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My dearest table guests, welcome
back. 

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This is the order of the tile, 
and I am Prim. 

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00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,040
You are invited to enjoy issue 
#10 and before Prim says a 

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00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:42,080
single word about strategy or 
sets or the summer circuit, she 

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would like to stop. 
She would like to ask you to 

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stop with her. 
At this table. 

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We remember This is the Issue of
the Year in which a weekly 

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newsletter about a parlour game 
in a community that is 

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overwhelmingly made-up of 
American women has to 

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acknowledge that the Monday 
coming is not an ordinary 

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Monday. 
It is Memorial Day, the day this

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country has set aside to 
remember the soldiers who did 

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not come home. 
Prim has family who served and 

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who serves and family who did 
not come home, and she is not 

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willing to publish an issue 
about flower pairs and push away

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without first saying plainly and
with no ornament that the table 

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we sit at this weekend is the 
table their sacrifice made 

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possible. 
She would like to say one more 

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thing before the issue begins 
because the community this week 

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has been asking for it in quiet 
ways and Prim would like to 

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answer clearly. 
There are a great many active 

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duty and veteran women in this 
community. 

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There are Military Wives and 
military mothers and military 

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daughters at tables across this 
country who play this game 

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precisely because the game is a 
respite, A ritual, a gathering 

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that has nothing to do with duty
and everything to do with 

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presents. 
The joy these women find at the 

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table is not separate from their
service or from the service of 

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the people they love. 
It is connected to it because 

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the purpose of everything they 
do and everything their people 

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do is to protect the possibility
of a Thursday afternoon at a 

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kitchen table with four friends,
a rack and a wall. 

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Prim would like this issue to be
for them. 

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The tagline for this week was 
going to be something else. 

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Prim has changed it. 
At this table. 

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We remember that is the tagline,
that is the frame. 

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Everything in these pages this 
week is in service of it. 

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We will still talk strategy 
because Prim would not honour 

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this community by stopping the 
work. 

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We will talk about the 
discipline of the hand that 

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cannot close, which Prim 
believes is the 2026 cards Quiet

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Memorial Day lesson. 
We will talk about how to 

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acknowledge the day at your 
Thursday game without 

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awkwardness. 
We will meet military women, 

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past and present, for whom this 
game has been a refuge, A ritual

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and in some cases a lifeline. 
We will look at the role this 

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game played in Jewish American 
women's wartime circles and in 

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veterans hospitals after the 
war. 

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And we will spend a long, 
careful moment with the sets and

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mats that carry the visual 
language of patriotism without 

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cheapening it. 
Pull up your chair. 

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The wall is built. 
Let us begin. 

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00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,280
Let us begin with what everyone 
is talking about. 

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This is the draw. 
The community pulse this week 

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has been unusually gentle, and 
Prim thinks it is because the 

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calendar ahead is a serious one.
The Facebook groups have been 

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quiet about the typical fare. 
Fewer set drops, fewer 

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00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,680
tournament debates. 
What Prim has seen in the last 

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72 hours, in larger numbers than
she expected, are posts from 

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women serving whose husbands or 
partners served, whose mothers 

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00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:20,440
and or fathers served, whose 
sons and daughters are serving, 

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whose grandmothers played 
Mashong on weekends when their 

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own husbands were overseas. 
The community is telling its own

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stories this week in its own 
time, and the Mashong part of 

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the story is, for many of them, 
the part that held the rest of 

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the story together. 
Prim has been reading these 

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posts all morning. 
She would like the rest of the 

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community to read them, too. 
Scroll slowly this week, comment

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when you have something real to 
say. 

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00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:55,240
Do not scroll past a post from a
Gold Star mother without 

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pausing. 
The community has always been 

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more than a set of tiles and 
this week is the week we are 

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reminded of it. 
The Mediterranean cruise 

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00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,400
returned to port this week and 
the photos that came out of the 

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cruise are, as predicted, 
breathtaking. 

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Prim will post a round up in the
next issue when the community 

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has had time to debrief for this
week. 

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Suffice it to say that the first
major destination of the summer 

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calendar executed well. 
Destination Mahjong delivered. 

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The players who went had a 
remarkable time. 

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00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:36,600
The next wave of destination 
events is now within the 

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registration window for several 
of you and set your rack. 

