Voces de Nuestro País ~ Voices of Our Area are monthly story gatherings celebrating local voices and culture. Featured local guests share stories of family, history, love, work, adventures, and misadventures. Each event is recorded and released as an audio and video podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music; search “Voces de Nuestro País.” By sharing these stories virtually, we hope to extend and multiply the sense of community connection that is felt during the live gatherings. Please tell your friends and family!
The May Voces de Nuestro País event celebrates Motherhood and the Moms in our communities. Mothers play a central role in society and yet their profound impact, invisible labor, struggles, superpowers and personal journeys are often unacknowledged and unheard. This month, in honor of Mother’s Day, we feature the voices, experiences, stories and wisdom of local Mothers. Our tenth Voces de Nuestro Pais Event and podcast episode will feature Maria Gonzalez, Connie Long, Kristie Ritchlin, Karen Shannon, Cynthia Vigil, Valerie Vigil, Evie Trujillo, and Kira Trujillo along with others. We are grateful to these women for being willing to share. Please join us in listening to their stories and honoring them!
In April, the ninth Voces de Nuestro País continued its exploration of music, family, church, and community with brothers and musicians Billy and John Archuleta of Des Montes. They played and sang a wonderfully diverse range of songs together – originals, traditionals, classics and an audience sing-along. John shared memories and stories of his grandfather transformed into song, and his love for the traditional Spanish music of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Billy Archuleta shared his experience composing a complete musical mass and playing selections from it at the Vatican. He also talked about his difficult and formative experience of having TB as a child.
Our eighth Voces de Nuestro País event took place at the end of March and focused on life and history in Red River, featuring Carol Woerdle and Krista Brandenburg. Carol Woerdle is known and loved in Red River as former co-owner of Sitzmark and wife of the late George Woerndle. She shared memories of her early days in Red River and the changes she’s witnessed there. Krista Brandenburg is a Red River native and owns The Gold Nugget and Climates stores. She shared memories of growing up in Red River, the challenges of navigating rural schools and becoming a business owner.
Both the eighth and ninth Voces de Nuestro País episodes are available to listen to and watch online. We invite you to check them out and enjoy!
Michael Rael is MC and curator for these monthly gatherings and podcast episodes, hosted in collaboration with Questa Library and Voices of the Northern Rio Grande, a program of local nonprofit, Localogy. Audio recordings, videos, and images from “Voces de Nuestro País” events are also being added to the digital community archive, a local repository and resource established by Voices of the Northern Rio Grande and Questa Public Library with support from the Manitos Community Memory Project. Learn more about the community archive and listen to stories from community members at QuestaStories.org and QuestaLibrary.org.
Don’t miss our tenth “Voces de Nuestro País” event at Questa Library on May 9, 2-4 p.m. We hope you can join us!
If you have stories you’d like to share, please let Michael Real or Claire Coté know. Email Michael at rael870@gmail.com or Claire at QuestaStories@gmail.com.
