Columnists

The Gospel According to Obama

I have yet to hear any final tallies of how many Americans witnessed the swearing-in and subsequent address by our 44th president on that frigid, fateful morning in mid-January. I know they told us that 1 to 2 million people had squished into the space between the Capitol and the Lincoln Monument, but I am curious to know how many people sa...Read More

The Obon Dance

We went to the Obon Dance at the Puna Hongwanji tonight. I love first walking up to the temple grounds, totally transformed by the strings of lanterns glowing in the night, the tall yagura platform calling everyone's attention to the circle. It is always great watching the elegant old ladies from the Japanese dance schools in their matching kimon...Read More

Honoring Fibber

My wife Carol and I visited Clovis recently to attend the Tri-District conference hosted this year by the CCDC. It was a Day of Remembrance conference that featured the dedication of the Pinedale Assembly Center Memorial, built on the old fairgrounds site in then-rural Clovis. After a day of plenary session panels on the experience of being incarc...Read More

One Identity

My roommate has gone through many identities in her lifetime. I first met her in December when I was looking for an affordable living situation in Los Angeles. Out of all the potential roommates I met, the empty room in her two-bedroom apartment seemed the most inviting, and also the most affordable. Though she was 61 years old and I had never liv...Read More

'Thumbs Up' for CCDC's Tri-District

SO IT'S NOT remarkable to negotiate the Grapevine through pelting rain and soft snowflakes Friday morning (Feb. 13) to attend another great JACL Tri-District Conference hosted by the Central California District Council. The snow "alert" apparently didn't stop national director Floyd Mori, who had been at the Nisei VFW reunion in La Mirada, and who...Read More