Horizons, Volume 05

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/76606

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Front and Back Cover
(2020-12-18)
Editor's Foreword and Students' Foreword
(2020-12-18) Scally, Jayme
The Power of Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu: Intersections of Gender and Justice Work on Mauna Kea
(2020-12-18) Hamid, Sarah Michal
To organize is to live and breathe the struggle of struggle. Kiaʻi on Mauna Kea, and across all of Hawaiʻi know this. Organizing is a line of labor that commands all of a person, their life, their genealogy, their love. I learned this from kiaʻi on Mauna a Wākea. While protecting the Mauna brings many lessons, its lessons are work. The way we work often shapes the way we understand the world. In a perfect world the kind of labor you do and the profit you make does not constrict you from life giving services and resources. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, in fact we live far from it. But, workers movement and justice movements at large seek to transform these harmful societal dynamics of labor. While wage labor or paid work is often examined with nuanced understandings of the intersections between gender, race etc, we often forget that these dynamics also play out through justice work, or activism. Justice movements often tend to replicate the very unhealthy power structures that they seek to destabilize and deconstruct. Movement building requires organization, and with organization often comes division of power. Without clear intentions and mechanisms to prevent oppressive power structures within justice work, the gendered element of justice work can, and does become harmful. Puʻuhonua o Puʻuhuluhulu on Mauna Kea currently represents a site of justice work where these power dynamics are taken into account, and are actually addressed.
Canberra, ACT's Renewable Energy Policy: A Review and Its Applications to Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
(2020-12-18) Yuan, Eleanor
This paper aims to identify lessons from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) successful implementation of 100% renewable energy that apply to Honolulu, Hawai‘i’s current renewable energy policy and practices. ACT is the first territory in Australia to achieve 100% renewable energy. Similarly, Hawai‘i aims to be the first state in the United States to achieve this goal. The first part of the paper establishes critical components of a successful policy. An overview of Australia’s, the ACT’s and Hawai‘i’s attitudes and policies regarding renewable energy follows. Lastly, this paper evaluates the successes of the ACT’s policies against Hawai‘i’s current renewable energy status. The findings of this paper suggest further development of specific and intent-based policy plans for transparency, an increase of investment in large-scale utility clean energy generators, and a continued collaboration with other states to leverage support for clean energy culture beyond Hawai‘i.
A CRISPR Look at COVID-19
(2020-12-18) Ching, Jolie; Nakamura, Shane
The largest pandemic in recent times -- novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) -- has caused economic shutdowns and social isolation on a global scale. Life as we know it has been placed on hold for the time being. Meanwhile, the scientific community worldwide is trying to understand COVID-19 biology and search for detection methods, prevention strategies, and treatments. Many researchers and biotech companies are turning to CRISPR, a cutting-edge advancement in biotechnology, to aid in developing methods for detection and finding a treatment for the virus. As a result, the need for unified regulation on CRISPR is more apparent than ever.
What a Name Stands For: Stanley Porteus
(2020-12-18) Miki, Kaylee
Social views on the relationship between psychology and race have evolved worldwide and in Hawai’i, since the time of Stanley Porteus, who researched during the height of the eugenics movement. In 1974, the University of Hawai’i named a building after Dr. Porteus to honor his achievements in the field of psychology. Research through the University’s archives and the library’s original copies of his works will be analyzed. Using these original works and documents, this paper will first evaluate why his contributions to the field of psychology were significant enough to justify the decision of the Board of Regents to name a building after him. The paper will then analyze how the changing views in the 1990’s on psychology and race fueled the backlash against the naming of Porteus Hall. Newspaper clippings from the period and the original documents outlining the naming and renaming of Porteus Hall will be evaluated. The unique setting of the University as an academic institution that has a culturally diverse student and faculty body in Hawai’i will be considered to evaluate why the building was renamed in 1998. The conclusion demonstrates that while Dr. Porteus made impactful academic contributions to the field of psychology, ultimately, the views he expressed, though in line with his time, were derogatory and critical of the ethnic minorities that make up a large portion of the University’s population, and a building at the University should not be named after him.
