Revisit Youngstown for 55th South Reunion

On August 29, Paul and I went to Youngstown to attend his 55th South High Reunion, and returned home in the evening of September 3, the day after Labor Day.

Awesome Eight who attended together Sheridan Elementary, 

Princeton Jr., & South High School 

In less than a week's time, we embraced a lifelong experience. Before and after the big event that weekend, we packed three lunches with his friends from kindergarten, grade school and high school. All in their early seventies, those friends were more or less living and retiring locally or in cities like Columbus or Cleveland, with the farthest in Pittsburgh or Farmington, Michigan. In general, they were all content and happy in their own way. Even Gary who has been taking care of his 101-year-old Mother for more than two decades did not complain to much, except for his bitter reminiscence of his football career thwarted by a school bully who died young in his twenties. 

Poland Public Library Now in Youngstown, Ohio

In addition to lunching with friends, Paul and I visited the famed Poland Public Library, newly renovated Millcreek Park, and ate twice at Handel's Ice Cream, one in the rain, and the other on a chilly evening. According to Wikies, Handel's Handmade ice cream is a company founded by Alice Handel in 1945 in Youngstown, Ohio. Now it operates 125 corporate and franchise stores in 12 states, with its headquarters in Canfield, Ohio, and it's own neighborhood district in Youngstown. To a certain degree, Handel's ice cream & yogurt is similar to Penny's Ice Cream in Santa Cruz with its local business roots. With the change of times, Handel's has branched out to catering parties and Uber delivery, apart from its physical stores. It is superior in its inexpensive pricing and over 45 flavors rotating each month, such as Salty Caramel Truffle, Chocolate Pecan, and of course, Paul's favorite, Black Cherry. No wonder, the business is so loved by many new and returning chubby and chunky individuals and families.

A Handel's we visited twice in Youngstown, Ohio

The 55th Reunion was preceded by an unofficial meet and greet on Friday, August 30 in Holiday Inn hotel. It served as a warm up for the following day for both organizers and attendees. On arrival at 7:00 pm, we found a roomful of people talking and snacking. It turned out that we were one hour late, by adhering faithfully to the schedule which had undergone many revisions without too much notifications to all. When the actual reunion started, Paul and I were in the same hotel one minute before 6:00 pm, so were his classmates.

As Bill Finzel, the Master of Ceremony (MC), was absent due to his dizzy spell, Joseph Palmer, a retired library director, became his replacement. Together with the former Homecoming Queen, Deborah North, the new MC announced the opening of the reunion. It was quite a spectacular scene, with eight round tables, and one long VIP table in the hall, permeated with colorful lighting, music, dance and 3-D rotating photography. 

Paul and I at Reunion

Fifty-five years later, all those high school students gathered together in one place. Their former anger, competition, or frustrations were all like water under the bridge. Present and future was what they held. The organizers did a fantastic job making the reunion affordable and possible. In the past five years, they were holding bake sales and selling raffle tickets to donate to the proceeds to the event.

Deborah North and I

We celebrated Labor Day with Alexees's family. Michael and Joann's four kids came, including two-month-old Charly (Charlotte). It was a real treat to enjoy authentic Greek home cooked food, such as spanakopita, lamb, baklava, etc. On our way to the Cleveland airport, Paul was lamenting our missed opportunities to visit his Greek Church and downtown Youngstown. At that very moment, he happened to glance over his shoulder to see a magnificent building beckoning. Since there's no time like the present, we exited immediately to go through downtown streets and revisit this building that turned out to be his former church. 

Former Greek Orthodox Church, now Apostolic Faith Temple

109 W. Woodland Avenue, Youngstown

What a memorable revisit!

A Time for Everything in August 2024

The month of this August is the embodiment of "A Time for Everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens," as stated in Ecclesiastes 3. 

Having successfully completed her 2024 Boys and Girls Club Summer Camp on August 2, Leni was picked up and driven home by her father Nick the very next day. The following Friday, August 9, Gene Moriarty, a long time good friend of ours, passed away. Paul and I attended his Vigil Service and Funeral Mass August 26-27.

