Fleeing from the torture and killing fields of Cambodia and Laos 1.5 million Vietnamese people escaped in over crowded fishing boats never meant for the open sea. The death toll of their escape was around 50,000 to 200,000 from drowning with many of the refugees attacked by pirates and murdered or sold into slavery and prostitution. Some of the families who reached America settled in a little town tucked in the corn fields called Storm Lake, Iowa where through the help of community and churches were given homes, clothing and jobs.
Without English or cultural warning a sort of shock began to surface. It was not a story book chapter as the town people, mostly all white, realized the Boat People had no idea how to use the strange plumbing gifted them and still had a taste for eating domestic animals considered pets. White farmers leered out their pick up trucks in disbelief at the changing town demographics. Amongst the packing house workers the new kids in town were proving to be amazing and nimble with knives and far surpassed the speed and work of standard employees.
Pet owners faced a culture clash as suddenly many beloved cats or dogs vanished from their yards, onto Cambodian and Laos dinner plates. Dog meat was the norm as much as ground beef in America. There were no Asian grocery stores. In the 80's there were a few stories of landlords who had their living rooms transformed into mini farm fields complete with dirt and grow lights. The resourcefulness of the rice farmers was as amazing as their lightening fast knife skills. In the 80's it was a time when Storm Lake Iowa was still a very white resort farm town and experiencing its first reality check in becoming a multicultural community. Like a fur trading town in the western days, Storm Lake seemed to change over night to a mix of Southeastern Asians, Africans, Latinos and whites. For the most part everyone got along.
ESCAPING THE CITY
My son and I lived in a large two story older home on Cayuga Street in the 90s, turned into a stacked duplex. Beneath my apartment a Cambodian family lived and about once a month an aroma of cooked cat would waft from the apartment below and permeate our small apartment, lingering on my clothing and furniture like acid glue for days. I had made wonderful loving friendships with the refugees, but as an animal lover, I had to move. "Early, Iowa", a small tree canopied town was 14 miles South of Storm Lake, and had an award winning folk song written after it called "Early in Early." I loved the towns energy, its ancient trees and enjoyed walking to a near by convenience store for a cup of coffee. Autumn produced a beautiful canopy of gold leafed tree tops and I felt like a queen as I walked beneath them for java and two donuts. Crossing the street, I would hang out in the park shelter sipping coffee and eating donuts as I watched occasional cars go by. Sunday mornings the town was quiet except for the ring of church bells.
PSYCHIC IN A SMALL RED NECK TOWN
At this point in my life in 2012, I now own 2 small homes in Early, one of which I have turned into my garden studio, and just across the lane is my living residence. On the day I turned 50 I retired from the plant, and became a full time intuitive national phone adviser, something I had been doing since my early 20's. Back in the 70's Psychics were seldom heard of except for "that old lady in a rickety shack on the edge of town." My fairy gardens are an explosion of spring tulips, summer flowers and shade Hostas. My studio is apple green, with white trim and window boxes. Though I have lifted a few eyebrows of question, children and animals are attracted to me like a beacon. I have always held the way to measure purity, is through the eyes of children and animals.
MY SUGGESTION FOR PSYCHICS LIVING IN TINY TOWNS
It is my suggestion to light workers living in tiny rural towns, to do as I did for acceptance. Talk to your post master as you pick up the mail. On occasion sit in a church congregation or participate in a small town fair to share fellowship. This will assure people you are safe and interested in them. Don't worry if they do not fully understood you. The witch hunt for spiritualists has become old stuff. In a time of multi cultural races with mixed marriages and a black president, you will be eyed with little paranoia. It takes work no matter who you are, if you do not follow the main stream ideal, to be a part of the community. For me, the beauty of my studio clients is that most are from out of town from the city I left, Storm Lake, and are multi cultural. There's a reason for this. Small town white folk share no secrets. So the very town I left many years ago is as much a part of my life now, and offers me a rich and wonderful human rainbow spectrum.
Meanwhile, my lane is filled with sun basking friendly cats, as I garden in the early summer with a cup of coffee and my phone clipped to my belt taking National calls. I thank God every day that I am allowed to do what I love with a predictable and accepting husband. I also am thankful that I can live at a time where the internet keeps me in contact with people from all over the world, while I enjoy the benefits of a small rural town. Traditional Americana has no restrictions. I meet interesting people all the time.
WHAT IS THE LESSON OF THIS STORY? Life Comes Full Circle.
Life is full of surprises. I now am a grandmother to two Asian American grandchildren. As a single mom who lived in Storm Lake Iowa in the old days, I believe my son grew up accepting of diversity. I am able to experience a living Rockwell painting, close to a multi racial environment few people in this nation know about. Tucked in the corn of Iowa, we are a pocket filled with surprises. A picture of Senator Obama sitting amongst a school of rainbow colored children in Storm Lake Iowa, is now our legacy. Most everyone is here for the same reason, to live in a traditional small town, working and living in safety and respect. I am able to be fully who I am, using my child hood gift of intuitive vision. Everything comes around full circle.
