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[{"type":"text","text":"On today's episode of \"Fat and Jobless\" ..."}]

Smile 26 4 18

<title>Daily Smile: Saturday, April 18, 2026</title>

On today's episode of "Fat and Jobless" ...

Daily Smile: Saturday, April 18, 2026

 On today&#039;s episode of &quot;Fat and Jobless&quot; ...

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Columnists

“It is usually better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes care of the family.”

Monitoring the Future, a long-running survey of American teenagers, has been tracking agreement with this statement for decades. In 2024, agreement among boys jumped to 41 percent, up from the lows of the late 2010s. Among girls, it nearly doubled to 23 percent.

 in Civil Beat this week. He warned that gender equality is under threat. The manosphere is winning. Tradwife influencers on TikTok are radicalizing your children. The Groypers, Milner explains, are a network of white nationalists, antisemites, and anti-feminists. They are the vanguard of a new and more threatening Republican Party. Democrats, he warns, have no answer.

Read the statement again. Does it condemn single mothers? Does it forbid women from working? Does it bar women from leadership? It makes a modest claim about what usually works. “Usually” is not “always.”

The wording also loads the dice against agreement. Paid work is called “achievement.” Home life is something else. A teenager who sees raising children as an achievement is nudged toward disagreement.

I generally agree with the statement, though I’d add that a woman caring for her family is achieving just as much as a man working outside the home. I suspect many readers agree.

Now look at the trend line, as analyzed at 

Agreement climbed from 1991 to a peak around 2013. It fell through the late 2010s. It rebounded in 2024 to roughly where it had been. The puzzle is not the recent rise. It is everything before it.

Teen agreement was rising for 20 years — before broadband, before the iPhone, before Instagram. No tradwife influencers existed. The manosphere had not been named. Yet the line rose. Milner does not mention this. A theory that blames TikTok for the 2024 number has to explain something: Why was the same belief already climbing, decades before TikTok arrived?

There is a risk in believing polls and not talking to people, so I asked my wife.

She is 34, too old to have grown up with tradwife content. She pointed out that most talk about sex roles frames it as a binary choice — family or career. The real question is usually sequencing.

She started having children at 19. At 34, she’s home with a 10th grader, an 8th grader, a 6th grader, and our three-year-old. Most days she takes the youngest to the park. The other mothers there often express regret — not that they had careers, but that they waited to have children.

There are inspiring stories of women starting careers at 50. There are far fewer stories of women leaving careers to give birth at 50. The order matters.

My grandmother started having her five children in her teens. She was a homemaker first and later worked as a waitress. She didn’t become the schoolteacher she once dreamed of being. She’s 94 this year, with five children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. A few years ago she wrote that she has no regrets.

Milner’s column performs a move Democrats have been making for a decade. Take a belief most of the Silent Generation held. Associate it with the worst actors who share some version of it. Insinuate that anyone holding the belief today must have been manipulated into it. Agreement with progressive conclusions is reasoning. Disagreement results from manipulation.

Were the Boomers who rejected traditional sex roles not also shaped by the media of their day? The universities, the press, the sitcoms that made Archie Bunker the butt of the joke?

Plenty of parties have been out of touch and recovered. The party that cannot recover is the one that treats its fellow citizens as inert clay, molded by whichever machine is in charge.

If you want to know why young people are returning to tradition, ask them. The families raising these teenagers are not a problem to be explained. They are neighbors worth listening to.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Mom and child

<title>Ask them, don't study them</title>

Political commentator Neal Milner is alarmed that teenagers find new value in mothers staying home to take care of the family. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa has a rebuttal.

Ask them, don't study them

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

WAIPAHU — Come to Waipi‘o Soccer Complex on a Sunday morning, and games are in progress in all directions. The bustling facility has over 20 fields, and nearly all are occupied on the weekends. 

Matches involving teams of nearly all ages and experience levels are being played simultaneously. In one of the back fields, a match involving elementary-aged boys is concluding. Coaches, seated parents and players alike can be heard yelling directions at each other. About 20 yards to the left of the young boys is a separate contest — it is there that the Women’s Island Soccer Association's over-50 division is holding its weekly set of matches. 

Competition in the women's over-50 division, as evidenced by the day's first match between a team named Riggers and another named Leahi Moms, is intense. In staying true to the active nature of soccer, no player on the pitch is idling. One defender made a clean sliding tackle against an attacker, bringing her opponent to the ground and drawing a grunt. The banter between players is equally competitive and friendly. 

