Tea

Today I'm drinking my umpteenth cup of Tazo tea. I like Tazo teas because like me, they are never content to be plain. Every single flavor is "infused" with something. Green tea "infused" with ginger and lemon. Red tea "infused" with vanilla. Today I'm drinking Passion, a red-colored tea with a whole buncha stuff. And I don't question why I like such complicated teas, really. Of course my grandmother swears by her jasmine-scented Foojoy, and my upbringing tells me that the best tea does not come in pretty, geometric paper packages. It comes in sacks or tins labeled "Produit de Chine: Fujian." There is certainly no lack of tea snobbery in my background!

But if I like tea that has floofy infusions, so be it.

Tea has a very special place in my heart. It reminds me of contemplative times with my grannies. Today I stopped by a Japanese food market in Sakura Square in Denver, in the hope of procuring some Meiji chocolates. When I walked in, several things astounded me.

The announcements in this Japanese food/import store were made in English.

They had Meiji chocolates in several flavors, not just strawberry.

A woman with hair in brown halo asked me if I knew whether the food mart accepted food stamps. Sadly, I did not know.

I saw two older ladies, estimated in their late 70's to 80's, conferring about their health and exchanging tips about what they should buy. Commonplace occurance for me. But what astonished me is that one of them was Asian with a certain accent, and the other was white and had a southern accent. They were talking about hydrocortisone. I have always felt that I was liberal, but I have never in my life seen an older Asian lady commiserate with a non-Asian. I don't know why. I guess because my grandmother doesn't speak English, I've never seen it before. Whenever I have gone out with either grandmother, I've had to translate for her. It was so nice to see two such ladies like besties. Just like me & Kel, except our accents will be different and we will have automated strollers.

I found several books that looked promising in a makeshift Japanese American library. Some of the titles were, "How to be Japanese American: A Guide for Nisei and Issei"; a book called "The Story of Tea" - beautifully-presented and researched volume on tea cultivation and drinking, published in 2007; "Japanese Resettlement Through The Lens" - a photographic collection of the Japanese American internment, as collected by public works photographers, distilled from images in the National Archives, published in 2009 - just amazing how much history is in the public domain; and a book which I bought , "Voices from Colorado: Perspectives of Asian Pacific Americans", by Nestor Mercado, Elnora Minoza-Mercado, and Alok Sarwal. Part anthology of individual stories, part facebook, I think it's a great resource for understanding the APA movement in Colorado. It would be hilarious if I actually recognized someone from this book, like, OMG - You're Jam Wong - the painter profiled on pg. 243! (Note: Jam is a great name. I do believe I will be stealing it.) I like the variety of people profiled, from students to professionals, and glad that Asian American includes Southeast and South Asian as well. Their stories range from shocking to inspiring - Colorado seems like a very different place from the hubs I've visited (New York, D.C., even Chicago.) Insularity is not an option, as it might be if you lived in a place where a lot of Asians are densely packed together - many people express what it's like being the only Asian in their respective schools. I was delighted to learn that there is a huge variety of civic organizations in Colorado dedicated to Asian American concerns, from faith-based groups to organizations specifically focused on Asian American cultural exchange, adoptions, humanitarian projects, veterans affairs, etc. It's a grassroots kind of book that was made with a lot of love, and I'm happy to own a copy. There's also an accompanying site http://www.voicesfromcolorado.com/.


Good tea, good book, good day.