Blog: I, Charlie Rogers, Am...

If you’re a frequent reader of this blog you’ll know that every year I make a Pride post within the first week or so of June. Usually that post consists of the current reasons that Pride is relevant & necessary, not only as a celebration, but also as a way to draw attention to the issues still affecting the LGBTQIA+ community. This year I wanted to do something a little different. You see for years & years I feel I’ve skirted around the reasons that my passions run so deep for this particular community, though in hindsight it seems something only the most thinly veiled. I am so invested in the ongoings of the world where LGBTQIA+ rights are concerned because it is a community that I am not only happily entrenched in, but its also a community that I am a part of.

I, Charlie Rogers, am a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

I, Charlie Rogers, am a bisexual man.

This is not a new development, it’s something that a lot of people have known for a very long time. It’s also not something that I’ve been overly coy about in recent years, especially around June. A lot of my friends & family have known & celebrated the person that I am for almost over half a decade now but for some reason I felt it was finally time to just be blatant & call out the rainbow elephant in the room.

I never wanted my sexual identity to be a big deal, I never wanted it to be the thing that defined me. I don’t want to be the bi-artist or the bi-influencer or traveller, because I think that I am so much more than that. Is it a part of who I am? No doubt, but is it the only part of who I am? Absolutely not.

I was so afraid of being pigeon holed for so long that I simple kept who I am & who I love locked away. I was told being open & honest would ruin my career. That I’d never make it in Nashville being open & honest about the person I am because history says that’s true, but history also gets changed all the time. Just because something is, doesn’t mean it should & though I know that’s an uphill, losing fight, it’s one that I would be disappointed in myself for at least not trying because at the end of the day, at least I can say I was authentic.

So yes, I’m bisexual. I’ve been so as long as I can remember & in a world that likes to present itself as black & white that can be hard. For the longest time I thought I had to choose, I thought that I could only be straight or gay. Even as a kid I remember only ever voicing my attractions to the females in the media, because I grew up in a time & a place where to do the opposite was taboo, ungodly, sinful, perverse. I thought I had to choose & silence a part of myself that was aching to be heard so naturally I took the easiest path & was exclusively '“straight,” but as the saying goes “we make plans & God laughs.”

I had always had flirtationships with members of the same sex, but never outright relationships. That changed when I met Evan. There was something about him that made me want to be honest, there was something about him that was calming to me, & the more time I spent in his presence & around his being, the more I found love to be the most easy, natural thing. I found myself not caring about the pretense, not caring about what others thought, not caring about the difficult path I knew I was facing by owning up to the way I felt & instead I leaned into that which ultimately terrified me.

I came out to my sister first & she met me with nothing but grace, love, & acceptance. I am so unfathomably grateful for her & the heart of overflowing kindness & beauty that beats beneath her chest. A few months later I wrote letters to my parents, to be frank & transparent, it didn’t go so great but they’re my parents & I’ve had the fortune of seeing their heartfelt transformations, something not everyone in my shoes gets the privilege of. It took a lot of time & uncomfortable conversations but I’m proud of the progress they’re making.

If I’m being honest this blog terrified me to write. As of this paragraph I’m on my third rendition of it because I kept diverting course to what was comfortable & writing the blog I typically write in June, about the current state of Pride, even though I said I wasn’t going to do that right off the bat. I’m actually typing above basically a fully finished blog about the 2023 GLAAD Accelerating Acceptance Report as the link to the report sits staring me down from my tabs. That wasn’t my purpose today, that wasn’t why I sat down to write. I didn’t come to play it say or continue the status quo because I’m tired of that. I’m tired of hiding parts of who I am out of fear or because I think it somehow protects me. I think all that it does is diminish me. It does a disservice to you as a reader of these postings, as a listener to my music, as an observer of my life, & for that I am sorry.

I know we all must do things in our own time but this is something that has been screaming from me at the inside for far too long & I finally decided that it was time to put on my big boy pants & be an artist, not just a pretender.

I say to you all, once again, with my whole chest; I, Charlie Rogers, am a bisexual man!

I want to wish you all the happiest & safest of Pride Months wherever you are on your journey. If you have any questions for me please feel free to leave them below or reach out directly! Remember, your timing is your own just as your feelings & your life are. I’m proud of you & as always, much love to you all!

-C

Blog: Just Another Late Night

On a chilly November Wednesday evening, back in 2017, gathered around my kitchen table with Evan Michael & Kate Cosentino was where “Just Another Late Night” was originally conceptualized. The title had been a note in my phone for even longer & for whatever reason the timing was right for this midweek write. Back in 2017 Kate, Evan, Kimi Most, & I used to do weekly Wednesday night writes. This song came out of one of those sessions as well as Kimi’s “Happy Birthday To Me," a song called “Dumb Drunk Self” that I still desperately hope Kate cuts, & innumerable other songs that we each have sitting on the shelf waiting for the timing to be right on their potential tracking. Given that she is not credited on this song, Kimi was obviously not a part of this particular week’s write for whatever reason so it became a collaboration between the three of us.

I remember writing down the title in my notes as almost exactly how it ended up “I need someone that will love me right, not just another late night.” To me the song sparks a memory from the early 2010s but for whatever reason I still hadn't found that “someone who would love me right.” Naturally it had been a while since any of the events in the memory had taken place but I still felt deeply attached to the idea & the song kind of poured out of us in the session.

From there the song became a staple in my set, I’ve been playing it in live settings ever since that night in 2017. I played it so much & so often that people who came to a lot of my sets began to know the words & I would get asked over & over when I planned to release it but for whatever reason it just kept getting pushed down the “to record” list. Cue 2020/2021.

I had just put out the acoustic mix of “Obliterated” & had gone in to record another song that is as of yet, still to be released. We wrapped the song & I felt I needed to put out something with a little more movement, enter “Just Another Late Night.” Going back in studio with Josh Gleave, we set out to finally bringing “Just Another Late Night” to life.

I wanted “Just Another Late Night” to feel almost like two separate songs because in the song, much like in life, we have moments of waining clarity. The verses act as the “quiet before the storm” that is each encounter the chorus brings. The verses are much more reserved allowing more space for the clock & hours to tick by in reflection. The chorus is cacophonous, it’s rambunctious & wild. It’s unhinged & without hesitation. Then we come to the bridge. The bridge to me is the “eye of the hurricane” it’s nothing but vocal & percussion that features a begging ultimatum from the narrator of the story. I wanted the song to reflect life, to have those moments of clarity that we all reflect on after & before the fact before we ultimately buy into the thing that’s destroying us one more time.

We’re now a week int the release of this song that we poured so much love & life into & I’m floored by the response I’ve had for it! Many blogs, playlists, websites, have all reached out asking to feature it. So many people have shared & as of this second we are sitting around 25,000 streams on Spotify!

I’d like to thank any & all of you who were a part of this song:

Evan Michael & Kate Cosentino for helping to write it!

Joshua Gleave for producing & dealing with my crazy artist ideas in addition to bass, keys, synth, & program instruments!

Lester Estelle Jr. for lending his mad drum skills!

Cole Phillips for crushing the guitar!

Jonathan Roye for mixing it so perfectly!

Mike Monseur for mastering!

&

OneRPM for distribution!

If you haven’t streamed or purchased “Just Another Late Night” I’ll drop the link to it here:

As always, thank you for reading! Thank you for allowing me to do the art that I love & be the artist I am!

I’d also love to know your thoughts on the song & how it relates to you personally, so feel free to leave a comment below!

Much love to you all!

-C

Object Writing: Polaroid

We’re born into this world like a freshly snapped Polaroid; the image of who we are & what we contain takes time to develop. Sometimes, as this is happening, whether out of love or selfishness, people will try to point out our details to us, to guess or shape the image even as its still sits lost to obscurity. We, ourselves, often end up covering certain parts of the image as we violently shake to clear up the picture into what we hope it will be. We grip more & more tightly, pressing our fingers into the swirling black, preventing pivotal parts of our picture from developing properly. But lessons take time, nobody perfects life over night, especially if those lessons contain the parts of our beautifully composed photo that we’ve spent the longest amounts of time with our thumb pressed over.

