October 11, 2009
BY JOHN VAUGHN
Presidents and pro athletes may dominate the headlines, but in everyone's background is a story that will appeal to listeners today and in the future.
Take Ronald Ruiz. The New York City bus driver was witness to and participant in a heart-rending moment he later shared with StoryCorps, an oral history project that stops in Yuma early next year to gather personal stories from Hispanic residents.
Ruiz was making his normal rounds on the City Island Line in the Bronx when he picked up an elderly woman who seemed disoriented.
"I could see she was confused," said Ruiz. "I don't know if it was an illness, but she looked so beautiful ... for a hot summer day, to have her fur on."
The woman was supposed to meet some friends for lunch at a restaurant along Ruiz's route, but she couldn't remember which one. Ruiz drove the bus from restaurant to restaurant until he found the one. Then he took her by the hand and led her off the bus to her appointment.
"I wanted her to feel special, like it was limousine - it was a bus. She said she felt like Cinderella, and she said, 'I was diagnosed with cancer and today is the best day of my life' - just because I helped her off the bus," Ruiz said, his voice cracking.
"And I never forgot that woman."
Ruiz's recollections - which can be heard at http://www.storycorps.org/historias-en/listen-to-stories - is part of StoryCorps' Historias initiative, which is gathering the stories of Latinos around the nation. In a partnership with KAWC Radio, it is scheduled to be in Yuma for nearly a month beginning Jan. 7 to record area Hispanics' stories.
KAWC will host a meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday in the 3C Building on Arizona Western College's Main Campus to brief Yuma-area organizations on how they can recruit residents as storytellers, said Dave Riek, general manager of KAWC. Any organizations or individuals who want to attend the meeting are welcome.
Those who contribute their stories will be given free CDs of their 40-minute recordings, some of which will be broadcast on KAWC. And if they choose, their recordings will be archived in the Library of Congress.
StoryCorps began in 2003 as a project to preserve everyday Americans' experiences in recorded conversations that could then be shared with current and future generations.
StoryCorps spokeswoman Diana Velez-Griffen said StoryCorps will be seeking Hispanics from around Yuma County, of all backgrounds and age groups, to tell any stories of relevance to them.
Subjects can include, but are not limited to, participants' family histories, how they or their families came to immigrate to this country, how education helped them get ahead in life, their jobs now or in the past.
"There are so many themes," Velez-Griffen said. "There's such a wide range of stories. There's not like five of them.
"You can tell your story any way you want," she said. "Come and tell your story, your personal story and make sure your story is listened to and can be passed along.
"Everyone's story is important. Everyone's story deserves to be heard."
Each recording session brings together the participant with a second person - typically a spouse, parent, sibling or other family member or a close friend - who engage in a conversation in which the recollections unfold into a story preserved for the ages, said Riek.
"Listening is an act of love and it really plays itself out in this project. It celebrates the common humanity we all experience."
And, he added, "the fact that we get to eavesdrop is a real treat."
Residents who want to record their stories must make reservations for use of the trailer that StoryCorps will bring to Yuma as the mobile recording booth. The reservation period begins Dec. 24. For more information, call StoryCorps, 1-800-850-4406, or go online at www.storycorps.org.
As the host radio station for StoryCorps' visit to Yuma, Riek said, KAWC will secure a location for the trailer where people will go to make the recordings, will line up housing for the StoryCorps staff who will provide technical assistance for the recording, and then will broadcast some of the Yuma stories.
The radio station also is seeking sponsors to help provide places to stay for StoryCorps staff while they're in Yuma, he said.
Riek said he had discussions as far back as last spring with StoryCorps about Yuma being a stop on the tour, which also is going to such cities as Miami, Houston, Colorado Springs.
"We jumped at the opportunity," Riek said. "We figured Yuma was the perfect place to bring StoryCorps.
"StoryCorps is the epitome of what we try to do every day - which is to give everyday people an opportunity to be heard."
