<Begin Segment 16>
KL: That reminded me, this is circling back to Poston some, but your neighbor that you were afraid of, your friend's brother, did they go to Poston?
MM: I don't know what camp they went to, but they must've gone to Poston. Maybe they went to Camp 1 or something.
KL: Do you remember people who had special needs in Poston and what it was like for them?
MM: No, no, didn't have anything, that I knew of. No.
KL: So there were two things, both sort of girl in different ways, that I wanted to ask you about. One is we were looking at pictures, and you have sort of amazing hair in Poston, and so did a lot of people in Manzanar, and I wonder how you created that hairstyle and how you kept it [inaudible] like that.
MM: I had straight hair. I had tough, horse hair like, but I went to get a permanent. And they had those old-fashioned permanent machines, it's on a stand with lots of electric curlers, and they put those electric curlers on my head and burned my scalp and all that. I didn't like that. I didn't know what it was going to be like. But I got my first permanent in camp. Oh boy.
KL: Were there others?
MM: What do you mean others?
KL: Other permanents. Or that was it, just the one time?
MM: I'm sure, and that graduated to those home permanents where you buy the kit. Yeah, I graduated --
KL: In Poston?
MM: Yeah.
KL: Where did you get them?
MM: You buy it at the canteen, and then my aunt gave it to me, and that was much better. You didn't get burned.
KL: Did you use hairspray?
MM: No, we didn't have hairspray.
KL: Any pomade or anything?
MM: No.
KL: Lots of clips?
MM: No, no. Gee, I'm surprised my hair is curly.
KL: No, it just is amazing 'cause there's all those elaborate bangs and stuff.
MM: [Laughs] That was the style.
KL: I mean, Manzanar was really windy and Poston was really hot. Did you have any contact with Native American people in Poston? Or did they --
MM: Only as, when we were leaving my, one of the members of my family got mumps or measles or something, so we were the last ones to leave because we were quarantined, and while were being quarantined the Navajo started moving in to live in the barracks. And I understand, I found out later, from one of the Navajos, that they liked being in the barracks and in the kitchen everything was left behind, all the pots and pans and dishes. They liked that. And then the Japanese families, if they didn't want to take back with them whatever they had, so they left it there, and they liked it. So they, they said they were happy about that.
KL: And then I also wondered about your first menstrual cycle.
MM: I started when I was eleven, in camp. Remember I was nine, nine when I went in, so eleven, when I was eleven I started. And it was hard, because I would flow like a river for a young kid.
KL: How was, how did you, do you remember the first time you had bleeding and how you dealt with it, and where you went for learning how to take care of yourself?
MM: I do remember one time, I started when I was in school, and I had to get home right away because my skirt was all bloody. So I moved my skirt around to the side, to the side and with a book I covered it, and I told my girlfriend, "I got to go home," so she walked me home.
KL: Was there some privacy in the latrines by that point?
MM: There was never any privacy.
KL: That never changed?
MM: No, that never changed.
KL: Would you describe them?
MM: Well, they were ten potties, or ten toilet bowls, side by side. I think there was a water at the end that would, when you flushed it would flush all ten at one time and all the thing would... but it would splash, so they would stand up when it started coming because they knew they're going to get splattered otherwise. But I never experienced that because, I don't know why, I just, I took care of it at home.
KL: Did your mom teach you, tell you what to do?
MM: I don't remember. I don't remember that.
MH: I have a question.
KL: Sure.
MH: You indicated when you first came that you brought a supply, your family brought a supply with you. Did that become available in camp with time?
MM: You know --
MH: When you finally ran out, you used other materials, but was something that was supplied in camp?
MM: Oh no, it wasn't supplied. You had to buy it, at the canteen.
MH: No, but you could buy it canteen, though.
MM: Later, later. The canteen was not set up right away. It was set up later, and the goods were ordered much later, like materials, they ordered materials and toothbrush, toothpaste, tablets, pencils, some treats, candy bars, things like that. Just a little bit of everything, for the canteen, that you could buy.
KL: Was the canteen popular? What role did it have with people?
MM: Yeah. People bought yard goods so they could make a dress or a shirt or a, I mean, a blouse or a skirt. Because clothes wear out and kids grow, grow up and they, the clothes don't fit 'em anymore.
KL: Was there any controversy associated with it, that you knew about?
MM: No, that I know of. And sometimes I guess clothes were sent in, too.
KL: To the canteen, or to individual people?
MM: No, well, I guess my mother could get it free someplace. Where else could you get a dress like that that I had on, except for somebody sending it in? I mean, no reasonable ten year old kid would wear what I was wearing. [Looks at photo]
KL: I was looking at your hair. I'll have to look at the dress later.
MM: [Laughs] I said, "Ma, that's an old lady's dress." Yeah.
<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.