Back in 1972 we were Kearny Street Workshop

Doris and Jimmy Yee hosted the 50th Kearny Street Workshop originals reunion. Of course there were a lot more people but many didn’t make it. Yes and a bunch are no longer alive.

I was only nineteen years old when KSW started. I was in my second year at San Francisco State College at the time as an art major. KSW was started by Jim Dong and Michael Chin. It was a Chinatown/Manilatown community arts organization.

In the beginning stages I kept my distance from KSW. I was busy with SFSU and with a lot of other things. Besides Mike said it was going to be my hangout. As much as I tried not to, I naturally gravitated towards the organization being already an artist in the Chinatown community.

I guess it was the time and energy that goes towards organizing a grassroots community arts organization that I didn’t want to devote so much time to. Besides the average person was four years older than me which at that age was quite a gap. I just let them worry about it.

Today I had a appointment at Kaiser for a second opinion regarding my arthritic hip. It has been painful living with it and has really limited my mobility and causing me to become very depressed. The things that I used to enjoy doing I can no longer do so. This did not happen or in a sudden. It has been gradual for the past years. I noticed my left knee beginning to be stiff about twenty years ago. I lived with it. After being on my feet me knee would become very stiff and the bottom would feel tingly.

At the beginning of this year it began getting more and more painful when I walked. I even went to New York for Jennifer and Chris' wedding limping about.

An x ray showed I had arthritis of the hip. The condition got more painful as time went on.

I know a handful of people who have had hip replacement surgery and were able to resume normal lives again. I looked up a lot of information on the internet and seemed modern Western medicine's miracle. It sounds too good and I wanted hip replacement too.

My doctor arranged for me to see an orthopedic doctor and he said I was not a good candidate for this surgery. He said I was entitled to a second opinion though.

I had my primary doctor arrange another appointment with another orthopedic doctor.

I let him look at my leg this time. He said I had a condition called Venous stasis which could bring about complications after surgery such as infection. He said it was like playing around with kerosene and matches.

He shook my hands and as he left the room I cried.

Chronic venous insufficiency, or CVI, is a condition in which veins have problems moving blood back to the heart. It's also known as chronic venous stasis, phlebitis or post-thrombotic syndrome. It most often affects veins in the legs, although it sometimes occurs in the arms.

This pandemic is driving me nuts!

Yes I'm going nuts! And it's hitting me at a time when I am a senior citizen.

There is paranoia. People don't want to come near you. There is rampant crime. I can become a victim.

My health is terrible. My arthritic hip has gotten worse and I can walk around easily. It's painful when I put my weight on my left leg.

Worry about money...I am broke! I can't come up with the money to pay the property tax. I can't come up with the money to pay the property insurance.

My doctor arranged for me to speak to a psychotherapist. There is so many people going nuts nowadays that Kaiser is using an outside source for psychotherapists.

I have had this Puma knife since the 1980's.

I try to always have at least a knife on me when I go out. This is my Puma knife. I've had it for a long time! My guess is sometimes in the eighties. I bought the knife at Columbus Cutlery. It was about $35 then. About forty years!

The pandemic has made our society worse. Crime has been rampant here in the city. Seems like police are overwhelmed. They are not enforcing the law like they used to. Covid 19 is blamed on the Chinese for causing this pandemic. People are taking it out on the Chinese and Asians by committing violence against Asians. I am Chinese.

Often it's bands of young black kids are targeting asian businesses and asian people. I can easily become a victim as I weakly limp about with my sticks.

So I make sure I at least have a knife on me when I go out. Wish I could carry a Glock. Never know when someone may attack me. I don't want to be a victim. What a fkdup time we are going through. I hate it! It's hitting me in my golden years.

625 Grant Avenue was the Kong Nam Low circa 1910 (right)

625 Grant Avenue (on the right) was once a chop suey joint shortly after the 1906 earthquake. Then it was a Japanese store for awhile till 1942 when Japanese Americans were forcefully interned in concentration camps. My father took over the store to establish Fueng Wah Company which ran till 1970.

I grew up in that store. We slept in a room right above the store. A mezzanine you can say.

1953 600th block of Grant Avenue

Gddamn imperial arts sign always blocked our sign.

I probably wasn't one year old yet in 1953. I spent probably my first two years of my life being cared for by a white family out in the sunset district.

My mother wasn't able to take care of me while minding the store and my brother who was a year and 3 months older than me.

The family that raised me were the Patterson's on Yorba Street out in the sunset district. I wonder how common was it for Chinese families to do that back then? My sister whom had five kids never did that. My mother throughout played favoritism to my brother over me throughout my life. I wonder if that was a result of me being an extra burden. Don't get me wrong... I loved my mother to her dying day.

I have not walked by the 625 Grant much since the pandemic but I went on Google and punched up 625 Grant to get a picture of it to find that 625 Grant as an address has been totally wiped off the face of the earth. I don't know what is at the location is now. But here's a current Google picture of 625 Grant and the block I grew up on.

1998 22nd Annual Nihonmachi Street Fair T-shirt design

I should've gotten a civil service job... I'd have a nice pension, money in the bank and a sizable social security check. My regrets.

Instead I chose to be an artist. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. I tried to make a living designing, doing illustrations, photography, photographing weddings and events, screen printing posters and tshirts.

