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But....What IS the Spirit of Idaho?

#Tumblater 

Mood set:

My August adventure to Idaho with fellow “wild potato”/StoryCorps RENAISSANCE WOMAN CHRISTINA STANTON brought us into contact with some real, honest-to-goodness, spud-fed Idahodans, and folks, it was just as happy frappy as the B52 song suggests! We logged two blue-skied (100+°! ) days in Lewiston (up where Idaho starts to get pan-handley, and incidentally, just across the river from Clarkston, WA) to help Cambia Health Solutions commemorate 100 years in the Pac Northwest heath insurance biz. Lewiston is a sweet little town nestled (thankfully) on the banks of the Snake River amidst some stunning rolling hill country. Dip a toe in, gang - the water’s warm!  

From the word go, point person Rachel and the Lewistonians made us and our microphones feel right at home. 

One of the treats of recording folks who work together in a tiny town is that everybody knows EVERYBODY else, so it was chummy vibes all around, in and out of the booth. Is everybody in Idaho this good-natured? We couldn’t help but wonder...

One of my favorite Facilitating phenomena that was also DEFINITELY in full effect here  - at an insurance company, of all places - was that thing that happens where a participant talks with joy and exuberance about the work that they do, that you, the Facil, start fantasizing about your new, forthcoming career in said field (don’t tell me IMLS recordings haven’t made you think it’s A Librarian’s Life for you!). The interview that did it here in Lewiston was the lovely Karen Vauk’s, in which Vauk reflects on her many years running the Idaho Foodbank, the inspiration it gives her and the concrete impact she’s seen the Foodbank have on communities in Idaho. Cambia invited her because so many of their employees dedicate time to volunteering with the Foodbank. (Vauk is the Carrie Fisher look-alike on the left. She chatted with Foodbank volunteer Wendi Homan, right). Vauk’s air of compassion and deep gratitude for the simple and fundamental impact of feeding families struck such a chord. I can see why so many people from Cambia want to be a part of her work. 

The most serendipitous of all the interviews, on the other hand, was on Day 3! I’d been fishing around for recommendations from participants on local live music, and had gotten an emphatic suggestion from one fellow to clear our Wed night calendar to go see Lewiston’s own Seven Devils play at the Brew House next to our hotel. (Coincidence?) They were not to be missed, we were told. But when I showed up Wed night with my dancing shoes on, all I found was a barren dance floor and an empty stage. Dejected! When Thursday, our last day of recording, arrives, I’m orienting a particularly adorable and heavily mustachioed father-son combo platter, and as they introduce themselves as the 4th + 5th generation Editors in Chief of the legendary family owned newspaper, the Lewiston Tribune, Nathan (the younger), casually comments, “and I also play some music.” 

“Music?” says I. “Do you, per chance, ever play out and about?”

“Well as a matter of fact, we’re playing a gig this very evening!”

“A gig tonight....at MJ Barleyhoppers Brew House?”

“That’s the one!”

“YOU, sir, are ONE OF THE SEVEN DEVILS!” 

Bingo, babies. I had in my booth the lead guitarist of Lewiston’s undisputed rock and roll darlings. The show was on for that night and now I had the VIP hookup! And as for the mustaches?  “Butch” Alford Sr. told me that as the Lewiston Tribune would be celebrating 125 years in operation this year, to commemorate the occasion, he and his son had decided to grow mustaches together in the style of their Tribune’s founding forbearers so many years ago. Try not to gush over these cuties:

Needless to say, Christina and I toasted to 3 days of successful recording with frosty brews on Barleyhopper’s sunset-kissed patio as Nathan and his fellow Devils gave us a StoryCorps shoutout from the stage. Dang! These vibes are good! 

We were also fortunate to log some quality time with Rachel, our Oregon-based point person (who flew in to support us), and Maureen, our local Lewiston gal. Over dinner one evening, Maureen shared her insight on being a life-long Idahodan, and the changes she’s seen as more and more west coasters have relocated to Idaho for greener (and cheaper) pastures. “It’s great to see new faces and new ideas, but I don’t know that these hip new folks know what we’re about here. I don’t know that they really understand the spirit of Idaho....” 

“...But....what IS the spirit of Idaho?” Christina asked. Chomping my baked potato, I froze. We looked at Maureen, eyes big as saucers. 

“It’s this sense that we’re all neighbors, and we all look out for each other. In Idaho, if you pull over with a flat, the very next car will pull over to help you. It’s like one big town. And I don’t ever want that to change.”

I guess no one can have their own private Idaho forever...but if the locals manage to keep things like one big town, I sure hope that town’s a lot like Lewiston. <3 

-JVM

EPILOGUE/BONUS Footage: Ok, so Cambia’s Marketing team was so excited to have StoryCorps in the house, they actually made this nifty promotional video all about it. Look at Christina, rockin’ those talking points like a veteran BOSS. 

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Gettin’ Revved in Motor City

Preface: Gotta set the mood. 

Fun fact: did y’all know that the “Mo” in Motown is short for Motor, as in Motor City? Welcome to Detroit, kids! [windows down, hair blowing, Chevy cruising.] 

Mia and I shipped off to Wayne State University last week for two days of American Pilgrimage Project recordings. From the moment we touched down, something was in the air, y’all: This trip was every bit as charmed and groovy as the soundtrack suggests. Let’s map out the magic:

Chapter 1: We deplane hungry and beeline to Greektown, where we find, nestled a block down the road from our digs @ Greektown Casino Hotel, Detroit’s #1 spot for cheap authentic Greek food. 

