Ellen’s Work Blog
October 2025
October is here and I still think we are in early September. I am always trying to slow things down at this time of year. It is so gorgeous outside but the mornings have that chill that hint at another season to follow. I refuse to abandon shorts and a t-shirt.
But, as always on AMP, there is so much ahead that is thrilling on the calendar. Just look down our events page and get excited about a visit to AMP this month!
This coming weekend I will be seeing a friend, Victoria Taketa, from San Jose Japantown. Vickie is visiting AMP for the first time. We met 20 years ago in California when she and her mother, Akiyo, came to contribute to a giant AMP project in tribute to those who survived life in the internment camps during WWII. After a year of planning this collaborative project, our AMP crew traveled first to Japantown, then headed to a site in the desert for a pilgrimage at Manzanar, California, a former internment site. We met over 1000 people who were relatives or had, themselves, been interned in the camps.
Vickie’s mom arrived using a walker to get around, breathing with the aid of an oxygen tank and speaking little English. Akiyo unwrapped her Yasutomo Calligraphy brush and set out her inks. For several hours, this woman stood braced by her walker, practicing on newsprint. Finally, late in the afternoon, she unwrapped her rice paper scroll and began to write, describing her coming to America as a 19 year old girl right through life in the internment camps and after.
Her last line: “Yet, as I look back today, the happy moments are what I am thankful for, as I await my place in heaven.” Akiyo Inouye Taketa died months after our project leaving a message as vital today as it was then.
And get excited…this is another giant collaborative project to be installed at AMP coming up! So many surprises ahead.
