Sunday afternoon just before we hit the road for home: playwright Julie MM, generally awesome Ashley W, Mayor David Cardenas and director Laurie W.
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| St Lucy's Catholic Church |
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| Window at Andy's barber shop |
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
lookit! pictures from Fowler visits
Sunday afternoon just before we hit the road for home: playwright Julie MM, generally awesome Ashley W, Mayor David Cardenas and director Laurie W.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Fowler Visit: June 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Met with Dorothy Feaver at her house on E. South Ave, Selma/Fowler border. I had met her at the Presbyterian lunch event May 22. The Feaver family name has come up a lot and Dorothy has been in Fowler a long time, given that she is 97 years old.
We were greeted on the this rainy grey day by two friendly dogs and then by two friendly people, Dorothy and her son George who lives with her. Dorothy had a pot of tea and a plate of cookies out for us. (When I called her earlier this week, she said she’d love to talk with me but she was in the middle of baking cookies and could I call her later.)
Even though she was only 4 or 5 when it happened Dorothy remembers the day that WW1 ended. Stacks of newspapers were dropped around the shops in town and everyone was yelling “the war is over!” She shared with us a newspaper clipping about “Mortgage Burning Day” in 1943 and the backstory. She described a panic in the town when she was a little girl of 7. The Presbyterian Church was on fire and the fire bell rang and rang for many many hours. He dad was a Volunteer Fireman and he’d come home every few hours because he was drenched and needed to clean up a bit then would head back out to continue fighting the fire. This was in 1921, and the church was quickly rebuilt but the bank would not give a loan for the rebuild. Members of the church took out mortgages on their own property to pay for the church rebuild. At least one family lost their ranch because of this. But in 1943 the church was paid off and there was a lot of celebration for that long recovery from the 1921 tragedy.
Dorothy grew up in town at Adams and N Grove living with her parents and 3 siblings. Her dad died when she was 7. “We had everything right there. Mother grew flowers and vegetables in her garden. We had chickens. We could walk down to the store or the meat market.” The meat market had sawdust on the floor and she loved that, partly because after customers had been in then left, a man would use a special rake to redistribute the sawdust evenly across the floor.
Dorothy shared with us her mother’s ice card—a heavyweight paper card that has large numbers on each corner and you’d hang it in the window so the ice man could see how much ice you needed delivered that day. She and her brother had the job of making sure the drain pan under the icebox didn’t overflow but they were not always good at it. Finally her mother arranged to have a hose made from the bottom of the icebox leading outside so the melted ice would go directly to watering the garden.
Dorothy described the streetlights in Fowler at the time: a line across the roadway with a single bare bulb hanging on it. The line would swing with the wind at night and create fascinating and comforting shadows.
Dorothy married Clifford Feaver who had 4 brothers all of whom were farmers as were their parents. When Julie asked Dorothy about working on the farm, Dorothy said “To this day I won’t open a window” meaning, heck no I didn’t farm. She also remembered telling a friend who did work on her husband’s farm “I wouldn’t know which side of a tractor to get on.”
During the years they owned and ran the farm, the Cardenas family, recently emigrated from Mexico showed up looking for work. Mr. Feaver said we have work but we don’t have a place you can live. But the Cardenas said they could live in a small shed/shack on the property, which was not something the Feavers thought possible. The Cardenas did move in there and the family helped fix it up some for the Mexican family of six. The Cardenas’ have always felt like family to Dorothy. David Cardenas was one of the younger boys in the family and is now both a longtime businessman (Dave’s Auto Shop) and the Mayor of Fowler. Dorothy said that at the reception after her husband’s funeral David was sitting at the “family” table and was questioned about it. He told the inquirer, I am part of the Feaver family. Which is the way Dorothy feels too.
Julie asked about WW2—Dorothy’s husband and many others in Fowler worked on towers throughout the war, watching California skies for enemy planes. Dorothy seemed to feel the sadness and injustice as she talked about what it was like when the Japanese were sent away to the concentration camps, as she called them. “They were called Relocation Camps but concentration camps is what they were.” She and her family drove down to the one in Arizona to visit. “Everything was so orderly. Families had their gardens, everyone productive.” [Mas had mentioned this to us—a local family who had helped out their Japanese neighbors including driving some of their furniture down to them at Gila River.]
She told us that there were no Mexican kids in the school when she was in elementary and high school. She said that the Armenian kids were the ones who were treated with bigotry. They were undesirables to the kids. No one wanted to dance with the Armenian boys at school dances. They danced with the Japanese boys “of course” and their Black friends. But the principal told them that if they wouldn’t dance with any boy who asked them, there would be no more dances. They have had many class reunions over the years and they always greet each other with hugs and affection and have great time together.