A) It’s called Golden Fleece, which is just danged adorable. 

B) FLAMING CHEESE, Y’ALL. 

Uh huh. #gottaholdontothisfeeling

Chapter 2: Thanks to Mia’s professional development addiction/mad networking skills, we already have a Monday night wine date lined up with Von Diaz’s cool food journalist/photographer buddies who live in town! We turn up to the designated wine bar, where said cool friends (Martina and Cybelle) are doing a private interview + photoshoot with Nuria, a Barcelonan auto-engineer-turned-Spanish-wine-importer. Because Detroit is seriously bursting with cool, enterprising folk like that. We sip wine, listen in, and play “casually fabulous wine bar patrons” in the background as Cybelle snaps away. We’re such good sports, Nuria and the gang treat us to a full on tapas feast afterwards at La Feria! There were figs and there were churros, but you wouldn’t know it from the photo ‘cause we ate it all right up. (Foodiest Monday ever?!). Check us, all Detroit scenesters-like.  

Chapter 3: Ok, down to business. Our two days of recording kick off REAL early, but hum along like a well-oiled machine, thanks to our trusty point person/esteemed professor Saaed Kahn (featured characteristically mid-anecdote below). LOADS of incredible participants this trip. 

Day One’s highlight is Rebecca Karam’s interview of her mother, Lisa, with Mia facilitating. As they discuss the role Catholicism has played in Lisa’s life, Lisa reveals -  much to her daughter’s surprise! -  that these days she’s not only cut ties to Catholicism; she actually no longer considers herself a Christian. Rebecca’s natural interviewing skills made for a great exploration of these previously uncharted waters!  

Day Two’s highlight was the sweetest Big Bro-Little Sis duo on the planet, Hamzah and Afifa Latif. Hamzah made the drive in from Chicago that morning just to participate (and concluded their interview declaring he’d to it again anytime, from anywhere - anything for his little sis. Sniffle!) Afifa shared some amazing stories  - from her determination to wear her Hijab in elementary school despite some pretty heinous harassment from classmates AND other parents, to sweating bullets (and getting her sweater caught on her chair) when she met with Mark Zuckerberg at her university to talk about online hate speech. Hamzah is in total awe of his sister (rightly so), and it shows: 

Other fascinating conversations include sisters Maya and Leya Maliekal talking about growing up in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and Saaed’s daughter Yasmeen talking to her friend Sumayyah about their identities as 2nd generation Indian-American Muslims. 

Chapter 4: Somewhere in between Recording Days One & Two, we manage to squeeze in dinner with Mia’s adorable Aunt Betsy and Uncle Jeff AND a visit Detroit’s dopest indie bookshop, Source Booksellers. Mystical shop owner Janet prompts Mia and me to each fish a Tarot card out of a wicker basket and read the interpretation/affirmation associated with our cards aloud in the middle of the bookstore. (Mia thought there might be puppies in the basket, but is satisfied with her fated “Teaching & Learning” affirmation. I, meanwhile, am affirming my “Individuality.” We got to keep the cards. =) 

Chapter 5: It’s our last night in Detroit, and what, you thought we weren’t gonna hit Greektown’s hottest casino on our way out?! Y’all. Please. Slurping our Checkers chocolate milkshakes, we almost get booted by our own Greektown Casino security when I’m caught photoshooting Mia’s highrollin’ craps toss. 

We manage to shake the fuzz though, and good thing too - ‘cause Mia is about to strike GOLD on the slots. 

Chapter 6: Time to go already!? Alright, so we gotta deftly jam Detroit’s best tourism offerings into a single half day. Let’s do this:

A) Coffee from #1 Yelp Rated coffee shop in Detroit + classic shot with the excessively-masculine-but-nonetheless-iconic “Spirit of Detroit” statue: check. 

B) Wander around The Heidelberg Project’s open air community art space to check out installations comprised entirely of Detroit found objects and materials (/Mia hosting Heidelberg Morning Joe?): check. 

C) Sweet-talked free admission into the Detroit Institute of Arts to see Diego Rivera’s masterpiece, the utterly amazing Detroit Industry Murals? CHECK. (Check out these high res images of the North and South walls for better detail - so worth it!)

D) Grand finale, i.e. a visit to MOTOWN STUDIO, where we legit dance around the studio floor with our tour group singing “My Girl” while Stevie Wonder/Marvin Gaye’s piano silently looks on (and I embarrassingly cry tears of joy through the whole thing)?!? CHECK CHECK CHECK. (sob)

The tour guide gets to talking about how some dame named “Miss Lily” would grill up hotdogs for the artists. (Apparently to decide which Motown songs would be released as singles, they’d take a vote on how many people, if starving, would still spend their last dime on that record over a Miss Lily hotdog.) Frankly (yuk yuk), all we hear is the word “hotdog,” so we enthusiastically hit up this Drive In/Take Out place Bucharest for some “Detroiter” dogs on our way out to the airport. (Detroit beanie in the foreground represent!) 

All that tourism, AND we made it to the Detroit Metro Airport in time to enroll in TSA Pre-Check. Seriously. #CHARMED. Farewell ‘til the next time, Motor City. It’s gonna be a tough adjustment without you!