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.

Here are some photos of this West Central Texas community.

With the help of our tremendous radio partner, KACU, our Mobilebooth saw many of the folks who have helped develop Abilene and many who simply call it home. Tom Perini of Perini Ranch Steakhouse, Sharon Riley of Lytle Land & Cattle Company, and Joseph Spano Sr. and Jr. of Spano’s Italian Restaurant came to talk about what it is like to work and try to succeed in the restaurant business as mom-and-pop operations. As agriculture was a pillar of the economy in Abilene and the surrounding towns, the context for many people’s lives in the region is their memories of growing up on peanut farms, dairy farms and ranches as children, working in fields with their siblings and traveling long distances to get to school and work, and the neighborhood store. They talked about the toughest times of the Depression and Segregation, but also the humor and wildness of the West, where sometimes shooting rattlesnakes off your front porch with a shotgun is almost a daily practice. Some families owned one piece of land for years while others traveled all over West Texas. The latter were often the families of preachers, preachers like 105-year-old Vernon Henderson, who visited StoryCorps with his son Gene to talk about being a Methodist preacher for more than 53 years.

Here are just some of the people who shared their stories with us in Abilene.

When it came time to pull out of Abilene and make our way across West Texas to Northern California, we saw some tremendous American landscape along the way. We turned the corner in Orla, Texas and stopped in Joshua Tree National Park to examine some of the flowers of the desert on our way up the coast.

Once we hit the wind farms atop the golden hills of California we knew we were close to our destination.

Next stop: Sacramento.

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 thingÖ”

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.’”

“Well, that kind of thought–I’d never thought about that. You know, when you’re on a pedestal, you’re isolated. You’re not a part of anything. And that was the first kind of bling in my mind and then hearing Sonia Johnson talkÖ.And something happened to me thenÖThat’s where it started. And then I joined the Women’s Political Caucus here in San Antonio because I wanted to see more women in political office. So I think I was in my 40s then, you know, so I always say that I’m a late bloomer to this thing called feminism, even though I have now spent over thirty years trying to wake women upÖ.”

Ginger has worked as a women’s advocate and has helped found four organizations since 1979, including The San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Network Power Texas. She talked about the beginnings of Network Power Texas. When she was heading the San Antonio Professional Chapter of Women in Communications, Ginger called the presidents of seven other women’s groups together to try to organize an event to teach women in San Antonio about networking. Writer and feminist Liz Carpenter and Texas politician Ann Richards came to speak, among others. Ginger said: “We were sold out 10 days before the event. We had 5 or 600 women jammed into a Chinese Restaurant that seated 350. I said if the fire marshall had been there that day, I’d of still been in jail, but incredible things happened.”

Ginger has become a professional motivational speaker herself, getting over the “frog of terror” in her throat long ago in order to give lectures and workshops on issues that benefit women. Ginger has also formulated her ideas of the “middle woman” in a book entitled, Come On In, There’s Room For Us All. Finally! The middle woman speaks up and out! Ginger continues to be an inspiration and a blessing to the many women she brings together through her work.

Two other great women leaders who graced our MobileBooth with their words and presence in San Antonio also told the story of how they unexpectedly became community activists. Viola Casares (pictured below, left) and Petra Mata (right), are co-coordinators of the organization Fuerza Unida.

Viola and Petra were two of the 1,150 employess who lost their jobs when the Levi Strauss & Company (LS&C) located on South Zarzamora Street in San Antonio, Texas announced that the plant was closing and relocating to Costa Rica in January of 1990. The displaced workers, the majority of whom were Mexican and Mexican American women, and some of whom had worked for the company for as many as 20 or 30 years, were left with little severance pay, no pension, no medical support, and ineffective retraining programs. Fuerza Unida began when twenty-three of the laid off workers, all women, attended a meeting within a month of the closing and initiated “The Women Garment Workers Justice Campaign” (WGWJC), a campaign that included hunger strikes, sit-ins, demonstrations, a class action lawsuit against Levi’s, and a national boycott of Levi’s products. The path Viola and Petra have taken to becoming community activists was a necessary one. They had no prior organizing experience and were forced to fight and organize to survive. They both have suffered in their efforts, but view Fuerza Unida as a tremendous opportunity. Currently, Fuerza Unida maintains a community space called the Women Workers Center and offers public education on issues such as NAFTA & the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, labor issues, environmental health, education, and public policy. They also offer a Member Leadership Development Institute to encourage leadership among working class women of color as well as youth and family wellness programming, serving as an integral moral support for their community.

Illustration courtesy of lafuerzaunida.org

Ginger, Viola, and Petra are examples of women who became something they didn’t necessarily strive to be–tremendous leaders, teachers, organizers and role models. Their stories are a testament to the possibility of an individual to change both themselves and their community.

