Okay, good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today's book launch. It is our great pleasure to welcome our speaker, Professor Xiao A-ting from Academia Cineca. In today's session, he is going to talk about his new book, Politics and Cultural Nativism in 1970s Taiwan, Youth, Narrative and Nationalism. So the whole thing started off because I heard about the publication of this new book in the summer. I talked to David and we both agree that it would be fantastic to invite him to show us to share his research outcome. This book is hot off the press and was only on the market for a few days. The Sewers Library has already ordered an e-copy. I was told just now that a student will be able to access the e-book via a Sewers Library from tomorrow. So, you know, it's very lucky that you heard the introduction today, then you can actually read the book tomorrow. Before the talk, allow me introduce Professor Xiao. He gained his PhD in sociology at the University of California, San Diego. His expertise ranges from cultural nationalism, language, Taiwanese literature, ethnicity, collective memory, sociology of generation that's a new one, and discourse. He's now a research fellow, professor, and deputy director of the Institute of Sociology, Academia, and Cineca. Our students are familiar with his work, the first book in English, Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism. Many chapters of this book are on our reading list, and this book focuses on the rise of cultural nationalism in Taiwan, and also its role in Taiwan's political change and democratization. This older book concentrates on the importance of intellectuals, writers, and linguists. In many ways, that book explores the emergence of cultural nationalism in the 1980s and 90s. It is extremely helpful for students who are interested in Taiwan's nationalism or nation building through culture during this period. Compared to his first book, which was published in 2000, the new book Politics and Cultural Nativism in 1970s Taiwan has shifted his research focus to the earlier and seemingly more murkier 1970s. I always told students that cultural change as well as political transformation do not happen overnight. Taiwanese transitions started well before the lifting of martial law. Unfortunately, there has been very little research on this period written in English, especially in the cultural sphere. The publication of this book is timely and long overdue. I read his Chinese version. He describes these two books, one on cultural nationalism in the 80s and 90s, and this new one like Twins. In many ways, the two books are tightly interconnected and can be read in tandem. They enable us to get a more nuanced reading of Taiwan's cultural nationalism and political change. In this book, Professor Xiao explores the turning point in Taiwan's history and traces the trajectory of changing political climate from the perspective of generational change, especially focusing on the rise of Taiwan's baby boomers in the 1970s. It places particular importance on the rise of a younger generation who had no firsthand personal experience of life on the mainland and offers a closer reading of a period of drastic change, openly challenging the status quo and shifting their concerns from China to Taiwan. This is really a crucial moment of bubbling and self-doubting and challenging the KMT regime. Apart from the two major monographs, you can see quite a few of his co-edited books in our library. To find out more, please search our library. I think we have at least five books either authored by him or co-edited by him. By tomorrow, there will be six. He told me that his recent research interests are drawn to the ocean. One direction explores the relationship between the ocean fishing village tourism and national imagination in Taiwan. And the other imagines the role of Taiwan's civil society actors in the territorial dispute over Diao Yutai Island. So two, again, links for very different topics. After his presentation, we will open the floor for Q&A. May I remind you to post your questions using the chat function? If we have loads, then we'll have to take chances that we probably will choose yours. If there are not so many, and we can actually ask you to come and ask the question yourself. So you can find a speech bubble icon at the top of the screen and type your question there so we know you put your question forward. So without further ado, Professor Xiao, the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you so much for the kindly introduction. I would like to thank Professor Zhang Piyin for inviting me to talk about my new book. My book is a story about the 1970s Taiwan, about the critical role the younger generation played in the political and cultural change in this decade. And about the relationship between the political and cultural change in the 1970s on the one hand and the democratization and the indigeneration of Taiwan since the 1980s on the other. Today I will introduction the new book to you by telling this story very briefly. So first let me show my power point. Okay, before I talk about the new book I would like to say something about my previous book, contemporary Taiwanese cultural nationalism. As Professor Zhang mentioned just now, this old book analyzed how Taiwanese nationalism influenced the literature, historiography, and the language revival movement in the 1980s and the 1990s. I deal with the 1970s very briefly in this previous book. And when I finished writing the manuscript of this book, I realized that I think I have to work on 1970s Taiwan as an independent project. There are two reasons for this. First, so far most of the research on Taiwan's democratization, national identity, and the Taiwanese nationalism focuses on the 1980s and after. Except for the large number of studies of Xiang Tu, Wen Xue, nativist literature of the 1970s, this decade has been an understudied period even up to now. The second reason is that even those scholars who acknowledge the significance of political cultural change in the 1970s have paid little attention to the effects of generational factors in political and cultural change in the 1970s. Also scholars have ignored the continuing influence of Chinese nationalism on political and cultural activists of the younger generation in this decade. That is in terms of national consciousness among political and cultural dissidents. Generally speaking, there was a difference between the 1970s on the one hand and the 1980s and the beyond on the other. My new book is intended to fill these two research gaps. I argue that to achieve this purpose, we need a detailed investigation of the efforts of three groups of young intellectuals in the 1970s. The first group was cultural activists who rediscovered the Taiwan New Literature, Taiwan Xin Wen Xue. That is modern literature written by Chinese authors in the Japanese colonial period. The second group was writers and advocates of a socially conscious nativist literature. And the third group was young intellectuals who joined the political opposition movement, especially those young political dissidents who studied the Chinese anti-colonial movement that challenged Japanese rule in the 1920s. Okay, so far, so is my voice clear to you? Yes. Okay, then I will continue. Whether these groups or these young political and cultural dissidents were studying the colonial past or representing or even trying to change the present, these young dissidents were Chinese in their consciousness. In general, they drew on the Chinese national story constructed and allocated by the KMT to make sense of Taiwan's past and present. This story or narrative is just like what you see on my PowerPoint. But I'm sorry that I don't have time to get into these details. You can just read it. These young intellectuals narrated their lives in this public and collective story of China's fall and the rise. A story that situated them in time and structured their agency. What changed during this decade is that Taiwan's colonial history and contemporary problems became more and more important in this narrative, in this national narrative. We can say that for almost everyone, however, this master narrative, according to which they were all Chinese when unchallenged until the 1980s. The continual influence of this master narrative in Taiwan and its eventual decline are very important for us to study today because of the significance of the very same master narrative in the PRC. The key element of this national narrative is the same recovery from national humiliation that once inspired the Chinese intellectuals to political and cultural activism in the 1970s. As I will show in the presentation today, for many political and cultural dissidents, this decade was an early stage of transition from an old Chinese identity to a new Chinese consciousness. So where should the story about the 1970s Taiwan start? My book starts it with the 1970s and 1960s. For the Chinese government in exile, the 1960s was a decade of consolidation and the successful repression of the opposition. Like many countries, Taiwan experienced the rapid growth of both young population and the higher education in the early post-war period. So as a result, a new highly educated generation, including members from local Tarnese and mainland backgrounds were emerging. Since the rise of modern Chinese nationalism in the late 19th century, young people in Taiwan that came to maturity in the 1960s was the first generation that the KMT government had successfully indoctrinated with its particular version of Chinese nationalism in peacetime situation. The KMT ideology dominated the post-war generation's education and had a very powerful assimilating effect on their political attitudes. Also, the island society was shaped by the exile mentality of mainlanders, which