak-ers, artists and volunteers for its fifthanniversary multimedia festival andconference, Nov. 7-15. Deadline forartists is Aug. 30; www.girlfesthawaii.org.

HAWAIÇI THEATRE CENTER is ac-cepting applications for high school-level apprentices in stage manage-

ment, set design, lighting design andcostume design for the 2008-09school year. Interviews will be 4:30p.m. Aug. 26; Hawaiçi Theatre; $250for lab cost; 791-1314.

STAGE/TV/FILM“LOST,” the ABC TV show, seeksnew faces to cast in Season 5, allethnic backgrounds and ages wel-come, especially looking for peoplewho speak a foreign language; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 16; Ala Wai Ele-mentary School, 503 Kamoku St.

“LOST” seeks babies for the role ofAaron; children can be boys or girls,11-16 pounds, with blue or greeneyes and blond or no hair; send photos, name and phone number to

Julie Carlson, 510 18th Ave., Honolu-lu, HI 96816.

KUMU KAHUA THEATRE seeks sev-en actors for its production of “Rollingthe R’s” by R. Zamora Linmark. Actorsshould be able to speak Pidgin andwith a Filipino accent. Auditions 6-9p.m. Aug. 10; The Academy of Film &Television, 1174 Waimanu St., SuiteA; scripts available for loan with a $10cash deposit; 536-4222.

HAWAIçI YOUNG ACTORS’ ENSEMBLE is holding auditions forstudents ages 13-18; 7 p.m. Aug. 26;Hawaiçi Theatre; $350 for participa-tion in the program; register: 791-1314.

LAYOVER ON THE SHORE, a USCgraduate student film, is auditioning

for principal and supporting roles forlocal Asian and hapa talent, maleand female ages 25-30 and 40-60;561-0820, www.layoverthefilm.com.

PAGEANTSHONOLULU JAPANESE JUNIORCHAMBER OF COMMERCE seekscontestants, 19-26, for 57th CherryBlossom Festival. Applicants must beat least 50 percent Japanese, single,a U.S. citizen and Hawaiçi resident.Deadline for applications is Aug. 15;www.cbfhawaii.com.

LITTLE MISS AND LITTLE MR.HAWAIÇI STATE is accepting appli-cants for the Sept. 6 contest at WardWarehouse. There are six age divi-sions for boys and girls: 5 months-10months; 11 months-2 years; 3-4;

5-6; 7-9; and 10-12 years, with onephase: party attire. Deadline to enteris Sept. 3; application and informa-tion: 520-8119.

ISLAND BEAUTY PRODUCTIONSseeks candidates, female ages 1-55and male ages 1-18, for the annualState Scholarship Pageant in October2008; winners to continue on to a Na-tional Scholarship pageant in Las Ve-gas; $50 registration fee; 223-4482.

Send announcements to: TryoutsCalendar, Island Life, The Ad-vertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu,HI 96802;islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com, with “TryoutsCal” in the subject line; or fax525-8055.

TRYOUTS

Her summer has been full,with classes two days a week,and farm work that begins inthe early dawn on Mondays,Wednesdays and Fridays. In re-turn for her dedication, the pro-gram provides her with a paidscholarship to Leeward Com-munity College, as well as amonthly $500 stipend.

A nonprofit organization,MAçO — an acronym for mäla ‘ai‘öpio, which translates as “theyouth food garden” — intends tobuild opportunities for Waiçanaeand Native Hawaiian youth,while producing organic pro-duce of the highest quality. ButMAçO’s goals fly higher thanmere education or agriculture. Itwants to change hearts andminds, and youth like Qutal arekey to its intentions.

‘EVERYONE IS SO NICE’The Waiçanae mountain range

casts a shadow on the farm inthe neighboring valley, wherefive acres are being used to groworganic greens. Thin clouds flyquickly over the budding rowsof lettuce.

In the foreground, five young

workers laugh as they lift onegirl up on the shoulders of an-other to pick a golden Hadenmango. Their pockets bulge withfreshly picked tangerines, storedaway for an afternoon snack. Asthe girl on top passes downmangoes, the other three usetheir T-shirts as slings to carrythe fruit — all working in unisonto gather the day’s harvest.

In the nearby farm building,Qutal continues washing. “I’vemade a lot of friends here.Everyone is so nice. We workin the field together and go toschool together. We are evenplanning an outing,” she says,as she moves a full bin of fresh-ly washed greens to a shelf.

Qutal’s mother is a cafeteriaattendant at Waiçanae Elemen-tary School, and her father ownsa fire-safety business. With anolder sister at Leeward Com-munity College and a youngersister at Waiçanae High School,it was going to be tough for herfamily to help her with college.

Her eventual goal is a degreein fashion design. In exchangefor her work at MAçO, and re-quired courses on Hawaiian his-tory and agriculture, Qutal got ahead start toward her degree.

The payoff for MAçO? A pro-gram graduate who knows moreabout the roots of her commu-nity and the treasures of the

land.“I’ve learned a lot since I’ve

been here. I’ve learned aboutdifferent plants, how to take careof them, the history of this area,and I’ve made some neatfriends,” Qutal says shyly.

The executive director, KukuiMaunakea-Forth, walks into theroom, smiling. “Hey, how youguys doin’ — you OK?” she asks.

