daily slice-of-life photo blog of a Gen-X dad
Yuzu brought me her catch today. I thought the poor little lizard might still be alive, but no, he was limp and definitely a goner so I put the body outside for the birds to take away. The circle of life… 🎶
I attended 100% Mixed 100% Nikkei – Experiences of Mixed Race Nikkei Webinar hosted by the JACL, in which the discussion centered around the experience of mixed-race people, and specifically those with Japanese ancestry as part of their makeup. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and especially the discussions that touched on where we fit in with today’s events surrounding racial inequality, the BLM movement, and the rise of white supremacist rhetoric in America. I didn’t realize (and I still need to explore) how the Japanese-American community was affected by the civil rights movements in the 60s, and became the “model minority” as a response to anti-blackness. It’s something that not a lot of people think about, but I think it’s worth exploring.
I’m happy that organizations like JACL exist and provide resources for helping Nikkei explore their roots. It’s refreshing to see and hear people of mixed race speak about their individual experiences that make up a collective experience that so many of us share, even though everyone’s present situations might be different distances from when our ancestors came to America. And it’s also wonderful to see people of different age groups too! There are many differences generationally, but we all are the same in that we are curious and want to know more, and share our experiences.
It seems to me that first-generation Asian-Americans share a stronger bond with each other, and with each successive generation, those bonds becomes weaker, or perhaps less-easily defined. Japanese-Americans (and Chinese-Americans) have been present in America for a relatively long time as compared to other Asian groups, so the Nikkei bonds have to extend a greater distance. And each generation may have additional ingredients added into the mix, so it’s harder to identify a dominant flavor. I’m not sure if that is a good analogy or not. At any rate, I think third-generation (Sansei) or fourth-generation (Yonsei) Japanese-Americans have less common identity to use to connect with each other as compared to first-generation Asian-Americans. It’s very complicated, yet fascinating.
I’m a Yonsei, so Bay and Koa would be Gosei (fifth-generation). But since Mariko is an Issei (first-generation), they could also be considered Nissei (second-generation). 🤷♂️
A 1.5 hour webinar is not nearly enough time to cover such a complex subject, but it’s a great start! I’m very happy that I attended. Thank you, JACL, for putting it together! Much more to learn…
Yuzu likes to hang out with me while I work, and in this photo, she’s right on the boundary of where I allow her to go. The area in front of the monitor (and laptop when it’s out) is off limits to her, not only because she blocks the view, but there are some little cubbyholes above the monitor with some small figurines that she likes to knock down and run off with. Of course, when I’m not in the room, there’s no one to enforce these limits so things occasionally go missing. 😐
But that’s life with cats! 😺
I hope you had a good day. またね～
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Several months ago, Mariko bought me a bird feeder that uses suction cups to stick to our home office window. It took a month or so before the birds discovered it but they now come daily to grab a few sunflower seeds. What’s really nice is that I can go right up to the window, and the birds don’t even notice me, so I can get a close-up view of them.
I thought today’s visitor was a Bewick’s Wren, but upon closer inspection, I noticed it had a lot of orange, so I’m guessing it’s a Carolina Wren.
I hope you had a great day!
またね～
During this pandemic, I stay away from routes where there are a lot of people, specifically the hike & bike paths that are too narrow to keep a safe distance from other people. So that means I stick to my neighborhood streets where I can run in the road or easily cross to the other side to stay socially distant. However, there are some parts where I have to run on a narrow pathway or sidewalk, which is why I always carry a disposable mask.
I will just put the mask around my wrist, and it’s so light that it doesn’t interfere at all with the running experience. But when I am running on one of these narrow sections and I see another pedestrian or cyclist, I’ll put the mask on. It literally takes just three or four seconds, so why not? Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) I haven’t seen any other runners using masks, but maybe now that they’ve seen my put on my mask, it will normalize it to them (or maybe they will feel a little ashamed), and they will start doing the same. Hey, we have to look out for one another!
In other running news, I saw this really great sidewalk art version of It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Very cool!
I hope you had a great day!