emphasized the possibility of returning to their old homes on the Chinese mainland. The government initiated patriotism and anti-communism prevailed in the 1960s. But unlike many other places in the world that went through the disturbance of the 60s brought about by the student and youth movements, colleges and college students and young intellectuals in Taiwan did not create any significant disturbance. The KMT's tight political control created a politically inactive young generation. It was not until the 1970s that the KMT's authoritarian rule encountered major challenges and significant political and cultural changes occurred. And these changes were brought about mainly by diplomatic failures. At the end of 1969, Taiwan and Japan began to dispute the sovereignty of the Diaozi Islands when the U.S. was preparing to return them to Japan. Then and in the spring of 1971, college students in northern Taiwan organized the defense of the Diaozi movement, Baodiao, Baowei, Diaozi Taiyoon Dong or Baodiao to protest against the U.S. and Japan. The Diaozi incident was a turning point, but it was only in the beginning of Taiwan's diplomatic failures in this decade. It was followed by the exclusion of Taiwan from the United Nations. Also, the U.S. began to normalize the relations with China. Then Taiwan blocked off relations with increasingly more countries such as Japan when they recognized the PRC. From the very beginning of the Diaozi incident, college students, especially those at the National Taiwan University, NTU, became more and more enthusiastic about the issues of social political reforms. As one NTU student put it at the time, the Diaozi incident created, I quote, a new situation that never happened in the previous 20 years. It was the first time student interest had been so eagerly focused on political and social issues. The students demanded not only such campus reform as educational independence and university democratization, they also demanded a general social political reform, even the complete re-election of the National Assembly, and the legislative union, which was still a politically sensitive issue at that time. These college students were supported by a group of young reformist intellectuals surrounding the general, the intellectual, as many researchers have pointed out, rapid and dramatic social changes such as war, civil disorder, exile, and so on, typically create painful experience to people and become major traumatic events. In history, the kind of traumatic events usually transform people of the same or similar age into politically or socially active groups with a strong generational identity. This typically happens as a result of a process of awakening. In this process, people develop a critical consciousness about the status quo, and it may take action accordingly. This pretty much the case of those college students and young intellectuals who were shocked by the Diaozi incident, and the Taiwan's continuing major diplomatic failures. They argued that for Taiwan to survive the difficult situation, the KMD government must abolish the exile mentality and wake up from the dream of retaking the Chinese melon and open its eyes to the true reality of Taiwan. At the beginning of the 1970s, these awakened college students and young intellectuals became a new social force that demanded democracy and social political reforms based on a return to reality idea. That is the idea of hui gui xian si. However, after two years of social political activism following the Diaozi incident, by 1974, the college students and young intellectuals were suppressed into silence by the KMD. But as we see that the suppression of the social and the political activism did not mean the disappearance of what I called the return to reality generation. On the country, many awakened young people found alternative ways to realize their reformist aspiration, such as joining the emerging opposition movement, the Dangai movement, led by young local Chinese politicians, Wang Xinjie and Pang Linxiang. In addition, the nativist cultural currents began to rise, which included research on modern literature and social political activism of the Japanese colonial period. I mean, these cultural currents also included the promotion of a nativist literature with the strong social critical consciousness. The main initiators of these cultural currents were precisely awakened young intellectuals and college students. As I have mentioned, the KMD ideological indoctrination had a powerful assimilating effect on both local Chinese and mainland young people. In this decade, those young political dissidents and cultural activists of local Chinese background who promoted nativism relied mainly on the historical narrative of Chinese nationalism as a frame of reference to make sense of their contemporary opposition movement or modern literature and social political activism of the Japanese colonial period. In general, they shared a sense of Chinese national identity, but they began to challenge the KMD ideology that they took for granted when they grew up in the 1960s by rediscovering Taiwan's past and promoting return to reality and the native soil. Here are some publications authored by some intellectuals of the return to reality generation. All of these have titles which demonstrated their strong generational identity and reformist passion. These are just selective examples of many such publications in the 1970s. You can see those book titles. Now for the rest of my talk, I would like to focus on the three groups of young political and cultural activists in the 1970s which were most significant to the following political democratization, cultural indigenization, historical rewriting, and so on and so forth. Let me start with the rediscovery of modern literature of the Japanese colonial period. Until the beginning of the 1970s, little had been known about the history of modern literature written by Chinese authors under the Japanese. In the early 1970s, when the awakened young intellectuals of local Chinese background tried to rediscover Taiwan's past, their focus was on the Japanese colonial period. In May 1972, Tsuen Sao Tin published an article entitled China's Main Fourth Movement and the New Literature Movement in Taiwan. In the magazine, The Intellectual. So he became the pioneer of a general investigation of the colonial literary history in this decade. In the year before Tsuen Sao Tin published this article, Taiwan suffered a series of diplomatic setbacks, including the Giao Yitai incident, the withdrawal from the UN, and so on. As I mentioned during this period, the magazine, The Intellectual, which supported the reform of the college students, became a discursive center that called for political and social reforms. As a native Chinese, Tsuen Sao Tin was precisely the president of this magazine. Also, he was one of the major advocates of the complete re-election of the National Assembly and the Legislative Union, which were dominated by the older generation of Melendez. In his pioneering article, under the framework of the historical narrative of Chinese nationalism, he defined the nature of modern literature written by the Chinese authors under Japanese colonialism as a form of Chinese nationalist resistance. He also described it as part of the changes brought about by China's literary revolution of May 4, 1919. After the publication of Tsuen Sao Tin's article, many young intellectuals followed him and devoted themselves to rediscovering the history of modern literature of the colonial period. The interpretive framework on which they relied to understand the significance of the modern literature written by the Chinese under the Japanese rule was a little different from that in Tsuen Sao Tin's article. As a result of more than a thousand of writers of an older generation, including Yang Kui, Song Li He, Lai He, Lü He Ruo, Wu Zuo Liu, Wu Xin Rong, Zhang Shengjie, and so on, were rediscovered. Their works were republished and attracted an increasing number of young admirers. They were widely read with eagerness among these young admirers were, for example, Zhang Liangze and Lin Rui Ming, who both later became leading researchers of Taiwanese literature and major promoters of cultural indigenization. In discussing how Yang Kui's story described the suffering of the Chinese people under the Japanese rule, Lin Rui Ming wrote at the time that, let me quote, this was a faith that the Chinese people had endured together. This is the larger meaning of Yang Kui's works. He wrote about the background with which he was familiar, about the grief of the sons and daughters of China. And in a broader sense, they are originally part of the harvest of Chinese literature. And the spirit of Yang Kui has already been revitalized by the younger generation. This newfound strength is China's hope for the future, unquote. So, like Lin Rui Ming, many young intellectuals tried to define the present situation and find out the future by rediscovering the past under the framework of China's national narrative. They tried to know who they said, who themselves were by connecting their own generation to the previous. Now I would like to move on to the relationship between nativist literature and significant awakening in the younger generation. As I pointed out, the rediscovery of Taiwan's modern literature of the colonial period began with Chen Xiaotian's 1972 article, China's main fourth movement and the new literature movement in Taiwan. More and more young intellectuals were eager to rediscover and study the colonial literary legacy. Meanwhile, a nativist literature was emerging. These literary currents mutually reinforced one another. Many promoters of nativist literature were also involved in the re-examination of colonial Taiwanese literature. Over the next several years, up to