In a season that lasts from January to May, there are five teams in the over-50 division. Two matches take place each week, with the fifth team taking a bye. Despite the battles that take place on the field, the league prides itself in fellowship among its players. After each match, members of both teams will have a potluck. Players from the first match will usually stick around and watch the second match, finding a place in the shade to sit while talking story.

The natural sense of community and pride in the league comes from its players understanding what they're doing is uncommon. 

"I'm just happy I can do it. I'm happy to be able to spend time with friends outdoors and be active and really show future generations this is what people at this age do," Kathy Carey, 69, told Aloha State Daily. "It is a commitment. It's not like playing tennis or golf, where you can show up or not show up. You're committing to the team. You need to be here. And we all miss games for various reasons, but if you can, you come and you give it your best and try to be supportive of your teammates."

While some players in the league are in their mid-70s, Alison Okumura is one of the youngest and newest members of the league at 52. As she's observed others playing regularly, she's gained inspiration from those around her. 

"Sundays were always quiet days for me. So, being here with the ladies, it's been really good," Okumura told ASD. "I'm inspired when you see them and you hear all the activities. You guys are, like, top tier. When I retire, I want to be just as active. You guys are so inspiring. You hear them talk about what they do — pickleball, they do swimming in the pool, they do water aerobics. They do line dancing and stuff like that with each other. It's inspiring for me to see what's in my future."

When it's time for Okumura's team, the Hale‘iwa Tsunami, to take the field against Holomua, both teams have gone through a brief warmup ahead of a match that features 40-minute halves with a water break midway through each half. Substitutions are unlimited and used liberally on sunny days such as this one. 

Okumura, a striker for Hale‘iwa, scores within the first five minutes of the game. Hale‘iwa's goalkeeper, Manu, made a diving save on a penalty kick to preserve the team's lead. 

Maintaining the decorum is the lone referee, Mike Fricano, a mustachioed man originally from New York, who blows his whistle and makes each call with conviction, even if players may not agree. "I was in the best position possible to see that," he sternly tells one after one of his determinations. 

In multiple instances, Fricano didn't grant the teams their substitutions unless they were ready near the halfway line before the ball went out of play. "Where are the subs? OK, no subs."

But make no mistake. Fricano, who has officiated since 1984, including the last 23 years in Hawai‘i, loves being out there. 

"This is why I'm here, because it's fun," Fricano, who referees matches of multiple age groups and genders across Hawai‘i, tells ASD at halftime. "These guys are great." 

Holomua scored the equalizer approximately 10 minutes into the second half, and neither team would score again despite fierce efforts from both teams. One player was down with an apparent contact injury for about 30 seconds, only to be told "it's just soccer, baby," by a teammate. She got back up. "That was f****** beautiful," the same teammate says to another player after a well-placed through ball. 

After the match, both teams sit in the shade to cool down. Okumura baked scones, just one of the appetizing options among the other baked goods. Her teammate, May Lapa, 66, points out that some members of the team have known each other long enough that they've seen each other become grandmothers. Okumura says teammates such as Lapa have encouraged her to keep moving and be social in order to keep her brain active.

"It's great. It's all in good fun," Okumura said. "It's worth the blisters on my feet to get to kick the ball and all that kind of stuff. I think a lot of people are used to saying 'I'm old' (as an excuse) but in reality, you won't move as good as you did when you were, say, 30 years old, but at least you're moving, right? That's what I get from the ladies, for sure. Once I stepped on the field with them, I told my husband there is no way I'm going to complain because they are suiting up and they come out and play."

Carey played for the men's team at both Punahou and Stanford since neither had a women's team when she first enrolled at each school. She helped the launch of Stanford's women's soccer program, then did the same for the University of Hawai‘i when it transitioned from a club sport to an NCAA Division I team in 1994. The soccer lifer has deep gratitude in having a place to play with her peers.

"To be able to do all I can do, play soccer and everything else at this age, I really feel blessed," she said. "We're all friends and teammates. Sometimes we play with each other, sometimes we play against each other. I think most of us try to keep in mind that we're just out here having fun. Win or lose, it's about having the opportunity to be here together."

Another player on Hale‘iwa, Cheryl Gamiao-Herrod, 62, is said to often lead the team in prayer during postgame potlucks. She says the team and the league has been like family for her ever since she lost her husband in 2023. 

"These guys are my family. It's an extension of my family," Gamiao-Herrod said. "I look forward to games. I try to go to church, too. Just the camaraderie. Meeting people from the other team, just encouraging one another, saying 'good game' or 'nice goal,' just being positive. You can uplift somebody's day. You know, somebody might not be having a nice day. Just give them a touch on the shoulder and ask how they're doing.

