<Begin Segment 22>

TI: So I've come to the end of my questions, and I wanted to ask, is there anything else that you want to share that I haven't asked about, about your life? We went all the way from the beginning all the way up to San Jose. Is there anything else that maybe I missed that you wanted to talk about?

MT: I don't think so, I think you covered just about everything. [Laughs]

TI: Okay, I'm going ask your niece if there's anything else. Paula, anything else that you could think of that I could ask about? Okay. So let me ask this on camera. So we're going all the way back to when the war started, you were a student at Cleveland High School, a senior. But when you left, you had to leave before you actually graduated at Cleveland. And I think they said that you would get your credits and you would still get your diploma. One question, did you ever receive your diploma?

MT: Yes, I did.

TI: And how did you get that?

MT: In the mail.

TI: Okay, and you were at Pinedale, they sent it to you?

MT: Yes.

TI: Okay. I guess the question is, if the war had not happened, what do you think you would have done after you had graduated from Cleveland High School? What do you think, what would your life have looked like?

MT: That's a good question. I've never really thought about it because I remember when I was growing up, when we were asked the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and you know, it was a time when very few Oriental people were able to get the kind of jobs they wanted because so much of it was closed to them. So people used to say it's better if you stick to the kind of work that anybody can get. You don't set your sights on something that is not open to you. But... I'm losing my train of thought.

TI: So when you were asked that question: "What do you want to do when you grow up?" how did you answer that?

MT: Well, I was, I can't remember what it was, what would have been my first choice, but I started thinking in terms of maybe being a stenographer or something like that, the possibility of getting a job working with someone in that kind of a field, but I don't know what I would have...

TI: So possibly doing office work maybe in downtown Seattle or something like that?

MT: Yeah.

TI: Okay. Well, so Misa, thank you so much, you did a really, really good job. I learned a lot from this, it was really interesting, so thank you.

MT: Oh, I tried my best. I hope that, well, I'm trying to relay what I feel is my, in my mind what happened. I hope it's pretty much to the truth.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.