Saturday, January 1, 2005
Jewell LoBianco: Child number thirteen
I was child number thirteen
The home was so full
there was always something going on
My sister was an artist
We went to New York
She was like a second mother
I watched them all perform
I could sit back on their coattails
Another sister had three boys,
two were older than me,
one was 5 months younger
We had a ball going swimming & to dances
& no one believed that I was their aunt
But you can’t get by without anything
We only got so much time in the bathroom
before the knock inevitably came.
My older sisters were all gone & married
I was the last child of a big family
Child number thirteen
—Jewell LoBianco
Helen Hursey: During the Depression
My grandmother, she’d comb my hair, comb out the tangles without hurting us. I had curly hair—they used to tie it up with rags. I remember her sitting up all night making valentines. In those days we made them by hand. She made the best pies too. She was the pie maker: a handful of this, a handful of that from the big flour bin. She and my mother got along beautifully. During the Depression, she made our Christmas presents. She made us doll clothes. She always wore her hair done up on top of her head. I can still see her combing her hair and piling it up on top of her head. She did it so naturally, she never had to look in a mirror. I was so fascinated. She was completely unselfish. She never gave herself another thought or any special consideration
—Helen Hursey
Harriet Emerich: Remembering Ronnie Reagan
Remembering Ronnie Reagan
He worked for the radio
He would walk down the street
and he’d talk to everyone he’d meet
At night he would come & dance with everyone.
He was a disc jockey in our town.
He was so young & full of fun
I don’t think any of us thought
he’d ever be the president.
He wasn’t married to anyone
not to his wife, or in the movies either.
He was just an ordinary person,
We never suspected he’d become President.
—Harriet Emerich
Fran O’Mara: If I were a Buddhist, & My great-aunt Fannie
If I were a Buddhist
& believed in reincarnation
I would hope to have the gift of song
To have a voice,
to sing anything
in the music line
To play an instrument is fine
I played the clarinet
& the piano somewhat
I sang in the choir and choral groups too
I always desired more of that gift of song
—Fran O’Mara
My great-aunt Fannie was deaf & we talked to her through a horn. She loved canaries & I wanted one too. She went on a trip & my mother offered to take the canary. My job was to keep the cage clean. That was the end of my desire for a canary. She was so deaf, she couldn’t hear the birds sing but she loved those small yellow birds. When one died, she’d replace it with another. I don’t recall if she ever named them.
—Fran O’Mara
My great aunt Lucy had never been married. She lived with her brother, my great uncle Henry, who also never married. They ran the farm... She was a typical old maid and she never wanted anyone to know how old she was. My grandmother kept a family page of all our birthdates in the center of the old family bible and my great aunt erased her dates on the page so we never knew how old she was. She erased it so hard, it left a hole in the page. When she died, they managed to even keep the date out of the obituary
—Fran O’Mara
& believed in reincarnation
I would hope to have the gift of song
To have a voice,
to sing anything
in the music line
To play an instrument is fine
I played the clarinet
& the piano somewhat
I sang in the choir and choral groups too
I always desired more of that gift of song
—Fran O’Mara
My great-aunt Fannie was deaf & we talked to her through a horn. She loved canaries & I wanted one too. She went on a trip & my mother offered to take the canary. My job was to keep the cage clean. That was the end of my desire for a canary. She was so deaf, she couldn’t hear the birds sing but she loved those small yellow birds. When one died, she’d replace it with another. I don’t recall if she ever named them.
—Fran O’Mara
My great aunt Lucy had never been married. She lived with her brother, my great uncle Henry, who also never married. They ran the farm... She was a typical old maid and she never wanted anyone to know how old she was. My grandmother kept a family page of all our birthdates in the center of the old family bible and my great aunt erased her dates on the page so we never knew how old she was. She erased it so hard, it left a hole in the page. When she died, they managed to even keep the date out of the obituary
—Fran O’Mara
Lee Kwong:Talking about the New Year and about fish, When I was 24, In China, we don’t have April Fools Day.
aka Li Kwon
Talking about the New Year and about fish,
in China every New Year’s Eve we ate fish
Because of a pun on the pronunciation yu-yue
Meant abundance, wealth and fish
Nien-nien you-yue Every year, a surplus
I remember the big fish & the whole family eating
We’d bow to the ancestors first and then we’d eat
And we’d say yu-yue, a surplus, more than we need.
