What happens in Vegas...

After not taking any trips the last two summers, I was determined to go somewhere this year for vacation. So, me and Maiya went to Las Vegas with Grandma Machi and Grandpa Walt for 3 days in August.

We did this alot.  Can you say that 3 times fast? 

 "Flamingo Las Vegas. Flamingo vas legas, Famingo fos faygas."

Enjoying the 3 pools and giant slides at the Flamingo Pool while grandpa gambled.

15 acres of pools at the Flamingo.

I think this is the Mirage, no?  And yes, we saw the volcano, 

and the Treasure Island show in 105 degree weather.

Walking in the sauna called the Venetian at dusk.

More pool time.  I mean, really, what else do you want to do when you're 5?

We went down the big slide.  Maiya loved it.

Photo Credit:  Maiya.  (Not bad, huh?)

We loved "Love" the Beatles show by Cirque du Soleil.  

Worth every penny, ahem I mean, dollar.

A new Beatles fan is born.

Guess who?  Storm trooper and R2D2 will take pictures for tips.

We did do a lot of eating.  This is Maiya's first-ever rootbeer float.  

This expression was her response after the first sip:  "Awesome!"

It was nice to spend time with grandma and grandpa.  Every night when Maiya and I went back to the room to get ready for bed, grandma and grandpa would go back out on the casino floor for more video poker, and get back long after we went to sleep.  After being in the sun all day at the pool, and walking around the Strip in the evenings, we were exhausted.  Grateful to Tony (and Hector) for staying home working on some home improvement projects.  Maiya really missed Tony a lot.  She wrote him a postcard and waiting for it to come in the mail was almost as fun as the trip itself!  She got to pick out a souvenir (budget $5) to take home... it took her about 20 minutes to select this pink Flamingo Las Vegas keychain.

Overnighter to DC 2010

I went to Washington D.C. on Thursday morning and came back on Friday night.  I was there to meet with fellow grantees from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.  It was a much different experience from 6 1/2 years ago when I went to DC.  Very nice, unseasonably warm weather.  I stayed near Georgetown so I was able to walk there for dinner. There was a Trader Joe's there that I walked inside just to check it out.  No problems with parking as I would expect from Trader Joe's because there isn't any.  Everyone there looked like a young professional, no shopping carts, everyone had a hand-basket for their things--I guess everyone lives within walking distance.  I walked over a mile looking for a place to get a good healthy salad and never found anything.  I ended up at a fancy Indian restaurant for some so-so Indian food. 

On Friday morning, two fellow grantees and I, shared a cab over to the Barbara Bush Foundation's office for their Grantee Training for the 2010-2011 grantees.  We were able to meet the other grantees from around the country.  Our Little Tokyo Service Center Family Literacy program was 1 of 9 (and the only one from the West Coast) from across the country that was awarded this year!

We were each asked to make a 10 minute presentation of our program, so I put together a Powerpoint to describe all the various aspects of our Family Literacy program.  After lunch, we were able to break up into small groups to talk about things like Recruitment, Retention, Sustainability, Curriculum, Program Design and Assessments.

It was very cool to learn about and meet (mostly) women who run these inspiring Family Literacy programs from urban neighborhoods in places like Chicago and Miami, to very rural communities like the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Northern Michigan, and the Dakotas.

Our meeting finished relatively early so with my map (and my rolling suitcase) I walked over to the White House.  I wanted to see if I could see Michelle Obama's organic vegetable garden on the South Lawn.  I was able to see it, but from a pretty far distance (it's behind me to my right at the corner of the photo).  I went to the White House Visitor's Center eager to find info about the First (Black) Family in the White House-- but was disappointed to find that it is really an outdated historical display with no sign or mention of the Obama's.  The most recent stuff I saw was from the Eisenhower years.  Lots of stuff about the building and gardens in the early days.  I was able to find some Obama stuff for my daughter Maiya at a t-shirt vendor parked a few blocks from the White House--an Obama family postcard and key chain for $1.25.  I also went over to Lafayette Park and found Conchita still there--she has been the White House's closest resident since 1981.  Same signs and photos from my first trip in 2004.

It was a long commute trip for just one night.  But all in all, a productive trip to D.C.

Blog killer

I think FB killed this blog.  Oh well.  If you want to know what's happening with Kuida-Osumi, Facebook us.

Signs of Peace in Little Tokyo

P - E - A - C - E 

Kuida-Osumi at the Candlelight Vigil 9-9-10

supporting Muslim Americans with NCRR

On 9-11-10, we went to the Peace Vigil
at the Islamic Center of Southern California

Maiya performing at Tuesday Night

Youngest Open Mic on Tuesday Night Project from Gary San Angel on Vimeo.

