I Z U M I - Spring Water: November 2007

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Nation's First "Day of Remembrance" Included Car Caravan to Puyallup Assembly Center

This blog appeared originally under the headlines " Puyallup Assembly Memorial/Exhibit Has Interesting History" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/01/07 at a reader generated website entitled "In Your Neighborhood". The original story has been re-edited and the order of several paragraphs has been changed for clarity.

Four new photographs not available at the original time of publication have been dropped into the article as well as 2 photographs from a second blog also posted on 10/01/07 in The News Tribune under the headline "Sleuthing Required To Reward Location of Puyallup Assembly Center".)

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For some of us in this world, the background stories of how and why the things in this world have come to be are relished almost as much as the existence of what we are seeing right in front of us! To some extent, that is how I feel about the Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial on the grounds of the Western Washington State Fair.

Description of the Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial & Exhibit

The Puyallup Assemby Center Memorial is a contemporary, cylindrical sculptural form created by the late and much celebrated Northwest painter and sculptor George Tsutakawa and located inside the entrance at the Gold Gate not to far from the fairgrounds Administration building.

According to a published account in the book "Born In Seattle - The Campaign for Japanese-American Redress" by Robert Sadamu Shimabukuro, c. 2001 by the University of Washington Press, some 700-800 persons were in attendance on August 21, 1983 when then Washington Governor John Spellman agreed to speak at the unveiling and dedication of the Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial.

Pictures of the memorial taken during this year's annual fair follow below:

Passersby who stop to take a closer look at the memorial are also able to catch a glimpse of working parts of the fair, including multi-purpose areas as the fenced area show here looking toward the grandstand. (Photo by Mizu Sugimura copyright 2007.)

The suggestion for the Puyallup Assembly Center memorial itself according to Shimabukuro, was self-generated from within the Japanese-American community shortly after some 2,000 supporters and members of the community came together at the fairgrounds to observe the nation's first "Day of Remembrance" in November 1978, following a car caravan with police escort down I-5 from Seattle.

A more formal proposal was generated after Emi Somekawa, a member of the Puyallup chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League discussed the idea of such a project with her state representative, Representative Dan Grimm, of having some kind of memorial installed at the site.

Simple Display In Puyallup Fair Museum Notes Fairgrounds Use As Wartime Assembly Center

The Puyallup Fair Museum, is primarily concerned with and legitimately involved first and foremost with telling the story of the historical backgrounds of an agriculturally oriented fair. Exhibits are contained within a well-kept and handsome building whose architecture has been evolked and inspired by country living and the great outdoors.

The exhibit on the Puyallup Assembly Center briefly relates the usage of the fairgrounds as a government assembly center for Japanese-Americans during World War II and combines a few photos and other documents in a neat, freestanding wood framed display case with large clear class panels and is on the whole, a good effort and should be commended.

Above: One side of this handsome display case with glass sides in the Puyallup Fair Museum has been devoted to telling the story of the Japanese-American residents who were temporarily boarded at the fairgrounds during World War II. Photo copyright 2007 by Mizu Sugimura.

Construction of Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial Not Without Controversy

Ironically, Shimabukuro's book relates a true story from the period before the memorial was even erected where at one point, due to opposition from local area veterans groups who were to put it mildly, not comfortable with the presence of such a salute and a serious proposal was made to install Tsutakawa's design for the memorial to be located outside the fairgrounds in an adjacent parking lot.

At this juncture, Shimabukuro relates that Tsutakawa balked, saying he would be more inclined if that were the case to pull out of the whole project immediately and the book goes on to report how the squabble over plans for the memorial eventually brought all parties national media attention.

The Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial Today

Looking at the memorial and assembly center exhibit today from the vantage of history, it might be time as twenty-four years have passed since the latter was dedicated to consider some new questions:

1) If both museum exhibit and memorial were not separated on opposite ends of the fairgrounds and could be physically located adjacent to each other as a paired topic, would the acknowledgement both areas have been created to extend be more effective?

2) Barring a move or relocation of either, would more prominent and coordinated signage unify and bring the already well-done efforts by both parties to the attention of a larger audience than what is now allowed by the present appearances of two largely unrelated and uncoordinated areas.

3) Unless a visitor is like myself, with prior knowledge that both areas exist and one who makes a deliberate effort to locate both, most people who enter and leave the fairgrounds will do so without ever knowing of the existence of such as the Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial and exhibit at the Puyallup Fair Museum.

Above: A view of the free-standing informative tablet installed with the Tsutakawa Sculpture that forms the Puyallup Assembly Center Monument from one side at the "2007 Western Washington State Fair" in Puyallup. Note the background, which illustrates the memorial's present location on the busy working fairground. Photo copyright 2007 by Mizu Sugimura.

That these other visitors past and present might find it worthwhile to stop and take a look, or even at the very least note that there's just a nice little old sculpture in back of the grandstand by a once prominent member of the twentieth century's most well-known Northwest artistic community who will share it with them? In the meanwhile, sooner perhaps than later, the wear and tear of time will certainly ensure that both memorial and exhibit will slowly fade out of the consciousness of our memories and disappear into the misty reservoirs of the forgotten past.

A Short Historical Round-Up of Historical Event That Inspired Original Proposal

"For Japanese-Americans, the constitutionally guaranteed right of assembly had been suspended since December 1941: although it was the United States government that originally imposed the ban on gathering in large numbers, the Day of Remembrance made Japanese-Americans realize that they had been internalizing the ban for 37 years. In a place where many of the participants had once been imprisoned, the "Jap invasion" became a joyous and powerful reawakening."

- Robert Sadamu Shimabukuro,
"Born in Seattle - The Campaign for Japanese-American Redress"

The idea of a memorial in turn, was inspired by community members within the Japanese-American community including those who had participated in a event known as the first Day of Remembrance on November 25, 1978 when some 2,000 people including a individuals who had not set a foot on the property since their imprisonment during WW II, joined a car caravan from Seattle and returned to the fairgrounds after a fashion to take back their lives and history. And while I was not one of the former residents, my Japanese-born husband and I were part of that now historic crowd.

These pictures which follow below capture a bit of the feeling in the air that day:

Modeled after the buses which took members of the Seattle Japanese-American community to the Puyallup Assembly Center during World War II, these vehicles would lead the police escorted car caravan down I-5 to the fairgrounds in Pierce County. (Photo by Yaz Yambe, copyright 1978.)

Yaz Yambe, who will be taking part in the car caravan that day poses in front of his vehicle. He is wearing a replica of the tags wartime evacuees and their families had to affix the family numbers given to them for identification purposes by the U.S. government. The logo design taped to the car window identifies Yambe's car as a event participant. (Photo by Mizu Sugimura, copyright 1978.)

The late actor Noriyuki "Pat" Morita is greeted by a friend in the crowd during the long waiting period while the details of the car caravan being organized for the trek to Puyallup, WA were hammered out. (Photo by Yaz Yambe, copyright 1978.)

The Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial Today

Looking at the memorial and assembly center exhibit today from the vantage of history, it might be time as twenty-four years have passed since the latter was dedicated to consider some new questions:

1) If both museum exhibit and memorial were not separated on opposite ends of the fairgrounds and could be physically located adjacent to each other as a paired topic, would the acknowledgement both areas have been created to extend be more effective?

2) Barring a move or relocation of either, would more prominent and coordinated signage unify and bring the already well-done efforts by both parties to the attention of a larger audience than what is now allowed by the present appearances of two largely unrelated and uncoordinated areas.

3) Unless a visitor is like myself, with prior knowledge that both areas exist and one who makes a deliberate effort to locate both, most people who enter and leave the fairgrounds will do so without ever knowing of the existence of such as the Puyallup Assembly Center Memorial and exhibit at the Puyallup Fair Museum.

That these other visitors past and present might find it worthwhile to stop and take a look, or even at the very least note that there's just a nice little old sculpture in back of the grandstand by a once prominent member of the twentieth century's most well-known Northwest artistic community who will share it with them? In the meanwhile, sooner perhaps than later, the wear and tear of time will certainly ensure that both memorial and exhibit will slowly fade out of the consciousness of our memories and disappear into the misty reservoirs of the forgotten past.

Middle-Age Gratitude for Spouse & Thirty-Plus Journey

(This blog originally appeared under the headline "Federal Way Husband Inspires Special Gratitude This Thanksgiving" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA at a reader-generated site entitled "In Your Neighborhood" on 11/18/07.)

If one is lucky to get to their middle-aged years reasonably whole and healthy, a number of Thanksgiving holidays have been duly observed along the way. In this respect, my life has not been different from most others in this category. As on previous holidays, I am thankful for being born into a family that was a perfect fit for me, who helped identify the outlines of the path I was to travel in life and gave me the foundation to begin the journey.

Playmates, neighbors, teachers, classmates, people I've met while in connection the world of work, as a young adult volunteer in organizations in Seattle's Asian-American community, my fellow South Sound artist compatriots, those met while a middle-aged citizen volunteer in the City of Federal Way, my fellow bloggers and readers on this website and a handful of friends I made a long time ago in the Star Trek fan universe, continue to inspire me along the road.

