Marking our second year anniversary in print, this issue celebrates businesses and people with a resiliency all their own.
Editor’s Letter: This December marks the two-year anniversary of FLUX in print. I think about our first issue, Transition, which launched in 2009, and am in awe of how much we ourselves have transitioned. People have come and gone, and yet, some remain.
Despite the stresses – emotional, mental and physical – that are inevitable in a life of publishing, the relationships that have stuck have made this crazy journey in print worth it. Many of our staff have been with us from day one. My creative director and my director of marketing are two such people. They signed on in 2009 and have hung on through every moment, through sweat and tears, late nights and earlier mornings, all in spite of the fact that our vision was (and still is) bigger than our bank accounts.
Understanding the importance of collaboration, we recently partnered up with Jason Cutinella, who is not just a publisher with a big vision, but also a close and trusted friend. His company, Nella Media Group, publishes innov8, the in-flight magazine for go! Airlines, Chinatown Newspaper, and Room Service, the hotel in-room compendium for Castle Resorts & Hotels. In this harsh economic climate, and especially in Hawai‘i, where the ideals of ‘ohana and aloha make up our everyday, we cannot afford to build walls or burn bridges.
Despite the place we are today, and the success FLUX has achieved, we are still newcomers to this print industry. If we can march forward in the years ahead with even some of the resilience of the people featured in this issue, I think we will be just fine.
Enjoy,
Lisa Yamada
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Featured Stories:
Rocky Rivera Comes Full Circle
I first met Rocky Rivera on paper. In a college course focusing on Filipino-American history channeled through hip-hop, I wrote a piece on women’s clutch role in the genre, and my case example being Rocky herself. Hey, I got a good grade. But that’s not why I’m telling you this. I’m telling you because this is where it starts.
JJ Niebuhr, JJ Dolan’s
John Niebuhr, known as “JJ” around the streets of Chinatown, pegs the success of JJ Dolan’s on one simple concept: hot pizza and cold beer. Niebuhr’s chewy and crisp pizza crust is arguable the best on the island. Here, Niebuhr shares the key ingredients to his dough recipe, although the measurements you’ll have to figure out yourself.
Selects: Jet Life
Now, more than ever, it’s not unusual for a jetsetter to be under 35. These youthful travelers are paying more attention to balancing style with the function of comfort. This is our guide to building a proper kit for stylish, relaxing and productive travel.
Defining the Human Spirit
Three incredible journeys define the strength of the human spirit in overcoming debility.
Getting to Know a Star
Google “contemporary art in Hawai‘i,” and you won’t find information on John Koga. You probably should though, since Koga is situated at the center of it all. He is an artist with a planetary personality, the former chief preparator at The Contemporary Museum, and, by his own admission, a string-pulling puppet master.