Judges didn’t forget the ‘comfort women’

In 2015, Lillian Sing retired from her position as San Francisco Superior Court judge. She made the decision reluctantly, she told the Hankyoreh daily newspaper in Seoul during a recent visit there, so that she could testify the next day at a San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing. The subject was a proposed memorial statue to the “comfort women,” which was unveiled in St. Mary’s Square in September. Julie Tang was a Superior Court judge, too. After serving almost 25 years, she resigned in 2014.

The two women are co-presidents of the Comfort Women Justice Coalition, which they co-founded. This month, they traveled together to Seoul to attend “Voices of the ‘Comfort Women’: Overcoming War and Building Peace,” a conference hosted by the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Sing and Tang are advocates for the “comfort women” in the UNESCO registry. Japanese officials have raised objections, and a decision has been postponed.

While in Seoul, the two were interviewed by a reporter from the Hankyoreh paper. They said that the mayor of Osaka had even threatened to end its sister-city relationship with San Francisco if Mayor Ed Lee designated the new monument as city property. Lee did just that on Wednesday, Nov. 22, as reported in The Chronicle.

“The important thing now is calling on the situation UNESCO is currently facing,” said Sing, so that the registration will be accepted. Tang said they hope to prevent a repeat of the horror “by teaching young people how many terrible things happened in the past. History repeats itself when it isn’t remembered.”

One man heaped with praise and affection at last week’s opening of “Girls of the Golden West” said he attends every opera performance. After 20 years welcoming patrons to the opera’s Intermezzo Lounge, which is to the opera’s swells as the malt shop used to be for high school kids, Tom Taffel will retire after Dec. 10.

He and his partner Billy Repp, who greets guests at the side door and makes provisions for glittery coaches (taxis) to carry them home after performances, have been together for 45 years. Taffel, who started at the opera 20 years ago on the day he left a career “in government surveillance,” may have used skills he learned at that former job to keep an eye on rowdy opera fans.

As to partner Repp, he says, “Billy will never retire. I won’t let him.” Outside of their jobs at the opera house, the two organize opera cruises — 73 so far. “But now,” he said, “we will be able to travel without big groups.”

When he stopped at Mission Pie the afternoon before Thanksgiving to pick up dessert for the feast, reader Ben Bayol was enchanted by the scene, bustling, he says, on both sides of the counter. “Throngs of customers who’d pre-ordered pies stood patiently in one line to receive a number,” after which many queued up again to order food for lunch or whatever.

A crew of girls — ages 8 to 12, he thinks — waited to deliver pie to the first group, picking them up from “grown-up pie folks” boxing, tying twine, handing the pies to those waiting with numbers in hand. In the kitchen, pie makers were working like bees, he says, and “all this was accompanied by a musical score provided by a folk singer sharing her repertoire of upbeat ballads.”

Furthermore, the appleblackberry pie was “still wonderfully warm,” when it was handed to Bayol, who was so moved by the scene that he described it as “a touch of old San Francisco.”

Dire Warnings Gazette, No. 5: “The holiday season is often a time for festive parties where employers can thank employees for a job well done. However, these celebrations may carrying a great deal of risk,” says XpertHR, which describes itself as “an online compliance resource.”

Never mind what “45” says about keeping the C-word in holiday greetings. “Keep the focus off religion,” says the company. “In planning for any holiday party, it is important for an employer to avoid overly religious symbols such as Christmas trees, nativity scenes and mistletoe when it comes to party decorations, and avoid overly religious music.”

(If questioned, however, one can always claim that “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” refers to one’s latest Amazon delivery.)