I worked very hard at it amidst having kids, taking care of my aging mother, dealing with the wife, managing the family property. In the end I didn't have much money to show for it.

A lawsuit from my brother over family property cleaned me out. Now I'm begging for scraps. $500 after my Medicare insurance just isn't cutting it. Good thing my adult kids help out with the property tax and insurance. But that is just a loan.

I always had a strong feeling for education. After my world travels I should have gotten a masters degree in Asian studies. Specializing in Asian American art, the Chinese diaspora, Chinese American history, etc. Becoming an educator. I guess I was too much of a rebel and pessimistic about the whole system to conform to it.

Growing up in a family store was like growing up on a farm. You helped out as soon as you were able. I thought it was pretty cool to roll out of bed and go to work downstairs. Being your own boss.

In my world travels I was amazed by all the small family run businesses.

Seems like the whole system in this country is made to work for a big corporation or government where the emphasis is to work for for someone else, work in a job you hate, steady paycheck, for the benefits, health insurance and a retirement pension with only few years to enjoy yourself after retirement. They don't teach entrepreneurship in schools.

I haven't seen a dentist in a good five years since Ted Uemoto retired. I don't know who to go to. I am unclear of my insurance too. Being I am handicapped I would like a dentist that is easily accessible by public transport. My gums bleed every time I brush my teeth. I better see a dentist soon. Any recommendations?

I got summons for jury duty! Damn I am in no shape for jury duty. Aside from having a hard time walking, I will have a hard time staying awake as I have a nasty habit of staying up into the wee hours of the night and don't usually go to bed till daybreak.

Nevertheless I had to get myself down to the Hall of Justice to report. My appointment was 12:45pm. I had to take a Lyft down there which cost me more than $11.

I limped my way down the long corridor with my sticks to report at 1:15 pm. I told the hong ngin clerk of my difficulty walking. At first he was going to reschedule me. But I told him of my hardship. He filled out a form and had me sign it and I was off your duty for the year.

I want to take a Lyft back but wait it more than an hour to get a shared ride. I found out the 19 Polk bus now stops at the corner. So I just bussed it back.

I dropped by Bob's Donuts for a chocolate glazed old fashioned donut and a black coffee. I was hungry as hell and only had a granola bar.

The Permanente Medical Group, Inc.
ADULT AND FAMILY MEDICINE
1600 OWENS STREET
SAN FRANCISCO CA 94158-2261
Dept: 415-833-2200
Main: 415-833-2000

August 8, 2022

RE: Leland Wong
###
San Francisco CA 94109-3801

Jury Commissioner,

Please excuse Leland Wong from Jury Duty for medical reasons for 1 year.

Sincerely,

untitled image

STEWART CHIU WONG MD

Aaaagh! I caught Covid!

My cousin Cynthia invited me to her son's wedding reception at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae on July 23.

She wanted me to help with taking some family pictures too. I told her of my condition with the arthritic hip and that I was limping around with a stick. No problem she said.

It was great. The food was superb. I was seated with the ma-doi's. I saw a lot of people from that side of the family whom I haven't seen in a longtime.

Cough...cough.... July 24, 2022 Sunday evening.

Home tested on July 25, 2022 Monday...and sure enough, I'm positive. Damn! I had flu-like symptoms. Had some guaifensen with codeine in the medicine cabinet. That helped with the cough so I can get some sleep. I had to isolate myself from the family upstairs. I was on my own downstairs. The rough part was having to cook for myself and I often was crazy hungry when I couldn't cook. I often got hypoglycemic.

The flu like symptoms went away by day three. I felt okay. But the test showed I was still positive.

I tested on day five. Still positive and feeling okay.

Day seven tested again. A faint line. Good sign.

By day ten when I took the hometest I was finally negative. But I'm still tired. A lot of mucus and spitting. I have brain fog. I don't feel like seeing anybody for awhile.

Covid is still around. Perhaps it's not as strong and deadly as when it first started over two years ago. But it's still around and the pandemic is by no means over.

I think a lot of asymptomatic people are walking around carrying the virus and spreading it which is how I caught it.

Now I have to worry if I have any longterm effects from this. Brain fog? Fatigue?

Sorry for all this old man talk.

What I have...bone on bone arthritis of the left hip. It was probably going on for years but have gotten to this point where I am now limping around in pain.

Whenever I stand up and put my weight on my left leg my femur hurts.

The doctor prescribe me an opioid painkiller, hydrocodone. But being an opioid I would prefer not to take it regularly. I don't want to become addicted nor does experiencing constipation is fun.

I was hoping CBD would help but it doesn't seems like the CBD is taking to my body. I guess it is something to do with my cabanoid receptors. It just isn't working for me. Yet I really hope that it will eventually work as I continue taking the tincture orally. I'm also using a salve made locally.

I got to see a orthopedic doctor and he said I'm not a good candidate for hip replacement surgery because of I am at risk for developing an infection due to a vascular condition.

What else is there? Acupuncture? In the meantime I am limping around. I need a stick to help with my walking. Keeping the weight off my left leg.

The thought that I have to spend the rest of my life in this condition is not good. I have a hard time walking around and afraid that I'll wind up in a wheelchair. No one is able to take care of me and I'll wind up in a nursing home which I cannot afford. Perhaps I'll have to take an exit at that point. Winding up in a nursing home is one of my biggest fears