Object Writing: Just Another Late Night

Reckless, we might’ve been. we were fearless, cause back then we didn’t care that we would be growing older, playing with aches & age, maybe time made us bolder & young love can’t help but fade away. But still you end up at my place every, single time. You’re always coming back my way when no one’ll hold you tight. I still save space for you, though I should make room for someone that’ll love me right, not just another late night. Tired, but I could sleep, you’re leaving me wired cause trying to keep a handle on the way that you need to use me. God, I must be insane. Somehow you phase right though the walls that I think I’ve made. But still you end up at my place every, single time. You’re always coming back my way when no one’ll hold you tight. I still save space for you, though I should make room for someone that’ll love me right, not just another late night. Please leave the keys with me next time you run cause I need to close the door on us. But still you’ll end up at my place every, single time. You’re always coming back my way when no one’ll hold you tight. I still save space for you, though I should make room for someone that’ll love me right, not just another late night.

Blog: No Hate Like Christian Love

Hold up, hold up, hold up. I know a few of you have read that title & immediately gone into defensive mode & have a paragraph long comment ready, but how about we hear what I’m trying to say first? I think it’s also worth noting for the assumed bias of this blog that I myself identify as Christian, though I am far beyond the point of disillusionment with the church at this point & if we’re being honest so are a lot of people these days.

America has seen a drastic drop in new christians or individuals attending churches in the last few decades but for the life of a lot of the religious leaders they can’t seem to figure out why. They blame it on the media, they blame it on culture, on politicians, on x, y, z, but never seem to want to look internally. You see, so many of us who no longer find ourselves as congregational regulars grew up in churches; we grew up going to Sunday school & vacation bible school & lived through all of the “keep the Christ in Christmas” ish & those who remain in the hallowed halls don’t seem to understand why we don’t want to go back or actively attend those churches any longer. The answer is a simple one, we learned about Jesus, his way, his light, & we didn’t see his teachings being implemented, practiced, or reflected by those within the church, so we left. Truly I say unto you the most Christ-like individuals I’ve even known have a strong distain for the church.

To put this all in perspective the statement in the title above has become one that I’ve seen expressed more & more frequently over the last few years, “no hate like christian love.” If you as someone who identifies as such don’t see that & immediately see the problem I hate to break it to you, but I think you’ve missed the point of your religion. Christianity has become so synonymous with hate, bigotry, white nationalism, fascism, misogyny, homophobia/transphobia, xenophobia, islamophobia, racism, etc. that the statement “no hate like christian love” rings true to very large groups of individuals. So much of our culture’s pain & modern reliance unfortunately owes itself to years & years of religious trauma & continued attempts at oppression.

In recent years the US political climate has become more & more divisive swinging aggressively more & more towards a fascist right. Those leading that charge are claiming to do so in the name of God, they say God is disappearing from a country that was never a theocracy & founded itself on the principles of religious freedom, meaning freedom from others forcing their religion views onto you, & want to bring America back into its “former greatness.” A “former greatness” that holds a lot of pain, suffering, & lack of rights for those who find themselves in minority groups. Tell me, where are the teachings of Jesus in that? The campaigns of these Christian Nationalists go entirely against the teachings of Christ. They actively shun & vilify the “foreigner,” the needy, the immigrant, the refugee, the less fortunate, the different, the other. They propose laws to limit rights of these individuals, they strip back protections in place that give these individuals a chance at having an equal life to them, & they do so all in the name of “christian love.”

Often there is a bubble created around a church community, a church home if you will. This is a place, in theory, meant to allow you to feel love unconditionally from your fellow christians, to have support systems in place that allow you to express your pains & burdens freely & get support while remaining unjudged. I have never felt more judged or more completely ostracized than by members of the church who often use their born again status as a means to justify their hatefulness when things don’t fit their preconceived mold. Now people are looking around & seeing a congregation that reflects one way of being, one style of life, often limited diversity from a nationality, race, sexuality, gender identity, & social class & finding it lacking. They see themselves & the world more represented in the faces of their peers & diversified friend groups than they do in the pews on any given Sunday.

The bubble also often acts as a safe haven for abusers. We all know, very effectively the crimes of the Catholic church, thanks to the journalists at Spotlight out of Boston, but this guard isn’t limited to the catholic church. I’ve heard innumerable stories regarding the handing of abuse within the church. Higher ups will make excuses for abusers & protect them at all costs instead of hearing out the side of the abused. They refuse to acknowledge the often ugly side of humanity & outwardly condemn these actions that overall harm the community at large & weaken the bonds of a church.

The complete & utter lack of critical thinking is also a major deterrent for those looking to join the church. So much of the counter culture that christians justify with the bible has either been altered completely for political agendas (see the RSV translation of 1946) or completely lacks historical context. There also happens to be a lot of picking & choosing which verses to follow & which to omit completely from the modern dichotomy because “things were different back then.” It’s blatant hypocrisy & when faced with facts alternative to the fiction they’ve painted in their heads or carried their whole lives they refuse to even consider the possibility of them no matter who it harms or what damage it does to their brothers & sisters in Christ or the world at large.

If we as Christians were truly following the ways of Christ we’d embrace those around us with open arms, celebrating what makes them different & unique. We’d help refugees & immigrants unconditionally. We wouldn’t hoard wealth & covet riches when so many are doing everything in their power just to have a scrap of food to eat. We’d lovingly take preventative measures to insure that our neighbors & those at higher risks can remain safe & disease free. We’d recognize the disconnect & disadvantages certain communities & minorities have systematically & do everything in our power to overturn them. We’d be voting for people who want to help the less fortunate, not ostracize them. We’d be embracing our children for who they are whole heartedly not kicking them out of our homes or shaming them. I personally believe that Christ would be disgusted by the modern church & those in attendance & clearly a growing majority feels the same way. I think we need to take "no hate like christian love” as a major red flag & find ways to correct course immediately, taking proactive measures to correct the damage done to those who are bearing the brunt of the “love.”

I hope this blog wasn’t too much of a rant or a finger wag, I also hope most of you made it through this. This world deserves better, the people in our communities deserve better. I know at the end of the day we’re all human but if the saying goes “they’ll know we are christians by our love” then it should be love people know christians by, not the over abundance of hate radiating from the steeples.

I hope you all have a great weekend,

As always, much love to you all!

-C

Object Writing: Cinnamon

The ancients said it contained good fortune, that it would whisk your dreams & abundance from their hidey holes & send them careening towards you, a cosmic hack to elevate your vibrations & magnetize your highest good. I can understand why, just the touch of its soft warm caress against my olfactory centers fills me with bubbling comfort & an unbridled sense of security. Each tightly wound spiral of toasty brown bark can't help but curve a smile onto your face. Each homey flush spreads the promise of sanctuary across the tongue. Believe in it what you will but there's no denying the reassuring hospitality cinnamon seeps into our daily lives.

Blog: Make A Wish, Take A Chance, Make A Change, & Breakaway

Earlier this week I received a message from my friend Jared at Country Music Allies. He’s putting on a few shows this week, CMA week, & was asking if I would be willing to host the one on Friday (today) in his place. My initial reaction was an honest one, I’ve never hosted an event before & truly don’t consider myself to be amongst the great public speakers of the world so I was hesitant. He insisted that I would make a great host & that all I would be doing is introducing & not so much M.C.ing, so I told him I’d take the night to think about it.

The more I weighed the idea of hosting in my mind, the more uncomfortable it made me. I felt I wouldn't know what to say or that I’d make a fool of myself, but then my mind proposed the question “so what?”

It’s a simple question really “so what?” It really clears the air of anxiety & hypotheticals & creates way for logic to step in. So what if I screw it up & make a fool of myself? The people performing are lovely humans, some of which I know fairly well, they’ll definitely show me some grace, as will the audience who I’m sure will be primarily compromised of those within the queer community, especially if I’m honest in voicing my discomfort. Truly there is nothing to fear in accepting this role. So I did.

I texted Jared the following morning to tell him that the idea of hosting the event made me uncomfortable as hell which probably meant that I should do it. So tonight I guess I’m hosting an event! Let’s hope that come next week we don’t end up with another blog in the same vein of how I epically failed my callback a couple of months back only subbing out the “callback” for “hosting position.”

Additionally, I’ve had a lot of content come up this week around songwriting that lives in the same vein of thought. A writer who I follow & respect dearly said she spent 10 years in the industry writing songs that felt “meh” like they were good songs but nothing she was writing was great or moving the needle. She said the moment I stopped restraining myself & my thoughts was the moment I started writing great music. Her recommendation was that if you want to write a great song about a scenario or relationship you have to be bare. Go into a notebook & write unrestrained, uncensored about the topic until you feel you’ve purged your feelings thoroughly, then, once that is done, go back & find the sentences that make you say “oh, that’s too much” or “I could never say that out loud” & put that in your song! Those are the lyrics that end up connecting deeply to an audience.

