Page 5 - MidWeek - Sep 29 2021

HAWAI‘I’S FAVORITE MEDIA SURVEY By Kelli Shiroma Braiotta
What historical figure would you most like to meet?
SEPTEMBER 29, 2021 MIDWEEK 5
“G Four Eyes
irls don’t make passes at guys who wear glasses.” Sure, this is a twist on the old saying, but I’ve always felt this to be true.
Thanks to the Superman comics, if you wore glasses like Clark Kent, it meant you were weak and cowardly — the opposite of the Man of Steel.
Throughout high school, my greatest fear besides getting a bad case of acne was the possibility of having to wear glasses. Part of the problem was that in those days, your choices of eyeglass frames ranged from nerd to loser.
LANDON KURATA
Physical Therapist, Honolulu
“Leonardo da Vinci because he was one of the greatest multifaceted geniuses
that ever lived. He was an influential inventor and artist — with no formal education.”
TATIANA BRITTIAN
Grad Student, Honolulu
“Martin Luther King Jr. I would ask him what he thinks of race relations
in the U.S. currently compared to when he was alive — what’s the same and what’s changed.”
MARK STINTON
Pastor, Kāne‘ohe
“Henry ‘Ōpūkaha’ia. His story is one of faith, overcoming racism and meeting God in the process. Guaranteed, a meeting with him would grow anyone in true aloha.”
LEILANI ARITA TAKAYAMA
College Counselor, Honolulu “Jane Austen, who used
her writing to critique the pressures of English society on women. She inspires me to empower my students to use their voices.”
I’m not saying that those who did wear glasses were inferior; in fact, now that I think about it, they had the confidence to rock the look and were better persons than superficial idiots like me. Although most guys won’t admit it, we thought the sexy librarian look was hot. Unfortunate- ly, there was no male equivalent for that.
Girls with glasses looked more like adolescent crush Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years, whereas boys with glasses looked more like “Squints” from the movie The Sandlot.
Ron Nagasawa
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Alice Inoue
ICultivating Gratitude
t’s hard to feel gratitude when things are not going well. Could the cause of ungratefulness be a disconnection from perspective? When
things are flowing, we feel connected and it’s easy to feel grateful. When they aren’t, we focus on what’s wrong, get frustrated and disconnect from the flow.
To increase gratitude, it helps to intentionally use big-picture thinking by looking for connection. For example, writers block is frustrating. When I feel it, if I begin thinking about everyone involved in making the keyboard that I’m using, the mouse I’m touching, and the monitor I’m looking at, and think of all the frustration that they must have faced in making these things, I begin to feel connection. Before I know it, my words are flowing, and I am grateful.
alice@yourhappinessu.com
Thankfully, I managed to go through most of my adult life without the need for glasses. After a few years of “fak- ing” that I could see clearly, I finally succumbed to the fact that I needed them. I was farsighted, meaning I needed reading glasses, but I also had astigmatism, which meant I was nearsighted. In other words, I couldn’t see near or far, so I needed bifocals. I was not a candidate for contact lenses, as I can’t endure putting anything in or on my eyes. My next step was to decide what kind of frames I wanted. If I couldn’t look cool, at least I wanted to look smart.
I was scarred by an argument I once had with my father. He sported those military-issue black frame Ray-Ban-type glasses. He claimed to be way ahead of the fashion trend and that one day his glasses would be in vogue.
This was in the early ’70s and I shouted back, “I will never, ever wear glasses like yours!” Fast-forward to 2021, when wearing glasses is a fashion statement. And those glasses that my father wore? Well, you have the likes of stylish men like Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Goldblum set-
ting the trend with those frames.
I hate to say it but my dad was right, again. Here I am today a little worse for wear, but you be
the judge. Yay or nay?
rnagasawa@midweek.com