an hour in the life of Aloha Shorts

On Tuesday, October 14, I just happened to be driving at 6:40 pm. I turned on the radio and suddenly the sounds of pidgin filled my car. I thought, "Who is this?" followed by "Wait – it’s Tuesday night! It HAS to be Aloha Shorts!" The person reading was Aito Simpson Steele, reading oldies but goodies from Eric Chock: "Aloha Week 1980", "Tutu on the Curb", and several others.

Since this episode aired during HPR’s fundraising drive, Darrell and Joe Tsujimoto did an interview between readings. A revelation: Darrell on the radio sounds EXACTLY like Darrell in person! Some people – me included – sound different on the phone or over the radio, but not Darrell. So if you are listening to the radio and somebody that sounds like Darrell is talking, it probably is him. Gotta watch what you say because now everybody knows it’s you!

Joe talked about his new book Morningside Heights, which just so happens to be published by your favorite neighborhood local publisher. Check it out in our online bookstore.

Then Darrell read his famous story "Moiliili Bag Man", with (bleeped out) swear words and all. When do you get to hear bleeps on the radio as part of real literature? When it’s on Aloha Shorts!

Janice Terukina finished the hour by reading Lee Tonouchi’s "Da Tree Uprising". I heard words like "face dramaticalization" and I realized it was one of my favorite Lee stories. If you ever wondered why Punahou School’s campus was so clean … well this is the story for you.

The result of listening to an hour of Aloha Shorts:

Mom: "Hey! We never spend thousands of dollars on private school for you to go speak pidgin!"
Me: "One hundred divided by tree is tirty-tree point tree tree. tree. tree. Tree. Tree. Tree! Tree! TREE! TREE! TREEEEEEE!!!"