the nativist literature debate, Xiang Tu, Wen Xue, Lun Zhan in 1977, a large number of essays supporting nativist literature appeared in newspapers and magazines. Such low-quality writers as Chen Yin-Zhen, Wang Chun-Min, Wang Zhen-He, Yang Qing-Chu, and Wang Tu became a leading nativist writer. As a literary critic commented at the time, none of the young people of the nativist writers generation had ever seen what the Chinese mainland was like, and all had received the same education in post-war Taiwan. The young writers of nativist literature were typical examples of this generation that was deeply influenced by the PMT ideology and the exile mentality. But they were also clear examples of the return to reality generation that emerged in the context of Taiwan's diplomatic failures. Let me take Wang Tuo for example. In 1978, Wang Tuo became dan wise candidate for Ji Long city in national assembly elections. In an interview when asked about the event that had influenced him the most, that is the biggest turning point in his life, he replied in this way, quote, I think about the influence to me the most is a series of incidents from protecting the Taoist to leaving the event. I was educated by these continuing incidents. In the past, we only stayed in the classroom and only considered a few intellectual issues. But the defendant, the Taoist movement brought me in contact with the wider world of the masses. And for the first time in 30 years, we understand how to take action and how to think theoretically, think about why this whole state and the nation have turned out like this on court. As for as for other nativist writers such as Chen Yenzhen, Huang Zemin, Yang Qinzu, they all shared experiences similar to Wang Tuo's. Moreover, as far as the readership is concerned, let me quote another important literary critic, He Xin. On this point, He Xin was also a professor of Western literature. As he pointed out in his 1978 article, when talking about how the popularity of the reported literature, Bao Dao, Wen Xie, was stimulated by the nativist literature. He said, I quote, a new readership has formed many young intellectuals and youth who are entering the middle class. They are no longer in bondage to the past. They do not have experiences of the struggles against the Japanese and the communists on the Chinese mainland, which have become a psychological burden of their previous generation. Now they are getting to know themselves. These young people were born on Taiwan and have spent over 30 years growing up here. This explains why they are most concerned about their native land, the place where they were born and brought up, unquote. So in brief, not only the writers of nativist literature and the reporting literature, but also a readership to appreciate them represented the formation of the return to reality generation since the beginning of the 1970s. This generation's formation began at a time when Taiwan was confronting major international political change. Also, as I pointed out early, it involves a process of awakening for many young people to which nativist writers and their supporters belong. Now let's move to the third group, one part of my focus on my research in the new book. So let's look at the relationship between the return to reality generation and the Dang-Wai opposition movement. The opposition movement again, momentum in this decade, when anti-Chemding political dissidents began to develop an island-wide network of connections. Both Huang Xinjie and Kang Linxiang became leaders in Dang-Wai. In this period, members of the Dang-Wai generally had a very strong historical consciousness, a powerful sense of history. Their historical sense had two fundamental aspects. First, a deep awareness of generational identity, and second, a greater concern for Chinese history with the special interest in the history of Chinese anti-chlorian movements in the 1920s. This Dang-Wai special sense of history was first expressed by Kang Linxiang. In February 1975, at the legislative end, as a legislator, Kang Linxiang criticized the policy report given by the prime minister, Jiang Jinguo. He pointed out that people over 65 had dominated the leadership of government. He emphasized that about 87 percent of the population was composed of the generation under the age of 49. Therefore, he demanded that the KMD government listen to the voice of the younger generation, which would decide the future of Taiwan. Equally important is the fact that he urged the government to appreciate the significance of Taiwanese history and culture, especially the history of a variety of anti-Japanese movements motivated by modern political ideology in the 1920s. He argued that in 50 years of Japanese rule, the Chinese people suffered a pain and a sacrifice, no less than their compatriots on the Chinese melancholy during the anti-Japanese war. In fact, in each issue of the Taiwan political review, there was an article on the history of Chinese anti-colonial struggle. Taiwan political review was the very first Dang-Wai magazine in the 1970s, which was founded in 1975 by Huang Xinjie, Kang Linxiang, and Zhang Junhong, and others. As I have mentioned, although the political and social activism was suppressed by the KMD government in the early 1970s, many awakened young intellectuals who were younger than Huang Xinjie and Kang Linxiang joined the emerging opposition movement. These intellectuals represented a rising younger generation and show a strong generational consciousness. They usually referred to themselves as Dang-Wai, new generation, Dang-Wai, Xinsen Dai. For example, Zhang Junhong, who later became the chairman of the DPP, once described his generation as anxious and frustrated new generation under the KMD rule. He was the chief editor of the Dang-Wai magazine, Zhe Yi Dai Zazi, which was precisely entitled New Generation in English. Like the Taiwan political review, the other three most important Dang-Wai political magazines published before the 1979 Kaohsiung incident. That is, New Generation, the 80s, and Formosa represented many articles on the, presented many articles on the Chinese history, especially those about the anti-Japanese movements of the 1920s. Meanwhile, Huang Xiong wrote a series of books about the history of Chinese anti-colonialism, including the first biography of one of the major anti-colonial leaders, Jiang Weisui. Like many other young intellectuals who joined the Dang-Wai, Huang Xiong compared the anti-KMD pro-democracy Dang-Wai movement of the 1970s to the Chinese anti-colonial movement of the 1920s, showing the typical strong sense of history of the return to reality generation. According to Huang Xiong, Taiwanese anti-colonial activists were Chinese nationalists in their consciousness. He argued that their activities promoted the high national spirit of the Chinese people and made the Chinese compatriots proud of the Chinese nation. For this reason, they had nothing to apologize for to the ancestral land, much less to the Chinese nation. Huang Xiong hoped in his publications that his works would help the Chinese nation unite by promoting the spiritual legacy of the anti-colonial activists during the national crisis in the 1970s. Huang Xiong believed that the tradition of anti-colonial activism could give people a sense of connection and identity with the Chinese nation. By the way, as you may know, Huang Xiong served as chairperson of the Transitional Justice Commission in 2018, under the Tsai Ing-wen's administration. Another example was Li Xiu-lian, who later became Chen Sui-bian's vice president. In 1978, as a Dang-Wai candidate in the election for the National Assembly members, Li Xiu-lian published her book entitled Taiwan's Past and Future, Taiwan's Guo Chi i Weirai. It was the most systematic presentation of the Dang-Wai sense of history and their historical narrative. This book can be regarded as a precursor to the Chinese consciousness and the Chinese nationalism that arose in the 1980s. In her book, Li Xiu-lian emphasized Taiwan's positioning within China. Let me quote. Yes, Taiwan is the province of China. Most Taiwanese people's ancestors came from the Chinese mainland. And this is exactly why to love Taiwan, is to love China. To talk Taiwanese is to Chinese. To challenge Taiwanese culture is to challenge Chinese culture. And to deal with Taiwanese history is of course to deal with Chinese history. But Li Xiu-lian also argued that there is a similarity between the basic problems of women and the historical fate of the Taiwanese people. And that she wanted to transcend the traditional Sino-centric position and adopted the standpoint of Taiwan in itself. She described Taiwan's history as a continuous stream of immigration and colonization. The Spaniards, the Dutch, Chinese mean royalists under Kotsinga, the Qing and the Japanese, here for her, Li Xiu-lian were all colonizers who established foreign regimes. By saying this, Li Xiu-lian hinted that the KMT, like the previous rulers in Taiwan, was a colonizer, a foreign regime. She argued that the people of the island must fight for control of government and destiny. Li Xiu-lian's representation of Taiwanese history was radical and anticipated the later radicalization of the opposition movement. And its new historical narrative, due to the brutal suppression by the KMT government in the years following the Kaohsiung incident of December 1979. So, like those cultural activists who rediscovered the Taiwan neo-literature in the Japanese colonial period and the writers and supporters of nativist literature, the young political dissidents who studied the Taiwanese history, such as Huang Wangxiong, Li Xiu-lian, and other Taiwan magazine authors, drew on the historical narrative of Chinese nationalism as a frame of reference on the one hand, but tried to broader Taiwan's