Friday, February 26, 2010

Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler

I listened to Stubborn Twigs: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family, on the player while I rode the exercise bike. LOL 

I found this book to be irritating, challenging, illuminating and fascinating. The first couple of chapters bored me, but I quickly became hooked. I hadn't a CLUE that Hood River, OR used to have a major Japanese Immigrant community. Having family roots in OR this was interesting to me. Living in Japan NOW - this book really interested me.   Stubborn Twig follows the Yasui family as they leave Kobe to work on the railroad near Tacoma, WA. The original plan was to save up $ and come back to Japan. The older brother did just that. The younger two brothers move to Hood River, buy property, become major land holders and fruit producers...and eventually face internment during WW2.

This book is well worth the read/listen if you are interested in this time in history. I believe it helped me understand the Japanese culture and the Japanese experience in America better.  I think it would be a good book for high school students who are studying the WW2 era to read. This is not an America-bashing book, but it IS an honest portrayal of this family's experience in America.

In an amusing aside, our homework this week is to note items that are "yasui" or "takai," (inexpensive/expensive).  I was writing my sentence....and kept thinking yasui - that can't be right that's the name of the family in Stubborn Twigs...then I remembered.....ah HA they changed their name so they could advertise their business.....

This is part of my 2010 reading list.
Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Fun, fun, fun

Looks fine in Picasa and flips when loaded....
Jared and Arielle went skiing with some friends. Thanks again, Joel and Mary. It was their first time and they had varying success.

Nate, the youngers ones and I headed to Statue of liberty park.

Throwing rocks into an iced over pond...while Nate takes photos....they made holes and water spurted out of the ice all over the pond. Very fun.


I got a call from the chapel saying that Mike had been trying to Skype me and would call back in 20 minutes. We raced home.  I began to consider the itouch so that I could have Skype.

We went to base and got Nate a pass. We checked out the BX - the Apple Rep is SURE that I need not only wi-fi but a WIDE BAND connection to skype on the itouch. This means it would work at home....but not on base...and um...if I'm home I don't NEED Skype on a tiny screen. I have computers. ::snort:: I'm still researching.

We went to the nursing home to sing Happy Birthday to six women. This is always fun.

Youngers and Twyla's boys (she says they can be on the blog)

Stacia passes out a birthday gift. The doll display has to do with a doll festival - which I'll miss but I'll try to blog about later.  The four ladies to the right are all over 90 years old. Emily had her 5 month old baby along, and she was a HIT!

We came home. The older kids got home. Joel went home to work on a paper. Mary and the kids stayed to eat pizza and watch Saun the Sheep with us. LOL  Nate and I Skyped with Mom and Dad after I took Mary and the kids home.

A full day - and I have much to do to get ready to travel tomorrow and Sunday.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...