Thanks to Tuesday Night Project folks for allowing Maiya to join the Open Mic on August 3rd for her debut on the Tuesday Night stage.  Thanks to Joe Reilly for performing this at the Children's Social Forum in June in Detroit.

B.Y.O. Chopstix

Here's a Great Leap project I am excited to have been a part of. It's Nobuko and Luke (Aidge) performing B.Y.O. Chopstix--a cute music video encouraging us all to be a little greener... and do our part to help save the earth, one hashi at a time... Bring Your Own Chopstix.

This project was so much fun! I helped organize the background extras, and helped with some of the pre-production stuff to get the project organized. As part of craft services, we bought all the breakfast goodies and snacks. On the day of the video shoot, Tony and I got there at 5am to start setting up the craft services area. One of my jobs was to prep the food and set up the dishes for all of the food you see on the set. That boiling water (me). The edamame and California rolls were plated up by me and Dora.

It was really fun being part of the production, getting to see inside all the drawers and fridges for a small Japanese restaurant. I also got to be "stage mom" for a bit when they decided (it had been tentatively set for another day) that they had time to shoot Maiya holding the Chopstick Art that we created together for the video. I ran to the car to get a different shirt and quickly ran a brush through her hair and put on a cute headband (since her hair was a bit crazy from her first overnight visit to Auntie Keiko's and from running the Chibi-K earlier in the morning.

So, B.Y.O. Chopstix... if you want to see it screened, it will premiere at the Collaboratory performance: Order to Go. It will be music, theater, movement and dance... on the theme of throwaway take-out containers. Nobuko will perform, and there will be a reception and Q&A with special guests to follow. Sept. 11 at 7pm at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in Culver City. Go to the new, improved Great Leap website for more info.

Nat'l Breastfeeding Week

As a lactivist, I proudly nursed Maiya for 3 years and 3 months.  It was not easy at the beginning.  It took us about 5 months to get her latched on properly, but I was determined not to give up because I knew how breastmilk was building her immunity for a lifetime.  I was visiting a lactation consultant for months and relied on blogger mama friends for advice on natural parenting for years. I breastfed exclusively for 6 months and for the first year or more, I was nursing about every 2 hours, nights included (benefits of cosleeping by design).  It was worth all of the effort because it is the best gift I could have given her.  This photo was taken by Parmley Photography in 2005 when Maiya was a newborn for a calendar of mamas nursing in public spaces.  The photo was taken at the Farmer's Market on Fairfax.

Reflections from the Backseat

We have good days and bad days during carpool. Some days we laugh and play the whole way. Other days Maiya and Devin fight, yell, cry and say nasty mean things to each other and I arrive at work very grumpy. But most days they alternate between getting along, laughing a lot, with little flare-ups in between. Today was one of them, but I consider it a good day because I didn’t yell at anyone and I'm feeling pretty chipper, despite the 4 hours of sleep.  Maiya and Devin were drawing pictures on their magnetic Doodle Art boards this morning.

Somewhere in Culver City:
M:  Devin, how do you write your name?
D:  D-E-V-I-N.
M: Look Devin. I wrote “I love you Devin.”
(Devin’s response is sort of a chuckle/grunt.)
M:  Devin, if you want to copy it, you could change the last part to Maiya. If you want to.
D:  No, thank you.

On the freeway:
M:  Look Devin. I made a drawing of me giving you a dog.
D:  That’s not a dog!
M:  Yes it is! It is a dog!
D:  Well it doesn’t look like one.
M:  Devin. It’s not about fighting. It’s about peace. Right Mommy?
J:   Yes, it is about peace.
M:  Devin we are very baddest friends. Why do we always have ploblems?
D:  We don’t always have problems. Some times we are very good friends to each other.
M:  That’s true. But sometimes we fight.

Still later on San Pedro Street:
M:  Mommy, what are you doing?
J:    Exercising (to Rockett & Zoe's CD - Black Eyed Peas).
M:  It looks like you’re dancing. Devin, let’s dance.
D:   I don’t want to dance. Maiya, stop it! Don’t pin me! (Teasing him with hair clip.)
J:    Maiya, Devin says he doesn’t want to dance, please don’t bother him with your hairclip. He doesn’t have to dance if he doesn’t want to.
M:  But I saw him dance in his seat a little bit twice.

