The sweet side allows us to excitedly introduce and welcome Sara Culver, Alejandro de la Cruz, and Lilly Sullivan to the road. Sara, a StoryCorps veteran, has most recently worked as a coordinator for the Alaska Initiative. Alejandro comes to us from Los Angeles by way of Mexico City, where he wrote for online publications (and he’s itching to flex his typing fingers on this blog). Another Californian, Lilly comes to StoryCorps after four years in publishing, most recently at the PEN American Center in New York.

Thanks to all of you who support our efforts to keep the Mobile Tour running. Stay tuned to hear more tales from us on the road!

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.

Now, Cristian and Lupe are Community Health Promoters with Quincy, helping to educate farm workers about their health options, rights, and needs. Topics range from pesticide protection, alleviating headaches, safety ladders and more. This work hits home for Cristian and Lupe, whose parents immigrated to Washington from Mexico. Cristian and Lupe have both worked picking fruit with their parents. Lupe says she only lasted five minutes in the field and remembers that experience as motivation to keep studying. Not only have the girls been invaluable contributors at Quincy because of their experience and knowledge of farm life, but they have also been able to bring the health education they’ve acquired at Quincy home to share with their family.

Recently, Cristian and Lupe traveled to Seattle to accept a Heroes in Health award on behalf of all Health Promoters at Quincy Community Health Center. At a star-studded event, they admitted feeling like they didn’t belong. “Coming from my background, I felt like we should’ve been serving instead of the one in the pretty dress getting the award,” said Cristian. Thankfully, a friend reminded them that day after day, they did the same hard work as everyone else and were just as deserving of the award.

Having just graduated high school, Cristian and Lupe are determined to continue forward together, helping each other through college, grad school, medical school, and maybe even starting their own clinic one day. While other teenagers may be home worrying about clothes and dates, Lupe and Cristian are strengthening the health of their families and their community. They said they feel lucky to be here in the United States, where they can fulfill their dreams to help others.

This week Liz Forrer interviewed her friend Marie Magnuson in Wenatchee to learn a little bit more about her friend, and her timing couldn’t have been better. It turns out that Marie’s Aunt Nora was the founder of Father’s Day! Marie’s father’s father, William Jackson Smart, and his wife lived in Eastern Washington with their 11 children. When his wife died suddenly, William was left to care for his children alone. Marie remembers him as a doting grandfather, who even gifted her a horse. Marie’s Aunt Nora was so grateful for her father who had raised her and her siblings so tirelessly, she thought that he deserved a day as much as mothers. And so she fought and advocated to honor all father’s with a day.

Edwin Coleman (L) came in the MobileBooth to speak with his neighbor Jim Newton (R). Edwin’s life is full of stories. He spoke about meeting Robert Kennedy, touring as a bassist with Peter, Paul, and Mary, meeting his wife, and his years as a theater teacher at the University of Oregon. Jim and Edwin also discussed their relationship as neighbors. Luckily, being neighbors oftentimes means more than fences and lawn disputes. Jim and Edwin connected over their love of the written word and their mutual appreciation for the poetry of Langston Hughes. They spoke of the poems “A Dream Deferred,” and “I, Too, Sing America”. Edwin recited the poem, “Cross“, and when he forgot some words, Jim was there to help him out. Their conversations often involve “a glass of wine and poem.” As for their relationship, Edwin said, “It’s been said that fences make good neighbors. I’m glad we don’t have a fence.”

A neighbor may live next door to you, but I love Miriam Webster’s additional definition, “fellow man.” May we all have neighbors who can help us complete poems we forget.

When Dov Siporin was diagnosed at age 33 with stage 4 colon cancer he realized that his life would suddenly consist of lots of time spent bare-bottomed in a sterile hospital, being injected with poison. Interviewed by his father, Steve, Dov explained how instead of joining the masses of depressed patients and somber medical staff, he decided to have some fun. “If you make fun of something, it loses the power to scare you.” On days that Dov had radiation, he would ask his wife, Tara, to write a quote in marker on his behind. Quotes like “Does this radiation make my butt look big?” had nurses in stitches.

On St. Patricks’ Day, Dov asked his wife to write, “Go ahead and pinch me.” When he asked the nurse if she was going to pinch him he received a slap across the face. Shocked, Dov asked for an explanation, and she told him the quote read, “If Dov asks you to pinch him, please slap him.” On another occasion, a doctor told Dov his butt read, “Please remind Dov to take the garbage out.”

The pranks and jokes haven’t eliminated the pain and very real possibility of death. But the laughter between Dov and his wife, his parents, his nurses and doctors, has made everyone enjoy life, appreciate one another, and cope together. Steve told his son, “I wish you didn’t have cancer but it has brought out the best in you.” And Dov has cancer to thank for the realization that, “It’s the fact that we die that makes life sweet.”

It is such a joy to see communities working together to bring StoryCorps to their town. WMNF community run public radio (a member of Pacifica’s listener supported community radio stations) is our partner in Tampa, Florida to bring StoryCorps to the Ybor City neighborhood. Started in 1979, the station became Florida’s first community radio station. “WMNF celebrates and promotes the creative, cultural and political vitality of the local community.”

The East MobileBooth is parked in Ybor City, formed when Vicente Martinez Ybor opened a cigar factory in Florida to make his Cuban cigars. WMNF, the Ybor City State Museum, YCDC, Artist and Writers, and Tre Amici’s coffee all stepped forward to make StoryCorps feel welcome from great promotion and community outreach to restaurant recommendations and cafe con leche! The history and hospitality of this area is palpable, and we expect some great stories.

