Invincible Summer

 

Chinese Proverb

 

 

"An invisible thread connects those who are destined

to meet, regardless of time, place, and circumstance.

The thread may stretch or tangle. But it will never

break." Ancient Chinese Proverb

Rules To Live By

 "Live in the moment

start each day with gratitude

laugh more

Create meaningful connections

meditate

focus on the positive 

Believe it all will fall into place

stick to your goals

Be generous

Choose Happiness."

Good Habits

 "Make it  a habit to talk

about blessings more

than burdens.  When we

spread positivity, the

universe blesses us even

more."

I'm Sorry

 

Short Term Memory

 

He's Italian

 

Vital for Survival

 

Life Is Better

 

A Good Look

 

"happy 

LOOKS GOOD

on you."

Your Purpose

 

"You were

born to

SPARKLE!"

Vast and Brilliant

 

"Don't be

Delicate.

Be vast, and

Brilliant." 

 

 

Peace and Tranqility

 

"I am at a place in my life

where peace is a priority.

I make deliberate life

choices to protect my

mental, emotional

and spiritual state.'

 

 

Jude's 3rd Birthday

Life is Finite

 
"When you reach a certain age

you realize that life is finite.

You can be depressed by that,

or you can say.

I'm going to appreciate every minute to

its' maximum potential". - Sting

A Poem That Brings Back Memories

 

So I bought Amy Uyematsu's  book "30 Miles from J Town".  

This poem really hit home and reminded me of what it was like to live in East L.A. and hear about the "rowdy" yes, that's the word we used in those days, for  "bad boys".  We heard stories about how rough the JA boys from Dorsey, Manual Arts, L.A. High were. I remember the Buddha Bandits being talked about. Randy would know more of this first hand as he bowled and hung out at Holiday bowl. I was familiar only a bit with the westside as mom worked on Crenshaw at Meat Packers outlet and she would sometimes take me shopping at the dept. stores at the Crenshaw shopping center. That was in the late 1950's. I remember the tougher girls that we knew at Roosevelt would go to dances on the westside. They were not the girls we were close to but we were friendly with them. I only went to Parkview once with cousin Pati and that was the year I was at Cal State L.A. and met some crenshaw guys that were students. they were not the bad boys that people talked about. One was Edwin Tom Yoy. His parents owned a chinese restaurant in the Crenshaw area. He was a great dancer. Pati went with me to the xmas party dance. Anyway I love this poem. It really captures so much of what I felt growing up on the eastside. Here is the opening poem.  

To All Us Sansei Who Wanted to Be Westside

It didn't matter where we lived

within a hundred miles of LA-

if you were Japanese growing up here

in the sixties, you weren't really Buddhahead

unless you knew about the Westside,

Dorsey High School, dances at Rodger Young

followed by pork noodles at the all-night Holiday bowl,

gangs called the Ministers, Baby Black Juans,

Buddha Bandits, and the boys who joined them

with the usual names, Kenny, Ronnie, and Shig.

By high school it was already too late for me.

I was from Pasadena and never got over

being force fed a bleached blond culture

of cheerleaders, surfboards, red corvettes

letterman jackets I was never asked to wear.

Somebody had decreed the only places

you could stay Japanese and cool were the Westside,

Gardena, a few neighborhoods on the Eastside, each

with their own reputation-

hardly anyone from the outside ever got in.

This didn't stop me from hoping.

My sister and I made the long drive

into town on saturday nights, thinking we'd get lucky, get picked

out of the crowded dance floor

by a pretty boy in a preacher jacket.

his hair in a 3 inch front,

so in profile everyone knew he was Westside

and could put on an almost black, South Central strut

whenever he wanted to.

I guess you could say even I had my chances

at least before they heard me talk,

I was often mistaken for a girl who'd been around,

I had that mature look-

imitated sansei chicks with rattled hair,

glued on eyelashes, shiny adhesive slivers taping

eyelids round like black-eyed lacquer dolls.

But as soon as a Westside boy

asked my name, where I lived

I sounded just like any other hakujin,

"No, I'm not related to Billy Uyematsu,"

whose dad ran a fish shop on Jefferson and 8th,

no sense in lying when my lack of dialect

revealed too many years in white classrooms.

But I really gave myself away when we slowdanced-

no one had ever taught me how

a genuinely rowdy sansei could slowdance

though she barely moved her legs.