—Lee Kwong
When I was 24,
it was a very good year
I met my husband in China
He was a heart surgeon,
I was a student of his
We were married that year
when I was 25, the baby came
The whole family was there
it was a very good year
When I was 34, we moved to Taiwan
with our four children
We hat little money
but he was not an ordinary doctor
he was a surgeon
I was a child doctor
when I was 34
When I was 54, I moved to New York
to be a doctor in this country
They say it'd be hard to make a living
but it was a very good year
Now I remember
all the good friends I made there
We still keep in touch
They'd call on me & come to my home
When I lived in New York
New Yorkers were so warm
they made me feel at home
I made a lot of friends
—Lee Kwong
In China, we don’t have April Fools Day. I was working at the hospital, waiting to see my patients. Suddenly somebody came into my waiting room saying, “Hurry, there’s been a bad accident with your son at home.”
I dropped everything & immediately went home. Then I see my son working in the yard. I saw he was fine. I thought , what? And then they all said “April Fool!” I saw that he was all right and I relaxed. But I was so worried, I was almost perspiring—my child! I was so scared April Fool? What’s this, I asked. That’s how I learned about your April Fools Day.
—Lee Kwong
HARBIN
I was born in a cold place. I remember ice skating to music. I remember many years of ice skating in Northern China, a cold place. In medical school I met my husband. He wasn’t my husband yet. He was chasing me. He didn’t like ice skating, but he wanted to be together with me so he learned to skate. He was falling in love and he wanted to be with me. Besides, another boy was skating with me and he wanted to make sure that boy wasn’t skating with me. Later he said, “Lets do something else. I don’t like skating.” We had fallen in love. After I had fallen in love with him I stopped skating though I loved to skate. Now I’m a great grandmother. Can you imagine that? This is my secret story I never told anyone until now.
Talking about the New Year and about fish,
in China every New Year’s Eve we ate fish
Because of a pun on the pronunciation yu-yue
Meant abundance, wealth and fish
Nien-nien you-yue Every year, a surplus
I remember the big fish & the whole family eating
We’d bow to the ancestors first and then we’d eat
And we’d say yu-yue, a surplus, more than we need.
—Lee Kwong
When I was 24,
it was a very good year
I met my husband in China
He was a heart surgeon,
I was a student of his
We were married that year
when I was 25, the baby came
The whole family was there
it was a very good year
When I was 34, we moved to Taiwan
with our four children
We hat little money
but he was not an ordinary doctor
he was a surgeon
I was a child doctor
when I was 34
When I was 54, I moved to New York
to be a doctor in this country
They say it'd be hard to make a living
but it was a very good year
Now I remember
all the good friends I made there
We still keep in touch
They'd call on me & come to my home
When I lived in New York
New Yorkers were so warm
they made me feel at home
I made a lot of friends
—Lee Kwong
In China, we don’t have April Fools Day. I was working at the hospital, waiting to see my patients. Suddenly somebody came into my waiting room saying, “Hurry, there’s been a bad accident with your son at home.”
I dropped everything & immediately went home. Then I see my son working in the yard. I saw he was fine. I thought , what? And then they all said “April Fool!” I saw that he was all right and I relaxed. But I was so worried, I was almost perspiring—my child! I was so scared April Fool? What’s this, I asked. That’s how I learned about your April Fools Day.
—Lee Kwong
HARBIN
I was born in a cold place. I remember ice skating to music. I remember many years of ice skating in Northern China, a cold place. In medical school I met my husband. He wasn’t my husband yet. He was chasing me. He didn’t like ice skating, but he wanted to be together with me so he learned to skate. He was falling in love and he wanted to be with me. Besides, another boy was skating with me and he wanted to make sure that boy wasn’t skating with me. Later he said, “Lets do something else. I don’t like skating.” We had fallen in love. After I had fallen in love with him I stopped skating though I loved to skate. Now I’m a great grandmother. Can you imagine that? This is my secret story I never told anyone until now.
