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Rare Renewal  

From sand trout to bean tree, we await the anomaly of the desert

Tap, tap, tap -- oh, the joy when those first drizzles touch the desert! We scan for the jagged lightning flashes and lean in to the crackle of thunder. Urgently, we wait for the roar of rain and, ultimately, the refreshing scents of monsoon.  

 

Water is the prime pillar of our attention this month. This source of life is so unpredictable, yet it connects us so strongly to arts, environment, culture and politics, as our June BorderLore demonstrates:   

  • 2014 Ethnographic Field School participants give us several examples of how water was entwined in their cultural fieldwork earlier this month, here.   
  • Raices Taller original founding member and artist Ceci Garcia walks us around Raices Taller's new exhibit, Chubasco, and talks about the dynamics of water and politics that play out in our arts and community culture, here
  • The new Warden Aquarium at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is an exploration of our local waters and fishes -- from our rivers through to the Sea of Cortez. Learn more here.    
  • The bounty of our bean trees is ready for pre-monsoon harvest. Bean Tree Farm founder, permaculturist and desert harvester Barbara Rose explains here.     
  • Tucson's Odaiko Sonora Taiko (Japanese Percussion) community supports cultural practice as well as inspires athletics, fun and performance. A conversation with Odaiko Sonora co-founders Karen Falkenstrom and Rome Hamner reveals how drumming conveys the rhythm of waves as well as community culture here.     
  • Dragon Boat races and zongzi (sticky rice delectables wrapped in bamboo leaves) are refreshing salutes to summer's connection with water. Photos of the Dragon Boat festival hosted by the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, with notes by Chinese Cultural Center History Committee Chair Robin Blackwood, are displayed here.  
  •  News: Exciting times have arrived, as we count down to October's festival. Stay tuned for July's issue to learn about the evolution of TMY and how you too can become a folklife field worker.  You'll find more news from across the active national folklife community here.     
Have you seen our Santa Cruz River sand trout lately, we ask with a wink? Happily, water also is an awesome part of local folklore, as Big Jim tells us in his "windy" tale of our desert's most mythical game fish. If by chance you don't know the story, check out page 110 of Jim's book, Southern Arizona Folk Arts. Or read Jim's Arizona Star blog post, here

May you then smile through the inescapable heat, be doused with rain, and tell your own imaginative tall tales this summer. Let it pour!



� 2014, Tucson Meet Yourself. All rights reserved. BorderLore is the monthly 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) that residents of these often-conflicted border lands produce and share.  


Editor: Dr. Maribel Alvarez
Managing Editor:  Monica Surfaro-Spigelman 

 

Thank you for reading this newsletter. We welcome your feedback, commentary and any suggestions or ideas. Write to us at:  [email protected]

 

Previous issues of BorderLore Newsletter are archived here and here.  

 

 

 

 

 

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June 2014 Stories:
 

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