In between time, there were also happy occasions. We spent the week of August 20-24 in Seattle, Washington, having pizza and wine at Stephanie and Tyler's Happy Hour on August 22, and going to their Wedding the following day. In the shadow of the threatening new Covid19 in Hui's family, everyone, once recovered enough, was determined to have a great time, celebrating a brand-new life for the high-achieving couple. Nick and his four younger cousins had a complete cousin reunion for the first time in their life. Meanwhile, I received the first edit of the third installment proof of A Bright Star from the California State Library Foundation. As I did not have a laptop with me this time, I read through Gene Kennedy's corrections and approved them, in addition to answering his query.

August 24 was our departure day. As usual, Paul built in more than two hours for traffic and rental car return. Unlike Thursday night's frantic SeaTac Airport when we picked up Nick, the traffic was smooth, so was our fuel filling and car return. Paul, Nick and I felt visibly relieved to arrive at the quiet airport at barely 8:00 am, well before our respective departure times at 10:30 am, and 3:40 pm. 

All hell broke loose when we reached the Security Check point. There were six serpentine long lines of passengers waiting to be admitted. It took at least one hour to be at the head of the line that was to be continued by another line. The second queue, similar in length to the first one, would take the same amount of time for one to have their IDs, bodies and luggage checked. Instead of using the state of art facial recognition photo scan, all TSA officers checked us with their own eyes. After the checkpoint, we could not find our Alaska gate number, since QR was unable to spit out a printout. All the bulletin boards surrounding us were unusually quiet. Paul had to ask a Delta service desk for help. Instead of using her computer at the service desk, the representative was searching the internet with her cellphone to locate our gate. Fortunately, our flight was delayed 15 minutes, which gave us a pit stop opportunity before boarding the plane, while Nick was guarding our luggage. He was as good as his words to see Paul and me walking the tarmac to the plane. 

We landed in San Francisco miraculously on time Saturday afternoon. Looking at the bright and spacious airport, I felt a blissfully new appreciation of California, after going through the congested SeaTac, its inadequate bathroom stalls, and lack of real time flight information. Over FaceTime we celebrated Lee Anne's birthday that Saturday evening. It is the Birthday Girl that untangled the mystery of chaos at SeaTac. In her search for Nick's arrival time, she discovered that the airport had been a victim of a cyberattack. To be fair, the Seattle airport did a marvelous job in damage control in the face of vicious attacks and unfavorable working conditions. Offline and calmly, it managed to get its passengers to their destinations eventually. There was no public disorder, thanks to the air traffic control tradition of its city's aerospace industry.

Busy August does not seem to slow down, with our next trip scheduled for August 29-Septermber 3 for Paul's 55th Reunion in Youngstown, Ohio.

Gene, a Friend to Remember

Barely six months after the celebration of his 80th birthday, Gene Moriarty left us last Friday, August 9, 2024. It was known for quite a while that Gene's health was declining, but it is a new string of COVID19 that was the ultimate cause of his death.

Gene is the sixth dear friend to depart among our local friends, Sue Reynolds, Ted Grace, Lewis Weinstein (2017), James King, and John Breznak (2021). Each departure has taken something from us, leaving us with more grief and renewed resolve to live a full life. 

In the latest JAMA (August 13, 2024, vol. 332, no. 6), I happened to read Someone Has to Be Around to Put out the Lights  by Joel Jager. It is a very inspiring article advocating the positive attitude toward the disappearing of friends who have succumbed to illness or death. In front of this inevitable life cycle, as the author states, there seems to be only two options to avoid such a sad situation: either one dies first, or develops dementia, so they will not know what is going on around you. However, there is a third option as the author's 90-year-old father did a generation ago, i.e., revamping his purpose in life, "Instead of being immersed in the typical diversions of Southern Florida retirement, he began to focus on helping those remaining individuals and their families 'tie things up," usually in some small fashion...In his words, 'Someone has to be around to put out the lights.'"

Now the author and his wife are both in their 80s. Cognitively still intact, they opt to follow his father's footsteps by invoking the mantra of "May I be allowed to be of service" to each other, and their contemporaries that consist of relatives, friends, and acquaintances in both big and small ways, such as advice, assistance, guidance, referrals, and listening. Even though they often end their day emotionally spent, they are grateful for the opportunity to be of assistance. Meanwhile they hope there will be others around to help them in their declining and dying days. I admire the author and his father's way of living. 

Gene's Mass at Holy Cross Church

Paul and I are both relieved that we will be able to attend Gene's Vigil Service at the Pacific Garden Chapel, at 6:00 pm. August 26th and Funeral Mass at Holy Cross the following day, 11:00 am. Thank you Gene for your kindness, friendship and wisdom. We will miss you.

