Day 1 Manaʻo for Cohort Kaulua March 17, 2025

As we gathered together this morning in the auditorium at the school of architecture, together we began a new cohort journey. Yet this cohort, while a beginning, is also a continuation of the work that we have done before. Cohort Kumukahi was the first iteration of our cohort; the name Kumukahi marks the most eastern place of the pae ʻāina (archipelago) of Hawaiʻi and the first place that the sun reaches in the morning.

Cohort Kaulua, the session in which we are currently, has multiple meanings to continue our journeys forward. Kaulua refers to a two-of-a-kind pair, such as the double hull of a canoe, and it is also one of the many star names for Sirius, a very bright and important guiding star. Thus, this new beginning is not a new starting from scratch, so perhaps we can understand this venture as the launching of a second canoe (i.e., cohort) as a steady companion to the first journey of Cohort Kumukahi. 

Our team has been so excited to welcome everyone today, and it has been so wonderful seeing familiar faces and meeting new people. And mahalo to everyone who took the time to say to me that you enjoy reading these posts! There are many ways that we cultivate pilina to one another, and these written blogs are a small way for us to digest and process the events of this busy week so you as participants can be fully present and get to know each other.