<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">I mistyped the name of today’s poet.<div class="">She is Marsha Johanson, not Marsha Johnson.<br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">My Asian Friend<br class=""><br class="">You were Asian, I was Jewish.<br class="">We first met at the UCLA Medical Center,<br class="">typists, stuck together inside a tight<br class="">cubbyhole scented of cigarettes,<br class="">marijuana and body odor.<br class=""><br class="">On weekends, we listened to classic rock<br class="">and cruised Sunset Boulevard in our<br class="">1966 Mustangs.<br class=""><br class="">I married a boat carpenter,<br class="">you donned purple silk<br class="">at my wedding, dancing <br class="">with family and friends<br class="">at The Sportsman’s Lodge.<br class=""><br class="">You eventually married a loving Japanese man,<br class="">and became a dedicated educator in<br class="">the Los Angeles school district,<br class="">and moved up the ranks to superintendent level.<br class=""><br class="">I moved away, but we still reached out<br class="">and shared our heartaches.<br class="">Your dad played baseball in an internment camp,<br class="">my dad died of a brain tumor.<br class=""><br class="">50 years later, we still connect on so many levels.<br class="">I’ve suffered with anti-semitic slurs <br class="">in Paris, Texas and New Mexico.<br class=""><br class="">You’re now targeted, in the midst of scapegoating<br class="">as Asian Americans are subjected to hateful rhetoric<br class="">and asked why they brought Coronavirus<br class="">into our country.<br class=""><br class="">The pandemic has made our lives more fragile,<br class="">but our friendship continues to keep us grounded.<br class="">As the years pass, we find new ways to rise up <br class="">above hate and ignorance, our souls intact,<br class="">as proud survivors and strong caring women,<br class="">facing any challenge together.<br class=""><br class=""> - Marsha Johanson<br class=""><div class="">
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