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00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:44,240
Below will have the particulars.
One piece of news worth 

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flagging. 
Several Jewish community centres

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00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:50,440
across the country have 
announced that they will be 

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hosting Memorial Day weekend 
community play sessions, many of

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them with a small donation 
component directed to veterans 

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organisations. 
Prim will list the ones she has 

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confirmed below. 
If your local JCC is running 

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00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:08,120
one, Prim would gently suggest 
that this is a better Memorial 

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Day activity than whatever the 
hardware store is advertising. 

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Sit down, play a hand, give a 
few dollars. 

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Remember the reason the day 
exists. 

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The game you love can do good 
work on a day that asks 

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something of all of us. 
Which brings us to crack the 

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card. 
The hand that cannot close on 

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00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:37,280
the 2026 card. 
Prim has been thinking all week 

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00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:41,400
about which Crack the Card 
lesson fits this issue, and she 

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00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:44,520
has landed on one that is a 
little unconventional because 

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00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,320
the weak deserves it. 
The lesson is about the hand 

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that cannot close. 
Every player in this community 

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knows the feeling. 
You are in round 8, The wall is 

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thin, the tiles you need have 
been thrown and called and are 

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gone, and the rack in front of 
you is not going to win this 

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game. 
The question is what you do from

106
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that moment forward. 
Most players have never been 

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taught an answer. 
The 2026 card, more than any 

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recent card, rewards players who
have thought carefully about 

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this exact situation. 
And Prim would like to walk you 

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through it. 
Because the discipline of the 

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00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,760
closing out hand is the mahjong 
analogue of a much larger kind 

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of discipline. 
And she thinks it is the lesson 

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that belongs in this issue #1 
the hand is over. 

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The game is not. 
The first thing to understand, 

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and the thing most players get 
wrong is that the moment your 

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own hand becomes unwinnable is 
not the moment the game becomes 

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unimportant. 
The game continues. 

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Other players still have hands 
they are trying to close. 

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The discards you throw from this
moment forward are information 

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the rest of the table is 
reading. 

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The calls you make or do not 
make still matter. 

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A player who mentally checks out
when her own hand is lost has 

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forfeited not just her own game,
but her participation in the 

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game. 
Everyone else is still playing, 

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and this is a subtle but real 
violation of the communal 

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contract of the table. 
You finish the game with 

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attention, or you do not deserve
the seat you are sitting in. 

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Prim will say it that plainly 
because she believes it #2 the 

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defensive pivot is a form of 
honour. 

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Once your hand cannot close, 
your job changes. 

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You are no longer building, you 
are defending. 

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Your task for the remainder of 
the game is to make it harder 

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for the player who is closest to
winning to close her hand. 

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This is not petty, this is not 
sour. 

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This is the game as it is 
actually designed. 

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Every tile you throw is either a
gift to someone or a stone on 

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her path. 
Read the exposures at the table,

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read the discard pile, identify 
who is closest, and throw the 

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tiles that are least useful to 
her. 

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A player who executes the 
defensive pivot well, even with 

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a hand that is long dead, often 
changes the outcome of the game.

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Not her outcome, someone else's.
That shift is a form of honour. 

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The closing out player who plays
defence well is the player who 

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earned her seat. 
The closing out player who 

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throws whatever she feels like 
because she has given up, has 

146
00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,200
given up on more than her own 
hand. 

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00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:54,640
Do not be her number 3. 
The closed hand as a category 

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00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,520
teaches this discipline. 
The 2026 card has several hand 

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00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,480
families that are best 
approached as closed hands, 

150
00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,120
which means the entire hand is 
built from the wall without 

151
00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:11,880
exposing any meld to the table. 
The closed hand strategy is the 

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00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:15,120
strategy of discretion. 
You are holding your cards 

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00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,400
tight. 
You are giving the table no 

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00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,640
information. 
You are accepting that your win,

155
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:26,480
if it comes, will come late, 
quietly, and without warning. 

156
00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,280
The closed hand teaches exactly 
the discipline Prim is 

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00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,960
describing. 
You play the whole game as a 

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00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,360
private document. 
You win if you win without 

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00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:43,360
fanfare. 
You lose if you lose without 

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collapsing. 
The closed hand is a meditation 

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00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:52,160
on patience, on privacy, and on 
the idea that the strength of a 

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00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:57,040
player is not in what she shows,
but in what she carries quietly.

