Chaotic Order

A shot I took early this summer of the Victoria Jubilee Bridge which connects Montreal to the South Shore (and vice versa). I was struck at how such an orderly and fairly simple structure could look so chaotic at certain angles.

Navy Pier Carousel

It's funny that I never posted this picture on the blog. It is my most "interesting" photo on Flickr. The next few Fridays I'll post the best ones that haven't made it to these pages. Tuesday will remain the more recent ones. I've also changed my blog photo posting practice so that photos are vetted on Flickr first. In other words, I'll only post the best photos after I see how well they are received over there. Yes, it's all very complicated and anal, but that's how I am and I only want the best for you, the non-paying public.

Vanishing

A photo of the train we used to take to Paris from Versailles. Feb 1992

My sister at Pere Lachaise Cemetary in Paris. Dec 1991.

Click on the images to see a larger view.

Stock Photography - Too Funny!

The other day I was flipping through the local daily magazine that they pass out in the Metro and came across the following ad looking for medical testing participants:I looked at it, chuckled, and a wide smile grew on my face. I had seen a picture of those two before a couple years ago, but they were not smiling. I got home and consulted one of my Onion books and confirmed my suspicions with the following article:
I'm still chuckling. It is just too funny that the pharmaceutical company chose a photo from the same set of stock photographs.

Fukuzo (Frank)

The life of Hashi & Osai before 1941 was covered in the previous post. They had a very successful act that afforded them liberties and relative freedom from prejudice. All of this during the Great Depression. This changed when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Suddenly everyone looked with suspicion at anyone with an Asian appearence. They changed their names to Hia Sing and Sue Ming to attempt a disguise as Chinese performers. The last performance of "Hashi and Osai" was on Christmas Eve, 1941. Although still performing under pseudonyms Hia Sing and Sue Ming they were too well known as Japanese performers and could no longer work in the industry.

They spent some time with close friends in central Illinois, but could not find a retreat from antagonisms. Locals hearing of Japanese hiding out came to break their radio and take their knives. So they returned to Chicago where they had never had any trouble. With their performance career over, Frank tried various jobs until he owned a restaurant. The cooks would not cook for him, so he learned to cook himself. He had found his second career. He worked in the kitchens of many esteemed Chicago restaurants including the Ding Ho, the Mid-America Club, the Wrigley Building, the Conrad Hilton Hotel, Marshall Field's, Maurice's Restaurant, and the French haute cuisine of Le Manoir.

While Frank's successful second career paid the rent, Osai stayed at home. They lived with other Japanese, some of them performers, but speculation is that she found this to be a very difficult time. Her career had ended abruptly and she was home with no children of her own. Osai fell ill of cirrhosis and passed away April 28, 1949 at 51 years old. Although he had pulled out from the difficulty of losing his first career, after losing Osai, Frank had hit bottom. He found comfort in his longtime performer friends from near and far. His life would change dramatically again and it would become turning point in his life.

He opened a new chapter in his life when he married a white woman, Audrey, and they had his first and only child, Francis Dean, at age 55. He was pulled out of the depression from Osai's passing by a very loving relationship with Audrey in which they shared common viewpoints and perspectives on the world. He embraced the American culture studying hard in an American History course he enrolled in. And in 1965 he became a US citizen at age 69.

When I was very young, the couple moved in downstairs from us. Frank from my perspective was quite an interesting person. I saw him in his retirement days. He was largely a quiet man who spoke only when he needed to and still spoke with an accent after all these years. He was quick on his feet for someone in their eighties. He was an avid Cubs fan listening or watching games when possible. He also like playing cards whether it was solitare after lunch or pinochle with the other senior citizens at their weekly meetings. We accompanied him to the store of Japanese goods and took him to the Ginza Holiday festival to see the taiko drummers.

One memory is still very vivid. He needed to change a light bulb hanging in the center of the room. At 85 years old, he pulled out the step ladder and climbed up to the top step to reach the bulb. Audrey screamed at him saying it was too dangerous. He looked down and just said "Baaah" as if to say 'I was an acrobat, I can at least climb a ladder and change a light bulb.'

