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VY: Speaking of changes, I'm wondering if you have seen, what kind of changes you've seen around your mother's family's farm in Lancaster. Has that area changed over time?

NO: Oh, my goodness. The story is that there were no stoplights going from Los Angeles to Lancaster for Thanksgiving. And today it's a bustling city. We go there to the cemetery, and we need our GPS because we don't know where we're at. And we go to see the farm, and the barn is down in... it's kind of sad, but we have our memories at the Antelope Valley Rural Museum, we have pictures of the horses and the sheep and the barn in the snow, my dad making a snowman, pictures in front of the barn, everybody standing in their overalls. My dad is a foot taller than everybody in a white hat, kind of a city boy kind of look. And he fortunately was accepted by the community, but I think they wanted their kids to know their culture, so he brought it with him with the language and the sports. But the farm is a great memory, we call it the country cousin and the city cousin. My cousins don't especially have an affection for it, but I think because it was hard to live there. We went for the summer when it was fun, go to the county fair, go to church. So they live in San Jose and Santa Ana and other cities, and they're very sophisticated. I'm kind of like, I went backwards and they went forwards, that's okay. Because I think that was my best summers, to just have time to eat fresh apples and strawberries and asparagus. So that was fun.

VY: Yeah, what would you do on the farm during the summer? Did you work on the farm?

NO: Well, two things. I would sit by the... it's not an air conditioner, it's some kind of a, I don't know the word, it's some kind of a pump, there's a word for it. (Narr. note: Swamp cooler.) So the water would drip, and then it would make, like, a little river. Then I'd make a boat, and then around this were, you're traveling in your mind. It's like how books help you travel? So I'm just kind of watching versus going and recirculate it, moving it this way. And you could ride your bike and ride it, turn your wheels as fast as you could, and there was no danger because there was no cars, there's no people, and you'd go all the way to the reservoir and you'd jump in, 'cause you're hot and you could scream and come out and just have fun. Because in the city we used to go swimming at the Evergreen Plunge, and my mother wanted me to take swimming lessons but she stopped it because people would touch me. So that was the end of my swimming there, and so it's just city life, it was crowded, so she wanted me to not have any lessons there. But I prevailed, I have a swimming pool at my house. [Laughs] And I wasn't the best child, but I was their child, and they love me, and I didn't always listen. She would say, "Leave that rock," and I still have that rock at my house, I brought it home, big rock from a beach party or something. But you carve your own way in life, and like I said, you make the rules, you could break the rules if you have to.

VY: How about the terrain of that area, how has that changed over time?

NO: It's flat, it's flat. But they do have the poppy festival, and I said I never knew they had poppies, 'cause I'd only go during the summer and Thanksgiving. So when I'd go there, I thought, "Oh, this is what they used to see," but I really, really... it's like a respite, a place to go to be close to our grandparents. So they're there, and we go see them, go see the obelisk with all the names of the thirteen farmers. And the story -- and I'm going to briefly touch that -- is that in 1936, the farmers were losing some of their family members that they built this obelisk and donated money, and when the war started, it was knocked down for seventy years. And so the junior high school kids in the Avid class raised money and contacted people that were still in town and others, and made it their project. Found out what names were on there, and they'd get it carved, put down flower vessels for the Japanese, and my sister was contacted, my oldest sister was alive still, and they were having an event to, a ceremony to bless it and to appreciate it when it was rebuilt. And she, her husband was very ill, so they started off, and then she turned the car around, and she called me up and said, "I want you to go and represent the family." Of course, I knew all the farmers, 'cause my mother had kept all her friends, and so whether they moved to the city or stayed there, we knew them. I didn't know they were not relatives, I thought they were really close to us. So I saw their good work, and it really meant a lot to us. So my sister donated quite a bit of money to rebuild it, but she didn't want any credit, so her name isn't on the program. She did that a lot, she did that for the San Fernando Valley Japanese Community Center bought their refrigeration for the kitchen, those are pretty expensive, and very generous. But just like I described, I'm not really good at protesting real loud. My middle sister didn't want to ride a float, to be that outspoken. So it's time for us to break our silence, we have something to say now.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.