When she was interned during world war ii. She says he told her, you must share your experiences so it doesnt happen again. And ultimately, she did. Joining me now is Jeanette Arakawa, the author of the little exile, the story of a young girl, marie mitsui, uprooted from her life in San Francisco. And through a childs eyes, maries and jeanettes, we go through the experience and revelations from that journey. Welcome to the show. Jeanette arakawa thank you very much. Its such an honor to be here. I cant believe that im sitting here on robert handas show. Robert well, youll get over that pretty quick, so. Let me ask you something here. You chose to do what is called autobiographical fiction. Tell me why you chose that approach, talking through a character . Jeanette well, in the old days, whenever there was a tv show on, they should Say Something like, the names have been changed to protect the innocent. The other part of it was, its entirely fictional, but i would not include that phrase because its not entirely fictional. There wereall the instances in the book were real, and the only things that have been changed are the names and some of the details where i couldnt really remember have been filled in with my imagination. That part would be fictional. Robert so, youre protecting the innocent, but still telling the true story. Jeanette yes, exactly. Robert and it was interesting to me reading the book. I mean, first and foremost, im used to a lot of firsthand accounts of internment. And it really focuses a lot on internment. What was really interesting about the little exile to me was the impact on a child, and the experiences and things that are happening were being relayed through a persons reactions and things like that. It was very interesting. Did beingwriting through a character help open you up to be able to talk about those kind of things . cause some were very personal. Jeanette yes, on some of the situations that i describe were things that ive never shared with anybody before, yeah. So, my parentsnot even my parents knew. Robert and by doing that, what do you hope the reader, the people who are reading about this, get out of it . Jeanette what i wanted to do was to put a face on internees that robert and a young girls perspective, which was very unique for me in reading it. For you, how much of that character is you . And how much of a relief or how much of an unburdening was it for you to tell this story . Jeanette it was a relief, but at the same time, i hadit was sort of a dilemma for me to be revealing things that are not generally revealed. Robert and why did you want to do that . Why was it important to do that then . Jeanette i felt that there would bethere are people in thethere were readers who could relate. What i wanted was people to walk in mywalk in my shoes. Robert because its important to you, i think, probably because i understand that youre going to be taking part in a Civil Rights Forum coming up pretty soon. It probably concerns you a lot, as your professor said, to talk about this because you probably do see the possibility of Something Like this happening again, right . Jeanette yes, exactly. And my professor, who encouraged me to share my experience, had at that time actually beenhe was in the process of writing a book himself, something he didnt share with me. Butand it was called prejudice, war, and the constitution and what robert and he wanted you to be able to do the same thing he was doing, which was tell the story and make sure people understand it so it doesnt happen again . Jeanette exactly. Robert all right. Well, you did a great job in the little exile. Jeanette oh, thank you. Robert all right, i really recommend it. Thank you for being here. Jeanette oh, my pleasure. Robert all right. Well, Jeanette Arakawa will be a panelist along with other prominent speakers at the forum immigration and civil rights what can be done to achieve positive change . The Panel Discussion will take place tuesday, december 5 from 7 to 8 30 p. M. At the bus barn theater at 97 Hillview Avenue in los altos. Our friend, historian connie young yu, will be the moderator. For more details, you can go to nbcbayarea. Com. And when we come back, telling our stories through home movies and making it art, memories to light is up next. Robert memories to light was a project we featured on a show partially preempted by nbc hurricane coverage. Fortunately, its still timely, so here it is. Robert well, memories to light is a project that always makes me marvel, what took so long to come up with this idea . As i mentioned, its a project by caam, center for Asian American media, collecting and digitizing home movies and then sharing them with the general public. Ive always said everyone has a story, and this project proves it. Joining us as a guide is the executive director of caam. We welcome back stephen gong. And also with us again is the legendary composer, producer, and band leader, mark izu, the artistic director of the Asian American jazz festival. Weve enjoyed his performances on our show before, but hes here today because he contributed a home video to the memories to light project. So, welcome both of you back to the show. Mark izu its great to be here. Robert you know, steven, its kind of a simple concept in a way, but maybe a little more complex than people think. Give us a quick overview of the project. Stephen well, so about 5 years weve been doing this. And in one way, the Technology Finally caught up with us so that now we can digitize super 8, 8 millimeter, and 16 millimeter film, which are very small gauge film, hard to deal with in a film transfer way. But digitally, we can preserve them in high quality. And as the years pass, part of the thing we absolutely realize is how important a record they are for the way we as asianamericans have lived our lives. Robert yes, i was talking to you before about preserving my own home movies, and you see things in there you dont even think maybe are that important or significant. And then you realize when you look at them, its very historical in terms of what youre