Hiking adventures on Oahu and Hilo, Hawaii.
Hawaii offers an array of beautiful natural escapes. With the semester coming to an end and the (seemingly) forever-lasting endurance of this remaining week laced with final exams and copious levels of stress; here are a few of my favorite places that I will soon be revisiting to regain serenity, inspiration, and recuperation from this busy-busy, but very fulfilling semester.
Camera: Lomography La Sardina| 35mm
A montage of film and poetry I created for my WS 445 final project.
Each and every piece was inspired by various dynamics of identity, identity fluidity, realization of the self, and consciousness. These pieces are modeled upon personal experiences.
This blog is a project based off of my coverage at the 2014 Los Cabos Ironman Triathlon. This project is a collaboration with my semester film partner Lacy Deniz.
Join the Ironman Experience at : : http://theironmanexperience2014.weebly.com/
This is my most recent design project for my Journalism 320 class at the University of Hawaii. The layout was created with Adobe In Design.
March 26- April 1, 2014: I spent my spring break working in Los Cabos, Mexico. I was able to travel here with the Louise Hess Miller research grant I received from the University of Hawaii. The purpose of my trip involved photographing/filming the 2014 Ironman Los Cabos Triathlon. Over my six day stay, I started some projects: a triathlete documentary (the next chapter will be covered this October from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii!) and some culturally-inspired poetry/short fiction stories. This trip was both inspiring and nonetheless very exciting.
An interesting film for the approaching summer, L’Inconnu Du Lac is both thought-provoking and raw. I bring this archived review back after a recent discussion about the delineation of gender binaries and romance in contemporary film. HIFF will be bringing a new, highly anticipated collection of films this Fall at the 2014 Hawaii International Film Festival. 
Presented by Halekulani, the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) kicked off October 10th and will be lasting until the 20th, showcasing a variety of well-anticipated films both local and foreign; at Regal Dole Cannery Stadium & IMAX, Consolidated Koko Marina 8, Honolulu Museum of Art Doris Duke Theatre, and the Hawaii theatre.
On October 15th, with the premier of several great films, one beautifully constructed piece, had audience members captivated well into the night. A product of French director, Alain Guiraudie; Stranger, By the Lake mesmerized the crowded theatre with its provocative nature, alluring romantic composition, and tensional built.
L’Inconnu Du Lac, or Stranger By the Lake takes place at an obscure French lake, a prominent cruising area for men seeking male intimacy. Francke, a handsome regular, creates an unexpected friendship with an oddball newcomer, Henri; while lusting after a taken man. After witnessing a tragic murder tied to the irresistible Michel, Francke disregards all of his senses in order to obtain what his heart most deeply longed for – love; but while risking it all for the heart of a dangerous man. With remarkable imagery, and a compelling sense of realism, Guiraudie succeeded in creating a fascinating drama.
Stranger By the Lake debuted at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and earned Alan Guiraudie an award for “Best Director,” of a drama film.
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WEST HAWAII EXPLORATION ACADEMY STUDENTS EXPLAIN THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANCHIALINE PONDS
Beneath the Kona sun, one’s skin is grazed with atmospheric warmth and the scent of sea water. Rolling morning waves regularly creep onto the shore, carried by dry Kona trade winds that pass over the coastal Hawaiian waters – each time approaching the sand, from a slightly different distance than the last. Volcanic rocks seen in the horizon, emulates a lunar landscapes. Kona is a special rigid and dark land of truly natural creation.
The islands of Hawai’i possess unique natural features that have nurtured its inhabitants with abundant life necessities for generations. Exclusive to tropic and subtropics’ regions of the Earth, anchialine ponds not only serve as an important contributor to the water cycle, but also sustain rare aquatic organisms uncommon in other regions of the world. According to Richard E. Brock, James E. Norris, David A. Ziemann and Michael T. Lee’s Characteristics of Water Quality in Anchialine Ponds of the Kona, Hawaii, Coast, a University of Hawai’i Press from 1988, Hawai’i’s Kona district has been estimated to nourish over 70 percent of the anchialine ponds on the island of Hawai’i.
At the Ninth annual Children’s Culture Festival on November 22-23rd at Koloko Honokohau National Historical Park in Kona-Kailua, students from West Hawai’i Exploration Academy (WHEA) demonstrated the significance of anchialine ponds, to visiting fourth and fifth graders from three Kona-district elementary schools. The WHEA anchialine pond demonstration gave visiting students an opportunity to participate in a hands-on activity that displayed strong visual understandings of the area’s formation and water processes.
Anchialine ponds are sea-neighboring, rock-enclosed indentations formed in limestone and volcanic rock. These ponds fill up with brackish water (ocean saltwater combined with mountain freshwater) via underground links, in which freshwater travels. The process begins when freshwater evaporates from the ocean, travel over land falls as precipitation.
“The water then infiltrates the rock,” said a WHEA student, as she poured water onto a small piece of volcanic rock. “The water that infiltrates the rock either goes into the ground, and becomes our groundwater (drinking water) or it flows down into the Anchialine ponds.”
“Does anybody know what an Ahupua’a is?” a WHEA student asks, as the fourth grade students eagerly gathered around the display table.
“An Ahupua’a, is a strip of land that runs from the mountain to the ocean. It is where many ancient Hawaiians lived, because that land provided them with everything they needed,” the WHEA student responded.
The Ahupua’a serves as a rout for naturally moving freshwater that enters the anchialine pond and integrates with ocean salt water that has passed into the pond during tidal movements. Because saltwater is denser than freshwater, it settles at the bottom of the pond beneath the freshwater. According to a WHEA student, “anchialine ponds support a variety of rare organisms that have adapted to the fluctuation of salinity.”
These ponds are necessary to keep rare organisms alive, just one of the many reasons anchialine ponds are a vital component to the aquatic ecosystem. Unfortunately, anchialine ponds are highly threated and face risks of depletion on a regular basis, foreign species that enter the ponds desecrate rare organisms, killing and eating them, which amplifies the possibility of their extinction. Water contamination and coastal development also endanger the anchialine ponds. Coastal development ruins the ponds by crushing the tunnels that transport water into the reservoir. Construction runoff destroys the ponds as bulky debris and chemicals impede its natural flow process. Natural disasters, such as tsunamis also, annihilate the anchialine ponds. According to Characteristics of Water Quality in anchialine ponds of Kona, Hawaii, Coast, in late 1985 over 130 anchialine ponds were destroyed by coastal development. Ancient Hawaiians used the anchialine ponds for fishing and bathing, employing techniques that validated the ponds as valuable natural resources necessary for survival.
By raising community awareness, prohibiting construction near the anchialine ponds, and removing invasive species, this important ecosystem can and should be protected.
Amanda Regan 
