Ke Alaka'i Homepage

Paper cranes filled the Brigham Young University-Hawaii campus as part of a marketing campaign for the Ke Alaka’i. The cranes were scattered throughout campus on Friday, September 26th for students to collect.“We knew we wanted to do something that would draw attention to the magazine, but be mutually beneficial at the same time. That’s when we thought of the cranes. At first, we were only going to make a couple hundred, but 1000 just had a ring to it,” said Austin Meldrum, a senior majoring in international cultural studies from Colorado and creator of the 1000 Cranes Movement at BYUH explained.When opened, each crane featured a short biography of one of five leaders.Meldrum explained, “These fliers are one of five people. We chose people who inspired us in our own lives, common figures, people from different cultures, races, genders, different walks of life, that are pretty recognizable and people we can all learn a lesson from.”The five people featured were Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, Bob Marley, and Erik Weihenmayer.“The students open the crane, read a short message, and hopefully leave inspired,” Meldrum continued. “They each have a story to tell. They each overcame a struggle.”Meldrum and Astle decided on paper cranes because in many cultures, cranes are symbolic of hope and wishes.“I feel like this project will spark people to think more creatively,” James Astle, co-founder of the 1000 Cranes Movement, added, “It’s a simple thing, but if the students take a second to open one little crane and read the message, it could change their outlook on the day. The project was meant to inspire people, and that’s hopefully what it did.”Astle continued, “The project was a chance to give the Ke Alaka’i a pair of their very own wings so they could lift the students higher than they’ve ever been. Although it may have been a shock, it is the start of a new campaign for marketing.”For a behind the scenes look on the project, watch the video at the Ke Alakai news YouTube channel.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkVUcXMLk8g&list=UUDE6VSNHRODNyU-Snpj711w

Students at BYUH said they have been watching and anxiously waiting for the Temple in Rome, Italy since President Thomas S. Monson announced it in October General Conference of 2008. Along with the temple, some additional buildings are being built in the surrounding areas. According to an article The Deseret News posted, an LDS stake center, a visitors’ center, a family history center, and an accommodation center will be built as well. The article stated that the accommodation center “will provide lodging for temple workers and patrons who have to travel significant distances to Rome.” Berit Muller, (Bae) a sophomore studying graphic design from Germany was excited about the temple in Rome. She said, “It is amazing that the church will be so hugely present in Rome.” Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, adviser to the last three popes and emeritus president of the Pontiful Academy for Life, stated his feelings toward the complex in an article posted by thedailybeast.com. He said, “This new Mormon center, the largest in Europe, will certainly be a problem. As for ecumenism, dialogue and the search for unity among all Christians, their presence in Rome is not necessarily an uplifting factor.” Even though Rome is considered the Catholic capital of the world, Nayomi Sornoza from Italy said the people there will naturally be curious about our religion and want to know more. She said, “Many people, even non-members, will be attracted to the temple and can discover our religion and the Book of Mormon. I think it’s a very beautiful thing that two religions can grow together. Despite Rome being the Catholic capital of the world, everyone is free to discover something new especially when it comes to God.”Contrary to Sgreccia’s statement that the temple will disrupt the search for Christian equality, Donnie Winter a senior majoring in Finance from California said, “Romans are entitled to their opinions, but I disagree that it will be bad for Christian equality. I don’t think it will do any harm.“ Instead of the negative aspects or outcomes, Winter looks at the possible benefits and optimistic outcomes for all religions in that area. He said, “I think there are a lot of benefits that will come from the temple being in this area. It is a good learning opportunity for both sides. It gives other faiths in that area the option to learn about our religion. It also gives us the chance to branch out and learn about the other religions in that area as well, and to exercise our missionary muscles. The church might find that we have more in common with other religions than we thought.” Muller also has an optimistic outlook on the issue. “The strong Catholics will not like this competition, a temple being built next to them, but as soon as they go through the open house they’ll be converted.” Muller said. Monsignor Enrico Feroci, head of Rome’s Caritas made a statement in an article on thedailybeast.com. He said he isn’t worried about the effect of Mormons on the Catholic faith because they don’t pose a threat to a long and well established religion. “I have a lot of respect for Mormons in Rome, but they certainly do not share the Gospel with us because their concepts and the way they operate in society differ so greatly to Catholics.” Thomas S. Monson said in General conference in April of 2011 the Italian Senator Lucio Malan and Rome’s vice-mayor Guiseppe Ciardi were “among the first to turn a shovelful of earth” at the groundbreaking. They both had also been involved in the decision to permit the building of the temple in that area, said Thomas S. Monson. When touring the temple site, Italian Mayor Gianni Alemanno was reported to come away from the experience impressed; according to deseretnews.com he was impressed by the high standards of construction and materials. He said, “Every religious center that is created within the perimeter of our city gives even more value to it as the center of Catholicism, because it shows that there is an openness, a tolerance, and a shared understanding of the value of human life and of the family. And this, for us, is important, even from a social standpoint. In fact we are convinced that the people that believe in these values can give a positive contribution to the life of our city. According to an lds.org church news article, a dedication date hasn’t been set but is predicted to take place sometime in 2015.