—Li Kwan
When I was a child, I lived with my grandmother. I was born in the year of the dragon in a small village in the northern part of China, near Siberia, close to the border of Russia. My father and my uncle were given to my grandmother to raise. When the brothers married they all lived together in one household. My father had four daughters. I am in between…my elder sister. I only have one sister left. We all lived with my grandmother.
When I was about 10, I was sent away to school. When I was 10, my mother gave birth to my brother. When I was 10, I was very small, my mother died. I came back home from school. I didn’t know my mother was very sick. I was in primary school. I came home and found my mother dying. I was so scared, I was shaking all over. I was shaking. I came home from school and the next day my mother died. I guess that’s why I studied medicine. I guess it was an infection. No antibiotics in those days, Nothing. In those days, childbirth was dangerous. My whole life, I cannot forget it. That’s why I took to doctor training. My mother, she should not have died. When I became a doctor, I always checked the placenta, I made sure it all came out.
My father had a good job. He was a handsome man. A tall man, very European looking for a Chinese man. The people in the north are different looking. Very tall, some with blue eyes. They all wanted to give him beautiful girls to remarry. But he said, “No, I want to remember my wife. I love only my wife, not others. I want to wait a year.”
My father was a graduate of Beijing University. My own mother didn’t go to school, she didn’t know how to write, she only knew one poem by memory. She was taught how to read and write classical poetry by an old woman. She knew how to read and write poetry, but no science, no mathematics. Nothing practical. After a year my father remarried and I had stepbrothers. My father had a good job at the Tzu Jao railway. He took us to another town called Tzu Peng Je. He had a good job and a house with servants, a cook and a telephone. Before that we lived in a small village with no phone, no running water, no automobiles, only a horse and cart. We used steam for heat. The first village was called Qwan Satchue Yuen—a kind of river.
My stepmother was very educated, she graduated from high school. My father went away with his young wife to a place to have a honeymoon vacation, Ya Lu Jiang on the river, a famous hotel there, the river name means love. She got pregnant there and my sister is named after the river. But I was so insecure, I was afraid my stepmother would hit me… maybe I was jealous? I don’t know.
My father didn’t treat her good. It makes me sad to remember. In my whole life I can never forget all those things. I came home from school. My mother died. I was shaking all over like a leaf. There was the new baby. My father got a wetnurse but after a year the baby died. The wetnurse didn’t have enough milk and she hid it from my father. She didn’t want him to know or she’d lose her job so she bought powdered milk and made milk in the night and pretended it was her milk. She didn’t know how to read the formula. The poor baby died of diarrhea.
I became a doctor, a pediatrician. My mother, she should not have died. A child never forgets these things. I remember it every day. I never forget. This is the nature of it. I grew up and for this reason I became a doctor. My sister became a doctor, another became a pharmacist. All my brothers are professors of science. My father didn’t want us to be in politics. It sad, you know, I don’t even remember my own mother’s name.
When I was a child, I lived with my grandmother. I was born in the year of the dragon in a small village in the northern part of China, near Siberia, close to the border of Russia. My father and my uncle were given to my grandmother to raise. When the brothers married they all lived together in one household. My father had four daughters. I am in between…my elder sister. I only have one sister left. We all lived with my grandmother.
When I was about 10, I was sent away to school. When I was 10, my mother gave birth to my brother. When I was 10, I was very small, my mother died. I came back home from school. I didn’t know my mother was very sick. I was in primary school. I came home and found my mother dying. I was so scared, I was shaking all over. I was shaking. I came home from school and the next day my mother died. I guess that’s why I studied medicine. I guess it was an infection. No antibiotics in those days, Nothing. In those days, childbirth was dangerous. My whole life, I cannot forget it. That’s why I took to doctor training. My mother, she should not have died. When I became a doctor, I always checked the placenta, I made sure it all came out.
My father had a good job. He was a handsome man. A tall man, very European looking for a Chinese man. The people in the north are different looking. Very tall, some with blue eyes. They all wanted to give him beautiful girls to remarry. But he said, “No, I want to remember my wife. I love only my wife, not others. I want to wait a year.”