history and contemporary reality to their fellow country men's attention on the other. Before I move to the conclusion of my new book, let me quote a short essay by the writer-journalist Yang Zhao. He once characterized the 1970s in Taiwan as a period of discovering China, but he also argues, let me quote, we can use the term discover Taiwan to describe the core of thought in the 1970s, but people at that time in the 1970s thought what they discovered was China rather than Taiwan. As time passed into the 1970s, the concept of China itself became the most important object of controversy. The question for me in people's minds in fact was, could society we had developed and the life we were living in Taiwan be regarded as Chinese at all? Those who gave a positive answer to this question began to kiss the dubious eye on the historical and geographical symbolism used to represent China before, those byproducts of nostalgia, believing that they were really empty and ruthless. They argued that only when we grasped the present and what was close to us could we truly grasp China. This idea ran through the major cultural debates of the time, the idea that Taiwan in reality could stand for China. This idea was a way of spring of the subsequent discourse of native Chinese, but it first emerged in the form of a very vehement Chinese nationalism. I think the documentation and analysis in my new book supported Yang Zhao's tentative but insightful argument. In conclusion, I would like to say that Taiwan is still under the influence of the major political and cultural changes of the 1970s. My new book argues for a generational perspective on the political and cultural descent of this decade. My book analyzes the three major changes that were crucial to the following democratization and the indigenization process. They included the rediscovery of the history of modern literature and the social political activism of the Japanese colonial period, the promotion of nativist literature, and the opposition movement. I argue that these changes were pushed mainly by members of the post-war generation that had a strong generational consciousness, as well as a sense of Chinese identity with an orientation to Taiwan. For many of them, this decade was an early stage of transition from an old Chinese identity to a new Chinese consciousness. The combination of a powerful generational identity I mean the combination of a powerful generational identity and a strong historical consciousness was an important source of agency that motivated them to change the status quo. The Taiwan turned taken by the reality generation in the single mostly important reorientation in post-war Taiwan because it formed the matrix of the cultural politics of Taiwanese nationalism and democratization in the following decades. This return to reality generation has shaped the history of Taiwan over the last five decades. Now the members of this generation are getting old if not withering. Also in terms of historical comparison, research on the role of the post-war generation in political and cultural change in Taiwan should emphasize the critical decade of the 1970s, not the 1960s, the decade that had received the most attention in the West. Okay, so thank you for your listening and patience. Let me just stop here.


Thank you. Good afternoon. The next item is portfolio questions, and the portfolio is TransportNet0 and Just Transition. I would remind members if they wish to ask supplementary, that they should press the request-to-speak button during the relevant question, or enter the letters RTS in the chat function if on line. Question number one, Cllw Caffsturet. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities i creu'r busul, i'r bwysig o'u bwysig o'r rhainref sydd gwaith gyda Iesweth Ffnorene. Mae Ffnorene Hyslwn, y Ffnorene Gwyrdd associateic acid yn defnyddio'r transport o'r pernau cyfle i gydag i ddeithasio i gweld gwysig o'r busul i'r rhainref sydd gyda Iesweth Ffnorene a'i ddadu dwy'r busw pwysig o'n bwysig i'r vwysig o'r bwysig o'r rhainref sydd gyda Iesweth Ffnorene Gwyrd services leading up to Christmas and additional carriages on busy services, as well as an expanded boxing day service, which for the first time will cover five perth in sterling. The majority of bus services in Scotland are operated on a commercial basis by private companies, and as such, the promotion of these services is a matter for individual operators to consider. However, we are aware that bus operators run seasonal timetables. I thank the minister for that answer. The festive season is indeed an extremely busy period for Glasgow City Centre and people flocking from all over to enjoy our local hospitality and retail businesses. Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Bus Alliance, Glasgow Taxi, Nighttime Economy, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport and ScotRail have teamed up to launch the Choose Public Transport campaign. Does the minister welcome the campaign and agree with me that choosing public transport during this busy period will free up travel routes, avoid congestion and cut down on travel frustration? What can be a very stressful time of year? I do indeed welcome the Glasgow Choose Public Transport campaign. It is a campaign that shows how collaborative work between all the public transport operators can send a strong message to encourage people in Scotland to switch from the car and on to public transport. I am especially pleased to see ScotRail not only join the campaign but they are also using all our available digital channels, including various social media, to promote public transport during the festive season. To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Aberdeen's journey to net zero through investment in bus infrastructure. We are supporting Aberdeen's journey to net zero through investment in bus infrastructure, including from our bus partnership fund, which is up to £12.2 million awarded to the North East Bus Alliance to date. That is an able work to begin on the development of the rapid transit system and on bus priority measures, on key transport corridors and in the city centre. We have also supported the acquisition of 59 battery electric buses, 25 hydrogen buses and their supporting infrastructure to operate in the city. I thank the minister for the answer. Aberdeen rapid transit is a key transformational project to provide a cross-city route of bus priority measures to provide fast, reliable, accessible transport from my constituency of Aberdeen Donside to the city centre, similar to Edinburgh's tram network. It is a key measure to improve journey times and improve air quality throughout the city. Can the minister provide an update on any recent engagement that Transport Scotland has undertaken with Aberdeen City Council and Nestrans regarding this infrastructure project? As I have just referred to, we are funding the development of the rapid transit strategic case through Transport Scotland's bus partnership fund. As such, Transport Scotland maintains regular engagement with the North East Bus Alliance and last met with Aberdeen City Council and Nestrans and officials to discuss the development of their strategic business case in September. A further meeting with officials is scheduled to take place next week. I was really pleased to see first hand from my October visit to Aberdeen and how the bus gates in the city centre are already delivering for the millions of bus passengers that travel through the city every year. During my visit, I met with the leaders of the council and members of the partnership who presented to me the city centre master plan progress since 2015. That included presenting on the city centre and the South College street bus partnership fund projects, as well as the Aberdeen rapid transport and on-going corridor studies. The new bus gates in Aberdeen, which has been sneaking through with an experimental traffic order, have made a complete dog's dinner of Aberdeen city centre and have been a disaster for businesses with many people now avoiding the city centre altogether. Would the minister agree with me that a huge change like this should be done properly with full consultation, taking businesses and citizens with us? The local authority should not ruin people's livelihoods simply as part of an experiment? The member has expressed his views, but it is quite clear that the process was properly carried through in a transparent way. Indeed, traffic orders are precisely the way that local government makes changes, as he will know, because I understand that he was a former councillor. Early feedback on the operation shows that bus journey times have been reduced by 25 per cent as a direct result of the bus gates in Aberdeen city centre. In the past 12 weeks, more than a million passenger journeys on the bus have been quicker and more reliable. The two main operators in the city, stagecoach and first bus, are reporting passenger number increases by 5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. That looks like a successful delivery of a plan to improve transport in the city of Aberdeen. To ask the Scottish Government following the first meeting of the national smart ticketing advisory board what progress has been made towards introducing a national smart ticketing scheme. The first national smart ticketing advisory board meeting, which includes a number of transport industry operators, was held on November 28. I have charged members to advise me on how Scotland could collaboratively improve smart ticketing consistency, accessibility and integration between modes and regions and identify the best technological standard for schemes in Scotland. It will report in six months outlining how it will do this, building on the many operations that are currently available and also due shortly. The plan