Holy Cross Father at the Beginning of Reception

Our Table at the Reception

(Lowe's brother, Jim S and Paul)

A Bird to Remember

Last late Friday afternoon, Paul and I were on our way to Leni's Swimming Team practice when we noticed three young girls hovering around a section of the sidewalk at Elm and Center Streets. All we could see was a hungry red mouth facing upward. It must be a lost chick, said I.

Chick Calling

We quickly found a spot and parked our Tesla along the street diagonally across from the bird and girls. It turned out that our initial guess was correct: a fuzzy chick was in distress. With its eyes closely shut, it was calling out incessantly in the middle of the sidewalk. One girl was on the phone, apparently calling a certain animal rescue agency, while her two friends were standing by sympathetically. Paul lost no time to have a closeup of the bird.

Fortunately, the assumed orphaned chick did have a parent. "She fed it a minute ago before we were on the scene," one girl informed us. Soon, the girl on the phone ended her call, and told all of us that she was advised to leave the bird where it was. If it were not abandoned, its parents would come to take care of it. There was nothing else we humans could do. As the chick was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, we all felt that we need to move it to aside, preferably somewhere secure and out of public eye or traffic. Finally one girl scooped up the bird tenderly and placed it behind a leafy plant right beside the house foundation, as everyone wished.

New Sanctuary

As soon as the five of us walked away, two adult brown birds that had been sitting on the telephone lines above our gathering place flew to the top of the roof and then hopped down to the house. One bird was situated like a security guard on the top of garden tree, while the other cautiously approached the bird call. It was soon seen on its mission to find something edible in the nearby mostly barren yard. A further minute later, the guarding bird flew away, apparently received his mate's order to food hunting to a wider world.

Observing what was happening before our eyes, Paul and I felt extremely content and comforted at the thought that the chick was now in the safe hands of its parents. We now set off for our grandparent's bond towards the Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club. There was a human bird waiting for our attention.

An hour later when Leni's swim team training was over, we three left the club, only to see not far away a pair of birds still flying by turns to feed their offspring behind the plant. Nothing is stronger than a parental bond and dedication!

Swim Meet at Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club

Around 11:30 am last Saturday, Paul and I attended a swim meet between the Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club and Watsonville YMCA. 

Both teams had about equal numbers of team members, 15 from Santa Cruz and 20 from Watsonville. However, there was an obvious difference between the two teams. For example, the Watsonville team seemed to be more mature, and more uniform in appearance by donning the same white YMCA swimming cap, and performing similarly styled strokes.

Leni belonged to the diverse Santa Cruz team, ranging in age from 6 to 16. Their swimming skills varied too. Some were very fast almost reaching the professional level and speed while some were lost in the midst of the competition. Despite the setback of a year's inactivity and only a couple weeks of training, Leni, race numbers temporarily tattooed on her arm as 2-5-15-18, participated in several categories, 25-meter freestyle, 50-meter backstroke, and team relay. She did reasonably well for her team that enthusiastically cheered each other's heats in turn.

Leni was in the 2nd lane left.

Small as it is, the swimming pool at the Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club, had the same Olympic spirit, monitored closely by their respective coaches, and assistant coaches. Each swimmer's performance was duly clocked and recorded by pairs of appointed volunteers. Two sections of bleachers were filled with young athletes' family members and friends who shared every moment with them, whether it was a victory or disappointment.

Papu was photographing Leni in action. 

Like any stadium of professional grade, the Santa Cruz swimming facility provides a side yard with refreshments while the competition was heating up. Swimmers and attendees were welcomed to hot dogs, burgers, beverages and healthy foods. 

Since the two-city swim meet was not a truly professional event, the Watsonville coach ended the meet by throwing a sandwich bag full of coins into the pool for swimmers to dive and retrieve. Instantly those highly motivated youngsters were like dolphins diving in and out of water. What a fun meet indeed!

Workshops at NASIG 2024

Unlike my usual disarrayed self at various conferences, I was laser-sharp focused at the 39th NASIG conference on the following four topics:

1. LCSH and other LC Vocabulary (June 4, 9:00-10:00 am) by Melanie Polutta, Cataloging Policy specialist at Policy, Training & Cooperative Division of Library of Congress (LC). The first half of her workshop looked at the basics of what is LC subject heading (LCSH), and how to make a proposal for a new subject heading. LCSH was used primarily to describe what was in the library.

