Talk Story

6/5/2019   Pacific Islands  Guam    Fiji   Palau  Hawaii   Papua New Guinea   French Polynesia   Samoa   Tonga   Marshall Islands  Tahiti     Kiribati   Okinawa  Nauru     New Zealand   American Samoa  Solomon Islands    Vanuatu    No written history, mainly oral tradition  Early 1900’s Western Influence, American territories  Division of Pacific Islands to different countries  Pacific Theater  December 7, 1941: Bombing of … Continue reading »

House of Skin   “We Hawaiians,” she reminded me, “are all descendants of sharks.”  Sharks feature prominently on weapons in Hawaiian culture. Often shark teeth are tied to clubs as a sort of blade.  “My father was a Caucasian, a haole, as Hawaiians say…”  Haole is Hawaiian for foreigner actually. In most contexts however, haole often refers to a Caucasian. It is … Continue reading »

5/28/2019   Unaccustomed Earth  Dense  Traditional  Affluence  Degrees/Advanced Degrees  Literary fiction vs popular/genre  Classic, serious    Plot vs character development  Forces a depth of understanding, deep relationships being explored  Bollywood – Portmanteau of Bombay + Hollywood    My Name is Khan  Main Character has Asperger’s, form of autism  San Francisco, November 2007  At airport, Khan mutters in Muslim, agent … Continue reading »

Unaccustomed Earth   “The cards were addressed to Ruma; her father never included Adam’s name, or mentioned Akash.” (Page 4)  It seems that Ruma’s father disapproves of her choice of partner. There is a sense of estrangement between Ruma and her father who seems to be in a state of wanderlust. The mother does not write … Continue reading »

5/21/2019   The Beautiful Land  People on a ship, in line for food, gets rejected  Ling tells Tam that America is nice, clean, they pay for cleaners  Man in purple shirt says no pay me = no food for them  Captain of ship tells Binh he will always be out of place  Offers Binh a job, Ling wants to be a singer  Binh catches a fish, … Continue reading »

Miss Lien “…Lien remembered the night her mother announced her most recent pregnancy. The adult’s reaction had been different from previous ones. There were no smiles or shouts of good fortune.” (Page 6) Usually, large families are a necessity for a future pair of hands to help in the fields. Perhaps the family has become … Continue reading »

5/14/2019   Gook  Movie in black and white, intense flames, sirens, child dancing  Cussing like crazy  Eli trying to fit box of shoes in car, gets jumped on by gangers  Rodney King stuff, Eli needs to sell shoes to make rent  April 29, 1992  Young girl (Kamilla) singing, no food or money  Eli ditches Daniel, arrives at shoe … Continue reading »

A Temporary Marriage   “After he set up his camera on the living room table, they both forced a smile until the timer clicked, the shutter snapped back, and she drew away.” (Page 3)  From the appearance of things, Mrs. Shin is only using this marriage as a ticket for immigration. Despite her circumstances, she finds … Continue reading »

5/7/2019   Peter Bacho (Tacoma branch of Evergreen)  Themes of Dark Blue Suit  Closure                             Hope vs Reality                 Trauma  Family                               Community      … Continue reading »

Dark Blue Suit “And through the years they’d told a wanderer’s unchanging lie – yes, we’ll be back – to thousands of parents and lovers, sisters and brothers.” (Page 3) That phrase ‘we’ll be back’ immediately brought to my mind MacArthur’s phrase as he escaped the Philippines during World War 2. The “I shall return” … Continue reading »