by Anonymous
This week we share an article from the Topaz Times, the Topaz newspaper run by incarcerees. It was written by a young Nisei woman who left Topaz in October 1942 to work in a turkey processing plant in American Fork, UT.
The writer recounts the harsh reality of working in a processing plant–the long hours, the smell, the men covered in gore as they slit the necks of the birds–as she ponders whether her current reality is better than being in camp. She tentatively decides that it must be, because she is free.
The article, originally titled “Feather Pickers,” is here renamed “The Thing With Feathers” in a nod to Emily Dickinson. Read it here on our website.
The Topaz Stories Team
Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City before it closes on December 31, 2022.
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
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Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)