I am your host Ryan Salter, I’m an energy attorney, clean energy advocate and community outreach specialist, i’m also the principal attorney of imagined power. Llc got some exciting stuff. Today, we always say here on the show that it’s important to engage all stakeholders in the energy conversation, including those who may not be traditionally engaged in energy policy.
I think this prominently includes our communicators reporters and storytellers as it they you keep the public informed, engaged and educated about arts, culture, news and current events. So it’s not often these days that you come across a print magazine that just blows you away with its beauty, style and content, but that is what happens to me when I came across this month. Edition of summit magazine summit is Hawaii’s global magazine with in-depth coverage.
Art design style, business, civics and literature in the Hawaiian who’s beer summit connects Islanders and global travelers to the very best perspective, purveyors and products of the archipelago. I has between here today, akaike Hussey, the publisher and editor of summit magazine with us here in the studio today, so it kind of resides in co-ed and as a longtime leader in the community in a wide variety of areas he’s on the board of the domestic Violence, Action Center and the Hawaii Alliance for progressive action, just innings, you akaike, is a teacher author and thought leader with in his word.
The common goal of strengthening our Island home akaike earned a master’s degree in political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is currently studying economics via the university of london and the London School of Economics. So, with all of that said, welcome ipega. Thank you. Riah so summit magazine, I think, is just it’s just gorgeous. I just you know I hadn’t come across it before and I was just so blown away by the 50 intriguing content, the the beautiful pictures, fashion style and yet still this really deeply intellectually engaging approach.
Global approach, so I’m just so excited to have you here to talk a bit about the magazine. Thank you, but first before we do, maybe you could tell me a little bit about yourself and your background and how you came to become a magazine, publisher sure. Well, I came to media from pro very unconventional path. I I came to it as as a person who had to offer up and talk to the media about things that are happening in the grassroots community, and so I come out of sort of an organizer community activism background fantastic.
What kind of wood that McGee renew a lot of our engaging with the news with what type of stuff for you? After a lot of things in the native blind community self-determination, sovereignty, demilitarization, land rights convention right things? And it was often by my job within our various hui tou to be the person who would go and talk to the press. I would read the press releases. I prayed the flyers and do that kind of thing, and what I realized was our press.
Our our media have an incredibly important responsibility and a lot of power and and it could be used, it could be used for incredibly wonderful things. My concern is, you know when I first started comin in the Hawaii independent was: was that oftentimes Native Hawaiians retreated sort of the problem? You know the wireless guys by those Hawaiian protesting, and the fact that we were protesting was was the problem, as opposed to the issue that we were protesting about being the problem.
So I wanted to flip the lens a little bit and to speak from speak about the world from a Hawaiian perspective instead of having media that just covers Hawaiian. So I want to tell a big different kind of story and then what was available in the in the media of the time wow that is so interesting sort of whatever you say. So the problem was speaking out. You know if only they would be quiet and not talk about these things, and so you were like let’s go ahead and and talk about these things.
Authentically is what I’m hearing right: ships, who’s speaking and shift a speaking and so a couple years ago. I was thinking about a lot about how do we how to create something? That’s really powerful and wonderful. Coming on Hawaii, I wanted to speak to a more global audience from a whole trigger a distinctly hawaii and hawaiian point of view, and it’s always been rattling around. In my my mind, this is quote from queen kapiolani, who was the spouse of David Clarke.
All of the last king of Hawaii – and it was during a time when Hawaii was very much a global place. It was much more cosmopolitan and had a very kind of modernist perspective and orientation, much more so than it than it did in the 20th century and her model. Kapila news model was coolio canoe, which means drive for the summit and try to achieve the very best that we can as an island community. And I think that the neat idea, and so what my goal with this particular publication, is to to try to elevate expectations.
For what Hawaii can be in this 21st century, to showcase the amazing people who are doing great things and media, like my pink tech or in fashion or in culinary arts, and a show that we really have a lot to offer the world? And so that’s about. Sixty seventy percent of the magazine and the other thirty forty percent is kind of straight up: international politics and business. So we cover big ideas that are driving the world right now, like the idea of universal basic basic income, which there comes from about later so, which is which is so interesting yeah.
I hope you know I well. I think it’s interesting, I think folks, reading low as well. So how does I’m curious? So how did you go from? You know the you know, writing the press releases. The sort of you know having this. You know international. You know magazine. Well, you know. Thankfully, we live in a time when a lot of the effort that it you should take to create on publication has been. It was blocked, easier, wordpress and Amazon Web Services and all of the a kind of readily available technology that the Internet has offered to us.