After a short conversationwith a student, Maunakea-Forthwalks to her office. On the out-side wall, a dry-erase board listssuggested field trips — to IcePalace, movie theaters andHawaiian Waters AdventurePark.

In the small, windowless of-fice, Maunakea sits on an officechair, poised to explain MAçO.

Maunakea-Forth and her hus-band, farm manager Gary Mau-nakea-Forth, established MAçOas part of the nonprofit umbrel-la organization Waianae Com-munity Redevelopment Corpo-ration. The title hints at MAçO’slarger goal — to invigorateWaiçanae, inspire pride andsense of purpose.

Raised in Nänäkuli herself,Kukui Maunakea-Forth says theoperation is informed by the his-tory of the area — as well as“the people, the economy, the

D8 | Sunday, August 10, 2008 The Honolulu Advertiser •

FarmCONTINUED FROM D1

ABOVE: DanaKatsukani, left, and

Mickey Molina carry a bucket of Tahitianlimes from the fields

at MA‘O Farms.

RIGHT: Brian Cambra,right, takes a breather

while Derrik Parkerharvests some collards.

Photos by JEFF WIDENER| The Honolulu Advertiser

SEE FARM, D9

• The Honolulu Advertiser Sunday, August 10, 2008 | D9

social impact and our Hawaiianculture.”

A LINK TO HISTORYBefore the fall semester start-

ed at Leeward Community Col-lege, MAçO students met regu-larly in a Waiçanae classroom tolearn study habits, Hawaiian his-tory and Waiçanae communityhistory.

The MAçO course require-ments are meant to link studentswith the history of their com-munity.

Most of the students are Na-tive Hawaiian. As they tell it,the program has become morethan a gardening project — it’smade them part of a movementtoward local sustainability.

“What got me interested wasjustice. It’s economic, cultural,social, it’s the justice issues,”Maunakea-Forth says. “We’redoing this to help sustain theself-preservation of the Hawai-ian people. Agriculture is partof our culture, we have that asour identity.”

Her father was a farmer, onhis own farm.

“He sold to Marukai market,and he grew whatever he could. My grandmother and Ialways maintained gardens forourself,” Maunakea-Forth says.

But economic conditions in

the Islands haven’t made it easyto survive by farming. MAçO isable to make a go of it, in part,because its programs are grant-funded. Its organizational budg-et is about $825,000, and lessthan half of that comes from agsales. Other support comes fromthe state Office of Hawaiian Af-fairs, private donations andfundraising.

The farm is expected to growduring a three-year expansionperiod, helping to cover more

costs for the education programin the future.

A state economic agriculturecensus for 2000 showed 655 Na-tive Hawaiians employed inagriculture in the Islands, outof 38,000 ag jobs.

The same census showed anestimated $1.94 billion dollarsin total statewide agriculturalsales. Compare that to MAçO’soutput, which was about$294,000 in produce sales lastyear, and it’s apparent that theoperation is a drop in the buck-et in terms of all-Islands agri-culture.

But where the operation canmake a difference is in mindset

FarmCONTINUED FROM D8

— and in the quality of its or-ganic produce.

With the rise in gas and foodprices, the push for local sus-tainability has become more ap-parent.

Support for agriculture hasbeen a prime topic of discus-sion. As part of that effort, MAçOis working toward supportingan economy in Waiçanae.

“We want to affect moreyoung people. We want to servethem because that’s part of thecycle. The young people need

to come back to the communityand need to come back home todo the work,” Maunakea-Forthsays.

As the day continues, GaryMaunakea-Forth and some stu-dents gently stack freshlywashed produce into a tall walk-in refrigerator.

A white delivery truck pullsup.

Keeping track of inventory,Gary writes up the weekly or-ders on a wall-mounted board.Students bag up produce for thenext day’s farmers market.

AGRICULTURE’S FUTUREThe delivery truck is off to

buyer and cutting-edge Hono-lulu chef Ed Kenney, who runs

Town and Downtown restau-rants. Both restaurants areknown for their commitment tolocal produce and environmen-tally sensitive processes.

Pulling up a chair at Town,wearing a spotless white chefuniform with matching whiteCrocs, Kenney expresses his ap-preciation for MAçO greens.

“Their produce is consistent-ly of the highest quality,” hesays. “We will utilize anythingthat MAçO grows. Their organ-ic farming practices result in su-perior product — always.”

But it isn’t only quality thatinfluenced him. Kenney alsonotes the organization’s impacton the local economy and theenvironment.

“MAçO is the future of Hawaiçiagriculture — to connect peo-ple to the food they eat and thepeople they eat with. They aregrowing our next generation ofgrowers,” he says.

“When shortening the foodchain, I’ve found that tilling thesoil, planting a garden and har-vesting the bounty is the ulti-mate connection to the land thatone can experience. I encour-age all to make this connectionto the food we eat.”

Back on the farm, as the daycomes to an end, the studentsgather in a circle for their dailymeeting. Mandy Qutal listens asher mentors recap the workdone and lessons learned.

Soon, Qutal will begin college— another step in creating a fu-ture for herself.

JEFF WIDENER | The Honolulu Advertiser

MA‘O students say the educational program goes beyond gardening;it’s part of a movement toward local sustainability.

“We’re doing this to help sustain the self-preservation of theHawaiian people. Agriculture is part of our culture, we havethat as our identity.” KUKUI MAUNAKEA-FORTH | Executive Director, Ma`o Farms

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