The second half examined the current development of the controlled vocabularies. She also discussed ongoing DEI work and thoughts about the vocabularies going forward. It seemed that there would be less use of subdivisions, or form (e.g., Juvenile literature), but more post-coordination. The trend would be putting business into their categories, formal headings to genre headings.

2. Two workshops on ChatGPT

a. Transforming Library Data Analytics into Strategic Insights with ChatGPT (June 4, 2:45-3:45 pm) by Marlene van Ballegooie of University of Toronto. It centered on the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing library data analytics by gaining practical experience of how AI could be utilized in library collection analysis, and by discovering how AI facilitated comprehensive data exploration and the creation of insightful visualizations of improved decision-making. It provided practical lesson in applying AI in library collection analysis, and equipping participants to adopt similar technologies in their home institutions. 

b. Using ChatGPT as a tool for the acquisition and assessment of e-resources (June 7, 9:00-10:00 am) by Amanda Yesilbas of University of South Florida. The learning outcomes aimed at: 1) What the interface of ChatGPT looks like and how to begin using it. 2) What training ChatGPT is and how to do it. 3) How to do complex spreadsheet operations with simple conversational prompts. 4) How to create visual spreadsheet data with simple prompts. 5) How to create executive summaries with simple prompts. 6) The potential pitfalls of using an AI tool. 7) How AI tools were just another stop on a technological timeline. Personally, I could not help but agree with Amanda's conclusion that working with AI tools was like chasing a moving target.

3. Cataloging

a. Introduction to Serials Cataloging Part I and Part II (June 5-6, 9:00-12:00 pm) by Steve Shadle of University of Washington Libraries (UWL). Two workshops provided the basic principles of original and copy cataloging of print serials with a focus on the elements contained in the RDA CONSER Standard Record (CSR). The specific goals were to understand the concept of continuing resources, identify serials and distinguish them from monographs and integrating resources, become familiar with MARC tags used for serials, creating original serials cataloging records, and how to identify appropriate serial copy ad needed edits.

Personally I felt deeply indebted to Shadle, head of Serials Cataloging at UWL, for his wealth of knowledge and experience. For the first time, I obtained a systematic training and reconfirmation from Dody's tutoring more than two decades ago.

b. You Want Me to Catalog What? Practical strategies for cataloging insensitive/offensive material (June 5, 1:30-2:30 pm) by Mandy Hurt, Serials Description Librarian and Coordinator at Duke University Libraries. As an experienced CONSER serials cataloger who worked extensively with special collections materials that deem sexually explicit, or offensive by hate groups such as Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi organizations, Mandy developed a healthy coping mechanism to protect herself, family and colleagues. One of the strategies was to catalog one item per day.

4. Workshops on BIBFRAME & Linked Data (June 6, 4:00-5:00 pm)

a. BIBFRAME at the Doorstep by Lisa McColl, manager, and Gregory Edwards, Metadata Services librarian at Lehigh Library. It showed how a mid-sized academic library defined the pros and cons of BIBFRAME adoption and its early stage of life. It provided a concrete vision of how it looked to catalog in BIBFRAME, and how MARC data could be cleaned to benefit our users and facilitate possible future conversion. 

b. Library Barbie and the Real World presented by Regina Romano Reynolds, director of U.S. ISSN Center at Library of Congress. It demonstrated our catalogs and discovery systems were in a closed or open environment. It also helped us to understand that MARC could be enhanced by linked data, with real-life examples of linked data's use in both MARC and non-MARC systems. Regina was a great presenter, reminding me of our Alverda.  

NASIG at Spokane, WA

This year, NASIG (North America Serials Interest Group) held its 39th annual conference at Grand Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington, from June 3 to 7. The conference coincided with the two months' local celebration of the 50th anniversary of 1974 World Expo, beginning from May 4 until July 4.

Expo '74 50th Celebration 

The city of Spokane, a county seat of Spokane County, is the second largest city after Seattle with a population of 539,339 according to the 2020 U.S. census. The tribe of Spokane, or "children of the sun," or "sun people," were the first human settlers in as early as 12,000 years ago. The native tribe lived on hunting bison and antelope, rooting forests, picking berries and nuts, and harvesting salmon. 

David Thompson (1770-1857) was the first European explorer to set up the fur-trading post called the Spokane House, with the native people on the Spokane River in Washington, operating from 1810 to 1820. Spokane County was established in January 29, 1858, annexed by Stevens County in 1864, but reestablished in October 1879. 

