Linda Austin
Linda Austin has enjoyed living in St. Louis, Missouri, for over twenty years and is a longtime member of the Japan America Society St. Louis and the JAS Women’s Association (JASWA). Her mother was born and raised in Japan, survived WWII there, and married an American serviceman from the Chicago area. Linda wrote and published her mother’s memoir, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight: Memories of a Japanese Girl.
Updated May 2022
Stories from This Author
A Surprise in the Midwest
May 11, 2022 • Linda Austin
Missouri is not a state you think of when looking for culture and diversity. We are part of “flyover country,” that boring and mostly flat area in the middle of the U.S. to quickly get past on the way to the happenin’ East or West Coasts. That’s what I thought, too, until my husband moved me and our kids to St. Louis, Missouri, some twenty years ago. Here is where I found “my people.” My sister and I were raised …