Thanks to the more than 75 who came out today for the Seattle DVD release at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Some were waiting in line for the museum to open at 10am to get a ticket for the 1pm screening, then quickly filled the Tateuchi Story Theater. This was one of our most rapt audiences, who laughed in all the right places; even the babe in arms enjoyed the film quietly.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and questions and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you afterwards, including Miyoko who told me the story of why Jim Akutsu switched churches after the death of his mother. For Mike Tagawa, who told me of his days as an original Black Panther, here’s the ITVS documentary with lost footage of the Panthers that just aired last week on PBS. I’m sorry I lost track of the woman who wanted the Japanese lyrics to the Song of Cheyenne, I wanted to direct her to this image of the actual scrap of paper that we found in James Kado’s wallet. It is this song to which Mako fit the melody of the Japanese Hawaiian work song, “Hore Hore Bushi,” and which we were delighted to be able to include on our new Two-Disc DVD.
I also want to thank the staff for their terrific arrangements for todays’s DVD release: community programs manager Vivian Chan, education director Charlene Mano-Shen (who said the audience was “blown away” by the experience, and who is pictured above welcoming them) and Hanh Pham and Trayvian in The Marketplace. Speaking of which, only at The Marketplace can you now obtain the hard-to-find 18×24 inch film festival poster for CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION, for the nominal price of $5, half of which goes to support the museum.
If you saw the screening today, or any past screening, please leave your feedback here.
The casewdrap design for the DVD is shown here. Click on the image to examine the text and design in closeup. Also to the right is the design for the Outtakes menu on Disc One, which you can click on and enlarge to preview the titles of the 11 new outtakes.
I’m very saddened to learn of the passing last week of Noboru “Elmer” Taguma of the Sacramento area. Noboru was one of the early resisters from the American concentration camp at Amache, Colorado, aka the Grenada Relocation Center. He’s also the father of Nichi Bei Weekly editor Kenji Taguma, to whom we send our deepest condolences.
Martha Nakagawa has published a thorough