Ghosts of History Book 1: Mount Lemmon, Tucson, Az

Heading to the Camp

"I didn't spend my childhood in barbed wire internment camps so I could listen to grown adults today cry oppression because they have to wear a mask at Costco" - George Takei

"You must be who Josh had talked about over the phone yesterday," Genji said when he saw Josh and Xitll when they arrived at the parking area at the Gordon Hirabayashi campground which was on Prison Camp Road off Catalina highway. "After nearly 48 years since it burned down and then being turned into a campground, not many people know its history other than it's connected to Gordon Hirabayashi," Lily said looking around the dirt parking lot. Gen was shocked that she knew about that when not many people learn it in history class. "Ok that's something that we know but there is more to this place than a great campsite right?" Josh said looking at his friends. Everyone knew that there was a story to be told about the camp but they had to find it to do so. "What do we know about the camp to start off with so we have a baseline going forward while we are here," Lily said taking out a notebook from her bag. Xitll told her all the info that she had on the camp which was quite a bit of info to the rest of the group shock, "You know your stuff on the camp don't you?" Gen said to Xitll after she was done to which she was embarrassed over that a little. "I had done some research on this place for a case file that I'm working on mainly after the vision I had  the other day," Xitll said

"What is the case file for?" Gen asked when Xitll said that. "It's to tell the story of the place because yes people know about this place due to campground but the true story that's what people don't know about despite knowing some of its history already," Xitll said. Josh knew that telling stories had always been a well-known talent of Xitllali's which people were always impressed by. her storytelling and photographs were what had gotten Xitllali noticed by National Geographic and other major publications like Time and the New York Times. "So you're a storyteller and telling other's stories is what you do," Lily said knowing that within her culture that is something that is done to pass on wisdom from one generation to another though it was also a way to pass down tradition. "I am it's something that always pushed me to be better and helped me to move on from what had happened with my family," Xitll said knowing that it was something that she could create for herself. All of them know that they have something that they do when it comes to dealing with the stuff that they are dealing with on a daily basis. 

Genji, it's his love of cooking traditional dishes that his grandparents ate before immigrating from Japan. Learning the traditional beliefs of their ancestors and reconnecting with them had been something that both Lily and Xitllali share with them wanting to learn from each other. Josh had been the only one that had been connected to both his family and religious traditions compared to his three friends though they are going to teach him a few things as well. "Genji since you are the only one out of the three of us that is of Japanese descent is there anything that you want to do out of respect for those who had to deal with the internment camps?"Xitll asked as they started to head to where the camp is. Genji was shocked that Xitllali wanted to know how he wants to deal with respecting the memory of those who had to deal with the internment camps back in the 40s. "I want to honor their memory at the camp according to each of their beliefs once this is all over because I don't want to do it before we figure out the camp and its spirits," Genji said loving that someone wanted to learn about his Shinto beliefs while giving respect to those who had to deal with trauma. 

It didn't take long for the group to find the first signs of the foundations of the camp not that far off from the trail. "There is some rubble from the camp buildings and we could follow the rubble to find the rest of the camp," Lily said as she picked up a chunk of concrete off the ground. Getting off the trail, they walked into the field and saw the foundations of buildings every few feet that were sun-bleached from the past nearly 50 years of being under the Arizona heat. "It's sad that very few of the camps didn't get destroyed at all that tells the story of what happened to Japanese Americans during the war," Lily said looking around and seeing the ruins of the camp that was among the weeds and shrubbery. "That's because the US wanted to forget that the Japanese Internment Camps happened compared to the concentration camps in Europe," Josh said and everyone knew why he said what he said in the first place. While Xitllali and Lily's ancestors never had to deal with the kind of stuff that Josh's ancestors had to deal with but they had to deal with their own generational trauma to work through.

They all knew that this case is going to be one that is going to be both inspiring and sad because they are going to tell the story of the internment camps through the lens of Catlinia Federal Honors Camp.