Before this trip Ashley W and I did a big push of outreach to all the people we’ve met so far in Fowler and others we have been wanting to meet. We mailed or emailed a letter to everyone that included an updated that the project is happening and dates for auditions and performances, etc. plus information about our presence in town for this weekend.
This was Laurie’s first visit to Fowler! She and Julie and I started our visit on Friday with a stop in to the Fowler Post Office to rent a PO Box so Cornerstone Institute can get mail delivery while we are living here. The clerk was really friendly and jokey. His name is Rick Darling and he is on the city council. His family has been in Fowler for over 100 years. He grew up in Fresno but moved back to Fowler. “I loved this town,” he said. You don’t love it anymore? “Well not recently. I guess you haven’t read the paper.” Two days ago things there was a Grand Jury indictment. But it’s good because now we know and we can move on and solve the problem, make it better. So we got a PO box and a copy of the Grand Jury indictment.
Basically, the former Chief of Police who resigned in November of last year, had collected but not processed any of the crimes that have happened in Fowler since 2004. Police officers did all the paperwork and turned it in and the chief never passed those things along to the county District Attorney. Instead they collected in his office which remained locked, so no one else could see the intense disorganization of all this work undone. Also, the City Manager was found to blame because he didn’t give appropriate oversight. Also other evaluative procedures are habitually ignored within some parts of city government.
Our first appointment was to interview Josh Lopez, the editor of local paper, The Fowler Ensign. He works out of the office of the Sanger Herald in Sanger. It was funny at first because he thought he was going to interview us and we thought we were going to interview him. We decided to both. Josh is about 24 and got the job after graduating from Fresno State in journalism. He has kind of a perfect job with a lot of freedom in his work schedule. We had a great time talking with Josh and also meeting Sharon who is writes for the Sanger paper. Josh is pretty informed about our project now and plans to write an article about Cornerstone and the play in the Ensign.
We had a Youth Workshop for local kids aged 13-20 scheduled to happen at the library from 4:30 to 6pm. In addition to it being mentioned in the letter we sent, it was sent specifically to the FHS drama teacher to share with her students. No one showed up for the workshop. There were some young people hanging out in front of the library though practicing some dance moves. Laurie and Julie talked with them. They are a new dance crew. We talked with them about maybe putting something together that we can build into the play. We brought them in to practice inside out of the heat. Two of the crew leaders spent most of the time sharing their story and philosophy with the other, younger kids. They talked about the different styles of dance they are interested in: jerking, krumping, dougie, etc. Laurie invited them all to come to our Youth Workshop on Saturday too.
After dinner we attended a class in Buddhism taught by a teacher/leader from the area. About 15 people were in attendance. The local Buddhist church did their usual hospitality with snacks— little baggies of chex mix & cake & fresh cherries at the break. We enjoyed the class, didn’t talk much with folks.
On Saturday we arrived at the park for Serve Fowler about 915am, registered and got a tshirt gloves and a trashbag. We walked the alleys and streets to pick up trash. After considering how best to connect with other folks “serving Fowler” it seemed clear that we should just do some work and we’d talk with folks afterward during the lunch. It was nice to walk around the neighborhood. We met a woman named Frances Salinas who had a conversation with Laurie about cleaning up some things others had left by her garbage cans in the alley behind her house. Frances is 92 (? - waited to long to finish this so I am losing details..) and has lived in this house on E. Adams a LONG time. One of her sons owns/runs Salinas Farms up on Jensen Ave. (A place we’ve passed by when kind of lost a few times.) Frances was very gracious and friendly, brought us some cold drinks. And while we were talking with her, Tracy came up with a tractor thingie to collect trashbags, so we asked him if he could take some of the large items that were cluttering up Frances’ area there. He was happy to oblige—took away a giant tree stump and bunch of ancient fencing pieces and more. Later he met us in the next alley over and he took away some junked furniture and wood we loaded up for him.
