Escuchando en Fresno

Bidding a fond farewell to Los Angeles, MobileBooth West recently headed up and inland to Fresno, California. Nestled in the heart of the Central Valley, Fresno welcomed StoryCorps with some of its legendary greenery. Radio Bilingüe, our broadcast partner, greeted us with a bag of tangerines from the sound engineer’s tree. A farmers market bustled next door as MobileBooth West set up for a month of Historias recordings with Fresno’s Latino communities.

Our evening listening event was a hit. Hugo Morales and Lourdes Oliva Medina of Radio Bilingüe welcomed everyone to Arte Américas while our community partners-many accompanied by family and friends-introduced themselves.

Snacking on ceviche, taquitos, and aqua fresca, people settled into chairs as StoryCorps’ Anna Walters played some favorite clips from past StoryCorps conversations. Martin Pereyra López, representing the Union de Ex-Braceros e Inmigrantes, ended the evening with an unexpected concert, playing a song he wrote about his time as a bracero in the valley.

MobileBooth West couldn’t be happier to be in Fresno, where participants are sharing multigenerational stories of family, migration, education, the campo, and the Fresno that pulsed at the heart of California’s Chicano and Farm Workers movements.