I was ten years old when I saw “Dateline: Korea” on The Loretta Young TV show. It’s the only episode I recall from the series. In the story, the plight of poverty-stricken war orphans forces a hard-nosed war correspondent to face the flesh-and-blood effects of her cynical editorials. Loretta meets a young Korean orphan on […]
My Tattoo of "Ponders Corner Forever!"
Okay, I don’t really have a tattoo showing off Ponders Corner, where I grew up, but the idea isn’t that far-fetched. LeBron James, the basketball superstar bears a tattoo of “330,” the area code of his hometown of Akron, Ohio. People have their own reasons for getting tattoos. “Unlike scarification and branding, the art of […]
John Munn of Lakewood Playhouse to EMCEE Chinese Reconciliation Dinner
Last year I was supposed to emcee the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation annual dinner with friend Denny Flannigan. I had to bow out at the last minute. This year Denny has to bow out for a family gathering. Stepping in for Denny this year is John Munn, the Managing Artistic Director of the Lakewood Playhouse. […]
Chop Suey Memories
My dad was a Merchant Marine officer during World War II. He sailed on an oil tanker in the South Pacific. But his home port was in San Pedro, California. I was born immediately after the war and we moved from Nevada, Missouri to Tacoma, Washington. For some time he kept in ouch with his […]
Chris Serface – Just Acting Happy
One of the nicest and friendliest people you will ever meet is Chris Serface, the Managing Artistic Director of Tacoma Little Theatre. Chris grew up in Olympia, where he discovered the theatre early on. He quickly became active in Thurston County theatre. He was the youngest board member for Capital Playhouse in Olympia. At seventeen […]
Our Town . . . Changes & Challenges
Okay, I’m a sap for happy endings. I’m a incurable romantic . . . please, don’t bring it up. I like the stories on the Hallmark cable channel. What I don’t like are all the commercials and the denouement with the loose strands of the plot being tidied up in seconds for a story that […]
Old Buildings, Old Bones, and Old Memories
Buildings are like people. We’re conceived; we’re delivered; we age; we die; and we sometimes leave nothing but our bones. For years we had our video production studio at 13th and Fawcett; we produced television shows and industrial videos, and now the building is just bones. At one time this was an Eagles aerie and […]
Rotary District 5020 Conference – All Winners
The first weekend in May, Rotary District 5020 held their annual conference in Tacoma (Hotel Murano). District 5020 is one of the few international Rotary districts in the world and contains Rotarians on Vancouver Island, B.C. and Western Washington from Pierce County south to Woodland including the Olympic Peninsula. Worldwide Rotary unites over a million […]
Chinese and the Mississippi Delta – Not that Far Away
I don’t know how I stumbled onto Untold America on Facebook, but the programs are riveting and unusual. The first one I found was “Chinese and the Mississippi Delta,” which told the story of the Chinese in Mississippi. Since over the last year I’ve been involved in the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation, I was drawn […]