Author: Jose G

por Graciela Tiscareño-Sato and Benjamin Tiscareño

Some scenes of the annual Black Friday spectacle have nearly grown into cultural traditions. The repeated images of people lined up in tents, mobs of consumers shouldering and trampling each other on the day after Thanksgiving are sadly all too familiar to us. On this day of advertising-induced shopping when many Americans head towards local malls, my family practices a tradition of our own; we travel up a nearby mountain, in the exact opposite direction of the mall goers.

Last year, we traveled to the Sierras to explore the Black Chasm Cavern near Volcano, California. As desperate mothers fought in the toy aisle over insane deals, this mother showed her children the insane creativity of nature. Instead of spending this day surrounded by battery-operated noise makers, we marveled at the stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones and rare helictite crystals that quietly form a millimeter or less each day. A large family portrait taken beneath one of nature’s chandeliers (a particularly large and spectacular stalactite), hangs in our home as a memory of that special adventure.

Our family loves Mount Diablo closer to our east bay home. There is so much to explore, and the views are breathtaking! On Black Friday, there’s the additional bonus of having no crowds. This late November day, we decided to go up and explore the damage and renewal caused by the September fire. We wanted to investigate the changes and effects on the mountain since our last trip up earlier in springtime.

After a brief visit to the visitor’s center at the summit to review the official photo album of fire fighting photos, we hiked the Mary Bowerman Trail to witness the sunset from the north side of Mount Diablo. Setting out on a family hike near sunset means gorgeous color for family photos. It also means braving a memorable hike with three children: our blind child and her white cane, our 7 year -old boy and our bouncy 9 year-old daughter that included the narrow, scary south side, bisecting a ghostly, charred mini forest with very little light.

The Rockies Mountains where I grew up in Colorado are three times taller than our Bay Area mountains, but I admit I love the accessibility of these smaller mountains; smaller means our three young kids can enjoy the feeling of climbing and enjoying summits.

My favorite part of our day was reading the trial guide at all 14 stops and expanding their vocabulary with words like greenstone, charcoal, shale, greywacke and chert. My children especially enjoyed finding “nature’s black chalk” created when the fire burned trees and shrubs. Here are a few photo highlights that I hope encourage you to take the drive east to explore Mt. Diablo. It’s the best $10 I’ve ever spent on Black Friday!

My family watches the sun setting from Mount Diablo. 30 minutes later: “Mommy, we’re the only family hiking this mountain in the dark.” “Yes, we are honey.”

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Graciela Tiscareño-Sato is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, School of Environmental Design, where she earned a degree in Environmental Design/Architecture while completing the Aerospace Studies program as an AFROTC (Air Force Reserve Officer Training Program) scholarship cadet. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant atop the Campanile on the Berkeley campus, completed aircrew training and was blessed to travel to and appreciate four continents of our planet during her decade of military service. She is the author of the award-winning book Latinnovating: Green American Jobs and the Latinos Creating Them, which highlights Latino environmental entrepreneurs innovating in green economy industries. Graciela is a sought-after speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership. She’s a key team member of the Silicon Valley Latino Leadership Summit held annually at Stanford University. Graciela actively mentors students needing education and career roadmaps. LATINAStyle Magazine named her “Entrepreneur of the Year” in Washington D.C. in 2010.  After winning three awards at the International Latino Book Awards in New York for Latinnovating, she published her first bilingual children’s book, Good Night Captain Mama (Buenas Noches Capitán Mamá), in July of this year.

On Twitter @GraceTiscareno

This past month, I spent a lot of time outdoors in places where history was alive. As the days tremble with a bite of cold and the curtains close in sooner than before, it usually forces many inside earlier in the day and more often. I remained resolved to try and fight this notion.

My first attempt at this was a visit to some of my Italian family in the far north of Italy. My mother, born and raised in Guatemala, had a father who was Italian. He emigrated to Guatemala a long time ago and was unfortunately, never able to make it back to his homeland permanently. This part of my history is something that I have been piecing together as I have visited them.

