Nice story about the impact of sharing stories to create a larger vision of something dear to all.
We’ve discussed a similar project for the Parkway and still have hopes it might come to fruition.
Anita Creamer: Project seeks to save Sierra a tale at a time
By Anita Creamer - Bee Columnist Published 12:00 am PST Friday, November 10, 2006
At festivals and other events up and down the Sierra Nevada this summer, people approached the two women at the Saving the Sierra Storybooth with curiosity, if not outright suspicion.
"Some people have a story, and they're going to tell it to you no matter what," says Catherine Stifter, the project's co-director along with Jesikah Maria Ross. "But others say, 'What are you, some kind of environmental group?'
"And we say, 'Aren't you interested in sharing your story about the Sierra?' "
They usually are -- young and old, rural and urban. Today, a three-part radio series called "Saving the Rural Way of Life" and based on Stifter and Ross' interviews begins on KQED's "The California Report" (heard locally on KQEI, 89.3 FM).
"We have lawyers and ranchers and old-timers and newcomers," says Ross.
"And Sierra Club members and geologists and people from native tribes," says Stifter.
"And we're trying to get more history buffs," says Ross.
Our stories, in some ways, are who we are.
Stifter, 49, is a Peabody Award-winning public radio producer who's lived on 30 acres on San Juan Ridge in Nevada County since 1988, in a house that uses solar energy. Based in Davis, Ross, 42, is an educator who creates community-based media projects.
They met in August 2005 and dreamed up Saving the Sierra -- this two-year project involving radio, the Internet and, of course, the Storybooth.
