I promote life writing to save history and culture and to open people’s minds to different experiences and perspectives. When you only know your own little life, your own little area of living, your world is very small, and it’s easy to be afraid of or downright mean to others who are different from you. Look around and it’s not hard to see the world is full of the nastiness from small minds that don’t know or don’t want to know the stories of others. We can learn empathy and understanding to help us get along better. “Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.”

A big reason I published my mother’s memoir, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight, was because almost no one outside of Japan knew about civilian life in wartime Japan. Many, if not most, of the children of the survivors did not know the stories of their parents. I also published the book to show the humanity of the people just trying to stay alive – an ever pertinent story.

I was made aware of a website called Diverse Book Blogs. Hopefully you’ll be interested in checking out some of them. Many feature children’s books, showing kids there’s a big, wide world out there to learn about. Diverse books also help kids and adults who are not the majority peoples see that they are not alone and that people similar to them can be a part of stories, too. We should all feel a part of this world and we should learn with open minds about each other.

Peace, love, and understanding to all.