The Smithian

March 27th, 2013

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The “Hula Girl” is a case in point.

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art: ‘Ualoheke Akua Hula Girl’ by Wiliam Depaula

The “Hula Girl” is a case in point.

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art: ‘Ualoheke Akua Hula Girl’ by Wiliam Depaula

January 7th, 2013

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December 17th, 2012

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Daniel Ken “Dan” Inouye, the senior United States Senator from Hawaii and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate—making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in U.S. history—passed away Monday, December 17, 2012. His last words were, “Aloha.”

more.

Daniel Ken “Dan” Inouye, the senior United States Senator from Hawaii and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate—making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in U.S. history—passed away Monday, December 17, 2012. His last words were, “Aloha.”

more.

November 30th, 2012

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…in 1939, Georgia O’Keeffe, the artist most famous for depicting the arid Southwest, suddenly decided to paint America’s diametrically opposite landscape — the lush tropical valleys of Hawaii.

more. and while we’re on the President’s home state…
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art: “White Lotus,” Georgia O’Keeffe, Oil on Canvas,

…in 1939, Georgia O’Keeffe, the artist most famous for depicting the arid Southwest, suddenly decided to paint America’s diametrically opposite landscape — the lush tropical valleys of Hawaii.

more. and while we’re on the President’s home state…

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art: “White Lotus,” Georgia O’Keeffe, Oil on Canvas,

November 7th, 2012

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The president’s oration was almost a summation of his core belief: that against the odds, human beings can actually better ourselves, morally, ethically, materially, and we can do so more powerfully together than alone, and that nowhere exemplifies that endeavor more than America. It was Lincolnian in its cadences, and in some ways, was the final, impassioned, heart-felt rebuke to all those, including his opponent, who tried to portray him as somehow un-American. How deeply that must have cut. How emphatically did he rebut the charge. What he reminded me of was how deeply American he actually is—how this country’s experiment truly is in diversity as well as democracy. And his diversity is not some cringe-worthy 1990s variety. It is about being both white and black, both mid-Western and Hawaiian, both proudly American and yet also attuned to the opinion of mankind.

Andrew Sullivan

October 19th, 2012

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‘Where but America?’

Where else could a man whose ancestors lived in Mexico and who spent two years of his youth as a Mormon missionary in France, and who is now a mega-millionaire with Swiss bank accounts and tax shelters in the Cayman Islands, and whose company has outsourced jobs to nations all over the globe—where else could such a man dream of becoming president? And where else could his political opponent be a man who was born in Hawaii to a white mother and a black father, raised in Indonesia and educated at Harvard—and who, in his first career, was a Chicago-style community organizer? But seriously, folks. These are two unbelievably odd candidates. They sound almost like sitcom material, but you couldn’t make this stuff up…

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May 22nd, 2012

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This…story is told by Marisa Yang, a little Asian-American girl of mixed heritage living in Hawaii. Her family, which gets together each New Year’s Eve for dumpling soup at her Grandma’s, include Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and Hawaiians. Her grandma calls her family “chop suey,” which means “all mixed up.”

more.

This…story is told by Marisa Yang, a little Asian-American girl of mixed heritage living in Hawaii. Her family, which gets together each New Year’s Eve for dumpling soup at her Grandma’s, include Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and Hawaiians. Her grandma calls her family “chop suey,” which means “all mixed up.”

more.

January 29th, 2012

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December 6th, 2011

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For more than half a century, members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association gathered here every Dec. 7 to commemorate the attack by the Japanese that drew the United States into World War II. Others stayed closer to home for more intimate regional chapter ceremonies, sharing memories of a day they still remember in searing detail. But no more.

