by Jon Yatabe
“When it was kite season, the old men sat in front of their barracks and taught us how to make kites from scrap wood and paper.”
In Topaz, everyone in the community helped us construct great toys from the scrap material at hand. We were like rural kids without the means or a place to buy toys. When it was kite season, the old men sat in front of their barracks and taught us how to make kites from scrap wood and paper. The kites were always decorated with the fierce faces of gods or samurai (Japanese warriors), and the desert winds would send the kites soaring into the sky. They were diamonds, squares, and boxes glittering against the blue-black sky with a distant blue mountain in the background.
Thank you for this beautiful story of resourcefulness and resilience.
Thank you. I hope our next generations will remember what happened so it will not repeat.
Great remembrance and a story you should continue to tell!
Thank you for trying to continue with our local news paper.
Wheres Woody?
Hi Sam,
This story took place about 50 years before Woody was born! But did you know that there were Walt Disney animators who were incarcerated in Topaz? Gene Sogioka (Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi) and Willie Ito (Lady and the Tramp) both worked for Disney before they were kicked out of California and imprisoned in the Utah desert because of their Japanese heritage.
The Topaz Stories Team