If you haven’t noticed the common thread here is taking chances. This has been a week full of chance taking for me & those around be doing the same. Last night, my friend Chris Housman premiered a new single of his called “The Bible Belt” something he was incredibly nervous to play in public because it talks about all the ways he’s still recovering from how he was beat with “the bible belt,” it received ravenous applause. I went downtown to try & convince people to pre-save my upcoming single in exchange for a keychain, basically dry soliciting, something that makes me very uncomfortable. I then, while I was walking around, ended up doing a “finish that line” karaoke thing that got me a few more followers as well!

The point is take chances! Do the thing that makes you uncomfortable, be bold & unafraid to muck it all up! Put yourself out there, the worst people can say is no…I guess aside from cussing you out. But what I seem to be finding is that if you are who you are, unapologetically, the right people will find you, the right people will hear what they need to hear, & you’ll go so much farther in life & be so much happier in the long run.

Keeping it brief today as, like I said above, it’s CMA week & it’s packed out for me!

If you’re in Nashville this weekend come find me! I play at The Bowery Vault tomorrow evening around 9PM & will probably just be around also!

I hope you have the most fantastic of weekends!

Be safe, much love to you all!

-C

Blog: Yet Another Blog About Why We Still Need Pride

The past few years anytime June has rolled around I’ve written blogs regarding why Pride Month is still a relevant & important thing. Each time I write this blog I hope it’ll be the last time I have to but each year it seems to be more & more in demand. If you are a frequent reader of these snapshots my brain dumps in the form of weekly blogs, as always thank you, but you may have also read a lot of what will be discussed going forward in this blog regarding the state of LGBTQIA+ politics.

A few months ago I wrote a blog about the egregious, slimy, blatantly trans & homophobic attacks legislators are attempting &/or succeeding to legalize around the US. I guess a bit of this will be an update on all of that in addition to the new wave.

Unfortunately the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed in the state of Florida. The DeSantis imposed law restricts & even outright bans the mere mention of anything remotely LGBTQ in Florida public schools. That includes teachers discussing their same sex partner or spouse, the same sex parents of one of their students, etc. It creates a dangerous lack of support around same sex education & limits the scope to which so many important figures in history achieved greatness in spite of the odds. It perpetuates the stigma of those members of the LGBTQIA+ community being “other” & is harmful not only to those students that identify as such & feel they can’t be themselves openly around their peers as well as the already systematically intrenched cast divides of this country. Fortunately the part of the bill requiring teachers to report any LGBTQIA identifying students did not pass & I have a hard time believing the bill will stand in light of the massive walkouts, speeches, etc. being executed by those whose schools have been affected.

In addition to Florida’s BS there’s also Texas’s that we need to discuss.

Governor Abbot’s attacks seem to have the trans community at the heart of his hatred. Over the last year he has tried to make it a crime for parents to support their trans children labeling it as child abuse & has been sending out Child Protective Services to investigate any & all claims of parents outwardly embracing their child’s identity. Luckily this executive order is currently on hold due to a federal court case blocking the order. That hasn’t stopped Abbott though who earlier this week made it legal for healthcare workers in Texas to refuse treatment to trans individuals.

On top of that, on the federal level we need to talk about Roe v. Wade.

Whether you stand on the 30% side who want to ban abortion or the 70% who don’t is not that aspect of Roe we need to discuss today. Roe v Wade was a case won on the grounds of privacy just like Griswold v Connecticut (right to contraception), Loving v Virginia (right to interracial marriage), Lawrence v Texas (banning of sodomy laws), & Obergefell v Hodges (right to same sex marriage). Each one of these cases stands as the law of the land because the losing party infringed upon the privacy of private citizens in their own homes. Let’s just look at those last two shall we Lawrence & Obergefell. Each of these specifically targets the LGBTQ community. If over turned they would effectively leave the rights of those individuals up to states, there would be an overnight witch hunt for those opposing to turn in their LGBTQ neighbors. I also understand that, in this case, all of this is hypothetical & you may be sitting on the other side of your computer, device, whatever, saying “oh, they’d never overturn those” but each of the Supreme Court Justices who are siding with the overturning of Roe v Wade said they had no intention of touching Roe in their confirmation hearings as well. Every. Single. One. Which is an impeachable discussion for another time.

What is my point in all this? My point is that there is still a long, long way to go. This country has a long, long way to go before those members of the LGBTQIA+ community have the same God given rights & treatments as their CIS/Het peers. That’s not even mentioning the atrocities exhibited outside the US towards members of the community.

I also don’t mean to be a downer, Pride is meant to be a celebration of who you are & what makes you special. It is a festival of love & acceptance & what it means to be human.

If you are a member of the community or an ally, I wish you all a Happy Pride Month! To everyone else, Happy Pride Month to you as well & ask that you take the time to get to know someone who identifies as LGBTQIA+, & I mean really get to know them. Come to the table with an open mind & heart & you may be surprised not only by what you learn about others but also about yourself. If you’re someone who uses the good book to harm or limit the rights of others you are no true christian nor do I believe that you’ve actually read your bible or know its history of alteration for personal & political gain.

I know tonight’s blog was a little on the heavier side content wise but I want you all to know I love you deeply just as you are & that you always have a friend & ally in me. Family doesn’t have to be restricted to the one you’re born into, there are people in this world who will embrace you whole heartedly & authentically, they’ll help you patch the pain & mend the heartache. You are absolutely as you were meant to be. You are loved, you are worthy, & you are enough.

Much love to you all,

-C

Object Writing: Fireflies

The mid-summer haze plants the seed of their terrestrial bound, celestial display. Lofted delicately into the air by humidity & paper thin wings they begin their musing spectacle of courtship. They paint ever shifting, continuously rearranging constellations upon the evening air, flashing their messages of availability & attraction, pining for those hidden in the vivacious green below. These fireflies are the first signal of summer; the first indicator that Ostara has ended her great, bounding resurrection & has passed her revitalized bounty off to Sol, lengthen the days & bleeding warmth into night. I’ve always been overjoyed by the presence of these, their comfort hangs in the air along side the heat of the day, enrobing me in a truly childlike sense of imagination & wanderlust. It’s my greatest pleasure to know them & an indescribable gift to witness their light.

Blog: Do We Still Need Pride Month?

How is it already the end of June?! How has 2021 flown by so quickly?!

At the beginning of the month I knew I wanted to, at the very least, write something about Pride Month, seeing how June is Pride Month. So, I guess, why not make it the last blog of the month? I was wracking my brain over & over searching for what I wanted to write about this year as I usually do some form of Pride post in the month of June. Did I mention it’s the month of June & it’s also Pride Month? Sorry haha, just feel like I’ve said that a lot in my first couple lines of this blog. Anywho, back to it. I was struck by this idea for a blog post when I came across the comments section of the CMT Pride Playlist on the godless wasteland we all know as Facebook along with a slurry of hateful individual posing the question “why do they still need a Pride Month?” Their rationale being that “they got their right to legally wed” along with, of course, “there’s no straight pride month.” Vom. The post is hyperlinked if you’d like to go read the rest of these truly distasteful humans’ comments or if you just want to listen to the playlist itself. This blatant ignorance got me thinking though, do we still need an LGBTQ+ Pride Month? I mean it’s not like, though it should be more so, it shines a light on LGBTQIA+ history? So, should pride month still exist as a form of visibility for members of the alphabet mafia, after all, marriage equality is the law of the land. But then after the smallest fraction of a nanosecond I immediately landed on the answer being “of course we do.”

People who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community are still, in terms of rights & opportunity, considered second class citizens in this country we call the United States. That’s not to even mention the atrocities they face around the world by simply being who they are or loving who they love. They are disproportionately discriminated against, attacked, brutalized, rejected, marginalized, & forced to the sidelines of society when compared to their CIS gendered, heterosexual peers; especially when it comes to transgender people of color. I think all too often, at least outside of the community, the perception is that the battle is over, the fight has been won but I’d argue it’s just getting started.

Let’s take Arizona for example. In 1991 the state made it illegal for any teacher to promote LGBTQ+ “propaganda.” That meant anything from same sex education, to expressions of gender identity, to even the acknowledgement of certain historical figures being a member of the community. This wasn’t even the full extent of the law though. Say a student was struggling with their identity in any form other than heteronormativity. If they were to go to one of their teachers & ask for advice or assistance & the teacher offered any form of advice other than “talk to your parents” or anyone other than me & they were caught doing so they would be fined upwards of $5,000 dollars & have their teaching license called into question just for trying to be helpful or offer mentorship to a struggling student. Fortunately, that law has since been eradicated though that hasn’t stopped Arizona law makers from trying to implement similar laws in its place. As recent as April of this year a motion was put into effect to try & make it illegal for any school to teach about anything the government deemed even remotely LGBTQ+. This included historical figures, events, mention anything about gender expression or sexuality outside the CIS/Hetero. It also, unsurprisingly, included lessons about the HIV/AIDs epidemic unless all students involved had signed consent from their parent or guardian. (link) Sounds just like a diet version of the previous law.

