Two Teens Embark On Paper Crane Peace Memorial Project
Michelle Reed and Carly Gutzmann, both 14, plan to fold and collect 120,313 paper cranes - one for each internee imprisoned during WWII.
Michelle and Carly have been the best of friends since sixth grade. They like to walk their dogs, catch the latest new flick and grab a bite to eat - you know, the normal everyday things most 14-year-olds like to do.
But Michelle Reed and Carly Gutzmann aren't typical teenagers. They've decided to take on a national Peace Memorial Project, folding and collecting 120,313 paper cranes to spread the lessons of the World War II internment.
"We wanted to raise more awareness," said Michelle from her home in Minnesota. "A lot of people know about the Holocaust but not a lot of people know about the internment."
Michelle and Carly were researching the history of Japanese Americans behind barbed wire for a National History Day project a couple of years ago. They ended up making a documentary on the art school at the Topaz Internment Camp.
It was during their research that both girls started to learn to fold paper cranes. They also watched a documentary called "Paper Clips," the story of school kids in Tennessee who collected more than six million paper clips to represent the Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.
Before long the two girls had come up with the idea to fold 120,313 paper cranes - one for each internee - as a way to symbolize peace and tolerance in the world.
"Before our project I didn't know much about [the internment]," said Carly. "But the more and more we did our research, we discovered what a huge impact it had on our history but it wasn't a really known fact."
The girls have made and collected close to 3,000 paper cranes so far and e-mails from well-wishers and boxes filled with paper cranes have already started coming in.
A Snowball Effect
When Michelle and Carly first started folding paper cranes, their idea for a peace memorial hadn't come to fruition yet. They had simply folded 350 cranes and donated them to the Topaz Museum as a thank-you for helping them with their documentary: "The Art and Soul of Topaz Relocation Center."
But soon, word about their DVD had spread and they were invited to attend the recent Japanese American National Museum conference in Denver. They showed their documentary and decided to have a table so people could join them in folding paper cranes.
"At that point it blossomed into this whole thing - get enough cranes for each internee," said Mary Reed, Michelle's mother.
So now Michelle and Carly are folding paper cranes every chance they get.
"I do paper cranes while reviewing in chemistry class," said Michelle. "My teacher didn't mind me doing it. It helped me concentrate."
Former internees are touched by the enthusiasm shown by two girls from Minnesota who have no real connection to internment yet understand its historical significance.
"They are just amazing girls," said Alice Hirai, 68, of Utah. "These two girls have nothing to do with Japanese Americans but are working to ensure this doesn't happen to any other people again."
Hirai was only two and a half when she, her younger brother and parents were taken from their home in San Francisco and sent to the Topaz internment camp. Only in her later years did she realize the hardship her parents had faced.
"It makes me cry to think of what they went through - we were spat on and called 'Japs'," she said. "But my parents protected us and we lived a normal childhood."
When Hirai learned of Michelle and Carly's efforts, she sent them 49 golden paper cranes she had folded, each with the names of former Topaz internees she had remembered.
"It's such an amazing thing to see how touched [former internees] are by our project," said Carly.
The girls plan to donate the first 11,212 paper cranes (for each Topaz internee) to the Topaz Museum. They are still looking at options for where to send the 120,313 paper cranes. Their ultimate goal is to get even more paper cranes so they can send some to other museums across the country.
"It's exciting to think of all the possibilities," said Jane Beckwith of the Topaz Museum who added they are currently going over a number of possibilities of how to showcase the girls' paper cranes. "Needless to say we will be working on the ideas while everyone is folding."
'Our Gift to the Community'
Michelle hopes to attend the University of Hawaii one day and study to become a marine biologist. Carly loves science and animals so she sees a future eventually as a veterinarian.
In the meantime the girls are excelling in school and somehow finding the time to work on their project about peace and tolerance.
"They look at things at a macro-level and they worry about things that regular people don't look at," said Mary, explaining her daughter's maturity. "Michelle actually worries about tolerance, she sees the big picture."
Like Mary, Carly's mom Kelly couldn't be more proud of her daughter's wish to create a more tolerant world.
"I feel an enormous amount of pride, to see what she is learning from it," she said. "This is not another school project for a grade. This has connected her to people who have been touched by it. She has talked to people who have been in internment camps and she has been able to connect to the real world."
Michelle and Carly see parallels between the history of the internment and today's real world where Muslim Americans are often punished for looking like "the enemy."
"We definitely hope this never would happen again, that's why we are doing this," said Carly. "This was such a dark part of American history we don't want it to be repeated."
"I think I have a better understanding of how much discrimination has shaped our world," said Michelle, who added: "I have more sympathy."
With the new school year just starting, the girls hope to get their fellow students involved through their Community Service Club. Their school principal has already shown support for the project.
So far, word has spread fast among former internees who are hosting paper crane folding parties and teachers who want to incorporate the same ideas into their own classrooms. E-mails of support come in daily and more and more boxes filled with paper cranes are being delivered.
"These are two incredibly wonderful girls," said Hirai. "They took ownership of a terrible injustice that was done and they took it upon themselves to educate people so it won't happen again."
Although there is no target date to complete the 120,313 paper cranes, both girls hope to finish the peace memorial project before they graduate from high school.
"It's nice to know our project is out there and people appreciate what we are doing," said Michelle.
"This is our gift to the community," said Carly.
The Pacific Citizen Web site gives you a sampling of the stories currently in the print edition of the P.C. Click here to subscribe and get two months free!
Print This Article-
Email This Article