I was fortunate to attend my Japanese American friend and author, Mitzi Asai Loftus’s lecture about her experiences at an Internment Camp that she was put in during World War II. She talked at the Humanist Event in Portland, Oregon, this Sunday. Mitzi told a story of the tragedy of her family being discriminated against during those dark and difficult years in the camp, and her triumph of overcoming the mental anguish by using tools handed down by her mother’s gentle ways and her father’s sense of humor. Mitzi received her BA degree from the University of Oregon in 1954, and taught at Creswell high School until 1957, at which time she went to Japan on a Fullbright teacher’s grant teaching English as a Foreign Language in Shizouka. She did substitute teaching while giving birth to three sons, and completing her MA from the University of Oregon. Her autobiography, shown here, is Made in Japan And Settled in Oregon. A must read.
Author Mitzi Loftus and Me
Arts and Writing by Sherry 