THE LEFT LANE
Spiny starfish on TV

Chaminade University marine biologist Gail Kaaialii and the oceans surrounding O'ahu will get air time on "Ultimate Animal," a show about spiny starfish, airing 9 p.m. Tuesday on PBS. The show is part of a series, "Shape of Life," produced by Sea Studios Foundation for National Geographic Television and Film in association with PBS. This installment highlights the spiny starfish as a "shining example of survival," using time-lapse photography to reveal the animal's little-known life and aggressive hunting practices.

A man sadly contemplates the inevitability of death, wondering why we're given life in the first place. A woman offers him her best answer, but he barely listens. So she offers her wisdom to a beggar. This is a summary of a wise-beyond-his-years "Poem in Three Conversations" written by 16-year-old Punahou sophomore Christopher Loui Schmicker, selected from among works submitted by more than 250,000 students in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Contest. Schmicker's poem is included in "You are Here, This is Now, Poems, Stories, Essays and Art from The Best Young Writers and Artists in America," released late last month, a PUSH anthology by Scholastic, Inc. The contribution by the son of Michael Schmicker and Pat Loui-Schmicker is the only one from Hawai'i.