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November 13th, 2011

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September 3rd, 2011

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The next time you see Barack Obama gliding into a White House press conference, take note of that jazzy walk. It is a dead ringer for the strut that was the bearing of choice among inner-city cool guys in the 1960s, when Barry Obama was still a tyke growing up in the exotic precincts of Hawaii and Indonesia. The Obama glide represents his embrace of a black aesthetic that was not his by circumstance of birth. It speaks on an intimate frequency to African-American men, who have been smiling in recognition and rating it for style ever since he stepped into the national spotlight. President Obama is acutely aware of how to deploy the physical self to excellent effect. If we looked back closely at 2008, we would no doubt notice him amping up the glide for black audiences and dialing it back elsewhere.

more. and more about the author, here.

The next time you see Barack Obama gliding into a White House press conference, take note of that jazzy walk. It is a dead ringer for the strut that was the bearing of choice among inner-city cool guys in the 1960s, when Barry Obama was still a tyke growing up in the exotic precincts of Hawaii and Indonesia. The Obama glide represents his embrace of a black aesthetic that was not his by circumstance of birth. It speaks on an intimate frequency to African-American men, who have been smiling in recognition and rating it for style ever since he stepped into the national spotlight. President Obama is acutely aware of how to deploy the physical self to excellent effect. If we looked back closely at 2008, we would no doubt notice him amping up the glide for black audiences and dialing it back elsewhere.

more. and more about the author, here.

April 29th, 2011

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'...On Wednesday, the late Honolulu obstetrician’s family members were “blown away” and “honored” to learn that a newborn he delivered in 1961 was President Barack Obama — a discovery that came after the White House released a copy of the president’s original birth certificate. Below Obama’s mother’s signature was one which appeared to read: “David. A. Sinclair.” “It’s my husband’s signature,” said his widow, Ivalee Sinclair, 82, from her downtown Honolulu office. She held up a copy of the birth certificate she printed from the Internet and pointed to the signature, recognizing his familiar left-handed cursive.'

April 17th, 2011

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November 9th, 2010

thesmithian

Neil Fujita, who has died aged 89…revolutionised the concept of album covers for Columbia Records in the 1950s, and produced book covers with outwardly simple designs of great power, most notably for Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather”…Fujita brought the influence of modern art, including his own paintings, into his work…The designer Milton Glaser said Fujita “distinguished himself by having a rigorous design objective. It was a kind of synthesis of Bauhaus principles and Japanese sensibility”…He was born Sadamitsu Fujita in Waimea, Hawaii. His parents were Japanese immigrants…He became known as Neil when he attended high school in Honolulu…After winning an award for a design for the Container Corporation of America, he was hired in 1954 by William Golden at Columbia Records. Golden warned him that he would “face a lot of crap” because of his race, but Fujita was undeterred, and his impact was immediate. Columbia wanted to counter the moody covers of jazz labels such as Blue Note, which favoured shadows and floating smoke. “Jazz called for abstraction, a certain stylisation,” Fujita said… Fujita is survived by his sons, Kenji, David and Martin; his brother, Hisao; and six grandchildren.

bold, mine. more of the obituary, here. a slideshow of his work, here.

Neil Fujita, who has died aged 89…revolutionised the concept of album covers for Columbia Records in the 1950s, and produced book covers with outwardly simple designs of great power, most notably for Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather”…Fujita brought the influence of modern art, including his own paintings, into his work…The designer Milton Glaser said Fujita “distinguished himself by having a rigorous design objective. It was a kind of synthesis of Bauhaus principles and Japanese sensibility”…He was born Sadamitsu Fujita in Waimea, Hawaii. His parents were Japanese immigrants…He became known as Neil when he attended high school in Honolulu…After winning an award for a design for the Container Corporation of America, he was hired in 1954 by William Golden at Columbia Records. Golden warned him that he would “face a lot of crap” because of his race, but Fujita was undeterred, and his impact was immediate. Columbia wanted to counter the moody covers of jazz labels such as Blue Note, which favoured shadows and floating smoke. “Jazz called for abstraction, a certain stylisation,” Fujita said… Fujita is survived by his sons, Kenji, David and Martin; his brother, Hisao; and six grandchildren.