Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Christina Capecchi: Find your ‘spark’ and use it to create

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Twenty Something Penguin Random House is beginning to market a special release coming this August: a picture-book biography of acclaimed children’s book creator Barbara Cooney. The cover feels like a familiar Cooney scene — white church steeple in the background, purple lupines in the foreground — but then inserts Cooney herself in the middle, sketching […]

Christina Capecchi: Freed from phone, creativity flows

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Twenty Something The latest admonition comes from a 60-year-old social psychologist whose book hit the No. 1 spot on The New York Times’ hardcover nonfiction best-seller list. Using a smartphone threatens a child’s mental well-being, Jonathan Haidt believes, and he makes the case in his book “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood […]

Christina Capecchi: Gowns of grace, heaps of joy

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Twenty Something Jenna Wright has come a long way from being an NFL cheerleader to a First Communion catechist. Now, rather than sporting a skimpy outfit at the Super Bowl, she’s selling white gowns to second-grade girls and their families — and making it a memorable part of their sacramental preparation. It’s the perfect fit […]

Christina Capecchi: Pouring out the greatest gift

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  TWENTY SOMETHING Oprah Winfrey looks regal in a purple pleated skirt and matching sweater, beaming on the cover of the magazine that delivers her much-anticipated Favorite Things — “112 crowd-pleasing gifts for everyone on your list.” Now in her ninth year partnering with Amazon, Oprah vouches for each product with her trademark hype: a […]

Christina Capecchi: Leap of faith

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  TWENTY SOMETHING I’ve been following the press around the most anticipated biography of the year: “Elon Musk” by Walter Isaacson. I’m interested in the controversial innovator and also the author’s writing process, which involved shadowing Musk for two years. Isaacson, an acclaimed journalist, gained surprising access to Musk, sitting in on high-profile meetings and […]

Christina Capecchi: Rescued by a pig: A Titanic story

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  TWENTY SOMETHING A mother understands. From the outside, Edith Rosenbaum was bursting with beauty and promise, 32 and a rising star in fashion. Her job was glamorous, working as a Paris correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily, an American fashion publication. She covered couture openings and penned a column that appeared on the front page, […]

Christina Capecchi: The heart of the work

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TWENTY SOMETHING The U.S. Postal Service just released a stamp that bursts with nostalgia: an homage to the beloved author and illustrator Tomie dePaola. It depicts his best-known character, Strega Nona, who earned him a Caldecott Medal in 1976, clutching her pasta pot and smiling at her peacock. The stamp inspired me to sift through […]