Resurrected: Eureka-Kamisu Sister City Committee

The Eureka-Kamisu Sister City relationship will soon be reestablished. A new committee was formed on Jan. 23, 2013 at a meeting at Eureka City Hall. Official communication is pending.

L to R: Fred Nelson, County Supervisor Virginia Bass, Eureka Mayor Frank Jager,
Johnson Tilghman, Harvey II, Holly Harvey, Fred Moore. Not pictured are Tony Smithers,
Gregg and Ann Gardiner and Jay Warren Hockaday.

Thanks to everyone who worked to make this possible again!

New Year Wagashi

New year, a time to do new things. Like practice making wagashi! To celebrate Oshogatsu, I made chestnut wagashi.

They were rather tasty! More photos are here.

Horai Center Offers Tea Ceremony Course

The Horai Center will be offering a course, “Chado: Japanese Tea Ceremony,” through HSU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in February!

Chado, a Japanese cultural practice with roots in Zen Buddhism, involves the ceremonial  preparation and consumption of  powdered green tea, or matcha. Underlying this ritual is a philosophy and practice that can inform and transform daily life. This three-session course will present the instruction necessary for you to enjoy being a guest in a tea gathering.

Instructors: Harvey II and Holly Harvey
Dates: Mondays, Feb. 4, 11 and 18
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Fees: $45/members, $70/non-members
Place: Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center, 921 Waterfront Drive, Eureka

To register, call OLLI at HSU at (707) 826-5880 (VISA, MC, Discover), Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Register online at www.humboldt.edu/olli. For more information call (707) 826-5880, visit humboldt.edu/olli, or contact us at horai.center@gmail.com.

Cha-no-yu Demonstration, Nov. 2012

Full of inspiration from attending Hakone Daichakai, we offered a demonstration of Cha-no-yu at the Ink People Center for the Arts on Nov. 4. We were quite pleased to recognize some familiar faces. One new attendee was a student of Eureka High School who is working diligently to reestablish Sister Cities relations between Eureka, Calif., and Kamisu, Japan. 

One Moon in a Thousand Waters: Hakone Daichakai 2012

In late October we attended the annual Daichakai at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, Calif. — a large, multi-school tea gathering. We attended presentations by Omotesenke, Urasenke and Mushakojisenke schools, plus one from a small, relatively new school, Dainippon Chadogakkai which, as they put it, takes the best from the larger schools. We were able to attend a seki (seating) in the three-mat tea house, Shougetsu-an, in which the Dainippon Chadogakkai presentations were given. The tiny tea house was much too intimate to accommodate photography, but our other seki are represented below and in this album.

Lovely kimono in the garden

Mushakojisenke presentation, Lower House
Kakemono "Koro Koro"

Aka Fuji natsume, lacquered by Nakamura Sotetsu
Mushakojisenke presentation, Lower House

Wagashi in the shape of a chrysanthemum
Urasenke presentation, Wisteria Pavilion

New tech meets tradition
Urasenke presentation, Wisteria Pavilion

Kakemono "One moon reflected in a thousand waters."
Urasenke presentation in the Wisteria Pavilion
overlooking the koi pond and Moon Bridge.

Arrangement in the waiting room
Omotesenke presentation, Lower House Roji

Omotesenke presentation, Lower House Roji

Kakemono "One moon reflected in a thousand waters."
Omotesenke presentation, Lower House Roji

Green Haiku

The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture is seeking up to four (4) poets to create Haikus or short poetry to broaden public thinking about reuse, recycling and a greener environment. The poems will be featured as part of the annually-changing art panels at Seventh Avenue and West Glenrosa Street and on an art billboard devoted to images about recycling along Grand Avenue. The “Green” Haiku will be displayed at these and possibly other sites for at least one year.

Deadline:  Friday, December 7, 2012, 4:00 PM Arizona time

To download the full call go to http://www.phoenix.gov/arts/businessoac/index.html. (You will be asked to fill out a short Web form.  This is so we can contact you should any changes be made to the RFQ. Once completed, a PDF document will open).

For questions please contact Jeanine Garcia, Public Art Project Assistant at 602-534-5084, email jeanine.garcia@phoenix.gov.
 
For questions concerning the procurement process please contact Scott Steventon at 602-534-8334, email scott.steventon@phoenix.gov.

"Searchlight Serenade: Big Bands in the Japanese American Incarceration"

This week, instead of regular okeiko, or practice, we went to see the premiere of "Searchlight Serenade: Big Bands in the Japanese American Incarceration." Producers Claire Reynolds and Sam Greene of our local PBS affiliate, KEET-TV, collaborated with local artist Amy Uyeki. Together they created a touching documentary which tells the stories of former internees who played music in the camps through interviews along with historical footage of the camps. 

Click here for more information about the documentary.

An animated segment based on actual events involving jazz bands in the camps was created by artist Amy Uyeki whose parents were both interned with their families at Gila River and Minidoka Internment Camps. The animation was created from woodblocks done in a traditional Japanese style, bringing to life some of the occurrences that happened with the bands in the camps.

"Searchlight Serenade" premiered Oct. 30 on KEET-TV and at Humboldt State University as part of the 15th Annual Campus Dialogue on Race.

Your local PBS affiliate can broadcast this film!

Contact your PBS station and let them know that KEET-TV is making this film available to them. They can download the documentary on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET, HD04. For more information, contact Claire Reynolds by email or at (707) 445-0813.

You can also purchase DVDs for yourself, schools or library for $25 from KEET-TV.

The four of us gave it two eight thumbs up!