will look to build on the successful collaborative national smart ticketing enhancements to date. For example, universal smart cards are now accepted across all modes and 98 per cent of Scotland's buses accept contactless payments. I thank the minister for that response. The Scottish Government has been talking about having a national smart card for well over a decade, but in Ireland it has had one since 2011. The Transport for Ireland LEAP card covers multiple operators, offers capping and smart discount features. It sold its five millionth card over two years ago, so it is doable and we should get on with it. How long has the minister given the board to complete all their work? I accept that there is an update in six months, but what is the final deadline for this? I would expect to get the operational plan for delivery within the next six months. I emphasise that rather than a national smart ticketing scheme Scotland currently uses a single smart card platform already, but it hosts regional ticketing schemes across Scotland, and it is compatible with 2.5 million smart cards in circulation in Scotland. It can be used for both concession and commercial smart tickets and is available on bus, rail, tram, subway, sun ferries and domestic air. However, I recognise the point that the minister is making about how we make sure that it can be on a national basis like a smart independent island. The minister says that a contactless payment is available on most buses now and that smart cards can be used across different operators. Is she optimistic that bus patronage will increase through this kind of easier ticketing? Those initiatives were introduced before and during the pandemic, so it is difficult to isolate their impact on bus patronage because of the on-going impact of Covid on travel, particularly reduced bus travel. We meet regularly with bus operators to understand the initiative's performance, but they are reporting that contactless payments now generally make up a vast majority of sales, and some operators only see cash payments to less than 10 per cent. The support for that has come from a smart pay grant fund that the Scottish Government introduced to help over 10 million contactless payments that have been provided since 2018. The point about does it encourage people? I think that it can, and all I am saying is that it is very difficult to measure because of the difficulty and comparability of data, particularly on buses because of the Covid period. 5. Colin Beattie To ask the Scottish Government what conclusions it has drawn following COP28, including what has been learned as a result of the conference. COP28 has now concluded, notably with a $700 million landmark loss and damage fund and a pledge to transition away from fossil fuels in our energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner. Those are exceptionally hard fought and historic agreements, and I want to pay tribute to everyone whose campaign is so determined for this progress. It was disappointing that there was not a stronger resolution committing to a phase out of all unabated fossil fuels, but we must now all work together to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees in the terms that were agreed. The First Minister and I participated in very many engagements, arching ambition in tackling climate change and meeting with global south partners, and we will publish a report of our achievements from COP28 in due course. Despite noise from Westminster, Scotland has shown itself willing and able to engage positively with the international community regarding the existential crisis that is climate change. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how the Government intends to ensure that Scotland's voice is heard internationally and that the views of this country on climate and nature are not mistaken for the embarrassing intransigence of the Westminster parties? Colin Beattie is absolutely right that the Scottish Government and Scotland generally is held in very high esteem on the world stage with regards to our climate change plans, our interactions, Scotland's renewable abundance and our commitment to climate justice, as well as to human rights and international co-operation. We really can make a significant difference if we consider that £2 million that Scotland pledged at COP26 for loss and damage, helping to break a 30-year impasse on this important funding, has now reached more than $700 million, which I think demonstrates what small countries can do when they apply themselves. By engaging positively and at an international level, we will continue to ensure that Scotland's voice continues to be heard, and I personally will not only do that, but I will seek to elevate the voices of other people who are too infrequently heard, be that women, young people and people from the global south. I have three members seeking to ask a supplementary. I intend to take all three, a supplementary, Brian Whittle. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. At COP28, we saw a declaration by 24 countries, including United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands, to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050, and that was discussed recently in the Parliament. Can I ask the Scottish Government if the Scottish Government has completed any modelling on investing in nuclear as part of a mix of renewables to support other net zero policy aims, including district heat networks? I thank Brian Whittle for his question. He will know that the Government's policy is of no support for nuclear under current technologies. We consider that it never presents value for money to bill payers nor to our environment. Instead, our focus, domestically certainly, is on a future energy system that is balanced across storage and unleashing that exceptional renewables potential, which I referred to in my first answer. Given the commitment to the just transition that the cabinet secretary has rightly made, can she tell us what the Scottish Government will do now to ramp up activity so that we have a just transition for households that are currently living in damp, inefficient homes, and we are seeing energy and heat going through the walls and the roost of those houses? What will the Scottish Government do in practice to tackle that just transition when we have the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis? I thank Sarah Boyack for that question. I think that one of the most tangible and practical examples that I can point to is the heat and buildings bill, the consultation on which the Scottish Government has just opened in concert with my colleague Patrick Harvie. That will look to regulate both energy efficiency within Scotland's homes but also energy systems. We know that energy efficiency, although often overlooked, is one of the most important ways in which we support households to lower bills and to have warmer homes. Couple that with changes to the way in which we heat our homes in the name of climate change, that bill presents, I think, a very ambitious approach to decarbonising our buildings. However, I can assure Sarah Boyack and the chamber that it and all of our climate measures will be taken hand in hand with our communities. When the cabinet secretary was meeting world leaders, did she tell them about her Government's home energy scheme, that only 164 heat pumps have been installed in the first seven months of the programme, that it takes an age to get any money, any grants out of home energy Scotland, that many households just give up because it takes so long to get the money out? Did she tell the world leaders that and did she tell them how she's going to fix that? I didn't need to narrate what Willie Rennie has to world leaders because more often than not, world leaders are approaching the Scottish Government asking for our advice on how we have managed to lead the way so successfully on a number of fronts. I would say that whilst in a system like the decarbonisation of buildings, which is vast and complicated, there will always be issues to overcome and the Scottish Government will always seek to do that, including by supporting home energy Scotland to support people on the ground. I would say that Willie Rennie's narrative doesn't support what I see in my role that I'm privileged to hold within Government, nor in my constituency, where many constituents are approaching me having taken advantage of Scottish Government schemes to change their heating systems, which I would remind the chamber consists of support up to £7,500 and more in rural areas. Question 6 has been withdrawn. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Transport Scotland in relation to the showhead flyover junction in Coatbridge. I am aware that the member has raised concerns about the performance of the junction with Transport Scotland and that its contractor, Scottish Road Partnership, is reviewing whether potential alterations would assist the movement of vehicles at the junction. I understand that Transport Scotland wrote to the member earlier this year regarding his concerns. I thank the minister for that response. I am sure from those conversations that she describes with Transport Scotland that she will be very aware of the issues with the junction. She might also be aware, as she said, that I have raised those issues in the chamber. Since improvement works were completed some years ago, the junction has been a scene of a great many road traffic accidents with varying degrees of seriousness. The junction is well known locally, and many people report avoiding it, despite it being a main transport route connecting to the MA and other larger towns. I have had several discussions with Transport Scotland, including on-site meetings, and minor changes have been made over the years. I am very grateful for their collaboration and their continued support with that. Can I ask the minister what further discussions she can have with Transport Scotland to make improvements at the junction and thereby enhance driver confidence at this site? The member might understand that I do not personally have full information about the exact details of the junction and the exact details of the problems that the Scottish road partnership the contractor is already reviewing. However, I will ask Transport Scotland to laze with that contractor to give an insight to the member as to what the current state of that review of the potential alterations is at and, if that needs a potential site visit with Transport Scotland, the operator and the contractor and the member, I am sure that that can be arranged. