Writer. Photographer.
When I graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1985, I figured I’d end up back in Chicago where I grew up. Instead, I am living on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Read more About Kim
Science. Nature. Culture. Hawaii. Mark Twain. Place attachment. Here is a selection of articles I’ve written on these topics for a variety of publications, both local and national and online and print. Most recently, I’ve written for Smithsonian.com about Hawaiian Monk Seals and for Honolulu magazine on how the disease toxoplasmosis is killing Hawaii’s wildlife. I’ll continue adding more, so keep checking back.Read more Writing
The Honorable Jeannette Castagnetti
First Circuit Court of Hawai‘i
Ka‘ahumanu Hale
777 Punchbowl Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Dear Judge Castagnetti:
Christian Gutierrez and the two juveniles involved in the massacre of Hawai‘i’s native Laysan albatross deserve to be sentenced to the fullest extent of the law.
Allow me to explain.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
-Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead
Late last year, at the same time the Presidential election results shook the nation, the majestic Laysan albatross started returning to Kaua‘i. They dropped their spatula-like feet and touched land after months of knowing only air and wind and a wet, watery world. As of November 8th, six had returned to the colony I monitor, here to meet up with their partners and start the creation of another generation of majestic flyers. I knew a bit of history about five of them. I knew this because of the bands around their legs. Read more
My first photography show opened on Kauai’s North Shore at Kilauea Bakery, and it’s dedicated to the majestic Laysan Albatross, a seabird with chicks popping out of eggs as I write this. The show will hang for the month of February. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by. If not, here are the images hanging in the show. Click on a thumbnail to enlarge it. And if you are inspired to see these birds in the wild, a great place to catch them this time of year is Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge where they often circle the historic lighthouse en route to their breeding grounds on the refuge.
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The text came through one recent afternoon. It read:
Got stinky whale to necropsy. 10’ pilot whale on rocks, fairly stinky. Looking for a couple folks to help carry/bury carcass. It’s def rocky, slippery and steep. No worries if busy tho.
I responded that, yes, I was available to help.
Do you WANT to tho? Seriously no pressure, just thought you may be interested.
Short-finned pilot whale? Of course, I was interested. How often do you get to see the inner workings of a member of the dolphin group that usually spends its life far offshore? Animals that as adults range in length from 12 to 18 feet and weigh 2,200 to 6,600 pounds. Animals that do not reach maturity until they are about 10 and live up to 60 years of age. Females of this species gestate some 15 months and nurse their young for two years, waiting five to eight years before giving birth to their next calf. The last calf born to a mother may be nursed for as long as 15 years. Read more
She’d already given me a brief tour of Frederica cabin. Brief because the cabin is perfectly sized small. Brief because I sensed she did not want to intrude on what would be my writing space and home for the next month. Brief because I sensed something else going on. As she walked out the door and down the few steps to the gravel drive, author Dana Stabenow paused and said to me, “You’re a dream come true.”
Then, quickly, she turned and walked off, head down as if bracing for a stiff wind or readying for an overhead wave about to collide with the fishing boat on which she’d grown up. Or, maybe, simply to hide a big grin on her face.
Across the Cook Inlet, Mts. Douglas, Augustine, Iliamna, and Redoubt radiated in the dwindling Fall light. Read more
