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3 Hawaii Locals Share What They Want Travelers to Know About Their Culture
Beyond the surf breaks and world-class sunsets, Hawaii has a complex story. Navigators were born here. There's an unmatched reverence for the land. It's a place once—and still—filled with warriors, working hard to fight for their cultural preservation. And as our guests share, Hawaiian culture isn't just alive on the islands—it touches the far corners of the world, too.
In this week's episode of Lost Cultures: Living Legacies , we're exploring Hawaii through the voices of cultural practitioners, historians, and teachers, including Evan Mokuahi Hayes, a Hawaiian historian who returned to the islands in search of healing. He found it, unexpectedly, in a taro patch.
'Hawaii has this beautiful way of, even when you have nothing to give, it will meet you there,' he shares on the episode. 'It has a way of healing broken parts of you, essentially, and filling those empty spaces.'
That connection to ʻāina —to land and Earth—runs deep for many. As Dr. J. Uluwehi Hopkins, a professor of Hawaiian history, explains on the episode, 'We have cosmogonic genealogies ... that say we grew right out of the land here, that the land itself is our ancestors.' The result is a worldview built on stewardship, not ownership.
That view was almost shattered in the late 1700s, when Western contact reshaped the islands' political and spiritual landscapes.
"Our Hawaiian chiefs wanted to form a government that other nations would respect and therefore interact with in an equal way," Hopkins explains. "And the Hawaiian people actually didn't want land ownership, but the government enacted it because they realized that if we established land in a way that had an owner, if another foreign power came and took us over, they had to respect the landowners."
This episode also explores the arrival of American missionaries in the 19th century, the rise of the sugar industry, and the illegal overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani. 'She crafted this really wonderful, brilliant response in which she says, 'I will yield my authority until the U.S. president realizes the illegality of his own minister,'' Hopkins shares.
Through it all, Hawaiian culture has endured, especially in hula. 'Hula is exactly what people see,' says Hokulani Holt, a kumu hula, or teacher of the art of hula. 'It is the visual representation of the words that you are hearing. You cannot have hula without words.' Holt adds, hula is not merely a performance; it is history in movement.
To get to know Hawai'i on a new level, listen to this week's episode of Lost Cultures: Living Legacies . It's available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Player FM, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
US flight attendants are fed up like their Air Canada peers. Here's why they are unlikely to strike
At the end of work trips, Nathan Miller goes home to a makeshift bedroom in his parents' house in Virginia. The 29-year-old flight attendant is part of a PSA Airlines crew based in Philadelphia, but he can't afford to live there. Miller says he makes about $24,000 a year staffing multiple flights a day as a full-time attendant for the American Airlines subsidiary. To get to work, he commutes by plane between Virginia Beach and Philadelphia International Airport, a distance of about 215 miles. 'I've considered finding a whole new job. It's not something that I want to do,' Miller, who joined PSA two years ago, said. 'But it's not sustainable.' His situation isn't unique. Frustrations among flight attendants at both regional and legacy airlines have been building for years over paychecks that many of them say don't match the weight of what their jobs demand. Compounding the discontent over hourly wages is a long-standing airline practice of not paying attendants for the work they perform on the ground, like getting passengers on and off planes. Air Canada's flight attendants put a public spotlight on these simmering issues when about 10,000 of them walked off the job last weekend, leading the airline to cancel more than 3,100 flights. The strike ended Tuesday with a tentative deal that includes wage increases and, for the first time, pay for boarding passengers. In the United States, however, the nearly century-old Railway Labor Act makes it far more difficult for union flight attendants like Miller, a member of the Association of Flight Attendants, to strike than most other American workers. Unlike the Boeing factory workers and Hollywood writers and actors who collectively stopped work in recent years, U.S. airline workers can only strike if federal mediators declare an impasse — and even then, the president or Congress can intervene. For that reason, airline strikes are exceedingly rare. The last major one in the U.S. was over a decade ago by Spirit Airlines pilots, and most attempts since then have failed. American Airlines flight attendants tried in 2023 but were blocked by mediators. Without the ultimate bargaining chip, airline labor unions have seen their power eroded in contract talks that now stretch far beyond historical norms, according to Sara Nelson, the international president of the AFA. Negotiations that once took between a year and 18 months now drag on for three years, sometimes more. 'The right to strike is fundamental to collective bargaining, but it has been chipped away,' Nelson said. Her union represents 50,000 attendants, including the ones at United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and PSA Airlines. On Monday, she joined PSA flight attendants in protest outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, near where an airliner operated by PSA crashed into the Potomac River in January after colliding with an Army helicopter. All 67 people on the two aircraft were killed, including the plane's pilot, co-pilot and two flight attendants. The airline's flight attendants also demonstrated outside airports in Philadelphia, Dallas, Charlotte and Dayton, Ohio. In a statement, PSA called the demonstrations 'one of the important ways flight attendants express their desire to get a deal done — and we share the same goal.' Flight attendants say their jobs have become more demanding in recent years. Planes are fuller, and faster turnaround times between flights are expected. Customers may see them mostly as uniforms that serve food and beverages, but the many hats attendants juggle include handling in-flight emergencies, deescalating conflicts and managing unruly passengers. 