The women’s club – Fowler Improvement Association—did not allow Armenians, Blacks, Japanese, Mexican women for a long time though now all groups are represented.
There was more in our conversation with Dorothy but these are the main moments we walked away with. Also, we should be sure to invite her son George to come audition. He’d probably be great.
We grabbed a quick bite then went to meet Lucy Covarrubias at the Fowler Library. We thought our date was for 2:30, she thought is was for 1:30—we connected on the phone and had coffee and a conversation at Starbucks. Lucy lives on South Golden State Hwy in an apartment at a former motel. It is great to meet someone from a different part of town. Lucy got in touch with us after seeing our project flyer at the library. She grew up in the area, did theater in high school, is currently writing a novel, helps take care of her parents both of whom have Alzheimer’s and is unemployed. She got a degree in liberal arts from Fresno State and really wishes she had a teaching credential. She’s interested in helping out on the play in any way. She gets back from a trip to Texas after auditions, but she’ll come find us when she’s back. We talked some about language. She gets a kick out of the mix/blend of Spanish and English that people use now, including her mother. Mostly Spanish with very clearly English words liberally utilized throughout. She thinks that monolingual Spanish speakers in the area would be the migrant workers, less so those who work packing houses &/or live in Fowler.
We stopped in to meet Andy the Barber. Reportedly the man in town who knows everything. He talked with Julie and Ashley as he continued to cut clients’ hair. His father was Robert the Barber. Julie will be reaching out to continue the conversation with him later. (Andy is referenced in this 2007 article.)
I met Ransi the tailor & taxi driver. He has a fabric/tailor/alterations shop on Merced. He might be interested in being in a play this summer. Or he might just enjoy talking to women. Difficult to say.
Julie and Ashley also spoke with the owner of the newish antiques & collectables shop A Little Bit of This And A Little Bit of That. She had her family hanging out in the shop with her and they were having fun. A happy group that makes you want to hang out in the shop with them.
We were a little late to our appointment with the fantastic Frances Roberts. She lives on Vista Street, near the high school. She’s 102 years old. She loves chocolate and candy and has been eating it all her life. She mostly knits and watches news television. She had a wish to live long enough to vote for a woman or a Black man for President of the United States and she got her wish. She is a staunch Democrat. “Are any of you Republicans?” She is not a fan of Fox TV but watches it partly because she wants to get mad. She’s for all kinds of equality including marriage equality.
She has 3 kids I think (who are in their 60s & 70s). Daughter Mary Frances lives in Lompoc (Santa Barbara County) and is working through brain cancer lately. Frances thinks cell phone use is a culprit bringing on this health crisis. Another daughter lives in town with her partner and their 2 kids. Her son Tommy lives with her, though he spends weekends in Fresno w/ his lady friend and golfs on Thursdays. She has a caregiver come stay with her on the weekends and a neighbor helps out on Thursdays.
She is disappointed in the “fellowship” from the church which used to be that elderly folks got visits once or twice a week but now they just drop off cookies and don’t even come in to say hello. She doesn’t need to cookies. She also feels like everything is focused on the kids and only kids these days.
She and her family moved around a bit but eventually she resettled in Fowler with her husband. They had a great time. “I could go to the doctor across on the corner across the street, go to the pharmacy on the other corner and if I didn’t get better go to the funeral home on the fourth corner!” She had a great group of friends, about a dozen of them that would play, dance, drink and take trips together to gamble.
(I got distracted from writing this and now it’s hard to bring back a lot of the details of our visit with Frances, darn it.)
Laurie met us in the early evening and we all had dinner at the local Italian restaurant which was full of happy diners. After dinner we drove out to see the house in Reedley we are renting for some of our staff to live in for the Institute.
Krystle who runs P.A.W.S. cancelled our visit with her for the evening. We were sad about this partly because we were looking forward to meeting some of the dogs that she rescues and wants to find homes for.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sunday morning Ashley went to Sunday School at Second Baptist Church and then services at AME Church. Julie, Laurie and I attended Presbyterian service here we’d made arrangements to be announced at service and then to talk with folks as they were interested/available during the post-service coffee hour.
Presbyterian service was swell—Pastor Paul is away on vacation so there was some friendly disorganization at the beginning. So many people were friendly with us and welcomed us. The church is one of the biggest buildings in town and the stained glass windows are fantastic. We all talked with different folks during coffee. Marie Gonsalves was there and was introducing us to people right and left. I enjoyed a conversation with Andrea the organist at this church for past 11 years. She talked about how much she enjoys working the funeral services because you learn so much about people—especially the old-timers. Marie reminded me of Mrs. Soames when she said “Oh I love funerals!” -- though Mrs. Soames loves weddings.