Students at BYU-Hawaii who receive mail through the mail center at BYUH have been asked to make sure those who send them mail write their addresses correctly to ensure punctual delivery. Addresses at BYU-Hawaii are 4-liner addresses, not the typical 3-liner address. The 4-liner address is more specific and helps the postal service to deliver mail to BYUH in a timely manner. Olivia Christy, supervisor at the mail center at BYU-Hawaii, said the United States Postal Service is trying to update their mail delivery system. “The USPS is trying to get mail delivered as quickly as possible. They have become more automated which will really help this process.” said Christy. By having the senders write the address correctly, the USPS can ensure mail gets to its recipient faster. Georeen Mano-Yamada, postmaster at the Laie post office, sent a letter to mail box holders at BYUH warning them of the drastic consequences for improperly addressed mail. Her letter stated, “All mail incorrectly or incompletely addressed will be returned to sender and processed as undeliverable mail.” The letter stated that this notion was effective starting October 1, 2014. According to BYUH’s On-Campus Mail Box Contract, a complete and correct address for a mail box holder at BYU-Hawaii must include: Their full name, their BYUH mail box number, the school’s address including the Aloha Center building number (for example: 55-220 Kulanui St. Bldg 5), the city, the state and the zip code with the extension (for example: 96762-1293). On the third line of the address it is important to have “bldg 5” at the end of the school’s address, “The Aloha Center is building 5 and because all university mail comes through the Aloha Center, it [bldg 5] is important information for sorters before it gets to Laie.” said Christy. Having “bldg 5” on the address helps the post office in Laie to sort mail that is coming to the school, as there are many buildings on campus, Christy added. 96762-1293 is BYU-Hawaii’s area Zip code. It is called a Zip+4 Code, according to zipboundary.com. “This refers to the 5-digit Zip Code plus a 4-digit add-on number which identifies a geographic segment within the 5-digit delivery area, such as a city block, office building, individual high-volume receiver of mail, or any other distinct mail unit. The purpose of +4 codes is to aid efficient mail sorting and delivery,” read the FAQ page on zipboundary.com. Madi Wakefield, a freshman English major from Arizona, said she has not had any issues with her mailing address. She said, “My experience with the mail center has been absolutely normal which is great! It runs smoothly and I have gotten all my packages on time.” Wakefield has received all her mail on time but, like many other newcomers to BYUH, she has had trouble remembering the spelling of the Hawaiian street name. “I’m embarrassed to say I just figured out how to correctly spell the name of our street, Kulanui, but all my packages have made it to the mail room alright, even without the correct spelling.” Asako Inueo recognizes the benefits of having a mail box on campus. “It‘s really convenient to have a mail box on campus for many students, because everyone who has a mailbox can get mail or packages individually and independently.” Christy added that this is a notion spreading nationwide to aid postal offices across the country. She said, “Local post offices across the country have been asked to monitor and help the customer to add information to their (existing) exciting address to help this automation. They also would like this to be a message to the senders of mail so that they will print better addresses.”

Pronounced dead, Ebola victim zombies in Liberia “rise from the dead,” in order to get medical attention. The latest case of this was in Monrovia, Liberia on October 2nd. Amidst the angry crowds of people, a burial team worked alongside the road. Bystanders said, “We couldn't get him help when he was alive. They only come when you die." A community leader said they had been trying to get help for the man for days, but no ambulance or medical aid came until he was supposed dead. Often, it is the case that people will act dead in order to get medical help. Instead of waiting for days on end for medical help, people fake being dead because the burial crew shows up usually within the hour. When the crew realized the man was not dead, an ambulance showed up within ten minutes; however, sources have yet to confirm if they were in fact coming for the victim or just making rounds. Angelee Watson, a freshman, said “Someone pretending to be dead just to get medical attention is absolutely crazy. I hope they got the help they needed.”Kit Nadado, a senior at BYUH majoring in TESOL exclaimed that he is “really appalled by the desperation of the situation” and proposes that students “assess the resources we have, even if it is just praying and fasting for our brothers and sisters.”According to the World Health Organization, in the case of an Ebola virus disease (EVD outbreak), the most important thing remember is “good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely, case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe burials and social mobilization.” Ebola is unique in the sense that it does not die when the host does. Safety precautions are being taken to combat this particular attribute of the virus. Upon arrival to death site of an Ebola victim, burial crews will bleach the area and put the body in a plastic body bag to transport to graves suitable to contain the EVD.Although 50% of the people who contract Ebola survive, the fact of the matter is there’s a lot more room for dead bodies than there is for those in need of treatment.

