Japanese Archives - The Baytown Project

Young author mixes magic, Japanese culture

David Berkowitz — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 13:34:19 +0000

Madilyn Lawrence holds her first book, “The Magic Discovery.”

“I’m a blooming author, I guess you could say. I actually have published two books, the first one in 2017. I had the idea for it back in sixth grade and wrote it then. I kind of lost focus with the project for a bit. Then in 10th grade, I picked it back up and rewrote it to completion, edited it, self-published it, and put it out there. It’s called ‘The Magic Discovery.’ It’s about this girl, and she’s introduced into the world of magic. She discovers that there are two main groups of magicians. They’re neither good nor bad. They just have different beliefs on how magic should be used. And she discovers that there’s a deep divide between them and … sorry, no spoilers. I feel like as I was writing, I was unconsciously creating a metaphor to represent America today, how divided we are.

“My second book, ‘The Fall of Magic,’ is the continuation of events in the first book. And I’m almost done with the third book, which is the final one in the series. It’s about 500 pages, last I checked. The writing itself is done. It’s just the revision that’s taking a while.

“Another thing about my books is that I have mixed elements of Japanese culture within them. I’m studying Japanese at the moment, and I’m going to take a trip to Japan soon. I hope to eventually move to Japan and work there.”

What do your parents think about that?
“They’re probably worried. But they support me.”

— Madilyn Lawrence

Madilyn, 18, is a student at IMPACT Early College High School. She was born bilaterally and profoundly deaf. Her books are available on Amazon.

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Reiki helps promote healing, reduce stress

David Berkowitz — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 21:02:58 +0000

After caring for patients for many years as a nurse, Ralph Zamarron still has a strong desire to help people. One way he is doing that is through Reiki therapy. Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.

Related:

(Note: Ralph Zamarron passed away on Jan. 27, 2021.)

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Asian heritage tattoos most meaningful

David Berkowitz — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 18:26:31 +0000

Devon Terrell is proud of being part of two cultures.

“I started getting tattoos when I was 18. Luckily I had friends who knew how to do them, so I just let them experiment on me. I think the last time I got one was 2013. I have a lot of them. The only thing I’ve got left to do probably is my back.”

Which tattoos are most meaningful to you?
“My left leg has this Japanese theme. It really represents my Asian heritage. When my dad was in the Army, he met my mom while serving in Korea. I was born there, but I came to the states when I was about 1. My parents got divorced, and my dad got custody of me.

“The last time I saw or talked to my mom, I think I was 5. But I’m still interested in that part of my heritage. I read a lot about it, like history books, and I try to learn words every now and then. It’s still important to me. It’s part of who I am.

“My dad is African-American. My mom is Korean. That’s like two different cultures, and I’m part of both. I think that’s pretty cool.”

— Devon Terrell

Related:

Young realist enjoys living a carefree life

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Anime, manga lover at peace with her ‘weirdness’

David Berkowitz — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 02:26:48 +0000

“I’m more accepting of my own weirdness these days. That wasn’t the case when I was younger.

“When I was a kid, no one talked about watching anime. No one talked about the video games I liked. No one talked about reading manga or reading Japanese comics. I just felt like, ‘Oh, I’m so weird. Why don’t I have very many friends who like this stuff? OK, I’ll just read it by myself.’

“When I was in elementary school, I remember waking up at 5 a.m. to watch ‘Sailor Moon.’ In junior high, I really got into the video games, comics, manga, stuff like that. But I was pretty shy about it.

“Nowadays, thankfully, it’s more mainstream to have that type of hobby. It’s OK to like that kind of stuff, so that’s cool. And that stuff is paying my rent now, too. I guess I’m feeling more at peace with the weirdness.”

— Jennifer Challenger

Jennifer is a translator at a company that deals with anime. She translates shows from Japanese to English, and she answers questions about translations or untranslated text and speech. She also helps with pronunciation and culture questions for shows the company works on.

Early interest in Japanese leads to teaching abroad

David Berkowitz — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 02:35:50 +0000

Jennifer Challenger with some of the junior high students she taught in Japan.

“I always wanted to learn languages, ever since I was a kid. This is embarrassing, but I used to pretend I could speak Spanish. I’d watch Telemundo and be like, ‘Oh, I understand.’ I just really liked the sound of it. Maybe it was because my parents both spoke a different language. They speak French Patois because they’re from the West Indies, Dominica.

“Then I started to develop this interest in Japanese. Originally, I liked the video games. Then I became interested in the cartoons, the anime and manga. But what I think really made me decide to commit was listening to the music. I had a lot of favorite Japanese musical artists, and I wanted to be able to understand what they were singing. So I studied Japanese at UT, including a year abroad in Japan.”

She moved to Japan following graduation, and taught English to junior high students and adult women.

“Working with the women one-on-one was pretty cool, but teaching the junior high kids took a lot of getting used to. Honestly, I didn’t like teaching. I care about helping people reach their goals, but I just didn’t think I was a very good teacher.

“I was a shy, kind of nervous person. So it was hard for me to go up to someone and ask questions, especially if I didn’t know the person. But I made myself do it. I just forced myself. There’s that thing that says the more you do something, the more you get used to it, and the less scary or difficult it becomes. So I made it a habit every day to find some kid who I’d never talked to before and go talk to him.

“When I first got to the school I was thinking, ‘Why am I here? I don’t even like kids that much.’ But by the end of my second year I was like, ‘My babies. I’m going to miss my babies.’”

— Jennifer Challenger