Our Communities, Our Neighbors Series
Merilee Tanbara
Funded in part by grants from Tacoma Creates, CRPF launched its new video series “Our Communities, Our Neighbors.” The first video follows Merilee Tanbara, a third generation Japanese-American, as she writes a historical fiction novel that begins in the 1910s with the first Japanese immigrants and their American-born children. The novel takes readers on an odyssey from life in Tacoma’s bustling and culturally rich Japan Town, to WWII concentration camps, and finally back to Tacoma and the struggle to rebuild life against racial prejudice and suspicion. The research Ms. Tanbara has discovered is both inspiring and heart-wrenching. After writing each chapter, she gathers feedback from her teenage children and this becomes a vehicle to help them gain a deeper understanding about their great grandparents, grandparents, and the Japanese American experience. Media instructors Brian Parker, Kevin Gibson and their students and colleagues at Bates Technical College are the production team for this video.
The Resting Place
The 23 minute film was produced by Tina A. Huynh, an assistant professor of music education at the University of Puget Sound. Tina’s research interests involve community diversity and music making, particularly among Vietnamese communities across the United States. Her first documentary, Songs of Little Saigon, has won 14 awards and recognitions nationally and internationally.
The Resting Place is the second film in the series Our Communities, Our Neighbors, produced by the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation. CRPF is working with cultural communities in Tacoma to create short films that tell stories about these communities, shaped through active participation by community members.
The film was funded by CRPF and Tacoma Creates.
“Tacoma Method” opera featured in Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma:
See the conversation between artistic collaborators Greg Youtz and Zhang Er on their new opera “The Tacoma Method”, based on the Chinese American expulsion of 1885. Greg chats with librettist Zhang Er about her research and writing process, then introduces his own process and presents three arias. Two of them have been done before – Mayor Weisbach’s aria and the first aria by Mrs. Lum May. The third aria is hot off the press and doesn’t yet have a recording with a singer. But it is fun to watch the scrolling score and get a good idea of how the opera ends
Fuzhou Ting Dedication, September 22, 2011
Statement by CRPF President Theresa Pan Hosley:
When I get the chance to see everyone come together, it reaffirms the faith that I have in this project. So, thank you to all of you, our honorary guests from Fuzhou, Mayor Strickland, and our city council members for being here.
I hope this opening brings as much joy to you as it does to me. We have come a long way from the first drawings of the park and meetings around my dining room table. It has taken a few years, but step by step the drawings are coming to life. Of course, none of that would be possible without the dedication of the board of Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation, the staff of Department of Economic Development, Department of Public Works, Mayors, City Councils and the support of our community. This park has always been intended to tell a story and to bring the community together. When I look out here today, I can’t help but think we are getting closer to fulfilling these goals.
We have completed 3 major phases of the park. And with your help I look forward to bringing the final phases off the page as well. With your support, over there we will have an international pavilion, a reflecting pond, and an educational center. Our hope is to use the tools we have to learn from our history and embrace reconciliation and unity. But like I said, we need your help in keeping the conversation going. Your contributions, whether it be spreading the word of our project or financial, are vital to the progress of our park.
I can’t thank you enough for coming to be a part of such a monumental day for us. This is your park, so please come enjoy the view, the Ting, and the NEW Tacoma method of INCLUSION as often as you can.
Vice-Mayor of Fuzhou, Chen Qi, shook hands with Mayor of Tacoma, Marilyn Strickland
Lion Dance at the Ceremony (Mak Fai Washington Kung Fu Club of Seattle)
CRPF President Theresa Pan Hosley and 12 other Board Members (from left: George Lim, Bill Baarsama, Bill Evans, Theresa Pan Hosley, Frances Lorenz, Jim LeGro, Greg Youtz, Carrie Washburn, Lotus Perry, Myrna Loy-Zolyomi, Jill Thorsen, Larry Hosley, and Linda Lee)
Blessing by Buddhist Master Xintian