Anti-OHA settlement press conference

interesting day at the state capitol today. but actually, i didn't go to the capitol, just to the queen's statue for a press conference. i videotaped the event and interviewed a few people, meaning anyone who was standing around looking like they were willing to be interviewed! i was practicing, as usual, trying to get some good and interesting photos. good means that i should get them in focus. interesting means (to me, anyway) that the photos don't make me fall asleep.

i happen to like flags, especially the hawaiian flag, even when it's upsidedown. i have tons of pictures of richard kinney with the flag; sometimes with ten flags. he's the man! tomorrow i'll edit the video footage i took and put it up on youtube.

i've been focusing a lot on stones lately. today, as i was driving by punahou school, i took photos of the stone in front of the gate. in glen grant's book _obake files_ he tells the story of the pohaku-loa of punahou. when the school was founded over 150 years ago, that rock placed on the property. it had/has supernatural powers. one story is that when the punahou lands were first given to the protestant missionaries, they sought a stone to serve as a boundary marker. behind the campus they found a 9 foot tall rock, with 2 feet buried in the ground. men were hired to move it to the proper area. so they dug around the rock expecting to move it the next day. but when they returned, the rock seemed as firmly entrenched in the ground as the day before. so they dug again. they became concerned that a kupua actually lived in the stone. but after asking a kahuna, they were told it was not a stone, but a person. and this person would not be forced out, but could be coaxed to move. the kahuna instructed the men to prepare a fest of black pig, black awa, green coconut, black fowl, red fish, and pink poi. everyone was invited to the feast. when it was completed, the workmen began to dig up the stone. then it was asked 'who shall lift it up and set it in place?" paki, a large and powerful chief then took hold of the stone and lifted it upright. then, to the amazement of all the people there, the rock began to move itself to the place where it now stands, with men on either side supporting it from tipping over.

some years later, pohaku-loa was broken into two pieces. one piece was taken to the kapiolani maternity home, which was then located on beretania st. later on it went missing. what remains at punahou campus at the front gate is the other part of that stone. this is the first photo at the top.