I’m sure some of you are going to make the argument in favor of that policy since “students should be learning at school, not exploring their identity” but adolescence is the time in most of our lives in which we call our identities into question. The “who am I” of it all becomes a constant part of middle & high school life & if you don’t have a way to investigate that or ask even the most innocent of questions without feeling like who you are is unworthy of societal recognition then that can lead down some dark hallways.

Let’s talk stats:

90% of LGBTQ+ students reported hearing anti-LGBTQ+ slurs on a daily basis in their schools. Most saying they average hearing around 23 a day.

Around 28% of all LGBTQ+ identifying students end up dropping out of school due to harassment, not only from their peers.

About a quarter of LGB youth report having been physically assaulted because of their sexuality, a higher average of around half of any trans students say the same.

An astonishing 3/4ths of trans students reported having been sexually harassed simply because of their gender identity.

LGBTQ+ youth are twice as likely to abuse drugs or alcohol as compared to their CIS/Het peers.

Anywhere from 20-40% of queer youth have reported homelessness at one time or another though it is thought that number may be much higher.

(link)

Let’s look outside of schools shall we?

We all remember the trans military ban of 2017 right? Sounds like equality winning out to me. What about in 2019 when the previous administration made an attempt that allowed insurances to legally deny an individual coverage simply based on gender expression. In addition to being a massive blow to the transgender & non-binary folks living in this country, it also would have allowed doctors to deny care to anyone with an LGBTQ+ identity. (link) I angry wrote an entire blog post about this that I ended up never posting, I can still see it sitting in my drafts out of the corner of my eye as I write this. The crazy thing is, these two movements barely scratch the surface of the damage the previous administration did or attempted to do to the queer community at large! Here’s a full list if you’d like…(link) Fortunately a lot of these measures have been reversed by the current administration, though not all of them.

Let’s talk more stats:

LGBTQ+ suicides account for 30% of all suicide deaths.

Greater than 50% of those identifying as transgender say they have at one time or another attempted suicide.

1/5th of all LGBTQ+ individuals report having experienced hiring discrimination with people of color reporting a higher number of 2/5ths.

Around 46% of all LGBTQ+ members aren’t out to their coworkers work mostly in fear of discrimination in one way or another from their peers as well as higher ups.

(link)

But it can’t all be bad can it? Well luckily, no! According to a recent survey, Gen-Z is the queerest generation we’ve ever seen, at least from an honest statistical standpoint. According to a 2021 Gallup poll roughly 15% of all Gen-Z-ers polled identified as LGBTQ+ in one way or another, sometimes multiple! It seems the more recent we go generationally, the more people are willing to express their true selves openly & authentically with the Millennial statistic being about 1 in 10. (link) Another beautiful thing happening is that more & more fortune 500 companies are beginning to cater to the needs of their queer staff with around 91% actively making positive changes to their discrimination policies in regards to LGBTQ+ matters, another 53% offering benefits for civil unions, & 65% offering transgender inclusive healthcare plans, and these numbers are rapidly climbing!

So I ask you. Do we still need Pride Month? Do you think the course has been corrected enough to warrant a stall in the fight for equal rights or do you think, like me, that there is still a long, long way to go. I’d like to issue you a small challenge. I’d like you to be a little bit of introspection here & look at how you treat you LGBTQIA+ peers. Is it the same as how you treat your CIS gendered or heterosexual friends? If not, what can you change? Are you as an employer doing what you need to do to be inclusive? Are you as a parent, as a friend, as a sibling doing enough? I want you to look at yourself honestly & answer that question. Are you electing individuals who enact policies that harm marginalized communities such as these? Are you treating all of your neighbors with the love, respect, & decency they deserve or are you stabbing them in the back behind closed doors, from the other side of a keyboard, or in the polling station? I seriously want you to ask yourself these things, to get your ego out of the way, to got the “what about me” out of the way & open your eyes to what is actually happening in the world around you. I didn’t even make a dent in the hindrances of freedom for members of the queer community here, mostly because I wanted to focus on the US, where it is currently Pride Month. I’d advise you to do your own research, to go into these comment sections & see for yourself because if you willingly turn a blind eye to the suffering of others how is that coming from a place of love?

I’ll leave you with one last bit, brought to you by the weapon most used against those in the LGBTQ+ community:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you do unto the least of those among you, you have done unto me.”

— Mark 25: 40

Happy Pride Everyone! Be proud of who you are & the path that led you here! Keep fighting the good fight & know that love is always the answer.

-C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Three-Food For Thought

Previously On

…

PART ONE

PART TWO

Now, back to our regularly scheduled content!

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SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

DAY FIVE

In case you were unaware, Maui is home to a very popular local restaurant, Mama’s Fish House, which is located on the north shore in Paia. I have very fond memories of going to Mama’s as a twelve year old lad & was understandably invested in going back this trip. However, COVID regulations being what they are in the state of Hawai’i at that moment, Mama’s wasn’t taking any walk-ins & their reservation list was booked out until August. I had called a few days prior to Sunday to see if there were any random cancellations but had, until that point, no luck. I was advised by the receptionist to try & call or “walk-in’ right as the restaurant opened at 11 for their lunch seating.

Sunday rolls around, Evan & I pack up the car with all the things we figured we’d need throughout our day & we headed up Paia. We arrived at the gate of Mama’s around 10:40 & pulled into a spot. Within a few minutes a line of cars had already began to form behind us. I made the call a few minutes before 11 to see if by any miraculous chance something had opened up & BAM!!! SUPERPOWER STRIKES AGAIN!!!! They had a table available at 11:20. Feeling rather hungover from the previous evening & needing to burn some time, we went back down the street to Choice Health Bar where I grabbed a Tropical Beets pressed juice & a Noni shot, a local ‘cure all” that I will definitely agree with them, is an acquired taste.

Juiced up & nearing the time of our newly minted reservation we headed back to Mama’s, immediately found a parking spot up front (superpower), & were shown down to the lower host stand. After around five minutes staring at the collection of autographed photos they have by the restaurants entrance we were shown to our table.

The vibe of the fish house was exactly as I remember it; deep Koa accents with open breezeways set nestled in the side of a hill, bay front, just off a grove of palm trees. We sat, order a little bit of the hair of the dog, & enjoyed the warm sea breeze sweeping through the venue.

At the recommendation of the waitress we ordered the Macadamia Nut Crab Cakes & the Toko (Hawaiian Octopus) for an appetizer. The crab cakes were up there as some of the best I’ve ever had, as was the octopus! For our main course we split the Mama’s Curry & their daily special of Mahi Mahi. We’d had three separate people in the restaurant rave about the curry & boy, were they right! The fish was so fresh & so perfectly prepared, it practically melted in your mouth. Dessert was espresso & a Polynesian Black Pearl, Mama’s signature dessert. The black pearl is a Passionfruit Mousse topped with Chocolate Ganache with a Cookie Shell & Passionfruit Drizzle! I’d had it before & I had never forgotten just how incredible it is!

We wrapped up at Mama’s around 12:30/1 & were absolutely stuffed, the problem with that being that we had another dinner reservation at Merriman’s at 4:30. While doing my initial restaurant research for Maui I’d stumbled upon Merriman’s & had managed to snag their very last reservation for the foreseeable future. Say it with me folks, superpower. So hoping to burn through a few calories, aid the digestion process, & having just made it through the 24 hours elevation limit following my dives, we went up to ‘Iao Valley to hike!

We were under the impression ‘Iao was a longer hike than it was but it was stunning nevertheless. The drive up to ‘Iao was very reminiscent of the Road to Hana in the sense that you go from one ecological biome to another in almost the blink of an eye. You go from Hawaiian hill country to lush rainforest. It was raining up in ‘Iao but we didn’t mind. In all honesty we were pretty hot & sweating from sitting down at Mama’s. We basically did the hike in 15 minutes then spent the next 45-ish just wandering around the park, going down to the river, contemplating swimming, trailblazing, etc.

Having a little extra time between our hike our & early dinner we decided to go back & change as we’d gotten a little muddier than we’d initially anticipated. We cleaned off & got back in nicer clothes before we climbed back into the car & went up Lahaina way.

