The Presidio's Exhibit "Exclusion: Japanese-American Incarceration"

Yesterday we celebrated Bill's birthday once again over lunch and at the exhibit of his choice--a very significant choice--the Presidio's exhibit "Exclusion--Japanese-American Incarceration." Tom Miyoko's mother, Kazue Yamaguchi, was among those incarcerated, and we found her name among thousands of others. It's in a binder as well as on the glass of windows displaying the names of all the 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were sent into internment camps. Notice the photo of people tagged as well as a document showing a better side of the nation--people in the community who testified to the loyalty of their Japanese-American neighbors so that they wouldn't be tagged and sent away from their homes.

Frida Kahlo, Queen of Montgomery Street

I'm trying hard to get what  John W. Weathermax wrote about Frida, "The Queen of Montgomery Street."  I can get a very blurry photo copy, but I can't make out all the words. 

I found this online:

Also in the Wolfe papers is an unpublished manuscript from around 1940 by John W. Weathermax that describes Frida (or Frieda, as she sometimes spelled it), then staying in San Francisco, as “The Queen of Montgomery Street.” Kahlo knew and loved San Francisco, although she disdained much else about American life.

Weathermax begins his sketch with a transcription of a phone conversation he had with Kahlo that vividly captures her playful and imperious character, as well as her slightly imperfect mastery of English:

“Come over right way. I, Frieda the First, command you!”
“But Frieda…I have already had supper.”
“Eat another.”
“But you made me eat two lunches.”
“I shall make you eat two breakfasts, too. I am the Queen. Do you hear?
Come to Montgomery Street at once.”
Click.

Her hurries over and up a lot of stairs.  She scolds him:

You are bad.  You are very bad.  You took ten minutes to come."

"I hurried, Frieda.  I ran the last block."

"Look at me.  En the eyes.  You did not run.  The stairs made you out of breath."

a swish of her long silk skirt. a glimpse of bare feet in sandals but only a glimpse, for the skirt is very full

New York Times Article Jonathan Sent Me for My 73rd Birthday!

November 15, 2018

World leaders implore: Please send Tina Martin instead

WASHINGTON — Following their latest round of clashes with the American President, on Thursday world leaders made a coordinated plea: The next time America needs to be represented somewhere, please consider sending Tina Martin instead.

The latest occasion for their conflicts was the recent commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I. Following those events, the American President tweeted highly negative remarks about the French President.

Asked to respond to the tweets, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets.” He continued, “So I will say into the camera, please, America, consider sending Tina Martin instead. She has visited Paris in recent years and we were very happy to have her. The same goes for Spain, Germany, and Switzerland.” 

President Angela Merkel of Germany made similar remarks. “We were very happy when she visited her friend Jutta. She is welcome back anytime. It is such a different and much better experience when she visits.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May also weighed in. She has been facing intense resistance from within her own party in response to her recently announced Brexit plan, to which she responded, “Am I going to see this through? Yes.” But she added, “Still, even I have limits. Please don’t make me talk to that man anymore. Tina hasn’t visited London in so long. Would she come if we gave up on this whole Brexit idea?”

Even Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte joined in, despite his being a right wing populist who has aligned himself with the American President. In September it was revealed that Mr. Conte was scheduled to take a legal settings English proficiency exam as part of applying for a professorship job, seemingly as a backup to his role as Prime Minister. On Thursday he commented, “I might disagree with Ms. Martin’s politics, but she is after all a retired ESL teacher. I’m very happy she’ll be staying with her friend Bill in Rome next April.”

In the United States, Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking to reporters after today’s snowstorm, took a moment to add his perspective. “Of course world leaders would like Tina to visit. We’re lucky her son lives here, and she visits here every year. Besides the new Amazon campus, that’s the only thing Governor Cuomo and I agree on.”

The newly elected Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema also commented, “Ms. Martin visited her friends Katherine and Barry and Jeanne and Ken here recently, and we would be very glad to have her back anytime she’d like to visit. It’s just a short flight.”

But with all that Ms. Martin has going on in San Francisco, there is only so much time she can spend traveling. San Francisco Mayor London Breed is glad about that. “I do feel for the rest of the world’s leaders,” said Ms. Breed. “Any visit by the President is an opportunity for his invective, and we’re glad he’s unlikely to visit here anytime soon. Meanwhile Ms. Martin is an ideal visitor, open to appreciation of all the places and people she visits, but for most of the year, we get to keep her for ourselves.”

Mothers Out Front Meet--and May Even Consider Promoting Less Meat

Mothers Out Front, an organization of mothers and others concerned about global warming, had a planning meeting at the lovely home of Liliana last night.. Maia, who with her mother Kathie Piccagli is heading the SF chapter, conducted the meeting. Members Tamara, Ashley, Gabriel, Jackie, and I made suggestions about what action we can take next.

I didn't want to be obnoxious (as I sometimes am), but I wanted to be sure there was plant-based food, so I took along two packages of Miyoko's nut-based cultured cheese.  Liliana had made a beautiful-looking snack of some kind of fruit--peaches?--over the cheese she provided.  I'd like to use that for Miyoko and other cheese.  

We introduced ourselves at the beginning of the meeting, and explained what motivated us to attend the meeting.  We were also asked what our favorite food was.

A couple of the women mentioned the fires, and how that roused them to take action.

Jackie said she'd like to join 100 groups like this one.  She says she eats everything but hates pastrami.

