Monica Sone and Betty MacDonald

Monica Sone - and Betty MacDonald fan club fans, perhaps you are one of our winners of  Betty MacDonald fan contest. You'll be able to find the names of our winners in  Betty MacDonald fan club newsletter November.  Betty MacDonald fan club contest question was: What happened to Betty MacDonald  on October 30, 1938? ( see answer below ) What's about a new breakfast at the bookstore  with Brad and Nick? Enjoy a great Sunday, Max   The Plague and I ABOUT US   |   SUBSCRIBE    |   E-MAIL EDITOR   |   HOME Issue 5 2002 Anne Finger:  Betty MacDonald is best known for her book  The Egg and I (a bestseller when it was  published in 1945, it was made into a movie  starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurry) and her children's books, the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series.  The Egg and I is the story of a city girl who,  at the age of 18, marries a chicken farmer --  from "that delightful old school of husbands  who lift up the mattresses to see if the little woman has dusted the springs" -- and settles down with him to raise children and poultry -- and conceives an  almost pathological hatred of chickens. Published in 1945, The Egg and I is a classic  of the wisecracking, disgruntled dame variety -- but it isn't  hard to see that beneath that veneer, the book  voiced real complaints about women's lot in marriage and a tough streak of anti-romantic realism. (It also  contributed to the image of Seattle and its environs as a realm of backwoods eccentrics -- a far cry from  the current stereotype of grunge rockers and  latte-drinking drones for Microsoft.) The Plague and I (1948), MacDonald's subsequent   -- and largely ignored -- autobiographical follow-up,  concerns the year she spent in a tuberculosis sanitarium.  In it, she brings the same grim humor to the story of her  institutionalization and the dehumanizing treatment  she experiences there.

Monica Sone and Betty MacDonald

 


Monica Sone - and Betty MacDonald fan club fans, 

first Betty MacDonald fan club honor member Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's book The Plague and I would celebrate her 96th birthday today.  

Monica Sone passed away in 2011 shortly after her 92th birthday.

To me it's quiete a shock to learn the depressing facts of internment of Japanse, Japanese Americans, European and European Americans in a democratic society.

Over 31.000 people were kept interned until July 1948 - more than three years after the war in Europe had ended.

I hope we can learn from the past and we are willing to.

Betty MacDonald Fan Club honor member Monica Sone was furious at the blatant disregard of her civil rights.

Monica Sone said to Betty MacDonald Memorial Award winner Wolfgang Hampel: 

I didn't move from Seattle - they moved me away and I never came back.
( only for family visits )

Of course everybody can understand Monica Sone's feelings.
A democratic society has to protect the civil rights of their people. Otherwise it's no longer a democratic society. 

A simple fact.

In the camps, internees were seen more as prisoners of war than as civilians. 

To name such camps for example Camp Harmony is simply awful.

Just imagine the loss of property, the personal insults, the barbed wire, armed guards, the dust storms, horrible food, unfinished barracks, barren land, shared huts, inadequate washing and toilet facilities, green uniforms, military work details, snapping to attention at an officer's approach.

Therefore Monica Sone's Nisei Daughter is a very important book.

Betty MacDonald Fan Club founder, author, poet and Monica Sone's good friend Wolfgang Hampel told us that Nisei Daughter belonged to the very few books he was rereading. I know many of us do the very same.

Betty MacDonald encouraged her friend Monica Sone in publishing her book 'Nisei Daughter'.

Betty MacDonald said: 

'Nisei Daughter ' is a very remarkable book, humorous and delightfully readable, that takes you into the heart of a Japanese-American family and into the mind of the sensitive, perceptive eldest daughter.

The internment of the American born Japanese during World War II is handled with honesty and rare dispassion. 

It is certainly to Monica Sone's credit that she she still sings God bless America. 
 
Betty MacDonald was right. Having Monica Sone's experiences I'm not sure I would.

I agree with John Heitman "In a world where there are lots of smoke screens and J. Edgar Hoovers, an individual can really be hurt."