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00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:01,080
Prim does not recommend the 
closed hand as a primary 

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00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,120
strategy on every card. 
She does recommend that every 

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00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,200
player spend a season training 
in closed hand discipline 

166
00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:15,120
because the discipline transfers
the closed hand player even when

167
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,600
she is not playing. 
A closed hand plays every hand 

168
00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,760
better. 
Her discards are cleaner, her 

169
00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,960
reactions are smaller, her 
exposures, when she does use 

170
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them, land with more weight 
because she has held back so 

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long #4 what this week's 
discipline looks like in 

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practice. 
Prim is going to be direct about

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what this section is really 
about, and she trusts you to 

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take it in the spirit it is 
offered. 

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The discipline of the hand that 
cannot close is the discipline 

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of doing your duty after your 
own reward is gone. 

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00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:58,000
It is the player in round eight 
who plays the remainder of the 

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00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,320
game with attention because the 
game deserves attention. 

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00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,920
It is the soldier who finishes 
the mission after the personal 

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00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,160
glory is impossible. 
It is the firefighter who goes 

181
00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,080
back into the building after she
knows the building will not be 

182
00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,920
saved. 
The discipline of the lost hand 

183
00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,600
is a small weekly rehearsal for 
larger kinds of discipline that 

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00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:24,040
other people in other contexts 
have practised at much greater 

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00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,520
cost. 
Prim would not normally draw 

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00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:29,400
this kind of line in these 
pages. 

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00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:34,280
This week she will. 
The card we are holding this 

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00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:36,520
year is a good card for learning
this lesson. 

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00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:40,160
Play the hand that cannot close.
Play it well. 

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00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:46,960
Remember why you can now. 
This publication receives 

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00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:52,360
questions, many questions, and 
this week the question arrived 

192
00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,880
from several hosts, phrased 
almost identically. 

193
00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:01,520
This is the table is asking. 
I am hosting my Thursday game 

194
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,640
this week, and it is the week 
before Memorial Day. 

195
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000
I want to acknowledge the day, 
but I do not want to make it 

196
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,680
awkward or performative or 
political. 

197
00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,680
Is there a right way to do this,
and what is the wrong way? 

198
00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,000
Prem has thought about this one 
carefully because it is the kind

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00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,280
of question where well meaning 
hosts can easily overshoot and 

200
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,240
make something more awkward than
if they had said nothing. 

201
00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,560
Let her give you her answer in 
three parts, because there is a 

202
00:13:32,560 --> 00:13:37,120
right way and there is a wrong 
way, and the difference matters 

203
00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:43,520
#1 the right way. 
The right way is small, 

204
00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:49,080
specific, and brief. 
Before play begins, as your 

205
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,040
guests are settling and you are 
pouring the first round of 

206
00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,080
whatever you are serving, you 
say something like this. 

207
00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:00,280
Before we start, I just want to 
acknowledge that Monday is 

208
00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:04,000
Memorial Day and I am thinking 
this week about anyone at this 

209
00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,720
table whose family has served or
whose people did not come home. 

210
00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:11,960
If you want to say anything 
about someone you are thinking 

211
00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,000
of, there is a moment here for 
that. 

212
00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:18,960
And if you just want to play, 
that is also entirely fine. 

213
00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,680
Then you stop. 
You do not extend it. 

214
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:24,800
You do not turn it into a 
speech. 

215
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,240
You let the table do what the 
table does. 

216
00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:33,400
Some guests will say a name out 
loud, some will not. 

217
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,840
Both are correct. 
You have opened the door. 

218
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:44,760
What each guest chooses to carry
through it is hers #2 the wrong 

219
00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,080
way. 
The wrong way is anything that 

220
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:53,320
turns the moment into theatre. 
Do not ask each guest to share a

221
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,880
story. 
Do not prepare a reading. 

222
00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,400
Do not play a video. 
Do not decorate the table in 

223
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,480
red, white and blue unless you 
would normally decorate the 

224
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,360
table in red, white and blue for
a summer kick off, which is a 

225
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,200
different kind of decoration 
with a different meaning. 

226
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,240
The wrong way is always the 
version that makes the evening 

227
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:16,840
about the host's performance of 
reverence rather than about the 

228
00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,280
guests own relationships with 
the day. 

229
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:25,120
Memorial Day at a private game 
is a quiet acknowledgement, not 

230
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:31,360
a programme #3 the middle way, 
which Prim has seen done 

231
00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,360
beautifully in several private 
games she has attended, is to 

232
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:40,280
add one small gesture that is 
specific to your table, a place 

233
00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:46,120
setting at an empty seat. 
Not explained, Just present a 

234
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,880
single candle on the sideboard 
lit before play, A bowl on the 

235
00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,840
table for any guest who wants to
contribute to a veteran's 

236
00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,920
charity, with the name of the 
charity on a small card and no 

237
00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:01,960
one asking who contributed what.
The gesture is specific. 

