Jan Wizinowich
Jan Wizinowich is a freelance writer and community oral historian who has lived in Waimea for over 30 years. Her focuses are Hawaiian culture, conservation work and connecting through story. When she’s not writing for Ke Ola Magazine or doing oral history projects, she’s working on historical fiction.
Kōnea o Kukui: To Restore the Light
By Jan Wizinowich With the passage of time, a place becomes layered with the spirits of beings and events that hold the stories and wisdom of those who have gone before. Many may not notice or recognize the spirit of…
Kawaihae Canoe Club Celebrates 50 Years
By Jan Wizinowich It’s early morning at Kawaihae and outrigger canoes dot the horizon carrying the kūpuna paddlers. Soon, the men’s master crew will be gliding into the boat ramp after an early morning run heading north. A Matson barge…
Journey from the Land of Hibiscus to Hawai‘i Island
By Jan Wizinowich Although not native to Korea, the hibiscus has long been its national symbol. Probably originating in India, the hibiscus is easily transplanted, and endowed with adaptability. It most likely made its way north through China into Korea,…
Waipi‘o Valley: A Cultural Kipuka
By Jan Wizinowich It’s December 22, 2021 and Kūlia Kauhi Tolentino Potter greets volunteers from Sam Houston State University (SHSU) at the Waipi‘o Valley lookout. It’s pouring rain and a work day is looking doubtful, but they are full of…
Ikaika no Kohala: A Community Connects through Story and Art
By Jan Wizinowich When the historic Kohala Village HUB’s (KVH) main building was lost to fire in March 2019, a heart center of the community vanished. A year later Covid hit, disrupting community connections. These dual tragedies inspired folks at…
St. James’ Circle: A Hub of Resilience
By Jan Wizinowich It’s Thursday morning and St. James’ Circle in Waimea is a humming hive of activity. The church kitchen is abuzz with volunteers cheerfully chopping ingredients, then cooking and filling pans with the evening’s weekly community meal. Another…
Shine On: The Peace Poles of Hawai‘i Island
By Jan Wizinowich Dark times call for light. This is the spirit behind the Peace Pole Project, a movement that is planting beacons for peace across the planet. Since its founding, the Peace Poles Project has spread worldwide with the…
Hawaiian Naming Traditions: A Cultural Legacy
By Jan Wizinowich According to Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language professor Dr. Larry Kimura, Hawaiian language was and still is a “treasure house embedded with the whole way of seeing the world. It adds to the…
Hāmākua Jodo Mission, A Beacon for Peace
By Jan Wizinowich Like a guardian spirit, the Hāmākua Jodo Mission (HJM) sits on a slope above the old plantation community of Pā‘auhau, backed by the gravestones of the many generations of members who attended and contributed to the temple.…
To Walk with the Ancestors: Lapakahi and the North Kohala Coast
By Jan Wizinowich Lapakahi State Historical Park (LSHP), a significant cultural complex along the leeward coast of North Kohala on Hawai‘i Island, is a time portal through which we can glimpse the thriving life of Hawai‘i’s early settlers and a…
North Hawai‘i Research Center’s Heritage Center: Cultural Community Connections
By Jan Wizinowich Through the vision of a community to preserve and share the stories of the land and its people, the Heritage Center (HC) came into being in 2011. Hawai‘i Island’s story begins with its settlement by a people…
Tutu’s House: Celebrating 25 Years of Community, Health, and Wellness
By Jan Wizinowich Nowhere is the aloha spirit of the Waimea and Hawai‘i Island communities more evident than at Tutu’s House. Dropping by on any given day, one can find a constant flow of activities where community members are making…
Kawaihae I: Bringing an Ahupua‘a Back to Life
By Jan Wizinowich During Kamehameha’s time, the ahupua‘a (land parcel) of Kawaihae fed thousands of people with its rich ocean resources and highly developed field system, irrigated from the abundant Kohala watershed. Now there are only remnants of that time…
A Dream of the Heart: Island Artists Jane and Linus Chao
By Jan Wizinowich In the most positive sense, the Chinese saying “May your life be interesting” certainly applies to Jane and Linus Chao, island treasures who have been creating and teaching art for the last 50 years. Primarily watercolor artists…
Kamehameha’s Birthplace, and the Many-Layered History of Kokoiki, Kohala
