By CLAIRE COTE, MICHAEL RAEL, AND PEGGY TRIGG
Historias de la familia, amor, aventuras, y desventuras dichas por la gente de nuestro país
Voces de Nuestro País ~ Voices of Our Place is a monthly story gathering at Questa Library. Featured guests share their stories of family, history, love, adventures, and misadventures as told by the people of our area. We are excited to announce that Voces de Nuestro País is now available as a monthly audio and video podcast!
Find the “Voces de Nuestro País” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music and Youtube; just search for “Voces de Nuestro País” and you will find our first two episodes. By sharing these stories on multiple online platforms, we hope to widen and deepen the community connection experienced at the Voces de Nuestro País in-person events. Please tell your friends and family!
Our second Voces de Nuestro País event took place on November 8. It was a moving conversation between three long-time musician friends, Dino Archuleta, Fritz Davis and event MC Michael Rael. Dino’s stories were tear-jerking to gut splitting – tragic, poignant and hilarious stories of his family and wild days, growing up in Cerro and performing in unusual settings. With humility and humor, Fritz Davis shared about his early life in Kansas that led him to settle in Red River and his life as a performer, musician and newspaper editor. Hear all their stories on the Voces de Nuestro País podcast on your favorite podcast app or Youtube or find a CD at Questa Library.
Join us for the third “Voces de Nuestro País” story-sharing event at Questa Library on December 13, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. This month’s featured guests will be Louise Gallegos and David Cisneros. Louise Gallegos is currently serving her fifth term on the Questa Village Council, with time off from 2012 to 2018 to focus on the restoration of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. She also serves as a commissioner for the Questa Citizens Ditch Association. Come listen to Louis’s stories of being born into a large family, growing up in Questa, and navigating struggles of life, faith and determination. Next, hear stories from David Cisneros, a local unsung hero. From humble beginnings in Cerro to serving in the Navy for twenty years, then back home again to assist his community here in multiple ways. For decades he helped people keep clothes clean and food cold and cooked through honest and generous servicing and selling of appliances. Michael Rael is MC and curator for this monthly gathering 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 our community digital 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.
These story-sharing sessions take place on the second Saturday of every month at Questa Library. Save the Date: on January 24 we’ll be hosting a special Open Mic Story-Sharing Event; stay-tuned for more details. We hope you can join us!
If you have stories you’d like to share, please let Michael Real know. You can often find him at Real’s Market or email him at rael870@gmail.com.
