<Begin Segment 9>

RP: I wanted to bring in the rest of the family, your brothers and sister and your mom and your dad. First of all, maybe you can kind of summarize, you know, what they did in camp. What occupied their time and what was their, how did they respond to the life of camp?

MI: I'm not really sure what my dad did. I think he did work in camp but I can't remember what kind of a job he took. Hmm, that's interesting. You know what, I really don't know what my dad did. I know that he had a job but I don't know what he did. I could probably ask my brother and see if he remembers. My mother, having had her background in costume design, decided to open up a class for young ladies to teach them sewing, drafting of clothing without having to buy a pattern. In those days, dress patterns you had to buy separately. It's not like today. And so that was her contribution. So I used to see all these girls in my house and my mother used to want to teach me to sew. I said, "Uh-uh." Too much of a tomboy.

RP: Where did she hold these... did she hold these classes in a recreation room or in her own...

MI: No, she... my dad made a table long enough where the girls could sit around the table. I was out of there while they all came. [Laughs]

RP: The same table that you would eat at?

MI: Yeah. And they would come and yeah, I was really proud. That was my mother's contribution. And then of course she was very interested in tea ceremony. And then she was interested in flower arrangement.

RP: So she took classes in those at...

MI: My mother had... I think she did take a class in -- no, this was not in camp. This was, as far as the flower arranging, I think she learned that outside. But she wanted to get me influenced, but like I told you, I was too much of a tomboy. I didn't know the front and back of a flower. Gosh, I used to get so, you know... I said, gee... even the tea ceremony, it's this ritual of doing everything. It has to be this, you gotta put this... so you know, in the meantime your leg is going to sleep. My god, this is ridiculous. But you know what that is supposed to do is to develop poise, I guess. Didn't work on me somehow.

RP: Still have some doubts about that?

MI: I don't know.

RP: How about Mike? What was Mike's focus in camp?

MI: Well, he was still going to school. Yeah, and then sports. And my brother Joe, too. Most of the, the young fellows that were in those pictures are around the same age. So they were basically interested in the schools.

RP: And sports.

MI: Yeah. And then, you know, every camp, every block had a basketball or they set up one. They, yeah, they set up one. They did something, anyway. So then they would play basketball and things like that.

RP: Girls had opportunities for athletics in the camp, too.

MI: Baseball.

RP: Softball.

MI: Softball, yeah.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.