On July 26, 1986 he passed away, just four months after his 90th birthday. He had lived quite the wonderful life. He had seen every state of the union, lived the life of a successful performer, and worked alongside many famous people. He had found the love of his life twice and happily lived into his retirement years surrounded by family. As my cousin Cathy remembers "His kindness. Never said a mean word, always had twinkle in his eye, and just treated everyone so kindly. Sweet, sweet man... He was a total gentleman... Very classy."

It has been with great pride and great pleasure that I relay the story of my grandfather's life. This is a rough summary of my sister Nancy's History Master thesis. Pretty much all the content is from her work and some copied word for word. Her thesis also compares Hashi and Osai's experiences with other Japanese immigrants who were largely young males coming to work in agriculture. She is hoping to get is published and if it is, I will forward info about it.

Hashi & Osai

My sister, Nancy, recently finished her thesis in history which focused on the uncommon experience of two Japanese acrobats and their life stories. Their names were Sei "Osai" Sakamoto and Fukuzo "Frank" Hashimoto and they eventually formed the performing duo of Hashi & Osai. Nancy also created a great webpage about it as part of a webpage design class that you can see here. I will try my best to summarize her work.

Osai was born in 1897 and as was common practice at the time, was excluded from being listed on a family register as thus did not have any formal family status. She was given up for adoption and was taken under the guardianship of an acrobatic trainer. In 1905 she was brought to America and the city of Chicago. It was in Chicago that she was trained. Along with her fellow performers the training included harsh beatings resulting in scars, a broken arm, and concussions. Less than a year after arriving, she began performing as part of the Otora Japanese Family. Soon after the troupe was reorganized into the Namba Troupe and began traveling around North America. She continued to perform in show business as a acrobat, contortionist, and performer.

Fukuzo was born in 1896 to a large commoner agrarian family in Japan. He was recruited to join the Fukumatsu Kitamura acrobatic troupe and came to America in 1906 leaving his family behind. The training was very strict and he recounted that beatings were given if routines were not performed correctly. Although he had no family, he developed strong and lasting relationships with his fellow performers. In 1907 he joined the Ringling Brothers Circus for three years. He gained the favor of the eldest brother, Al Ringling, and Fukuzo's contortion act was place in the center ring. After Ringling, Fukuzo went on to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for three seasons. He helped train wild horses and worked as part of the Japanese cavalry performing as one of the Congress of Rough Riders. After the Wild West Show, he continued to perform in vaudeville.

In 1917, Fukuzo and Osai along with two others formed the Fuji Troupe and toured the country for three years. In 1919 they married and soon quickly formed the duo act named "Hashi and Osai". It was at this time that Fukuzo changed to the Americanized version of his name, Frank. Their performance encompassed several elements: high perch, water spinning, girl on pedestal, fast tumbling, spotted flip flops, hand balancing and a Risley act. Their act was always a two-person team and consisted of acrobatics and gymnastics, contortion, and balancing. In the many towns where they performed the reviews by critics of their exhibition was always held in high esteem.

One article read "Hashai & Osai, a Japanese boy and girl, offer one of the surprises in their oriental thrilling and sensational juggling act, said to be one of the best that has been on the American stage in years." Another read "the sensational act of the well-known Japanese team, Hashi & Osai, as one of the five outstanding acts of vaudeville in the Beacon's Theater's stage this week, outclasses any turn of this nature to come to Vancouver in months." "Dynamic feats of thrilling gymnastics that will keep you in breathless suspense. Extraordinary entertainment - with a complete change of acts in each of the two shows each evening."

