The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo invites the public to attend a new storytelling event created to build connections across the UH Hilo campus and with the wider community.
Wailau premieres on Sunday, February 14, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. and will explore The Importance of Communication in Love. Students Kuʻuhiapo Jeong and Dayva Escobar, along with topic expert Dr. Ron Gordon from UH Hilo's Communication Department, hosts the event.
Wailau aims to spotlight voices and stories that fit the event theme in interesting ways, showcasing five storytellers at each event. February’s Wailau event will showcase these storytellers and stories:
• Lee B. Dombroski: “For the Love of Gran”
• Randy Hirokawa: “The Electric Guitar”
• Rebecca Choi: “Speaking Love”
• Jasmine Joao: “Friends I No Longer Talk To”
• Jeff Baumgardner: “Hitting the Send Button”
View bios of the hosts and storytellers at hilo.hawaii.edu/wailau.
Between the storyteller application deadline and the premiere, storytellers and hosts are being recorded on UH Hilo’s Performing Arts stage in advance of the online premiere. They will be chatting with attendees at the online premiere.
Wailau organizers include UH faculty, staff, students, alums, and community members, including the UH Hilo English Club. Students from the UH Hilo English Club determine Wailau themes, review applications and select storytellers.
Braden Savage, UH Hilo senior and UH Hilo English Club member, shared the team’s goal.
“We intend to bring together the community through stories,” he said. “Particularly during a time when disunity, isolation and social anxieties are rampant, we would like to show that we are still connected, that we are still able to build a link among the members of our community, despite restrictions on physical distance.”
Details about the next Wailau event will be released during the February 14 online event.
To attend the Wailau premiere online, visit: hilo.hawaii.edu/wailau/watch.php.