A Genetic Makeover: Motives for Self-Enhancement with CRISPR
(2020-12-18) Liao, Lauryn
Societal expectations brought on by social media, intelligence standards, and material measurements of success have shown to be a motivating factor in most peoples’ lives, governing many of their choices and decisions. Thus, with the proposition of a technology that could allow people to genetically enhance themselves to a certain extent, society is prompted with a conundrum concerning the regulation and usage of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR). Currently, the definitions of genetic treatment versus genetic enhancement remain ambiguous and are determined on a case by case basis. This article attempts to analyze how societal expectations have impacted the debate on human genetic enhancement. It also evaluates the need for preventative or permissive regulations towards genetic self-enhancement.
Melody of Melancholy
(2020-12-18) Murashige, Kelly
This short piece tells the story of a school-aged, developmentally delayed child and her Papa. Her Papa’s love for music and his self-sacrificing spirit inspire her, but they also frustrate her, as she lives in a world that refuses to understand either one of them. After writing a story dedicated to my mother, I wanted to write one for my father. His passion for music and his willingness to give it up for a stable life have always struck me as tragic. I wanted to draw from his experiences but create a situation that emphasized just how much of an impact broken dreams and an ignorant world can have. I originally started writing this piece in the first-person perspective, but somewhere in the middle, “I” became “you.” When I caught the error, I considered changing everything back to first person. I ultimately realized that using second person helped the story to feel more personal. It is not just one person’s narrative; it is many people’s, and they often cannot tell their own stories. Fiction has always been a fantastic way to relate to and empathize with people different from ourselves. It has been my way of explaining my worldview to others and of learning how the people around me—or even people in faraway places—experience everyday life. Though I cannot say that this story is identical to my own, I have put bits and pieces of myself into this character. My hope is that, in writing this story, I can begin to show others the importance of familial love and unending compassion.
Elegy for an Ant
(2020-12-18) Kop, Michaela
There have been countless times throughout history and even in today's social and political environment in which those in places of prestige and influence have acted impulsively and without much consideration for others. This leads to the "death of the ant" or downfall of the common person all for selfish decisions disguised as leadership. My fellow ants, I urge you to decide carefully which people are worthy of our support, for the wrong ones may one day step on us.
Maybe a Walk Will Help
(2020-12-18) Ruiz, Ellena Isabelle
I investigate the way emotions shape perception through abstract art by bringing them out of the body and into paint. My canvases are life- size or larger to encapsulate the overwhelmingness of emotions. The size is also to allow marks to be intimate and the ability to manipulate my canvas with my whole body. Abstract work, personally, is the best way to express both scenes and emotions by allowing large color play and the freedom to create different scenarios or images based on the viewers’ perception. Using water and tar gel to get vastly different results that have similar transparent tendencies, I compare these to the different sexualities within the LGBTQ+ community. Paint handling allows for different characteristics to come from the color and I relate this to the inclusiveness that I want LGBTQ+ kids to feel. I create not only for myself, but for those young, queer, brown artists who want to create and have space for their art in the professional world and not have to fight for it.
Fairy Tales: A Compilation - The Young Women of a Glass Tower
(2020-12-18) Igarashi, Sarah
In the wake of current events such as COVID-19, the current state of police brutality, and the struggle for civil rights across the globe, the pursuit of art functions as an outlet for many people trying to make sense of the problems facing society. Building from each of their own experiences, contributors to this project have attempted to recontextualize elements of their own lives and current events in the form of modern fairytales with inspiration, particularly coming from the Russian tradition. The collection we present here was completed in part to fulfill the requirements of the course LLEA 353: Russian Fairy Tales. In lieu of a final exam, students in LLEA 353 were each assigned to write and present their own story inspired by the fairy tales of various traditions that were read and studied in the course. In sharing our stories, verbally engaging with each other's creative works just as historical storytellers did in developing the most beloved traditional European fairy tales, we realized how commonalities in our works brought us together. In analysing these stories, we engaged in discussions about politics, societal norms, and history. Some tales presented here explicitly critique or comment on our modern world, while some others seek to more broadly entertain the reader in a time of uncertainty. While, like all creative works, messages behind our stories are open to the reader’s interpretation, we hope that the common thread that has weaved them together is a self-evident aspect of this compilation. Without the encouragement of Dr. Anastasia Kostetskaya and the Russian program as a whole, this work would not have been possible, and it stands as a testament to the initiative instructors can inspire in their students. We only hope that we’ll be able to inspire you as much. --- In writing this story, I strove to retain the simplistic charm of the classic fairytale by keeping the structure of the story itself similar to what is found in the traditional fairy tales, both those that I grew up with and those that were read and discussed in LLEA 353. I was particularly inspired by the elements of repetition and the growth of the protagonist through a journey. Within this framework, however, I tried to integrate the theme of emotional independence that is absent from many traditional tales for children, especially those that are aimed at young girls.
