how we share our lives via honorary degrees to those interned during WWII

Anyone who knows me knows that I read a lot of stuff on:
1. California news, with particular attention to the Southland. 2. UCLA Sports.
okay, flash back to Saturday, May 15, but stay with me.

Following a lifting of a University of California ban on honorary degrees last year, UCLA this year awarded honorary degrees to 48 students who were removed from school following Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, and were among 110,000 persons of Japanese ancenstry, many of whom were American citizens, that were forcibly relocated in internment camps under FDR's Exec. Order 9066. (This blog isn't the place to get into the details of that part of history.)

The Los Angeles Times has a story on Saturday's UCLA honorary degree ceremony.

A lifetime ago, the Yamaguchi family labored long and hard in a chop-suey shop in downtown Los Angeles to send their son, Kei, to university, hoping it would give him the chance for a better life. World War II interrupted the immigrant family's dreams, but on Saturday, Kei Yamaguchi finally received his degree from UCLA — almost seven decades after he left.
"It feels great," said the 91-year-old Yamaguchi, who is still active in the family termite-control business.
He was among 48 Japanese Americans who were awarded honorary degrees, some posthumously, in a special ceremony at the Westwood campus.

But what struck me today, was that in two totally different places I go to each morning, I came across personal accounts of how much Saturday's ceremony meant to family members of students, now deceased, who were removed from school during WWII.

First, via an L.A. observed entry, from author Jenny Burman, entitled, "UCLA does right by a neighborhood teacher and a mom."

My friend Darrell, who is known as an actor as well as fly fisherman and L.A. Times employee, posted a brief but moving entry in advance of the ceremony on Flyfishermen's Forum, describing how his parents married hastily in order not to be separated in internment, were sent first to Santa Anita and then Wyoming. His mother was the daughter of a newspaper editor. She was also the mother a kid who fished Echo Park Lake with skill and passion. I never got to meet Ms. Fujioka, but I feel a sense of relief on her behalf that the university stepped up to claim on of its own.

And here's that post on FlyFisherman's forum from frequent poster "Flykuni", with nearly 3,300 posts since 2003, entitled "My mom gets her UCLA degree tomorrow!, posthumous"

    They re-built the community after the war. We enjoyed being Scouts, playing in sports leagues, going to the community carnivals. They bent their backs as gardeners and farmers so we wouldn't have to. The span is amazing: from one generation villified and forcibly removed from the West Coast, the hated, backstabbing Japs, to college educations and white collar respectability, golf and surburban living. Tomorrow, dad dons a cap and gown and receives the honorary diploma. We'll all be there.

I also read a lot of on UCLA sports, and there, on the Bruinsnation blog, was a fanpost titled "Dad Gets His UCLA Degree! " from poster UCLA7477 on his late father-in-law.

    Because Dad was subsequently drafted into the US Army and served during the Korean War, then married and had a family, he never was able to resume his studies. But ever afterwards he always took a great interest in our school, and he was extremely proud when his daughter became the first of his family to graduate from college (UCLA'74). When I later met and married her, he and I spent many wonderful hours watching the games on TV or talking about all things Bruin.

For me, these two examples show how the ways people who are frequent contributors/commentors on blogs will share important pieces of their lives with people whom they've established electonic bonds with, who they may have never met, but have a lot in common. And sharing off-topic but deeply meaningful moments with that circle is imporant, to the poster, and to the community.

- M.