Spokane is a place where the past meets with the present. The Spokane Airport Davenport is compact, small but complete, which reminds one of a small Norwegian airport, as Paul has pointed out, even though a modernization project called Concourse C Expansion Project is to be unfolded soon. 

Upcoming Concourse C Expansion Project

The downtown is a mixture of old clock towers, church steeples, red bricked buildings and modern hotels and convention centers. Local residents seem happy and leisurely, although we do witness the homeless, and drug activities in the street and along the Riverfront. 

Spokane Waterfront

The local population consists largely of white and traditional, often with many youngsters in tow. At the local Costco, we saw many families having at least two to three kids. One family had seven kids, like a row of Russian dolls, all quiet and well-behaved sitting at the food court table. Their father was hardly older than 30 years old. The mother appeared a bit older, probably tired from her seemingly yearly child bearing. 

This is my third attendance of NASIG, with the first one in Fort Worth, Texas in 2014, and then in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2019. Unlike my usual disarrayed self, I was better the third time around.

An Evening with David Sedaris in Santa Cruz

After quickly finishing our dinner yesterday evening, Paul and I set off to the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium to see David Sedaris at 7:30 pm. By the time we arrived, we saw big crowds and an endless queue in front of the auditorium. To our amazement, the fast-moving queue was by no means shortened but augmented by more ticket holders behind us. Once seated in our designated seats, we saw the auditorium all but empty. Where did the people ahead of us go? Before long our question was answered. Right before the opening time, the lobby became quieter but the auditorium was instantly filled up around, above and below us. Two sections of folding chairs down in the center were also filled.

To celebrate the closing night of Sedaris's national tour, the whole population of Santa Cruz seemed to show up for the evening event. After a lifetime of practice, David Sedaris has turned his book reading into an art of live performance. While flipping through a stack of cards from his articles, notebooks or diaries, he transported his audience effortlessly to his airport adventures, African safari with his open jeep surrounded by seven lionesses, literary festivals in Pakistan, small talk in the elevator of his tall luxury apartment building in New York City, and the most poignant of all, his loss or betrayal of friendship by his introduction of Pattie to Dan, a better-off childhood neighbor and friend in North Carolina.

While performing his art, Sedaris has managed to inserts his viewpoints on world politics, and society. His satires on fashionable cultural appropriation, and prevailing pronoun requirements were not lost on his audience, or his humor on foreign language learning programs, Doulingo vs. Pimsleur. His satirical view of dogs, particularly those "rescue" ones and their self-righteous owners, brought waves of laughter from the audience. Sedaris is a master to open our eyes to a world outside our mundane existence, by combining simplicity with complexity, writings with entertainment, and personal life with political and cultural commentaries. No wonder so many people in Santa Cruz came to be entertained by him this evening, including a large percentage of the elderly and sickly on walkers!

Reunion with Friends Near and Far

Paul finally reunited with Pearl and Manu Gennai of Switzerland on April 25, 2024 in Santa Cruz. The couple, along with their 6-year-old daughter, were his travel companions in Africa in 1981. They were all waiting then for their visas to go to Sudan. Forty-three years later, the itch of traveling took over. The couple had been on the road for months on another global trip, without the daughter who was long retired with her busy life.

The Gennais stayed at Robert and Deborah’s. It is there that we had our first reunion evening. It turned out that Pearl and Deborah Bone shared a mutual friend in Switzerland. It was quite a reunion for them too after over half a century. The host and hostess treated us to a wholesome family dinner that consisted of soup, salad and cheeses, and homemade bread. Afterwards we drank wine and champagne interlaced with chocolates. 

Paul, Pearl and Manu

Pearl and Manu 

Pearl and Manu told us about their work in the conception of smart city, their five daughters (one of whom has been transgendered to a son), and properties in Italy, and France on the border with Switzerland. Apparently they had made many wise choices in life, including their travel accommodations with residence exchange, a plan similar to, but better than timeshare with a more flexible time and geographical coverage around the world.

