When Miki Kupu woke up from her usual after-work power nap to complete darkness in her room, she assumed it was just the usual loss of light to the evening. As she…
UTOPIA Blog
60 Years of Fa’afafine History: A Timeline of Herstory Makers & Events surrounding Them in American Samoa
The Stonewall Uprising that took place on June 28th, 1969, in New York City changed the lives and history for the LGBTQI+ community forever, the month of June is now nationally celebrated…
This Too, Shall Pass’: A Samoan Nurse recalls the Horrors of working through the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic 
When nurse Maya Ierome relocated from American Samoa to the U.S. mainland in the summer of 2017, she never imagined that she would soon be faced with the grim reality of being…
Searching for Nafanua: The story of beauty queen Janice Baice
At the turn of the new millennium, the name and face of Nafanua became one of the consequential figures synonymous with that era. She was not the Samoan mythical Goddess of the…
The show must go on: remembering a Las Vegas safe haven for trans women.
When the Las Vegas Lounge closed its doors in May of 2020, it signaled the end of an era. The small business, which employed 9 people, was a casualty to the economic…
Families’ Ordeal: Survivors of COVID-19 Remembering their Loved Ones
Tanya Tui When Tanya Tui’s family arrived home in Tacoma, Washington following a funeral they had attended, their household (including her sister, brother-in-law, their three kids and their mom) all tested positive…
Madame Secretary: Samoa’s first transgender Executive to the Governor
At 19 years old, I, Marion Marlena, was hired for my very first job as a clerk for the Government of American Samoa. Technology in Samoa was not up to date when…
I would never wish it on my worst enemy: A survivor’s ordeal with battling COVID-19
When Jayda Leiataua arrived for her grandfather’s birthday in California in June of 2021, she felt the chills during a warm summer day but did not think much about it. Later in…
“God did not create us to be perfect, but to be faithful: Stories of love and being loved”
There once was a boy in my neighborhood growing up and one summer day he took me to a large rock near a stream and asked “do you want to honeymoon?”. I…
Queer Pacific Islander Woman: A Memoir
Tagi Qolouvaki is Fijian-Tongan through her mother and German-English American through her father. She was born and raised in Fiji and migrated to the U.S. at 16. She holds an MA in English…