Opening Day in Denver was a full day of celebration. Colorado Public Radio welcomed us with open arms and bright t-shirts. Our first booth storyteller was John Kite who has played piano at Denver’s Brown Palace for over 20 years. We were also delighted to welcome Rhoda Krasner, owner of the Denver institution, Lakeside Amusement Park.

After the press conference, listening became an act of community with 12 Colorado storytellers who told their tales to a curious audience in Skyline Park. “What designs are tied up in our memories?” Storysmith Susan Marie Frontczak asked in her narrative. The ‘designs’ at this performance were diverse and colorful: Brahmans, 60th wedding anniversaries, adventures on a tricycle and Christmas trees. That was only the beginning…

Some residents of the Cowboy State hold a very strict definition of who they consider to be newcomers. On the beautifully rugged expanse of the High Plains anyone who is not a homesteader or descendant of homesteaders seems to be considered a newcomer. Wandering the dirt roads that meander through and between ranches, seemly stretching into infinity, I have begun to understand why.

Last week we were visited by Wyoming newcomers, Anne Carter Mears and Brainerd “Nip” Mears. Anne and Nip were born and raised in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, respectively. They first met in 1946 while attending a summer science camp in the Snowy Range Mountains just west of Laramie, WY. Nip had just completed his service with the Marine Corps and both he and Anne were undergraduate students, studying at schools in New York State. They dated through college and were married soon afterward. In 1949 Nip accepted a job at the University of Wyoming teaching geomorphology, bringing the newly weds back to the mountains where they had met. Geomorphology is the study of landforms and the processes that shape them, so the striking, almost prehistoric looking scenery of the West was a playground for Nip. Mrs. Mears joked that every car ride was filled with a detailed tour of the geological scenery that colors and shapes the region.

Anne Carter Mears and Nip Mears (R-L)

The couple were invited to the StoryCorps MobileBooth by their nephew Jeffery Mears Bratspis, who was happy his Aunt and Uncle had the chance to share some family memories. One question Jef was interested in finding out was how his Aunt and Uncle came to own a horse ranch outside Laramie, Wyoming.

It all started, she remembered, with her daughters love of horses. Anne’s daughter was so enraptured by beautiful mares that the little girl called all her relatives to ask that instead of sending her a present, they send her money because she was saving up to buy a horse. Eventually, she had saved enough money and bought her first horse, a Morgan Mare named Lori Rose. A daughter’s love quickly rubbed off on her mother, who also fell in love with the great disposition and athleticism of Morgan horses. So much so, she decided to go into business as a horse rancher, breeding beautiful, award winning, Morgan horses.

Renee Greenberg, Jef Mears Bratspis, Anne Carter Mears, and Brainerd “Nip” Mears (R-L) in front of the MobileBooth.

At that time not many men would take a women’s attempt at buying a ranch seriously, so Nip helped handle the negotiations. One day over coffee at a local diner, after a year of back-and-forth negotiating, a local rancher finally agreed to sell part of his property to Anne. And with that Anne Carter Mears became the owner operator of Mear’s Morgans and for almost 40 years now, has been breeding, training, showing, and selling Morgan horses. In 2000 she was inducted into the American Morgan Horse Associations hall of fame for her dedication to the breed.

Anne graciously invited facilitators Michael Premo and Rachel Falcone out to her ranch so we could see a working horse ranch. Thank you for the invitation. We are both glad that the Mear’s family had an opportunity to record your family memories.

                  Happy 4th of July from Laramie, WY.

Since May of 2005 StoryCorps’ Airstream MobileBooths have been roving the country creating a space for people to interview their loved ones. In the last three years we have been to nearly every state in the continental United States, except Wyoming. That all changed two weeks ago when we pulled into a public parking lot next to the Albany County Courthouse at 5th Street and Grand Avenue in Laramie, Wyoming to begin recording stories in the place affectionately dubbed “the least populated state in the Union.”

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Almost everyday StoryCorps facilitators are recording interviews all across America in our MobileBooths, StoryBooths, and at field recording sites through our Door-to-Door program. And participants who cannot make it to any of those sites can rent a StoryKit. Although interviews are an hour long, the interview process continues long after participants have left the recording space. After each interview participants receive a professionally recorded copy of their interview while another copy of the interview is archived at the Library of Congress. Following the interview facilitators carefully prepare an archive entry that eventually travels to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Facilitator Rachel Falcone prepares a participant’s memories to be preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress

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Brought by Boise State Radio, StoryCorps Mobilebooth West came to Boise, Idaho and found the kind of beauty that you expect in the West. Parked outside Boise’s city hall, in the hub of the downtown (pictured above in the distance), we built a home among the conversations and the hills that surrounded us. Here are some of the folks who came to see us during our visit:

