Gerry Ebalaroza-Tunnell engages with children at Horizon Elementary May 8 during her reading.
courtesy photo
EVERETT — For Gerry Ebalaroza-Tunnell, the author of “Let’s Live Aloha,” aloha is more than a word but a way of life.
To her, the greeting “means so much more.” It is about showing “compassion, love, empathy, character, grace,” she said.
She read her book, aimed at kindergarteners through fourth graders, April 17 at Discovery Elementary and May 8 at Horizon Elementary. Both schools are in south Everett in the Mukilteo School District. At the events, each student took home a copy.
Ebalaroza-Tunnell uses A.L.O.H.A as an acronym in the book. A is Ask, L stands for Listen. O represents Observe, and H stands for Heart. Lastly, A stands for Adapt. Throughout, she ends each letter with a question. Its purpose is to teach young readers about kindness.
Each question is significant in getting readers to “employ the word instead of hearing the word,” Ebalaroza-Tunnell said.
Her inspiration for writing a book to improve childhood emotional intelligence is because she attended Title 1 schools that have higher poverty rates. Title 1 schools are not sufficiently funded, lack resources, and are counted out. Ebalaroza-Tunnell was “picked on a lot as a little girl.” Additionally, she knows “what it is to wonder if you matter,” the Everett Post website said in an article
in April.
Through the readings, the intention is for kids to walk away with qualities of empathy and “make decisions from a heart-focused” place, she said.
Outside of writing this book, Ebalaroza-Tunnell, who has a Ph.D., is a consultant and an Oral History Specialist for the National Native American Boarding School Coalition.
As an oral historian, the significance is the “ability to restore what colonization attempted to erase,” she said. “The voices of our elders, the strength of our languages, the heartbeat of our stories,” she added.
This is more than collecting stories. It is “to acknowledge pain, honor resilience, and call forth healing not only for the storyteller but” the generation after,” Ebalaroza-Tunnell said.
Later by email, she said that this role “is a sacred responsibility.” It is about hearing with respect the stories, taking in stories “becoming a vessel for truth long buried beneath silence,” Ebalaroza-Tunnell said. The importance of sharing stories provides “healing to generations,” Ebalaroza-Tunnell said in an interview.
