September 2002

September 28 - Balancing Act
Busy, busy. Planning fundraisers for Great Leap and the Manzanar Committee. GL will be a Garden Reception and Art Auction on 10/26 and Manzanar will be a Concert with Asian Persuasion on 11/3. Our Boyle Heights workshops begin next week. Went to 3 baby showers in 2 weekends. Dim sum with friends last weekend. Kaz & Mary & company were in town for Saori's "Friends" Shower. Gayle & I just hosted the "Family" baby shower for Saori & Darin today. Continuing yoga about 30 minutes a day, 6-7 days a week. It helps keep things sane.

Cousins on the move: Russell is moving to the Marina after many years in Tucson, Jackie & Brent are moving to Hawaii, Jennifer moved to O.C. from Oakland recently, and Roxane is opening a hypnotherapy office in Anaheim. Happy Belated BDay to Roxane.

September 8 - The Power of Love
Things are good. Friday, I stayed up till 3am reading Helie Lee's new book, In the Absence of Sun. Yesterday, I stayed in bed till 3pm and finished reading her book. Wow, what a powerful book. It's her second, and it's about her effort to reunite her Korean family after over 50 years. Although I don't fully agree with the politics, she is a very compelling writer, and I could not put it down. Knowing she is a friend of Lily's, makes it even more incredible. I'm so amazed at the power of the written word, the power of family promises, and the power of love. I feel inspired to continue documenting family stories.

We ended up going to Unicorn 4 times last week, by ourselves, with Hector and Tony's dad, with my parents, Lily & Kent, and with Mike & Laura (after a hike in Rustic Canyon on Labor Day, possibly the hottest day of the year. Had dinner with Lily & Lisa (see Lisa's baby Kai at 2 months above), and a dinner for Cherie, my cousin, who was here from France for two weeks. There were 7 boys, all under the age of 3, well 8 if you count Darin & Sao's baby, due in November. See Cherie and William (right). This weekend I'm working on my taxes and my next column. The TV and newspapers is full of 9/11 anniversary stuff and Bush is trying to get the OK from congress to attack Iraq. I think I'll write about the Assi workers.

August 2002

August 28 - Here today, gone tomorrow
Took last week off. Did website updates, daily yoga, some work on taxes, work on my garden and made a new compost pile, work on Manzanar Committee CCLPEP grant project, and went to Rosarito Beach with Tony for a few days. We also went to Harrah's in San Diego, near Escondido on our anniversary. Hung out with friends. Sad news. Unicorn Inn, our favorite Chinese food restaurant in Venice is closing on Labor Day. First Little Peking, then Kenny's Cafe, Aloha Grocery, Royal Market, Mago's Hamburgers, Mar Vista Market, Marina Mago's. Like when I had 5 Chinese Chicken Salads the week Kenny's closed, we ate at Unicorn on Monday, tonight (Wednesday) and are going again on Saturday to say goodbye.


August 17 - Vacation Time for kuidaosumi!
Tony has been on vacation for almost 2 months, but he has still been working hard. He's been volunteering his time with the Assi Market Boycott with KIWA and Immigrant Workers Union at the picket, making food for the marching workers who were fired, making poetry books for the Assi workers (BoycottAssi.com), petitioning and supporting the Little Tokyo Rec Center, and APALA Town Hall (today he's making buttons and a banner/mural). He's also been surfing the web nights and working on a new education article. As for me, Nona & I have just completed 3 grants in 6 work days. We are in the middle of a fundraising campaign. GREAT LEAP NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT! See the Supporters section of the GL website to see how you can help. So, before Tony goes back to school in 2 weeks, I am taking a week off from GL! We are going for a little R&R at Rosarito Beach, between Tijuana and Ensenada. I'm looking forward to the spa at Las Rocas. I'm going to get some massage, aromatherapy, maybe even a mud bath. It'll be a great way to spend our 4 year wedding anniversary.

August 4 - Update
Second trip to Detroit this summer. Tony, Nobuko & I were in Detroit over the weekend. Yesterday was the Harvest Celebration - Tribute to Gerald Hairston in Detroit and Friday was with Matrix Theatre Company and Detroit Summer youth. Over 200 people sang and danced to "I Dream a Garden." It was so much fun! See the link above for Detroit video clips. Got back this morning. Tony and I slept from 11am to 6pm, trying to recuperate.

July 14 - Immersed in Detroit
Just got back from a week in Detroit. My fourth trip since Summer 2000. The lines between my work and my personal interests are so hard to distinguish. Nobuko & I stayed at the Boggs Center. We spent most of the week at Genesis Church garden, helping landscape architect Ashley Kyber create "Gerald's Griot Garden," a sculpture garden. Nobuko worked with Genesis Church musicians, teen and adult choirs, Matrix Theatre Company youth, Detroit Summer, Council of Asian Pacific Americans, teaching them the song and the dance for the "I Dream a Garden" Harvest Celebration, which will take place in Detroit on August 2 and 3. My role this week was documenting all of this on video and film. Got real familiar with my new digital camera/mini-dv camcorder. Will be going back in a few weeks. I have started doing 20 mnutes of yoga a day. So far so good. I have a column that was due yesterday. Need to get my head back in LA where Nona & I have 3 major grants to do in the next month and a direct mail effort.

July 5 - Updates
So very busy. Too many things to do at home and GL. Yesterday was the 4th of July. I spent the afternoon setting up my new batch composter, learning how to use the digital camera/mini-dv camcorder. Today I'm very sore from yoga. Heading for Detroit tomorrow for a week for Great Leap.

July 1 - No Seven Year Itch for J&T!
Today is me & Tony's 7 year anniversary. He wrote me the nicest thing this morning. We're going to J-town to celebrate at the restaurant where we connected on our first date. We'll eat curry fried rice at Kouraku like we did 7 years ago today. After 7 years, I'm so in love with my hubby. Awww, how romantic... Today is the relaunch of our website under our new domain, www.KuidaOsumi.com.