Welcome to Focus, Civil Beat‘s new audio-slideshow series celebrating the rich culture of our community.

Inspired by the New York Times’ series, we’ll be photographing and interviewing people from all walks of life and sharing their stories with you in a multimedia format.

The goal is to highlight the diversity and depth of the people who call Hawaii home, and maybe we’ll see how our differences unite us.

We’re starting with an avid waterman, Randon “Nobie” Blackmon. The Waimanalo resident has studied Hawaiian navigation techniques used by his ancestors and paddles with Hui Nalu.

We caught up with him at Hawaiian Surf Adventure in Hawaii Kai, where he was preparing to take a group out in the double-hull canoe he built.

If you have ideas for future subjects we should feature in Focus, please email them to neagle@civilbeat.com. We hope to add a new show every other week.

We need your help.

Unfortunately, being named a聽finalist for a聽Pulitzer prize聽doesn’t make us immune to financial pressures. The fact is,聽our revenue hasn鈥檛 kept pace with our need to grow,听.

Civil Beat is a nonprofit, reader-supported newsroom based in 贬补飞补颈驶颈. We鈥檙e looking to build a more resilient, diverse and deeply impactful media landscape, and聽we hope you鈥檒l help by .

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