Fairy Tales: A Compilation - The Rail
(2020-12-18) Rathyen, Sophia
The Rail is a satire of the rail in Hawai’i and the increasing time and tax money necessary for its completion. It can also stand as a general metaphor for government inefficiency and greed. I was inspired by the Soviet fairy tales that served to subvert the regime through political commentary. The Rail retains most of the original elements of the traditional fairy tale, including family conflict, the hero’s journey, and magic. The difference is that all of these things are used to alienate and turn the hero against the social order rather than teaching him to live inside it and appreciate it.
Fairy Tales: A Compilation - The Reflection
(2020-12-18) Tenorio, Kristina
When writing “The Reflection,” it was important to me that I capture the struggle of everyday life. In my story, the main character is Stephanie who is a working lady in her mid-twenties that doesn’t care for life beyond the walls of her home. She enjoys her solitude until a fictional monster appears in her home and sends her on a quest to find the source of evil in its world. Once she finds the needed object at the end of her journey, she realizes that all along she was the source of the problem. The point I wanted to get across was that the whole scene is a fragment of our mind. We can be Stephanie some days, but we also have those little moments that push us to think about how we are going about life. We may want to believe that we are not the problem, but sometimes we are. The only thing stopping us is our minds and to get over something like that it often takes a long journey and a simple look at our “reflection” to finally see what has been there all along.
Fairy Tales: A Compilation - The Bonsai Tree in the Bento Box
(2020-12-18) Fairbanks, Kiana
This fairytale is inspired by the tales I have read in LLEA 353. Having gained the knowledge of the structures and elements of a fairytale immensely helped in creating my own. “The Bonsai Tree in the Bento Box” is significant to my Japanese heritage and celebrates cultural differences. This tale also calls attention to the value of friendship and loved ones especially in times of hardship and change. Life is mysterious and unpredictable in nature; yet beauty can always grow from difficult situations.
Fairy Tales: A Compilation - The Mad Girl and the May Day Dogs
(2020-12-18) Blevins, Van
This short tale builds a world that attempts to reflect the barbaric tendencies of late capitalism. With inspiration from Chinese writer Lu Xun’s Diary of a Madman, which was inspired by works by the earlier Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Gogol, I chose to extend this narrative by taking up a stance critiquing society through the lens of a young girl who just can’t make sense of it. This tale fits neatly into the fairytale genre due to the traditional elements of magic and an imaginative protagonist. That being said, the story also attempts to break away from prosaic form in order to distinguish and escalate the primary conflict.
Fairy Tales: A Compilation - Greed
(2020-12-18) Babichenko, Ariana
My short fairy tale represents greed and corporate malfeasance. It’s divided into four parts all overlapping each other. It begins with the eldest sister who discovers the wrongdoings then moves on to the middle sister who tries to come up with a plan that would benefit her. The third part is about the youngest, who is filled with greed, and lastly, the fourth part, the epilogue, ends with the queen who is the embodiment of greed itself. Each character represents a different perspective that people today have. The eldest represents change, the middle represents the statement “ignorance is bliss”, youngest corruption, and the queen represents the corporation and greed. I wanted to write this fairy tale to make this issue easier to understand for everyone. I want my readers to relate to one of the characters and decide for themselves who they want to be.
The Golden Touch
(2020-12-18) Kop, Michaela
The title "The Golden Touch" alongside the mention of King Midas in the second stanza are both allusions to the Greek myth of King Midas. These allusions further emphasize the poem's message of the consequences of greed. Additionally, the poem is written in iambic pentameter with an AABA rhyme scheme. The colonies of ticks and fleas serve as a metaphor for some of the unsustainable systems based on consumption currently in place. Overall, this poem is meant to represent the long-term consequences of abusing nature's limited resources.
