When @adobe asked me to create something to honor my elders and heritage, I talked to my parents about joy, which isn’t something we’ve really discussed before: how they define happiness, happy memories with their parents, and the ways they find joy in their Japanese-Okinawan heritage as it’s expressed in Hawai’i. Here are 3 snippets I love because they capture something my parents have taught me about finding happiness in the little things (like clothes lol) and I also love hearing their laughter.
During what continues to be a scary time for many Asians in America— when it sometimes feels like our Asian elders only become legible via violence and trauma—talking to my parents was a good reminder to prioritize happiness too, that joy can also be part of their narrative.
Share how the elders in your life inspire you with the hashtag #OurDearElders. #AdobePartner
Happy indie bookstore day 🤓 SKBC is back for Round 3, and this time we’re reading @tkiramadden ’s critically acclaimed memoir, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls.
Copies available at @smallkinegift (shipment pending) and @dashophnl , or wherever you buy books. Read it over the next 8 weeks, then join us @dashophnl on June 20th to discuss (word on the street is the author might even be there 👀).
Grilled cheese anyone? SKBC is back for Round 2 and this time we’re reading HEATED RIVALRY, the steamy hockey romance book that’s now a hit TV show.
Copies available at @smallkinegift and @dashophnl or wherever you buy books. Read it over the next six weeks, then join us April 11th to discuss.
We’ll see you on the ice!!! 🏒⛸️
Small Kine Book Club kicks off on Saturday, February 21st at @dashophnl !!! Every six weeks we’ll read widely across genres—everything from memoir and oral history to fiction, poetry, and graphic novels—so long as the content is “queer.” First up is The Mahele of Our Bodies: Nā Moʻolelo Kūpuna Māhū/LGBTQ, an oral history generated from the lives of ten Kānaka Maoli kūpuna who are LGBTQ or māhū. You can buy the book at @dashophnl , @smallkinegift (delivery pending), @nativebookshi , and online. Please register at small.kine.gift/bookclub
Flyer designed by @codymaemori
reimagining @leiculture was a ✨dream✨ project, and one that was only possible through the trust of so many. @mattdknf , lots of gratitude for approaching me with the opportunity and basically letting me do whatever I wanted lol. @codymaemori , you were more than just a designer on this project—thank you for listening, synthesizing, and caring about every detail. i couldn’t have done this without you. and to everyone who contributed, was featured, and supported, it means the world 🥰 for now you can find the issue at @smallkinegift , @fishcakehawaii and @mori_hawaii , and online at the link in bio.
BEST OF HONOLULU 2025 🌀 @smallkinegift TRINKET LEI are half candy, half toys, and all colorful fun that stands out in a stack — our unique take on a beloved local tradition.
We love candy lei and knew from day one they’d be important to the shop. We worked with our friend (and fellow Moanalua grad) Nicholas Andersen of @confettisystem who developed the process and hanging bow style, then pulled from our childhood memories for the perfect mix of sweets and surprises.
The best gifts are about the intention and care that goes into giving them: something thoughtful, unique, and surprising that only you could give. This is the whole point of SMALL KINE GIFT, and why more than half our inventory is $10 or less. We make every Trinket Lei ourselves and no two are exactly alike. Mahalo for including us in your celebrations. 💚
📸 Photo credit: Courtesy of HONOLULU Magazine/Aaron K. Yoshino
So much about being “a writer” has changed since moving home, as where I’m writing from and who I’m writing to continues to shift in small but meaningful ways. On most days the outcome feels destabilizing and prickly, but this is what felt good this year: writing about kūpuna—artists, drag queens, civil rights activists, mahū—who’ve long cultivated a dogged orientation towards creativity, justice and beauty. And who’ve provided blueprints for what getting older in Hawaii can look like in ways that feel full of possibility.
1. A profile on textile designer Colleen Kimura of @tutuvi_hawaii_torchginger for the cover of @fluxhawaii
2. A feature on law professors and civil rights activists Mari Matsuda and Chuck Lawrence as they transition into retirement, also in the current issue of @fluxhawaii
3. A look back at The Glade, a nightclub in Honolulu’s red light district that served as a refuge for mahū in the 1960s, for @them
4. An interview with mother @sashacolby for the cover of @leiculture
