Monopoly of power | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Monopoly of power | The Honolulu Advertiser | Hawaii's Newspaper

Posted on: Thursday, April 8, 2004

THE LEFT LANE
Monopoly of power

Advertiser Staff and News Services

JOHNSON

In "Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China," Ian Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for his reporting on China, recounts the stories of three ordinary people who find themselves fighting oppression and government corruption, risking imprisonment and even death. The three are: a young architecture student, a bereaved daughter and a peasant legal clerk.

Today, Johnson speaks at a brown-bag lunch, 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the East-West Center's Burns Hall, an event co-sponsored by the center, the Asia Pacific Center for Journalists, the Taoist Restoration Society and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

Johnson, China bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his reporting on the Falun Gong sect. China is intent on pursuing economic reform, raising living standards and giving its citizens more determination in their own lives, but at the same time refuses to alter the monopoly of power exercised by the Communist Party, he says; but small pockets of resistance may eventually lead to a revolution.

Omiyage in Vegas

Remote omiyage? Not-from-home care packages?

Former Hawai'i resident Georgene Tom has found a way for folks to share the flavors of the Islands without having to stuff 10 pounds of arare in a carry-on or lug leaden loads of li hing mui to the post office. Based in Las Vegas, Tom's one-mom business, Exquisite Gift Baskets, offers a variety of goodie parcels filled with Island delectables. Delivery is free in the Las Vegas (including UNLV) and Henderson areas.

Tom's company also offers gourmet, bath and body, and special-occasion baskets. Call (702) 898-4438, see www.exquisite-gift.com or e-mail exquisitegift@cox.net.

Lavender for literacy

The taste, smell and look of lavender will surround attendees at Cook's Discoveries' fourth Annual Easter Literacy Benefit to be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in Daniel Thiebaut's restaurant in Waimea, on the Big Island. It helps celebrate the recent formation of the Hawaii Lavender Co-op, a diversified agriculture project based in Waimea.

The Easter fashion show will be staged by Honolulu fashion designer Nake'u Awai, and will be "more like a theater in the round with short vignettes set to song and dance" than a traditional ramp show, said organizer Patti Cook. Models will be "real folks" from Waimea, including police Capt. Chad Fukui and veterinarian Lisa Wood.

The benefit will help purchase a new sixth-grade reading curriculum for Waimea Middle School. Tickets are $42, available exclusively at Cook's Discoveries.

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