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StoryCorps in Yuma: Listening Back to a Grandmother's Dream in 2010

Victor Calderón/KAWC
The StoryCorps Mobile Tour has arrived at the Yuma Art Center.

StoryCorps will be in Yuma until December 21st.  By now you’ve probably heard or read that StoryCorps is a mobile recording booth and it’s a project that requires public involvement. 

A converted air stream trailer contains a recording booth where regular people sit down for a 40-minute conversation with a loved one, a friend, maybe even an enemy, and talk about anything they want. 

StoryCorps has been here before.  And if you still aren’t sure exactly what StoryCorps is – we have a couple of examples.

In 2010, 63-year-old Emilia Ramirez Carillo was interviewed by her grandson, Adam Fajardo, who was 12 at the time. You can listen to it below.

Carillo was born in Illinois but was sent to live in Mexico as a four year old where she lived with her grandmother.  Her grandmother did not speak English. 

After a few years she started attending school in the United Sates and had to re-learn English – a challenge she tackled, as you’ll hear, with joy, as she once again found herself in her home country.

Emilia Ramirez Carillo was interviewed by her grandson in the StoryCorps Mobile Recording Booth on January 10, 2010.  KAWC's Lou Gum spoke to a family member of Carillo. 

She is still teaching English to local students at the Crane School District and Adam Fogardo, who was 12 in 2010, is now a Northern Arizona University graduate and is living and working in Flagstaff.  Their conversation is stored now in the Library of Congress.

Lou grew up in Tucson and has a long family history in the state of Arizona. He began his public radio career in 1988 at KNAU in Flagstaff as a classical music DJ and has been hooked on public radio since, transitioning to news after trying his hand at several other careers in publishing and commercial broadcasting. Lou has a degree in American Studies from Arizona State University and was KAWC's Morning Edition host for two and half years before becoming News and Operations Director.
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