Source: Yuma Sun
BY JOHN VAUGHN
Presidents and pro athletes may dominate the headlines, but in everyone's background is a story that will appeal to listeners today and in the future.
Take Ronald Ruiz. The New York City bus driver was witness to and participant in a heart-rending moment he later shared with StoryCorps, an oral history project that stops in Yuma early next year to gather personal stories from Hispanic residents.
Ruiz was making his normal rounds on the City Island Line in the Bronx when he picked up an elderly woman who seemed disoriented.
"I could see she was confused," said Ruiz. "I don't know if it was an illness, but she looked so beautiful ... for a hot summer day, to have her fur on."
The woman was supposed to meet some friends for lunch at a restaurant along Ruiz's route, but she couldn't remember which one. Ruiz drove the bus from restaurant to restaurant until he found the one. Then he took her by the hand and led her off the bus to her appointment.
"I wanted her to feel special, like it was limousine - it was a bus. She said she felt like Cinderella, and she said, 'I was diagnosed with cancer and today is the best day of my life' - just because I helped her off the bus," Ruiz said, his voice cracking.
"And I never forgot that woman."
Ruiz's recollections - which can be heard at http://www.storycorps.org/historias-en/listen-to-stories - is part of StoryCorps' Historias initiative, which is gathering the stories of Latinos around the nation. In a partnership with KAWC Radio, it is scheduled to be in Yuma for nearly a month beginning Jan. 7 to record area Hispanics' stories.
KAWC will host a meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday in the 3C Building on Arizona Western College's Main Campus to brief Yuma-area organizations on how they can recruit residents as storytellers, said Dave Riek, general manager of KAWC. Any organizations or individuals who want to attend the meeting are welcome.
Those who contribute their stories will be given free CDs of their 40-minute recordings, some of which will be broadcast on KAWC. And if they choose, their recordings will be archived in the Library of Congress.
StoryCorps began in 2003 as a project to preserve everyday Americans' experiences in recorded conversations that could then be shared with current and future generations.
StoryCorps spokeswoman Diana Velez-Griffen said StoryCorps will be seeking Hispanics from around Yuma County, of all backgrounds and age groups, to tell any stories of relevance to them.
Subjects can include, but are not limited to, participants' family histories, how they or their families came to immigrate to this country, how education helped them get ahead in life, their jobs now or in the past.
"There are so many themes," Velez-Griffen said. "There's such a wide range of stories. There's not like five of them.
"You can tell your story any way you want," she said. "Come and tell your story, your personal story and make sure your story is listened to and can be passed along.
"Everyone's story is important. Everyone's story deserves to be heard."
Each recording session brings together the participant with a second person - typically a spouse, parent, sibling or other family member or a close friend - who engage in a conversation in which the recollections unfold into a story preserved for the ages, said Riek.
"Listening is an act of love and it really plays itself out in this project. It celebrates the common humanity we all experience."
And, he added, "the fact that we get to eavesdrop is a real treat."
Residents who want to record their stories must make reservations for use of the trailer that StoryCorps will bring to Yuma as the mobile recording booth. The reservation period begins Dec. 24. For more information, call StoryCorps, 1-800-850-4406, or go online at www.storycorps.org.
As the host radio station for StoryCorps' visit to Yuma, Riek said, KAWC will secure a location for the trailer where people will go to make the recordings, will line up housing for the StoryCorps staff who will provide technical assistance for the recording, and then will broadcast some of the Yuma stories.
The radio station also is seeking sponsors to help provide places to stay for StoryCorps staff while they're in Yuma, he said.
Riek said he had discussions as far back as last spring with StoryCorps about Yuma being a stop on the tour, which also is going to such cities as Miami, Houston, Colorado Springs.
"We jumped at the opportunity," Riek said. "We figured Yuma was the perfect place to bring StoryCorps.
"StoryCorps is the epitome of what we try to do every day - which is to give everyday people an opportunity to be heard."
Source: Yuma Sun