Jose talked enthusiastically with his mom about Star Wars, ninjas, and his dad and sister. Jose remembered before his sister Esther came along, “I really wanted a little sibling. It could be a brother or a sister, it could be a broster. It could be a mutated kid, but I just wanted another sibling because Dad always had to grade papers and you had to cook dinner.”

Yvette remembered Jose’s childhood career dreams. “You wanted to be a fireman on Monday. You wanted to be a teacher on Tuesday. You were going to be a police officer on Wednesday, and Sundays you were going to be a preacher like Daddy.”

Jose’s career goals have changed. “I think now I want to search for treasure as a pirate.”

Jose was much more decisive about how awesome his mom is. Yvette asked a brave question, “On the scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate me as a mom?”

“10.”

“Why?”

“There’s never been a time when I’ve never had lunch. I always have lunch. And I’m always fed and I’m always taken care of. Even if the week is no TV week… And there’s never been a day when I didn’t have a piece of candy… Because there’s always Granddad.”

However, Jose was not without suggestions for improvement. He was kind enough to outline a six step payment plan to becoming a better mom that included a Nintendo Wii, Guitar Hero, and Star Wars cards with Ventress. Keep dreaming, Jose!

It was an honor for me to facilitate an interview between two beautiful women who aren’t related to me by blood, but I certainly call family. Maggie Benedette-Smith and Jann Foley came in to celebrate National Midwife Week (October 7 – October 13). I learned that midwifery has always existed in the United States, but was legitimized in the 1920s by Mary Breckenridge, founder of the Frontier Nursing Service. Breckenridge and her staff traveled on horseback or foot to women’s homes over a 700 mile radius in rural Kentucky and dramatically lowered both infant and maternal mortality rates. In Jann’s 12 years as a nurse and midwife she has guided women through the birth process. It has often been emotionally and spiritually uplifting. “I love to see the women be empowered by the fact that they take over the whole experience. I’m just there to facilitate the birth, give a helping hand when it’s needed.”

But it is equally as challenging. Jann has continually struggled to prove that there are safe alternatives to a hospital birth, and has even found it difficult to find supportive doctors to work with. The work is also long and physically demanding, keeping Jann on call (and away from her own children) many hours a week, “waiting for babies to come out.”

Maggie first watched her mother deliver a baby at age 12 on Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Jann wanted Maggie to witness her work first hand, “because if she could understand the importance of my providing care for other people when I could be providing care for her, perhaps that would help her not miss me so much.” Maggie put on scrubs and followed her mother around through the night witnessing deliveries.

Jann remembers that night with Maggie. “You were awesome. You were just amazed by the whole thing. I remember when the baby came out it was a little bit stunned and we had to take it over to the warmer… and the mommy was asking, ‘Is she ok? Is she ok?’ And you just reached out your hand and patted her on the leg and you said, ‘She’s ok. Everything is going to be ok.’ And I thought, ‘She’s 12 years old, I’m supposed to be saying that!’ ”

Maggie has recently decided to study medicine and has her head deep in Organic Chemistry books. She told her mom, “It took a while to find what I like, and this just sort of seemed right. I’d always sort of shadowed you and seen the births with you. I kind of had to convince myself that I could get through the science, and now I think, ‘Oh my god, I like this,’ and it’s just very exciting.”

Earl Reynolds came to StoryCorps with his daughter, Ashley, to share memories of growing up as a bootblack in his father’s barber shop on Henry Street in Roanoke, Virginia.

Earl remembered shining the shoes of the Godfather of Soul, who advised Earl, “It’s an honorable profession. You just need to think about what else you want to do with your life.”

Earl heard similar advice while working as a garbage man for the city of Roanoke. He loved the job because of the camaraderie among the workers, but remembered his coworkers telling him, “Even though you like this job, and you’re good at it, you need to do something else. You can do better.”

Earl’s struggled to tell his father that he planned to attend college and would not take over the barber shop. Yet, he knew all was forgiven when he saw his father in attendance at his graduation. After earning two college degrees, Earl went on to work in community development and in the nonprofit sector, earning jobs as the Assistant City Manager for Roanoke and the Martinsville City Manager. Although he hadn’t planned to attend college, he passed the value of education onto Ashley, who is currently waiting for the results of her bar exam.

Listen to Earl tell about his momentous encounter with James Brown, produced by our local radio partner, WVTF.

Amber recalled their first date and Tara asking if she liked dogs and kids. “Because I was interested enough in her but not very interested in either of those questions, and I knew enough to know they would be conversation closers, I said yes.”

After Tara and Amber married, they decided on in-vitro fertilization and selected a sperm donor who seemed as much like Amber as possible. After receiving the sperm in “a tank that looked like a bomb,” Tara endured a tough pregnancy and 3 days of labor.

Tara and Amber often sang “Kookaburra” to Tara’s stomach during her long pregnancy, and they sang to Isabel after her birth to let her know she was home. Tara remembered singing in the car as they drove to Isabel’s first doctor’s appointment. “We had our wedding and had been such a strong couple for so long, but for the first time it really felt like family.”

Years from now, when Isabel listens back to the recording, she will hear Tara and Amber’s beautiful voices singing “Kookaburra” in harmony and think of home.