21 May 2007. Light clear blue sky, morning already warm. First sun over the hills, raking the north side of the house. Yesterday: Stephanie's father--in a stylish white shirt, engaging face, young. His own grandfather--"a democrat"--disappeared in Taiwan when Chiang Kai-shek came in. Never heard from again. He'd studied philosophy at Columbia, "the first person to get a doctorate in America." Steph's parents returned there to marry--in New York, a small chapel in the same church where his grandfather had calligraphed the inscription--in Chinese--for a stained glass window. What did he write, I ask. "God is love."
Later, with Carol. Photos of Leonard, also young, strong, thoughtful. Their years in Modesto, just starting out...a milk-carton castle... Leonard taught at the local college, Carol edited a labor newspaper for the Valley. The Teamsters crossed a picket line once, but her paper couldn't run the story--so Carol resigned. Another certain kind of strength...
"...to see the older couples, dancing..."
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