An ambitious nine-week online event kicks off today,  a virtual camp pilgrimage designed to make up for all the summer site visits cancelled by the pandemic. Among the plethora of programs are three that we’ve agreed to host.

In Week 3, on Saturday, July 4 at 2:00 pm PDT, join me and moderator Erin Aoyama for a live group viewing of Conscience and the Constitution with a twist: while the film is streaming, I will offer the kind of director’s commentary on the making of the film that we were never able to include on the DVD. Tune in for behind-the-scenes stories about the Heart Mountain draft resisters, and leave questions in the chatroom for discussion afterwards. Erin brings her own experience of working on building a forthcoming database with the biographies and archival files of all 63 defendants in the largest mass trial in Wyoming history. RSVP via the Facebook Event.

In Week 4, on Friday, July 10 at 5:00 pm PDT, we will have a live book club presentation and discussion of the novel No-No Boy and the story of the author behind it.  If you missed our book release events last year for our biography of John Okada, we’ll reprise that presentation while mixing in a fuller discussion of the themes of the novel. Vince Schleitwiler will moderate. RSVP via the Facebook Event.

Here’s a partial selection of the other offerings from some distinguished writers. David Neiwert’s story in Strawberry Days of the land grab of Japanese American-owned farms around Bellevue in WW2 has taken on new significance following the clumsy censorship of a mural by Bellevue College officials later forced to step down in disgrace earlier this year.

A third program is being developed for the ninth and final week in August, a look at the origins of camp pilgrimages, and of the first Days of Remembrance in Seattle and Portland in 1978-89. Continue reading Okada book club & “Conscience” director’s commentary set for virtual camp pilgrimage →