The stories were as diverse as they were honest. Participants Madonna Lengerich and her friend Whitney Rearick came to the booth to talk about Madonna’s career fighting fires and her love of challenging outdoor adventures. Annette Lewis talked to her friend Sherry Lamb about her career as a midwife for 30-plus years in the small community of Salmon, Idaho. Tulug Salahifar came with his three-year-old daughter Aylin, brother Cem and father Behcet to honor the memory of his wife and partner Gesa, who he lost tragically this past spring. Hazel Pace talked with her son James about being an army nurse in Menlo Park, California during World War II and meeting her husband in the hospital there. Ross Fenner talked with his daughter Erin about growing up in Rapid City, South Dakota, finding a lifelong partner in Erin’s mother and the wonderment of fatherhood. Jeffrey and Brenda Wilson came to talk about all of the surprises and lessons learned in raising their son Jeff, who is 25 and has Down syndrome. These are just some of the many families and friends who recorded their stories in Boise.

Click here to listen to some more Boise stories airing locally on Boise State Radio.

Boise is a hard place to leave. Stunning scenery is not far in any direction; it is no wonder the city’s population is estimated to have grown nearly 11 percent between 2000 and 2004. The city sits at the bottom of the foothills and has nearly 25 miles of green trails lining its river. The Modern Hotel and Bar, a converted 1960’s TraveLodge in Boise’s up-and-coming Linen District, where we were lucky enough to reside for the month, is no doubt the swankiest joint ever to house StoryCorps facilitators. And when we needed respite from the city, it wasn’t far away. Enjoy some photos of the ever-captivating Boise River.

For the past few weeks, MobileBooth West has been in beautiful Sacramento, California, in partnership with Capital Public Radio. We are parked outside the Sacramento Public Library, just blocks from the State Capital Building. While we remain on the lookout for Governor Schwarzenegger, we’ve been hearing stories more extraordinary than any Hollywood thriller.

Last week, Riki Friedman (R) came to the booth with her good friend Dorothy Finkbeiner. Riki met Dorothy the day she moved into Eskaton Senior Residences, a year and a half ago. Dorothy welcomed Riki by inviting her to her apartment for tea, and the two women talked for hours. This immediate connection was a surprise to both of them: Dorothy is from Germany, and Riki is a Jew from Brooklyn. Riki’s late husband, Israel, had been in the first American military outfit to liberate Buchenwald concentration camp, and had written vivid letters to Riki describing the horrors he witnessed. “If I had met you right after the war,” Riki told Dorothy, “I wouldn’t have given you the time of day.”

At their first meeting, Riki and Dorothy discovered their shared love for gardening, exchanged stories about their sons, and talked about what their lives were like during World War II, in which Dorothy lost two brothers. During that conversation, Riki admitted to Dorothy that she was her first German acquaintance since the war ended, and asked her, “What did you know?”

Dorothy answered, “Way too little. I didn’t even hear the word Auschwitz until the war was over.” Through their friendship, both women have realized that individuals should not be blamed for the terrible actions of countries, and that war is never the answer.

Riki and Dorothy are now the best of friends. “We see through the same eyes,” Dorothy said. “I wish the whole world could meet this way.”

Abilene, Texas is “the big city” in this region of West Texas and StoryCorps Mobilebooth West was told by many that we hadn’t really come to Texas till we came to Abilene. After spending more than a month in San Antonio, StoryCorps came to park outside the First Financial Bank on Pine Street in Abilene, a community whose economy flourished in the latter half of the twentieth century on oil, agriculture and the military. In recent years Abilene’s population has grown to more than 100,000 people. No longer merely a “cattle-shipping prairie town” Abilene can be characterized as a “metropolis on the plains.” Nevertheless, Abilene still maintains a deep sense of quiet and history in its wide-avenue streets and industrial-style buildings.

Here are some photos of this West Central Texas community.

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93-year-old Lucy Hofmann and her sister 91-year-old Alice Lowry came to share their stories when StoryCorps visited The Haven Assisted Living Residence in San Antonio, TX. Lucy and Alice shared about their family and a unique slice of American history.

Lucy talked about how Emperor Dom Pedro Segundo of Brazil encouraged southerners following the Civil War to come to Brazil and become Brazilian citizens. He wanted agriculture and cotton to be developed in Brazil. William Hutchinson Norris, one of the first original Confederados known to arrive in Brazil was Alice and Lucy’s great grandfather. Many of William’s sons had fought in the Civil War for the South, and one of these sons, who joined William in Brazil, was Robert Norris, their grandfather.