Finally, there are two very special men in my life for whom daily thanks should always be extended. The first one is my very beloved son. The second one is my husband of thirty-years and friend for thirty-five, Yaz Yambe. And by the way, he took on this moniker years before it became part of a pharmaceutical campaign.

Navigating an unfamiliar neighborhood in Amsterdam with his wife, Yaz Yambe (above) consults his trusty map while dismissing the thought the couple could possibly be lost. Photo copyright 2007 by M. Sugimura

The first time I met him was back in high school. He was staying with an acquaintance of time as a foreign exchange student. He was all of sixteen. His biggest ambition in those days was going back home to Japan and becoming a major league baseball star. His best point was a good sense of humor. When I was twenty-two he proposed marriage, mentioning among others the advantage of paying in-state tuition.

We didn't plan a fancy honeymoon. He mentioned something about going up to Victoria, B.C. But after we got married, he discovered a technicality, so we dropped Victoria. We ended up spending a day as a couple at the Olympic Rainforest and then went on a second day trip to Dry Falls in Eastern Washington as a foursome with Yaz's Japanese friend and his Japanese girlfriend. I used to joke that honeymoon was an omen about the recent marriage. Two extreme climates!

We don't have any secrets to share about how we managed to celebrate thirty years of married life. I had bone fractures after the birth of my first baby. My in-laws were with us under the same roof for thirteen years. I've struggled with depression and ADHD. And we've had as many ups and downs as everyone else. There are days I can't believe we are still married. But I can't imagine what life would have been like, particularly nowdays, if he were not along on the same ride.

This spring he made all the arrangements and took me on my first trip to the European continent. It was a dream come true! We flew to London, took a train to Paris and flew back to the United States from Amsterdam. He billed as "the honeymoon he would have given me thirty years ago if he knew then what he knows now!"

It's more than fitting to dedicate a special portion of this Thanksgiving holiday to be especially mindful of the thanks due to a wonderful human being, my traveling buddy, long suffering spouse, partner and oh-so very good friend, who made the spin I'm still riding throughout the calendars which have flipped-by since the seventies when we were teens such a truly memorable and fulfilling one!

Memories Awaken of World War II & Redress Era Family Stories After Tacoma Film Series Showcases Films

(This blog originally appeared under the headline "Asian Pacific Cultural Center Scores Yet Another Cultural Hit with Free Film Series" on an online internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA at a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood" on 11/08/07.)

Last month I was invited by a female acquaintance to accompany her to the University of Washington's Tacoma campus on Tuesday, October 23, for an evening screening of two films at Carwein Hall on the forced relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

This topic had a special interest for me because both my American-born mother and father together with their entire families were part of this unique and unprecedented chapter of history. With a stroke of a pen President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law Executive Order #9066 on February 19, 1942 and turned the world as they knew it upside down. Only a month before Mom turned 17 years old. Dad was all of 14 years. Their lives would never be the same.

What the President's signature actually allowed was to give local military commanders the power to designate areas of the United States military areas as exclusion zones from which "any or all persons may be excluded". When this was applied to Americans of Japanese ancestry living in an approximately fifty-sixty mile deep area stretching from Washington State to California, some 112,000 persons living up and down the West Coast were forcibly removed from their homes and communities by military authorities.

Shown October 23rd were the films: "Take Me Home" a dramatization which depicted the evacuation of families from the viewpoint of a small boy, and a documentary entitled "Resettlement to Redress" directed at older audiences which which followed the interment story from the dispursement of all camp residents at the end of the war to the eventual hard fought but successful national community drive during the 80's for a governmental apology and monetary redress, and finally into the 90's when the actual claims were paid.

Above: My maternal grandparents, Chiyo & Ichiji Yoshikawa. Picture taken in October 1944 while they were still residents of the U.S, government internment camp known as Heart Mountain Relocation Center near Cody, Wyoming. From family photo collection of C. Yoshikawa.

Several segments of videotaped footage from the Seattle, WA hearings held by the US Congressional Commission on the Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians at Seattle Central Community College in 1981 were featured in the second film. The screening in turn is part of a larger series of films on Asia Pacific Cultures sponsored by Tacoma's own Asia Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) and it's partnership with he Urban Studies Program at University of Washington Tacoma, with additonal support from the Cultural Diversity Resource Center.

As it turned out, I got far more than a night of history. As a young woman in my twenties, I had the pleasure of serving as a representative for the Lake Washington chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League on the state redress committee prior to the Congressional hearings in Seattle. However, until recently I had not been able to enjoy such extensive videotaped coverage from the era. So the flashbacks provided by "Resettlement to Redress" were truly a complete and delightful surprise!

Memories of the proceedings, my own short commission testimony as part of the Sansei (third generation) panel, and memories of attendance at meetings where I sat next to some of the major players in the movement as pictures on the movie screen flashed by. This was quickly followed by the same kind of thrill I had then merely being in the same room these sharp, dynamic and talented local leaders such as: Chuck Kato, Sam Shoji, Ken Nakano, Cherry Kinoshita, and Frank Abe to only name a few.

Another familiar face in the movie was one of my personal heroes, Gordon Hirabayashi, a civil rights activist whose legal challenge to 1942 government curfew and evacuation orders took him all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Coincidentally, Hirabayashi is a local boy having been born & raised in Thomas, Washington a South King County town near the present city of Auburn which no longer exists.

Former State Legislator Turned Seventh Grade Teacher in 60's Ignited Interest In Civic Participation

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "Classroom Heroes - Memories of Mr. Angevine" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 3/05/07 under a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood.")

When the leaves of autumn start to fall later this year, they'll mark a total of forty years since I met Mr. Wayne G. Angevine, the very first politician that I ever knew. To be truthful, I can't say that I really knew him. I was just a kid. He was both my homeroom and social studies teacher at C.W. Sharples Junior High School in Seattle.

At the time, my classmates and I had been told that Mr. Angevine was the youngest man to sit in the Washington State Legislature. Owing to the fact voters in his former district had given him the boot, Mr. Angevine found himself instead not in the hallowed halls of Olympia, but at Sharples delivering a series of highly formal and no doubt well-crafted speeches to a class of seventh graders.

It became fairly clear early in the school year that it was particularly difficult for Mr. Angevine to have been forced to the sidelines in the prime of his life. It was a tumultuous perod in history. During that very time President Johnson declared his intention not to seek re-election, Eugene McCarthy's bright promise would sputter, and the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, we left school only to discover that every side street all around the south-end campus were totally lined with police cars.

So the former legislator was reduced to showing us his old campaign memorabilia and pacing the front of the room every day in his perfectly tailored sport coats. These sport coats were not of the same kind we saw on the backs of any other male teachers at school. Those teachers wore sport coast in muted tones of brown and gray. Mr. Angevine, on the other hand, favored more interesting colors like flame red, lightning white and powder blue. He also owned at least one coat in some kind of plaid.

To this very day, I'm unable to forget that every jacket was always accessorized with a perfectly folded and crisply pressed handkerchief folded into a chest pocket. The handkerchief perfectly matched whatever solid color long-sleeved turtleneck Mr. Angevine chose to wear that day. All his pants had perfect creases and every pair of his shoes, whether tie-on or of the buckled variety shone like a newly washed automobile.

Mr. Angevine's dark hair was always worn neatly slicked back from his forehead. Not one single brown hair dared pop out of place. He wore heavy dark framed glasses. On a few rare occasions, like the day after Robert F. Kennedy was shot to death, he showed up for class wearing sunglasses.

It appeared even back then, Mr. Angevine was channeling what frustration he harbored into a series of impassioned addresses exhorting his youthful charges not only to sit up, but listen closely to the news and issues of the day, to think about just who was getting what, when, where and why, and finally stand up for what we believed. He also asked us to think for perhaps the first time in our lives, about taking a personal role in what he said was most likely among the most noble professions in the world, that of the politician.

To that very end, Mr. Angevine arranged for us to organize under the banners of the two major political parties, to select candidates from among those who in real life were making a run, write a political platform, research, write and deliver our own speeches and turn the floor of our junior high school auditorium into a real live political convention complete with staging, flag waving, colorful banners, assorted signage, candidate buttons, speeches and floor demonstrations.

I am especially thankful to have been one of his students. Not only because he helped open our eyes as to the great big world outside of our portable classroom, but that he gave us all a chance to learn more than we otherwise might have been inclined to know about what was happening in our country. Mr. Angevine also planted a seed, the powerful idea that if we chose to become informed and involved, that each one of us had a potential (like himself) to make some kind of difference within our own communities.

I owe at least one or two subsequent chapters of my life to Mr. Angevine and the inspiration he gave forty years ago to a seventh grade girl from Seattle whose American-born parents and immigrant grandparents were among some 120,000 persons of Japanese-American ancestry incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II.

A number of years later after I left junior high there was a story carried in the Seattle-area papers about Mr. Angevine. If I recall correctly, he tried at least one more run for another spot in the Washington State Legislature. Unfortunately, this run was followed by a small cloud - something having to do with problems related to exact length of residency in the district where he had filed.