"Just to encourage other women that are over 50 that life doesn't end there. They can come out and play sports just like us and exercise and stay healthy and meet friends. At the end of the day, we're all friends."

Womens Island Soccer Association 1 041626

<title>Over-50 soccer league aims to inspire women</title>

The Women's Island Soccer Association has leagues for a bevy of age groups. Players in the over-50 division want to "encourage other women that are over 50 that life doesn't end there."

Over-50 soccer league aims to inspire women

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Government & Politics

Looking only at state and local taxes, not federal taxes, a 

 of the 50 states puts Hawai‘i at the top of its ranking for overall tax burden, with 13.3% of our total personal income getting hoovered up by the state and county governments.

[{"type":"text","text":"Alaska was lowest at 4.92%. "}]

The biggest portion of our tax burden, at 7.48% of total personal income, is our compounding GET, giving us the nation's highest sales and excise tax burden. ASD explained 

Second largest burden is individual state income taxes, at 3.2% of total personal income. It's the nation's 7th highest income tax burden and lawmakers are fighting tooth and nail to hold onto every penny. 

continues to advance through the digestive tract of the Legislature, seeking to repeal the historic income tax cuts passed in 2024. Click the link above to see who has been voting for and against this. 

 on how lawmakers could tighten government's own belt rather than pick our pockets. But ... it looks like they really, seriously just prefer to pick our pockets.

The smallest portion of our overall tax burden is property taxes at 2.62% of total personal income.

People believe a lot of odd things about our relatively low property taxes. I recently heard a fellow come before my McCully-Mō‘ili‘ili Neighborhood Board to elicit its support for a resolution that would call for a punitive property tax on vacant lots. He argued that property taxes are "artificially low," and therefore we could impose an additional tax — a fine, really, in spirit — on property owners who weren't doing anything with their lots but leaving them sitting empty, undeveloped, leading to blight.

I've heard people opine that our property taxes are low as a give-away to real estate investors, or to evil developers. 

[{"type":"text","text":"None of this is true."}]

Our property taxes are not artificially low. They're relatively low because, uniquely in the nation, Hawai‘i does not pay for public schools through property taxes. It pays for them through state taxes, so that cost — the DOE has an annual operating budget of $2.18 billion — appears on our income and GET bill.

This, by the way, has not stopped the government education set from 

wanting a dedicated property tax all to itself 

on top of what it already gets from the state general fund. People responsible for creating the nation's highest excise and sales tax burden forget that they've done so, then look at our property tax burden and think, "Hey! You people can afford to pay more!"

The WalletHub report shows us something else interesting about property taxes, which that plenty of states have a burden comparable to Hawai‘i and yet somehow still manage to pay for their schools with that money on top of whatever city services those taxes fund. Kentucky has a property tax burden of 1.95%, versus our 2.62%. Minnesota's property tax burden is 2.47%, lower than ours.

Well, with that, Happy Tax Day, Hawai‘i! You gave your all, more than any other Americans.

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

Taxes by state

<title>Pipikaula Corner: Congratulations, Hawai‘i, we're No. 1! In local taxes!</title>

A walletHub analysis of state and local taxes puts Hawai‘i at the top.

Pipikaula Corner: Congratulations, Hawai‘i, we're No. 1! In local taxes!

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Malia Smith, who grew up in Nānakuli and lives in Waimānalo, remembers completing a 200-page food analysis for the state Department of Agriculture in 2013.

“Back then, no one was really talking about food deserts, food swamps and sustainable models relative to food and nutrition. And everything was measured by weight — a thousand pounds of Twinkies is not the same thing as a thousand pounds of avocados,” she told Aloha State Daily.

She added that both communities she’s called home are case studies for 

, meaning those locations “are low income, high Native Hawaiian or Polynesian populated areas, that are fraught with convenience, liquor and grocery stores that don’t offer a lot of organic choices, and typically, [if they do,] it’s more expensive in those communities.”

In 2015, such research led her to open plant-based restaurant, 

, in Waimānalo between the two 7-Eleven stores along Kalanianaʻole highway.

“Our intention is to offer healthy alternatives to this community. It became successful and was going really great,” said Smith, who has more than 15 years of experience in health research and plant-based nutrition.

Shortly after the business’ launch, an individual asked her for help losing weight. She replied, “I will help you, but you got to eat my food and I’m going to teach you some things.”

Pleased with the results, he told a friend about her program, who told a friend, and so on, Smith said.

