December 28, 2011
This one is all about Asian connections.
It
began
at
Bellaken
Garden,
a
skilled
nursing
care
facility
in
East
Oakland,
where
my
mother,
Connie,
has
been
staying
since
August.
I’ve
been
visiting
there
twice
a
week,
crossing
the
Bay
Bridge
from
San
Francisco
and
popping
in
with
potstickers
from
a
nearby
takeout
restaurant.
For months, I’d seen this thin, white-haired woman seated in the lobby area, across from one of the dining rooms. After a while, we’d exchange smiles and hellos. I’d noticed her mainly because she always had a transistor radio with her. Being a radio columnist and occasional DJ, I asked what she was listening to. “Baseball,” she said. She was an avid San Francisco Giants fan, kept notes on their games, and kept their radio schedule close to her, all on a shelf of her walker. Her son, Jonathan, I would learn, works as a concessions cashier for both the Giants and the 49ers, so she was a football fan, too. We could talk.
I decided to do a little shout-out to her in my Radio Waves column in the San Francisco Chronicle, learned her name – June Kwei – and told her to watch for the mention. She appeared delighted, although I never properly introduced myself. Bad manners. (In Cantonese, “bad” is pronounced “kwei.”) Anyway, on December 11, the item ran, ending with “Holiday cheers to June Kwei.”