On First Street:
D:  Maiya, I think the shop owners will think that we are brother and sister.
M:  No! They can’t see us. The windows are (unintelligible).
D:   No they’re not. They can see us.
M:  Oh no, not another ploblem.

Turning in to parking lot:
M:  Devin, what do you think Ms. Yumiko will say about my sparkly headband?
D:  (Unintelligible)  Jenni, look at my fighter plane. It has fire coming out the back!
J:   Wow, that’s a great fighter plane. Ok, here we are. Everyone get your things together. Let’s take a picture of your drawings.  (See above.)

Venice Obon #2

Maiya dancing by herself at Venice Obon 2010

Time to go home!

We enjoyed Venice obon again this year.  We went with my parents, and Tony decided to walk and met us there.  We ate a lot of food (my review of the food is the same from previous years), lines were fairly long, parked a few blocks away, which is like most obons that we go to.  What I like about Venice is that it is close to home and we get to see many of the people who helped us on the Aloha Market Mural that we did 12 years ago.  Their kids, who helped us paint, are all grown up now.

Maiya was excited because she recognized Tampopo Ondo which she learned at preschool, and she recognized that Auntie Nobuko sings the song.  She was also happy because she got to say hi to Tula's grandpa.  I was a proud mama because Maiya asked if she could dance by herself.  It makes me feel great that she isn't afraid to try new things, or do things without me.  It was very cute to see her copying other dancers.  I think I took some video, I will post it when I find it.  Next week:  WLA.

Performing at Nishi Obon 2010

It's obon season again!  Here we are at Nishi Obon, you could say it is our home obon since it is where Maiya has been going to preschool for the last 2 1/2 years, and we are members at Nishi.   Between our family, we sampled just about everything there is to eat and drink this year.   This year was cool, not hot at all, and not as crowded as in the past two years.  It was fun watching the kids dance.  It was nice that my mom, dad and Auntie Keiko came to see her perform, her 3rd time on the Nishi stage.

Nishi kids getting ready to perform

"Futatsu" one of 3 dances from Odori class

Pretty sure we have a picture from last year in the same yukata, same location

except that she is wearing her great grandma's obi.

Grandma and Grandpa came to see Maiya and for the snowcones

Tony and Auntie Keiko having some obon foods

Somen time, slurp, slurp

Nishi Center kids penguin sumi-e paintings and figurines on exhibit

Tony hard at work at the snow cone booth

Kuida-Osumi, heading home 

A few more obons to go... pix to follow.

Kiana's Bday

Maiya and her preschool friend Kiana's 5th bday 

381 Miles for Justice and Back (in one day)

On Memorial Day weekend, Tony, Maiya and I rented a car and drove 381 miles to Phoenix to join the march protesting SB 1070, the recently signed Arizona law that will allow/force/legalize racial profiling against people of color.  It will authorize police to stop "suspected" undocumented immigrants based on the color of their skin and ask them for their papers.

We left at 3:30 in the morning, and arrived in Phoenix about 9:30 am.  I actually only slept about 2 45-minute naps the night before, and drove the first 3 hours.  Anyways, we found a place to park a few blocks from the beginning of the route, having seen that there was a train line that would take us back at the end of the day.  We had heard that the organizers were expecting about 50,000 people, but I really couldn't tell... altoarizona.com reported 100,000 people. Walking 6 1/2 miles in 90+ degree heat and not wanting to spend any money in Phoenix was something that I think our little family will always remember and was why we decided to go and come back in the same day.

Maiya wrote and decorated her own picket sign: 

"SB 1070: It's Not Right! Treat People Good"

Tony's sign compares SB 1070 with racist laws in our

history that target individual communities of color

Phoenix was hot... we heard 97 degrees... 

this is before we got to the 6.6 mile start line.

We were towards the back of the march. 

 Lots of families and strollers where we were.

Trying to beat the heat with popsicles, fruit, veggies and water

This sign was at the very end of the march, and passed us a few times.

Maiya's Si Se Puede Yoda sign was a big hit--

many people wanted photos and kids loved it.

Our sign "We drove 381 miles for justice" caused several 

groups of Arizonans to thank us for the support

KuidaOsumi--together for social justice

Some of the signs we saw said things like "Do I look illegal?" "Brown is not a crime." "We are all human." "European American immigrants were illegal.  1492." After walking almost 5 hours or so, we almost made it to the end. We actually got within about 7 streets from the end of the march and we could hear the speakers and the music.  We could see the State Capitol building just ahead of us. 