At this point in his story, I must confess that I completely lost track of how this matter was eventually settled. But this episode, however regrettable, doesn't negate my belated thanks or the long delayed salute to which I feel he is owed.
Nonetheless, for me there will always be teachers whose names have long ago faded and teachers whose names shall be engraved in my mind. So under the subheading of politician, an unforgettable character in his own right, will always be the one and only Wayne G. Angevine.

Long Beach & Oysterville, WA Weekends With Friends Are Fondly Remembered

(This blog was originally posted "Oysterville Book Mention Stirs A Melody" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 9/30/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood.")

When fellow TNT blogger Stephanie, well-known her for her thoughtful porchside missives, shared a review of the book "Dear Medora: Child of Oysterville's Forgotten Years" about life in the coastal hamlet of Oysterville, WA on September 15, my brain has been quietly engaged in wrestling what memories I have had about this historic spot along the Long Beach peninsula.

Summer blooms frame a Long Beach area doorway. (Photo by Mizu Sugimura c. 2007.)

About a handful of years ago I was a weekend guest of my best friend from high school and her parents, who were vacationing in this beautiful area of the state. During this trip, I accepted an invitation to accompany my friend and her dad on a short outing to the town of Oysterville including a stop at the very same chapel mentioned in Stephanie’s post.

Floats add a colorful trim to a coastal area fence.(Photo by Mizu Sugimura c. 2007.)

The precise details of exactly if the seating her Dad and I briefly parked were metal folding chairs or high-backed wooden ones has already faded. The whole episode by now is surrounded by a warm and hazy sort of blanket, where the actual particulars become less important in comparison to the general rush of feeling and flow of impressions elicited by just one albeit brief but assuredly golden interval when a few bars of a favorite melody my girlfriend was inspired to play on a nearby upright organ or piano filtered through the worship area.
(This blog was originally posted "Oysterville Book Mention Stirs A Melody" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 9/30/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood.")

Occasional wooded areas contrast with open space and beach.(Photo by Mizu Sugimura c. 2007.)

This last August the same girlfriend, her folks and yours truly meet again in the Long Beach area to celebrate her successful completion of almost a year’s worth of medical treatments to combat a diagnosis of breast cancer only a summer before.

Unfortunately, this all too brief two-day jaunt featuring the extra companionship of my girlfriend’s three dogs and a fourth canine ambassador belonging to her parents did not in the end allow a repeat getaway to this idyllic little town.

Has the love or affection a friend or family member felt for a particular place or locale radiated from snapshots taken at their favorite vacation spot? When I look at the photos shown with this blog taken in the area this last August, it’s becoming quite apparent that the Long Beach and by extension the area around Oysterville, has undoubtedly become such a place for me.

Roadflowers for sale along Washington coastal highway. (Photo by Mizu Sugimura c. 2007.)

Literary Docket - "Here If You Need Me" by Kate Braestrup

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "Kate Braestrup's 'Here If You Need Me" A Solid & Sure Winner" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/5/07 at a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood.

Unlike lengthy tomes along of the lines of Leo Tolstoy, Maine chaplain and writer Kate Braestrup does not require every ounce of your undivided concentration over the span of weeks. In fact, I was more than delighted to be able to complete her compact little memoir “Here If You Need Me,” copyright 2007, Little, Brown & Company, over a single day.

I wouldn’t recommend doing such a quick read-through however, unless you find yourself in the same distressing shoes this year as myself. Braestrup can and should be savored not hastily swallowed. Unfortunately, this book is only the second of any kind my every-which way but organized calendar has allowed me to complete. You'd never know that I used to be a woman who belonged to not only one but two montly reading groups.

Two books a year is a poor showing by any standard in the literary universe. I was able to complete Joan Didion’s National Book Award Winner “The Year of Magical Thinking”, copyright 2003, back in the spring when I took it along to read on the airplane during the hours of enforced confinement a tourist must endure when flying across the Atlantic. I’m fortunate that the extra effort to read both books proved well worth the time required.

FAVORITE QUOTE:

“IF ANYONE needs proof that God has a sense of humor, here it is: I am a middle-aged mother of four who works primarily with young, very fit men … And I, a famously loquacious person, have a job that requires me mostly to just show up, shut up, and be.”

-from "Here If You Need Me"
by Kate Braestrup.

Sharing Historical Wealth Mission Of Volunteers At Tacoma Historical Society

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "Tacoma Historical Society Extends Legacy of Shared Wealth" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/19/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

Wills and bequests of the very wealthy and family members who stand to gain from them are longtime media fodder. The richer, more beautiful or handsome the heirs and recently the most bizarre - the better for covers and sales of tabloid publications in all forms on and off the Internet. Almost everyone is fascinated by the personal stories sharing the trials and tribulations of men and women living in today's growing-up with the certainty of a monetary inheritance.

Those families like my own whose trees are not stocked with rich relatives, can only look at how many people in the state participate in the lottery if they don't understand how many of us occasionally spend minutes of our lives toying with this all too pleasant fantasy of becoming instantly rich.

Is it possible, that unknowing heirs and heiresses to another, but no less valuable legacy which is local history - might equally enjoy when introduced as well to the abundance of riches they already have? Is such self-knowledge for a city the size of Tacoma, or for that matter King County's Federal Way where I live, merely regarded as a pleasant incidental or a powerful community asset? - M. Sugimura, FW resident

My own hubby has waxed-on and off about either winning the lotto or waiting for his proverbial ship during the 30 years of our marriage. And I know he’ll continue playing with the idea: “Hey Mizu, when I win the lottery I’m buying that Lexus I told you about” simply because it’s so much fun. (Between you and me, it’s such an old, very old song - that barring the unforeseen, I’m going to hear the same tune for a good twenty more. Maybe the little bit of hearing loss I've had will turn out to be a blessing!)

Nevertheless, winning it all is a prospect that can squeeze imaginative and creativity from relatives, friends and acquaintances who will literally ooze with it overnight despite a lifetime of being self-described creative stick-in-the-muds. The novelty of free cash is a prospect that ignites most any brain.

If broken tree fragments lodged in damp dirt can be brought to life by the mere mention of dollars, is possible, that unknowing heirs and heiresses to another, but no less valuable legacy which is local history - might equally enjoy when introduced as well to the abundance of riches they already have? Is such self-knowledge for a city the size of Tacoma, or for that matter King County's Federal Way where I live, merely regarded as a pleasant incidental or a powerful community asset?

Such is the gamble made by volunteers at The Tacoma Historical Society (TTHS) who have staffed the Allen C. Mason Exhibit Center, 747 Broadway, Wed. - Sat., 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., tucked away in what appears on the outside to be a tidy but modest downtown storefront in the Old City Hall Historic District.

Heroics of Writers/Historians Deliver 3 Pacific-Northwest Asian-American Communities Gift Of Their History

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "Art Lessons #5: When Local Writers/Historians Are Superheroes" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/09/07 under a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

If you said “Superstar” in a crowd today and could see the first image that came to mind over their heads like cute little dialogue bubbles over the top of a character in the comics, 9 times out of 10 a face of a popular celebrity or athlete would bob happily overhead.

Whisper “Superhero” and you'd get bubbles with portraits of Superman, Batman, Spiderman…and the Wizard of Oz. Oops! That’s too far north. We're talking about Pierce County. Well although I can't speak for you, just now when I was thinking about the people I consider super heroes, a trio of local authors with a zest for the past popped into mind.

So I'm the odd duck. These fellows are still community giants and I’m not content to simply plug their books. I’ve decided to create my own awards. Let’s start the show by playing a few bars of my opening award theme song. The secret to the melody lies in the silent bars which were after all, created just especially for this special occasion.

Federal Way, WA – Local artist Mizu Sugimura announced today that Auburn-area researcher and writer Stan Flewelling, Tacoma historian and community college instructor Ronald Magden and crusading author and former Eastside journalist David Neiwert will form the winning trio at the 2007 Puget Sound Basin Cross-Cultural Champion (PSBCCC) awards.

The PSBCCC is a conceptual honor and brainchild of its artist Mizu Sugimura a citizen appointee on the very first City of Federal Way Diversity Commission (1993-1995) and who was subsequently elected by her colleagues as its very first chairperson.

The award has been created to allow Sugimura, a short and diminutive woman of five feet tall, a more imposing podium to salute and honor persons who have lived and worked during some portion of their lives in the Puget Sound Basin and have made a lasting contribution to education, understanding or improvement in the relationships between diverse communities.

Having Said Goodbye to Building - Congregation of Tacoma Japanese-American Church Continues On To Mark 100th Anniversary

(This original blog was originally posted under the headline "Another Legacy of World War II in Today's Japanese-American Community" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 11/11/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

My granduncle, Akira Aoyama, a devout Christian from his student days in his native Japan, no doubt touched base with a few members of Tacoma's Japanese-American community at the beginning of the twentieth century (1903) when he was compelled to wait in the city for several months before a long anticipated meeting and joining with a group of hardy and pioneering engineers led by Cornell University Professor William Hubert Burr (1851-1936) who were part of a field survey team headed south to become part of even bigger story - the creation of the historic Panama Canal.