By 2017, she took a near 40-member halau through a one-year program, which included meals and food-related excursions before partnering with health plans and providers until the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. “I used that time to create a formalized meal plan,” Smith said, adding that with the help of her daughter, Kapiʻolei Smythe, they also put course material online.

Groups continued to show interest in what would eventually be called, Hā'ehuola Wellness Program. To date, 11 different groups have piloted the program, with four more currently in process, Smith said.

The initiative out of Waimānalo Health Center has helped individuals lose weight and decrease body mass index, improve sleep quality and blood pressure ranges, and reverse pre-diabetes and cholesterol, among other results.

 met while working together on a separate program that collected data for pre- and post-biometric outcomes.

“Mary was interested in identifying how to help Medicaid patients through this federally funded program in relationship to ‘food is medicine,’ and it was kind of this beautiful, perfect storm,” Smith said.

“We've seen people regain not just their health, but their sense of hope,” Oneha said in a recent statement about the 

. “One participant who struggled with illnesses for 25 years told us, ‘I got my power back. I felt like a victim until I started taking notice that my actions really do have an effect.’ She went from being too sick to work, living in a tent, to finding employment and helping others. That’s what this program does — it transforms lives.”

From establishing the program to benefit the health center's patients, the next step 

was reaching out to local health insurers to aid its members,

“Because I’m here in Waimānalo, I want to partner with people that we can work with here, together, because collaboration is the best way to heal the community,” Smith noted.

 granted $75,200 to Waimānalo Health Center, launching their Hā'ehuola Wellness program, which ran from April to September 2025. Participants each received 200 entirely plant-based meals over the course of 20 weeks, as well as the program’s online wellness course and hands-on experiential learning activities.

“What really moved me was hearing that participants didn't just learn what to eat — they learned why it matters and how to sustain healthier habits for life,” said Francoise Culley-Trotman, chairperson and president of AlohaCare Foundation, and CEO of 

. “This program exemplifies true whole person care. When you address not just physical health, but incorporate education, spiritual wellness and community support, people don’t just feel better — they get empowered to take control over their health.”

Smith thanked both organizations for being “forward thinking.”

“The program is the guidance; it’s the members that actually do it. It sounds like a lot, but it is very fun,” she said. “We look at readiness for change and self-efficacy because we know that when somebody’s self-efficacy improves, that means that they believe in their capability to be able to make change. And we saw drastic changes.

“Whole person health is the only way for someone to truly make changes. Diets don’t work,” she continued. “We need to remind people that wellness is not earned. Wellness is something that is remembered.”

When asked if a program like this can be implemented elsewhere in the Islands or beyond, Smith replied, “I am anchored in this community (Waimānalo) but we are not averse to collaborating with other communities."

Smith, a graduate from Kamehameha Schools who went on to get her Ph.D. in education, is excited to keep sharing outcomes from this program, which aims to address social determinants of health.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"And she’s not doing it alone."}]

She says her daughter could have continued in her educational pursuits but instead chose to lend a hand at home. The pair co-founded 

“We’ve built this together,” Smith told ASD. “I’m super proud of my daughter; she could get a doctorate in psychology, she has a degree in psychological brain sciences and neuroscience, and won an award in her psychology department. She could have went on and did something else but she chose to work beside her mother for this community, She is choosing the lahui, to cook do some mundane things for the love of this community. I feel humbled every day and so blessed to have her walk in lockstep with me. There’s no greater joy.”

Smythe added: “We have a great opportunity to work together as a mother-daughter duo. Participants see us come together; our energy creates a space for them to feel like they’re a part of our family. We come from different generations, so we have a broad span." 

"I think both of our strengths and our skills complement each other. And like she said, the generation split is important," Smith said. "Also, standing as Native Hawaiian women helps, we're proud of our culture, and it's wonderful that we're able to speak to the patients the way that they are used to be spoken to, you know, local-style, shoot from the hip, honest truth."

, in honor of beloved family member Manuel “Kealoha” Smith. The organization is "

committed to providing health and wellness education, and nutritious and healthy meals to those in need in our community," its website notes.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Mom and daughter food program

<title>Mother-daughter duo lead wellness program in Waimānalo</title>

Playing to their strengths of integrating education, plant-based nutrition and brain health, Malia Smith and Kapiʻolei Smythe co-founded We the Well Beings to provide healing through cultural practices, healthy meal plans, peer support and more. The results so far show that participants experience mitigated and even reversed chronic diseases.

Daily Smile: Saturday, April 18, 2026

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Daily Smile: Saturday, April 18, 2026

Authors

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