Page 2 - MidWeek - June 22, 2022

2 MIDWEEK JUNE 22, 2022
with Robin Fujikawa
Pivoting On A Smile
“Hidden by its own shadow is what supports the candle.”
— Japanese proverb
TPicturing Patsy
There was a time when mov- ing my finger seemed impos- sible. I was 2 years old and paralyzed from the neck down with polio. With arduous physical therapy, I could eventually walk with crutch- es. Determined to be “normal,” I made“gee whiz” accomplishments in school — student government, science fairs — wherever I could. I wanted to impress, and I did!
hank goodness she didn’t get into medical school (discrimination) and then couldn’t get hired as a lawyer post law-school (she was a mother, God forbid!). If not
cidence! These stone carvings were telling me the answer was at the top. That night, I sat on the summit of this magnificent monument and meditated. As I did, waves of light rose through and past me. This mon- ument is a dynamo of rising energy, I thought, and I am sitting at its point of emergence.
for these stupid stereotypes, Patsy Mink wouldn’t have gone into politics to represent Hawai‘i, and thus never would have been the trailblazer who co-authored Title IX 50 years ago, the law mandating equal treatment for men and women involved in federally funded education programs. Simple, fair, powerful.
At the age of 22, I was at the height of this “over-achiever” trajectory: I was in Kyoto on a Japanese govern- ment scholarship to research the phi- losophy of a 13th century Zen master, working on my second master’s de- gree from a university in Kyoto, un- dergoing Zen training in a monastery and working on a doctorate from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. That is when I saw a smile that stopped me in my tracks.
This week, Mink joins other noted pioneers in the U.S. Cap- itol hallway as her portrait is raised there. The first woman of color in Congress (1965), and thus, the first Asian-American woman ever elected to Congress, Mink took career-altering (-shattering?) frustration and morphed it into greatness. Mink’s early career and deflating experiences made her more commit- ted, passionate and focused.
The author climbed Borobudur and experienced the rising energy emanating from the monument.
Since then, the need to be import- ant and to impress has been replaced by the realization that I simply need to get out of the way, listen and let the power of our universe do its thing.
Recently, Oklahoma’s near-complete domination of the Women’s College World Series softball tournament show- cased former Campbell High School star Jocelyn Alo leading her Sooner team. She toyed with pitchers throughout the post- season, as the home run superstar has done consistently during her record-setting college career. Daily coverage on national sports wires and prime time TV reinforced just how far women’s collegiate sports have come in the half-century since Mink and others fought for what’s right.
The smile belonged to a stone stat- ue of Buddha in a Kyoto museum. It seemed to be revealing something
stick, was climbing Borobudur, a pyramid-like Buddhist monument in Central Java.
Robin Fujikawa grew up in Pālolo Valley and graduated from Kaimukī High School. He lived in Japan for many years but returned to raise a family with his wife and care for his parents. He is now a retired philoso- phy professor.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Lynne Johnson and Robin Stephens Rohr.
Check out the wonderful, local documentary, Rise of the Wāhine, to learn how Mink (alongside former UH women’s athletics director Dr. Donnis Thompson) changed the entire landscape of college sports. In the early 1970s, there was little acknowledgment of most women’s college athletics. By the 1990s, KHNL and KFVE were showcasing UH by televising more women’s collegiate sports events — volleyball, softball, basketball, soccer and water polo — than any other TV/ca- ble entity in America. It was exciting, and what local viewers craved: a perfect personification of Paia Patsy’s powerful pursuit coming to fruition.
KELLEY
totally new to me. I had to find out what that was. The signage on the display case said “Borobudur.” Two weeks later, I landed in Indonesia and, on one crutch and a walking
As I ascended, my hair stood on end. The stone carvings that lined each level seemed to depict the worldview of the Zen master that had drawn me to Japan. What a coin-
New Century Schoolbook bold (scaled H 73.6)
Mink fought to ban discrimination in education. She also pushed for affordable childcare, child development and bi- lingual education issues, according to USA Today. Honoring Mink with a portrait (an “about time” moment) helps put into perspective just how far we’ve come since Mink first went to D.C., and yet also reminds us out how far we still need to go in many areas that witnessed watershed identity politics moments in the early 1970s. As Rod Stewart once succinctly sang, “Every picture tells a story, don’t it?” The magical Mink memento now hanging in Washington, D.C., sure does.
Think about it ...
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com