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TI: So going back to your life, growing up in the valley, what were some of the activities that you...

MS: My mother let me join the Camp Fire. I think that's kind of unusual because I was the only Japanese in it. And I remember going to camp one summer, and it was a nice experience. I went to Camp Roganunda, and I understand it's still there. And then I met camp leaders, and I just looked up to them and I kept up with one of the camp leaders. She was from Ohio. And when I look back, my god, they must have been eighteen or nineteen years old. [Laughs] But it was a very interesting experience. And so I got to do a lot of things, I think, that a lot of other Japanese kids didn't get to do.

TI: That's what I was going to mention. It seemed like you were, I'm not sure if it was your mother wanting this or...

MS: My mother.

TI: But really exposed to the larger, sort of, population.

MS: Yes. I even took piano lessons. I never could play the piano. But it was, I got to do things that I think that others didn't.

TI: And what do you take away from that? What did you learn by being exposed to those different areas?

MS: I think I grew up feeling that I was an individual, that I can speak up. I have been noted to be speaking up. You've heard me. And the freedom to do it, because I was raised with ideas. Like my father and my mother both, we, listening to these guys, My mother talking, "What if I..." she would like to learn how to fly and so forth. So that, I think, gave me the freedom to be much more free and not so imbued with the Japanese culture where you don't interject yourself. And I remember somebody saying to me, "Marjorie, I think Japanese is supposed to be quiet, soft-spoken, and they don't speak up. And then there's Marjorie." [Laughs]

TI: Well, so when you're young and you're more free and outspoken, and you're within the Japanese community, how did people react to you?

MS: I had friends, though. I had friends, and especially the Methodist church. My parents didn't go to church, but they allowed us to go. And we joined the Methodist church, and our social life was with the church. And we had a very good youth group, and we'd do all kinds of things. So that when you had the time, you did have friends. And I still do talk... well, I still have a few friends that I had grown up with. But... and I know that they have stayed with the Japanese community, and they're a lot more restrained than I am.

TI: Good.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.