Do You Dance in My Language? Historias in Pasco

On August 21^st, StoryCorps kicked-off it’s two-week Historias Mobile Tour stop in Pasco, WA. Historias is an initiative to record, preserve, and share the stories of Latinos across the US and has become one of the largest collections of Latino voices in the country. This was our second tour stop in Tri-Cities, following three weeks of recordings with Northwest Public Radio. For our two week Historias set of interviews, we partnered with Radio La Campesina 96.3 FM (this is the first time we partner with a Spanish Language radio station during our MobileTour) and the Pasco Public Library continued to be our site host.

StoryCorps and Radio Campesina Community Celebration outside the Pasco Library

Felipe Tapia and his wife, Cody Mains-Tapia, came during Opening Week to share the story of how they met. Felipe was born in Mexico City, and though he had fond memories that brought a smile to his face, he talked about having a very difficult childhood, surrounded by violence, and learning to fight and defend himself at an early age.

Yearning for a change in his life, he looked towards a new horizon and came to the U.S to join his mother. During his interview, Felipe talked about how, soon after coming here, he discovered that it was not quite the “paradise” his mother would speak of. He had to work in the fields and that, along with the language barrier made for a challenging transition. He needed an escape from his newfound struggles, and found it in dancing. As it happened, it was during one of these outings that Felipe’s life took a turn, and her name was Cody.

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