They performed in popular venues such as the Chicago Stadium and Soldier Field in 1929, Palisades Park in New Jersey in 1930, the Shrine Circus in Los Angeles in 1932, the World's Grain Exhibition in Regina, Canada in 1933, the Al Ringling Theater in Baraboo, WI in 1936, and the Oriental Theatre in Chicago in 1939. They also hopscotched across the US and Canada including: Montreal, Boston, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Sioux Falls, Cincinnati, Dallas, Vancouver, Billings, Des Moines, Wichita, Omaha, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and St. Louis in addition to countless small towns. They were very successful enjoying a life of freedom and acceptance unusual for Japanese immigrants at the time. That changed on December 7, 1941.

part two to come next week...

Buck n Jack

I posted this photo back when I only had 20 visits per week traffic. I punched it up a bit in Photoshop. I may go back and clean up some of the other hazy ones. The reason that I'm reposting it is because I've been getting quite a bit of traffic from an odd link. Follow these steps and see the result.

Go to Google.
Click on Images.
Type in Expo 67 and Search Images.
Now find the third image over in the first row titled "US pavilion at the Expo 67"
Click on the image and Whammo!!!
You end up at my page, but only the current month.

I'm pretty sure somebody saw the original post and created the link to the blog and not the specific page. So now I get a steady stream of about a half dozen visitors per week from this link. The odd part is that the image in Google is an old post card from wikipedia and not my photo. Anyhow, if it brings people in who are interest in the Montreal all the better. Maybe that's where my Ohio State reader came from.

Watercolor - Siena, Italy

So here is the last in the Watercolor series. This is the one I am the most proud of and the one we have actually framed. For reference here are the first, second, and third in the series so you can see the progression.

Siena was a day trip from Florence. The city was picturesque, but did not have many must-see sites. So it was perfect for doing watercolor. Meeting before in the Piazza del Campo, seeing the cathedral, settling down to create a watercolor, then meeting up again in the Piazza.

From here, I will return to posting photos every Friday unless I find a sketch of interest.

Snow Removal in Montreal

This post and the next will regard the different ways that Montreal and Chicago deal with snow respectively. They are primarily to explain to those in the opposite city how things are done in each city.

One of the fascinating aspects about winters here in Montreal and many parts of Quebec is that the local governments actually cart away the snow instead of just plowing it to the side. It makes sense since the snow piles lining the streets would easily be ten feet high or more. Plus available parking would be greatly reduced along with the width of the streets. This is evident after each major snowfall. So here is a play by play of the snow removal process. Ed of Blork fame also wrote about it more eloquently for BootsnAll Travel a few years back. The difference is that I have pictures to show people back in Chitown. I've been wanting to do this since my first winter here. Anyhow, here's the drill.

Signs like the orange ones below are posted along the street to advise residents that they will be clearing the street during the specified 12 hour period and that parking is not allowed. They usually give 12 hours notice. At the beginning of the time period, tow trucks make their way down the street and blare a distinctive horn when they come upon a car. If no one comes out to move the car, it is towed away.

Once the street is cleared of cars, these mini-bulldozers push the snow from the sidewalks out to the street. These are the same mini-bulldozers that clear the sidewalks. Yes, those of you in Chicago, the city clears the sidewalks. No walking on shoe width icy snow packed footpaths.

Then construction graders and front-end loaders are used to pile the snow up into a nice ridge going down the street.

Then the queen mother of all snowblowers comes out. It is usually attached to the front of a truck or another piece of construction equipment. Following behind are an army of dump trucks all waiting to be filled with snow, dirt, pebbles, leaves, small deceased animals, or whatever else is buried in the snow.

So then the snowblower moves slowly down the street filling a dumptruck moving alongside until it is full and replaced. I've seen a few times now where 2 or 3 trucks are needed per block.

The snow is then carted away to dumping sites. I had seen them around town, but it took me a while to realize that these 3-story mountains were actually where the snow went. The one in our suburb is on average 20 feet deep and about the size of a football field by the end of the season. I would love to say that they don't melt until late July or that they become year-round resident glaciers. But in actuality, they melt away usually by the first of May.

