Talks of freedom with system-impacted people who elect to meet once a week through the prison education programs.

Halawa Correctional Facility, O’ahu Community Correctional Center, Women's Community Correctional Center

Talk-story circles with youth (at-risk Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders of the ages 14-19) who meet once a week in the classroom or after school programs.

Wai’anae High School

Community talk-story circles meet at their convenience and have included educators, filmmakers, lawyers, doctors, homemakers, retirees, nonprofit managers, college students, and more.

In-person or Zoom

Drug and Addiction

Anger and Grief

Abusive Relationships and Setting Boundaries 

The Past: Regret, Victimhood, & Stereotypes 

Fighting and Violence

Broken Homes

Self-Worth and Validation

Friendships and Romantic Relationships

Authenticity in Self & Relationships 

Worry for the Future 

Judgment

Work

“Last year I was in a bad place. I wasn’t eating. I wouldn’t leave my cell… a bad place. Now (after this class), I wake up and I’m thankful. I’ve taken so many classes (in prison), but this class is the one class that really helped. This is rehabilitation.

I am forever grateful for the opportunity to learn how to free myself from my mental slavery. I am technically in prison, but I never felt more free from things I have been carrying around for years. Thank you, truly.”

-Woman of WCCC Prison

“I just wanted to say thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. No person has supported and encouraged me as much as you did.

For the past few years, before I had your class, I bottled up all my pain and anger without having a way to release it. But you gave me ways to release and ways to open up. For that I’m grateful. Because of you, I was finally able to move on from the death of my loved ones and to stay in the moment. From the philosophies, to the concepts & labels, to forgiving those we thought we despised — everything I learned from you will always hold a special place in my heart. I just wanted to say thank you for supporting each and every one of us.”

-A Student’s Reflections 3 Years Later

“When I find myself suffering, I take a moment to reflect on a different way to think about the experience. Sometimes, I might be worried about sending an email, or sharing a perspective, or I might be frustrated that something turned out differently than I had wanted, or I might be beating myself up for not meeting an expectation I had for myself… then I ask myself if any of these thoughts are real.

These questions are, in some ways, like an interruption — I don’t have to get on a thought train of suffering. I can see the train at the station and choose not to get on.”

-Nonprofit Manager

“I realize that I’ve been giving power to meaningless things in my life. I made myself a slave to toxicity and misguided lies. I was tired, so sick and tired, of not being able to meet society’s standards. I lived as a victim and went through life with anger, resentment, and pride. I see how enslaved I was to my delusions. I’m in prison right now, but I’ve never felt more free.”

“If people gotta hemo something, they come to our cell and hemo.”

Hemo in Hawaiian means to take off, put down, or heal (in this context). Her cell has become a place of refuge for the other women who share her module.

-Polynesian Woman of WCCC Prison

“[These talks] have opened my mind to a whole different perspective on life which I didn’t know existed. Before this class, I was depressed and hung up on my dad issues.

But then, literally the first day, Mr. Dias shared his story of his dad’s ice addiction which resembled mine. Right then and there, I felt not alone. I wasn’t embarrassed anymore of my dad, I didn’t hate him for what he did. Instead, I saw Mr. Dias’s approach on it and saw that I am making my own dad issues.

He has been so real and cares deeply for every one of us. He understands us as students and literally is my favorite teacher. I always joke around that when I go into class, it's like a therapy session. But it's more than that, itʻs just a chill class with people speaking their minds, attacking the things which really matter in this world. He has prepared me for the future and shown me what really matters: happiness.”

-Native Hawaiian Student of Kamehameha

“Just here to tell you thank you for the knowledge and the mind opening lessons you taught me.

I had serious anger issues before your class and I was hurt because I hid all my negative emotions under my humor and jokes. Your lessons taught me I don't have to follow these expectations that others hold me to, but to live up to my own. I thank you because you taught me I don't have to be angry all the time. Ever since your class, I changed in such positive ways, I forgave so much, and just went with the flow.”

-Junior from Waipahu High School