238
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,480
It is easy to ignore if a guest 
is not in the mood for it, and 

239
00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:08,800
it is there for the guest who 
is. 

240
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,400
The gesture does not interrupt 
the game. 

241
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,360
The gesture sits alongside the 
game the way all the best table 

242
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,080
rituals sit alongside all the 
best games. 

243
00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,440
Choose the gesture that matches 
your table. 

244
00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,480
Do not choose more than one. 
The other question Prim was 

245
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:31,600
asked, which she will answer 
briefly here because it is 

246
00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,040
adjacent. 
What do I say if a guest at my 

247
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,720
table shares something heavy and
I do not know what to say back? 

248
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,440
You say this. 
Thank you for sharing. 

249
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,920
Then you sit in the silence for 
a moment. 

250
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,040
Then you play the hand. 
That is all that is required. 

251
00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,600
The pressure to respond with the
perfect thing is the thing that 

252
00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,080
keeps hosts from creating these 
moments in the 1st place. 

253
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,400
You do not have to say the 
perfect thing. 

254
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:02,720
You have to make room for the 
real thing. 

255
00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:04,800
The table will take it from 
there. 

256
00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:09,520
Prim will close this section 
with one last piece of advice, 

257
00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:13,920
because it matters. 
Some players at your table this 

258
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,160
week will be carrying more than 
they are showing. 

259
00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,640
A woman whose child is currently
deployed and who has been 

260
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,160
carrying it privately. 
A woman whose parent is a 

261
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,000
veteran with declining health 
and who has not told anyone yet.

262
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,480
A woman who lost a sibling 
decades ago and for whom the day

263
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,520
has never gotten easier. 
These women will be at your 

264
00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,680
table on Thursday. 
You will not know who they are. 

265
00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:43,840
Play gently this week. 
The game will do its work. 

266
00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:48,160
Sometimes the most important 
thing a table can do is provide 

267
00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,280
a few hours in which a player 
who is carrying something can 

268
00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:55,480
put it down, forget about it and
focus on the rack in front of 

269
00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,200
her. 
Give your guests that kind of 

270
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,240
table. 
That is the real 

271
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,280
acknowledgement. 
Now. 

272
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:06,880
This publication makes it a 
point to recognise those who 

273
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,040
distinguish themselves in the 
community. 

274
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,280
Not through volume. 
Heavens no. 

275
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,640
Through substance. 
This is who's talking. 

276
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,560
And this week we are talking 
about the women who served, the 

277
00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:23,360
women who wait, and the game 
that held them. 

278
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,920
Military women have been playing
this game for longer than most 

279
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,560
people realise. 
Prim would like to spend this 

280
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,800
section with the women in this 
community, whose relationship 

281
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,640
with American Mahjong is 
inseparable from their 

282
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,320
relationship with service. 
They are not a small group. 

283
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:46,000
They are, by Prim's rough 
estimate, hundreds of thousands 

284
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,760
of women across the country, and
they include active duty service

285
00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:55,240
women, veterans, military 
spouses, Gold Star mothers, and 

286
00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,880
the daughters and granddaughters
of all of the above. 

287
00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:01,960
The game has been a quiet 
companion to American military 

288
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,720
life for most of its American 
existence, and the stories you 

289
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,360
hear when you start asking are 
remarkable. 

290
00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:11,240
Prim has been collecting a few 
of them. 

291
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:16,320
This week. 
She would like to share. 3 #1 

292
00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:22,600
The Mahjong circle at the base. 
Prim heard from a reader, a 

293
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:27,840
career Navy wife who asked to be
identified only as Kay, who 

294
00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,920
described the mahjong circle she
started at a base in Virginia in

295
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:36,440
the early 2000's. 
The circle met weekly in a room 

296
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:40,560
the base Chapel made available. 
The players were a mix of wives,

297
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:45,760
a few active duty service women 
and one retired Army Colonel who

298
00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:51,360
had learnt the game from her own
mother in the 1970s and who Kay 

299
00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:56,600
said was a fearsome player. 
The circle was not advertised. 

300
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,400
It did not have a name. 
It met for seven years. 

301
00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:05,120
Kay wrote that during 
deployments when her husband was

302
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,160
overseas. 
The Thursday Circle was the only

303
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,760
reliable structure in her week, 
and she can trace friendships 

304
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,600
she still keeps to the women she
met at that table. 