Lucy said that their grandparents picked their land by choosing a spot that reminded them of the fertile land they left behind in Alabama. The town that formed around this land where Alice was born, Villa Americana, is now the city Americana in Brazil.
Lucy and Alice attended a Methodist boarding school called Colegio Peracicabano that they remembered fondly as well as the picnics held every four months by the descendants of the southerners who came to Brazil. These gatherings always had two things: southern dancing and good southern food. Alice remembered the tables piled high with fried chicken, stewed corn, lemon pies, and of course, biscuits and cornbread.

After traveling much of the world throughout their lives with their husbands, Lucy and Alice are settled back in Texas. Lucy is pictured here listening closely to her interview on the laptop in The Haven Parlor.

MobileBooth West was privileged to be in San Antonio during the city’s first annual Arts Night Event, Luminaria. Video art and colored light projections, singers, street performers, dancers, glass blowers, muralists and other visual and craft artists, in addition to thousands of spectators, filled the streets, galleries and theatres of downtown San Antonio. People came to see the city aglow and celebrate its artistic heritage.

There was a time when Ginger Purdy (left), one of the most powerful advocates for women in San Antonio today, wasn’t even involved in the women’s movement. She was too busy raising her daughters on her own and working as a freelance fashion artist. She told her daughter Melissa Stoeltje (right) in their visit to MobileBooth West: “Back when the women’s movement started in the 70s, I knew it was going on, but you know I was so busy working all day and then I would come home and draw shoes at night just to make sure you kids got orthodonture, swimming lessons, writing lessons and all that. I knew that the women’s movement was going on, but it was not at the forefront of my mind. My three kids, you know, being the single mother, that was the thing…”

Ginger’s story is of a woman who grew into the political force that she is today after being what she called a “traditional woman.” Though she had been involved in women’s groups before, the women’s movement hadn’t, as she put it, “come into her t.v. screen yet.” After attending the National Women’s Political Caucus at the St. Anthony Hotel–where she saw Sonia Johnson speak about how she had been excommunicated from her Mormon Church for supporting the Equal Rights Amendment–Ginger was a changed woman. She described that day:

“As I walked in the San Anthony Hotel, there was a big banner across the stage and it showed two little women; you could tell they were down in a hole but they were on a pedestal, and they had their arms around each other. And they were looking up, and at the edge of the top of that hole, you could see what looked to be the pointed tips of two boots. And the words said, ‘I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about all this pedestal stuff I can take.’” Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday, Rose and Yuki recorded at the Casa de Cuentes, a small shotgun house owned by the Esperanza Center for Peace and Justice in San Antonio’s historically Hispanic and Latino Westside neighborhood. The house is also called Casa de la Misericordia because the woman who lived there during the Depression gave food to impoverished people who passed by. Back then, people in the neighborhood ran businesses from their front porches. “The neighborhood was self-sufficient,” explained Amanda, our contact from Esperanza, and it’s this kind of community spirit that Esperanza is reviving in the Westside.

The Casa had a warm, comforting feeling, and participants often stayed late after their interviews or came early to sit and talk in the kitchen. Old black and white blow-ups of beloved places and people from the community hung in each room of the house.

Esperanza is piecing together the history of the Westside by speaking with elders and recording their experiences. Through word of mouth, they found that Ruben’s Ice House next door to the Casa (pictured in the last two slides) was once a popular gathering ground. Esperanza plans to use the now abandoned building to house the oral histories it has collected, including those recorded by StoryCorps. One of the organization’s missions is to preserve historical landmarks, like Ruben’s, from demolition by the city. “Just because they are poor people’s monuments or they’re not big monuments doesn’t mean they’re not important,” said Amanda.

Harry J. Perez and his daughter Dana visited MobileBooth West to share their family’s history in the field of aviation. It all began with Harry’s father, Joe Perez, a former pilot in World War II. Today Harry, Dana, and one of Dana’s brothers are all pilots. (The other brother is a skydiver!)

During their stay in San Antonio, Texas, facilitators Yuki Aizawa and Rose Gorman were treated to a walk in the clouds by Dana at Stinson Municipal Airport.

Last weekend Yuki Aizawa and Rose Gorman drove 1,400 miles on Interstate 10 from Los Angeles to San Antonio, Texas. Our Silverado transported us through breathtaking Joshua Tree National Park - whose strange landscape brought to mind Dr. Seuss and The Flintstones - dust storms in New Mexico, and along the border past sprawling Texas cattle farms. On day three, we met up with our Mobile Coordinator, Terry Scott, and our pro driver, Joseph Priest (pictured last two in slide show), who safely delivered the MobileBooth to its new location, steps away from The Alamo in downtown San Antonio.

