Canoga Park Audio Ofrenda

The Canoga Park Dia de Los Muertos festival on November 7th was a whirl of color, bounce house generators, music, laughter, the wafting scents of food, and just life out loud. Basically everything the last year and a half were not! After a year of loss, Dia de los Muertos felt especially relevant and celebrational.

We set up an audio Ofrenda for people to honor family and friends who have passed. The presence of loved ones was deeply felt that day.  What stays with us the most seems to be the tiniest moments--from toes in the sand, to seeing the world in a flash of lightening, to brushing our teeth with red gel toothpaste. Tiny moments of magical connection.

Thanks to all who so generously shared their stories, their losses and joys.

JJ and AJ Mathis

Carlos Fernandez

Johanna Matamoros

Decklan

Luis Ramone Soler Jr. 

Eleni

Anthony Robertson

Quetzali and Ixchel Lopez

Full Transcript: 

Betsy Foldes Meiman  0:04  
Hi, I'm Betsy Foldes Meiman, and I'm the producer of Connectopod. When my partner, Andrea Longoria Lopez, signed us up for a booth at the Dia de los Muertos festival in Canoga Park on November 7, I have to admit, I wasn't into it. We have so much work right now finishing up with our series, "Changing the Narrative - Unhoused Youth" and prepping for next season of CTN, starting in January with the International Rescue Committee. But as usual, Andrea was right. It was a wonderful day, full of color and life and sounds, and it seems so foreign and so celebrational all after this past year and a half of just remote half life where we're all stuck in front of our screens and cut off from one another. Dia de los muertos celebrates death as a rebirth, grief as an acknowledgement of love. An ofrenda is an altar set up to honor and remember the dead people place items upon it that their loved ones loved in life, and photos and memories of them. We wanted to honor that with our booth. So we set up an audio ofrenda to record memories and tributes of loved ones of anybody that was passing by and wanted to share. Many people were too shy to record but they were eager to share memories. And we heard their stories of sadness of passing and the redemption of joy in memory and sharing stories you feel the power of the people we love to influence us to inspire us to support us in our need, and celebrate what in ourselves they saw and loved. In a way we become living breathing ofrendas. Here, then, is Connectopod's Audio Ofrenda.

Guest Carlos Fernandez  1:47  
My name is Carlos Fernandez. I am from Mexico. Specifically I am from Mexicali, which is in the northern part of Mexico. The person I'm monitoring would be my father, Victor Manuel Fernandez Gardella. We moved here when I was seven years old. He passed away when I was 10 years old. But one of my most vivid memories from when I was a child. My dad taught at a high school equivalent of high school. My mom taught at an elementary school. So because they were both teachers that had summers off. So in the summer, we would leave for two and a half months. And my dad retrofitted a '76 . . . '70 something suburban with a queen bed in the back. And he retrofitted the engine so that it would run with natural gas. [It] had two tanks of natural gas and we could go for about 36 hours without stopping for gas, we would go start traveling up and down Mexico. And one of the things that we loved to do was go storm chasing, we would see lightning go traveling to the mountains and around the mountains seeing this little towns following the thunder and the echoing thunder, I remember this one time, we had stopped for the night and it started we could see the storm clouds in the in the horizon. And my dad picked me up and he used to call me "Chaparro", which means shorty, apparently I was really short when I was little. And my dad picked me up and he's like, "Chaparro, vente, vente, vente, vamos a ver! I'm gonna show you something, I'm going to show you something." And he picks me up in his arms. And he goes, "you see that over there you see the lightning?" And he's showing me the lightning. And all of a sudden I'm seeing the lightning off in the distance. And, like a wave, I just see it running towards me. And the thunder shook so loud. I mean, it still gives me goosebumps thinking about that. It shook me to the bone. But it didn't scare me. It did not scare me. It was wonderful. It was just amazing. Just the entire sky as far as I could see. And we were on top of a mountain. So I could see a good, you know, two, three miles in all directions, and just lit up. And I could see shadows in the ground. And I could see animals that were walking around. It lit up for like a fraction of a second. And it was it just left me in my little three four year old self. They just left me in awe. I wasn't scared. I was in awe and it's just so beautiful watching that. And my dad just shook me, and he goes, "Are you okay?" I'm like, "Yeah," [my father continued] "because that was lightning." And he told me what lightning was. And it wasn't until much later after my dad had passed away that I was in high school and I got interested in physics that I learned the how much energy is in a little lightning board and I think back to that day and how the lightning took over the entire sky and lit it up like it was daytime for that fraction of a second and it just leaves me in even More awe that nature can create that much power. When we travel, my wife and I and my son, we don't fly, I'm okay with flying. I've flown before. But the experience of going, Hey, there's a road there. Let's take it and see where it leads us. And we take it and we discover things and we find things. And I show my son things and I'm teaching him, just like my dad taught me. And I'm hoping that he, like I, remember all those things. I'm hoping that when I am not here, he remembers those things. [Breath, chokes up] And he remember, you know, the legacy that his grandfather left for him, you know, and, you know, he never got to meet. [Short gasping breath]. And I really, really wish he had. Thank you.