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the next steps of implementation of 20 millonaire speed zones across Scotland following the October meeting of the multi-stakeholder 20 millonaire task force. The Scottish Government is committed to implementing 20mph speed limits on those roads where it is appropriate to do so by 2025. The task group agreed to support local authorities to expand 20mph speed limits where appropriate as the optimum route to implement at their November meeting. As a result, work is now under way to establish a delivery subgroup with a communication toolkit being finalised to be used at the local level. I have found that the traffic engineers within the council are fairly opposed to 20mph speed limits even where people have come forward and made the case. Therefore, my question is what we are going to do between now and 2025. I noticed that there was 1.4 million given to local authorities and 107,000 to that went to five. When I asked the five council, they said that there was a consultant's report that was sent to Traffic Scotland. How many more millions will we spend between now and then? Will the cabinet secretary give guidance to local authorities that where communities are asking for these safety measures to be put in place, that should at least be considered? The 20mph speed limit is something that local authorities themselves have said that they want, but the pace and scale and the time that will be taken in each local authority may vary. I say that there are already trailblazers in this area, particularly in the Highlands and the Borders and in the Highlands experience, which is going to be used for other local authorities to learn from. It is proving successful. Indeed, communities that do not have the 20mph limit in their local community are asking for that to now be implemented. If the cabinet secretary and I trust local authorities to carry out their duty, there may be some road engineers that might personally not be in favour, but local authorities will know the appropriate roads to make 20mph or not. I think that listening to their communities will get a resolution and the implementation of something that every recognises has benefits, particularly those communities that are experiencing lower speed limits. Councillor Scott Arthur, Labour Councillor in Edinburgh, was quite clear on the safety measures that this has brought in that have saved the numbers of injuries on roads already in Edinburgh, which are way ahead than many other communities in implementing 20mph speed limits. Can I welcome the progress that has been made across Scotland in rolling out 20mph, not just in 5mph, but in the Borders and the Highlands, and the fact that all councils now have a very detailed plan for how they are going to implement 20mph roll-out across their areas, getting us closer to that target, ensuring that all appropriate roads are 20mph by 2025mph? Given that the Government has not decided to go down the route of changing the 30mph default speed limit to 20mph, how will the minister ensure that there is consistency between councils and adequate resources to get the job done and ensure that communities that need 20mph to create safer streets can do that, and we can move forward together? We will watch and learn from the Welsh experience, but our experience will be quite different because we are working at the position of asking local authorities themselves to identify the appropriate roads to introduce to 20mph limit on. In terms of consistency, yes, we want consistency, but we also want local authorities to be able to be in control of their own schemes. That is the balance that we have to face. We know from what we have heard that there are some local authorities that are well ahead, Edinburgh, Highlands Borders, and the member has expressed that the introduction in Fife is progressing as well, but they will go at different speeds to get to 20mph. We have to recognise that that is the result of giving that choice, that option to choice, that local authorities will designate those roads themselves. I just conclude the portfolio questions on transport net zero and just transition. I just want to remind members of my declaration of interest, which showed that I was a councillor at Aberdeen City Council at the start of this parliamentary session. I am sure that that is now on the record. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business to allow front bench teams to change positions should they so wish. Thank you.


that you think Tekawaii. This is a show about reading books, writing books, and everything in between and beyond. Today's show is called The Spark and Sparkle of Elima Loomis. And why? Because Elima is a veteran journalist, veteran writer about science, your spark, medicine, another spark, and she's ventured into writing books and novels. So she's living on her imagination as a freelance writer. And that is one of the hardest things to do. Let me introduce you to Elima Loomis. Welcome, Elima. Aloha. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thanks, Elima. How are you? Good. I'm fine. How long have you been a freelance writer and how hard is it to make a living at that very job? Oh, that's a great question. That's a great question. Thanks for asking. As you may know, I started my career as a staff writer with The Maui News. So I was on staff for many years over a decade with that in another publication. But I was freelancing a little bit on the side all along. So I was building up some experience writing for magazines at the time. And I just found out a great outlet for my writing, you know, to be able to write about things that weren't covered by the publications that I was employed by. Then I went freelance full time in 2014. And I have to say it's been a great career. There's, you know, a lot of people have the impression of the starving freelancer. But I've been fortunate and I've also sought out, you know, niches to write about that, you know, I knew I would be able to make a living doing. So that has made it easier to make a path as a freelancer. Right. But you have to establish yourself too, because I started out doing freelance writing as well, doing golf, traveling, tennis, and ended up doing novels. But I gave up the freelance. I couldn't do it. I couldn't keep the steady flow of income coming in. But you have managed it. Tell us a little bit about your science writing and your medical writing. You've written for some very major companies. Sure. Yeah. And excuse me. You know, that's a really good point that you made, that it was more of a struggle to write about golf, travel, and tennis, because those are really attractive subjects. And a lot of people want to write about those things. And there's a lot of people who have experience with travel and feel like they want to do that. So those tend to be very competitive fields. And consequently, it can be really hard to make a living writing about some of those more fun topics. So when I knew I was going to make a pivot to freelancing full-time and that I'd have to support myself and my family on freelance income, I made a decision to move into some more niche types of writing that I knew would be a little bit more lucrative and you know, maybe more challenging, but maybe also a little bit less competitive in a way, because there would be fewer other writers trying to work in those areas. So, you know, it was kind of an accident that I ended up writing about science. When I first started freelancing full-time, I pitched kind of a wide variety of stories. I was still writing for magazines at that time. And because there is such an interesting and vibrant science community in Hawaii, I ended up pitching a few stories about those topics and was able to use those stories to get my foot in the door of different science publications. And so that's how I ventured into science writing and I ended up, you know, covering stories that were based in Hawaii, but also, you know, nationally, I was able to write about a wide variety of science topics, you know, through those initial clips that got me started. Then a few years ago, you know, I made the decision, again, for financial reasons that, as you know, it can be challenging to make a living writing for magazines now. You know, there are still outlets where you can be paid well, but it's also a lot of work. It's very, very labor intensive. And as someone who's not just a writer, but also a parent, I wasn't able to invest the amount of time that it would take to do that job well and make a good living at it. So I made the decision to start writing content for organizations and use my science writing skills and start taking those to the private sector. And so that enabled me to write content and write material that I like to describe as journalism adjacent. So I still write a lot of articles. I write a lot of blog posts. I'm still writing about science and in this case, medicine, I sort of shifted into medicine. But instead of writing those articles for a magazine, I'm writing them for like a research hospital or, you know, research institutions, universities and medical centers. Can you give us some examples of issues that are pertinent to Hawaii that you found most interesting and people didn't know about until you wrote it?  