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Author: Anna Pirhana

Girl’s Day (Hina Matsuri) and my sister

hina matsuri

We used to celebrate the Japanese observation of Girl’s Day (Hina Matsuri) at home by putting up an old wooden doll display and eating special omanju (rice cakes).   My mother treated this day with such delicacy, and we were never to jump around the doll display or behave in our usual rambunctious manner that might cause the dolls to topple.  My sister and I were seasoned at house destruction, setting crayons to wall covering with ease or sliding down three long flights of stairs in our brownstone flat while riding a child’s bathtub, ending our trip by crashing into the front door.

Yesterday’s heroes (and a prison pen pal)

Bertha, the craziest friend from my childhood, once introduced me to Tanya, the only child of a very wealthy lawyer couple that had an apartment in a Pacific Heights skyrise and a home in Atherton.  Tanya walked around clutching Bay City Roller albums and had sewn plaid onto the bottom hems of her flooded semi-bell bottom pants.  She was the first autograph chaser of my acquaintance, and her quiet demeanor hid a rather crafty streak that plotted out times, dates and ways to meet her favorite teeny-bopper idol.  Tanya was also skilled at meeting other teenaged autograph hunters, and they would plot their strategy to recognize and corner a famous person.  Her plans, of course, always worked.

San Francisco Stories: Julie, do you love me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9FYD1dlw4E

When our family moved from the Western Addition to the more sedate Richmond District, I made my first best-friend-for-the-summer after I stole her little brother’s Hot Wheel car as we played on the front steps.  Julie, a lithe blonde haired/blue eyed girl who was so unlike anyone from my old African American neighborhood or my Japanese American Catholic School, asked me why I stole her brother’s car.  With no valid excuse to offer, I surrendered the car over to Julie.  We continued to play together until the evening, then began again the next morning.