Guest Anthony Robertson  5:55  
Hi, my name is Anthony Robertson. I am from Simi Valley, California. And as somebody that I would like to remember is my great grandmother Helen also from Simi Valley, She died in 2015. And, you know, I lived with her for a while she was a big part of my life. And I'd like to, you know, honor her. One of the memories I have with her is, you know, she always used to sit down on the couch and, and watch her novelas and, and always, you know, she she was a big family person and never really judged anybody, you know, whatever, whatever you believed in or whatever you liked, she would support you all the way. She was just an important person that I lost in my life. So I'd like to honor her and remember her today

Guest Joanna  6:36  
[This event] feels so peaceful and so awesome. So great, you know, so I'm excited. Hi, Well, my name is Joanna and I am Salvadorian. And I would love to honor my parents. I lost them a month apart this year. And so, uh [pauses] the most awesome memory is, you know, my mom always in the kitchen cooking. Her famous pollo guisado, or panes con pollo. And my father always running outside with his grandkids and buying buy paletas from the paletero, every time they wanted some. So it's . . . I miss them. But today in this day, this holiday, I want to honor their life, they had a huge purpose. And they fulfilled it [by] having such a huge heart for others and serving others. And just what they taught me was to be sensitive to . . .  to our neighbor, and to help when, when there's need and when I can do it to step in. So thank you.

Ixchel Lopez  7:46  
My name is Ixchel Lopez. I'm from Simi Valley. And I really, really miss my cat, Pancake One time there was this like baby cat, and Pancake kept meowing and going everywhere. So I decided to follow him. And He led me to a baby cat. And then that's when me, me and Nani or my grandma saw it. And then we decided to take it in. And we showed my sisters. [Sad voice} Yeah, Miss pancake.

Guest JJ Madison  8:26  
I'm JJ from Sherman Oaks, JJ Madison, Sherman Oaks. I want to share my memory of my mom who just passed away 50 weeks ago, 52 weeks ago now. And I know I'm not the only daughter that's ever lost a mom. I know I'm not the only person on the planet that's lost someone but this is life changing. I still feel the hole in my heart in my body. And every day I think I can call her and I can't. [Voice cracking, deep breath] I miss her every day. I know that there's worse out there in the world because that's what people try to tell me. Oh, this is survivable. And there's so many more things going on in the world. And I know that but this is my world. And I miss her. And I wish I could talk to her one more time. And I wish that the, um, . . . [pauses thoughtfully] I wish the medical field would honor their promises. When you say you're gonna get a scan after each round of chemo. They should have done that because I would have taken her off in the first round and I would have put her fingers in her toes in the sand. Instead, her last 100 days were in the hospital. And, [shaky voice] I'm sure it's not about me, but I'm so traumatized. [Sad voice] I miss my mom. 

[Smiles broadly] Yeah, I could tell you a happy memory. I can tell you that. We laughed a lot. We went shopping a lot. We had fun a lot. We talked about things that I would never talk to anybody about. And she was the most positive, most uplifting like she was one of those women who had No matter what you said to her, that could be that horrible should be go. It happens for a reason. It's gonna be better, it's gonna get better no matter how down I got, she'd always make me think that it's gonna get better. Now I don't have anyone to tell me it's gonna get better. But today my brother brought me out here because I don't really do very much right now. And I'm glad because my mom used to do this every year. So thank you.

Guest Declan  10:29  
Declan, and I live in Canoga. A person who passed away was my cousin, she was a baby, and she passed away, because she was sleeping and there was blankets, and she laid on her belly, and we don't know how she got dead. It was sad. She looked adorable.

