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[Yamashita continues]... during the war years. Maybe these are the same projects, but I haven't gone there yet.

LRS: What interests you about the Asian American movement?

Yamashita: That's a huge answer, maybe the book. I feel that I lived on the periphery of the movement, and yet its influences on the trajectory of my life and work are very important. Many of the central participants and activists are of my generation, grew up in my community. Our lives crisscrossed and ran parallel to each other. Since I started this project, I've listened to the stories of some 140 different people, immersed myself in the large and particular histories of the time through archival research and reading. At the intersection of two decades, 1960s and 1970s, a kind of exuberant storm happened in the context of some very special political and social conditions that include movements of free speech, civil rights, the new left, anti-war, environment, gay and feminist, people of color. I want to know and write about what happened.

LRS: What are you reading these days? Do you have some recommendations for our readers?

Yamashita: Mostly I'm reading my students' work. In between, my reading is primarily attached to the research for the current book project: Lu Xun, Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth, William Hinton's Turning Point in China, S.I. Hayakawa's Language in Action, Aimé Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism, Kai-yu Hsu's Chinese Literary Scene, Mao's On Literature and Art, Max Elbaum's Revolution in the Air, Yuri Kochiyama's Passing It On, Huey Newton's UCSC dissertation, War Against the Panthers, Estella Habal's dissertation, "We Won't Move": The International Hotel Anti-Eviction Movement, to name a few. The poet Sesshu Foster sent me Men and Not Men by Elio Vittorini which I'm enjoying, but meanwhile looking forward to Sesshu's new book to be published by City Lights in the fall, Atomik Aztek. And how about: R. Zamora Linmark's new book of poetry, Prime Time Apparitions, and Linh Dinh's Blood and Soap.

LRS: I haven't asked you anything specifically about Circle K Cycles yet, which in many ways is my favorite of your books (multi-layered, provocative, wonderfully playful both in form and content). I think the "rules" you lay out in CKC are a great example of the possibilities for creative work to convey social truths-performing a naming of "cultural essences" that is precarious but at the same time can ring true to people on an intuitive and deeply familiar level.

About "Rule one: immigrate into your own country": I read that this rule was inspired by your family's move to Los Angeles after having been in Brazil and Japan. I'd love to hear about something you've learned living this Japanese-Brazilian-American cultural triangle as a family.

Yamashita: I returned to the US permanently in 1984, and my husband and our two children immigrated at that time. The first thing I think of about that time is how my kids lost their Portuguese language, how they knew intuitively that they were not to use a language other than English to make their way in this country. This was even true in LA where Spanish is pervasive. Still, I returned to a city that was largely Latin American, and there was a certain comfort in this. We gravitated toward a Latino/Brazilian community; this seemed necessary to keep something of a sense of an extended home alive.

LRS: About "Rule two: Learn to cook your favorite meals." You've said elsewhere that food is "the thread that binds Japanese, Brazilian and American cultures." Do you follow this rule?

Yamashita: I love to cook, to learn about new foods, to experience new tastes and combinations. I don't know why. I think it's an escape (from writing at times). I like that it can be creative but useful; you can feed people but attach food to a social event that binds friendship, introduces new friends, breaks barriers. I like the history that food carries with it, and I like breaking all the traditions and rules about food in those fusion kind of dishes.

LRS: What are you cooking these days?

Yamashita: The Coalition for Asian American Studies at UCSC met at my house tonight, and for this occasion, I made a Moroccan chicken dish using preserved salted lemons from our garden. Folks know I'll BBQ at a moment's notice (even in the rain). A great stand-by is beer-butt chicken; you stand a whole chicken upright on an open can of beer. Let's see, and a few nights ago, for my sister-in-law visiting from Brazil, I tried a mixed Chinese/French method for roasting duck, finished it off in the barbecue and served it with reduced Zinfandel and cherry sauce. My sister-in-law brought me a new batch of Brazilian coffee beans, but I also really enjoy Vietnamese coffee with a good dollop of sweetened condensed milk. My son Jon is a chef, so that's an incentive to cook, but lately I think my personal challenge is to create impressive food simply and in short order. If only you could write a book like that.