View from the Volcano: A Rebel’s Crusade in Hawai‘i Tourism

View from the Volcano: A Rebel’s
Crusade in Hawai‘i Tourism by Kathy Clarke

People always ask how I did it.

In the late 1970s, Kathy Clarke was the midwife for what became a burgeoning incentive travel industry in Hawai‘i. “Impossible” was not a word in Clarke’s vocabulary as she raised seven children and helped create a thriving tourism model. Her career began in Maui, where—making fast friends and ruffling the established players’ feathers along the way—Clarke was unafraid to plunge into uncharted waters and innovate a new way to tap into tourism. In 1988, she introduced incentive travel to Hawai‘i Island and replicated her Maui success. 

Having written her first memoir in 2021, Clarke was inspired to document not just her personal history, but that of her beloved industry as well. “No one knows the story of Hawai‘i’s incentive travel beginnings,” she observes. “If the story is not told, it will be lost.” In View from the Volcano, Clarke deftly weaves together the events of her own life and stories of the fitful growth of the state’s most influential industry—a unique perspective lent by her foundational role in shaping the framework of modern tourism in the Aloha State. Her trademark irreverent humor and wry observations will make readers forget they are consuming as much history as entertainment. 

After forty-five years influencing the hospitality and travel industry, and mentoring and training hundreds of suppliers and staff, Clarke lately finds herself asked two questions most frequently: How did you do it? (I have no idea. Truly.) And: When are you retiring? (Are they hoping I’ll go away, quietly? Am I looking old and tired? Am I just annoying?) But the only thing she loves more than making a difference is having a challenge. Still in the game, passionate and adventurous, Hawai‘i’s oldest living DMC, Clarke continues to delight in instigating minor rebellions. 

Born in Utah and raised in Northern California, Kathy Clarke lived on Maui for eleven years before moving to Hawai‘i Island, her main residence for the past thirty-three years.  Since 1980, Clarke has built a successful event and destination management company, operating on all Hawaiian islands. She has been a fixture on the local fundraising scene in her Waimea hometown, coordinating several cultural and community events for years. She also enjoys sustainable gardening and cooking. Her first collection of micro memoirs, My Life is a Road Atlas, was published in December 2021. 

Release Date: January 2023
116 pages

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The Lucky 7 Lessons They Don’t Teach You at Princeton, Yale, and Harvard

The Lucky 7 Lessons by Melvin Masuda
The Lucky 7 Lessons They Don’t Teach You at Princeton, Yale, and Harvard by Melvin Masuda

Softcover, 24 pp
Release Date: September 2021

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In earning degrees from three prestigious Ivy League universities, Mel Masuda learned valuable lessons that went far beyond the curriculum—from ethics to dealing with intolerance to the value of his working-class roots.

“You learn pretty quickly that the intellectual life of Princeton, Yale, and Harvard is different from the real world,” Masuda observes. In The Lucky 7 Lessons They Don’t Teach You at Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, Masuda lays out his top seven takeaways from his life of higher education.

This book is a customized version of the Print on Demand Package.

The Lucky 7 Lessons is available via online booksellers in print and e-book formats.

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Las Abuelas

Kitchens are the heart of the home.

In Maria Gutierrez’s family, kitchens are where traditions are created and shared, the conversation and storytelling are lively, and tiny demonstrations of love are served daily. In Las Abuelas, she has penned a love letter to her mother and a tribute to the women on both sides of her family who instilled a deep appreciation for food and story that is passed down from generation to generation. 

Through retellings of family lore and captivating glimpses into the kitchens of her formidable forebears, Gutierrez maps her female ancestors through their recipes. “This is how my family gives love to one another: through bread, empanadas, tamales, fried chicken, and lemon meringue pies,” she observes. Generously, Gutierrez offers not only tantalizing descriptions of these beloved family dishes, but shares the recipes for them as well. 

In detail-rich prose and poetry, Gutierrez offers a feast that nourishes heart, soul and stomach, capturing her family’s legacy of strong women and mouthwatering meals. Readers will come away feeling the fullness of love and hungry for a home-cooked meal.

Maria Gutierrez was raised in Southern California as part of a large Mexican American family. She received her BA from Pomona College and her MPA from The Evans School at University of Washington. Maria currently lives in Seattle with her husband and her dog. She enjoys reading, long neighborhood walks, and cooking one-pot soups.

Photo credit: R.P.N.

Release Date: November 2022
116 pages

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Ori the Whale

Ori the Whale by Gwen and Harry Mirijanian
Softcover, 32 pp
Release Date: September 2023
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It’s Ori the Whale’s first time making the long journey from chilly Alaska to the warmer waters of the Hawaiian Islands, and Mother Whale has so many things to show him! For twenty-five years, Mother Whale has been making this roundtrip journey, and in Ori the Whale: Mother Whale’s Favorite Things to See on Maui, she shares with her calf Ori all of her favorite things to see when she comes to Maui each winter.