I started doing websites when I was like 17 or 18 years old in high school, and it was very much for him tinkering around and creating a pretty really simple website, so I launched an online news website called the whole independent in 09. Okay, I can remember just because my daughter was born right as I launched it, and I have this crazy habit of starting differences when carried I so you know it was relatively easy to get that off the ground just because with technology you know you must have Good enough to print and hire a truck to deliver yeah physical newspapers that make sense that yet at the same time, I think it must have also been you know your works at the knowledge and roots in the community.
You must have known a lot of artists because you can have all the trucks to drive and fancy print things in the world and not have sort of photographs of of the beauty that you have, and you know the richness of content so well. Some of the degrees, an art and a science summit really is a team effort. I play a. I would be a pretty minimal role in the actual creation of this. This thing that you have in your hands on the table.
We have an excellent art director and excellent in a managing editor, who really make them anything happen and copy editors and writers. Who, who put you, know wonderful thought into their words. I just help with, like. I literally drive amazing around people and try to set up the revenue so that it can keep going well, I’m always in a very important function, the audience for something who’s the audience.
So we have our core demo it’s sort of 35 to 45 year old. So, like you know me it dollars users when you create something for someone that you you know well, I happen to be right in the middle of that that demo ravi speaking mr. Department of mass affluent. So not quite though one percent – but you know, people who are professionals their business owners, they’re, deeply engaged in the life and our civic life.
They they made themselves have significant assets. We and we certainly have a lot of readers with with poor, very affluent, like I want to be in this integr attic me too, and so that that’s probably the age and income distribution and then geographically, we’re writing for an audience. That’s here, but also an international audience, so we have readers in Japan, their readers. We have read adult route: north america – I have a subscriber in slovenia that I need to send a get into, and you know so that’s where it it’s ironic now that i’m printing of physical magazine to get them with the deal the logistics of moving this.
You know 200 pages mmm paper around the globe while trying to trying, as best we can to mitigate the carbon impact, which we should talk about. Of course. But and that’s you know, that’s sort of a always an issue in hawaii shipping and you know absolutely and wanting to you know whole pages and local things and try to somehow still meeting to I’d like to say in carbon impact. Nava standing. But you know come things coming from this direction to the mainland, I mean that we want to increase that.
I think, especially cultural and intellectual part of our our orientation is that that this is our main lab like this is this is the center of our world, and so from this this particular locus. Oh, we can then speak about what’s happening in Asia and North America. South America, from Vermont prospectus you’re in my way, and it’s a very different way of thinking about the world. On the other hand, I can, from a lot of media, that’s produced, for instance in New York City, and I’m always struck by how writers in New York City assume that everyone knows York City.
They talk about the geography New York City edge of is that the daily commute of everyone in a spot. Of course. No, of course it’s not, so I don’t feel bad about interesting that our point of view should be from Hawaii but and at the least, it’s a very interesting way of a female world, it’s different, which is what you’re creating a product. Nowadays, it’s all about being different but creates, have been differentiated from everything else is out there.
Well, I I would agree that sounds like good advice in chronic Creator, so why don’t we go ahead and talk a little bit about how the magazines structured and when why? So you know I know they’re. There may be some variation, but I know this: we have lifestyle, arts, industry, common teaching for tomorrow, so you know how you sort of put this together. I’r sure you know that illuminates those perspectives.
So why did you decide to sort of place the magazine up in this way? Well, so the the first section is called annoy doing and honor a new england’s rainbow in Hawaiian, and so our magazine does not have a Hawaiian name right its summit. So I thought we have one section in the magazine has a Hawaiian in that would be okay and I figure on balance. People around the world probably have seen the word on Lulu at some point.
If it comes to Hawaii, they probably seen other people or sports fans know that that’s supposed to be our our sports team at university. So that’s our life attention and we think of it as the place where you go for information about where to eat. Where to what to make with your alcohol collection at home? Oh you know we’re about take break okay and then, when we come back, we’ll talk more about the structure of the magazine start digging into some of the content, so we’ll be right back with each Idaho’s.
Be talking about some at 90 day and in just a bit Aloha. This is kayley giacchino with the weekly a hanukkah co. Let’s work together program on the state, a kawaii broadcast network mondays at two o’clock p.M. Movers and shakers and great ideas join us. We’ll see you then Aloha Aloha, I’m Callie, Lucas coast of Hawaii – is my mainland here on think too kawaii every friday at 3pm. We address issues and importance for those of us who live here on the most isolated landmass on the planet.
