June 2013 Tucson Meet Yourself BorderLore Newsletter

Written in the Waters

BorderLore waits for the monsoon, and contemplates seasonal traditions

Here is our hope: That the rains will come these next few weeks. Then, we will be delighted and overwhelmed by the great clouds that gather. We'll realize that seeing such power in the sky all at once never gets old. Water will be the wonder word on everyone's lips; it will seep into the parched creases of our washes and fill the stories and traditions we celebrate in June.

This month BorderLore explores facts and reflections about water -- in our journeys, local folklore, the desert's nature and heritage foods:

Full of joyful and unique insights, two students who participated in the Tucson Meet Yourself Field School to Sonora take us on a kaleidoscopic journey into their ethnographic, fun and cultural experiences. Read the field notes.

June, the first month of the O'odham calendar, is a time for the Tohono O'odham Nation to honor its summer farming traditions and techniques. Relevant excerpts from exhibition panels that were prepared for the 2010 Smithsonian's Key Ingredients: America by Food traveling exhibition (and featured at both TMY and the Nation's Himdag Ki Museum), are found here. Additional inspiration, including quotes from books by Gary Paul Nabhan and Bernard "Bunny" L. Fontana, is here.

Food advocate, journalist and cultural enthusiast Doug Biggers reports on a food revolution underway in our city. Doug is publisher of Edible Baja Arizona, the quarterly magazine about "foodways of Tucson and the borderlands" which premiered this month. His comments about local food and about birthing his new magazine are here.

TMY staffer Priscilla Mendenhall, director of TMY's Cultural Kitchen Pavilion, gives us a preview of what the TMY 2013 kitchen will cook up. She also introduces us to Dishes & Stories, a new refuge and immigrant women's culinary enterprise making its home under the wings of TMY. Learn more.

For more than a decade at TMY, tradition bearer Josefina Liz�rraga has shared her knowledge about the intricate Mexican folk art of paper-flower making. Josefina also was reina (queen) of the El D�a de San Juan fiesta, held June 24, on the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of water. She shares a memory about the fest and its folklore: Josefina's recollection.

As Nature renews herself this month, our traditions celebrate the magic of the monsoon and its waters that refresh. BorderLore reflects on all elements of the season's beauty, sorrow, color and experiences. We weave a lovely cultural tapestry when water comes to the Sonoran desert.

� 2013 Tucson Meet Yourself. All rights reserved. BorderLore is the e-news magazine of Tucson Meet Yourself, bringing thoughtful documentation about regional folklore, folklife and all manners of artful ways (in language, food, dress, music, decoration, storytelling, history and more) that residents of these often-conflicted borderlands produce and share.

Editor: Dr. Maribel Alvarez
Staff: Monica Surfaro Spigelman

Thank you for reading this newsletter. We welcome your feedback, commentary and any suggestions or ideas. Write to us at: info@tucsonmeetyourself.org

Previous issues of BorderLore Newsletter are archived here and here.

Thank you for reading Tucson Meet Yourself BorderLore Newsletter

June 2013 Stories:

Sonora as Cultural Classroom Field School Experiences Shape Life

Traditional Ways, Indigenous Water

Edible Foods Manifesto: Spinning a Regional Approach to Slow Food

In the TMY Cultural Kitchen: Cooking up Traditions of Good Eats & Entrepreneurship

Monsoon Blessings, Memories Worth Preserving