Take Five: Sen. Brian Schatz
It’s time again for Take Five, when HOH talks with a member of Congress about topics relatively unrelated to his or her legislative work.
This week, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, discusses life on the islands, traveling between Hawaii and D.C., and his twin brother.
Q. What’s your favorite beach or getaway location that tourists don’t know about?
A.
Q: How do feel about the tourists there?
A.
Q. Tell us a little bit about your work with nonprofit organizations before coming Congress.
A. I ran a social service agency on O’ahu, the main island, providing language translation, mental-health services and support for homeless and people who are having difficulty with housing. I did that for just over eight years and it helped to ground me.
Q. How do you manage having a life in both D.C. and Hawaii?
A. I drink an enormous amount of water and I try to follow one simple rule which is to never complain. … You gotta drink a lot of water when you’re on airplanes for [10 hours]. You get dehydrated very, very easily and so that’s the one piece of travel advice I was given and will give to everyone is, ‘Drink more water than you feel like drinking — before and after every plane ride.”
Q.
A. You may not know that I have an identical twin brother who lives in Honolulu. … After I became lieutenant governor and then a U.S. senator, he has taken to shaving his head and growing out his goatee so he doesn’t have to spend all of his time saying, “I’m not Brian.”