Take care,

Lasse

Vita Magica

Betty MacDonald fan club

Betty MacDonald forum  

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( English ) 

Wolfgang Hampel - Wikipedia ( German )

Wolfgang Hampel - Monica Sone - Wikipedia ( English )

Wolfgang Hampel - Ma and Pa Kettle - Wikipedia ( English ) 

Wolfgang Hampel in Florida State University 

Betty MacDonald fan club founder Wolfgang Hampel 

Betty MacDonald fan club interviews on CD/DVD
  
Betty MacDonald fan club items 

Betty MacDonald fan club items  - comments

Betty MacDonald fan club organizer Linde Lund 

Monica Sone and Betty MacDonald

I'm Maria,

I adore Wolfgang Hampel's interviews with Betty MacDonald's sister Alison Bard Burnett. It's real Bard magic. She is such a wonderful, wonderful storyteller. Alison Bard Burnett is the mother of famous artist and writer Darsie Beck, honour member of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Society.
As a special Betty MacDonald Bonus Alison Bard Burnett and daughter Alison Beck share the most interesting info about Laurelhurst, Chimacum, Vashon Island, Carmel, Ma and Pa Kettle, Nancy and Plum and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. It's so cute!
I love Alison's warmhearted and so very witty stories about her mother Sydney Bard and her sisters Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard. She also remembers Monica Sone very well.

My favourite in Alison Bard Burnett's memories is her sister Dede. Alison Bard Burnett shares the most fascinating stories and thoughts about her very gifted sister Dorothea Goldsmith. What a lady!

Yours,

Maria

Alison Bard Burnett, Betty MacDonald's and Mary Bard's brilliant sister, beloved all over the world. Her very funny and witty interviews with Wolfgang Hampel about her famous sisters Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard are real treasures.

http://alisonbard.blogspot.com/

Ma and Pa Kettle Society
http://maandpakettlesociety.blogspot.com/2010/05/betty-macdonalds-ma-and-pa-kettle.html

Betty MacDonald Fan Club
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bettymacdonald/

http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/06/betty-macdonald-fan-club-items-comments.html
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/betty-macdonald-fan-club-items.html
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/betty-macdonald-interviews-on-cddvd_17.html

Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter, Betty MacDonald's friend, described as Kimi in The Plague and I, honour member of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society
http://monicasone.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone Society
http://monicasonesociety.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone Fan Club
http://monicasonefanclub.blogspot.com/

Alison Bard Burnett, Betty MacDonald's and Mary Bard's brilliant sister, beloved all over the world. Her very funny and witty interviews with Wolfgang Hampel about her famous sisters Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard are real treasures.
http://alisonbard.blogspot.com/

Darsie Beck Artist and writer of Your Essential Nature - A Practical Guide to Greater Creativity and Spiritual Harmony - nephew of authors Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard - Honour Member of Betty MacDonald Society and Fan Club
http://darsiebeck.blogspot.com/


Linde Lund created the Betty MacDonald, Monica Sone and Wolfgang Hampel Blogs
http://www.blogger.com/profile/15388942569315864610

Betty MacDonald Interviews on CD and DVD

http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/06/betty-macdonald-fan-club-items-comments.html
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/betty-macdonald-fan-club-items.html
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/2009/07/betty-macdonald-interviews-on-cddvd_17.html

Betty MacDonald Community
http://bettymacdonaldcommunity.blogspot.com/

You can find more info about our Betty MacDonald projects and events in the future.

Wolfgang Hampel, author of the Betty MacDonald Biography and winner of the first Betty MacDonald Memorial Award founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Society in 1983. We are the largest Betty MacDonald Fan Club in the world - with members in 25 countries. Join our wonderful international Betty MacDonald Community!
We have tons of fun!

Betty MacDonald - Fan Club of Betty MacDonald and Society of Betty MacDonald
http://bettymacdonald.blogspot.com/

Betty MacDonald Fan Club
http://bettymacdonaldfanclub.blogspot.com/

Betty MacDonald Forum
http://bettymacdonaldforum.blogspot.com/

Betty MacDonald Society
http://bettymacdonaldsociety.blogspot.com/

Mary Bard Society
http://marybardsociety.blogspot.com/

Alison Bard Burnett Fan Club and Society
http://alisonbard.blogspot.com/

Nancy and Plum Fan Club
http://nancyandplumfanclub.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Fan Club
http://pigglewigglefanclub.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter, Betty MacDonald's friend, described as Kimi in The Plague and I, honour member of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society
http://monicasone.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone Society
http://monicasonesociety.blogspot.com/

Monica Sone Fan Club
http://monicasonefanclub.blogspot.com/

Darsie Beck Artist and writer of Your Essential Nature - A Practical Guide to Greater Creativity and Spiritual Harmony - nephew of authors Betty MacDonald and Mary Bard - Honour Member of Betty MacDonald Society and Fan Club
http://darsiebeck.blogspot.com/

Wolfgang Hampel Founder of Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society
http://wolfganghampel.blogspot.com/