On Tuesday, November 13, I attended the Statewide Homeless Awareness Conference in Honolulu. It was all made possible by our first music video, Singing to the World. A writer from The Huffington Post became aware of our songs and asked if we could write and perform a song about homelessness. The students and I were honored to take on this project. It was because of the article published on The Huffington Post about Dream What Could Be Done, that Holly Holowach, the woman in charge of the entire conference on homelessness, invited me to speak and share our video.
It was a huge honor to be able to share our message with so many others dedicated to the same cause--I could really feel the emotion in the room as people were watching the video. I also shared some of what the students from the Lanaʻi Class of 2020 had to say on homelessness, and here are some of my favorite quotes:
"In the future I will stand up and talk to one city, two cities, three cities, or four cities. I don't care how many cities I go to. I only care about changing the world." --Mika Badillo
"I think everyone should have a home and a family. People in other parts of the world are hungry and eat from garbage cans, and drink dirty, polluted water. These people deserve fresh water and good food. They deserve it from the second they were homeless and hungry. It's not their fault.”
--Lauren Campbell
"What I know about some homeless people is that they talk to themselves sometimes, and that is because they don't have people to talk to." --Kishia Sigrah
I also had a table in the lobby where I sold CDs and DVDs, and I'm happy to report that I sold out of both--and was able to donate 25% of the proceeds back to Partners in Care, one of the organizations at the conference.
Which brings me to this announcement: Our DVDs have finally been finished! Included on the DVD are all ten music videos by the Lanaʻi Class of 2020 and several other bonus features. Thanks to Travis Turqueza (parent from the Class of 2020) for the front cover design, and helping to creatively put the students artwork together for the back cover.
Because of the recent accomplishments of the Lanaʻi Class of 2020, we have also been featured in several Lanai Today issues. Thanks to author Alberta De Jetley for the continuing support. Featured below are the different articles (click on the image to enlarge if you would like to see the text at a larger size):
"One World" is a new music video and song about the past, present and future of the beautiful island
of Lana'i, and the hopeful realization of Larry Ellison's vision for a
sustainable future there. The creation of the song and video was a total team effort by the Lanaʻi Class of 2020, the parents of the students, and the community.
The inspiration and concept for "One World" began with an unfortunate occurrence on the Lanai High and Elementary School campus. Early in the school year, the tennis courts where the students have recess were vandalized with graffiti. With all of the new construction and renovations going on around Lana'i City, we wanted to send a positive message to the community to take care and appreciate what we have.
Thanks to Ian Hanlon, the new 5th grade language arts teacher, Sandy Patterson, who taught the Class of 2020 in fourth grade, was able to switch places to 5th grade for the day. Much like our other songs, she helped foster the creative process, and the students brainstormed ideas for lyrics. After several drafts and re-writes, "One World" was finally finished.
I took a new approach when recording "One World," and tried to feature as many different voices as possible. I was surprised to find out how much everyoneʻs singing had improved, and how the overall sound of the group was much stronger--practice must have payed off! I also was able to feature live drums (Brian Stephens--who recorded them in Florida and sent over the files electronically), and guitar (Bobby Zarsoza, a local resident) for the first time. Jerry Brocklehurst, who also mixed our "Songs For a Better World" album, did a great job as usual with the mix.
We finished the recording just on time to perform it live during our Maui field trip in September. It was great for the class to have a new song they were excited about to perform along with "Every Day is Earth Day."
The plan was always to create a music video for the song, but we were spurred on by the Eia 'o Lānaʻi Film and Video Contest, where the object was to create a video about why Lanaʻi is the best place to visit.
Assisting me in filming, creating, and conceptualizing the video was my brother, Adam Glickstein, and Travis Turqueza, a parent of one of the students in the class. They helped so much in creating the final product, and Iʻm very grateful for all their hard work, expertise, and hours spent on the project.
We had a window of only two weeks to film, edit, and finalize the video in order to meet the deadline of the contest. I quickly organized a group filming date on a Saturday, as well as a few other week days to film a few individual kids singing.
Turnout for the group filming was incredible--and we had great parent support as well. We filmed at many different locations--the Lanaʻi Heritage and Culture Center, Dole Park, Lanai High and Elementary, the Catʻs Meow, the community swimming pool, the recycling center, and Bennieʻs Farm. This was all in the span of a few hours, and all done on foot--except for Bennieʻs Farm (located right next to the airport). Many parents walked along with us, and also provided rides to anyone who wanted to travel with us to the farm. Amazingly, everyone still had a smile on their face at the end of the filming, so a big thank you to all who came and supported us.
I also must say a big thank you to Alberta De Jetley, community member, and author of the Lanaʻi Today. She was kind enough to invite students, parents, and I to her farm (Bennie's farm) and give us a personalized tour. She also agreed to participate in the filming of our video, and we are so glad she could be a part of it. Also, a big mahalo goes out to Ron McComber, who graciously donated his time, and spoke to the students about his electric car. It was great to have Ron be involved in our project as well!
We finished just on time to make the deadline for the Eia 'o Lānaʻi Film and Video Contest, which was put on by the High Maka Maka Film Society and Four Seasons Resorts Lanai. We were also invited to perform a couple of songs before the viewing of the video entries and contest, which was held at the Lodge at Ko'ele. We had another great turnout of students, parents, and families--at least thirty students, which is most of the class. It was very neat being able to perform our songs at the Lodge, and even cooler when we were selected as the winner of the contest!
Since the video was produced by my brother, Adam, class parent, Travis Turqueza, and myself, the video was entered into the adult category, with the prize being dinner for two at the Lodge. Alice Bouman, the Resort Manager (pictured next to me), was kind enough to offer a prize to all of the students. On the following Friday, she came and delivered this amazing surprise:
Needless to say, everyone was completely thrilled and it was a great way to celebrate the completion of "One World," and the accomplishments of the Class of 2020. Thanks so much to Alice and the Four Seasons for their generosity and support.
We hope that "One World" will make a difference in the community here on Lana'i, and be a model for other communities around the world.