David Bob Bailey, or “D-Bob,” as his family and friends call him, is a service missionary from Moroni, Utah, whose cheerful attitude and tireless work ethic has touched the lives of people on the BYU-Hawaii campus. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a more positive person in my life,” said Shai Thompson, an assistant coach on the BYUH Women’s volleyball team. “Watching him do what he does makes me want to work just as hard. There is nothing bad about him.” D-Bob stays busy the whole day working at the Polynesian Cultural Center and for the Athletics Department at BYUH. “I work at PCC aloha and set up chairs. The sports—I love that—I’m the water manager,” he said. Lacy Lange, a junior in business from Nevada and member of the volleyball team said, “I remember D-Bob coming 30 minutes early to every single one of our practices, always setting up, always being there for us, including our 6:00 a.m. practices.” Danae Pearl, who will begin Peace building classes next semester, had recently met Bailey only a few days before and said, “He’s the most amazing person. He had the spirit and he is ready to serve anywhere and anyone. He is full of love.” Pearl said the two had a spiritual experience and missionary moment. “He said that I touched him by sharing my testimony. He has the most amazing parents. I could see where he gets his love and drive to serve.” Bailey’s parents David and Eddi are serving as a senior missionary couple. Bailey’s father said, “I think we are here primarily because D-Bob willed it to happen. For the last several years, he kept asking when he could go on his mission, when can he serve and we always said ‘someday’. The opportunity came up and we had to apply and receive permission through the first presidency for D-Bob to come with us.” His mother reflected on the impact her son has had on the people on campus. “We’ve met different students who have written and told us stories about how he helped them get through the day or helped them like their experience here better because he stopped them one day.” Bailey continued and said she believes the students at BYUH are the reason the three missionaries have had a good experience. “They have welcomed him and accepted him for who he is and what he has to offer,” she said. One such story came from Kathy Collette, an exercise sports science, and junior from Utah. She said, “Honestly I can say he is one of my best friends. He is always happy and brings the best out of everyone. He’s a missionary. One time we were driving in my car and the side mirror broke, and he said ‘while you are gone I’m going to fix your mirror. I’m a missionary and I’m here to help people.’” Collette continued, “I feel like that is the perfect definition for D-Bob: he’s an angel, he’s a missionary and he serves everybody.” Elder Bailey finished his interview by saying, “I work hard every day. I love my friends in the PCC, volleyball, and basketball. I love my mom and my dad with all my heart so much.”

Riana Mahe, an alumnus from Laie, graduated from BYU-Hawaii in 2006 with her bachelor’s degree in exercise science. Mahe, a mother to six and grandmother to 16, shares her love for fitness and the impact it had on her life. As a student in the 1980s, Mahe was living in TVA with her little family. “My first encounter entering the aerobic room was quite intimidating. This is where my addiction to keeping healthy and fit begun,” said Mahe. The aerobics room became a second home when she became a certified aerobic instructor and taught aerobics at BYUH from 1990-2004. Mahe made the decision to defer her education, and along with aerobics, she instructed various classes including kick boxing, step, body jam, and high and low aerobics. Mahe also held free aerobic classes at the Laie Stake Center for young moms for two years during 1990-1992. “My love and motivation to teach grew because keeping fit helped me to cope with being a young mom. It gave me more energy to share a healthy life with my children. Being an aerobic instructor was a way for me to give back to the community and the students who attended BYUH,” said Mahe. Eventually, in 2004, she decided to finish what she started in the 1980s and get her degree.In 2006, Mahe graduated with her EXS degree in with an emphasis in health and wellness. “While my daughter was attending BYUH a couple years back, she expressed to me how difficult her jogging class was so I woke up every morning at 6 a.m. to run with her. It was a privilege,” said Mahe. Now at age 51, Mahe continues to commit to a healthy lifestyle by running the Malaekahana bike path every morning before she tends to her second passion as a special education teacher at Kahuku Elementary School. “As of now with my age limiting my fitness capability, I have just started a different workout program with my sister Margie in her garage. We do squats with weights, boxing, push-ups, and lunges with weights,” said Mahe. Mahe said she has been able to live a quality life as a mother and a grandmother because of her decisions to stay physically active and keep healthy. Along with her fitness achievements, Mahe has participated in 12 eight-mile Aloha Runs.