Yeah, I did write about Haleakala quite a bit. You know, obviously, most people are aware of the telescopes in Hawaii. I wrote about astronomy quite a bit. I also wrote about the politics of telescopes in Hawaii, as you probably know, you know, it's been an incredibly sensitive and culturally sensitive and challenging issue in Hawaii. And so I found that some of the science publications and science magazines on the mainland that I was writing for really were interested in having a reporter on the ground in Hawaii who was familiar with some of those issues and nuances and, you know, capable of reporting on those stories in a sensitive way. So I covered, you know, not just the research and the discoveries that were made by those telescopes, but also some of the controversy around the telescopes themselves. I wrote about the volcanoes a lot when we had that big eruption a few years ago on the big islands, on Hawaii Island. I covered that for an Earth Sciences magazine I was writing for at the time. And ocean science, of course, was a big topic that I covered quite frequently for different publications. Follow it, given the fact that Mauna Kea, I mean was it Mauna Kea or Mauna Mauna Kea, I guess, is threatening to erupt again? You know, as you might know, I actually no longer live in Hawaii. I know. I'm, for some family reasons, I ended up moving to Vancouver, Canada last year, which has been a big change for us. So I do still follow some of those, you know, science stories that are unfolding in Hawaii. Obviously, it's very exciting, but I'm not quite on top of it like I used to be. So I wouldn't claim to be up to the minute on every new development in those stories. Right, right. Well, science was your spark, and medicine was your spark, but your spark goal is in your books. And if we can show Elima's website, that would be wonderful, because here's where you're going to find all of her work about her, her blog, you can sign up for that to follow all the topics that she's, that she is writing about. And also the books that you're writing, the first book you wrote was one that was, is really fascinating. It was the Rough Riders. You want to talk about that briefly? Sure. I have it here. And it's a rare copy because it's, oh, I think I'm blurted.  And then yeah, because yeah, you've learned, yeah. It's a rare, it's a rare copy because it's actually now out of print. But it was, it was a great opportunity. It was my first book, you know, one of the first little writing jobs I had out of college was doing oral history interviews for the Panyolohala theme. And that was just a fabulous opportunity for me as a young writer because it gave me the chance to travel all around Hawaii and speak with some of our old timers and our wonderful Panyolohala and the incredible stories they were able to share about their lives, you know, as working cattlemen in Hawaii. And then a few years later, after I had been working on that for a few years and had quite a few interviews to draw from, I was able to turn that into a book for island heritage. And that was just a really, I was just a joy to work on that book. And it's a wonderful book too, because it brings in the history, culture, brings in the culture of Hawaii. And where does the word Panyolohala come from? Oh, so now I have to say it's been quite a while since I wrote this book. But as I recall, that's actually, there's some dispute around the term Panyolohala and where it actually comes from. But most people believe that it is a Hawaiianization of the word Pispanyolah, because the first cowboys who were brought to Hawaii to introduce ranching and cowboy techniques to the islands were Spanish from what was Mexico at the time, now California. And so I, as I recall, it's believed that the word came from the word for Spanish. Yes. Okay, I can see the transition easily from science and medicine to writing about the Panyolah, but then you wrote... I should go back actually, sorry to correct you, but actually science and medicine is a recent niche for me. And so this was my first, this is my first job out of college. So this is sort of where I started from. And then I moved into the science later in my career. Okay, but then you wrote a children's book. Come Amy's first roundup. Again, it has to do with the, you know, the rounding up of, I think it was courses, right? Yeah. Cattle, yeah. So as you probably remember, here it is. And where is it? It's blurred again. That's all right. We can show it on your website. As you probably remember from your experience as a freelance writer, every writer loves to look for ways to repurpose their material. So after I finished writing Rough Writers and had all these wonderful Panyolah stories, I thought, well, what else can I do with all this material? I spent years researching and you never want to leave anything on the table. So I looked at Island Heritage's lineup and saw that they did children's books and that they didn't have anything about any children's books about Panyolah. And I thought it would just be a natural subject to write about for kids. So I didn't set out thinking that I wanted to be a children's author. It was simply a mercenary decision to try to get the most mileage out of my research as possible. But after I wrote the book, I just absolutely loved the experience. It was so much fun. I loved, of course, being able to share it with kids, but I have to say that as a writer, I really love the challenge of writing for kids. It's hard, as you probably know, to take a complicated subject. And I find it much more challenging to boil something down and make it as simple and easy to understand as possible than it is to, you know, go on and on and include all the details. So I love the challenge and it made me want to write more for kids. Wonderful. And then next came the Eclipse Chaser, not the Eclipse, but Eclipse Chaser. And that's where science and writing novels came in. Right. I actually, yeah, I have to just correct you briefly. I'm not a novelist. I don't write novels. I'm like strictly a nonfiction writer. So this was actually much later in my career, maybe about maybe 10 years elapsed between when I wrote my first books and when I wrote Eclipse Chaser. But by the time I was thinking about that, I had moved on. I was now freelancing full time. I was science writing full time. And I was interested in writing more books. I by then I had a literary agent and was talking with her about different ideas. And she had worked with this series before called Scientists in the Field, which is a wonderful series. And at the time it was published by Houghton Mifflin. And I think it, there might have been some kind of sale in the publishing world that I think it might be now with a different publisher. But she had sold to them before and suggested that I find a topic for that. And once again, I looked at some of the fabulous science that's being done right back in Hawaii. And by then I had, you know, done quite a few stories for, you know, science publications about the Institute for Astronomy and some of the researchers there. And someone suggested wonderful scientist named Shadia Habal. And I have to find a picture of her. Sorry, I should have had this prepared, ready to go. But Shadia is a, here she is, if you can see her. Shadia is a, well, we can't see her, but that's okay. Yeah, there she is. Just brief pop pops in and out. Yes. Sorry. She's, she is a solar physicist and she uses total solar eclipses to study the sun's corona and which is the sun's atmosphere, which is a pretty interesting and mysterious and important part of the sun. And by traveling around the world chasing solar eclipses, she's able to get sort of a once in a lifetime view of this very special part of the sun's atmosphere. And so I reached out to her and I had written a couple articles about her already, I believe, at the time. And so she was willing to let me tag along with her on the 2017 total solar eclipse, which she happened to be going to Oregon to observe. And so I just had an incredible opportunity to travel with her to that to watch her and her team in action. And maybe the most fun for me, I got to team up again with Amanda Cowan, who was a longtime photographer at the Maui News. We had collaborated as reporters for many, many years. And she was able to come with me to shoot the book. And we had a couple days in the field together. So that was a lot of fun. That's wonderful. And you'll have to excuse me for calling books and novels. To me, they're, you know, I know they're not the same. I do know the difference. But yeah, I get excited about anything that being the covers of anything that is a novel, a book, or, or, you know, just a story. I just love it. Well, I have, I have so much respect for novelists because, you know, as a nonfiction writer, I don't think I have the imagination to make up worlds like an only right about the world that we have. Yes. So I have so much respect for novel fiction novelist. Yeah. Obviously, you do have the imagination because your next one is O'Hanna Means Family. Yeah. That is an adorable, that's an adorable book. You know, I think it was mentioned that it's it goes along the lines of the house that Jack built. And I have to agree with that. But what, what makes it wonderful is that it's easy to understand. It's easy to, it's, it's rhyming. It's, you know, it's just, I think you did a really good job with a very short piece. And then the course, the end of the book where we have the commentary. Excellent. Just adorable. Yeah. Thank you so much. It was really a joy to write, you know, as, as you mentioned, you know, it's not entirely made up because it's, you know, based in Hawaii and, you know, very traditional, you know, traditional Hawaii, Hawaii food. And, you know, my experience growing up in Hawaii and eating poi. But it was really a delight for me as a writer to use a more creative part of my brain and write something that's a little more lyrical and poetic. And as you mentioned, it's for much younger children. So, you know, my book Eclipse Chaser is really more for a middle school age child.  