Unfortunately, I had kind of a dizzy spell/episode where the world started spinning and I started to feel like I was going to pass out.  I went to sit down, and kind of fell onto the grass in slow motion.   Anyways, after yet another bottle of water and a 20 minute rest, I was able to walk back to the train (yes, we did actually spend $3.50 in Arizona for trainfare and $2 or $3 for popsicles from marching vendors) to take us back to our car, where we took pictures in the parking lot.

After that, we got in our car, and Tony drove us 6 hours back home, stopping in Blythe for gas and making pita bread cheese and salami sandwiches out of the cooler in the backseat of the car.  I am glad we were able to go--since we missed the Los Angeles May Day immigrant rights march on May 1st.  It was Maiya's first trip to Phoenix.  And the only other time I had been to Arizona was about 17 years ago when I went with my parents and my brother Darin to the Gila River Camp Reunion/Pilgrimage, where my dad was incarcerated as a 10 year old during WW2 for being of Japanese descent.  

It was a hot and physically exhausting day, but an unforgettable journey... As I said to one Latino man about my age who thanked us for coming such a long distance, "We had to come."  Because according to Maiya, "SB 1070:  It's not right!  Treat People Good."

~~~~~~
This post is dedicated to the memory of father, husband, activist, organizer, teacher, poet, friend, 
John Delloro, who passed away at the age of 38 on June 5th, may he rest in peace and justice.

In the car this morning...

Funny things come out of the backseat during carpool.

Maiya:  Mommy, is Devin a Asian man?
Jenni:  Um, Devin is a young Asian man.
Devin:  I'm an Asian men!
Maiya:  Asian pear!
Devin: Asian taggie!
Maiya:  Asian apple!
Devin:  Asian duckie!
Maiya:  Asian Jacaranda!
Devin:  Asian blossom!
Maiya:  Asian street!
Devin:  Asian meat!

Not exactly in that order, but you get the picture.  It actually went on and on, but I couldn't  remember after the first few of them.  But this little game got us from Central and 20th to about Central and 9th Street.  And each new one brought on a gaggle of giggles.

(Photo by Mickie Okamoto at Angelina Family Literacy Fun Night)

Don't kill the spiders... Yoda would say that

One thing is for sure, Maiya hates spiders.  She doesn't like them at all.   The tiniest of spiders in her room and she screams and carries on and wants them removed.  There is one in the corner of our bedroom ceiling and she looks up at it every night.  Even more surprising that I overheard this conversation in the backseat of the car this morning during carpool.

Maiya to Devin:  "Devin, if you see a spider, you shouldn't kill it or stomp on it or step on it or something like that.  Because it might be a daddy or a mommy or a big sister or a little sister.  Yoda would say that."

Then she opened her eyes big, faced Devin, nodding her head up and down while smiling and repeated, "Yoda would say that.  So instead you could take them outside with a cup or a piece of paper."

It's all about what Obi Wan Ka-Tony says.  Or what a makes a good Jedi.  Or what Yoda would say.

Busy Weekend: Chopping with our hashi

Yesterday we shot a music video B.Y.O. Chopstix, a new Great Leap project--5am set up craft services, prepped and dished up the "props" food, getting to feel a bit like a waitress, enjoyed being part of the production crew all before 7:30 am... Tony & I picked up Maiya from her sleepover at Auntie Keiko's, watched her run the Chibi K in J-town, rushed back to Gardena by 9:30 to continue helping with the video shoot, then cleanup, then rushed home to unload the car at 5pm, we dropped Maiya off with Uncle Bill, then headed to Westwood to catch the bus and a few zz's to Hollywood Bowl, saw an incredible concert with Carole King & James Taylor (best seats ever! first date night in practically forever!), back on the bus to Westwood, back to pick up Maiya and come home after midnight.

  

Today, Maiya slept till 10, we made pancakes, 5 loads of laundry, 2 hours of dishes, took a nap (me & Tony), dinner w/Lily @ Tender Greens and the house is still a mess.  Great weekend.  Had to blog it here because it wouldn't fit on my FB status.  Lots more pics to follow.

Minna loves Jasmine: The Beginning

This is Minna, one of my dearest childhood friends.  

I have known Minna since the 2nd grade when

 she came to school with a note on her jacket 

saying that she came from Taiwan and didn't speak English.

Fast forward to 2010. 

Here is Minna's new daughter Jasmine from Taiwan, 

who was adopted by Minna and her husband Joe

a month ago.  Jasmine is 5 and is learning English, 

just like her mom did almost 40 years ago.  

Isn't she beautiful?  I love this story. 

 The Beginning.