Second Baptist had about 9 folks attending, including Ashley. They don’t have a regular pastor right now. AME had a turn out of 4 including Ashley. The service was terrific due to Pastor Sharon Avril. She’s been the pastor there since last fall. She lives in Sacramento and commutes four hours round trip for services and any calls she needs to answer in Fowler. She is a welcoming, wise and friendly person and offered Cornerstone use of their property for anything to do with the project. We all went over so Ashley could introduce us to Pastor Avril and it was a great if short visit. We had to run to our story circle at St. Lucy’s Catholic Church.
David Cardenas had set it up. It was our first visit there though we’d driven by once or twice in the past 9 months. the Spanish language 1:00 mass service went over a little. We met with 5 young girls and 3 of their madres who mostly did not speak English, plus Gloria who is 55? and one of those people who really is involved in a lot of things and has her own style and lots of short sayings of advise. She and Mayor David Cardenas tended to dominate conversation but Laurie eventually got to elicit some thoughts specifically from the awesome young Latinas who all want to go to college and want to be a doctor, 2 vets, a dancer and a model/nurse. And a few questions for the very quiet mamas who started all sitting back, not quite in the circle, and eventually all were in the circle and bravely spoke up to answer the lovely questions that Laurie proposed specifically for them.
This was our last story circle and now Julie is going to jump in and write a script. We all feel the pressure of the lateness of this process. We also feel like this weekend was particularly full of inspiring images and stories from the people we spoke with and other positive elements.
Met with Dorothy Feaver at her house on E. South Ave, Selma/Fowler border. I had met her at the Presbyterian lunch event May 22. The Feaver family name has come up a lot and Dorothy has been in Fowler a long time, given that she is 97 years old.
We were greeted on the this rainy grey day by two friendly dogs and then by two friendly people, Dorothy and her son George who lives with her. Dorothy had a pot of tea and a plate of cookies out for us. (When I called her earlier this week, she said she’d love to talk with me but she was in the middle of baking cookies and could I call her later.)
Even though she was only 4 or 5 when it happened Dorothy remembers the day that WW1 ended. Stacks of newspapers were dropped around the shops in town and everyone was yelling “the war is over!” She shared with us a newspaper clipping about “Mortgage Burning Day” in 1943 and the backstory. She described a panic in the town when she was a little girl of 7. The Presbyterian Church was on fire and the fire bell rang and rang for many many hours. He dad was a Volunteer Fireman and he’d come home every few hours because he was drenched and needed to clean up a bit then would head back out to continue fighting the fire. This was in 1921, and the church was quickly rebuilt but the bank would not give a loan for the rebuild. Members of the church took out mortgages on their own property to pay for the church rebuild. At least one family lost their ranch because of this. But in 1943 the church was paid off and there was a lot of celebration for that long recovery from the 1921 tragedy.
Dorothy grew up in town at Adams and N Grove living with her parents and 3 siblings. Her dad died when she was 7. “We had everything right there. Mother grew flowers and vegetables in her garden. We had chickens. We could walk down to the store or the meat market.” The meat market had sawdust on the floor and she loved that, partly because after customers had been in then left, a man would use a special rake to redistribute the sawdust evenly across the floor.
Dorothy shared with us her mother’s ice card—a heavyweight paper card that has large numbers on each corner and you’d hang it in the window so the ice man could see how much ice you needed delivered that day. She and her brother had the job of making sure the drain pan under the icebox didn’t overflow but they were not always good at it. Finally her mother arranged to have a hose made from the bottom of the icebox leading outside so the melted ice would go directly to watering the garden.
Dorothy described the streetlights in Fowler at the time: a line across the roadway with a single bare bulb hanging on it. The line would swing with the wind at night and create fascinating and comforting shadows.
Dorothy married Clifford Feaver who had 4 brothers all of whom were farmers as were their parents. When Julie asked Dorothy about working on the farm, Dorothy said “To this day I won’t open a window” meaning, heck no I didn’t farm. She also remembered telling a friend who did work on her husband’s farm “I wouldn’t know which side of a tractor to get on.”
