"From the State Capitol to Studio. . ."

11.5.10. I am grateful for exciting advocacy work and another fun and productive Friday night in studio.

So one of the reasons its been a crazy week at work is because there has been a lot of buzz around the suicide of Erwin Celes, a young man who aged out of care six months ago and hanged himself in September. An article was done about him, focusing on transitioning foster youth, when friends tried to raise money for him at work for the funeral expenses. That set off a media whirlwind of articles (by EPIC) and the paper following this piece, tv, DHS releasing his files to the public and finally, a legislative briefing yesterday, with John Mizuno at the capitol. EPIC, Family Programs Hawaii and Heart Gallery met with the representative yesterday to go over structure for the hearing and suggest areas of improvement. Thanks to our preparation and the work of the Initiative across the country, we had an outline for him with information to back it up and those were proposed to a group of non-profits, foster parents and supporters today at the hearing. EPIC testified (Arlynna, Wilma and myself) and it was on 'Olelo 53 live. FPH helped to facilitate, EPIC helped to record and our youth board was represented by Gernani, Noy and Carmen. Noy and Gernani gave testimony and Noy was interviewed for channel 5. They did such a great job! Lots of people came out and it was a positive gathering, in general. The family came to ask that the records be taken off public sites and that the media stop focusing on Erwin and the negative stuff (his girlfriend committing suicide and his drug usage) so the family and friends can heal. Mizuno offered his support and asked if Erwin's name could be used as a positive, to help change the lives and outcomes for other foster youth. True to form, it was another long night, with studio until 11:30. Derek came and laid down guitar for "Keep Hawaiian Lands" (how ironic!) and cleaned up a couple parts on "Siva Siva Mai". They were mixing down the road. It was just Luisa, me and Wendall, but we had fun and Luisa's voice was strong. She re-did "Someone New" and parts of "Silly Girl" and I did the harmonies and helped 'produce'. We are getting close to the end-we WILL do it!!!