305
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,040
The circle ended when the 
chaplain who had been 

306
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,400
championing it retired and no 
one quite had the energy to 

307
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,920
restart it. 
Kay would like the community to 

308
00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:29,040
know the circle existed and that
it mattered, and that she is 

309
00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,720
still in touch with 11 of the 
regulars from those years and 

310
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,600
that three of them have started 
Marsh on groups at new bases 

311
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,400
where they or their husbands 
were later stationed. 

312
00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,040
The pattern replicates the game 
travels with the families. 

313
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,960
Prim would like more of us to 
know this number 2 the VA 

314
00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:56,040
hospital rec room. 
Another reader, M, is a recently

315
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,720
retired occupational therapist 
who worked in VA hospital 

316
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:04,680
settings for 32 years. 
She wrote to Prim to say that 

317
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:08,160
American Ma Chong has been a 
quietly effective therapeutic 

318
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,880
activity in several of the VA 
rehabilitation settings she 

319
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,320
worked in, particularly with 
women veterans recovering from 

320
00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:19,920
injuries that affect fine motor 
control, attention, or cognitive

321
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,360
sequencing. 
The game requires exactly the 

322
00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:26,880
kind of sustained, multi 
dimensional attention that 

323
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,680
rehabilitation protocols are 
often trying to rebuild, and the

324
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,520
social structure of the four 
player table produces motivation

325
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,160
that solo exercises cannot 
match. 

326
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,120
M has run mahshong groups as 
part of her therapeutic work for

327
00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:46,320
20 of her 32 years, and she 
wanted the community to know 

328
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:50,720
that the game has done real work
in places most mahshong players 

329
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,480
will never see. 
She also noted that the wider 

330
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,760
community sets, donations and 
instructional materials have 

331
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,080
been a meaningful resource in 
these programs. 

332
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,040
If you have a set you are no 
longer using and you are looking

333
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:10,000
for somewhere to send it, Prim 
will say on EMS behalf that your

334
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,000
local VA Hospitals recreation 
therapy department is worth a 

335
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:19,720
call #3 the tournament champion 
who flew helicopters. 

336
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,080
The third story Prim will tell 
briefly because the reader asked

337
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,680
a woman Prim we'll call Jay, who
is now a retired Army Warrant 

338
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:35,040
Officer and a current regular on
the tournament circuit, learned 

339
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:40,080
Mashong in 1998 from a friend at
Fort Rucker in Alabama while she

340
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,680
was training to fly helicopters.
She carried a travel set to 4 

341
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,400
subsequent assignments, 
including one in Germany and one

342
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:52,920
in South Korea, and she started 
small tables wherever she went. 

343
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,760
She has even placed in the top 
ten at Greenbrier. 

344
00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:00,520
She would like younger women in 
this community, military or 

345
00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,480
civilian, to know that the game 
is not incompatible with a 

346
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:09,000
serious career and that the 
women who play this game include

347
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,200
women who have flown combat 
helicopters, commanded platoons,

348
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,440
served as military physicians, 
and raised children in service 

349
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,640
or on their own while their 
spouses were overseas. 

350
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,080
The game belongs to all of them.
The community is richer for 

351
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,440
every one of them. 
Jay was not sure anyone would 

352
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:33,600
want to print her story. 
Prim is glad to honour the 

353
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,920
players at your own table. 
The community this week is full 

354
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:43,560
of women like KM and J, and you 
will not always know which of 

355
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,680
your table mates fits this 
description. 

356
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:51,760
What you can do is play gently, 
listen carefully, and carry the 

357
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:56,160
awareness that the game is held 
up in part by women whose 

358
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,240
relationship to the larger idea 
of service is more direct than 

359
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,440
most of us will ever experience.
If one of your regulars is a 

360
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:09,120
veteran, thank her this week. 
If one of your regulars has lost

361
00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:12,720
someone, sit with her. 
If one of your regulars is 

362
00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,840
actively deployed or has a 
spouse who is, ask her how she 

363
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:21,400
is and mean it. 
The table is a place where these

364
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,680
things can be said without 
ceremony. 

365
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,040
This week, more than most, the 
table should do its work. 

366
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:33,440
And now a brief indulgence 
because this author believes 

367
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:37,680
that one cannot play well if one
does not play beautifully. 

368
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:44,400
This is tile envy, where we Cove
it openly and without apology. 

369
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,760
Prim wants to walk a careful 
line in this section because 

370
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:54,160
red, white and blue mashong sets
are a real category and she does

371
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:57,200
not want to mock them or endorse
them uncritically. 