This event was originally just a Baptist Church of Fowler event and this year was the first time they invited some other churches to join in. The turn-out was great! St. Lucy’s Catholic church and the Fresno Gurdwara (Nanaksar Sahib) which is close to Fowler participated. (Maybe other churches, too?) The Lions Club and the Knights of Columbus provided BBQ burgers and dogs and the Sikhs provided some vegetarian Indian fare. We had been under the impression that we might have a former story circle with Baptist church folks in their space after the lunch, but that was not the case. Pastor Jim Kennon made an announcement at lunch introducing Laurie who introduced us and our project and invited folks to talk with us. Some of them did. We had brought “5 Senses of My Fowler” worksheets and used them as a way to collect contact information as well as to get people thinking about their community. Some people did fill them out, especially the younger ones. They did not give a lot of insight for Julie in terms of the script but were useful particularly for example when Laurie was with a group of kids and talking them through it, asking them questions that they’d discuss together. Julie and Laurie got to meet Sandie Monis, a Fowler force of nature. Council member Rico Aguayo was there and checked in with me about how he can help. He always does this and I am so grateful for it. He and I strategized about how to approach the school district to get some rehearsal space at one of the elementary schools. Julie talked with Craig M. and his wife quite a bit. I’d met Craig before and he didn’t seem very interested or particularly friendly, but today I found out he is terrific. He and his wife are transplants from Philadelphia. He is president of the chamber of commerce and is involved in a number of city committees. He has a business helping with events—providing DJs, sound systems, photographers, stuff like that. She works for a school district other than Fowler. Someone also introduced me to Raj, a young man from the Sikh community. We talked a bit and he gets what it is we do and how it would be great to include the Sikh voice in our project. He is not from Fowler though- he lives in Fresno. He asked that I send info to him via email and he’d share it with some folks and also would set us up so Julie could talk with another guy who does live in Fowler and is definitely a member of the community here.
We had arranged to have a story circle with youth from St Lucy’s church at their hall. David Cardenas had set it up for us—he’s very committed and connected in his church. David had hoped for more participation but got commitments from 4 young people who said they’d attend. Unfortunately there was confusion and we actually could not meet at St. Lucy’s. We were able to switch the location to the library. No one from the Catholic church attended, though the dance crew from the day before did attend. Laurie did a great job wrangling them into talking with us, not just dancing and talking among themselves. It was hard work! We gained a good view into Fowler youth, especially these kids in comparison to the church kids we met in the park. These kids say they want to stay in high school and generally seem more on the outside. The church kids all said they want to go to college.
(We tried to go see a movie in Selma Saturday night but got lost and found the theater too late. But now we know where it is.)
We’d been invited to meet with Presbyterian Church members for their lunch in the park following their Sunday church service. I think we got there later than Pastor Paul Irwin expected us, but he rolled with it. When we arrived all the picnic tables were packed with people dressed for church! Quite a sight! We made an announcement as we had the day before and many people sought out us or our flyers. It was obvious that Pastor Paul had shared information about our project during the service that morning. This was very heartening. Julie mostly spoke with an older couple, John & Carol Anne Converse, who shared a lot of their current life and some of their past, too. They are involved in education for mentally-disabled adults. They were so full of details and thoughtful perspectives and interesting, personal stories. Really lovely people with some challenging life circumstances but much love. I talked some with Dorothy Feaver. The Feaver family is one that others often mention when talking about Fowler. Dorothy is 97. We talked a bit and she said she’d be open to talking with Julie later. Laurie spoke with a number of enthusiastic Fowlerites. The Blaneys are a farm family and neighbors of George Teraoka.
We were unable to make headway with St. Gregory’s Armenian Church. The priest there (maybe new?) just doesn’t return the call and Ashley W has been very dedicated and persistent in following through as much as we can on our end.
Ashley has also been diligent it trying to connect us with the African American residents via the local churches. Rose of Sharon’s Pastor Easter seems to live in Fresno. The Second Baptist Church doesn’t have an answering machine, though Ashley has sleuthed out the information that their pastor JUST left this church. St. Paul’s AME has an answering machine and email but Ashley’s messages have gone unanswered.
Karen M. forgets to ask her husband about them meeting with us, then doesn’t return call or answer inquiry. I know that Karen is excited for our project—she spoke passionately in favor of us at a Buddhist church community meeting! She’s offered to be a point person for us in terms of details. Maybe it is just cultural that even the Japanese Buddhists who want to help us with our project are just unlikely to make a date to talk about their personal stories.
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