The Ebola crisis in the United States took another alarming turn Oct. 15 with word a second Dallas nurse caught the disease from a patient, reports AP. She flew across the Midwest aboard an airliner the day before she fell ill, even though government guidelines should have kept her off the plane.Amid growing concern, President Barack Obama canceled a campaign trip to address the outbreak and said his administration would respond in a “much more aggressive way” to Ebola cases in the United States.President Obama said he had directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to step up its response to new cases, reports AP. “We want a rapid response team, a SWAT team essentially, from the CDC to be on the ground as quickly as possible, hopefully within 24 hours, so that they are taking the local hospital step by step though what needs to be done,” he said.The second nurse was identified as 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson. Medical records provided to AP by Thomas Eric Duncan’s family showed she inserted catheters, drew blood and dealt with Duncan’s body fluids. Vinson was transferred Oct. 15 to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola after coming to the United States from Liberia. He died Oct. 8. He was the first person to die from Ebola in the United States.The virus that began in West Africa has now spread to Nigeria, Spain, Senegal, and the United States. The outbreak has infected over 7,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.Duncan came to the United States to visit family. According to the AP, it was his first time in the United States. He showed no symptoms of Ebola when he left Liberia on Sept. 20 but went to an emergency room in Dallas a few days after arriving. Doctors there failed to diagnose Duncan with the Ebola virus, and sent him home, despite Duncan telling the doctors he came from West Africa.Nina Pham, a nurse who was treating Duncan in Dallas, tested positive for the Ebola virus, making her the first person to contract the virus within the United States. Pham received a blood transfusion from Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted the virus while treating patients in West Africa but has since survived the virus and developed antibodies. Pham was said to be in an improved condition on Oct. 15, according to Tom Frieden, director of the CDC. As Ebola spreads throughout the world, countries are heightening the precautions they are taking to ensure the virus does not spread any further.Kelsie Gordan, a junior majoring in biology from Washington, added, “I don’t think we’ll have an epidemic in America with Ebola like the other countries. We take all the proper precautions, and we’re a lot more careful when it comes to sanitation.”“I think we’re safe in America,” Alyssa Troyanek, a junior majoring in international cultural studies from Arizona, said. “The underdeveloped countries are more at risk, and it’s sad to see them being so affected by the virus.”

When Casey Hoyt tells people he is a bodybuilder, he gets a lot of different reactions. “A lot of people think I’m a jerk without even knowing me, which I think is funny. I think people have that stigma that people with muscles are just jerks. When they get to know me, they say that they thought I was a total jerk but now that they know they know I’m not,” said Hoyt. Hoyt’s roommate Craig Martin, a senior from Washington studying graphic design, said, “He is by far the most positive person I know. Things that resonate in my ears that’s classic Casey is, ‘Does it really matter?’ and, ‘Why wouldn’t you?’ These two sayings of his have made him such an interesting person, and it’s been a blast sharing a house with him for over a year now.”Hoyt’s friends know him for one of his key mottos: “No matter what you do, just try your hardest.”Hoyt, a senior in exercise sport science from San Clemente, Calif., said he fell in love with bodybuilding after he returned from his mission in Argentina. “Being LDS and a bodybuilder actually coincide. I think that it actually helps me to develop as a member of the Church because it’s built off of the idea of constantly progressing and becoming better,” said Hoyt.Hoyt said he chose to do bodybuilding because of the individuality of it. “The fact that I don’t need to depend on other people to do well is nice. I’m only accountable to myself. I can’t say that it’s this person’s fault. If I do bad it’s because I didn’t do something. If I do good then I did something right,” said Hoyt.As he continues to perfect his bodybuilding Hoyt hopes to become a professional bodybuilder. “I’m going to work during the time that I do bodybuilding because it’s not a lucrative profession unless you’re one of the very top guys. I’m not banking on it because it’s not realistic, but I could possibly do it,” said Hoyt.In addition to building his physique, Hoyt said his bodybuilding has helped him to flex his spiritual muscles as well. “Preparing for a competition is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. It’s in those moments that you realize the things you need to do spiritually so that you can make it through something hard. Being able to stick to something helps me to be able to have good patterns throughout my life. “Being a bodybuilder also helps me to continue to do spiritual things so that I can stay on top of my spiritual progress,” said Hoyt.To prepare for competitions, Hoyt said he works out every morning, except for Sundays, and consistently eats five meals a day to fuel his workouts.For anyone who wants to get in shape, Hoyt said the key is to start and be consistent. “It takes a lot of effort. There’s a nutritional aspect, a training aspect, and there’s a supplement aspect. If you don’t work out, start working out consistently a few times a week and once you can get that down then start working on your nutrition,” said Hoyt.