Discovering Family Heritage Through 1950s Japanese Letters

Letters have a unique power to transcend time, connecting us to voices from the past in ways that feel surprisingly immediate and personal. Karen Miller, an eighth-grade English language arts teacher at Maiden Middle School in North Carolina, discovered this firsthand when she inherited 250 letters written by family members from Japan to Pennsylvania in the early 1950s.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I am Devin Pintosa, your host.
We are here at the NCMLE, thatis, the North Carolina Mid-Level
Educators Conference inCharlotte, north Carolina.
We are here joined by KarenMiller, who is an educator here
in North Carolina, but she isalso at Maiden Middle School,

(00:29):
but she is also a podcasterherself and she has a website
called from McClay, from.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
McClay to.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Zamacom, from mcleodazamacom, and she's going
to share some information aboutthat and about what she's doing
and things that are going on andsome ways that that applies to
what she's doing here at NCMLE.
Well, so welcome and tell ussome about what you do.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
So it's important, for I'm an English language arts
teacher for eighth grade andit's important that I think that
teachers write as well andcreate as well as expecting
their students to.
So this project is from.
I inherited 250 letters thatwere written in the early 1950s

(01:22):
from Japan back to my family inPennsylvania by my aunts, and
it's great when I'm trying toteach historical fiction because
I can talk about all the stuffI learned and how I integrate
that into the podcast and maybeeventually in a historical
fiction book.
But I've learned so much aboutlife in the 1950s and my family

(01:46):
and myself.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Wonderful and can you share some key takeaways from
what you've learned your journey?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I have learned that I'm way more like my crazy
red-haired aunt than I thought Iwas, and I have learned that
they think about so many of thesame things.
I'm 60.
They were in their 20s and 30sbut it's still relevant.
Things from the 1950s are stillrelevant to my life and

(02:17):
hopefully my listeners, and atthe very least this is something
I can leave for my fourchildren and my grandchildren to
know about their family, forpeople that they didn't know,
who still love me and love them,and it's like the love of my
family and the traditions justcome out through these letters
and make me feel still connected.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
That is so wonderful.
You know, our last guest thatspoke to us, who is also a
podcaster, talked a lot aboutfamily connections that are
built through this process.
A lot of times it's the productof research and getting in
front of relatives.
You know whether they're livingor no longer with us.
In your case, you have a lot ofletters, Is that right?

Speaker 3 (02:58):
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(03:23):
and you can receive a freetrial or a free preview book of
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Hope to hear from you soon.
Bye-bye.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yes, so these letters .
I realized that my children,who are very smart, weren't
going to be able to read thecursive, Because I grew up
reading that cursive and one ofthem, their handwriting is just
horrible, and so I thought, well, I'll transcribe it.
So I have a book of theseletters now that I'm creating.

(03:51):
That's hundreds of pages.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
And then I try to like make explanations for
things, do research about thingsthat they talk about and, for
instance, I found out thathydroponics, which I'm really
into, I have, like the gardeneverywhere right beside my
podcasting equipment where Igrow my spices.
That was developed in Japan asa result of the starvation that

(04:16):
people were experiencing afterWorld War II.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Wow, that's amazing and all those touch points with
history and flowing through withyour family.
And now, here you are, doingyour own podcasting.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
So I'm related to President McKinley?
Oh wow.
So I have another one inpre-production where we're going
to do all historical fiction,because I don't have letters or
anything, I just have artifactsand the family Bible and all
that stuff about connections tothat family.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Oh that's wonderful that one's going to be called
Deep Below, deep Below.
All right, that's wonderful,that's great.
Is there anything else you'dlike to share with the NCMLA
community?

Speaker 2 (04:57):
This is a great opportunity.
I'm excited.
I've always wanted to go tothis conference.
I've been teaching for 25 yearsand this year my awesome
principal said do you want to goto the middle school conference
?

Speaker 1 (05:07):
I was like, yes, yes, yes, I do.
That's great and I've seen alot of friends and teachers that
taught my children oh wow.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
So it's great being here.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Wow, that's great.
It's a full 360.
Yeah, that's awesome.
That's awesome Again.
This is Karen Miller, and sheis here with us from Maiden
Middle School in North Carolinaand she is also the podcaster
with the podcast called.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
From LeClay to Zama.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
From LeClay to Zama.
From LeClay to Zamacom.
Thank you so much forparticipating with us today and
I hope you have a great rest ofthe conference here.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Thank you.