We’re all only human, that’s for sure. But here in Yuma, Arizona, everybody is also Yuman. Or at least that’s what they call the people from this sunny town of just under 195,000 people. Yuma lies just five minutes from the border of California, and just 20 minutes from the border of Mexico. Recorded as the sunniest place on earth and the iceberg lettuce capital of the world, Yuma ain’t a bad place to be for the wintry month of January! Site Supervisor Anna Walters, brand-new Facilitator Jorge Rios, and I joined the rest of the snowbirds to soak up the sun and collect some stories — particularly those of Latinos, as part of StoryCorps Historias. While in Yuma, MobileBooth West partners with KAWC, Colorado Public Media, as well as the Yuma County Main Library, where the Booth is parked.

Lenore Stuart and her mother, Mary Redondo Lorona, were among the first participants to come in and share some of their family history and favorite stories. Mary’s father, Jose Maria Redondo, first came through Yuma from Altar, Mexico on his way to California during the Gold Rush. Taken by the beauty of Yuma, he swore he would come back one day. And 10 years later, that is exactly what he did. He even changed the name of the territory from Arizona City to Yuma, after the Yumans, who were the chief Indian inhabitants of the area.

Jose served many roles in the Yuma community, including mayor for some time. A lover of music, Jose ordered a Steinway Grand Piano in New York City to be shipped from France to Yuma so that any child who wanted to could learn to play. The Panama Canal, however, had not been constructed yet, so the piano was shipped all the way around Cape Horn and up the western coast until it arrived in Yuma, its keys jingling down Main Street.

The piano is still in tact today, although out of tune, and has been passed around various family homes for some time. Mary, herself, never truly learned to play, but she has many memories of the piano still. “I’m wherever that piano is,” Mary reflected. “It’s old, but it’s a great piano.” And at 95, Mary may be old, but she sure is a great storyteller.

After a long, long, long drive through the peaceful prairie of the Midwest, Mobile West headed south to the great state of Texas. Finally, we pulled into downtown Houston to begin our first Historias stop of the Mobile Tour! We will be parked at Discovery Green Park until December 19th recording the stories of Houston’s Latino/a community. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, some of our first storytellers came to share their favorite holiday foods:

Lizbeth Colocho, 9 (left), and Kierra Palmer, 9 (right), both love helping their mothers cook for the holidays. Lizbeth’s family tradition is making tamales for la Navidad. They remind her of her grandmother who lives in El Salvador. Kierra helps her mother make crawfish dressing every Thanksgiving. Kierra has helped her mother make crawfish dressing forever — that is, since she was seven years old. It takes a really, really, really long time to make–Kierra was emphatic. More than a hour!

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“Welcome to the Land of Oz!”

That was how our radio partner KMUW welcomed us as we pulled into Wichita, Kansas for our stop in the Wheat State. And the stories have been plentiful. Wichita, we learned, is the originator of many things: Pizza Hut, the electric guitar, Cessna airplanes, and yes, folks, the original White Castle.  Pizza, and airplanes, and little, tiny, burgers, oh my!

Our first week of recording, Randy Cabral came in with his friend and colleague Heidi Johnson to talk about the first fully-tactile Braille American flag. Randy created the flag to honor his father, a World War II veteran who became blind later in life. The American flag was a big deal in the Cabral family. Every day his father insisted that it be raised and lowered in front of their house. As his father’s sight grew dim, Randy decided to dedicate himself to learning Braille and subsequently started the Kansas Braille Transcription Institute.

One evening Randy’s mother told him that his father, who was now completely blind, had confused their American flag with her scarf. That same evening Randy drafted the first-ever tactile American flag. Randy has toured the country with his flag, commemorating it at places such as Arlington National Cemetery, as well as giving a copy to President Obama. Some of his most prized memories, however, have been when he has witnessed blind Americans ’see’ their flag for the very first time.

StoryCorps participants arrive at our MobileBooths from all across the country. Usually their residence corresponds with where our MobileBooth is parked. But don’t tell that to these recent participants in Colorado Springs, Colorado!

Five days before her scheduled appointment, Kara Durland (middle) emailed her parents to invite them to join her at the StoryCorps MobileBooth in Colorado Springs. Gene & Jeannine Ross jumped in their car and drove to meet her—1700 miles from their home in Chantilly, Virginia.

“Well, when I found out about it, my first inclination was ‘Yeah, I want to go. And I want to drive…because we like to drive a lot,’” Eugene says. In the MobileBooth, the couple described to their daughter their different childhood experiences; their Italian, Irish, Slovak & Czech ancestry; and their love for the road.

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After driving through snow and sleet, MobileBooth West pulled into downtown Colorado Springs, CO and set up shop in front of the Penrose Public Library. KRCC General Manager Delaney Utterback and Producer Noel Black greeted us warmly and looked on with excitement as we wedged the MobileBooth into its new home. And if a big shiny Airstream trailer wasn’t enough to announce our arrival in town, KRCC went to work producing a short web video providing the curious community with an inside peek as to what StoryCorps is all about.

Set at the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the base of the famous Pikes Peak, sprawling Colorado Springs is home to quite a number of institutions and attractions, including the United States Air Force Academy, NORAD, Fort Carson, Focus on the Family, Colorado College, the United States Olympic Training Center and Committee Headquarters, Seven Falls, and the Garden of the Gods National Park (to name a few!). Our partner organizations are just as vast and numerous, including PEAK Parent Association, PHAMALY Theatre, Partners in Housing, the Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado Springs, African Americans in Gerontology, Pikes Peak Community College, Future Self, and more. Given the wide range of various places, communities, and organizations,  MobileBooth West will soon be filled with an equally diverse array of participants, life experiences, and stories!