372
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:02,520
The honest truth is that some 
patriotic themed sets are lovely

373
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:07,000
and some are garish, and the 
difference is in the restraint 

374
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,440
of the designer. 
Prim would like to point you 

375
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:13,880
toward the restrained end of the
spectrum this week, because a 

376
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,080
Memorial Day table deserves a 
visual vocabulary that matches 

377
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,600
the weight of the day, not the 
aesthetics of 1/4 of July 

378
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:25,200
cookout. 
See, the mAh Shong line has 

379
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:29,120
several colorways over the years
that have leaned into Americana 

380
00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:33,600
without caricature. 
They're crisp white and true 

381
00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:37,800
blue palettes in particular 
carry the feeling of a classic 

382
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:42,040
American aesthetic without the 
pageantry of full flag colours. 

383
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:48,080
A table set with crisp white 
tiles, a white mat, and a simple

384
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,400
white linen runner feels 
appropriate for the week in a 

385
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,840
way that a red, white and blue 
sequin set may not. 

386
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,200
Prim would argue that the grown 
up version of patriotic table 

387
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,400
design is about palette, not 
about flags. 

388
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,280
For the tile set itself, Prim 
would point you toward the 

389
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,320
vintage collectors market this 
week, not the new design market.

390
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,680
There are sets in private 
collections from the 1940s and 

391
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,680
50s, often owned by families 
whose original buyer was a 

392
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:23,960
military spouse or a post war 
bride, that carry the aesthetic 

393
00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,040
and material signature of that 
era. 

394
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,920
If you have access to such a 
set, whether in your own family 

395
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,600
or through a collector friend, 
bringing it out for Memorial Day

396
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:38,560
week is a more authentic gesture
than buying anything new. 

397
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:41,800
The set has seen this week 
before. 

398
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:48,360
Let it see this week again. 
One last note on the accessory 

399
00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:52,040
side. 
Several brands in the community,

400
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,880
including some that Prim has 
featured in these pages, offer 

401
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,680
modest percentages of sales on 
specific items to veterans 

402
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:03,600
organisations throughout the 
year, not only during Memorial 

403
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,760
Day week. 
If you are shopping this week, 

404
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,400
do a little homework on where 
your dollars go. 

405
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:15,040
The brands that are giving 
quietly year round are the ones 

406
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,360
worth supporting far more than 
the brands that mount a 

407
00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:22,360
performative Memorial Day sale 
and then go silent until the 

408
00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,800
next holiday. 
Quiet generosity is the 

409
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,840
aesthetic of this week. 
Let it extend to how you spend 

410
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:34,800
as well as how you decorate. 
Now to matters of the calendar. 

411
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,320
Where shall one be seen this 
season? 

412
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:43,000
This is set your rack. 
The summer destinations are 

413
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,720
confirming dates. 
Destination Mahjong's San Diego 

414
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,880
Double Tournament is 2 weeks 
from this weekend and 

415
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,240
registration is now firmly 
closed with a wait list in 

416
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,520
place. 
The Shriners Mahjong Tournament 

417
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,360
in Austin on June 20th still has
open slots. 

418
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:08,120
Destination Mahjong Atlantic 
City in mid August has about 60%

419
00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:12,000
of its registrations filled, 
which is typical for this point 

420
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,600
in the calendar. 
The full calendar is beginning 

421
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,360
to solidify. 
Mashong World Championship in 

422
00:28:19,360 --> 00:28:23,640
Las Vegas is tracking for its 
usual October scale, with 

423
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,600
registration running slightly 
ahead of last year at this 

424
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,360
point, which Prim would note as 
a meaningful indicator of 

425
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:35,520
overall community growth. 
Mahjong Fever Late Summer 

426
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:40,720
Preview The next major Mahjong 
Fever event is a late summer 

427
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:44,480
resort destination, and Prim has
heard enough community buzz 

428
00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,440
about it to say that it is worth
considering if you are still 

429
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:53,400
deciding on a late summer event.
The fever culture, which Prim 

430
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,600
discussed in Letter 9, is the 
warmest on the national circuit,

431
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:03,280
and late summer registration 
tends to fill rapidly beyond the

432
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:08,360
schedule a Memorial Day thought.
Prim will close this section 

433
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,720
with a thought that is not on 
any calendar. 