But for Ohana Means Family, it's really for a much younger child. And I think it's only about 250 words in all. So it's a very different kind of challenge to write something like that. Yes. The illustrations that go along with it are very good. Do you want to talk about the illustrator at all? Yes. You know, as you might know, if you've ever done anything in children's publishing, as the author, you have no control whatsoever about the illustrations. So, you know, the first time I saw them was a couple of years after the book had been sold.  And you don't know what you're going to get back. And so the publisher finally came back to me a couple of years later.  And so of course, I was thrilled that he was being paired with the book and, you know, I saw the illustrations only after they were all completed. And he did send them to me. And I asked Hukua Pellegrino, who provided some cultural expertise on the book, to take a look at them as well, make sure there were, you know, nothing that needed to be corrected. But it was a complete surprise to me as well. And so I was just delighted to see what a beautiful job he did with the illustration. Cautious when you're writing about Hawaii, are you very cautious? I'm making sure you use the right terminologies and you can represent well. And because I know I'm very cautious when I write any story about Hawaii. And I write a picture. That's a little trickier. Yeah, of course, it's so important, you know, and like I mentioned, I really was so grateful to have Hukua Pellegrino, who is a language expert and a cultural expert, to, you know, really make sure that the story was correct and appropriate. But yes, I think that's very important. Yes, we want to represent correctly. What topic most excites you, Lima?  You've got experiences. You've got knowledge in various camps. What most excites you? Oh, my goodness. That's such an interesting question. You know, over my career, one thing I'm really grateful for is how much variety I've been able to cover. And so, you know, the things that are interesting me today or most exciting for me to write about might be completely different tomorrow. You know, at the moment, I'm working on another children's book about pollinator gardens. And it's really made me excited, first of all, about pollinators. And but, you know, secondly, it's really was really resonating for me as the theme of how individuals and communities can make a difference by working together. And, you know, I was really surprised to learn when I was researching this book that even though, you know, as most people know, bees and other important pollinators are really threatened, and some of them are endangered and very threatened species. And they're so important for ecosystem. But I was really surprised to learn that actually, you're able to make a pretty big difference just with a very small garden or, you know, cities are actually at the forefront of conservation for some of these species, because they are such small creatures, you don't need acres and acres, you know, hundreds of acres of conservation land to protect these species. Sometimes something as small as a rooftop garden or a city park is enough to provide them with the habitat they need. So I was really inspired by that and it sort of has got me excited to think about other ways that individuals can make a difference in their community and in the world. I understand that my me and my friends are on the Monarch butterflies right now. Yeah, it's so important to preserve them and, you know, and one of the best ways to do that is by planting food and habitat for them. Yes, what's in your future, Vima? Where are you headed? What's on your horizon? Oh, my goodness. You know, I would love to write more children's books. It's something that I find really exciting, you know, especially as someone who, you know, uses that analytical part of my brain a lot during the day when I'm, you know, writing for hospitals and writing about research and things like that. I really enjoy the time I get to spend on more creative projects and writing for children is really exciting because, as I mentioned earlier, it's it's such a creative challenge for me as a writer to, you know, try to make something that's understandable and interesting and exciting for kids to read. So I would love to continue working on that. You know, as I mentioned, the the project I'm working on at the moment happens to be about bees and pollinators. But I have no idea what the future could could have in store for for that. Yes, well, you're in an interesting place now in Vancouver. So it'll be interesting to see what you come up with. Yeah, you know, I have lots of friends here in Hawaii. So we hope you'll stay in touch with us here. Elima, what's on your nightstand? What are you reading? Oh, my gosh. Okay, well, I wish I brought it up for you and tell. I'm an avid reader. I am always reading for for pleasure, read a lot of fiction novels. And at the moment, I'm reading a novel called The Likeness by Tana French. And I love her. And it's a mystery set in Ireland. And there's kind of a cool spooky twist to it. So I've really been enjoying that. So I think the fall weather has has made me want to get cozy with some good mystery novels. Her writing is fantastic. Tana French's writing is just fantastic. She actually is someone who will study as writers. But have you heard of Mary Roach? She's a scientific writer. Of course, I love Mary Roach. I've read all her books. I love her. All right. Elima, thank you very much for joining us. I wish you much success with everything that you write from your science and your medicine to your children's work and your and anything that you do because you are a delightful writer as well. And you have you do take a complicated subject and you bring it down to not down, but you break it down so that it's understandable and educational and entertaining all at the same time. And it's why I wanted you on the show. I think you are full of spark and sparkle. I'm so happy to have you. Thank you for joining us. I would like to thank the studio, all of the staff, Jay Fidel, and especially the underwriters. We so appreciate you supporting Think Tech Hawaii. And of course, the viewers, thank you for joining us. My name is Elaine Galant. This is Books, Books, Books. Good night. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Mahalo.


I'm gonna put we're getting breakfast now at that house And I realized I didn't really tell you guys too much about it So if you're in Brooklyn, I highly recommend it. It was so much fun. They had like three different pools Three different saunas. It was beautiful and we got to experience all of it for $45 like Insane, so if you go during the day They have like little specials if you get there at 9 a.m. It's like $45 10 o'clock 11 I think it's 50 or 55 and then if you go the last hour they are open at 10 o'clock It's also $45. So if you're in the area, I highly recommend you check it out We weren't allowed to record like too many or we weren't allowed to have phones in the bath house Like the actual spa part, which is why I didn't get that much footage, but I hope you Enjoy it. All right. I just wanted to say that so let's let's check in with Langston and see how he enjoyed that house What was your bath house experience? Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Cleans and serene. That's real. 10 out of 10. I would recommend it. Fusky salmon, guys. I'm a fusky salmon and I make my salmon like this all the time. It's so quick. It's so easy. Can't wait to eat. She always shows up for me, so now it's my turn. Intimate workshop, understanding the art-tape of clown as a healer, which unfortunately has been quite debased in pop culture. Tell them. Sense be going politicians clowns. They're not clowns. The government is not a circus. Do you know how many people it takes to make a circus work? People of collaborative, fun, creative, all things that I would say is not happening in our US government. And I'd say one of the core essences of a clown is empathy. So when we call politicians clowns as a way to sort of bring them lower in status, that feels very confusing to me as someone who has done a lot of clowning, who understands the history of clown. And so it's very important to see how we use words to describe people. So I think it's really interesting that we use the word clown in such a negative way when its history is rooted in so, so, so much healing. And really it's about self-transformation, self-discovery, and really offers this voyage to the self in a way that can liberate us. So stop calling politicians clowns. A few moments later Okay, I really thought that I had, like, I'm vlogging, sorry. My friends are laughing at me because I'm vlogging, but it's fine, you know? You guys are my real friends. I don't record any more videos on it. I think I need to get like a new SD card, so I need to do that soon because I want to keep filming stuff, but also I have so many videos I need to edit maybe. This is a sign to start editing stuff and stop filming so much stuff. But as you use clown things, it's really good. It was really great. Like, we had so much fun and it was nice to just get in our bodies and play. And now we're going back to Brooklyn because I don't have class today. I really thought I had class. I got a brush.