First and foremost, I wanted to post some stuff about my absolutely charmed trip to Seattle, Washington, that took place in mid-May. The thrust of the whole trip up to the wooly Northwest was sheer research— to meet Shig Murao's 81 year old twin sister, Shiz, to do research on pre-war Seattle's Japanese American community, and to meet with choice JA historians, bibliophiles, writers, artists, archivists and filmmakers, all in a neat seven days. I also had a chance to catch up with friends Tim and Jessica (hi kids!- thanks for use of the airmattress!), James (ditto on the spare room! the midnight motorcycle ride across the bridges and shots of high grade whiskey was just the edge I needed to close that trip off with, and Heidi (brilliant artist, mom, and non-profit founder).
I toured and an astonishing number and variety of Seattle neighborhoods, all for the sake of getting to know the geography and the people who inhabited particular neighborhoods: Green Lake, Phinney, Fremont, Queen Anne Hill, the ID, Madrona, Beacon Hill, West Seattle, Georgetown...I even made a special jaunt out to Bellevue to pay my respects to a certain cemetery, gracing the headstones with petals and poetry.
So without further ado, here are some shots of what I saw in Seattle.
At Saito's in goofy Belltown with the creme de la creme of JA Seattle historians: Kazuko Nakane, Chizu Omori, Alan Lau and (solo on the other side of the table) the legendary bookstore owner and flyfisher, David Ishii.
Signs from the International District
The Bookstore, a Bar!
A study in two libraries (yes, i am a hopeless bookworm. help me). The quaint Fremont Public Library and the spanking new downtown main public library.
Green dogwoods in bloom. Sigh.
Outrageous icelandic poppies in bloom. Double sigh.
"!"
No comments:
Post a Comment