Festival

Appreciating cultural democracy in an exuberant
(but temporary) model city

Food, fun, folklife. Little gems of teaching moments.

The Southwest Folklife Alliance hosted Tucson Meet Yourself (TMY) earlier this month, once again connecting all to an annual roadmap for living and working together. This special BorderLore edition takes a panoramic look at the large, celebratory narrative of folklife created in the 41st TMY.

Looking back through our field notes: We observed a community spontaneously participating with full enthusiasm in every tradition. We saw a community celebrating itself full throttle. We noticed crowds flowing around the polkas, tacos, paper flower demos and hoop dancers, savoring Culture Kitchen tastings, horchatas, Turkish ice cream and Pad Thai, running into friends and so obviously discovering new ones.

Did the tools and formats TMY provided help ethnic cultures and folk groups to present themselves...did all the planning and documentation result in reaching a TMY goal of respectful encouragement of region folklife?

An answer may be found in these seven Festival field notes, excerpted for this BorderLore edition:

Maryland State Arts Council's Clifford Murphy -- folklorist, Program Director for Folk & Traditional Arts Organization Grants and Director of Maryland Traditions -- was invited to observe the TMY local culture symbology and demonstration. This visiting folklorist gives some observations here.

The Middle Eastern belly dance is one shimmering, ethnic accent mark that incarnates TMY folklife. Xanadu Dance director and founder Kathryn Ferguson helps us see behind the veil, teaching how belly dance moves the soul, the body, and TMY musical programming this year, here.

Art, faith and tradition often form a necessary combination in the festival experience. Perhaps one illustration of this was found in TMY's Tohono O'odham Pavilion, where visual artist and member of the Tohono O'odham nation Allison Francisco had her ribbon-bedecked Walking Staff leaning nearby her demonstration table. Allison describes her Staff and shares stories about her annual Walk to the statue of Saint Francis of Assisi in Magdalena here.

Many dimensions of goodness are inherent in the phrase, Tucson Eat Yourself. For five years, the Palomarez family has artfully decorated its Little Mexico TMY food station, which offers comforting traditional foods in support of the Santa Cruz Catholic Church. Through its food offerings and folk decorations, Little Mexico demonstrates how TMY food booths help transform a collective community, socially and economically. Learn more here.

A festival's trash certainly can threaten the environment, but TMY's sustainability program continually aspires to the highest green standards, so nature will not get hurt in the frolic. TMY as well as attendees did an amazing job this year in reducing waste, as we learn here from Chester F. Phillips, University of Arizona Students For Sustainability Compost Cats Program Director who coordinates the TMY sustainability team.

If community dialogue can be formalized through play -- then can food justice be glimpsed through a demonstration of an ancient native candy recipe? Learn more about Barrio Bici, an entrepreneurial local food, farm and arts collaborative, and its Culture Kitchen presentation, here.

Hopi carver Earl Dino Patterson Jr. (Sunaweuma) brought his mother and sister, and their quilting and yucca basket making arts to Tucson Meet Yourself this year. His comments about his family's traditional arts and their demonstrations at TMY are here.
Several TMY Festival videos and sound clips, garnered from staff and YouTube uploads, are interspersed as illustrations throughout this edition, please check them throughout! And review roundup of digital clips, here.

Those who attend TMY pass through a threshold in which they hear, taste and experience the traditions of diverse community. Attendees can't help being somehow transformed. Tradition bearers can't help but feel their heritage reinforced. May TMY celebrations always involve an experience that alters people for the better.

� 2014, Southwest Folklife Alliance. All rights reserved. BorderLore is the monthly e-news magazine of Southwest Folklife Alliance, 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: info@tucsonmeetyourself.org

Previous issues of BorderLore Newsletter are archived here and here.

Thank you for reading Tucson Meet Yourself BorderLore Newsletter

October 2014 Stories:

Field Notes: TMY from a Folklorist's Eye

Self Expression and the "Belly" Dance

Art, Tradition: A Walker's Staff

The Makings of a TMY Food Booth

Greening of Folklife

Barrio Bici in TMY's Culture Kitchen

Hopi Demonstra-
tions Reflect the Power of Tradition