Waikiki

In November 2019, we visited Hawaii for the International Conference on Social Justice and Education at U Hawaii put on by Kevin Kumashiro. Not only was the location beautiful, but the conference was warm and encouraging as well as diverse. (I highly recommend selecting your conferences based on the quality of the topic and the quality of the location).

Jackson had not yet been to the Hawaiian Islands while I, on the other hand, have spent a bit of time hopping between them over the years.

We brought our film camera and spent the week retreating from the chill of Nashville to soak up the heat of the sun in Waikiki.

We tried Burmese food. We lunched at the Royal Hawaiian. We sat in lounge chairs and read until we ran out of pages and mai tais. We went out with friends and filled our bellies with modern Hawaiian fusion cuisine. We floated above the ocean, parasailing. We spent our evenings watching the sunset at the beach and listening to live jazz.

Now it feels like a world ago. The idea of getting on a plane with ease and disembarking to a tropical world are distant. But we can reminisce.