Please come join me fridays. At 3pm Mahalo Aloha, my name is John ye and I actually had a small part to do with what’s happening today, served actually in public office. But if you don’t already know that is the chance to learn more about what’s happening in our state. By joining me. For talk story with John, why he every other Monday, thank you, and I look forward to your seeing us in the future hi and welcome back to power of Hawaii, where Hawaii comes together to talk about a clean, renewable and just energy future.
We’re here with I. I caca who see of some publisher of summit magazine, and we were just talking about the different sections with a magazine and actually they can reach the magazine at wwe.Com correct. So let’s go ahead and continue our discussion about magazines, okay, so real briefly, the protection of Unknowing you language is the lifestyle. The second section is originals, which is art, artists, primarily musicians, and it’s bouquet features on folks will create culture.
Industry is the third section. I hope I’m get in order right. That’s like business features. Commons is the fourth section, and that is essentially international politics, politics and social issues and in letters it’s the final section and that’s. I think it is a sort of our new yorker moment where we get to do poetry and prose, and then we also have a summit shop where we work with producers here makers who are creating wonderful products and we help it sell their product Ellis.
Well, that’s that’s fantastic! I just again, I think it’s really important to talk to folks who are purveyors of perspectives and cultures, because if energy policy folks don’t sort of engage with the you know the thought, leaders and let us, but you guys know that what you do is important to Us then you know: how can we expect you to come to us and talk about how what you do is you know about? We do can be important to you, of course you know and why everyone knows.
You’ve got a hundred percent renewable energy goal and I know there’s a great piece this month that folks might be interested in about on solar, hot water heaters and the need to sort of think of them as being cooler and sexier. Then we may usually think about them, because they are a real solution and something that can be an answer and in a way also for low to moderate income folks to participate in energy.
So thank you for covering measure, and I should mention that it’s a piece that we did on shipping energy, that in partnership with yes with energy failure, which it’s on a great work. Yet in really pushing the you know pushing innovation Ford, which we desperately need. Yes, absolutely um, so I’d also like to talk about a couple of the other articles that I found to be just so fascinating, so one of them is called mana for the people and it sort of it’s a historical book back at the Polynesian Panther movement.
Could you talk a little bit about that? First of all, sort of how did you come across this topic and why did you decide the you know to go ahead and bring that forth and some it sure? So it’s a story that was processed by one of our contributing writers based on Australia, and you know I’m as a student myself of a social lumen. Lava has been fascinated with how social moods are adapted and kind of spread all throughout the world.
So one of those obviously people Black Panther movement and so what we. What we found in healing is is a very local, New Zealand, Mallory and tan Polynesian. An effort to take some of the energy and language and sort of intellectualism of the Black Panther movement and turn it into a Polynesian movement in in on table of New Zealand, and I should mention too that there’s you know they’re also similar things happening here in Hawaii, during the same time, period where you know folks were following what was going on all around the world and and building social movements that that copied either the effects of things like the Black Panther movement and also a lot of the substance.
A lot of the honor, the thinking behind you know what what was going on in, like Oakland, for instance. Why do you think that that particular is black, American and Caribbean cultural message resonated amongst folks in the it’s a good question? I think you can make an argument and I’ll just say I’ll, make the argument that the black culture in North America and the Caribbean has has really been a the most creative Wellspring of culture.
For for, like our modern age. And if you look at all of the cool stuff, that’s come out of come out of the United States, rated if jazz the blue, it’s hip-hop, it’s rap. You know all the things that have come out of out of black culture and that’s me I find it very inspiring because it’s really about a group of people who you know history should have could have written him off. You know and that group of people taking things that were forced on them and then turning it into the the tools of their own liberation.
It’s really a beautiful I’m sort of getting emotional. It’s a very beautiful. You know his historical trend. That happened. That’s very beautiful thing and is the siege of that sort of wealth, framing it it’s as culture and also the social movements and the social activism and the stories of oppression. I guess helped create this diaspora of of resistance right. I don’t know what to call it, but there’s something that was it music.
Was it the afros something resonated you know and for heiping perhaps still resonates today, something you know if you know when you look at the pictures and I’m sorry I don’t have them to share you know it’s sort of a it seemed like such a natural overlay. You know you hear about this person, you know in New Zealand, picking up, you know, Huey Newton’s work and you know you know, wearing a beret and putting on a jacket, and it just sort of you know that the overlay is almost kind of seamless and what They decided to do in terms of helping young people with homework, and you know having at you working with after school, like was also very similar to seeing kind of scene.