Dinner at Merriman’s was set right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the north shore to the backdrop of a wedding happening just below us. It was served grand prix style so we got to pick from a few options in each category; appetizer, entree, dessert (naturally). Evan & I once again split everything we ordered getting Ahi Poke & once again, Octopus. Evan favored Merriman’s octopus, I think I favored the Mama’s one, both were exceptional though. Our entrees were Shrimp & Scallops as well as a Macadamia Nut encrusted Mahi Mahi. Dessert was Passionfruit Pot De Creme & a Flourless Chocolate Cake. I wish we’d gone into dinner a little more hungry but I don’t think either of us regret getting to do both restaurants even if they were bumped a little close time wise to one another.

We went back to Kihei & ended up once again sat at the bar at Nalu’s before calling it an early evening. I had a dive that departed from Lahaina at 6:45 AM the next day & we were going to need to leave our condo around 5:45/6 to get there.

END DAY FIVE

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DAY SIX

As I stated above, Monday started with an early morning. We left the VRBO at between 5:45/6 AM & went back up the coast to Lahaina. My check-in at Lahaina Divers was at 6:45 at their shop. I checked-in, grabbed a wetsuit, collected the rest of my gear & walked through old town Lahaina from the shop to the harbor. Aboard the ship I was shown to my BCD & tanks for the dive before we did one last check & headed off to Lanai. Evan went on his way to explore Lahaina, landing somewhere with a chocolate croissant on a beach.

The dive Monday was to the Cathedrals of Lanai, a series of lava tubes off the southern coast of the island of Lanai. Our first dive spot was Cathedral One, a lava tube with a large stone in the middle they refer to as “the alter.” I was paired with a dude from Colorado but the total population of our dive group was 8-10 people. I think I decided at this early point in my dive experience that it might just be worth it to pay the extra bit of cash to have a private dive guide or at least to get a smaller dive group. The amount of times I got kicked in the face, run into, etc was alarmingly high. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun, I had a blast, truly. It was just a lesson learned at 40 feet below the surface.

At the first cathedral we swam upon a series of rare crabs, several sharks lounging in a cave, & a massive porcupine puffer, not to mention the breathtaking, pun intended, cathedral itself. We exhausted our tanks, returned to the boat, & went off to our second dive location.

Our second tank of the trip was reserved for Sergeant Major, a dive they can only do when the current conditions are right. The site is named as such due to the large quantities of Sergeant Majors, a striped yellow & grey damselfish, that school there. The main draw to Sergeant Major’s lava fingers however is the presence of the Javanese Eel. A Javanese Eel, otherwise known as the Giant Moray, is just that. Giant. They can reach up to three meters in length & weigh up to sixty-six pounds. Did we find the eel? We sure did. Was it magnificent? It definitely was!

At Sergeant Major I felt the pressure of the close quarters especially when it came to getting the whole group to see the fauna of interest. In one such occasion I did my best to get out of the way of a less than observant fellow diver & ended up with a three inch gash across my thigh from a run in with a stony coral.

I don’t mean to sound down trodden on the dive, it was a blast & truly an amazing experience. I honestly can’t wait to dive the cathedrals again & my dive guide was awesome! I’ll just definitely be doing so in a smaller group.

After our dive was finished we all boarded the boat & headed back to Lahaina. Evan met me at the dive shop where I picked up a t-shirt & a sticker then we headed down the coast towards Leoda’s to get a post dive pie or two.

At Leoda’s we got one of their Famous Banana Cream Pies & a Pineapple Macadamia Nut Pie. As much as a banana cream pie fan as I am, I think the pineapple one was my favorite! In addition to the pies we went to the small local convenience shop next door & grabbed a few pieces of Spam Musabi.

Once we’d returned to Kihei I went down for a nap after feeling sapped from the morning. Pretty sure we returned to Nalu’s yet again that night. We’d made friends with the bartender/manager, Sue, & were going there to hang out with her & exchange stories.

END DAY SIX

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DAY SEVEN

Our last day in Maui.

Our flight out wasn’t until around midnight & I’d asked our lovely VRBO host for an extension on our checkout time since we had nowhere to go until then. She graciously gave us the entirety of the day!

We slept in a tad as we knew the day & night ahead of us was going to be a long one, especially with that red eye flight out. After waking up a bit later than usual we set out to grab one last snorkel before we had to say goodbye to Hawai’i. We ventured down to Wailea to Makena Landing & got to snorkeling amongst the divers. Was I fairly jealous of the fact they could stay down while I had to come up for air constantly, yes, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless even seeing two separate turtles & almost running into one!

After our morning swim we headed back to start cleaning the apartment we’d called home for the past week. Since our host had extended our time for free we decided to make it as easy as possible on her & cleaned majority of the place ourself, including laundry. Once we were satisfied, we packed our stuff into the car & headed off to get one last shave ice from Ululani’s.

I got the same flavor as before, the guava, mango, passionfruit mix with macadamia nut ice cream but instead of a second POG I got a Thai Tea with Sweetened Condensed Milk on it! Shaved ice in hand we went down the road to return Evan’s snorkel gear & bid the Maui Dive team one last fond farewell.

We’d been invited by Sue to come sit at Nalu’s with our bags until it was time to catch the shuttle from the rental service to the airport. So that’s exactly what we did! I wasn’t mad about that decision at all, especially since I wanted to grab one last bowl of poke before we left. Sat at the bar of Nalu’s we met a couple from Fort Collins who were on the last leg of their trip too. We sat exchanging drinks & stories until I received an urgent call from the shuttle service saying they needed us to get on the earlier shuttle to the airport. I honestly didn’t know it was an option but the driver disclosed that we could also just drop the car at the parking lot across from the terminal & they would come pick it up in the morning. We opted for that option & sat at the bar for another hour or so.

After many a hug & sad goodbye we drove to the airport dropping the car exactly where the rental company had asked. The airport looked like a ghost town, especially compared to the week before. We breezed through the livestock/produce check, check-in, & security & made it to our gate with an hour to spare.

END DAY SEVEN

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END SECTION TWO: MAUI

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SECTION THREE: KANSAS TO NASHVILLE

We’d received a comp upgrade on our seats & were each put in the exit row. I guess no one else thought to try & do the same because the exit row, on both sides, was completely empty. So, we took advantage of that! I took the left side of the plane, Evan the right, & we had our very own economy class lay flat beds!

Getting surprisingly more rest than expected & landing in Phoenix, we got to our gate & took an additional nap followed by another nap on the flight from Phoenix to Kansas City. We picked up dinner on the way back to my parents & met my sister & her family there for dinner.

The next morning, before heading back to Nashville we met my sister & niece at Snooze AM Eatery for breakfast before swinging back by my parents, picking up the dogs, & heading back home to Nashville.

END SECTION THREE

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END BLOG

EPILOGUE

I hope you enjoyed my stories, I hope I was able to capture even the slightest bit of majesty & magic that Maui has to offer & transport you there for even the briefest moment in time. Maui is an other worldly place full of immense beauty, personality, love, & culture. It is a place all its own & if you let it, it’ll readily make you feel welcomed & right at home. Much like any place I travel I have found that the people are truly what makes them special. This world is a colorful tapestry of life experience, trials & tribulations, & all of us are searching for the same things, identity & home.

Maui was already a special place in my heart but now it has cemented itself there. I’ve found myself over the last few weeks having a very hard time leaving it behind not to mention how much its sabotaged my sleep schedule. I urge anyone to find a way to Hawai’i but if you go, do so with respect. These islands are someone else’s lands, someone else’s home, someone else’s traditions & they are worth celebrating. Treat the land with respect, treat the people with respect, & do your best to leave it as you found it for those who come after. Yes, Hawai’i is beaches & ocean but it is so, so, so much more than that. It is a thriving culture & community that deserved to be preserved & passed down from generation to generation. Mahalo Maui for an unforgettable week. I’m grateful for the lessons you taught me, the friends I made, & the amazing opportunities you laid in my path. I can’t wait to see you again & I truly hope it is sooner rather than later.

-C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Two-Divers, Dinings, & Drives

SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

Welcome back!

If you're a returning guest to this blog series on my Maui escapades, thank you for reading! If you’re not caught up to this point give this a read first! We will be including themes, characters, locations, etc from the previous blog post so go read it here!

Hmmm, where’d we leave off, where’d we leave off? OH! Right! Back from the Road to Hana, sleep at a decent hour, end of day two, end of part one!