At the time, they had a large chestnut festival going on that weekend called La Castagnata. Their town is known for their chestnuts and, typically, this event involves several days of lots of good, local food, music and dancing. It was a time for me to remember the way in which we connect with the earth. Their town, nestled quietly within the mountains just 15 km to the Swiss border, still very much feels entangled more intimately with the earth. Many in the area pick mushrooms, cure their own meats, plant various things and are much more affected by ‘bad’ and ‘fruitful’ crop seasons.

This connection also has a strong history and culture. While at the festival, walking in crisp, chilly air on hardened cobblestone, I visited a space where the town had set up various pictures of the many people and events that represented their home and history. As I walked through the room, seeing crinkled pictures from the past, I noticed a photograph of my grandfather.

It was then that I was directed to a book where there was more to be seen. I noticed that his life’s story had been essentially turned into a story! There were drawings and a retelling of my grandfather’s voyage to Guatemala, as well as photos of my aunts and uncles who had returned many years later to connect with their roots.

I was astounded to see it and became a bit emotional.

Nature connects us all, in many different ways. Walking around my grandfather’s old town later that day, made me more acutely aware of the details of the place. Surrounded by the snow tipped mountains, entrenched in their fog, wrapping and shielding myself from the bitter cold, it all made me feel closer to him. Here I was, half way around the world from where my mother had started and I had come full circle. The trees he had seen many years ago might have glimpsed him running by as a boy before he had gone. The soil beneath my feet, felt much more like home than ever before. As one of my cousins had said, “His story really is like a fairy tale!”

It’s hard to connect to a culture you are not familiar with at first. Languages can be difficult to manage and situations can be complex to understand. But, running along the grasses he might have once passed on by, laying eyes on the same tree line, the waterfalls, that he grew up with, were all so much easier for me to understand right away.

Nature connects us all. With ourselves, with out past and our present. As the days grow shorter and colder, I am challenging myself to not shut myself in, but dare to venture out. Amazing things can be found in these places and new histories, always made.

por Cynthia Espinosa Marrero

Sundays have become a great day to dedicate some me-time. The way that I found out how I can spend some me time is by hiking Mt. Tom located in my town, Holyoke, Massachusetts. I have visited before, and I am fairly new to the hiking trails in the area. After researching what to bring, I found myself ready with a backpack, hat, hiking shoes and a big enthusiasm to walk alongside the woods. I found that I was nervous and started to think of great quotes and sayings my abuela and abuelo used to say to me. “Hecha pa’ lante, sigue tu camino” and when I felt lost, the first thing I said “ea rayo, me perdí!” But I didn’t get lost at all, I went to another trail that I have never been before!

Then I realized that En la vida, we must be brave to cross bridges. It will move us hacia adelante.  To be able to see that while hiking, a bridge through the path will lead to a more beautiful site that is hidden in the bosque.

After crossing the bridge, I kept walking where the trail leads to and I was able to hear the birds, the water hit the rocks, como una cascada and saw the beautiful árboles dancing with the wind. I sat down and started to sketch plants that I haven’t seen before and started to observe the landscape.

As an environmental education student, I am starting to learn how to look at the forested landscape and be able to see plant species grows there, what type of soil is underneath and what was the historical use of the forest, was the area cultivated, did it had livestock, or was it just a forest as it is today? All of these questions came up in my head and I started to write it down on my journal, as the wind kept making the trees dance, the water hitting the rocks kept making the rhythm as the drums of la Bomba y Plena, and the birds singing como un trovador.

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Mi cultura puertorriqueña, is alive within me. Nature helps me perceive it in different ways. From the sounds of nature that remind me of typical music, to the taste of plants which as jíbaros, we cared for and use plants for food and medicinal purposes. Nature, especially the forest, can be overwhelming and as I felt, anxious because you can either get lost, or find yourself. I decided to find myself and relate what I see, hear and feel in the forest back to my raíces, mis raíces puertorriqueñas.

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Cynthia Espinosa Marrero is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Environmental Science with a concentration of Environmental Education at Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire. Her passion lies in empowerment of the community through food and environmental projects. Cynthia enjoys hiking, learning about forest ecology and indigenous knowledge. Cynthia is also our newest Latino Outdoors Ambassador in New England. She will be sharing her experiences in the outdoors and be a voice in the community as a Latino Outdoors ambassador.