434
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:15,480
Several veterans organisations 
across the country run ongoing 

435
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:19,040
game programs that welcome 
civilian volunteers, and 

436
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,920
American mAh Shong has begun to 
show up in some of these 

437
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,880
programs in recent years. 
If you are a player who has been

438
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,240
looking for a way to contribute 
that uses the skills and 

439
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,600
community you already have, 
these programs are worth a 

440
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,160
conversation. 
The game you know how to play 

441
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,960
could be taught at your own pace
in a setting where the 

442
00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,800
transmission would matter to the
person receiving it. 

443
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,000
This is not a call to action. 
Prim will make every issue. 

444
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,640
She is making it this week 
because the week calls for it 

445
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:57,840
this weekend. 
Memorial Day Monday, May 25th, 

446
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:03,640
wait list destination. 
Mahjong San Diego double 

447
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,520
tournament June 5th through 7th 
open. 

448
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:14,280
Shriners Mahjong Tournament 
Austin, TX June 20th Open 

449
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:20,560
destination Mahjong Atlantic 
City August 16th through 18th 

450
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:27,560
open Mahjong Fever late summer 
destination event open Mahjong 

451
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:32,640
World Championship Paris Las 
Vegas October 16th through 18th 

452
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,560
Check your local Memorial Day 
weekend community sessions. 

453
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:38,920
You may find a fun game in your 
area. 

454
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:44,160
Full event calendar at the order
of the tile.com/events. 

455
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:49,160
And finally, because this author
believes every player deserves 

456
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:51,440
at least one piece of knowledge 
that makes her the most 

457
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,760
interesting person at the table,
we close with crack 

458
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:57,880
intelligence. 
Prim would like to offer this 

459
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,200
section not as a history of the 
game during wartime, which is 

460
00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:05,880
too large a topic for a single 
section, but as a history of the

461
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:09,120
circles of women who kept the 
game alive through the most 

462
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:12,000
difficult American decades of 
the last century. 

463
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:17,120
The story is specific, 
regionally varied and largely 

464
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:19,840
undocumented in any academic 
sense. 

465
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,920
What follows is what Prim has 
pieced together from 

466
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,840
conversations with older 
players, reading in the 

467
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:29,800
Catskills, oral histories and 
her own family's stories. 

468
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:34,160
The bibliography is thin. 
The practice was real. 

469
00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:40,720
In the 1940s, as the American 
economy mobilized for the Second

470
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,760
World War and millions of 
American men went overseas, the 

471
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,880
women who remained at home 
formed countless informal 

472
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,400
mashong circles that functioned 
as much as grief and waiting 

473
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:53,920
structures as they did as game 
groups. 

474
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,040
The circle Prim's dear friend 
described in a small town in 

475
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,720
Ohio, met every Wednesday 
afternoon in one of four 

476
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,800
rotating kitchens. 
The players were all Military 

477
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:08,880
Wives. 
The game was the reason to 

478
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:11,720
gather. 
The gathering was the reason to 

479
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,800
endure the week. 
When telegrams arrived, the 

480
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,800
circle was often the 1st place 
the news was told. 

481
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:24,240
When the men came home, the 
circle continued because the 

482
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,000
women had become each other's 
primary friends by the end of 

483
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,880
the war in a way that even 
marriages did not always match. 

484
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,040
Some of those circles ran for 40
years. 

485
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,160
Some of them are still running 
in modified form through the 

486
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:38,880
daughters of the original 
players. 

487
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,360
The Jewish American women's 
circles of the 1940s and 50s, 

488
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,400
which Prim has referenced in 
earlier issues, were a central 

489
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:54,200
variant of this pattern. 
The Catskills connection Prim 

490
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,000
covered in letter 4 is part of 
this story. 

491
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,280
The resort communities and the 
urban neighborhoods that fed 

492
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,080
them were built around 
intergenerational women's 

493
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,480
gatherings, where the game was 
the anchor. 

494
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,760
The National Mahshong League's 
founding in 1937 had 

495
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,400
standardised the game enough 
that these circles could 

496
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,680
function across geographies. 
A woman who learnt in Brooklyn 

497
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,040
could join a circle in the 
Catskills, could visit a cousin 

498
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:26,000
in Cleveland and sit down at a 
table that played recognisable 

499
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,280
hands. 
The standardisation was its own 

500
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:33,080
kind of infrastructure, and 
during the war years that 

501
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:39,880
infrastructure held. the VA 
hospital story is different and 

502
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:44,200
less discussed. 
After the Second World War and 

503
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,720
again after Korea and Vietnam, 
American mahjong showed up in VA

504
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,560
rehabilitation settings in ways 
that are almost entirely 

505
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,160
unrecorded. 
But M, the occupational 

506
00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:00,120
therapist who wrote to Prim this
week, confirmed from her own 

507
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:05,120
career the game's combination of
fine motor practice, cognitive 

508
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:09,800
sequencing, social interaction 
and gentle competitive structure

509
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,040
made it a useful tool in 
rehabilitation contexts, 

510
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,920
particularly for women veterans 
returning with injuries that 

511
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,760
affected attention and 
sequential processing. 

512
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:24,360
The formal documentation of this
practice is nearly non existent 

513
00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:28,080
because the therapists who used 
the game were generally running 

514
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,639
informal groups rather than 
publishing academic results. 

515
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:36,040
But the practice existed. 
The game did the work. 

516
00:34:37,159 --> 00:34:40,600
The women it helped now have 
great great grandchildren 

517
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:44,560
carrying on their legacy, and 
the stories they told mostly 

518
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:49,080
disappeared with them. 
The thing Prim would like you to

519
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:52,760
carry from this section is the 
simple recognition that the game

520
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,800
you are playing has been load 
bearing for a very long time. 

521
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:59,560
It has held women together 
during wars. 

522
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,520
It has rebuilt attention in VA 
hospital rec rooms. 

523
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:07,720
It has kept widowed spouses in 
community for decades after 

524
00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:10,400
their circles original purpose 
had changed. 

525
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,280
This is not a story about 
mahjong as a metaphor for 

526
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,240
anything. 
This is a story about mahjong as

527
00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:23,920
itself, a set of tiles, a card, 
a wall, and four women doing the

528
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,440
work that community always does 
when it is done well. 

529
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:33,360
At this table, we remember. 
We remember the women who built 

530
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:37,320
this community in circumstances 
we will never fully understand. 

531
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,600
We remember the soldiers their 
tables waited for. 

532
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:44,680
We remember that the game we 
play on a Thursday afternoon was

533
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,840
once the thing that made a 
Thursday afternoon bearable for 

534
00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,360
a woman whose husband was 
somewhere she could not reach. 

535
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,480
Play this week with that 
awareness. 

536
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,240
The wall is built from more than
tiles. 

537
00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:03,880
Remember a memorial weekend note
for the families, the veterans 

538
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:08,920
and the mothers who waited. 
If you are a veteran reading 

539
00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:14,240
this, Prim thanks you. 
If you are the mother, spouse, 

540
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:18,800
sibling or child of someone who 
served, Prim thanks you. 

541
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:23,120
If you are a Gold Star family 
member, Prim honours you. 

542
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,200
If you are none of the above, 
and you are planning to sit down

543
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:30,360
at a Mashong table this weekend 
with people whose lives have 

544
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,280
been touched by service in ways 
you may not know about, play 

545
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:37,920
gently. 
Ask less than you usually ask. 

546
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:40,720
Listen more than you usually 
listen. 

547
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:46,280
Let the table do its work. 
If you are moved to give this 

548
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,960
weekend, Prim would gently 
suggest the Tragedy Assistance 

549
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:55,000
Program for survivors, known as 
TAPS, which supports military 

550
00:36:55,000 --> 00:37:00,280
families grieving a loss, and 
the USO, which has supported 

551
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,480
military personnel and their 
families for more than 8 

552
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:08,080
decades. 
And finally, Mission 22, which 

553
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,760
works to prevent veteran suicide
and to support the families it 

554
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,880
touches. 
All three are widely respected. 

555
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:17,640
All three would welcome your 
contribution. 

556
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,800
The amount does not matter, the 
gesture does. 

557
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:26,920
Subscribe at the Order of the 
tile.com if you have not yet 

558
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,960
forward this issue to the women 
in your life who should be 

559
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:35,000
reading it, especially the ones 
who have served or who have 

560
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,640
loved someone who served. 
Everyone deserves a seat at this

561
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:43,600
table, and this week more than 
most, the table is for them. 

562
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:49,360
Until next week, may your rack 
be blessed, your Charleston 

563
00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,720
ruthless, and your remembrance 
clear eyed. 

564
00:37:53,240 --> 00:37:58,840
This has been the Order of the 
Tile issue #10 at this table we 

565
00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:01,800
remember. 
Do forward this to your favorite

566
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,520
4th. 
Everyone deserves a seat at this

567
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:08,760
table, and everyone deserves to 
be properly informed before they

568
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:11,720
take it. 
Until next Thursday, dear 

569
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:14,440
listener. 
Prim as always.