Dango
(2020-12-18) Jeon, Young Hee
Inspired by Professor Ann Inoshita’s teaching in her “Autobiographical Writing” class, I wrote this autobiographical short story. I’ve tried to describe the tangled relationship between innocence and cruelty. As one’s hurtful private memories are reminded by the most beautifully indifferent scenery, one’s innocent deeds oftentimes affect others in a most hurtful way; I made my pet sick, and this caused my dad to euthanize it. It made my dad cry. My memory with Dango is the cocktail of my most innocently fun childhood and the most painful time deeply hued with guilt. In retrospect, it is perhaps the last memory of my childhood because, since then on, I became an adult standing on the other side of innocence, staring at it with constantly doubting eyes.
Plastic Ocean: Understanding the Damage of Overconsumption of Single-use Plastics
(2020-12-18) Hild, Makenzie
Every day, people around the world buy a total of one million plastic bottles per minute. Studies show that eight million tons of plastic end up in the ocean annually. (NOAA, 2018) We have become over-dependent on single-use plastics and live by a throwaway ideology. The life cycle of plastic is extremely problematic for the environment. The material never decomposes, but rather breaks down into smaller pieces called microplastics. As the plastics travel through the ocean the water, wind, waves, and salt break the plastic down into its microstate. Researchers predict that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. (Harrington, 2017) Living in Hawaii, we are surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Within the Pacific Ocean there is the great garbage patch, an accumulated collection of marine debris and trash floating, growing, and harming thousands of marine creatures. (National Geographic, 2012) This patch spreads plastic and microplastic across the entire ocean with winds and currents. Thousands of plastic bits wash up on the shores of all the Hawaiian Islands, carrying the plastic through a variety of marine ecosystems. Coral reefs, in particular, are experiencing the negative effects of plastic in the oceans. Coral reefs protect coastlines from heavy waves or damaging tropical storms. They provide habitats and shelter to an abundance of marine organisms. (Forsman, 2005) However, single-use plastics contain micro chemicals that poison the reefs, wounding, infecting, and damaging coral communities. (Ajchartier, 2019) It is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. (Harrington, 2017) This short animation proposes an urban installation that is meant to create a connection between our everyday lifestyle choices and the negative impact we are causing on the environment. My design is made entirely out of collected plastic bottles, cut, and reconstructed into a wavy archway. When walking through the archway, it mimics the experience of a snorkeler, floating through the water, looking at the beautiful coral reefs. However, instead of reefs, there are patches of collected colorful plastic pieces piled together. This showcases the harsh reality of what coral communities around the Hawaiian Islands are experiencing. This installation is meant to be showcased around the island of Oahu at beaches, parks, shopping malls, and schools. As humans we are subconsciously harming marine ecosystems, and it is time to make a simple change in our everyday lifestyles. This urban installation puts a spotlight on the environmental issue of overconsumption of single-use plastics and will be showcased at various beaches, parks, and public squares around Oahu to inform an assortment of crowds and people. My ideas are meant to inform and inspire others to spread the word about this issue in a positive/creative way that utilizes the upcycling of recycled plastics in hopes to alter the public's dependence on plastic use. We must work together to change our dependence on plastic to keep our planet safe and help preserve the beauty beneath the sea.
The Mechanism of SARS-Co V-2 Entry into Human Cells and the Discovery of Multiple Viral Strains
(2020-12-18) Jamain, Gabriele Kiana
Coronaviruses, belonging to the Coronaviridae family, were first discovered in the 1960s having been characterized by the presence of distinct, protruding spike (S) proteins. This family of viruses is zoonotic, can be transferred from animals to humans, as demonstrated by the development of SARS-CoV-1 in 2002 from palm civets and MERS-CoV in 2012 from dromedary camels. The SAR-CoV-2 variety, the causative agent of the COVID-19 disease, emerged in Wuhan, China in December, 2019 from a currently unknown intermediate host. Like other coronaviruses, viral entry was facilitated by the binding of the S proteins to human ACE2 receptors. Although the symptoms, transmission, and morphology of SARS-CoV-2 virus were similar to SARS-CoV-1, the two types of coronaviruses had significant differences in their S proteins at the amino acid sequence level. The SARS-CoV-2 S protein amino acid sequence increases its affinity for ACE2 receptors, potentially explaining why it has been especially virulent. Additionally, two strains of SARS-CoV-2 have been discovered, indicating the possible need for two different types of CoV-2 vaccinations.

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