I’m sitting under the umbrella canopy of a heliotrope tree. Usually, there are bees bouncing from blossom to blossom in these trees, just enough to stop me from sitting this close. But there are no bees today. Either the winds are too strong or they sense the pending storm and are already hunkering down. Hunkering…
Author: Kim Steutermann Rogers
Kim Steutermann Rogers lives with her husband and dog on the island of Kauai. She's a longtime freelance science journalist and author covering Hawaii's natural history and, periodically, Mark Twain. In between assignments, she writes fiction and nonfiction. She maintains a website at http://www.kimsrogers.com. You can find her on social media @kimsrogers.
A vegan walks into KFC: Saving an endangered species.
So, there I was standing in Kentucky Fried Chicken, staring at the bright menu board as if it were written in Japanese kanji characters. Sadly, I am not bi-lingual. Not carnivorous, either. It was late afternoon, before the dinner crowd. All I could think about was how I would reek of the scent of fried…
The Saltiness of Aloha `Aina
This week at the airport, a woman in front of me got pulled out of the TSA line and her black ukulele case unzipped on a stainless steel table. She wasn’t asked to play music, but to explain the crystalized contents of a plastic bag. I recognized the Ziploc bag of pink, chunky salt as…
Honey: The Simple Solution to Mango Rash
Occam’s Razor: At its simplest, William Ockham posited—more than 500 years ago—that when faced with multiple solutions to a problem, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. The dogs had been walked and my husband kissed good night. When my eyes started drooping and my iPad slipped from my grasp, I gave up…
Fishwatching: The One that Got Away
There is really only one piece of equipment essential for snorkeling. Technically, you don’t even need a snorkel. Or a swimsuit, for that matter. But you do need a mask. My friend Heather and I had long talked about conducting a REEF survey at Makua on Kauai’s North Shore. So, a couple weeks ago, Heather…
Independence Day for Kaloakulua
A month ago, when I was in Kalaupapa on Molokai, I spotted some dolphins swimming in the bay outside our kitchen window and called out, “Spinners.” Spinner dolphins are not listed as threatened or endangered by the Endangered Species Act. Because they forage far offshore at night and rest in sandy-bottom, near-shore bays during the…
kimsrogers.com 