In addition to its annual issue of student art and writing, WCC’s student-run Pueo Press will publish five other books this spring, four by WCC students and one by a WCC faculty member.
“It’s a very ambitious undertaking for such a small press,” said Pueo adviser and WCC English professor Robert Barclay, as he explained his efforts to promote and grow a Creative Media program at the college. He added that there’s nothing like Pueo Press in the entire UH system, and “it’s just one more thing that helps make WCC the best college in the state, with a Creative Media program—involving filmmaking, book production and video game design—that’s destined for state, national and even international success.”
Henry Park, a recent graduate from UH West O‘ahu and life-long resident of Kāneʻohe, is writing Pidgin Stew, a compilation of poems and short stories, some of which are based on true life experiences and others just part of his wild imagination.
You might want to brace yourself for a trip through a rough and tumble Hawaiian childhood, drug addiction, prison and ultimately redemption and success that’s grounded in a love of people and place.
Michelle Smith, a marine science educator teaching biological courses at WCC, is developing Science of the Sea: A Hawai‘i-Based Perspective of Oceanography, a textbook that will have a Hawaiian cultural context so that students will be engaged in learning about oceanography in their own backyard.
Leilani Madison, a former English professor at Hawai‘i Pacific University, is writing Can These Bones Dance, a memoir of spiritual transformation marked by an ecstatic vision of the natural world as pure energy continuously creating itself.
That vision sustains her through the breakup of her first marriage and her struggle to make her teaching meaningful. Despite the roughness of her path—or perhaps because of it—she discovers her capacity to live with joy and dance even in the face of death.
Glenn Freitas, a Hawaiian artist and storyteller, is writing Stories of Hawaiki, featuring his stunning, multi-layered artwork and his dream-inspired stories of the islands’ ancient, legendary past. This will be his second Pueo Press book, having had his book Hawaiian Art Stories published in 2016. Check out some of his artwork, which hangs in the Hale Mānaleo lobby.
Dani O’Dell, a recent graduate of Dixie High School in Ohio, is writing Can You Hear Me, a novel about finding peace within through struggle and pain. Keep your eyes open for life-changing moments that create a new perspective on life and to finally feel whole inside.
Stay tuned for information on the upcoming launch party, and remember there’s still time for all WCC faculty, staff and students to enter their art and writing for possible publication in the next issue of Pueo.
Entry forms and boxes are located in the bookstore, the library, Mānaleo lobby and outside the Pueo studio in ‘Ākoakoa 236.
by Pueo Staff, Special to Ka ‘Ohana
