<Begin Segment 19>
KL: Was there anything else that defined your block? You know, a lot of blocks, like in Manzanar it'll be, this is the Venice block or this is the bachelors' block or --
IT: No.
KL: Or this is the, this block is loud, this block is quiet.
IT: Yeah, it was the most kids, and I remembered this guy, one of the fathers, built a big, big swing, and it's like, I don't know if it was a log or what, but it was one swing and everybody got on. I'm not sure how it worked, but I just felt like we're so lucky because we have the most kids. And I used to gather the kids and we would do exhibits and, for our parents, and we would do programs. Of course, we didn't know how to do anything, but we just, like we thought we were tapping, we were just shuffling our feet. [Laughs]
KL: And you were the organizer?
IT: Yeah.
KL: That's awesome. I like that.
IT: And then for crafts, we'd get toilet paper squares and trace something and show that. I mean, it was stupid, but our parents came. And then we bought little candy bars, cut them up, wrapped them up, and we gave that for refreshments or something. And I still remember getting, I don't know what you call those fish, minnow or something, from the... what do you call those, where the water is, but it's...
KL: A drainage ditch?
IT: No, it's something, canal or, well, I don't know what you call it. Anyway, water's dangerous there, it rushes, but we caught this little fish and that was my fish, and I remember it died, so I buried it and made a cross because that's what I see in all the movies. And then I acted like the priest and [holds hands up as if praying], and so here's a Buddhist and the cross, Christian. [Laughs] But I remember doing that, and then I remember, too, going to the canal or whatever you call it, my brother was going to teach me how to swim or something. So he told me to lay out like that with my face in the water and he'd hang onto me. I started sinking, and I thought I was drowning. I couldn't believe it, but I remember thinking, opening my eyes, seeing the blue water and the bubbles, and I said to myself, "Goodbye, sweet world." So dramatic. [Laughs]
KL: Did you read Shakespeare in the library?
IT: Not really, but it's just funny some of the things you do, you know? [Laughs]
KL: Well, I think there were a couple drownings at Minidoka.
IT: Yeah.
KL: Do you remember, I mean, you said the water was dangerous, did you get cautioned about that? Or was it --
IT: No, and they had rattlesnakes too, I remember. I think my brother saw one. But I had a friend that, the mother committed suicide, and I remembered as a child I didn't understand that and I asked my mother. Anyway, I guess she was quite sickly, but my mother said, "That's no excuse." You learn a lot.
KL: What happened to your friend whose mother it was? Did she just stay with her father?
IT: Yeah, she, and I think she had older sisters or something. Yeah, she's still living.
KL: Did your mother give you anymore kind of explanation of that situation?
IT: No. It, it's, well, I was, my grandson is very intellectual, smart, he's eight now, and I've been trying to teach him how to play with a string. I can't recall all those years, but I said, "We used to make up games." And I thought that was created in Japan, so they had an au pair that was from Japan, and she didn't know anything about it. In fact, she didn't anything about us being taken into the camps, so she asked to read the books I had, 'cause she thought it was so interesting. Anyway, my grandson just loves to do, make things with string, and we used to just entertain ourselves like that. Then when I, my first year teaching they asked me to do a workshop on rainy day activities. And I couldn't, I could remember doing those kind of things. It didn't cost anything, you just get string, tie a knot. So now I think they were very creative in camp, and it's amazing how, what they did. They built that farm there and grew --
KL: Did you go out on farmland at all while you were there?
IT: No, but I saw, I think I saw it. But we didn't have any transportation either, so it was, I don't know, I can't remember how I got to see it. But we also had, which was kind of funny -- well, I shouldn't say funny -- we had heroes coming in from the war to our schools and everything, and somebody who shot down so many planes and all this. But then they're not supposed to have, what do you call that, radio, shortwave radio, and I think some people did. But they just wanted to know what was happening, but I guess they were afraid we were gonna do, connect with Japan or something, I don't know.
KL: Yeah, I didn't understand when I started working at Manzanar that radio used to be two-way a lot.
IT: Yeah, well, they --
KL: I mean, it's different than...
IT: Well, they just didn't trust us. And I couldn't believe it because, well, they didn't find any case of it either, but...
<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.