During this time, said his Japanese biographer Tetsuro Takasaki, Uncle Akira took odd jobs to earn traveling money and continue his studies of English. He purchased and read a number of books towards this goal during his Northwest stay. And it is quite likely that he had some contact with fellow members of his Japanese brothers in Christ through local churches or bible study groups.

While not officially up and running during Akira's day, one such Christian institution was the Japanese-American congregation at Whitney United Methodist Church, formerly located at 1901 Fawcett Avenue built in 1929. Prior to the congregation's forced exodus from it's historic downtown chapel around 2000 as a result of it's property being included in plans for the University of Washington's campus in Tacoma, my family and I were fortunate to be able to attend a service or two at the original site.

The humble exterior of the church revealed a wonderful little worship hall where scattered echoes of the lively, hustle, bustle, loving warmth and nurturing care over the years by now invisible individuals and families who populated its larger, more active congregations in years past lingered in the polished old woodwork. flooring and stained glass windows

We were drawn to the Fawcett Avenue chapel by it's history, because of pre-World War II family ties on my father's side with two families of the clergy (Reverend Nancy Adachi-Osawa & Dr. Charles & Kikue Rich) who served at Whitney during the late seventies and eighties, and our curiosity about a denominational sister of Browns Point United Methodist Church in northeastern Tacoma where our family had most recently attended.

Whitney's pre-war Nikkei congregation enjoyed not only worship services and fellowship with their fellow Japanese-Americans, but much-looked forward to opportunities to share and celebrate traditional cooking and holiday observances with their children and grandchildren. Sukiyaki dinners, pancake breakfasts, mochi, pickle & makizushi sales made mouthwatering memories and brought generations together as they did for Nihon-machi (Japan-Town) residents in cities and towns up and down the West Coast.

Former church neighbors in Tacoma may be cheered by the news the congregation of Whitney United Methodist Church still lives on, recently celebrating it's 100th Anniversary of it's founding last September 22 and 23rd at its present location outside city limits in Puyallup, WA. Now led by the Reverend Edward Iwamoto, Whitney shares facilities with but maintains it's own separate and unique identity from the building's generous host, fellow Methodists at Puyallup United Methodist Church.

According Whitney's newsletter "The Kaiho" a newsletter dated October 2007 which arrived a few weeks ago in my mail, the two day centennial celebration was a resounding success beginning with a reunion luncheon on Saturday, September 22 at Kabuki Restaurant attracting over 90 members of the church's extended faith families. A number of former pastors of Whitney UMC were in attendance including the Reverend Gloria Kymn.

A summary of the lunch, featured Kymn's sharing of her memories at Whitney which thoroughly entertained the assembled crowd. The following day, it was observed that ceremonies were highlighted by Reverend Alpha Takagi whose energetic preaching to a standing-room only audience that eventually overflowed into adjacent rooms, stood in stark contrast to what might be expected of a man approaching his ninetieth birthday.

Before the crash of blog postings from this spring "In Your Neighborhood" here at the News Tribune, if I recall a handful of blogs raised the question about what happened to the Tacoma's Japanese-American community. Interested readers should consult local writer and historian Ronald Magden's excellent history "Furusato: Tacoma-Pierce County Japanese" (c. 1998) for almost any question in regards to this topic. The services of the Tacoma Historical Association may also be of service.

However, as the centennial events at Puyallup's Whitney UMC illustrate, in different times and in totally different community, the light from one of Tacoma's pre-war Japanese-American institutions still shines on - a brave and precious remnant of the talent, energy and perseverance that drove this long-gone but vibrant player in the city's historic past.

Art Commission of Federal Way Sponsors Annual Juried Show

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "Winners of Federal Way's 2007 Arts Alive Juried Show" on the internet website at The News Tribune, a dailly newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/02/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood".

For visual artists and photographers in Tacoma's neighboring King County suburb of Federal Way, there is only one show in town, the City sponsored "Arts Alive Juried Art Exhibition" which arrives annually a few weeks after the kids go back to school.

My family and I just returned home from Federal Way City Hall, where an artist reception to commemorate 2007's juried choices was held earlier this evening prior to the regular Tuesday meeting of the City Council.

Despite the lack of a crowd the good news is that the competition sponsored annually by the City of Federal Way's Art Commission has been one of a handful options, aside from the acquisition of public art, that Commission members offer public encouragement in the form of a small competition, an opportunity to be judged by a jury of peers and a small cash award in their roles of stewards of the city’s visual art bank balances.

Successful entrants in this year's juried show include the following artists: Sono Begert, Julie Blakemore, John D.Choi, Paul Glasoe, Marianne Harlor, Elizabeth Hilkey, Tis Huberth, Emma Jonelle, Bob Kim, Kathy McFall-Butler, Lori E. Paulson, Brian Picard, Bobbie Hanson Riddle, Eric Stavney, Judy A. Thompson, Esther Vine, Mari Zaffuto and the author of this blog, Mizu Sugimura.

The official show program listed this year's jurors as: Steve Babb, Judy Free and Patty Halbmaier. Current members of the City of Federal Way Art Commission include: Peggy LaPorte, chair; Bette Simpson, vice-chair; Carrol Clemens, Maggie Ellis, Susan Honda, Richard McPhail, Karen Oleson, Jann Perez, Mary Tynan and alternates: Bruce Lee and Gwen Fenbert.

Winning pieces from this year’s show will be on display at Federal Way City Hall through January 7, 2008, from Monday – Friday, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

How The Arts Can Stay Alive In South King County Suburb

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "New Dress For F.W. Arts Program Would Signal Readiness For Future Challenges" on the internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/03/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood.")

Whether the blustery winds and rain that fell earlier in the afternoon put a damper on the good intentions of those folks who were invited to attend and the possible host of area citizens who had marked the event on their calendars, I will never know. However in regards to attendance, the audience at the reception last night for the 2007 Arts Alive Juried Show in Federal Way, WA is surely dwindling.

While biting the hand that feeds me is not my intent, as a multiple art show entrant and occasional finalist, as well in 1995-97 a former Arts Commission member, what I can tell you is despite the hard work that went into the planning and execution of this event and evening, the overall growth of the show itself has not met its possible potential.

With no disrespect to present Commission members and staff, given available resources and budget, the body has been faithful, even diligent in their endeavors to replicate much the same frame and format for the show and accompanying reception (at least for all the years in my memory) with templates which for most intents and purposes appear to have changed little since the event was laid is place years ago.

"Aside from a few long-running Broadway fossils, most cultural purveyors in order to reach the optimum number of audience members, are under constant pressure to grow, build even higher, to innovate, remodel, egad – change."

Continuity in City departments who provide staff support for the Federal Way Arts Commission has been unusually stable and unfailingly steadfast over the course of time. I feel quite comfortable to say there isn’t a prospective entrant from even a decade ago who would not be able to instantly recognize today's juried show from whatever year they had previously entered in days long past.

While this rate of consistency is laudable in any agency. in the world of the creative arts just how many artists and say, dance companies churn out the exact same show practically down to the last brushstroke or note, whether it be a picture, skit or musical?

Asian-American Community In Tacoma Reaches Out Overseas

(This blog was originally posted under the headline "Local Artists Cross Cultural Divide Between US & People's Republic of China" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/16/07 at a reader-generated site entitled "In Your Neighborhood.)

There's an art gallery I've never toured on an unknown street in the very old and history city of Yangzhou, China along the northern banks of the fabled Yangtze River that's been on my mind.

My general lack of familiarity of the landscape in this 2,500 year old city within the People's Republic of China, what sights and smells evoke this exotic Eastern metropolis in the memory of veteran travelers, as well as the moving panorama of day to night ambiance on this specific street, has little if any relation to the soaring levels of interest I've entertained in the gallery and a modest exhibition of art from the Pacific Northwest (October 12 - 19) concluding a run of just a week three days from today.

The show was organized by Tacoma's Asia Pacific Culture Center (APCC) and pieces were hand-carried to China by a group of local artists led by APCC's dynamic founder Patsy Surh O'Connell ably assisted by South King county artist, community activist and former educator, Amy Sie.

The roster of artists in the show include: Amy Sie, Ashley Wells, Barbara Stout, Becky Frehse, Bee Shyuan Chang, Bill Broderick, Evelyn Yee Yuen Chan, Faye Clerget, Jade Choe, Jan Karroll, Kim Shuckhart Gunns, Koomja Docter, Laurie Herrick Westdahl, Mizu Sugimura, Nola V. Tresslar, Pamela Gunn, Patsy Surh O’Connell, Susan Paredes and Teresa K. Owens.

What regrets I may have briefly entertained about being personally unable to take advantage of the center's trip to China with the group of artists who did has been tempered by the sheer delight two of my own "creative" children are in the show.

United Federation Of Planets, World Of Star Trek Within Brief Reach Of South King County City

(This blog was originally published under the headline "Author Jeff Ayers Appearance Oct. 22 Signals FW Residents Star Trek/Space Is All Within Reach" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/11/07 under a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

The Internet website of our city government in Federal Way, WA exhorts citizen's to remember "It's All Within Reach" a slogan which is the result of hiring a consulting firm. A handful of so of city residents expressed the opinion that given the same fee, they could do better, but now that is - as they say, water under the bridge.