So there you have it. That's the impressive (and expensive) method of snow removal here in Montreal. I'm really glad to have gotten this post written. It has been one that I really wanted to write from the beginning.

Life in Hell - 24 Warning Signs of Stress

Before the Simpsons, there was Life in Hell. I was processing some old boxes of miscellaneus items and came across these cartoons I have saved after all these years. The other will be posted later. Click on the image for a larger view.

When I was in high school I would drive every Thursday night into the Lakeview neighborhood and pick up a Chicago Reader. There were three things I was looking for. Firstly, I sent in typed up 3x5 cards to the "Personals" section under various aliases with what a teenager considered witty quotes and banter such as "A woman begins by loving love and ends up loving a man. A man begins by loving a woman and ends up loving love." Secondly, I religiously read News of the Weird. Lastly, I read Life in Hell. As with the Simpsons, it is a social commentary, but more on a personal relation level. I found this one appropriate for the stress created by the holidaze. Work is crazy with people wanting stuff before the end of the year. There are various holiday parties to prepare for and attend. Then there is the gift foraging. Next one will be about work when we return after the holidaze.

Population of Montreal in 2005

I have mentioned this before, but I get a lot of people coming here when they do a search for 'population of Montreal in 2005'. Now I don't know why people are looking for 'population of Montreal in 2005' or more importantly why my blog keeps coming up in searches for 'population of Montreal in 2005'. I'm listed second currently on searches for 'population of Montreal in 2005'. Do you think I'll become #1 if I keep mentioning 'population of Montreal in 2005'. It seems my post on the language demographics on the island are the page that is referred to when looking for the 'population of Montreal in 2005'. But for those of you who are not interested in the language demographics and truthfully want to find out what is the 'population of Montreal in 2005'. Here is your answer. Drum roll please....

The Population of Montreal in 2005 (2001 actually) is.....

1 812 723 of the nicest people you could meet in the world.

So there you go. Now you know the 'population of Montreal in 2005'. I really hope you can all sleep well. Aw heck, since I love numbers here are some more. The population of the Montreal Metropolitan area in 2005 (actually 2001) is 3 650 000. The population of the city of Chicago in 2005 (2000) is 2 896 016 of the nicest people you also could meet in the world. And the population of the Chicago Metropolitan (Chicagoland) area in 2005 (2000) is 9 157 540.

Enjoy.

My Beaujolais Nouveau Story

This morning French wine lovers are waking up with a hangover. Last night at one minute past midnight the newest batch of wine from Burgundy's Beaujolais region was released. Around the world people hold Beaujolais Nouveau parties to celebrate the occasion. And to start the festivities the celebrant yells out 'Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!' ('The New Beaujolais has arrived!')

This leads to my Beaujolais Nouveau story. Everytime I hear the word 'Beaujolais' this is what comes to mind. Ten years ago (it's been that long already?) I spent my second stint living in France. This time, as with the first, I got by without a visa. Instead I stayed in the country by doing back to back 3-month tourist visas by leaving the country every three months. Nobody really checked, but I didn't want to chance it. And it gave me a chance to travel a bit.

It was getting around the time that my previous 3-month visa was up and I needed to leave the country. The school, where my fiancée at the time was finishing up her studies, advertised a weekend bus trip to London. So I signed up. The night of the bus departure the guy (Guy) who rans the school cafet (café) decided to have a little Beaujolais Nouveau party. He served bad Beaujolais and the school horn band came and played. There was quite a bit of merriment with swing dancing, drinking, and French hors d'oeuvres.

It came time to leave and as those of us who were leaving went down to the bus I noticed that most of the others were first or second year students. Most were away from home the first time and they were very inebriated. As the bus took off everyone was singing, laughing, making loud comments... Suddenly from the back of the bus someone starts screaming 'UN SAC!! UN SAC!!!' Almost instantaneously there was that distinctive human roar and a loud splashing sound as the aisle filled up with semi-digested wine and party snacks. With that, a very astute student jumps up and screams 'Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!!!'