'We have to know how to put out a lithium battery fire while at 30,000 feet, or perform CPR on a passenger who's had a heart attack. We're trained to evacuate a plane in 90 seconds, and we're always the last ones off,' said Becky Black, a PSA flight attendant in Dayton, Ohio, who is part of the union's negotiating team. And yet, Black says, their pay hasn't kept pace. PSA flight attendants have been bargaining for over two years for better wages and boarding pay. Alaska flight attendants spent just as long in talks before reaching a deal in February. At American, flight attendants began negotiations on a new contract in 2020 but didn't get one until 2024. Southwest Airlines attendants pushed even longer — over five years — before securing a new deal last year that delivered an immediate 22% wage hike and annual 3% increases through 2027. 'It was a great relief,' Alison Head, a longtime Southwest flight attendant based in Atlanta, said. 'Coming out of COVID, where you saw prices were high and individuals struggling, it really meant something.' The contract didn't include boarding pay but secured the industry's first paid maternity and parental leave, a historic win for the largely female workforce. A mother of two, Head said she returned to work 'fairly quickly' after having her first child because she couldn't afford to stay home. 'Now, new parents don't have to make that same hard decision,' she said. Many of her peers at other airlines are still waiting for their new contracts. At United, attendants rejected a tentative agreement last month, with 71% voting no. The union is now surveying its members to understand why and plans to return to the bargaining table in December. One major sticking point: boarding pay. While Delta became the first U.S. airline to offer it in 2022 — followed by American and Alaska — many flight attendants still aren't compensated during what they call the busiest part of their shift. Back in Virginia Beach, Miller is still trying to make it work. To report for duty at the Philadelphia airport on time, Miller says he wakes up at around 4 a.m. Once his commuter flight lands, it could be hours still before he is officially on the clock and getting paid. His work day sometimes ends at 2 a.m. the next morning. Depending what time it is when Miller returns to Philadelphia, he might spend the night at what's known as a 'crash pad,' a shared housing unit for flight crew members who commute to their base. Miller says his crash pad is a two-bedroom apartment with 10 beds in it. On family vacations during his childhood, Miller said he was fascinated by flight attendants and their ability to make passengers feel comfortable and safe. Now he's got his dream job, but he isn't sure he can afford to keep doing it.
NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
U.S. flight attendants are fed up like their Air Canada peers. Here's why they are unlikely to strike
At the end of work trips, Nathan Miller goes home to a makeshift bedroom in his parents' house in Virginia. The 29-year-old flight attendant is part of a PSA Airlines crew based in Philadelphia, but Miller says he can't afford to live there. He makes about $24,000 a year working full-time for the American Airlines subsidiary. Despite often staffing multiple flights a day, Miller commutes by plane between Virginia Beach and Philadelphia International Airport, a distance of about 215 miles. 'I've considered finding a whole new job. It's not something that I want to do,' Miller, who joined PSA two years ago, said. 'But it's not sustainable.' His situation isn't unique. Frustrations among flight attendants at both regional and legacy airlines have been building for years over paychecks that many of them say don't match the weight of what their jobs demand. Compounding the discontent over hourly wages is a long-standing airline practice of not paying attendants for the work they perform on the ground, like getting passengers on and off planes. Air Canada's flight attendants put a public spotlight on these simmering issues when about 10,000 of them walked off the job last weekend, forcing the airline to cancel more than 3,000 flights. The strike ended Tuesday with a tentative deal that includes wage increases and, for the first time, pay for boarding passengers. In the United States, however, the nearly century-old Railway Labor Act makes it far more difficult for union flight attendants like Miller, a member of the Association of Flight Attendants, to strike than most other American workers. Unlike the Boeing factory workers and Hollywood writers and actors who collectively stopped work in recent years, U.S. airline workers can only strike if federal mediators declare an impasse — and even then, the president or Congress can intervene. For that reason, airline strikes are exceedingly rare. The last major one in the U.S. was over a decade ago by Spirit Airlines pilots, and most attempts since then have failed. American Airlines flight attendants tried in 2023 but were blocked by mediators. Without the ultimate bargaining chip, airline labor unions have seen their power eroded in contract talks that now stretch far beyond historical norms, according to Sara Nelson, the international president of the AFA. Negotiations that once took between a year and 18 months now drag on for three years, sometimes more. 