During the years they owned and ran the farm, the Cardenas family, recently emigrated from Mexico showed up looking for work. Mr. Feaver said we have work but we don’t have a place you can live. But the Cardenas said they could live in a small shed/shack on the property, which was not something the Feavers thought possible. The Cardenas did move in there and the family helped fix it up some for the Mexican family of six. The Cardenas’ have always felt like family to Dorothy. David Cardenas was one of the younger boys in the family and is now both a longtime businessman (Dave’s Auto Shop) and the Mayor of Fowler. Dorothy said that at the reception after her husband’s funeral David was sitting at the “family” table and was questioned about it. He told the inquirer, I am part of the Feaver family. Which is the way Dorothy feels too.
Julie asked about WW2—Dorothy’s husband and many others in Fowler worked on towers throughout the war, watching California skies for enemy planes. Dorothy seemed to feel the sadness and injustice as she talked about what it was like when the Japanese were sent away to the concentration camps, as she called them. “They were called Relocation Camps but concentration camps is what they were.” She and her family drove down to the one in Arizona to visit. “Everything was so orderly. Families had their gardens, everyone productive.” [Mas had mentioned this to us—a local family who had helped out their Japanese neighbors including driving some of their furniture down to them at Gila River.]
She told us that there were no Mexican kids in the school when she was in elementary and high school. She said that the Armenian kids were the ones who were treated with bigotry. They were undesirables to the kids. No one wanted to dance with the Armenian boys at school dances. They danced with the Japanese boys “of course” and their Black friends. But the principal told them that if they wouldn’t dance with any boy who asked them, there would be no more dances. They have had many class reunions over the years and they always greet each other with hugs and affection and have great time together.
The women’s club – Fowler Improvement Association—did not allow Armenians, Blacks, Japanese, Mexican women for a long time though now all groups are represented.
There was more in our conversation with Dorothy but these are the main moments we walked away with. Also, we should be sure to invite her son George to come audition. He’d probably be great.
We grabbed a quick bite then went to meet Lucy Covarrubias at the Fowler Library. We thought our date was for 2:30, she thought is was for 1:30—we connected on the phone and had coffee and a conversation at Starbucks. Lucy lives on South Golden State Hwy in an apartment at a former motel. It is great to meet someone from a different part of town. Lucy got in touch with us after seeing our project flyer at the library. She grew up in the area, did theater in high school, is currently writing a novel, helps take care of her parents both of whom have Alzheimer’s and is unemployed. She got a degree in liberal arts from Fresno State and really wishes she had a teaching credential. She’s interested in helping out on the play in any way. She gets back from a trip to Texas after auditions, but she’ll come find us when she’s back. We talked some about language. She gets a kick out of the mix/blend of Spanish and English that people use now, including her mother. Mostly Spanish with very clearly English words liberally utilized throughout. She thinks that monolingual Spanish speakers in the area would be the migrant workers, less so those who work packing houses &/or live in Fowler.
We stopped in to meet Andy the Barber. Reportedly the man in town who knows everything. He talked with Julie and Ashley as he continued to cut clients’ hair. His father was Robert the Barber. Julie will be reaching out to continue the conversation with him later. (Andy is referenced in this 2007 article.)
I met Ransi the tailor & taxi driver. He has a fabric/tailor/alterations shop on Merced. He might be interested in being in a play this summer. Or he might just enjoy talking to women. Difficult to say.
Julie and Ashley also spoke with the owner of the newish antiques & collectables shop A Little Bit of This And A Little Bit of That. She had her family hanging out in the shop with her and they were having fun. A happy group that makes you want to hang out in the shop with them.
We were a little late to our appointment with the fantastic Frances Roberts. She lives on Vista Street, near the high school. She’s 102 years old. She loves chocolate and candy and has been eating it all her life. She mostly knits and watches news television. She had a wish to live long enough to vote for a woman or a Black man for President of the United States and she got her wish. She is a staunch Democrat. “Are any of you Republicans?” She is not a fan of Fox TV but watches it partly because she wants to get mad. She’s for all kinds of equality including marriage equality.
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| Frances & JMM |
She has 3 kids I think (who are in their 60s & 70s). Daughter Mary Frances lives in Lompoc (Santa Barbara County) and is working through brain cancer lately. Frances thinks cell phone use is a culprit bringing on this health crisis. Another daughter lives in town with her partner and their 2 kids. Her son Tommy lives with her, though he spends weekends in Fresno w/ his lady friend and golfs on Thursdays. She has a caregiver come stay with her on the weekends and a neighbor helps out on Thursdays.
She is disappointed in the “fellowship” from the church which used to be that elderly folks got visits once or twice a week but now they just drop off cookies and don’t even come in to say hello. She doesn’t need to cookies. She also feels like everything is focused on the kids and only kids these days.
