Gila River is FINISHED, Manzanar is next

We are taking down Gila River when I get back from Tennessee October 6th. If anyone has any GILA RIVER TAGS, please return them ASAP, even if they are unfinished. It's ok if they are not finished, I have plenty of volunteers and assistants here in San Diego to help.

If anyone has tags from Manzanar, please return those asap, we are starting that camp on October 8th.

Wendy

SDSU Furniture Students and Ron Chun's incentive

This Sunday I will be cracking the whip at the woodshop at SDSU - thanks to incentive provided by Ron Chun, from the Bay Area, who donated money for PIZZA!!

We plan to be sloshing the tags in coffee en masse!!

Thanks, Ron!!! Ron and his family (Cindy, Zachary and Catie) worked on tags earlier in the game - Cindy Tomooka's family was interned at Poston.

Many thanks to Ron and his family for their endless support and enthusiasm!!

Yeeee HAWWW, the Tag Project is going to TENNESSEE!!

Yessirreee! I used to teach at Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee from 1980-1985, it was my first job out of grad school, and it was also my first time living in the South. It was very interesting, you might say. I met lots of amazing folks though, and despite some strange unpleasantries (a guy called me a "gook" in front of Tootsie's Lounge in Nashville, and one lady in a grocery store asked if "...I had married one of their boys while they were overseas in 'nam".) I still have connections and fond memories of Tennessee.

One of my former students from San Diego State University, Kimberly Winkle, now teaches at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville and invited me out to speak to her Art Appreciation class specifically about The Tag Project, and how art can speak of personal history and/or address inequities of any kind, whether it be based on race, politics, gender, sexual preferences, etc. It will be interesting to see how and whether information on the Japanese American Internment was taught in Tennessee. Most of the students from Tennessee Tech are local.

I look forward to seeing many of the volunteers from Tennessee who have helped me so much: DiAnne Patrick, Michael J. Floyd, Mary Sue Kern, Kim Winkle, to name a few!!!

For more information about this event, contact me at thetagproject@gmail.com. The actual Tag Project event will take place in Cookeville, TN on October 5th, 2010.

******

Update: We finished ALL of Rohwer and Topaz in Tennessee!!! here are some pics taken at the event!

Tule Lake is done

Does anyone have any Tule Lake tags out? If so please return them ASAP - I am taking it down Thursday and putting up Gila River.

Thanks!!!

It's nice and HOT in San Diego!

This is IDEAL weather for aging and drying tags!! If anyone wants to help, please email me and arrange for me to create a box of tags to be aged for pickup at the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. Pickups and drop offs can take place on Mondays between 9-3 or Thursdays between 9-noon. Email me first at thetagproject@gmail first before you come in to make sure we have something ready for you, and to make sure we will be there.

Thanks!!!