<Begin Segment 16>

MN: Now where did you learn to dance?

JM: We all danced.

MN: But where did you learn to dance? Like the jitterbug, how did you learn that?

JM: Well, one of the older guys used to come to our rec room and they (taught) us how to do the jitterbug. Then we caught on pretty fast. (...)

MN: Were you a pretty good dancer, jitterbugging?

JM: Yeah. I caught on real, real fast.

MN: Did that make you popular with the girls?

JM: I guess so.

MN: Did you dress up in a zoot suit and have the duck tail hair?

JM: Yes. [Laugh]

MN: Where'd you get the zoot suit? Did your mom make it for you?

JM: No. I made it myself.

MN: How do you make it yourself?

JM: We had a sewing machine. I just sewed the sides. It wasn't that difficult.

MN: So did a lot of Terminal Islanders dress up in that pachuco style?

JM: Not really.

MN: So you're a teenager in Manzanar, you're interested in girls. Can you share with us some of the stories you had with the girls? You were talking about this one girl that you first saw in camp.

JM: This other friend of mine said, oh, he put a claim on her, so I couldn't barge in. Then this girl, one of the girls in the class, (her boyfriend) had to go to Tule Lake, so her friend asked me to take care of her, so I started taking her out and she asked me, "Are we going steady?" So I told her yeah, so I would side up with her.

MN: So you never had a problem with the girls. You always had a girl with you, or if you were interested you would go out and talk with the girls?

JM: I wasn't scared.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.