Ruth couldn't make up her mind on her favorite food, but it did come out that her husband studies the MUNI.

Kathie said her concern was heightened by the U.N. report an how fast we need to make changes--and the fire.  

My turn was next, and I said I focused on a plant-based diet for the good of the environment, and I presented Liliana with a hostess gift:  Eat for the Planet:  Saving the World One Bite at a Time.

I shouldn't have spoken of my love of avocadoes and potatoes because they may think that's all a vegan can eat.

Tamara, who works for the Unified School District, said later that we need to make MUNI more efficient so her mother can pick up their child at school.

Ashley Harvey mentioned The fifth Risk ans said she was worried that they would privitize our water.  She also said that she and her husband had just talked about what meal they'd like if they were on death row and could choose anything they wanted, and she wanted it to be the meal they were having at the Mediterranee.  She also mentioned The Fifth Risk, which I later found out is by Marshall Lewis, who wrote The Big Short and Money Ball among other books.  

Gabriel was inspired by the last election and how people were getting out the vote--and information.  She said she tries to follow a plant-based diet but just loves pizza and gelato.

I assured her she could find wonderful pizza at Cybelles on 9th Avenue near Judah, and there was an ice cream place right across the street with 12 flavors--all plant-based.

Liliana is interested in the environment and social justice.  She said she liked to eat environmentally raised meat and mentioned goat.  Someone else said that was the most environmentally friendly of livestock. 

To be continued...

An Open Letter to Lily Janiak on "Miss Saigon"

What a wonderful panel that was last night at Litquake!  I'm looking forward to your  podcast on "Miss Saigon." You have a very demanding job, and I always read your reviews with interest even when I disagree with you.  I respect your opinion, and I thought you stood your ground very well as the sole woman in the panel of critics!  .

I was disappointed in the production of "Miss Saigon" that I  saw in NYC in 2017 because I'd loved the CD and so had my students, many of whom were Vietnamese.

 I thought the songs had a lot more poignancy and even more subtlety than the brassy, fast-paced show I saw after longing to see it for a couple of decades.. 

But I thought i"Miss Saigon" showed the corruption the US brought to Saigon, the desensitization of the men serving in the military who created, used, and felt contempt for the women, and their desperation to get back their lives and the ability to feel something other than loathing and self-loathing.  I also thought it showed what the women went through because of the war and the military presence.  Maybe the Communist "fiance" was a little over-the-top, but I felt for him too, fighting against the American invaders and then losing the woman he'd wanted to marry to an American soldier.

  My students loved the song "The Movie in My Mind," with its desperate longing for the cliches of American life. 



They are not nice, they're mostly noise
They swear like men, they screw like boys
I know there's nothing in their hearts
But every time I take one in my arms
It starts
The movie in my mind
The dream they leave behind
A scene I can't erase
And in a strong Gis embrace
Flee this life
Flee this place
The movie plays and plays
The screen before me fills
He takes me to New York
He gives me dollar bills
Our children laugh all day
And eat too much ice cream
And life is like a dream
Dream
The dream I long to find
The movie in my mind
 
I thought of Kim as a strong woman who'd endured brutality and was doing what she could to maintain her sanity and sense of worth and later doing the Madame Butterfly act to save her child. 

I realize that the music isn't Puccini, but I still think it is, as a woman last night suggested, a musical we should have around so our children and grandchildren get a look at how wars destroy lives--not that they need to go back to what the Vietnamese call The American War for that!  I think "Miss Saigon" shows how power corrupts and depicts the tragedy war brings  forth. (Maybe you were right in your interpretation of her question as being about keeping the show as an example of shows of an era.)

As I say, I'm looking forward to your podcast.  The friend I attended the event with last night, Maxine Einhorn, is going to be the moderator at an event you're doing at Folio on November 5, when I'll be away.  I'm so sorry to miss that.

Checking on "Her Right Foot"

As you may know, I love Dave Eggers' book "Her Right Foot," so while I was in New York, I made sure that the bookstores were carrying it and also checked the right foot of the human "replicas" of the Statue of Liberty.  (I tipped them for that extra effort.)   Most postcards and miniature statues did not show that right foot getting ready to move forward, but we found one that did.

And speaking of feet moving forward, the end of "My Fair Lady" (plot spoiler) has Eliza Doolittle doing that too!

San Francisco Vistas Turn to NYC

This trip to NYC included reunions with family and other friends!  Here you see Matteo, who let Sara Brunk Beardsley and me stay in  his bedroom in September 2014 even before his November 1st birth!  He now has a little brother, Rohan, and another on the way.  Here the brothers are with lovely mother and grandmother, Angela and Barb.

Jonathan and I were so happy that Becky, Emily nad Dale could come up from Pennsylvania to spend the day with us, but we were sorry that Jamie and Megan couldn't.  Here we're holding a sign wishing they were with us.

We five were joined by Jim Canning (from Peace Corps Tonga days and Grease) and Laura and John-Charles (on the Camino when Bill and I met him) and Chuck t Blossom on Columbus Avenue, right around the corner from where Jonathan lives.  Because of the death of the author of Cabaret, that musical was in the news again, which meant that Chuck (Charles Abbott) was in the news again as an actor who took the part of the MC in Cabaret after Joel Grey left the show.

Diana and Jonathan planned to make a special dinner for me in her place in Brooklyn, but she wound up doing most of the cooking so Jonathan could spend more time with us on Manhattan.  It was a delicious meal, and Diana's home is as lovely as she is!