I envied Linda Watanabe who had gone

to my Sunday School. She was mean enough

to hang out in the bathroom at Parkview Auditorium

eager to fight, along with the toughest Westside girls

amusing themselves as we scurried by.

Then she started going out with blacks

and our parents told us to stay away.

When Linda got pregnant, her family said

she was going to visit her relatives in Japan.

It became a frequent inside joke,

another sansei daughter spending her summer

back in the old country.

I never got my Westside boyfriend

though I acquired a permanent taste for romance,

dark men, harmonizing to groups so smooth

only they could get away with calling themselves

the Stylists, Flamingos, Delphonics,

Rosie and the Originals.

I went to concerts where we were the majority,

like the time Mike Sato from Gardena

took me to hear Smokey sing, "Ooh baby, baby."

long before it was a Rondstadt remake, or I danced

to "Are you angry with me, darling" as the real Little Willie G

of Thee Midnighters stood no more than ten feet away. And now,

over twenty years later, when I meet other sansei

they'll say, "Didn't you grow up on the Westside?"-

and a girl doesn't get asked that

unless they think she's got some degree of cool.

Amy Uyematsu, written in the '80's and included in Gidra's 20th anniversary edition; opening poem in her first book 30 miles from J-town.1992

Leaving on a Jet Plane to Oz

  

 

Well the day has finally arrived. I'm already to fly to Oz tonight and see Jude and his mom and dad and Sam. Can't wait to meet the new baby who will arrive soon. "Hey Jude" gramma's on her way to play with you. I think I could fly there without a plane I'm so excited.

 

 

So Many Blessings

 I leave for Australia tonight Wednesday June 14 and I arrive on Friday the 16th because I lose a day in the time difference. The following day June 17th is Jude's birthday. He turns 3. I'm so excited to be able to celebrate this day with him and happy that I will be present when the new baby arrives. Jude was born in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. Our planned trip to be there for his birth had to be cancelled. From that time until last June 2022 we waited to meet him in person. This past March we were again able to be with Athena, Mat , Jude and Sam in their home. Now I'm brought to tears thinking I am able to fly there to be with them as they welcome a new baby and to celebrate Jude turning 3 years old. So many blessings. Here's some photos his mom sent which I love.

 

Happy 10th Anniversary Aria and Daniele

 

 

When my daughter Aria married Daniele on June 2013 there were two weddings. The first took place on June 13 in Madison Wisconsin and the 2nd took place two weeks later in Italy. I look back on that day with great joy and wish them both many many more years of magical times together. PS I think Mike's Father of the Bride speech was one of the best. He made us all laugh and cry at the same time. Happy 10th Anniversary Aria and Daniele.

 

 

 

"We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. A little parenthesis in Eternity." - Paul Coelho

 

 

Sansei Rocker Concert

 

 

 

 

 

A heartfelt thank you to all the band members who contributed to yesterday’s “Sansei Rocker” Behind the curtain concert. Words cannot express how this moment in time brought me back to my youth, and touched my heart with your music. Especially grateful for your thoughtful tributes to Sansei Vietnam veterans (those that made it home and those that gave their lives in service to our country. ) Thank you also for your musical tribute and video honoring my late cousin David Jingu who was a member of your band. Your rendition of “He’s not heavy he’s my brother” while the video played brought tears to my eyes. Thank you with all my heart to Harry Manaka whose heart and soul was at the core of this concert and whose book " Sansei Rocker” captured what it was like to be a part of the music scene in the 1960’s and ‘70s. Harry you’ve written a very important book for the Japanese community and beyond that to the community as a whole and world at large. Your book is an in depth, informative view of what it was like to be a third generation Japanese American “Sansei” intrinsically involved in the music scene of that era. Yesterday's concert and the symposium the year prior are moments in time I will always hold close to my heart. (Important thank you to all band members:Gerald Ishibashi, Royce Jones, Bobby Flores, Wayne T. Wakai, Harold Payne, John DePatie, Richie Gajate Garcia, Charles Ruggiero. Your musical talents go beyond extraordinary)!.

 

We were able to snap a photo with Harry the creator of this concert and author of Sansei Rocker. 

So many wonderful songs of the 1960's and '70s.

Harry gives a moving and most emotional talk about our cousin David which proceeded a video of David in the band while the group played "He's Not Heavy, He's My Brother".