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DAY THREE

Something I didn’t expect to play out the way it did while in the mid-pacific was my sleep schedule. I was waking up at 5:45/6 AM & I was ready for bed before 9/10 PM, contrary to the mainland where I am a night owl through & through. Seeing how I had been blessed(?) with new sleep schedule I woke around 6:15 on Friday to a text from my soon to be scuba instructor, Kerstin, stating she’d had a cancellation & she was curious if we could move our open water dives up to 8-ish instead of our original set time of Noon. I let her know that we had to drop off our temporary rental car but I’d happily meet her at Maui Dive Shop as soon as we were done with that, which was literally right down the street.

Evan & I stopped to grab a liquid, caffeinated breakfast of coffee before we went to return the rental. As I said above the rental service was literally down the road from the dive shop, we’re talking 1,500-ish feet, so we dropped off the car & walked from there to Maui Dive. I was actually under the impression that we’d be diving off the beach across from the dive shop, Evan planned to spend the day sunbathing there while Kerstin & I were submerged. I was wrong. (It happens from time to time). The issue with this was that our dive site was in Wailea at Ulua Beach (4.3 miles south) & we were required to have our own transportation there. Our second rental car, the one we didn’t think we’d have but my superpower came through for, also wasn’t going to be available to pick up until 9 but apparently that was perfect for Kerstin’s schedule! We then perused the shop, buying up souvenirs & changing into swim gear in their restroom before walking the 900 feet back over to the new rental agency.

The car they had ready for us was a beat up 2011 Nissan Sentra & I mean beat up. I only mention the state of the car because they did. The woman who showed us to the car & did the “walk around” with us she flat out said to us “don’t worry about dinging it up a little, this car is on the verge of retirement from us. Just as long as you don’t drive it back in with the bumper dragging in the road we’ll be fine!” The car did two things really well & those two things were exactly what I wanted it to do. It drove & it had functioning air conditioning. From there we made our way down to Wailea towards my 9:30 AM rendezvous with the ocean.

The funny thing is that upon our arrival at Ulua I immediately found a parking spot only about two hundred feet from the beach. I pulled out my phone when the car was stationary to find a text from Kerstin saying that parking at Ulua is always a nightmare & that I may have to park up farther away & walk a bit. Didn’t happen.

We were getting out of the car, collecting our belongings for the mid-morning, & were immediately met by Kerstin, fresh off her walk from the upper parking down to the beach. She & I plopped down our gear in the park uphill from the water, parked under the shade of a tree in the soft Bermuda grass & began reviewing all the aspects of SCUBA as well as our dive plan. Evan took the remainder of our stuff & went down to begin his beach lay. After going over the dive details, exchanging stories, & assembling our equipment we walked down to the beach.

I knew I’d be immediately hooked on SCUBA, I could feel it in my gut, but I never would have guessed the extent & speed at which those emotions would come rushing in, but destiny is often serendipitous & the paths we walk in life often ripple & rhyme throughout our years. Through the state of wonder & overwhelming peace I found living a brief moment beneath the surf I couldn’t escape the feeling of familiarity. I had been here before, I just knew it. I had seen this place but was it in a dream or in another lifetime or what? It wasn’t until our departure from the water that the realization clicked for me.

We’re going to take a cute little detour here & rewind the clock back to 12 year old me, so 17 years ago…wow…Anywho. My first time in Maui was with my family at that age, the company my father worked with at the time was having a conference there & we all got to go! Our flight for that trip got into Maui really late from what I can recall & we ended getting to bed around midnight. I remember being awoken by my dad around 6 in the morning & being rather upset about that. He told me to put on a swimsuit & grab my goggles & I sleepily followed him down to the beach. We went swimming & I was once again immediately overcome with deep peace. That beach was Ulua. The first swim I ever did in Maui, the swim that helped solidify my love for the ocean was at Ulua Beach. Like I said. Ripples.

After a morning filled with diving we disassembled the gear, put it back in the dive truck & Kerstin & I went our separate ways for the day. I was so hungry at that point I could have eaten my arm so Evan & I decided to go try a highly recommended bento box food truck called Kitoko. The best way I can describe Kitoko is if bento boxes were done in a Michelin Star fashion. We once again followed the recommendations of the chef & order an Ahi Reuben & their daily special of Surf & Turf which consisted of the Pastrami Ahi, Seared Venison, & Marlin Sausages. All of it was incredible & was presented in the most beautiful way. Their fresh made seaweed focaccia bread is truly to die for.

After the savory delights of Kitoko my sweet tooth kicked in & I knew it was time to finally dive into Hawaiian Shave Ice so we headed over to Ululani’s. Ululani’s is a popular Maui/Hawaiian chain, having six location on Maui alone & despite the line, it lives up to the hype! I order two smalls, feeling a tad indecisive as well as wanted to get something I knew I’d like & try something new. I got P.O.G. (Passionfruit, Orange, Guava) & a second of “Sunset Beach” (Mango, Passionfruit, Guava) with Macadamia Nut Ice Cream underneath at the recommendation of the cashier. She was right, of course, & the Sunset Beach was easily my favorite of the two, which is saying a lot since the P.O.G. slapped too!

From the Ululani’s in North Kihei we continued on around the island to Lahaina. We wanted to find a snorkel spot, since apparently we hadn’t spent enough time in the water that day, & ended up at Honolua Bay.

To get to Honolua Bay you have to park your car along the side of the road & hike down a 100 meter trail that leads through the jungle to the ocean. The path is stunning & is in fact a burial ground for the Hawaiian people. There are signs all over stating to not veer off the path or do anything to disrupt the many unmarked graves that fill the grove. The trail also meanders along a stream that empties into the bay itself.

The beach of the bay is very rocky; large & small boulders all the way into the water, you kind of have to ease your way in. When you get in you’ll need to either swim out a ways or dive down a little to escape the ethereal effect the mixing of the fresh & saltwater have on the surface of the water. The snorkeling here is outstanding though, protected on both sides by cliffs, the water doesn’t have too strong of a current & is fairly clear.

Once the sun started setting we got out, got dressed, trekked back up to the car & headed back to Lahaina for dinner, stopping to take a few photos of the chickens feeding on the papaya that had fallen in the grove.

We’d been told by multiple people to try & eat at Star Noodle in Lahaina, unfortunately, like most of the restaurants on Maui during our stay, they were requiring reservations & were booked up for the next two weeks. So, naturally, we got a table on the water, right at sunset! (Superpower!)

At Star we once again, noticing a trend here?, let the wait staff order for us. Our waitress picked out Tempura Shrimp, Garlic Noodles, Pork Steam Buns, & their Chicken Wings. All of those items were great but I especially loved the shrimp & the wings! We also didn’t skimp on dessert ordering their daily selection of ice cream; matcha pistachio, strawberry lychee, & thai coffee. The strawberry & the matcha were the best!

Towards the end of our dinner the Luau next door began, the dancers of whom used the side of the restaurant as their “backstage area” before they would go on. It sounded like a blast but just hearing the music from it was enough. With warmed hearts & full bellies we returned to Kihei for an early bedtime, we had ourselves a very early morning the next day!

END DAY THREE

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DAY FOUR

We woke up on Saturday at 5:15 AM. Groggily we collected our SCUBA/Snorkel gear & headed down to the entrance of the complex we were staying in. We were picked up at 5:45 in a guide van by Celeste, one of the other guides for the day ahead. We picked up two other parties of divers before heading to Maalaea Harbor.

We were greeted by Kerstin as we got off the van, who instructed us to pick up our wetsuits & board the boat that waited just off the slip for us. I stored my dry gear, set up my regulator & BCD (buoyancy control device) & off we went to Molokini Crater for a morning of diving!

There were three other groups of divers aboard the boat with us diving but Kerstin & I were the last into the water seeing how I was still only two dives in to my certification. Evan stayed behind near the boat & snorkeled with some of the other guests!

I’d never done a boat dive before, (naturally), but there was something about it that was exhilarating! You’re above the water & suddenly there’s a whole other world that opens up below you that you hadn’t seen before & it’s yours to explore. Kerstin & I set off on our dive around the crater finding wave after wave of schooling fish. I even made friends with a friendly little male blue throat triggerfish who came right up the me & hung around til I offered him scritches & he returned to the reef below.

Our next dive site was Turtle Town, back off the west coast of Maui. Evan once again snorkeled while Kerstin & I were once again the last divers off the boat. As the name suggested we saw turtles but there were also a few large passthroughs, an octopus or two, as well as a a very large number of frogfish. I had footage of all of these things, or so I thought…my GoPro didn't turn on…

When we emerged from the water I was congratulated by the entirety of the boat on becoming the newest member of the club & we headed back up the coast to the harbor.

