One of the most permanent features
in the camp was the camp newspaper. The newspaper first appeared
as the Bulletin on October 14, 1942. "Two weeks later
under a new name the first edition of the Granada Pioneer
appeared and for almost the next three years both in English
and Japanese, it served to keep the center population informed
of any news which affected them" (Holsinger
1960: 58). The paper was originally founded by WRA reports
officer Joe McClelland and Oski Taniwaki. It was delivered free
of charge to every block.
The most popular feature in the biweekly paper was the cartoon
'Lil Neebo which appeared as a regular full-page feature. Chris
Ishii was the cartoon's creator. He had first created the characters while
in the Santa Anita Assembly Center. When he was later evacuated
to Amache his cartoon
followed. Before the evacuation he had been a cartoonist at Walt
Disney. "When WRA officers learned of his artistic abilities,
Ishii was subsequently released from Amache and ordered to go
to New York City to help create posters for the military's drive
to recruit more Japanese-American soldiers" (Lurie
1990: 67). Even after Ishii left Amache his cartoon
remained.
Other newspapers printed at Amache included the Granada
Christian Church News, Amache Facts, It, Junior Pioneer, Amache
Tidings, Pulse, and School News.
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