Enjoy.
Hello! And welcome to my humble abode. If you're here voluntarily, yay! I appreciate you greatly. If you're here just because you have to be here, well, my deepest apologies are sent out to you. But if you fit into either one of those categories, you might find this presentation a little more enjoyable if you start from the bottom and work your way up. I thank you for taking your time to read this!
Love and Rockets,
The Author
Reblogged from morninggl0ry
Left brain says “do the ends justify the means?” Right brain says “GUUHHHH KYOOOOOT!”
Reblogged from morninggl0ry
The Eiffel Tower at dusk, seen from among the pigeons of Montmartre.
From an Easter Walk to Montmartre on Rues de Paradis
Reblogged from morninggl0ry
I wish I lived in an environment that was more supportive of me. Getting this far in spite of that is still a victory, even though I still have a long way to go.I needed this.
Totally what I needed to see.
I think I might have fallen victim to quitting too soon. I mean, I keep doing it…kind of. But it doesn’t feel the same. And losing it feels like a death. The death. Of me.
This will empower me to push through my shitty writing.
THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED? NO. But I know for a Fact That the Japanese Don’t go Down Without a Fight. How did They Prevent Themselves From Getting Thrown in Jail?
The Japanese did everything they possibly could to prevent themselves from wrongly getting thrown into jail. In most cases, they got rid of everything that could be traced back to their Japanese heritage. This meant getting rid of photos, clothing, family heirlooms, anything and everything that would lead someone to think that they are even of Japanese descent. For the most part, these things were burned and completely lost forever. But in a few very special cases, family heirlooms and such were imperceptibly hidden, either with other (non-Japanese) families or basements of building where the family didn’t reside. A confused Henry had caught glimpses of this going on in Nihonmachi (Japan town, when everyone was franticly burning almost all of their possessions.
“Why are you taking a picture of garbage fires?” Henry asked, not sure if the photographer even recognized him.
The man looked through Henry. Then his eyes blinked as he seemed to remember him. It must have been the button Henry wore. The photographer turned back to his camera, his hands shaking. “They’re not burning garbage.”
Henry stood at the T where the alley met the street, next to photographer on his milk crate with his camera an his flashbulbs. Look down the alley, he could see people coming and going from the apartment buildings, throwing things into burning barrels. A woman yelled out of a third-story window to a man below and threw down a plum-colored kimono that looped and swirled. settling like falling snow on the dirty, slug trailed pavement of the alley. The man below scooped it up, hesitated, then threw it on the fire.” (73)
While reading this, my heart hit the Earth’s core. I could not believe people would conform themselves so much just to not be persecuted. To complete erase their family history so they didn’t have to deal with the hourly worry of being arrested. And even after they did all this, there was no guarantee that they would be safe. It shows that people would give up everything for a promise of another day. It tells others that they just want to live their innocent lives in peace.
What? No! That Can’t Possibly be True… Was This True for Only Some Japanese People?
Believe it or not, this was true for almost all Japanese people. Whether first generation or third generation, if you even looked Japanese, you were brutally discriminated against. Even the police began to arrest the Japanese for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At that faithful night at the Black Elks club, the FBI decided to barge in and see if there were any “spies” lurking within the said club. And the poor Japanese patrons that happened to be “in the wrong place at the wrong time” had their lives greatly changed. The zealous FBI agents did not waste any time arresting these people.
“The club seemed hollow without music, replaced by the barking of federal agents and the occasional clicking of handcuffs. The dimly lit dance hall still sparkled now and then as the candles on the empty tables flickered light on half-empty martini glasses.
The six Japanese patrons were handcuffed and taken to the door, the women sniffling, the men asking “Why?” in English. Henry heard “I’m an American” being shouted as the last one was arrested and taken outside…
“You leave them kids alone, they work for me!” Oscar slipped past Sheldon and barged through the remaining crowd, heading for the agents nearest Henry. “I didn’t leave the South to come all the way up here and see people treated like that!” (58-59)
Now I’m not trying to state that the FBI is a bad organization for doing this, but I do think they were overreacting, assuming that every single Japanese man or woman was a spy for Japan. It tells us that when something bad happens, people start to take things to extreme measures. It shows that people can become traumatized by a single event, forever paranoid. And it tells others that you can be melodramatic about some things.
So Henry is a Hero, Blah Blah Blah. Doesn’t Being Who You Are Affect How You Live?
You’re correct again, my dear! This is where discrimination, and sadly enough, racism and prejudice comes into play. No one is spared from these things, especially not Keiko or Henry. Though Keiko suffers more discrimination than Henry, he is not an exception. Examples of this are very prominent in the book, but one that truly makes this all seem like a reality to me is when Keiko goes to buy Henry the very rare Oscar Holden record. She politely goes up to a counter where a clerk happens to be free, puts two dollars on the counter, and waits. She keeps waiting, but when that doesn’t work, Keiko pipes up and asks if the counter is open. She receives an answer that will scar her forever.”
While he and Keiko waited, another woman came up behind them, holding a small windup clock. Henry watched in confusion as the clerk took the clock over his and Keiko’s heads, and rang it up. The clerk took the money and handed back the change, and the clock, in a large green Rhodes shopping bag.
“Is this counter open?” Keiko asked.
The clerk just looked around for another customer.
“Excuse me, ma’am, I’d like to buy this record, please.”
Henry was becoming more annoyed than the clerk looked—her hip cocked, her jaw set. She leaned down and whispered to them, “Then why don’t you go back to your own neighborhood and buy it?”…
The clerk stood there, her fist dug into her hip. “We don’t serve people like you—besides, my husband is off fighting…” (114)
I think that right here is where it set in for Keiko that she wasn’t perceived as a loyal American, but more so a useless little Japanese girl. From here on, the discrimination only became more vigorous. She was even sent to an internment camp! This just doesn’t show who Keiko was seen as, but how it brought out the the worst in that clerk. And it wasn’t just her, this stereotype that the Japanese were horrible people brought out the worst in everyone.
So, What Are You Saying? We Can Only Show Others Who We Are by What’s on The Outside? Doesn’t the Inside Matter Too?
Well, of course it does! Even more than the outside! But you see, we need to express how we feel on the inside to make it clear to everyone. Our actions truly show what we are like on the inside. Despite Keiko’s prior thought about Henry, he truly cared for her and her culture. So when Mr. Preston and his son, Chaz (a bully to Henry at school), come to talk to Henry and his father about buying buildings from under Japanese families, Henry, also the translator, is not about to let Mr. Preston and his father get away with it.
“Henry, can you tell your father that I’m trying to buy the vacant lot behind the Nichibi publishing company? If we can force the Japanese newspaper out of business, will he approve us to buy that land as well?”…
His father evidently knew this area well, answering, “That property is owned by the Shitame family but the head of the family was arrested week ago. Make an offer to the bank, and they will sell it out from under them.” The words came out slowly, presumably so Henry wouldn’t miss a thing in translation.
Henry was shocked at what he was hearing…He hesitated for a moment, then looked at Mr. Preston and in all seriousness said, “My father won’t approved of the sale. It was once a Japanese cemetery and it’s very bad luck to build there. That’s why the lot is empty.” Henry pictured a dive-bomber, augering toward its target, loaded with ordinance.” (88)
The conversation between the two (and a half) men kept on augering from there. But this shows that Henry, for the first time of many, was sticking up for what he believed to be right. It shows how courageous and brave he can be, while also being a little bit deceiving on both parts. I believe this clearly shows who Henry can really be.
