For several seasons when I was a young person I worked as a waitress at a private Jewish country club in Hopkins, Minnesota: https://www.oakridgecountryclub.net/About_Us. Two shifts, sometimes three shifts a day.
On my first day the dining manager told me a member wanted to speak to me and he led me to a separate room, so I could meet a friend of my mother, someone she knew from her business world.
I remember the room lined with sheer ecru curtains, but mostly what I remember was the gentle roar of Mah Jongg tiles touching other Mah Jongg tiles.
On this first day at the country club, my mother’s friend remained seated at her table of four players but took me by the hand, and announced to everyone in a loud voice, “This is Mary Ann’s daughter.” The noise abruptly stopped and everyone looked up from their tables. I worked my way around the room shaking hands, leaning in for hugs and warm soft hands patting my cheeks. The manager escorted me back to the dinning room.
This was my first experience with Jewish culture.
Years later, when we first moved to New York we had friends who played the game, and if you visit Chinatown in Manhattan you can find a game in progress inside and outside the park. Now, years later, here I am in Greensboro, North Carolina, where I joined a class to remember how to play the game.
This book may be purchased here: https://www.nationalmahjonggleague.org/
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Mary Louise Penaz holds a BA in English from Hunter College, where she was awarded the Academy of American Poets Award College Prize. She also holds an MA and Ph.D. in English and Literature from the University of Houston, Texas, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Bennington Writing Seminars in Bennington, Vermont.
Mary Louise currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and their Golden Pyrenees, Sheldon Buttercup. Her writing has been published in various literary magazines and anthologies.
Mary Louise Penaz 
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