Just like Mother Whale, authors Gwen and Harry Mirijanian have visited Maui annually for the past twenty-five years. “Sitting on the beach one day,” Harry recalls, “we thought about all the people who come to Maui to see the whales. And then we thought about what the whales who return each year were seeing and thinking,” which led to the couple’s idea to create a children’s book to share everything they treasure about Maui. “We enjoy whale watching with a close friend who was a humpback whale researcher, and year after year, we would see the same whale, usually with a calf.” This mother whale guiding her offspring inspired the storyline for Ori the Whale. Vivid illustrations by Darren Sanchez bring the people, places and activities of Maui alive.

The 32-page softcover, full-color book is a custom-quote project illustrated with original artwork and provided as complete layouts in digital format by the client.

Ori the Whale is available via our online store.

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What the World Needs Now

What the World Needs Now by Joyce Iwashita
Softcover, 48 pp
Release Date: May 2022
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How can you contribute to make the world a better place? That’s the question educator Joyce Iwashita asks in her new book, What the World Needs Now: A Guide for Helping Kids Make Good Choices. Simple actions and positive choices are rendered in vivid digital illustrations by Kelson Gallano, a senior at Ka‘ū High School on the island of Hawai‘i.

A retired school teacher and principal, and a graduate of Ka‘ū High herself, Iwashita found herself wondering during the pandemic, How could I help children, if I were still a school principal? “A global pandemic impacts everyone,” she notes, “but it presents especially great challenges for children and their families. Teaching students that they can make choices that will improve or enhance their lives—or someone else’s—helps bring out their best.” With that in mind, she wrote What the World Needs Now to spread the message that “Everyone can contribute to making things right in their schools, in their communities, and throughout the world.” 

When it came time to bring her lessons to life with artwork, Iwashita turned to her alma mater for a recommendation to a student illustrator. “I completed the writing in 2020, and in May of 2021 I was connected with Kelson,” Iwashita recalls. “He and I started communicating via Zoom and exchanged ideas and reviewed drafts in monthly conferences with his teacher and his parents.” Adds Gallano, “It was a great learning expererience for me and brought me out of my comfort zone—I taught myself to use the Procreate app on the iPad and used Mrs. Iwashita’s storyline paired with illustrations of what we as students go through every day. I’m thankful that she trusted and believed in me.” Gallano’s cover depicts the flowers spread across the hillside of Pu‘u Makanau, where the early Hawaiian navigators of Ka‘ū observed the stars—the “twinkling eyes” in the mountain’s name. The flowers, he explains, represent all the children of Ka‘ū.

The 48-page softcover, full-color book is a custom-quote project illustrated with original artwork provided in digital format by the client.

What the World Needs Now is available via our online store and at local bookstores and online retailers.

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Ha‘aha‘a

Ha‘aha‘a by Thao “Kale‘a” Le, PhD, MPH
Hardcover, 32 pp
Release Date: September 2023
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Beautiful, sweet, stunning Mango is praised by everyone. Compared to the leaves, the tree branches, the other mangoes, Mango is just…better…isn’t it so? When confronted with the sacrifices of those around them, Mango learns a valuable lesson in humility.

Written by Thao “Kale‘a” Le, PhD, MPH, a professor in the Human Development and Family Studies program in the Family Consumer Sciences Department at the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, Ha‘aha‘a is a creative narrative for encouraging humble appreciation of one’s own gifts and the contributions of others. Ha‘aha‘a is one of the components of ALOHA, as espoused by the teachings of Native Hawaiian poet and philosopher Aunty Pīlahi Pākī, otherwise known as the “Aloha Spirit Law,” HRS [§5-7.5].

Covers Hawaii Content & Performance Standards Database III Content Area: Health
Standard 1: Core Concepts – Understand concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention (Mental and Emotional Health); Standard 3: Self-Management – Practice Health: Enhancing behaviors and reduce health risks (Mental and Emotional Health, Factors Influencing Health Across Topic Areas); Standard 5: Interpersonal Communication – Use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health

This is the third book in Dr. Le’s series designed to teach children about ALOHA and mindfulness. 

The 32-page hardcover, full-color book is a custom-quote project illustrated with original artwork provided in digital format by the client.

Ha‘aha‘a is available via our online store and has been distributed through the author’s efforts via partnerships with educational organizations.

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Hooligan Hearts

Hooligan Hearts: A Memoir by John G. Walters

Softcover, 304 pp
Release Date: August 2022

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Author John G. Walters (“Waltah Boy”) grew up on sugar plantations on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, including plantations in Hilo and Pāpa‘ikou. But the place closest to his heart is his last home on the Big Island—the town of Pāhala. In Hooligan Hearts, Walters chronicles these barefoot days, Island nights and his boyhood adventures, coming of age in yesterday’s Hawai‘i

Hooligan Hearts is Walters’s tribute to his brother, Ron, and the way of life they enjoyed as boys: “I wrote these vignettes to preserve and share memories I treasure. It’s my hope that whoever comes into my family or reads these stories after I’m gone will enjoy them, and I will be able to share a little bit about the place, time, and way we lived—especially since that way of life has vanished along with Hawai‘i’s sugar plantations.”