I have the distinct pleasure to announce that wherever you may have fallen on the slogan debate, pick yourself up! As it's possible that someone at that consulting firm really had a special connection - because in just several days we'll all be within reach of the stars!

No, kiddies, this time it's not about our almost American Idol entrant Sanjaya Malakar or the always stellar Olympic speed skater & "Dancing With the Stars" winner Apolo Anton Ohno. We're talking about another league! I saw the full-color flyer with Captain James T. Kirk and crew in the library just the other day. We're going all the way to the final frontier!

Yes! Shades of the sixties! The universe of Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" and all her subsequent incarnations beginning with the silvery lady Enterprise, the United Federation of Planets vessel under the command of the aforementioned Captain Kirk, who warped across our television screens in the Fall of 1966 is really coming to our own Southwest King County burb.

Fans of all ages are invited to attend an appearance by author Jeff Ayers invited to speak on "Star Trek: Voyages of Imagination" on Monday, October 22, at 7:00 p.m. at the Federal Way 320th Library as part of special programming connected with the National Endowment for the Humanities "The Big Read" project in partnership with among others -the King County Library System Foundation.

Ayers, whose bearded and mustached mug appears with Kirk and company on the publicity flyer, discusses not only the original series that refused to die, but its multiple incarnations which filled the television airwaves with five series spanning over four decades, ten feature films and one animated series. This show count does not even begin to cover the hundreds of books, magazines - official and fan inspired, blooper reels, comics, metal spaceships, plastic action figures, games and much more that all started with a modest little program that Roddenberry originally pitched as a "Wagon Train" to the stars, which made its debut during the month of September 1966 and hoped for five year voyage went belly-up after a mere three.

i would reckon in about the brief interval of just over a year, Federal Way's not only become intimately familiar to most folks in the United States as the place all those folks up north have taken a shine to all those cute little dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden - but now it's quite apparent that the high vaulted ceilings of the heavens are no less within our grasp.

Back then, as a child of eleven I remember discovering my Dad, an electrical engineer at Boeing lying back on the living room couch and occasionally smiling while watching a brand new show that featuring a rather novel cast including an Asian-American male actor who unlike the one on "Bachelor Father" wasn't playing somebody's houseboy!

So I watched a few episodes with Dad, but I didn't realize what I'd witnessed until I started watching reruns with other people in my dorm during the first two years of collage.Even then, I had not fully appreciated it's full significance which I wasn't to understand until after graduation and well into the first years of my post-scholastic employment in downtown Seattle.

In those years, I needed an outlet from what I found a socially restrictive enviroment at work. Something different, fun, off the beaten track which I could enjoy despite having no extra time and the very limited budget. I found it all one day during my lunch hour, in a used bookstore...a book written by people just like me who didn't have a life, who hadn't had enough of Captain Kirk and his crew when the series tanked. They created a demand for books. They practiced Klingon. They invented - Star Trek conventions.

You don't have to go off the deep end to enjoy Jeff Ayers and his presentation. For his appearance provides our city with yet another stepping stone on our quest since incorporation to put our community on the map. So, Monday, October 22, is truly a date to celebrate.

I would reckon in about the brief interval of just over a year, Federal Way's not only become intimately familiar to most folks in the United States as the place where all those folks up north have taken a shine to all those cute little dinosaurs in the Garden of Eden - but now it's quite apparent that the high vaulted ceilings of the heavens are no less within our grasp.

Someone at the consulting firm hired by the Federal Way City Council really knew what they were talking about and they should be commended. It's very clear, and oh by the way, hear that voice? Turn up the volume over there. It's the lever on the right and you'll be able to make out just exacly what is being said. Shhhh...

"Kirk to Enterprise. Mr. Scott. It's time. One Earth city to ready to beam up. Energize. "

.

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Loosing Bi-Centenntial Essay Contest Turns Into Win For Asian-American Woman

(This blog was originally posted under a headline of :Art Lessons #4: The Letter (Continued)" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA as part of a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

As it turned out, the chosen bicentennial essays struck me then as dated reproductions of a style my mother and dad would have been intimately familiar, a vintage rah-rah-rah and bring out the marching brass band feeling that many members of my generation found decidely unfamiliar as we viewed photo montages in LIFE magazine from the on-going war in Vietnam and listened to nightly annoucements on television of the latest daily body count.

And a small cloud of depression which started to form around my younger self when the contest winners were first announced, vanished as rapidly as it began when an unsolicited letter from Dr. Minoru Masuda who identified himself as one of the contest judges - praising my writing and sharing the heretofore unknown news that he'd had actually gone to bat for me with the other judges, stating his belief my writing was the best of all - going so far to even pronounce it "literature", before relating the dismay at his eventual discovery that the taste of the majority was more conventional.

Turning A Loss Upside Down

The arrival of Dr. Masuda's letter has lifted and continued to sustain me over many years in my endeavors to become a writer, long after the thrill of a hypothetical win of first prize that bicentennial year would ever have allowed. Being a loser became one of the most rewarding and transforming chapters in my entire life.

This loss at a relatively early point in my journey provided me with a far more multi-sided model of evaluating the value of those activities which I have engaged in since. Dr. Masuda's gift was everlasting, unlike a prize of the offered cash or a savings bond which by now would have been long spent and for practical purposes mostly forgotten.

Instead I became the beneficiary of a small, powerful but simple idea, extended to me by precious example that each and anyone of us on this Earth by simply being mindful of what value was being added by our neighbors and those other souls whose paths we cross on the trails of life, can enhance their days while adding meaning, purpose and warmth if only we stop for a moment to share our observations with them in a note.

Today spoken recognition, e-mail and text messages can also inspire. However, written words inside an old-fashioned letter have a uniquely special, three-dimensional reality which allows you to hear the same words and relive the original moment with almost all the same relish and enjoyment that you had upon reading it the very first time around.

The particular permanence of a note on paper is precisely why I can tell you, that the ripples a certain university professor of Japanese-American descent set into motion, by placing his handwritten signature at the end of a beautifully composed and executed salute to a budding writer he never met, have radiated in the bright intensity of their outwardly curving course the same energy and power which they carried upon their first arrival in the thick liquid darkness of the universe over three decades ago.

Asian-American Professor Modeled "Ripple Effect" In 1976 For Former College Student

(This blog originally appeared under the headline "Art Lessons #3: The Letter That Keeps On Giving" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 9/28/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood.)

My last blog "Art Lessons #2: The Ripple Effect" shared a lesson my grandma passed to her kids, and I received the story from my Dad’s older sister. These two beloved family members were not the only older adults in my childhood universe who took the time to share just how we might practice our inherent responsibilities to each other in their own personal ways.

Gentle instruction by example was the hallmark of each teacher. Another particularly unforgettable instructor was the late Dr. Minoru Masuda (1915-1980) a professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington in Seattle.

At the outbreak of World War II, Dr. Masuda, was a newly married Seattle resident who had just earned his MA in the field of pharmacology. Following a short stay at the Puyallup Assembly Center and Minadoka Relocation Center in Idaho, the future professor and civil rights activist was recruited by the U.S. Army directly from the wartime interment camp and spent the rest of his military career as a medic with the hard-fighting segregated, celebrated and much decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The late Dr. Minoru Masuda. Photograph taken during public activities on Sunday, November 25, 1978, connected with the first annual Day of Rememberance in Seattle & Puyallup, WA. (Photo courtesy of Yaz Yambe, copyright 1978.)

Service, Patroitism, Humanity & Character

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team whose motto was "Go For Broke," was an all Asian-American unit put together during World War II and comprised mainly of Japanese-Americans from the islands Hawaii (whose families were not herded into desert internment camps) but included in its numbers a smaller but significant population of mainland soldiers like the doctor who were recruited from behind barbed wire fences.

By the duration of the war, some 14,000 men had become members of the 442nd and fought with considerable distinction on the battlefields in North Africa, Italy, southern France and Germany while becoming the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of the U.S. Army, according to the team's educational website at: www.Goforbroke.org.

Middle aged and older readers may surely recall following the turbulent anti-war protests of the 60’s, there was a growing concern among the adult population most of whom who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II, that patriotic values they had held so dearly appeared to be increasing lacking in sizeable segments of the younger generation. The advent of our nation’s Bicentennial in 1976 offered members of the Seattle Japanese-American community an equal chance to celebrate the evolution and continuation of this great experiment in democracy with the rest of the country.

To that end, a veterans group within the local Japanese-American community, known as the Seattle Nisei Veterans Committee, Inc., took the initiative to sponsor a good old-fashioned essay contest for area young people which would combine traditional values of encouraging those who sought opportunities in higher education and promote taking a moment or two moment to consider the legacy of the many military men from the community who gave their lives or were willing to give their lives to ensure this chance for future generations.

Entrants were asked to submit their thoughts about the linkage of sacrifice, ethnicity and love of country under a title: “What the Bicentennial Means to Me as a Japanese-American.” Professor Masuda was asked to serve as one of the judges. I was somewhat familiar with his name prior to the contest from occasional articles in the newspaper, as his interests in the community were not limited to the area of psychiatry.