preserving. Mark, give us an idea here. Were going to take a quick look at the clip, part of what you provided, and then well talk about it, okay . Mark sure, yeah. Robert mark, what are some of the thoughts that you think about when you see these scenes . Mark oh, what is great, i mean, stephen is really amazing because he asked me about this. And these are my cousins family, actually. So, when we were in la, i asked my cousin helen, you know, do you have any home movies . My aunt and uncle had just passed away the previous year, and she goes, yes, theyre in my closet. She sent them to stephen. Stephen calls me up, he goes, youve got some treasures in here, mark. Youve got some treasures. And so, we used them, and then my cousin helen says, i found my mothers diary. So, thats whyher name was lily, thats why its called aunt lilys flowerbook, because she had pressed flowers in it. And you know, she tells these very deep stories about the family that are portrayed in these home movies as well. And so, its not just the happiness, but how this came about, what happened to them. I mean, how did they have home movies . Theyre farmers, really central valley, you know . And they answered that question, no, we were very wealthy. But because of the internment, we lost everything. And so, we became farmers. Robert i know, and of course, when youre looking at it, its not just the activity thats going on. The types of houses you live in, the yards, the way everybodys dressed, it all says something about that time. Mark yeah. Robert is ityou know, he was talking about theyre in a closet. You know, a lot of people probably have their home movies just somewhere stashed away. How do you want to make sureyou know, like appeal to people in terms of making sure that they preserve them and maybe get them to you . Stephen absolutely. Thats the other main thing of our project is to try to make sure we preserve this amazing collective history as a community together. You know, we know these are valuable to the family. In many cases, these films are sitting in cardboard boxes in the garage or in the basement. And its really important if families have home movies that theyre willing to share with the public. Please get in touch with us at caammedia. Org memoriestolight. And we try to share them with the public. And i just wanted to add that the reason i reached out to mark was, as a musician, we try toall these home movies are silent. We try to present them to the public with a new score. And so, mark was going to score the films and then said, gee, i think my family has some films, my cousins. Robert makes a Perfect Performance piece, doesnt it, mark . Mark yeah, right, they all showed up, you know . They stood up and they go, well, theyre a lot older now, you know . It was really funny because thats one of the dancers in the hula hoop. You know, that was one of my cousins there, and they were justif you see her now. And it was wonderful because it was like being home. The audience, you know, they start hooting and hollering, and, thats me, you know . So, it was perfect. Thats what we wanted to do, you know. Robert and i know youre going to put together kind of a performance with these home movies later on next year. Well talkwell have you back on the show to talk about that. That seems like an ideal thing for people to see. All right, stephen, you stay with us as we go into our next segment, okay . Stephen very good. Robert mark, thanks a lot for being here. Mark oh, thank you. Robert well, when we come back, part two of our memories to life presentation. And now, part two of memories to light. Caam executive director stephen gong is still with us, and we are now joined by dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, an associate professor of history at San Francisco state university, where she teaches us history, philippine history, race and ethnicity, and food history. Shes also an author and a National Board member of filipinoamerican National Historical society. Welcome to the show. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon thank you. Thank you for having me. Robert dr. Mabalon, give me an idea here in terms of why you decided to be a part of this. Dawn well, iyou know, i was so fortunate to have a grandmother who was completely organized. And when my mom and her siblings cleaned out and sold her house, we found all the old super 8s in a box and organized. And she actually didshe had actually transformed them into vhs tapes in the 80s. And those had deteriorated, so i had seen some of them already. But the original super 8s were all intact and all together, so very blessed. Robert yeah, my father did the same thing. He transferred them to vhs, and then i preserved them on a dvd. Dawn my aunt preserved them onto dvd too, and then now we have them digitized, and so its amazing. Robert they were so smart for people not being familiar with the new technology, huh . Dawn i think my grandparents were on the new technology. I mean, they were using super 8 in the 50s. Robert and they understood the significance of saving them, huh . Dawn my grandmother was a smart woman. Robert ill tell you what, lets take a look at one of the clips here. I know you dont know exactly what youre going to see, so itll be interesting for you here. Dawn stockton was the home to the Largest Community of filipinos outside of the philippines through much of the 20th century. Its one of the reasons why my grandfathers chose to settle in stockton when they came in 1929. And on my mothers side, my grandfather went to the philippines and fought in world war ii in the 1st filipino infantry regiment. Married my grandmother, conception moreno, then brought her over. And it was stockton that they all chose to settle in. It was where their other relatives were. It was where little manila was, which is this big ethnic neighborhood in downtown stockton. You know, so it was this very warm and closeknit community. Robert which is very nice. Actually, this is more of a completed piece than we saw earlier with steve. Stephen, give us an idea here in terms of how people can