Guest Luis Ramon  11:03  
My name is Luis Ramon Soler, Jr. My family's originally from the Dominican Republic, Republica Dominicana, y . . . a, I'm sending a special memories of the beloved ones I've lost is my beloved mother and Luis de Leon Ruiz, my beloved uncle, [pauses] ah . . . excuse me, Nelson, De Leon, and my beautiful grandmother, Mercedes Moran. And I just want to send them a beautiful, loving hug and kiss and let them know that their son, grandson and nephew is doing fine. I found Christ and I'm on a beautiful path now. The memories I have of my uncle was, when I was really young. I was gonna guess too young to really know how to brush my teeth. And he had like a gambling shack, where the people could play pool and everything. And I was there one time, and he said, "Vente,". And I said, "what?" And he said, "limpia tus dientes." And that's why I learend what AIM was, red toothpaste because in our eyes, we only have white. And that's one of the fond memories I have of my uncle telling me to clean my teeth because I was eating and I didn't clean my teeth [laughs]. Uh [memories] of my grandmother, she took me in, when I got out of being incarcerated for a little while. And she, she let me stay with her. And she let me know that you know, everybody makes mistakes, but you don't have to live in them. You don't have to. [Pauses, clears throat] You don't have to live. You don't have to be or live in that mistake. The mistake is exactly what it is - a mistake, it was a bad choice. It does not mean that I have to live in that choice for the rest of my life. So that's one of the fondest memories I have of my grandmother living with her. And then my mother, there's a whole bunch, but I remember always drinking, waking up in the morning and I would sit with her and we would drink Bustelo coffee, and with sugar and cream and have some toast and she would talk to me. And another one is because I was last in the world for a lot of years being involved with drugs and crime. And she would always call me she says to me, I don't care what you do. That's not my son. That's just you being in the world. She said I'm gonna love you no matter what you do, you know I mean and that's [pauses, chokes up] that -  I can't even talk - If you look up you won't cry [Looks up, laughs]. That's my fond - one of the fondest memories I have of my mom because no matter what I did the world when I was bad, good, she always said I love you the same because you're my son. You're gonna find your way eventually. And I have so it's a blessing, you know? Thank you so much for letting me share this

Quetzalli Lopez  14:12  
Hi, I'm  Quetzalli Lopez and I am from Simi Valley. And I am someone that I love to really much but she passed away. But I don't know how so I had,  My grandma had a mom named Grandma Linda. And she passed away a long time ago. And I really loved her even her. My grandma used to take me to a park and where you have sticks and you color, and it change rainbow colors and then a few days later, I was gonna ask her and grandma to take me there again when till my grandma Linda was dead. And my grandma was crying and we went to her funeral and it was so sad. I really miss her. And that same day was the same day we were going to go to the place again, and I was so sad.

Andrea Lopez  15:23  
My name is Andrea Lopez, and I live in Simi Valley. And I recently lost my grandmother last year, my grandma Linda, I miss her very, very much. She actually lived, I want to say maybe 25 years longer than my grandpa, who was her husband. So I was only maybe 11 or 12 when my grandpa Rudy passed away. And I think about him all the time. And I miss him very much. And I often think about what a long life my grandma Linda lived after her husband passed away and kind of just that having to move, move on and how life goes on and she has to kind of had to kind of carry on and then just keep going. And isn't that true of so many of us, you know. So when my grandma passed away, I thought of all of the stories that she probably had to tell my grandpa when she got to see him again. Kind of all of the things that had happened after he passed away and what she had to bring them up to date on and it. I don't know must have been kind of interesting, right? To spend an extra 25 years on earth longer than your spouse. Oh, no.

Ixchel Lopez  16:50  
Hello, my name is Eleni. I am nine. I have a shared memory that my friend, she was just five years old. She had a brain tumor. And we lost her. And it was really hard. And we were raising fundraisers and stuff. And she just turned seven a couple days ago. So it's really sad. And she's thought of losing somebody you love so much. It's really hard. Her name was Eliana. She was a very sweet, kind and loving girl. Now she's in a better place called heaven.

Betsy Foldes Meiman  17:40  
My name is Betsy Foldes Meiman. And I have two memories. I'm from Reseda, by the way. So my mom who passed away last year was really, really wonderful. My mom's name was Elfrida. Elfrida Foldes. And when I was growing up, my birthday is December 22. So that was always the last day of school before Christmas vacation. And we always had a Christmas concert and I was in chorus. And every year on my birthday, I would wake up to a new outfit that she had sewn me and I would have something new and fabulous to wear for my my Christmas concert. And she was pretty awesome. And then my dad, Joe Foleds. He was so cool. But he really believed in like that you could do things like psychic powers, right? And so we had six kids in my family and we used to go on picnic to this one place and there was a big cliff with rocks and we would sit there in silence on our at our picnic [giggles] all trying to move the rocks with our mind trying to make the rocks fall off the cliff. [Laughs really hard] We know it never happened but it was pretty fun believing that we could do it [laughs]. They were both very kind and I'm thankful for their legacy.

A special shout out to JJ who caught me off guard remembering her mom. I also lost my mom last year and we shared a good cry. It was also great to see some of our partners doing their thing out there. The Gr818ers from The Unite Cultural Center, CSUN Strength United, and the Canoga Park Branch of the LA Public Library. A thank you to Canoga Park Neighborhood Council, Councilmember Bob Blumenfeld, Canoga Park / West Hills Chamber of Commerce, the Canoga Park Improvement Association and The Valley Cultural Foundation for Organizing Movement. And thank you for listening. I hope that listening to other people think about their loved ones did what it did for us, which was made us think of our loved ones. We are all connected. Until next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai