Frank Trueba, California, USA
To respond to the theme "What is Baren?" I thought of the Japanese concept
of "wa." Wa is a concept that combines the tenets of team spirit and
harmony, not in a "rah-rah" kind of way but rather that everyone has
something to contribute for whole to be successful, that working together
produces success, that in fact everyone must contribute to achieve
success Robert Whiting wrote a book about the way baseball is played in
Japan and its title was "You Gotta Have Wa." in which he contrasts the
differing concepts intrinsic to American and Japanese baseball,
illustrating how Japanese training includes concepts of zen and team
bonding that are quite foreign in America.

To further illustrate the way this concept plays out in the Baren Forum, I
have incorporated the stone-carving techniques demonstrated by Michael
Schnieder this past June at the Baren Summit. Michael was unable to stay
very long but he went out of his way to attend and further show us his
unique work and the technique that he uses to produce it.

My puzzle piece is made up of the Japanese characters for "wa" (assuming my
sources were correct) while incorporating my first attempt at stone-carving
as illustration on how the Baren Forum exhibits wa.