{"id":1900,"date":"2023-03-01T09:32:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T19:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekhawaii\/?p=1900"},"modified":"2023-03-01T09:33:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T19:33:15","slug":"don-chapman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaii.carpentermediagroup.com\/midweekhawaii\/don-chapman\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Chapman enjoys visits from his canine friend, Jagger.<\/p><\/div>\n

He may be retired, but former newspaper editor and columnist Don Chapman has a new story to tell about his determined battle with Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Venerable journalist Don Chapman, who recently retired following an illustrious five-decades-long newsprint career, believes he was born to write. As a young boy growing up in Salem, Oregon, he was an avid reader, who by the fourth grade was already scanning the daily Statesman<\/em> as part of his morning routine.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, and the award-winning writer, who turned 74 earlier this week, has a new story to tell \u2014 living with Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Besides rooting for his favorite sports teams, Chapman spends retirement getting in quality time with his grandchildren: Cameron, 4, and Kylie, 8. PHOTO COURTESY DON CHAPMAN<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

He received the diagnosis just prior to the pandemic, which unintentionally allowed him to \u201chide it from the world.\u201d But he was well aware of the symptoms \u2014 \u201cthe shakes, you can hear my voice isn\u2019t the old voice, and an awkward walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Chapman remains optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is evidence that physical activity is the best thing you can do to fight Parkinson\u2019s,\u201d he says. \u201cI started shadow boxing. I also juggle a bean bag and bounce a tennis ball. I\u2019ve got a stationary bike that I do, a couple of light weights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest thing about this is I used to be an actual athlete. I played college baseball for two years, and in my high school senior year I was voted co-best boy dancer. So, I was pretty decent at controlling my body\u2019s movements. Parkinson\u2019s steals that ability, and that\u2019s the frustration.\u201d<\/p>\n

A naturally easy-going person, Chapman also practices positive thinking \u2014 something he\u2019s done all his life. He recalls his days coaching a T-ball team in K\u0101hala in 1982, and as the players came in to bat in the last inning of one of their games, he told them, \u201cOK, guys, let\u2019s go. We\u2019re only down by 12!\u201d At the end of the season, the parents, who were quite amused by that pep talk, gifted him a wooden sign quoting his words of encouragement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have the sign, and that philosophy continues to guide my outlook on life,\u201d shares Chapman. \u201cIt\u2019s also one of the things I got from the Dalai Lama (who he interviewed for a MidWeek <\/em>cover story in 2012) \u2014 that we\u2019re all responsible for our own happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can also bet that the die-hard University of Oregon fan is enjoying his well-deserved retirement by watching the Ducks, along with his other favorite teams, the San Francisco 49ers and Giants, on TV.<\/p>\n

As for writing, he says he\u2019s written everything that he needs to pen, including his life story for his two grown children \u2014 son Kai and daughter Dawn Luat.<\/p>\n

Chapman was a longtime columnist for The Honolulu Advertiser<\/em>, editor of Mid-Week<\/em>, and most recently editor of Building Management Hawai\u2018i<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the only thing I\u2019ve been good at my whole life,\u201d says Chapman. \u201cI tried all kinds of other jobs and professions and either I didn\u2019t like it or they didn\u2019t like me. Journalism, however, I\u2019ve never had a bad job. I\u2019m not certain there\u2019s such a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

From associate editor of his high school and college papers \u2014 The Piper<\/em> at McNary High in Salem and The Cavalier<\/em> at Concordia College in Portland \u2014 to sports editor for the Daily Emerald <\/em>student newspaper at University of Oregon, assignments for UPI and Springfield News<\/em>, and then jobs at East-Oregonian<\/em> and The Mercury News<\/em> (in San Jose), Chapman got on his career path early. But he never dreamed it would take him to the Aloha State.<\/p>\n

The year was 1979, and a colleague told him about a job posting for The Honolulu Advertiser<\/em>, which was looking for a columnist in sports and for a daily three-dot column.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ad included a cartoon by legendary editorial cartoonist Harry Lyons, depicting a guy wearing aloha shirt, shorts and straw hat sitting under a coconut tree at the beach with a typewriter on his lap, a mai tai in one hand, and a hula dancer in the background,\u201d remembers Chap-man, who applied for both positions. \u201cBuck Buchwach, the Advertiser<\/em>\u2019s senior editor, said my application was the 300th of 300 received. I got the dot-dot-dot job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, he thought he would be in Hawai\u2018i for just a few years and then return to the West Coast, but he ended up staying at The Honolulu Advertiser<\/em> for 13 years, covering everything from politics and sports to entertainment to the talk of the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cI married a local girl and had two kids who are part Hawaiian and then I got custody (becoming a single dad) and I couldn\u2019t move them off this island,\u201d he explains. \u201cPlus, I got pretty attached.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1994, Chapman joined MidWeek<\/em>, proudly serving as editor for 22 years. Under his leadership, the weekly publication grew from a \u201clittle shopper to a credible news magazine, featuring local and national columnists with (political) opinions from both the right and left.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wrote many of the widely read cover stories, including some that turned into books. They include books about Mauna \u2018Ala, the Royal Mausoleum (which earned him a Society of Professional Journalists award), and on Larry Mehau titled The Good Father<\/em>. He also was awarded Sports Story of the Year from SPJ in 2009 for his coverage of The Eddie.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things of which I\u2019m most proud is the quality of people I was able to bring into this profession I love so much,\u201d he says. \u201cIt takes a special kind of person with diverse skills to be a professional journalist, and if I was good at anything it was identifying those people, and hopefully mentoring and encouraging them along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to making his mark in the journalism industry, Chapman has also had a positive impact in the community. He was a volunteer adviser to the student newspaper at Moanalua High School, honorary chair for a fundraiser dinner for Helemano Plantation in 2004; and served on the board of directors for the Hawai\u2018i Judiciary McGruff Committee, the Hawai\u2018i Cystic Fibros is Foundation and Kalihi-P\u0101lama Health Center.<\/p>\n

When his daughter was looking to join a volleyball club team but there were none in his Windward neighborhood, Chapman posted a notice in a community newspaper about a volleyball organizational meeting at Kailua District Park, and hundreds showed up and signed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a quote \u2026 people may or may not remember what you say, people may or may not remember what you do, but people will always remember how you made them feel,\u201d says Chapman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope over the years, people I\u2019ve worked with \u2014 both people on staff and people I\u2019ve covered, I\u2019ve left them feeling good \u2026 feeling they\u2019d been treated fairly, positively and professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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