The Hopeful Contestant

I entered the essay contest pounding my heart out on the stubborn keys of a second-hand gray Underwood manual typewriter my folks had purchased for me to assist with my pursuit of a major in journalism at the UW’s School of Communications. At the time I had entertained the belief my chances were relatively enhanced by the modest size of this competition and equally no-doubt humble pool of young people who’d be taking time back then to write about patriotism, permitting me to possibly making a good show among the top three papers.

When the finallists were announced, my name was not listed among the favored few. A form letter mailed to all participants invited everyone to celebrate with the Nisei Veterans the accomplishments of the winners who had been invited to read their victorious compositions for all to enjoy.

Mindful that further knowledge of the competition would be instructive if I should enter another essay competition, I determined to go to the meeeting and learn what I could. I was blown away when I discovered that my biggest error in judgement was to have put far too much weight on approaching the essay from a personal viewpoint...

(to be continued)

Conference Advices Adults With ADHD To Maximize Potential

(The following blog was originally posted under the headline "Tacoma ADHD Resource Conference A Hit For Fifth Straight Year" on a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/14/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood." )

I had the pleasure of being among lucky attendees at ADD Resources of Tacoma's 5th Annual Fall Conference on ADHD held yesterday, October 13, 2007 at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington. This was the first time I was able to attend the conference and I came away with more than double doses of information and inspiration!

Many thanks to founder Cynthia Hammer and her entire staff for their hard work and effort. Consider this year's conference yet another success! About 180 persons were counted in the morning's session to hear keynote speaker, Yale University researcher Dr. Thomas E. Brown discuss "Strategies and Solutions: Helping Adults Maximize Their Potential."

Conference attendees also chose from a full slate of afternoon of breakout sessions, especially designed for parents of children with ADHD, adults with ADHD, their families, providers and most impressive local educators giving up a day in their weekend to better serve their districts and special populations.

Organizers ADD Resources of Tacoma and keynote co-sponsors the Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc. of Washington; Oregon and Learning Disabilities Association of Washington can take full credit for all well-thought and executed aspects of the interesting and balanced program of events. The conference also included vendor tables, presentation of a special award named after Hammer, a silent auction and book sale.

This conference was certainly for myself a truly truly worthwhile expediture of time and money. It would be a valuable resources for anyone desiring to learn more about what to expect after a family member is diagnosed with ADHD. From personal experience local resources of this caliber are few and far between. The eleven years of experience that ADD Resources has in the Tacoma area is clearly evident.

Particularly valuable was a unique opportunity this year to hear from a prominent researcher of national reputation about some of the latest developments and directions the field is headed towards in this area of knowledge which blessedly is both increasing and expanding at the same time as each year passes.

While the time when children suffering from this physiologically based deficit involving executive functions executed in the brain was commonly attributed to bad genes, bad parenting and general laziness has generally faded, adults who are dealing with this challenge face their own menu of uphill challenges in regards to diagnosis, availability of medications and counseling to correct often years of battling an unknown and unseen foe.

Adults dealing with the condition in years past were also bereft when asking insurance companies to cover medical tests, or requesting any special accomodations from employers and educational institutions to address a handicap that was not only unseen but not fully understood. For both populations, ADD Resources offers hope and connection.

To contact the conference sponsor go to: http://www.addresources.org, http://www.tourette.net/wa, and http://www.idaw.org.

"ART AT WORK" Highlights Northwest City's Creativity, Perspective & Transformation

(This blog was originally published under the headline "Raring To Go To Tacoma's "ART AT WORK" at a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/29/07 in a reader-generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

I have to confess; my favorite Tacoma event - actually month of events - is imminently at hand. You may have seen posters, flyers or programs for November's sixth anniversary of ART AT WORK month sponsored by your truly good and great City of Tacoma Arts Commission!

But since I live in shhhhh.... Federal Way, across the unpatrolled borders in South King County, I am forced to depend upon being on a mailing list to get any news of all the wonderful slate of events including my personal pick of all the creative platters offered up - which is the "Art at Work Studio Tours", a fantastic annual opportunity to meet and chat briefly with some of Tacoma's most interesting, exciting practioners of the visual arts in their natural elements, from seasoned veterans to up-and-coming newcomers.

See with your own eyes and possibly be inspired by how each artist approaches the needs of their evolving talents in regards to creative space and storage needs with the demands of their alternative careers, families, relatives, vehicles, pets and whatever in rental studios downtown to homes, garages. freestanding buildings in backyards not unlike our own. Gain further appreciation of the rich environment Tacoma now offers - a virtual canvas for those dreaming of a place of their own in the arts.

As I am not a native of Tacoma, I do not know now many years back the coalitions that must certainly form a part of the organization that has made this special month of celebration of the arts possible, but the people and hard work put into making those early connections a reality should be certainly a part of any salute of today's delightful and still growing reality.

It would appear the generosity and willingness of International glass artist and hometown-son Dale Chihuly's to give something back to the city of roots has certainly paying off and put Tacoma on the international arts map. Combined with the equally valuable and often parallel efforts of his fellow artisans in the theatre, dance, spoken, visual, literary and performance arts and strength of city historians, museum curators, arts organization boards, committees and administrative personnel has vaulted the city to the top of national and regional lists as well. Add to this a willingness to cultivate and encourage other less-known emerging cultural organizations and fledgling centers the end result is a climate for creativity of which the entire city can take personal pride and a resource the larger growing regional audience will gratefully acknowledge for quite possibly decades to come.

Families Struggling With ADHD Issues - Some Needed Relief

As informed citizens and of many parents of pre-school and school-aged children are aware, the subject of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) has been fiercely debated, more fervently in recent years with regard to whether a diagnosis should be followed up by rigorous medication. However, irregardless of where you stand on medication, extended treatment for this now agreed on frequently inherited, physiological condition* which may persist through adulthood does not stop with a doctor's prescription.

So where does a parent of a child with ADHD (or fully grown adults) go to connect with resources, to evaluate and make decisions appropriate for themselves or their particular young person. Where can they network with other families who have similar stories to share, a few that you'd be reluctant even in today's world of full disclosure, you might hesitate to share with the nice elderly woman at church, the do-it-all mom across the street and your cousin the Martha Stewart wanna-be?

Beyond Prescription Drugs - Where Does The ADHD Family Go?

Depending upon your time and financial resources national magazines like ADDitude (a bi-monthly publication by New Hope Media LLC.,$19.99 per year, www.additudemagazine.com.) share the latest news on research and developments in regards to ADHD, specialized information on private schools and even colleges designed especially for young people with ADHD.

The magazine also contains a wealth of interesting features about people whose ADHD has not prevented them from pursuing their dreams and tips for parents how to prepare your ADHD youngster for school, summer camp, college and getting a job in the workwold.

Tips for ADHD adults on how to avoid clutter from an ADHD perspective, balancing your checkbook, avoiding credit card debit and planning a hassle-free vacation with all of those special quirks the condition offers. ADHD adults in particular have frequently been completely without this kind of personalized information and even a sample can be a godsend!

Other less costly resources for parents of ADHD children include: counseling, behavior modification, biofeedback, personal coaches, books and the aforementioined magazines. Experienced parents may already know a check of the local phone book doesn't necessarily connect your family with the resources you need when you may need them. That's a bonus of networking with others in the ADHD universe.

ADDResources of Tacoma a Gem For Parents, Adults with ADHD

When it comes to a personal human connection there is nothing possibly with the same immediate impact and lasting satisfaction as having the resouces of a local support group. And thanks to a local woman, Cynthia Hammer, MSW, a professional social worker and surgeon's wife, who was diagnosed with the condition a number of years along with two of her three sons, went on to found Tacoma's ADD Resources a non-profit (501(c)(3) ) established in 1993 a virtual lighthouse in the darkness.

Courage of Convictions - World War II Internment Camp Draft Resisters

(This blog was originally published under the headline of "Another Legacy of World War II in Today's Japanese-American Community" at the internet website of The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 11/11/07 at a reader-generated website entitled "In Your Neighborhood." )

A few brave souls - and I believe it took incredible courage for men raised as they were in the old days in our duty-bound ethnic subculture, to challenge induction into the U.S. military from World War II's government sponsored interment camps. It's a little known fact that there actually were were a handful of Nikkei internees in the camps who resisted induction into the military in principle and risked additional punishment from the law.

A Seattle author, John Okada, wrote about the plight of these men in his pioneering 1957 novel novel "No No Boy". It has been republished several times since, most recently in 1980 by the University of Washington Press. It has become increasingly accepted as not only a classic in the Japanese-American community but has increasingly earned mention on important lists of books of significance to our entire nation. Eric Mueller's "Free To Die For Their County: The Story of Japanese-American Draft Resisters during World War II" (C. 2001, University of Chicago Press) is a factual account of the same events and features a forward by highly decorated Japanese-American World War II veteran and celebrated U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii.

For merely tackling the topic at the time, Okada took in many ways some of the same kinds of hits that befell those interned resident who fought induction. Additonally, the spate of angry words and broken relationships between them, members of their Japanese-American families, fellow Nikkei internees, Nikkei community organizations and even some of our own military veterans continued extended in some cases, past the time principals died and their remains long placed in cold grounds. The stigma has only in recent history been publically addressed in a widespread manner.