On Wednesday, StoryCorps facilitators Brianna and Yuki recorded at Keiro, an assisted living facility for the Japanese American community located outside Little Tokyo. Many of the residents are second generation Japanese Americans born in the Los Angeles area, who were relocated to desert internment camps during World War II. Robin Nakabayashi (pictured first in slideshow, with friend and Keiro Administrator, Beverly Ito) is a long-time volunteer at Keiro. He was ten when he and his family were sent to live in a camp built on the Colorado Indians’ reservation near Poston, Arizona. They lived in long barracks made of wood and tar, and grew small gardens in the desert ground in between the rows. When Robin returned to Poston for a reunion many years later, he was surprised to find that the desert landscape where the camps stood was quite lush. The Colorado Indians told him they had learned from the Japanese how to cultivate the dry soil and over the years had created a green landscape out of the once barren area.

Facilitators Brianna Hyneman and myself opened the West MobileBooth’s doors in MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of downtown L.A. Westlake is currently the most densely populated neighborhood in Los Angeles, with most of its community originating from Central America. In the 1980s and 90s, MacArthur Park was notorious for its high crime rate and gang activity. Now the park is a much safer place where people bring their children to play. Soccer fields (just outside our booth) attract hundreds of players and spectators on the weekends, and the police station that once stood watch in the park is no longer in use.

Just blocks from StoryCorps’ set up on the Third Street Promenade is one of Santa Monica’s holiday attractions: an outdoor ice skating rink. So what if it’s almost 70 degrees? Bundle up Californians… let’s go skating!

Providing sustenance to skaters is a familiar sight: an Airstream! Perhaps this is MobileBooth West’s long lost cousin. Nothing says winter like eating hot dogs in the sun, reflected off a shiny silver trailer.

In early November, facilitators Hilary Marshall and Soo Na Pak met up in Ft. Worth, TX, and headed west towards California, taking advantage of the 4 day journey to get to know each other. Before we knew it, we’d arrived in sunny Santa Monica, where we began setting up the MobileBooth for a month-long stay on the Third Street Promenade. Below, Hilary buffs the booth to a sassy shine.

Despite the many distractions nearby (sun overhead, palm trees swaying, and the ocean just blocks away…) the Booth was set up in no time, thanks to a little elbow grease. Bring on the stories, California!

Austin lies about three hours south of Fort Worth, smack in the center of the state of Texas. The city is known for it’s booming music scene and off-beat shops and restaurants. It’s also the Texas State Capitol, despite it’s oddly un-Texas feel. We took a little road trip to Austin to do some exploring.

One of the city’s natural gems—Barton Springs Pool in Zilker Park—gave us a chance to cool off after a long drive before checking out Austin’s urban offerings.

At the heart of the city’s downtown, Facilitator Hilary Marshall took in some decidedly UN-natural sights at "The Museum of the Weird" on 6th Street (too creepy for co-facilitator Rachel Falcone). One of the last remaining Dime/Sideshow Museums, it’s home to many unexplained (aka. fake) phenomena and curiosities, of which this two headed chicken (below) is a classic example.

We also made our monetary contributions to the Austin economy. Unique vintage and antique shops abound in Austin, making it feel more like home for us (Chicago/Brooklyn) than anywhere we’d been in a long while. But Texas staples are never far–Austinites can still saddle you up with a good pair of cowboy boots.

As the self-proclaimed Live Music Capitol of the World, Austin’s many venues offer live music every night of the week. We ended our day at the top-floor Gallery of the Continental Club in Austin’s SoCo neighborhood, where we caught the sweet sound of Ephraim Owens blowing his horn.

We couldn’t have imagined the large role that livestock would play in our daily lives during our time in Ft. Worth, TX. We can’t step outside without running into some sort of creature!

This is one of the few urban places where folks can still ride a horse through the streets, so in addition to the cowboys in period costumes employed by the Stockyards (pictured above), there are ordinary citizens who bring their horses to the neighborhood for a stroll. There’s even a man who’ll let you sit on his longhorn steer and snap a photo (for a few bucks…).

Black and white Guinea Hens peck the grass near the Stockyards Livery, where the rooster hides in the shade. The Livery is just steps away from the MobileBooth and is home to many of the horses and steer that perform each day during the cattle drive.

photo courtesy of Alan Melson and KERA

The twice-a-day cattle drive is the Ft. Worth Stockyards’ main attraction. Longhorn cattle live up to their name, with expansive horns measuring up to 120 inches from tip to tip.

They sometimes pass within inches of the booth, but they’re very polite and never interrupt the recording process. When we’re looking for something a little rowdier, we visit the rodeo across the street at the Cowtown Coliseum, which celebrated it’s 100th year this month. Weekend events include bull and bronco ridin’, calf ropin’, and barrel racin’, none of which are for the faint of heart.