This book is a customized version of the Print on Demand Package.

Hooligan Hearts is available via online booksellers in print and e-book formats.

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Fifty-Three Tuesdays

Fifty-Three Tuesdays by G.K. Nakata

Softcover, 664 pp
Release Date: June 2022

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In Fifty-Three Tuesdays, G.K. Nakata spins a slow-burning, passionate story of star-crossed lovers who could—just maybe—prove that love conquers all.

Nakata has written all his life-mostly legal briefs and financial analyses. He delved into fiction after stumbling into a Honolulu, Hawai’i hostess bar and, he says, the adventures just started rolling off my pen. A cabinet member in a previous city administration, Nakata has been involved in more than twenty political campaigns at both the city and state levels. How did a veteran of the political wars end up writing a love story? I walked into the bar one day, made a few friends, drank a few beers, sang some songs, and watched everyday people having everyday interactions-then asked, what if?

This book is a customized version of the Print on Demand Package.

Fifty-Three Tuesdays is available via online booksellers in print and e-book formats.

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Guardians

Love, like water, is our birthright.

Where is home when you’re the daughter of immigrants? When is it safe to say you’re gay? Author and poet Catherine Bachy has been traversing cultures all her life. Bicultural and bilingual from birth, she often finds herself in between worlds, sensitive to the sideways looks aimed at families like hers who aren’t quite like the others, alert for the subtle cues that affirm, “This is where you belong.” In Guardians, Bachy has crafted a compelling collection of lyrical essays that blend the personal, political, and spiritual, piecing together the touchstones that serve as the foundation for her identity. 

Bachy’s father was an inspiration for writing her book. “He was an artist,” she says, “and left us many paintings and drawings, through which we appreciate his vision of the world. He didn’t make it to sixty, the age I am turning as Guardians is being published.” Reaching sixty felt like an opportune time to share her own creative work and worldview. Pondering the habit she picked up after her father’s passing of memorizing and reciting poems, she observes, “These poems that dwell in my mind are my prayers: hope, acceptance, healing, and love. Maybe my father planted them there when he left and now, they have grown into trees.”

With detail-rich prose and poetry, Bachy has cultivated a captivating garden of stories in Guardians, tracing themes of love, longing, and belonging that resonate across cultures and generations.

Bicultural and bilingual from birth, Catherine Bachy often finds herself between worlds. Growing up, she journeyed between France and the US, graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in French. She taught English in Morocco as a Peace Corps volunteer, and taught writing at the University of Massachusetts. An executive coach at the University of Washington, Catherine also holds an MEd from the University of Massachusetts and an MA in Organizational Leadership from Seattle University. Catherine celebrates her deep love of France by flipping crêpes every year on Chandeleur with her family and friends. She shares her life with her wife and daughter and their two chihuahuas in Seattle, Washington.

Release Date: September 2022
108 pages

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Maps and Tapes

Cover of "Maps and Tapes" by Adrienne Robillard

Grab a microphone and turn up the volume.

Moving from Hawai‘i to Fresno in seventh grade changed Adrienne Robillard’s view of the world, herself, and her future. Being a new kid in a new school meant hours of time alone spent listening to cassette tapes and college radio, learning to play the guitar, and writing stories and lyrics. Joining a garage band in high school gave her a sense of belonging she’d never realized possible as she wrote songs with strangers who became treasured friends—one of whom she ended up marrying. Maps and Tapes follows Robillard from San Francisco to the UK, criss-crossing the US and Europe, feeling at home in a van on both sides of the road.

In Fresno, “I went from having friends and blending in to being a loner who kept getting asked, ‘What are you?’ because I was one of a few half-Asian students at Ahwahnee Middle School,” she recalls. “With my headphones on, I could ignore uncomfortable questions.” Later, music became her primary creative outlet and a way for her not to hide, but to connect.

In Maps and Tapes, Robillard interweaves lyrics written for her indie-rock bands between stories of first guitar lessons, young love, adventures in studying abroad, and gigging and touring with her bands. Her poignant prose paints a vivid portrait of the ways in which music soundtracked and shaped her teen and young adult years. Her callouts of favorite bands, albums, and songs will make readers want to cue up their own nostalgic playlists—good and loud, to be felt in the bones, the way the best music and memories should.

Adrienne Robillard is an English lecturer at Windward Community College. She grew up in Kailua, Hawai‘i, and Fresno, California. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. After college she worked in San Francisco as an office temp and marketing professional by day, playing in indie bands Secadora and Citizens Here and Abroad at night. She lives with her husband and their two children in Kailua on O‘ahu. In 2020 her first book, The ‘Ohana Grill Cookbook: Easy and Delicious Hawai‘i-Inspired Recipes from BBQ Chicken to Kalbi Short Ribs, was published by Ulysses Press.

Release Date: June 2022
120 pages

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