Tomi Talk

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

I recently finished reading Naomi Hirahara’s two other mystery novels (I mentioned her in “Random October-ing Thoughts,” Oct. 18): “Summer of the Big Bachi,” “Snakeskin Shamisen” and a novel called “1001 Cranes.”

Mas Arai, who is Hirahara’s Kibei equivalent of Agatha Christie’s Monsieur Poirot, is a Los Angeles gardener who gets tangled up in crime-solving.

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

I write this early in the morning on November 5th, literally the dawn of a new era.

Having gone to sleep before hearing the election results (too afraid to hear what happened), I woke up at 4:30 a.m., too curious to slumber, and called a nearby 24 hour Kinko’s to inquire and learn, that miraculously, Barack Obama is now our new president!

I won’t really believe it until I see his smiling face on the front page of the New Orleans Times Picayune and the New YorkTimes...!

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

Have you ever read Naomi Hirahara’s mystery novels? Her characters are Japanese American, and she describes our culture in her books. I’ve only read “Gasa-Gasa Girl” so far (my father sent it to me for my birthday, along with two bags of omochi) and it is great! You can visit her website:www.naomihirahara.om for more info...

What is your favorite type of tea? I love Yamamoto Yama hoji-cha and oolong tea, but it is hard to find it here in New Orleans, so a Yonsei friend of mine sends me boxes of it from Oakland...

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

Greetings all! Thank you for tuning in again, and I hope you are enjoying the change in season. It is wonderfully cool in New Orleans now, and the flowers are blooming a bit again as they did in the spring, happy for respite from the heat.

I write this a bit early, so I am sure more bizarre, hair-curling events will happen between now and when this column comes out...

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

I’ve written about “honesty” and “trust” in the past. Lately, another virtue was brought to mind and so I am inclined to write about it this week, which happens to be the week I turn 41 years of age.

Hard to believe. I certainly don’t feel and am told I don’t look this particular age, nor do I have a house, children or a “real” job. I am not sure where I expected I would be at this age, or what my values were to be.

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

the storm passed over us
as we slumbered
through its climax

and oddly, the next day was rainy
(it’s usually blazing hot afterwards)

and tho we had no power,
the grass was submerged in
rainwater-turned-bathwater
we were happy and victorious
for we rode out the storm,
following our gut
despite the path
that could have
brought us to our end...

we left abbeville
a little more grateful
and brave, nourished by
hospitality, food and mother nature

we took with us
memories of his dog,
“miss blue” following us

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

a taxi-van to abbeville, louisiana
with the cat, steel pan, photographs,
computer, documents, original recordings,
binders of sheet music, clothes,
small heirlooms, my grandmother’s
african violet,
a few books and our bicycles in tow.

looking around our tiny slave quarter
one last time, i wondered what i’d
forgotten to take with me and

would we see it again? would it be flooded out?
would new orleans become a far distant memory, like atlantis?

i thought these things despite my instinct whispering, “everything

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

I am breathing slowly, in and out. I enjoy relative silence — intermittent chirping of birds or traffic can be heard, but I am not talking or busy doing. The phone is on mute, and the cat sits near me in her usual meditative state.

It is morning and the day hasn’t quite begun yet. Lists of things run through my mind, appointments to be kept, people to talk to and details to remember.

I could settle on any one of these items and consider all implications thoroughly, but instead I choose to leave it all behind.

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

Have you ever loved someone and lost that love? Do you love someone now, completely? Do you crave to have a love, someone you can trust and share your life with?

Perhaps romantic love in my life is especially important as I am not so close to my family and am not consistently part of any one culture.

For me, a lover becomes family and an essential compass in an ever-changing and somewhat uncertain world.

by DELIA TOMINO NAKAYAMA

Greetings all! I hope you are enjoying the summer as it seems to be whizzing by this year... Before we know it, fall will be turning the leaves different colors. We’ve still got more than a month left of sun, so there is still time for the beach! Say hello to the Pacific for me ~