'The right to strike is fundamental to collective bargaining, but it has been chipped away,' Nelson said. Her union represents 50,000 attendants, including the ones at United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and PSA Airlines. On Monday, she joined PSA flight attendants in protest outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, near where an airliner operated by PSA crashed into the Potomac River in January after colliding with an Army helicopter. All 67 people on the two aircraft were killed, including the plane's pilot, co-pilot and two flight attendants. The airline's flight attendants also demonstrated outside three other U.S. airports. In a statement, PSA called the demonstrations 'one of the important ways flight attendants express their desire to get a deal done — and we share the same goal.' Flight attendants say their jobs have become more demanding in recent years. Planes are fuller, and faster turnaround times between flights are expected. Customers may see them mostly as uniforms that serve food and beverages, but the many hats attendants juggle include handling in-flight emergencies, deescalating conflicts and managing unruly passengers. 'We have to know how to put out a lithium battery fire while at 30,000 feet, or perform CPR on a passenger who's had a heart attack. We're trained to evacuate a plane in 90 seconds, and we're always the last ones off,' said Becky Black, a PSA flight attendant in Dayton, Ohio, who is part of the union's negotiating team. And yet, Black says, their pay hasn't kept pace. PSA flight attendants have been bargaining for over two years for better wages and boarding pay. Alaska flight attendants spent just as long in talks before reaching a deal in February. At American, flight attendants began negotiations on a new contract in 2020 but didn't get one until 2024. Southwest Airlines attendants pushed even longer — over five years — before securing a new deal last year that delivered an immediate 22% wage hike and annual 3% increases through 2027. 'It was a great relief,' Alison Head, a longtime Southwest flight attendant based in Atlanta, said. 'Coming out of COVID, where you saw prices were high and individuals struggling, it really meant something.' The contract didn't include boarding pay but secured the industry's first paid maternity and parental leave, a historic win for the largely female workforce. A mother of two, Head said she returned to work 'fairly quickly' after having her first child because she couldn't afford to stay home. 'Now, new parents don't have to make that same hard decision,' she said. Many of her peers at other airlines are still waiting for their new contracts. At United, attendants rejected a tentative agreement last month, with 71% voting no. The union is now surveying its members to understand why and plans to return to the bargaining table in December. One major sticking point: boarding pay. While Delta became the first U.S. airline to offer it in 2022 — followed by American and Alaska — many flight attendants still aren't compensated during what they call the busiest part of their shift. Back in Virginia Beach, Miller is still trying to make it work. On family vacations during his childhood, Miller said he was fascinated by flight attendants and their ability to make people feel comfortable and safe.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Amtrak's NextGen Acela: the future of high-speed travel in America has arrived
A sleek, effortless way to travel between D.C., New York City, and Boston—combining speed, comfort, and style like never before. Your next Amtrak adventure just got an upgrade. Launching August 28th, the brand-new NextGen Acela is setting a new standard for American high-speed rail. With First Class and Business Class service along the Northeast Corridor, it's the perfect way to travel between Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston. There's never been a better time to plan your trip. Operating daily on select routes, the NextGen Acela introduces a seamless journey designed with modern travelers in mind. Each train offers high-speed, 5G-enabled Wi-Fi, individual power outlets, personal reading lights, and redesigned interiors built for comfort—whether you're catching up on work or simply enjoying the ride. With faster travel times and premium amenities, the new Acela transforms commuting into an elevated experience. Spotting the new trains is easy: on or in the Amtrak app, just look for the 'NextGen' tag, or look for these select train numbers: Weekdays: 2153, 2154, 2170, 2173 Saturdays: 2250, 2251 Sundays: 2248, 2258, 2259, 2271 For me, the appeal is obvious: city-hopping without airport stress. Originally from New York, I now live in Denver, Colorado, and I still miss the ease of jumping between iconic East Coast cities via rail. The NextGen Acela makes it easy—picture boarding in Manhattan, settling in with a latte, Wi-Fi humming, as the skyline fades behind you. A few hours later, you're stepping into another city, refreshed and ready to explore. The Northeast Corridor is one of the busiest travel routes in the country, but NextGen Acela makes it feel entirely new. With top speeds of 160 MPH, wide ergonomic seats, and winged privacy headrests, comfort and efficiency go hand in hand. Whether you're planning a business trip or a weekend escape, the train itself becomes part of the experience. Dining onboard gets a major upgrade, too. The new Café Acela now offers a wider selection of high-quality food and beverages, with a full-service attendant ready to help you choose fresh items, hot favorites, and classic snacks. For travelers on the go, grab-and-go self-service makes checkout a breeze, and on select departures, cart service will roll through the aisles with drinks and bites delivered right to your seat. It's convenience without compromise. For those choosing First Class, the experience is elevated even further. Passengers can enjoy Metropolitan Lounge access pre-departure and effortless boarding via the dedicated car at the front of the train. Once onboard, spacious seating—including solo seats for maximum comfort—sets the tone for a relaxed journey. At-seat meal service offers gourmet dishes from James Beard award-winning restaurateur Stephen Starr, making each bite as memorable as the cities you're traveling between. And this is just the beginning. With 28 brand-new trains entering service through 2027, the NextGen Acela represents a new era in U.S. rail travel. Book your NextGen Acela tickets now.