We are trying to get it. What kind of I think part of? What’s going on in that particular in a particular episode they were describing is: is that we all you know everyone in for the english-speaking modern world. We also to live in one culture right and it’s a culture that is broadcast out through Hollywood and and and so everyone sort of share in what’s happening to this math English language, culture and as a result of that, the cultural minorities, even you know, in Hawaii Native Hawaiians are our minority of sorts in all table of New Zealand, even though there are some large percentage of the population under the exact number, but Maori are still treated as a minority in that community in that in that country.
What you have, then, is this situation where you have this kind of monolithic, English, language, culture and within that model of the culture black culture is it’s sort of the other, but it’s a very powerful other. It’s just an incredibly vibrant and and powerful and creative space. Where r alliteration can take place, and so I think when that culture touches places like New Zealand or Hawaii, it becomes a place for all the folks who don’t get to be.
You know the white man at the table we all get to play with in the black culture, because it’s so accepting and we can all find a void. There, take a look at in Hawaii. You have like the the movement – I think of God, like John John Prante, know, who’s leading the 808. The 808 girls furminator way. Excuse me, the Irving, a delayed group and they’re working with kids, who are using sort of the visual language of hip-hop, the visual language of street art of aerosol art to to tell their own story, because that is an available medium.
You know they can’t find a space in the light dominating culture, for the black culture is actually a an accepting place. I still interesting in the and the article talks about how did you know in this Polynesian, Panther movie movement in the seventies it began to become a app and polynesian pan-pacific. You know sort of diaspora sort of a movement to unify the Diaspora and reached out to you know, movements in South Africa, and so yes, I mean and that we are all applicant and one regarder another.
Originally, that’s that and I was going to ask – and you know I know so you this is in the current issue. So what isn’t? How do you think you know this topic is important today? Well, just pop my head, we live in incredibly interesting time. Right yeah. We do I’ll be there. It’s sort of amazing unbelievable that it’s been a month barely a month since the newly Trump aaron has taken place. But it’s a time where so many social limits are in communication, with each other able to find more and love and solidarity with each other code access pipeline 17.
Well back when we got ya, you know look at things like the the women’s for women’s bar yeah yeah on Inauguration Day. What was amazing about that for me was just how incredibly rich and multi multi everything those margins were so much more than like. The official inaugural events and the sort of kind of monoculture that you see in those in the Trump phenomenon you know what’s happening with the people is the people are getting together, and we need to celebrate that all these moon, all these people, that that coalescing is An incredibly powerful historical trend that I don’t think we’ll ever stop.
You know it’s in some ways: it’s an unraveling of of the way in which people have been divided last 500 years. Okay, it’s so interesting, I feel like we could have a whole show about that. In terms of what’s coming together and what some of the some of the challenges and the fissures some for very reason – and you talk about energy wave yeah well, I like that. What I wanted to get to I could talk about that.
We don’t have a lot of time, that’s what I really wanted to get to. Is this interesting article or you interviewed and economist who has an idea? This is the name of the actual name of the owner, described as universal basic, universal, debut accountant. So, basically, this concept that there can be a situation where everyone gets a taste income-based income and what that? What that means, in terms of you know in terms of fighting economic development and particularly for the poor, so tell us a little bit about why about this and why you chose protocol it your local bakery in communist.
Oh, thank you, be. I felt like yeah something you get. You don’t want to talk about yeah, but so the idea that we’re moving to an economy with less enough people where you don’t actually need people to do to the logical appropriation, ization yeah right. So the edges, you create a tax regime that would that would take all of the benefits of this in credit increase in the cumulus economy and then share that benefit with the people, so that people can still get some still get some value from that later.
With drug and gosh I, this is my fault for lingering, but we’re not going to have as much time to dig into that fascinating Barry, as I had hoped I would, but is how can people find summat magazine so summit, is on learn about 400 stores across United cason at most barnes nobles, you can find a copy of summit. You can also find a bit before seasons or or the lotus honolulu to find us at whole foods all throughout the states and department, with your own wan na, have the copy and maybe at a doctor’s office or a lawyer’s office to you know we’re all over The place or you go to summon team comm service, alright, well, fantastic.
Thank you so very much for sharing about this magazine and some of your fascinating perspective. Thank you so much for that baby and that wraps up another issue or another edition of power of Hawaii. I’r why assaulter energy attorney and clean energy advocates community outreach specialist. Thank you so much Mahalo and aloha. You
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