So far, so good, in Colorado Springs!

During our brief stay in Paonia, Colorado, we met all kinds of people. Young and old; mothers and fathers; uncles, sisters, cousins, and godfathers; auctioneers and farmers; DJs and musicians; potters, poets, writers, and artists; friends, mentors, teachers, and students; miners and midwives; travelers, scientists, and even Paonia’s Elegantly Attired Running Ladies!

While every participant who came into the MobileBooth was different from the next, each with their own story and their own voice, there was one thing almost everyone seemed to agree upon. There is no place like Paonia. Part of the beautiful North Fork Valley, Paonia is home to an assortment of community-run businesses, the best peaches you’ve ever tasted, an exquisite landscape, the sweet sounds of bluegrass music, and of course, KVNF Public Radio – “the nucleus” of the community, explained one participant. As KVNF Manager Sally Kane remarked, the North Fork Valley is “pastoral, abundant, and enlightening. [...] and it attracts people with huge hearts.”

Paonia may be a small dot on the map, but as participant Liz Lilien remarked, “sometimes that dot seems to shine.” And indeed it does!

Thank You, Paonia. Colorado Springs, here we come!

Although we may have dropped 161 feet in elevation from Montrose, Colorado to Paonia, Colorado, spirits were high as StoryCorps’ MobileWest team geared up for two weeks of MobileBooth recording in front of Paonia’s brand new Pubilc Library, which opened in April of 2009. After a warm welcome from KVNF, Paonia’s “mountain- grown” public radio station, we hit the ground running in this small town of just 1,600 people. And although Paonia may be one of the smallest towns the MobileBooth has visited, it’s still big enough for community members to learn something (and meet someone) new everyday!

When participants come into the StoryCorps Booth, they often tell the story of how they first met. It’s not everyday, however, that participants meet one another for the first time at the MobileBooth! That is exactly what happened in Paonia, Colorado, at StoryCorps’ MobileBooth West when Marjorie Johnson and Marylee Hauze came in to tell their story.

Almost four months ago to the day of their scheduled conversation, participant Marylee Hauze came upon a letter to the editor in the Delta County Independent written by an “M.E. Johnson” titled, “A Mother’s Day Tribute.” Marylee was so moved by the article, she wrote a letter to “M.E.” thanking her for her words. Since then, Marge and Marylee have been exchanging letters as pen pals. It was September 5 that they met for the first time. After sharing lunch in town, they came to StoryCorps to continue their conversation face-to-face. It didn’t take long to understand why Marylee was so eager to make the acquaintance of Marjorie E. Johnson.

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In the Montrose Public Library, near the Libros En Espanol [Books in Spanish] section, we took over a study room and set up shop for a week-long recording session of 41 conversations in Montrose, Colorado.

The city of Montrose rests north of the towering San Juan Mountains at an altitude of 5,806 feet. It’s home to a diverse group of residents including long-timers whose families have been in the area for multiple generations, transplants from bigger cities looking for a slower pace, and nature-seekers wanting to co-exist with the beautiful Colorado landscape. And boy, is it beautiful!

Although we were only there for a week, Montrose Public Library gave us the full red-carpet greeting. A wonderful ice cream social – covered by Montrose Daily Press – was arranged by the library on Opening Day, and Library Director Paul Paladino formally welcomed us with open arms; KVNF news director Daniel Costello talked about the radio station’s excitement; and West MobileBooth Site Supervisor Whitney Henry-Lester thanked the crowd for their participation. Needless to say, we were very excited to begin!

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StoryCorps partnered with Quincy Community Health Center, a health clinic that specializes in serving the underserved and migrant farm workers here in Wenatchee, Washington and the surrounding areas. Cristian Ramon and Lupe Cortes (best friends and recent high school graduates) both volunteer at Quincy and came into the MobileBooth to share their story.

Lupe Cores and Cristian Ramon

Lupe remembered reading Angels in Pink by Lurlene McDaniel, the story of high school friends who volunteer in the oncology unit of a hospital. Lupe convinced Cristian that they should do the same. They walked into their local hospital and caused some confusion at the front desk. The woman who greeted them thought they must be attempting to fill school-required community service hours. When Cristian and Lupe told her they had already completed their school’s required hours and were simply interested in volunteering, she seemed perplexed and said they would have to fill out an application and run a background check. Cristian and Lupe left dejected, but luckily, their high school counselor introduced them to Mary Jo Ybarra-Vega at Quincy Community Health Center.

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Santiago Iñiguez recorded his story with his son Ricardo at the MobileBooth in Wenatchee, Washington. Santiago’s father taught him the value and honor of hard work on their farm in Santa Elena, Mexico. Although his father did not have much formal education himself, he made sure his children learned to read. “Mi papa tenia una Biblia, y allí me enseñe yo mas a leer en esa Biblia, no había mas libros.”  My father had a bible and that is how I learned to read, it was the only book we had, said Santiago.

Santiago left Mexico and traveled to the United States, as he said, “para buscar una cosa diferente,” to find something different. While working on the farms of the Yakima Valley in Washington state, Santiago saved his money and brought his family to start a new life.

Many years later Ricardo asked his father how it felt to watch each of his eleven children graduate from high school and go onto too college.  Santiago responded, “Me emociono tanto ver como las cosas pueden mejorar con esfuerzo,” I am so excited to see how things can improve with effort. “Eso para mi era como un milagro, haberme yo con tan poquita escuela, tan poquita oportunidad. Me han negado mucho por la falta de la escuela, pero a mis hijos no.” That for me was like a miracle, having so little school, so little opportunity. I have been denied many things for my lack of education, but my children will not be.

Santiago strongly believes that, “La mejor herencia es la escuela.” The best inheritance is school.