My father was a graduate of Beijing University. My own mother didn’t go to school, she didn’t know how to write, she only knew one poem by memory. She was taught how to read and write classical poetry by an old woman. She knew how to read and write poetry, but no science, no mathematics. Nothing practical. After a year my father remarried and I had stepbrothers. My father had a good job at the Tzu Jao railway. He took us to another town called Tzu Peng Je. He had a good job and a house with servants, a cook and a telephone. Before that we lived in a small village with no phone, no running water, no automobiles, only a horse and cart. We used steam for heat. The first village was called Qwan Satchue Yuen—a kind of river.
My stepmother was very educated, she graduated from high school. My father went away with his young wife to a place to have a honeymoon vacation, Ya Lu Jiang on the river, a famous hotel there, the river name means love. She got pregnant there and my sister is named after the river. But I was so insecure, I was afraid my stepmother would hit me… maybe I was jealous? I don’t know.
My father didn’t treat her good. It makes me sad to remember. In my whole life I can never forget all those things. I came home from school. My mother died. I was shaking all over like a leaf. There was the new baby. My father got a wetnurse but after a year the baby died. The wetnurse didn’t have enough milk and she hid it from my father. She didn’t want him to know or she’d lose her job so she bought powdered milk and made milk in the night and pretended it was her milk. She didn’t know how to read the formula. The poor baby died of diarrhea.
I became a doctor, a pediatrician. My mother, she should not have died. A child never forgets these things. I remember it every day. I never forget. This is the nature of it. I grew up and for this reason I became a doctor. My sister became a doctor, another became a pharmacist. All my brothers are professors of science. My father didn’t want us to be in politics. It sad, you know, I don’t even remember my own mother’s name.
—Li Kwan (2/17/06)
MISSING ESCAPE TO SIBERIA STORY
GROUP NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
GROUP NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
If I could make a New Year’s resolution today
It would be not to take unscheduled naps CS
Or to lose weight—I work on it all the time here
Too much good cooking isn’t a good thing MG
I wish for the ones I love should have good health
Always through the year. That’s important FP
I’d like to go bowling once and a while
And hit them all, or at least most of the time JB
I’d like to be able to walk like I used to,
to go dancing, able to walk like I used to
I’d like to have an invention with a good income or
I’d like to win the jackpot we’ll go from there WH
I want to have more joy in one’s life, health,
and to win the lottery, hit the jackpot NON
I want someone to take me down to get the winning ticket.
I think I’d keel over if I got the winning ticket,
I’d have to wake up real fast. CS
I never make New Year’s promises
because I always break ‘em MB
I’m looking forward to a cruise with my family
go down the coast & turn left at the canal
I want to be nice to everybody around me
so they will help others, & treat me nice
and everybody will be happy this way. LK
I wish for this millennium to be less cataclysmic MH
What the world needs now is love
I would like to see more love in the world
I’d start with myself, I’d show my love for others
And maybe they’d show their love for all of us MB
Madeline Bedal, Catherine Schuler, Mary Gifford, Frances Pearlman, Joan Butler, Mabel Weinberg, Mary Wailes, Neil O’Neill, Lee Kwan & Maureen Hurley
If I could make a New Year’s resolution today
It would be not to take unscheduled naps CS
Or to lose weight—I work on it all the time here
Too much good cooking isn’t a good thing MG
I wish for the ones I love should have good health
Always through the year. That’s important FP
I’d like to go bowling once and a while
And hit them all, or at least most of the time JB
I’d like to be able to walk like I used to,
to go dancing, able to walk like I used to
I’d like to have an invention with a good income or
I’d like to win the jackpot we’ll go from there WH
I want to have more joy in one’s life, health,
and to win the lottery, hit the jackpot NON
I want someone to take me down to get the winning ticket.
I think I’d keel over if I got the winning ticket,
I’d have to wake up real fast. CS
I never make New Year’s promises
because I always break ‘em MB
I’m looking forward to a cruise with my family
go down the coast & turn left at the canal
I want to be nice to everybody around me
so they will help others, & treat me nice
and everybody will be happy this way. LK
I wish for this millennium to be less cataclysmic MH
What the world needs now is love
I would like to see more love in the world
I’d start with myself, I’d show my love for others
And maybe they’d show their love for all of us MB
Madeline Bedal, Catherine Schuler, Mary Gifford, Frances Pearlman, Joan Butler, Mabel Weinberg, Mary Wailes, Neil O’Neill, Lee Kwan & Maureen Hurley
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