We didn’t get back to our condo until about 1:30 or 2 PM at which point both Evan & I were beat. We took a nap before going out around 3:30 or 4 to run a few errands.

We snagged coffee, a few more groceries, & stopped at Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand before the hunger set in & we decide to head over to Nalu’s, a place recommended by Kerstin for dinner.

I ordered the best dang Poke I’d ever had & Evan ordered a Bulgogi Burger. By the time we’d gotten here & gotten through the line to order it was already around 6:30 or 7 PM so the sunlight was rapidly fading. We decided to move from our table, set right in front of the stage where a local artist had began to play & up to the bar where we were introduced to Ruthie, a local woman who’d lived on the island for sixty years & was meeting a friend of hers there for dinner. We sat & chatted, shared rounds of drinks, talked about pets & life & before we knew it it was closing time & I was slightly intoxicated, flirting with a bar back.

Our place was right down the street from Nalu’s so we walked back home unprepared for the hangover to follow the next day.

END DAY FOUR

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There’s still much more of this adventure to be told, I hope you’ll come back again next week when we’ll talk more SCUBA, more hikes, more luck, & much more food!

Until Next Week,

C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part One-Travel

SECTION ONE : KANSAS

In case you missed it, Evan & I took a week & went to Maui. I had been to Maui before but it’d been about 16 years since I was last there, Ev had never been. We were fully vaccinated, quarantined completely like good boys for the entirety of this COVID nightmare, Maui had just begun fully opening up for tourism, & the tickets were cheap so we said “yup, that’s for me” & went.

Our journey started not in Nashville, but instead in Kansas City; my parents live there & graciously offered to watch the pups while we were away. Part of your entry into the state of Hawaii consists of having a negative COVID test from within 72 hours of your arrival. So seeing as our flight was due to depart on Wednesday we drove our way to Kansas on Sunday grabbing Hawaiian Bros on the way in preparation for our trip….which I have since found out is run by four white people with no affiliation to Hawaii or its culture & that feels an awful lot like appropriation to me…

Monday started off not too eventful; just covid testing, a few errands, hung out with my niece & nephew, & filling out all of the documentation required to enter Maui from the airport. I grabbed my favorite turkey club from Jersey Boys in Overland Park before calling it an early night & heading into a much more eventful Tuesday…

Tuesday morning rolled around, I got up to swim laps with my father & Evan worked from home in the basement. I found myself exhausted from the hour long swim & the early morning so I took a brief nap only to get up & be met with my favorite KC barbecue, Jack Stack for lunch! (My order: Jack’s Best & Smoked Wings with Cheesy Corn & Beans) After lunch I ran to grab a new carryon bag, as the one I’d had since 2011 had officially bit the dust. I returned home to hang out with my sister before we had planned to go to the Royals game that evening. Our flight was set to leave MCI at 6 AM the next day & fly from KC to Dallas then we’d have an hour layover in Dallas before continuing on to Maui. Well while hanging out with Tori I got a call from American Airlines, whom I’d never flown before, saying that our flight to Dallas had been cancelled due to weather. Evan went into panic mode. I, someone who seldom gets overly stressed about anything, starting looking for solutions. While on hold with American Airlines, the hold time of which I was told was going to be over two hours, I was looking into other airlines, trying to find ways to fly to Dallas that evening instead of waiting in the morning but the plan eventually became “rent a car & drive over night to Dallas.” Fortunately before that plan could be full enacted a lovely woman picked up on the other end of the line & found us a route to Maui through Phoenix. It left around the same time but had a much longer layover of four hours. It also, naturally, arrived in Maui much later & was bumping up to the closing time of the rental car agency we were picking up a (two day) car from…more on that later. During this whole ordeal Evan had apparently gone downstairs & speed packed his entire suitcase in ten minutes planning to have to leave then & there for Dallas by car, still glad that didn’t happen. With new flights & of course upgraded seats we headed off to the Royals game for the night.

Got to bed a lot later than I’d hoped on Tuesday evening. I blame the ball game & the fact that I hadn’t taken the time during the day to pack. Really it all comes down to user error. Either way we had to head to the airport around 4 AM as my rentals live about an hour away from MCI. I think in total I got about three hours of sleep that night…thriving! The airport was dead, just like I felt inside at that point, & security was a breeze. Our flight to Phoenix however was full. I’m pretty sure I slept the whole time but I can’t recall now thinking back on it. At any rate, we landed in Phoenix & were now faced with four hours of “what the hell we gone do now?” We decided to venture out into the greater Phoenix metropolitan era in search of sustenance. I was really hoping to find a place that served endless sopapillas with honey in a bread basket a la Cheesecake Factory style but none of them were open so we found a trendy little breakfast spot called The Hash Kitchen & grabbed cold brew, tamales verdes benedict, s’mores pancakes, & blue corn banana’s foster pancakes! Yes, they smacked.

After finding our way back to the airport we took one of those quick, corner airport naps before finally boarding our flight to Hawai’i! Our flight took six hours to get to Maui & it only took about an hour to realize my computer hadn’t downloaded any of the movies I told it to…so it was a long flight.

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SECTION TWO : MAUI

DAY ONE

We landed in Maui around 2:45 PM Hawaiian time & were immediately put in line to check-in & show our COVID documentation. Evan had been really on top of making sure that we had all our ducks in a row so the check-in was a breeze! It really helped that we brought our vaccine cards with us as well!

While we had been in line for the check-in I received a call from our rental car company asking when we’d be arriving to pick up the car as they were planning to close at 4 PM that day. It was a car that we were only going to be able to rent for two days because all of the other cars on the island were spoken for or several hundred dollars a day to rent & we planned to use it to do all the things around the island that required a car to get there. We didn’t get through with check-in & getting our baggage until around 3:15 & it was a 30 minute cab ride to the rental company. In addition to the distance all of the Lyfts & Ubers were telling us that it would be at least 35-40 minutes before they could even get there to pick us up. I made the executive decision to hail a cab.

We got the last. available. cab. Now would be a good time I guess to talk about the super power I have! I have the ability to get a parking spot, a reservation, or find transportation anywhere. This will come into play again later as well. So. Last cab at the airport! The whole ride to the rental company the driver was getting request after request after request for a ride & she was having to tell each caller that it’d be at least 45 minutes before she could get to them.

As I posted in an earlier blog, I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. See in more detail here! That being said, our driver initially dropped us at the “wrong” rental agency, I’ll explain why wrong is in quotes a little later on. She quickly corrected the mistake & we arrived to pick up the Chevy Cruz, lol, we’d reserved right at 3:45!

From there we stopped by Maui Dive Shop so that I could fill out some of my scuba paper work & so Evan could grab some snorkel gear. We then went to go check in to our VRBO in South Kihei. It was a cute little one bedroom/one bath with a full kitchen, living room, & a balcony that overlooked Charley Young Park! Our hostess, Diane, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting in person was an absolute gem, she was so accommodating & such a lovely human to interact with even if our dialogue was limited to the digital. If you’d like to see more of this listing or book it yourself the link is here!

The street our VRBO was on! It’s the third floor balcony with the chair against the railing.

After checking in & making sure our car wasn’t going to get towed I immediately dropped my bags, fished out my fins, mask, & snorkel, put on a bathing suit & got my ass into the ocean. If you weren’t aware, I’m definitely a saltwater soul, I dry out far too often & require placement in the nearest ocean ASAP. So even though the sun was beginning to set, I had to get in. I was instantly greeted by a small school of trevally which naturally brought me immediate joy!

We spent about 30-45 minutes in the ocean before the hunger began to set in. Seeing as we thought we’d only have a rental car for two days we decided to venture back up to Kahului & grab dinner from Tin Roof. At the recommendation of our cashier we ordered Mochiko Chicken on Garlic Noodles, Pork Belly on Rice, Ulu Mac Salad, & Birthday Cake Bibingka, I unfortunately don’t have any pictures from this meal to share with you all. On the way back to the condo we stopped at a natural foods market & stocked up on a few items we figured we could use for snacking throughout the week; mangos, papaya, pineapple, cassava chips, Paia Gelato, juice, Hawaiian Suns, etc. When we got back we broke out the food, ate on the balcony, & I had a religious experience with a mango.