According to a current article in the International Examiner titled "In search of No No Boy" explores John Okada's Life (by Ken Mochizuki, November 7-20, 2007) a local film produced by Frank Abe, also communications director for King County, provides excellent light on the still hotly debated. Abe, a talented man who has also worn many other hats as a pioneering actor, former community activist, local journalist and television reporter is not only no stranger to difficult and controversial topics, but in the past has thrived at then providing audiences with a deep thorough and thoughtful analysis.

For myself while I might academically understand this bitterness in the contest of history, as much as I take pride at the incomparable sacrifices and accomplishments of our own World War II veterans (as well as veterans from the larger community including Hawaii in other wars including World War I) as community member who'd prefer wholeness for all, reading about these long-standing breaches was a source of considerable emotional angst. So I take special comfort that so many people like Frank Abe are willing to help the rest of us reassess them in the present day.

For more information on John Okada's book go to: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/OKANON.html. Details about Frank Abe's documentary film in the International Examiner are available at: http://www.iexaminer.org/archives/?p=663. A website with details on Eric Mueller's book "Free To Die For Their Country" can be located at: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/548228.html.

Puyallup Fairgrounds Called Home For World War II Era Japanese-American Family

(This blog was originally published under the headline "When Dad Lived At The Puyallup Fair" at a internet website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 9/20/07 at a reader-generated site entitled "In Your Neighborhood."

As most of us area residents who spent formative years in the greater Puget Sound basin, the advent of fall and the annual opening of the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup was a welcome event on the family calendar.

Back in the sixties, most every kid had been to the fair in Puyallup at one time or another. During September, we’d talk of it constantly up and down the block. It was almost your duty as a kid, and not going was well - unpatriotic. Thankfully my folks made sure that my younger brother and I were not deprived of this classic Northwest experience.

Our trips to the fair were much the same as our neighbors, with one unique twist. At some point during these semi-annual pilgrimages my Dad would never fail to recall he had lived at the fairgrounds for a few months back in World War II.

A picture of my Dad (right) about nine or ten years of age with his slightly older sister (left) from the family album when they were growing up in Seattle, WA prior to the outbreak of World War II.

I had occasion to travel with my husband on the second day of this year's celebration (September 7 - 23) at the Puyallup Fair to celebrate the fact a mixed media collage I created exploring memory loss issues such as Alzheimers disease called: “Hanging by Plaques” was accepted into this year’s fine arts show.

This happy occasion gave me a chance to simultaneously reflecting on my personal good fortune at landing a spot in the show, Dad's temporary wartime residency and the contributions that his family has made in my life when I was growing up.

Dad was born in Seattle in 1927. He was the youngest of four children born to a upper-middle class father with several years of secondary education under his belt who immigrated from Shizuoka Prefecture. Dad's mom was from Tokyo. Her dad was a Chinese scholar who'd taught two of Dad's uncles. The scholar was also personally acquainted with the family of the great twentieth century writer of Japanese literature Natsume Soseki.

Dad's family shared two rooms in a two-story rental house in a neighborhood above the present International District . This area is known today as Yesler Terrace. His mom and dad slept one room. Dad and his three siblings shared the second room. Dad attended Bailey Gatzert Elementary and Washington Middle School. Before World War II broke out, he had just started ninth grade at Franklin High School.

His parents worked hard to put food on the table. Grandpa worked for a grocer at Pike Place Market. Grandma was on the housekeeping staff at two local hotels. Dad's boyhood was fairly ordinary. When Dad and his friends were little they played kick the can and other games. When they were bigger at least once, he recalls they tried to sneak into the local movie theater, but they were quickly noticed and had to make a hasty exit. On occasions, he met his mom at the Pike market and helped her carry several bags of groceries home on the streetcar. Dad delivered newspapers on two routes which helped him earn enough money to buy a bicycle and small radio.

Everything in his world came to a stunning halt when the forces of Imperial Japan bombed our Naval Base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Dad and his family were only six in a group about 2,500 Americans of Japanese ancestry from Seattle - men, women and children all, who were rounded up by military personnel on orders from the Western Defense Command to leave their homes, schools, jobs and businesses and report to temporary quarters which were hastily built for them on the grounds of the annual Western Washington State Fair.

When my younger brother and I were kids, no one in our neighborhood could brag that their relative actually lived at the Puyallup Fair, but we didn't even try to boast of this connection. Dad didn't share the details. In fact, all we were told was that he had lived at the fairgrounds for a while before he went to "camp". Now you might ask what was camp? We didn't exactly know then ourselves, but we knew not to ask. It was one of those topics that had a hush about it, like asking your teacher how old she was back then.

Despite that fact, "camp" was a code word widely used by my parents, aunts and uncles and basically everyone we knew in the Japanese-American (Nikkei) community at the time. So desu ne? (Isn't it so?) I eventually gathered everyone in those circles had all been there. If you didn't know another Japanese-American from your childhood, there was a good chance you met them in camp. If they were in another camp, chances are someone you knew was there as well, so everyone eventually knew almost everybody.

In these conversations, our folks and their friends particularly referred to themselves as Nihon-jin (of Japanese ancestry "literally Japanese people") as opposed to Haku-jin (mainstream population, literally "white people") as a way of comparing and contrasting their different upbringing and wartime experiences. But the details of this story were not forthcoming. I didn't learn more until I was junior high age and saw something in the local library about government internment camps on the West Coast during World War II and pursued it then with a more forthcoming aunt.

To this very day, I don't know the full details of my Dad and his families experiences at Puyallup or at the Minadoka Relocation Center in Hunt, Idaho where he would continue his high school education. When he was alive, Dad used to claim that with the exception of a handful of memories, he couldn’t remember.

In hindsight, Dad and other members of Japanese-American communities up and down the West Coast were targeted for this kind of treatment because they looked too much like the enemy to a frightened mainstream community who were led by our leaders to believe a grave threat existed and extraordinary measures were required.

Understandably, at the time Japanese-Americans even older and more experienced in life than Dad had no prior experience as individuals or a whole group for that matter, on just how to pick up the pieces of their lives after having been singled out and branded by their own government as possible terrorists and saboteurs, not trustworthy enough to be allowed to live and work among decent people.

While it can be argued by some in present times the fears of their fellow citizens and blowing of political winds that led to their imprisonment can be easily understood on an intellectual basis, in truth accepting the fact your life has been ripped to shreds because of an image reflected in the mirror is and was far more problematic. And my family history will be irrevocably intertwined with Area A, Block 10, an address at the Puyallup Assembly Center during World War II on the grounds of the Western Washington State Fair.

(Note: Information for this article pertaining to the Puyallup Assembly Center and its Japanese-American residents was gleaned from the excellent on-line exhibit on "Camp Harmony" at University of Washington Libraries at the following web address: http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony/exhibit/index.html)

Asian-American Woman Looks At Life Through Lens Of Art

(This blog was originally published under the headline of "Art Lessons: Hello From Federal Way" at a website at the News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 9/21/07 as part of a reader generated section entitled "In Your Neighborhood".

From time to time I’ll be blogging for you under the banner of Art Lessons as a continuing correspondent from the South King County's emerging metropolis of Federal Way, Washington where I'll attempt to follow as a long-time resident the advice of our current city slogan which exhorts "It's All Within Reach..."

Since my childhood, art is the magnifying glass which looking back from the vantage point of my now middle years, comes as naturally as if it was pre-wired into my brain as apparently reading a circuit board was to my little brother at the same age.

In a family widely overloaded with engineers who enjoyed the challenge of playing with numbers and collecting data , my brother is the more standard model. When our Dad, one of the Boeing companies then many Asian-American electrical engineers showed the two of us one of those do-it-yourself home educational kits from 60’s where you learned how to make a radio or whatever, I noticed to my absolute horror as I glanced over at little brother that both guys shared a bright gleam in their eyes.

I saw absolutely nothing. They saw possibilities. When they looked at what to me was a rather non-descript though orderly collection of odd-shaped components mounted on a rather ugly but serviceable piece of composition board, a light bulb went on inside their brains because a connection had been made.

To this day if you showed me the same board, I still can't see a thing. The mental distance between us all had just become a vast mental crevasse that I could recognize even at such a tender age, would separate us in small and fundamental ways the course of our entire lifetimes in fully predictable ways.

The benefit of this early rude shock was that I was given an early introduction to the topic of perspective. Heretofore, if I had thought about it at all I would have been quite comfortable as few people claim to think that what I saw was what everyone else in the world saw when looking at the world because it is plain to see if something is in front of your eyes.

Today I’m a older person who finds myself frequently throwing up my hands observing the continuing tendency for topics of the day being discussed by people who know better, for ease of argument as if everything in the world can be eventually reduced to only two sides and opposing ones at that.

In the multi-dimensional universe we live in, isn’t it frustrating to think that we might inadvertently as a society delude ourselves because it is too easy or too hard to keep in mind that seeing (even in two dimensions) is quite different from the value or lack of value that you put on it?