By Jan Wizinowich Kamehameha’s birth was a legacy that ultimately unified the islands, but that legacy began many generations before. His birthstones, located in Kokoiki, lay next to Mo‘okini Heiau, built in 480CE, on the northwest tip of the peninsula…
The Waimea Arts Council: Art at the Heart of Waimea
By Jan Wizinowich At the intersection of Mamalahoa Highway and Kawaihae Road is a cluster of small buildings at the heart of old Waimea and the home of the Waimea Arts Council (WAC). With its double doors flung wide open,…
The Waiaka Lindsey House: Time Capsule of Waimea History
By Jan Wizinowich Nestled at the foot of Kohala Mountain, the Lindsey house is the heart of what was once a historic Waiaka homestead and is a tribute to the memories of many who grew up in Waimea. The abundant…
Reforest Hawai’i: Feeding the Forest, Feeding the Soul
By Jan Wizinowich Aloha is at the heart of everything Joe and Kristen Souza do and when the forest spirits called, they answered by creating Reforest Hawaiʽi, whose sole purpose is to rebuild Hawaiʽi’s native forests where “the journey of…
Beauty All Around: Young Kohala Artist Elijah Rabang
By Jan Wizinowich Entering Hāwi, on the North Kohala coast, just past Kohala Coffee Mill, you are stopped in your tracks by a wall mural with a stunning scene of frolicking humpback whales. You’ve just stepped into the realm of…
Ahupua’a: Living Aloha
By Jan Wizinowich Beyond canoe plants and animals, the first voyagers to these shores brought the spirit of ahupuaʽa, a sense that they were of the land. On the most basic physical level, the ahupuaʽa is a dedicated land division…
The Ala Kahakai Trail: A Walk through History into the Future
By Jan Wizinowich Hawaiʽi Island’s history can be found along its coastal and mauka (mountain side) to makai (ocean side) trails, a network imprinted by the hands and feet of those who came before. The coastal ala loa trail (Hawaiian…
Lessons from the Garden
By Jan Wizinowich The Hawaiʽi Island School Garden Network (HISGN) was created in 2007 through The Kohala Center as a way to promote garden education and food sustainability practices. As the network grew, educators began to realize the potential for…
Hanauna Ola: Sustaining the Generations through Voyaging
By Jan Wizinowich For centuries, the spirit of the voyaging canoe lay dormant only to be reawakened with a question: Is it possible to sail a voyaging canoe to Tahiti using non-instrument navigation? Now, many years later on Hawaiʽi Island,…
Gary Eoff: One Artist’s Voyage
By Jan Wizinowich Like the cordage he weaves, Gary Eoff’s art stretches back through time to honor and connect with the ancestors. Previously from California, Gary and his wife Karen came to Hawaiʽi in 1980 to surf and visit Karen’s…
Kohanaiki: Connecting the Past to the Future
By Jan Wizinowich Tutu Papa moves quietly in the dark of his Kohanaiki mauka hale (mountain-side home) in final preparations for a makai (ocean-side) gathering journey, collecting the supplies he will need for the day and a lunch of dried…
Kohala Watershed Partnership: Bringing Life Back to the Land
By Jan Wizinowich Kohala Mountain stands like a cloud-cloaked monarch, crowned with a 50,000 acre forest that feeds the streams and people of Kohala. The tradewinds bring warm water into the cool mountains and create a constant source of moisture…
To Ride the Wind: Hawai‘i Sailing Canoes
By Jan Wizinowich Kahakini and his three men arrive at Kohala’s Kēōkea Beach at moonrise. He walks to the cliff top and peers out into the ocean. The moonlight sparkles on small lines of white foam marking the swell direction.…
To Celebrate the King: Kamehameha Day and Kamehameha’s Legacy of Aloha
By Jan Wizinowich Every June 11 the islands celebrate Kamehameha, the Hawai‘i Island warrior chief who changed the course of history in the 18th and 19th century by uniting the Hawaiian Islands, preparing Hawai‘i for the future in a rapidly…
Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a: Energy Ranch
By Jan Wizinowich Approaching Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a Ranch, a sylvan scene of sheep and horses grazing in pastures unfolds. Standing above this pastoral landscape is the Blue Planet Energy Lab, a powerhouse that produces 400 to 450 kilowatt hours of renewable energy…
Man on a Blue Mission: Bryce Groark
Chances are if you’ve ever been on the Fair Wind snorkel boat, you’ve sat in on a Bryce Groark fish class. Although Bryce’s cinematography and marine research work takes him all over the world, his roots are in Kealakekua Bay.…