Am I about to devote an entire paragraph to a mango, you bet your ass I am. So, we get back to the condo, we’re plating up the to-go food we got from Tin Roof & I decide we need a little side of produce as well, & cut up a mango. Now, this mango was from a local mango farm called Yee’s. Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand can be found in Kihei operating mostly mid-week & weekends (closed Mondays & Fridays). The mango I had the privilege of consuming was a Golden Glow Mango which is apparently akin to the Alphonso Mango of India, which is said to be the best mango in the world, go figure it’s banned in the US cuz we can’t have nice things here, you know, like universal healthcare…ANYWAY, this was the sweetest, creamiest, most perfect mango I’ve ever eaten in my life, so naturally I filled the rest of the trip with my daily portion of them.

We went to bed fairly early on, because, you know, travel exhaustion & minimal sleep & we prepared for another busy day to follow.

END DAY ONE

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DAY TWO

We woke up around 6:30 AM partially because circadian rhythm, partially because we were told by the woman at our rental car agency to get breakfast at Kihei Caffe, who gets a line fairly early, & partially because we had a day planned that was full of a lot of driving & a lot of hiking. We got to Kihei Caffe around 7:15 & the line was already wrapped around the building. It was moving fairly quickly so we decided to risk it. While in line I popped into Lava Java Coffee Roasters & I got us each a Granita, which is a frozen mocha with a little extra love added to it. The line only took us about 15-20 minutes before we were at the register ordering. I, once again, had the cashier order for me. She selected Loco Moco w/ Kalua Pork, Papaya Delight, & French Toast w/ Bananas & Macadamia Nuts topped w/ Coconut Syrup. All of it smacked but despite my sweet tooth I think my favorite parts of the meal were the first two items!

We immediately left breakfast & started our climb up Haleakala. I guess now would be a good time to mention the one time my superpower didn’t work. I tried to get us reservations for the sunrise at the summit of Haleakala…it sold out in 15 seconds BUT on the flipside of the same day, my superpowers pulled through! You see the previous day when our driver had dropped us at the wrong rental service something piqued in my brain. What if this “wrong” local rental service is actually the right local rental service? So, as we drove, I had Evan look up the rental agency & request a car from Friday-Tuesday when we were departing. THEY HAD ONE! ONE SINGULAR CAR LEFT! AAAAAND IT WASN’T SOMETHING THAT WOULD REQURE ME TO TAKE OUT A SECONDARY MORTGAGE ON THE HOUSE!!!!

The drive to the top of the volcano took us about an hour & a half but along the way you pass through some beautiful parts of the island! From the blue jacaranda trees to the eucalyptus groves there is massive monstera & pothos growing everywhere, its worth the climb for the drive alone. The summit & crater of Haleakala sit within Haleakala National Park, upon the top there is an observatory as well as a small visitors center. We walked around the top before making a slight decent down to the trail that leads into the crater. The whole hike is about 11 miles in total but we decided to only hike down to a small ridge in the center, about a mile or so down.

Haleakala is one of only a few energy vortexes on this planet. In addition to its measurable energies it is also sacred to the Hawaiian people & I can absolutely understand why. The air feels different here, not just because of the altitude but it feels charged while at the same time being very soothing. Where the trail steepens at the ridge we stopped & did a brief meditation. The wind whipping through your hair, the soft brush of the red volcanic ash over your skin, it truly is a magical place & I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to spend even the smallest amount of time there.

Feeling energetically a new, with a caked on layer of red dust & definitely a slight sunburn in spite of copious amounts of sunblock, we ascended the slops back up to our Chevy Cruz & began the winding decent back down the sacred mountain, our next destination being the Highway to Hana.

Halfway down the mountain we realized that we had rapidly burnt through our supply of gas during the climb & were in need of a refuel if we were to make it around the rest of the island. Fortunately the small town of Kula exists. We found this adorable gas station & general store run by the cutest elderly couple. Their whole business was cash based & the store was truly a perfectionists nightmare. I loved it. Next door to these modest lots sat another, Grandma’s Coffee House. Feeling the post hike grumblies & a tad under caffeinated we stopped in for an Iced Coffee, a slice of Coconut/Banana Dream Cake, & a Coconut Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie!

Refueled we pressed on through the up country til we came upon MauiWine. We hadn’t planned to stop but the place was aesthetic AF & I’m a sucker for a tasting menu of any kind. We were told the current wait for the wine tasting was about an hour & since we had places to be & people to see, i.e. trying to make it through to the Seven Sacred Pools, we decided to grab a bottle instead & save it for consumption when we got back to Kihei. They had quite a few Pineapple & Lilokoi (Hawaiian Passionfruit) Wines but the somm on duty recommended a sparkling white grown on island called Ulupalakua Blanc de Blanc. With the bag secured the voyage continued.

If you’ve never driven the Highway to Hana it’s actually a fairly daunting experience, especially for those who would consider themselves not the greatest of drivers & especially in a Chevy Cruz…The drive is absolutely beautiful, there’s no denying that, & I was more than capable of driving it but majority of it consists of one-ish lane roads with no shoulder that are often times either not paved or are paved in the most peculiar of ways. It however cannot be overstated just how beautiful this drive is. You find yourself, over the course of around two hours or so, transitioning from biome to biome as you wrap around the island of Maui. You go from upcountry to lava fields, from lava fields to rocky herding lands, from the herd lands to grassy farms & then finally into sheer jungle. The amount of biodiversity & different landscape is astounding.

We got to the Seven Sacred Pools a little late, really only having about an hour to hike it before the National Park closed so unfortunately we only got to go up to the first of the seven major waterfall. The beauty of the drive, the sense of adventure, the falls themselves, & what was to follow really made the trek worth it though; it’s just for next time I’ll plan to be there a little earlier so I can see it all!

Slightly saddened that we couldn’t get a swim out of the day (you can’t swim in the pools anyway) we continued on down the road toward Hana. Along the way we rounded a corner & found a line of cars parked off to the side of the road with a ton of people just standing around. At the end of the line of cars sat a covered pickup adorned with palm fronds that was blasting reggae. In front of the car stood a family of four; mother, father, & their two boys both no older than four. They were standing in behind a wagon with a machete. In the wagon, & in the back of the pickup, were mounds upon mounds of fresh coconut. Remarking at how cute the roadside set up was we continued on past the stationary vehicles til we noticed several people on the road crossing the bridge ahead. As we cautiously passed them we noticed all of these people were walking up to or returning from a beautiful waterfall that sat just off the road to the right. I knew immediately we had to stop. Evan, on the other hand, was hesitant but I veto’d his apprehension & we turned around.

I quickly parked the car, grabbed my swimming suit & my GoPro, & we too headed over the bridge to the falls. The path down to them was an easy decent freshly paved with mud from the frequent traffic of the dampened returning from their swim. Down the garnished path of giant pothos & slick black lava rock we found a nook to store our towels, clothes, & phones & slipped into the mirky pool the sat below. The water was frigid, but oh so relaxing after a long day spent sweating in the blazing sun & humid jungle. We found our way across the pool to a small cave tucked away at the base of the falls & sat there watching the water rain down from above. We were then met with the sounds of horns blaring. Not sure if they were from park rangers or a flash flood warning we shot out of the water & quickly gathered up our belongings before making our way back to the car. We were met on the bridge by one of the National Park rangers who lovingly asked how the water was & said she herself would have stopped if she didn’t have to be elsewhere.

Returning by way of the family selling coconuts I paused to ask them how much each of their drupes were selling for. I was told $10 cash which I happily paid & they hacked me open a fresh coconut. The water within was sweet & refreshing & they explained that they were continuing a tradition passed down from a gent who used to sit by the falls & weave palm frond hats, a shrine to whom sat across from where their vehicle sat. I thanked them for the coconut & we continued down the road.

From the park ranger at Seven Sacred Pools we got the recommendation to stop at I Lava Tacos. I Lava Tacos sat inside a large community of other food trucks but they were the only one open at the time of our arrival. We ordered the freshest Fish Tacos I’ve ever consumed, the most amazing Guava Wood Smoked Marlin Dip, & a Carne Asada Tacos. Truly breathtaking food! The owner, Justis Andrada, was such a cool guy & was more than happy to show off his amazing culinary prowess!

With full bellies, warmed hearts, & in the fading light of the sun we continued our way around the island back home to Kihei.

I think if I have one regret for the entirely of this trip it’s that we didn’t spend more time in Hana, it seems like a remarkable place full of lively people & incredible culture. I’m also sad we missed the views on the east coast of the island in the sun’s absence but I’m sure we’ll be back soon to take them in!

END DAY TWO

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I’m more than excited to fill you in on more of our Maui adventures but it’ll have to wait til next week when we’ll get to talk Scuba amongst other things!!!

Until next week,

C