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What the Deuce?! home page

That's Interntainment

Political discourse these days seems to be about nothing but interns, what with Monica and Chandra and screw-all else. (Note to politicians: Do not take literally. Do not screw all else. Between taxes and interns you are doing more than enough screwing as it is.)

In the spirit of getting along with others, DoC perpetuates the internment theme by presenting the present (do what now?) item. It seems odd, at best, that anyone -- even military officers -- would be doltish enough to print up matchbooks advertising an officers' club at a damned concentration camp.

It also seems odd that plenty of people in the south-central Arizona area these days have no clue that during WWII there was a Japanese internment camp right on the Gila River Reservation, near Coolidge. You can bet the people who lived there during the war knew all about it. I grew up in Coolidge decades later and never heard of the camp's existence until a few years ago. That, too, seems odd.

The old man once admonished me that if I'd only lived during that time, I'd have understood "the need" for interning innocent U.S. citizens solely for having been of a certain parentage.

If so, I am glad I did not live during that time.

And I am very glad the officers had their entertainment to get them through what must have been a difficult time for them. Oh gee very glad indeed.


See also Gordon Hirabayashi and Japanese American Historical Plaza and another memento of Coolidge internment