Among the bright lights and towering brick of mid-town Manhattan, the nonprofit organization Common Ground found a home for those who needed and deserved life’s most basic necessity. Another dedicated community partner of StoryCorps Griot, Common Ground seeks to transform buildings, people, and entire communities with the mission to work towards ending homelessness. By acquiring its Times Square building in 1991–a once stately neighborhood fixture fallen into disrepair–Common Ground was able to preserve the historic detail of the building and create housing for 652 low-income and formerly homeless individuals in the heart of the city. It is currently the largest permanent supportive housing project in the nation. StoryCorps Griot joined with Common Ground Times Square to help some of the residents record their stories. Many came to talk about where they had been and where they are going.

A view of the double-height lobby decorated for the holidays

Resident Joanna J.J. Jackson visited us to talk about deciding at age 14 that she was not going to be a have-not in this world. She told stories of her 48-year-long career, begun at a sandwich delicatessen as a teenager, and moving to jobs at offices on 5th Avenue, City Hall, and eventually, Wall Street. Making her way through the political and business worlds, she talked about moments when she felt like she’d arrived, like when she had her own parking spot at City Hall: “Just a whole lot of things that I never thought that I would do. But see, that’s because I wanted change, and because of my wanting change, my life changed, you know, it broadenedÖ”

Ms. Jackson and Facilitator Rachel Falcone

Also a 28-year survivor of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, an autoimmune disease, it is clear that Ms. Jackson’s ambition is not diminished, even in relapses of illness, when she is unable to work and is reliant on medications to keep her body going. She said: “I’ve got at least another 30, 40 years, you know, to accomplish something. So, I’m not putting a time on it, it’s just that I know that I’m gonna be here to do it. That’s my mindset right now, so it makes it a little bit easier, with taking the medication. Because they’re, you know, necessary, but I just look at them as aids to divine healing. Really I do. I’m on a journey and it hasn’t ended yet, and I’m looking forward to doing greater things”

Another resident, Michael Brown, also taught us a little bit about outlook, and how it affects where you are going. He came to talk about living with Myotonic Dystrophy, (the most common form of Muscular Dystrophy) and becoming passionate about genealogy about 5 years ago. Reflecting on how he got started with genealogy, he said: “I guess it had to do with thinking how they lived back then and I don’t have to live. Because we always try to do better than we are. Like, if I had children, I would say, do better than how I didÖ.” He explained his pursuit of the past as a way to look forward, remembering the stories of his family that his mother used to tell him: “I just thought that knowing where you came from has a lot to do with [knowing] where you’re goingÖI guess it gives you a different outlook on the futureÖ”

Participant Steven Fernandez with his colorful walking stick

Another storyteller, resident Steven Fernandez shared with us a similar sense of knowing where he is going from having a strong sense of who he was, even as a child. Mr. Fernandez grew up in the South Bronx as an independent spirit, learning from and hanging around elders when many kids his age were out in the streets with their friends. Now a little bit older, having lived through many of life’s obstacles, he has sought to become a teacher to youth, similar to those he looked up to as a boy. He carries a big, colorful walking stick with him everywhere he goes, a work in progress. He carves historical figures and themes into the wood and then paints each scene over time until it is completed. In the daily conversations he has with neighborhood kids about the paintings as they progress, he hopes to teach them about patience and history.

We are grateful to have been able to share in the strength, humor, spirit, and wisdom of Mr. Brown, Ms. Jackson, and Mr. Fernandez. If the walls of this building could talk, they would tell many more stories of how individuals live, survive, grow, change, and share. Thank you to Common Ground Times Square for helping the individuals we met today and many more. And thank you to Mr. Brown, Mr. Fernandez and Ms. Jackson for visiting StoryCorps and making your voices heard.

One of the city’s natural gemsóBarton Springs Pool in Zilker Parkógave 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.

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.

The Dickie’s Giant welcomes visitors to the Texas State Fair, the largest in the country! Everything at the fair is done up big, especially the two most important: food and rides.

Almost any food is better fried (by Texas standards), and we saw signs for everything from fried mac and cheese to deep-fried Oreos. This year’s top contenders included fried cookie dough, zesty fried guacamole bites, deep fried latte, country fried peach cobbler on a stick, fried banana pudding, and fried frito chili burrito.

Facilitator Hilary Marshall threw dietary caution to the wind and tried this years hands-down favorite: Mama’s Fried Sweet Potato Pie.

After eating our way through the fair, we hopped on North America’s largest ferris wheel to get a better view of the fairgrounds. We were reminded, once again, that everything’s bigger in Texas. Yee-haw!

A particularly knowledgeable cowboy named Rocky (above) stopped to give an impromptu lecture on the history of the cattle trade, which kept our first Fort Worth participants, Shirlynn McGee and her granddaughter Janeisha, entertained while they completed their paperwork.

Ms. McGee came to MobileBooth West to talk about her struggles with diabetes and how a local program through the United Way has helped to educate her about health and nutrition. Janeisha chimed in about the importance of eating your vegetables, which are now her favorite foods. They both enjoy exercise and love to help family and neighbors make healthy lifestyle choices.

Many thanks to KERA, Dalls/Ft. Worth’s local NPR affiliate, for hosting a successful opening day. Thanks also to the United Way and The Stockyards Station.