see some of these. Stephen thats right. Well, what we do when we digitize a familys home movies, in many cases we work with the family to help document and tell the story. And professor mabalon was the perfect subject because shes probably the worlds leading authority on the filipinoamerican history. And her family is dawn maybe not the world. At least about stockton. Stephen about stockton, so tied into this story. So, we make these short films. This film is about 8 or 9 minutes long. And you can find it by going to caammedia. Org memoriestolight. Robert got it. Okay, caammedia. Org is the basic thing to remember. Stephen thats right. Robert all right. What do you think when you see it now, the finished product . And especially looking at some of those images. Dawn oh, im so thankful to my grandparents for sacrificing the time and money to preserve their memories. I mean, these moments, for them they were the happiest times of their lives. I mean, they worked in the fields their whole lives. My grandmother worked in a cannery. She was able to become one of the first filipinoamerican Public School teachers later on in the 60s, but they really sacrificed and worked hard, and it was a brutal life really. I mean, they werent allowed in many places in stockton. They had only justyou know, had only just been able to become citizens in the late 40s. It was a really hard time to be a person of color and filipinoamerican in the central valley. And they recorded the happiest moments, and it was everything to them for family, and food, and fun, and dancing. And i love watching them. Robert i used to be a documentary producer. And i know that a lot of times when youre doing a historical perspective, it can get kind of grim. And to see pictures of joy even for people who went through a lot of, you know, hardship, it actually says a lot about those people. Dawn exactly, and i think thats one of the most powerful things about the whole home movie project is that you see people before and after internment. You see people scratching out a living in the middle of the central valley. You see people who are really trying to eek out as much happiness and joy out of their lives as they can. And the sacrifice of the cost of a super 8 cartridge and a camera and developing was worth it for them to preserve those moments. And were so fortunate that caam was able to then bring these memories to life. Robert well, stephen, sometimes we see maybe some cultural resistance to doing certain things, coming forward, going public, or anything like that. I dont get the sense, though, that you have that kind of problem a lot in the community in this particular way. Stephen yeah, its remarkable. In some ways, we worried about that because you sort of feel like its an intrusion, or we dont want to share our stories. I think when people see a few examples, they kind of get it that its very personal story, but as i mentioned before, its a collective cultural expression and history we shared, and that were increasingly really proud of. And for the generations that came before. And then this sense that moving forward, this is important for our children to know and for our grandchildren to know. Robert quite rewarding experience for you, huh . Dawn exactly, i mean, for my nieces and nephew who are fourth generation filipinoamericans, they can really see the struggle. They can see the farm that my family had. Or it wasnt actually their farm, they were thethey were the workers. And my grandfather was the contractor, you know, that they all grew up in tracy. And they could really see how hard everyone worked so that they could have the life that they have today. Robert well, with your appreciation of history, im sure that you really understand and appreciate this project. Thank you very much for being here. Robert well, im so glad we were able to show our memories to light segment in its entirety. We posted information on how you can be involved with caams project. Visit nbcbayarea. Com for details. Now, stay with us to see a wonderful, inspiring performance by classical guitarist wilson zhang, a freshman at Harker Academy whos already making his mark in the International World of music. He joins us next. If i go through all of wilson zhangs accomplishments, we wont have time for him to perform. But this freshman at Harker Academy has been playing since he was 9 years old, and recently was awarded a gold medal by the royal conservatory of music, and took prizes in several international competitions, and played in the winners recital at Carnegie Hall in new york. Welcome to the show, wilson. Wilson zhang thank you. Robert what are you going to play for us . Wilson i will be playing sweet for solo cello number three by Johann Sebastian bach. Robert and why pick that one . Wilson well, it is one of my favorite pieces to play because of its continuous, fast, and generally joyous attitude. Robert well, all right, looking forward to it. Wilson zhang, enjoy. Robert thank you very much, that was wonderful. All right, well, thank you, wilson. And you can find out more from about wilson zhang, Jeanette Arakawa and her book, and memories to light on our website, nbcbayarea. Com. And were also on social media, facebook, and twitter. Thats it for our show today. Thank you for joining us here on Asian Pacific america. We go out with more from wilson zhang, and thanks for watching. Wilson . Weaving your own shoes. By out of flax. Or simply adjust your thermostat. Do your thing, with Energy Upgrade california. Would someone that age be hanging out at the mall. Ive been wanting to tell this story for ten years. This guy was on a killing rampage. They dont have water . Thats okay. This is sold. Good morning and welcome to sunday today on this november 19th. Im willie geist. Another busy sunday morning that includes a flashback to last years president ial election. President trump and Hillary Clinton renew their public feud. Secretary clinton saying the president is obsessed with her. The president slamming clinton as a, quote, loser after she brought up russias Disinformation Campaign as well