A Community Talk: What is the New Normal with COVID-19?

by | Jun 9, 2020 | COVID-19, News

J-Sei Connect

A Community Talk: What is the New Normal with COVID-19?

Thursday, July 2nd, 3 pm

What does re-opening look like in the Bay Area?  What is the new normal with COVID-19 still looming? How and why does age effect these considerations?  Join us for a community talk on navigating the next phase with a health practitioner and aging specialist. Journey Meadows, nurse practitioner and Associate Director of Lifelong Medical Center will be the guest speaker.

According to the California State Health Department guidelines, Stage 2 expansion will be phased in gradually. Bay Area counties vary in how they will re-open. What does that look like for each or us?

Scroll down to see the video recording of our past J-Sei Connect Community Talks.

 

Journey Meadows, Associate Director of Lifelong Medical Center, shares her insights on how seniors navigate the “new normal” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

J-Sei Connect

A Community Talk: What is “Confinement” with COVID-19?

Thursday, May 7th

How are we dealing with “confinement”?  What fears and worries come up?  And how does our past family experiences as Japanese Americans inform our present? As shelter-in-place continues, the isolation can be even more challenging.  Our guest speakers offered their thoughts on forced confinement then and now.

Writings on COVID-19 by Jonathan Hirabayashi and Joanne Wong, participants of the J-Sei memoir writing class; and reflections from community guest Amy Iwasaki Mass were shared. Then, Stephen Murphy Shigematsu, writer, psychologist and educator, offered his thoughts on this time of COVID-19 and how we carry experiences of our past and cultural values that offer us ways to navigate.

To see writings by the Writing Class and try write your own reflection, visit here.

 

 

VIDEO: What is  Confinement During COVID-19

Hear the J-Sei Community Talk with live readings of written prose by Joanne Wong and Jonathan Hirabayashi.  Listen to reflections on “Confinement Now and Then” by Amy Iwasaki Mass.  See the slide and lecture presentation on “The Essence of Shikata Ga Nai” by Stephen Murphy Shigematsu.  Also, included are questions and comments from the participants on how we are doing as a community during COVID-19.

The Essence of Shikata ga Nai

My mentor at Harvard, Kiyo Morimoto, a Nisei from Pocatello, Idaho taught me about the various meanings of Shikata ga nai. While it could mean “giving up” to some people, he felt that he gradually learned the true meaning and value of the common expression as he matured. In its true essence, Shikata ga nai is a beautiful expression of the human spirit. It acknowledges that there are times and things in life that we cannot change or cannot control. We need to accept these things. In this acceptance we embrace our helplessness and vulnerability, and new energy is born to do what we are able to do within the limitations of our environment and conditions. This was the spirit of the Issei that enabled them to endure harsh conditions during incarceration and to put their energy into life-giving projects in nurturing plants and creating lovely works of art. Shikata ga nai consciousness is something in our legacy that we need to remember today to suppor us in these difficult times.
– Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu

Guest Bios

Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu is a psychologist with a doctorate from Harvard University, and training in clinical and community psychology, yoga, meditation, and Chinese medicine. He was professor of education and at the University of Tokyo and director of the international counseling center. At Stanford University he co founded the LifeWorks program in contemplative and integrative education.

His work balances traditional wisdom and modern science in designing mindful, gentle, and compassionate educational practices and spaces. He uses storytelling, both written and oral, to enhance whole-person learning and mindful citizenship. His latest book is From Mindfulness to Heartfulness: Transforming Self and Society with Compassion. He is the author of When Half Is Whole and Multicultural Encounters; and coauthor of Synergy, Healing, and Empowerment, and several books in Japanese.

Jonathan Hirabayashi operated a business designing and producing exhibition graphics, primarily for public institutions in the Bay Area. Now mostly retired, he spends his time writing, vegetable gardening and working on a lifetime accumulation of home/honey-do projects

Joanne Wong taught elementary school in Alameda, then moved abroad with her husband Gene where she taught dependents of military personnel in Germany and Japan. Upon returning to the U.S., she became a stay-at-home mom for 20 years. She resumed her teaching career, working with blind and low vision students. In retirement, she enjoys traveling and spending time with her two grandsons.

Dr. Amy Iwasaki Mass is Professor Emerita at Whittier College, where she taught for 25 years. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, except for the years she was incarcerated with her family in the Heart Mountain, Wyoming concentration camp. Dr. Mass has made numerous presentations and published many articles about the psychological impact of the concentration camp experience on Japanese Americans. Her family remembrances and testimony from the Commission on Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians (CWIRC) can be found on 50 Objects.

J-Sei Connect: How the Community Responds to Bay Area Shelter In Place

Thursday, April 2, 2020 – video

With the mounting concerns of COVID-19, the virus disaster has dramatically altered our daily reality.  How can we adapt to this trajectoy and how might we move forward?

 

Guest speakers Art Chen, Satsuki Ina, Alan Maeda, Barbara Morita, Diane Wong, and Rev Michael Yoshii provide support, address needs, shift our focus, and help to prepare the community. They offer a variety of perspectives wih experience in health care, social service, spirituality, and community advocacy.