My mother was a woman who could cut through the heart of things with just a few words. She had eight kids and countless foster boys and had a neighborhood filled with kids who called her Mama. I can still hear this little 5'2" under 100 pound woman saying these words. The same words I said to my kids and I'm sure my siblings said to theirs. "Don't be ugly. God don't like ugly." My boys played soccer and basketball growing up. After each game the two teams would line up and walk towards each other and shake hands with each other and mumble, "Good game, good game." The losing team members weren't as enthusiastic, but they didn't call the other players names or ridicule them or treat them like they were complete morons. At the end of the season the winning team got a large trophy and each player [...]

While getting my car repaired a few years ago a darling little couple walked into the waiting area.  They were in their late 80s, she in a pair of pants that were far too baggy, he in a shirt barely covering the evidence of having eaten years of her good cooking.  She was hunched and far too short to drive a car. He shuffled with a painfully slow gait. But they were sweet to each other. She asked if he wanted a lemon lime. Seeing him nod and smile, off she went to get one soda for the two of them to share. She returned to where he stood and explained that the cost was more than the dollar she had in her black decades-old purse. As she dug deep inside for extra coins, I ran out to the soda machine and purchased a lemon-lime soda and handed it to [...]

Every year I sang with the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble HVAE we did a Black History concert at Chaminade. It was, hands down, my absolute favorite concert of the year. We didn't have a large population of African Americans on the stage or in the audience. But that never stopped us. I remember standing with singers and audience members to sing this anthem. I'd look out at a population so much more diverse than where I currently live. For some it was a song they'd never heard. Others knew every word. Some years I saw tears. Every year I saw smiles and there was an energy when we joined our voices that made me proud to be a part of such an impactful concert and to share such a special moment in time. I did not watch one commercial, any of the game, and none of the halftime show. I [...]