Manu, Pearl, Robert, Paul and Deborah 

Robert, Deborah, Paul, Manu and Pearl

Six of us resumed our gathering the following evening at our home. We had egg rolls and sushi as appetizers, and salmon steak as our main course. Drinks and conversations flowed smoothly. We learned in depth why Deborah was in Switzerland, how her nursing degree fit her family tradition with a doctor grandmother and a pacifist academia father (John Bone who wrote Negro novel in America). We were also confided to in detail about the daughter of Gennais, their much too abbreviated transgender process, and philosophy of cultural appropriation. On this topic, Deborah offered her view about the generation differences between the 1960s and today. The older generation tried to change society with their free love, while the new generation focused on changing themselves, in order to change society. We were also reminded of the sobering fact that United States is still the world leader. For this reason, it needs to make wise decisions for the world.

We departed around midnight and promised each other we would keep in touch. First, Manu and I should be connected on LinkedIn. Second, we would share with Robert our orchid bulbs. Third, we would venture out as much as we could. See you Pear and Manu, and see you in the Staff of Life, Deborah and Robert!

Seventeen Cotton Is Now an International Fashion Center 2

Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Textile Factory, or Seventeen Cotton for short, has been part of our family history. Two factory locations, the South Mill and North Mill, were separated by Yangshupu Road, a busy thoroughfare running east to west in the city of Shanghai. Seventeen Cotton was a major employer for several generations in our family. My paternal and maternal grandfathers both worked and retired from the North Mill, while my parents, my little aunt's husband, and cousin worked, retired, or prompted from the South Mill. My father's elder brother who used to work in the North Mill too was transferred in the 1950s to Xian, as part of the governmental efforts to foster and strengthen heavy and light industries in less developed provinces and cities.

Our experience with Seventeen Cotton is at once bitter and sweet. On the one hand, it provided us with an ample and stable income, for my grandparents were strong with their technical skills, and my parents were known for their managerial capabilities. On the other hand, it doggedly followed national trends in various ideological and political movements, to persecute and purge its employees, especially those middle managers. In the early 1950s, my maternal grandfather was forced to confess imaginary crimes, forcing the whole family to pull together their money, and gold and silver to pay back the requisite phantom bribery. When he was eventually proven innocent, the currency was returned, but not the precious gold that flowed directly into the government vault. The unfortunate incident became a bone of contention among family members, totally ruining his amicable relationship with his stepson's family. The grandfather did not fare better either in the 1960's when the Cultural Revolution started. As a section manager with certain executive power, he automatically became an "enemy of people". Relieved of all administrative duties, my grandfather was on long-term sick leave with reduced pay for more than a decade, until he reached the age of 60 when he could retire. Two years later, he had been diagnosed with late stage brain cancer, and passed away within six months.

Compared with my maternal grandfather who had joined a couple of affiliations of the Kuomingtang, due to his position at the North Mill, my parents had a relatively easier time, with their newly-minted careers in the 1950s. Like many promising young people then, they were duly educated and promoted through the evening school run by Seventeen Cotton and outside professional programs. Like my grandfather, their careers reached a stalemate in the mid-1960s, especially after the breakout of Cultural Revolution. They were thrown into all kinds of political currents, and labelled with diverse anti-revolutionary tags. Being a pupil of the elementary school attached to Seventeen Cotton, I had the chance of visiting and work practice in the same factory regularly, as part of curriculum requirements. At the beginning, I really enjoyed those extra curriculum activities. I loved the food in the factory dining hall. Different from our usual family meals, the factory food had a great variety and selection to choose from. I liked my work in #4 Weaving Workshop, where we paired ourselves with different workers. My supervisor was impressed with my swiftness and accuracy in joining yarns. During the break time, I would sneak out to visit my parents and watch them in real action. Once I saw my father supplying workers with heavy bags of cotton. I was shocked to see him in work clothing outside his office. On another occasion, I went to the #2 Weaving Section. As soon as I entered the insulated door, I was greeted with a familiar voice. My mother was holding a meeting attended by at least a few hundred people. She was so calm and eloquent that I felt an immediate pang of guilt, as if I had intruded on her personal and professional space.

My idyllic time at Seventeen Cotton did not last very long. In our fifth grade, we went to the South Mill as usual. The moment we queued to enter the gate, I saw big letters splashing on the ground in front of the factory administrative building on the left side. There were big-character posters hanging on the walls too. They were all specifically pointing to my mother, accusing her of being a spy, and loyal lackey of the Kuomingtang. I was blindsided with this sudden change of political wind. Meanwhile, it dawned on me that my life would never be the same again. Before long, some unobtrusive classmates became aggressive and would mock me at my parents' expense. I found myself apprehensive of those regular factory visits, dreading that those big letters and posters would reappear.