She and her family moved around a bit but eventually she resettled in Fowler with her husband. They had a great time. “I could go to the doctor across on the corner across the street, go to the pharmacy on the other corner and if I didn’t get better go to the funeral home on the fourth corner!” She had a great group of friends, about a dozen of them that would play, dance, drink and take trips together to gamble.
(I got distracted from writing this and now it’s hard to bring back a lot of the details of our visit with Frances, darn it.)
Laurie met us in the early evening and we all had dinner at the local Italian restaurant which was full of happy diners. After dinner we drove out to see the house in Reedley we are renting for some of our staff to live in for the Institute.
Krystle who runs P.A.W.S. cancelled our visit with her for the evening. We were sad about this partly because we were looking forward to meeting some of the dogs that she rescues and wants to find homes for.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Sunday morning Ashley went to Sunday School at Second Baptist Church and then services at AME Church. Julie, Laurie and I attended Presbyterian service here we’d made arrangements to be announced at service and then to talk with folks as they were interested/available during the post-service coffee hour.
Presbyterian service was swell—Pastor Paul is away on vacation so there was some friendly disorganization at the beginning. So many people were friendly with us and welcomed us. The church is one of the biggest buildings in town and the stained glass windows are fantastic. We all talked with different folks during coffee. Marie Gonsalves was there and was introducing us to people right and left. I enjoyed a conversation with Andrea the organist at this church for past 11 years. She talked about how much she enjoys working the funeral services because you learn so much about people—especially the old-timers. Marie reminded me of Mrs. Soames when she said “Oh I love funerals!” -- though Mrs. Soames loves weddings.Second Baptist had about 9 folks attending, including Ashley. They don’t have a regular pastor right now. AME had a turn out of 4 including Ashley. The service was terrific due to Pastor Sharon Avril. She’s been the pastor there since last fall. She lives in Sacramento and commutes four hours round trip for services and any calls she needs to answer in Fowler. She is a welcoming, wise and friendly person and offered Cornerstone use of their property for anything to do with the project. We all went over so Ashley could introduce us to Pastor Avril and it was a great if short visit. We had to run to our story circle at St. Lucy’s Catholic Church.
David Cardenas had set it up. It was our first visit there though we’d driven by once or twice in the past 9 months. the Spanish language 1:00 mass service went over a little. We met with 5 young girls and 3 of their madres who mostly did not speak English, plus Gloria who is 55? and one of those people who really is involved in a lot of things and has her own style and lots of short sayings of advise. She and Mayor David Cardenas tended to dominate conversation but Laurie eventually got to elicit some thoughts specifically from the awesome young Latinas who all want to go to college and want to be a doctor, 2 vets, a dancer and a model/nurse. And a few questions for the very quiet mamas who started all sitting back, not quite in the circle, and eventually all were in the circle and bravely spoke up to answer the lovely questions that Laurie proposed specifically for them.
This was our last story circle and now Julie is going to jump in and write a script. We all feel the pressure of the lateness of this process. We also feel like this weekend was particularly full of inspiring images and stories from the people we spoke with and other positive elements.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
planning upcoming trip to Fowler
We're all set for our trip to Fowler this weekend.
People we hoped to include this trip but it didn't work out:
1 The Mukai family or anyone from the Buddhist church community.
2 Susan T., past story circle participant Shauna F's cousin-- she eventually got back to us early afternoon on Sunday and it was too late by then. Julie will try to interview her via telephone.
3 Pastor Easter of the Rose of Sharon Church who we think lives in Fresno.
4 Sikh community - Ash and I both had short exchanges with Raj who I met at Serve Fowler lunch, but the next step of connecting with a Sikh resident in Fowler didn't come to fruition. Ash actually called some number from the phone book we thought might connect us but she got hung up on multiple times. Sad!
Here is a video that I found to be really informative about Sikhism and here is a site where you can read some of the basics, too.
People we hoped to include this trip but it didn't work out:
1 The Mukai family or anyone from the Buddhist church community.
2 Susan T., past story circle participant Shauna F's cousin-- she eventually got back to us early afternoon on Sunday and it was too late by then. Julie will try to interview her via telephone.
3 Pastor Easter of the Rose of Sharon Church who we think lives in Fresno.
4 Sikh community - Ash and I both had short exchanges with Raj who I met at Serve Fowler lunch, but the next step of connecting with a Sikh resident in Fowler didn't come to fruition. Ash actually called some number from the phone book we thought might connect us but she got hung up on multiple times. Sad!
Here is a video that I found to be really informative about Sikhism and here is a site where you can read some of the basics, too.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Fowler Visit: May 20-22
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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