I’m sitting with my wife in Laney College’s theater in Oakland, Calif. as the curtains draw for Artistic Director and Choreographer Claudine Naganuma’s 10th anniversary of dNaga danceNAGANUMA, admittedly not sure what to expect. I’ve been graciously comped two tickets by a very thoughtful person who had read my previous post on Yuri Kochiyama and […]
“Ga(wo)man”: On Yuri Kochiyama & Sexism/Patriarchy in Japanese American Culture
March 8, 2011 by 4 Comments
Note: For readers who are not of Nikkei heritage, Gaman means “to persevere through extremely difficult times with patience, grace and dignity.” With March being Women’s Herstory Month, we may assume by inference – if we are to look deep enough together – that January, February, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November […]
My Life as a Crusader
I am Ruth Shigeko Ishizaki (formerly Hirose) and I was born and raised on our family’s 80 acres of orange groves in Richgrove, California in the southern San Joaquin Valley, northeast of Delano, at the base of the Sierra Mountains. Since our orange grove was east of the California Highway 99 dividing line, called the […]