Fortunately, the early lesson in perspective with my Dad and brother allowed me since to factor that my view of the world is just one of many. Art as a looking glass it possible to note there are often several choices of entry into any subject as there are certainly much more than two points of exit!

This kind of exercise in thinking is a major reason it is a tragedy that arts education has fallen into third place status or even dropped entirely by legislative economists on all levels and frustrated local taxpayers in my lifetime alone as regrettably expendable frill or a subject given other pressing considerations like preparing our youth for college and a career at Microsoft that a financially strapped and responsible society just cannot afford.

Imagine what Western art would be like if our great artists were held to this limiting standard that everything can be reduced to only two sides? Come to think of what the world would look like if all the trees, hillsides and wildlife we see came in only one and two dimensions? Consider a world in only black and white or featuring only two textures, smooth or rough?

As some enjoy folks in our midst (ABC Sports comes to mind circa the era of the late Roone Arledge) have told us that they look at life in frames of an athletic contest while peppering their conversation with sports analogies to describe their personal approach to the issues and challenges that come in life, I often find in art a similar platform and hope to have the opportunity to share some of my observations in the near future with you!

After Baby, Asian-American Mother Has Osteoporosis (Continued)

(This blog was originally published in a reader-generated section on a website at The News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Tacoma, WA on 10/09/07. On account of the subject matter, it has been edited and enhanced for sharper clarity.)

In totally honesty, what fame there may be from being part of such a small and unusual medical minority is minimal. No important medical reference is likely to list my actual name or even a quick sketch of my actual case. However, my assumed diagnosis most definitely sets me apart from the main herd.

In this blessed respect I am truly and delightfully unique. As a kid being unique all I wanted. Like so many children at some point in their childhood, I’d convinced myself I was special. However, this kind of special is not exactly what I had in mind. But for the past twenty years this is the unique that I have.

The isolation I felt back then as a member of such a miniscule patient care group was magnified with a failure to be able to connect with a more informed medical community, a peer group to share with, and teamwork philosophy between agencies and organizations with respect to breast cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.

This is because for practical purposes none existed. If any focus had been given, it was directed primarily at elderly women, with whom at the time this condition was generally associated. One option, perusing the pages of actual medical studies and journals at the University of Washington Library was available, should I be able to interpret what was in them.

"OSTEOPORATIC fractures lower a patient’s quality of life and is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures annually, including:over 300,000 hip fractures; and approximately 700,000 vertebral fractures; 250,000 wrist fractures; and 300,000 fractures at other sites."
- National Osteoporosis Foundation

Interestingly enough, I recall that my doctors were not comfortable at the time my fractures presented themselves to write in the blank space provided for a diagnosis because they lacked the necessary data to definitively state that the fractures I had suffered were positively associated with my pregnancy, so this section was left empty.

The medical care folks and I have generally proceeded since then to behave as if I am a person who has the kind of osteoporosis associated with pregnancy, but the certainty they would hope to have to write some actual words down is not there, so officially – technically I don’t even have a diagnosis.

I've been living since in this state of ambiguity. It’s one of those weird places to be, which is why a quick visit before writing this blog with some friendly folks at the website MedicineNet.com – “We bring the doctors' knowledge to you” for a general definition for the word “diagnosis” was a nice refresher for me.

MedcineNet.com says that in it’s original Greek; the word for diagnosis was used to suggest “a discrimination, a discerning between two possibilities.”

It appears that in more current times the usage of the word has been defined more tightly. The website states now diagnosis is “the nature of a disease: the identification of an illness.” Skimming this material, an old light bulb in my head goes off. This sheds a lamp once more on the reasons why the space where the official diagnosis would be written remains blank to this very day

"WOMEN can lose up to 20 percent of their bone mass in the five to seven years following menopause, making them more susceptible to osteoporosis. Specialized tests called bone mineral density (BMD) tests can measure bone density in various sites of the body."
- National Osteoporosis Foundation

Once my bone calcium decline was stable, I was basically sent home with the instructions to take calcium supplements such as the kind included in over-the-counter antacids, engage in some kind - no details described other than walking - of weight bearing exercise, and possibly show myself back at the clinic when I hit my menopausal years.

Menopause, it was explained to me over twenty-one years ago would be a critical time because most every woman at that age shows a significant decline in calcium density. For a person like myself who had already done so up to two decades earlier, there is no reason to expect that I will not show this (second decline as well. So what level of bone density is in my future?

This question is no more ambiguous than the original question of "Just how did this happen?" However, as with most unknowns, some of the possible scenarios are upsetting, even frightening in their possible implications. And those are just the ones in my mind! Meanwhile I was angry and depressed about the topic for years.

Compounding all of this, I have been relatively unsuccessful in organizing what little care I might have within my power. This includes developing a regular program of exercise and crusading in public for increased monetary and social support for osteoporosis research. I've frittered far too much time being distracted with other matters, which ironically include a diagnosis of adult ADHD at the end of my late forties.

While this last development ultimately shed the most convincing light on how one condition has impacted the self-care of another, it has also been a hurdle. Up to a dozen years earlier I had been examining the possibility of ADHD at a time when the same medical community as a whole was not yet convinced that it existed. So my local attempts to address this second question had been turned away. And I a prospective patient was frustrated and upset once more at being hung out to dry.

Ultimately, as many others have done before me, I've had to accept who I am, the period of history in which I live, and the fact all that is within my power is to endeavor to live in these times as best as I am able. In my case, more recently it's occurred to me that I can create a space of my own. How long it remains is unknown. No doubt it could change, but then no matter.

The plan is to create a picture on paper that goes back to the day the radiologist’s report on my spine came in. Then, I’ll file through my memories and redraw the entire scene as to allow that younger version of me to reach inside my brain and return the image of an upside-down woman to one whose standing all right.

***

For a general introduction on osteoporosis go to the National Osteoporosis Foundation's excellent website at: http://www.nof.org/. Since my trip in the mid-eighties to University of Washington Medical School in Seattle, WA these two excellent resources have been subsequently developed: http://osteoed.org/;http://courses.washington.edu/bonephys/.

After Baby, Asian-American Mother Told She Had Osteoporosis

( This blog originally appeared at the internet website of The News Tribune, a daily newspapers in Tacoma, WA on 10/09/07. On account of the subject matter, it has been edited and enhanced for clarity.)

Next month on the 18th of November, I will quietly and silently mark the twenty-first anniversary of the day when the whole picture I had in my head of my own body turned completely upside down!

Short of four months before, my body considerably altered while carrying our first child. Birth and delivery of a baby boy brought a second transformation. I was deeply engrossed in the task of learning now to be a mom and fielding unexpected competition from my live-in, not merely visiting old-fashioned Japanese mother-in-law.

"OSTEOPOROSIS, or porous bone, is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, especially of the hip, spine and wrist, although any bone can be affected."
- National Osteoporosis Foundation website

Despite prior preparations, I was busy enough as most parents of new babies can tell you, you can never plan for everything. The handful of new baby and new parent handbooks I'd waded through during my pregnancy were reassuring. I never felt completely without some foundation.

When my own health - uneventfully stable for years - began to crumble as early as a month and a half after my son was born. As it turned out there was really nothing in any bookstore that could have adequately prepared me for what was to come next.

Mizu Sugimura, 31, during the mid 80's, models a sweatshirt of her own design worn only on medical visits. The shirt was created to provide a bit of mental cheer that was not otherwise present at the time. (Photo by Yaz Yambe, copyright 1987.)

It began at the onset with a mild but unexplained tender spot in my lower back. Days went by and the tender spot felt more like a knot in my back which made little sense to myself or the family practitioner serving as both my own and the new babies doctor. My physician speculated that pain in this area might indicate weak stomach muscles. Exercises were prescribed.

The “knot” for lack of better description which registered by touch as a small bump on my spine, began to radiate further and increasingly stronger sensations of pain, which began to multiply daily. I hurt all day and then all night. Meanwhile I began having difficulty holding heavy objects. Most alarmingly that my definition of “heavy” changed weekly. The exercises were of no help. And I felt as the first months of my baby's life went by, I was literally watching myself fall apart.

This last symptom drove me to my doctor to insist I be allowed to have an x-ray. According to the interpretation generated by the consulting radiologist the x-ray I took showed ” radiographic suggestion of osteoporosis by plain film technique with concave deformity of L-3 which may be analogous to a compression fracture….”

The radiologist's report started a long chair reaction of appointments to local medical professionals up the chain leading specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine and my soaring ascent to the ranks of a relative handful of new moms in the entire area, region, and the United States of America who have been beneficiaries of news such as this.

"TEN MILLION Americans presently suffer from osteoporosis today, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Of this number, 8 million are women and 2 million are men. It is estimated that fifty-five percent of people over the age of fifty are at risk to develop the condition which although associated with older adults can strike at any age."
- National Osteoporosis Foundation website

My upward climb finally ended in May 1987 with a tentative diagnosis of significant osteopenia, a confirmation of three compression fractures of the lower spine and residual activity which all took place at my ripe old age of 31 years less than four months after presenting my husband with our first child.

(to be continued)