Culture

States of America

In the United States, you may have been born in one state or even in a different country. You may go to school or work in another community, and then move somewhere else by choice or circumstance. What is it that ties us to these places and makes us call them home? And how does our state affect who we are and how we identify ourselves?

Hawai'i

3m 56s

Patricia Lei Murray is a passionate advocate for preserving and sharing the culture of Hawai'i, her native island home. She is a master quilter, threading a deep devotion to ancestry, tradition, and Ohana into her work. Driven by an abiding connection to the ocean, mountains, and skies, Patricia says that being Hawaiian is her pulse.

Episodes

  • Hawai'i: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Hawai'i

    S1 E29 - 3m 56s

    Patricia Lei Murray is a passionate advocate for preserving and sharing the culture of Hawai'i, her native island home. She is a master quilter, threading a deep devotion to ancestry, tradition, and Ohana into her work. Driven by an abiding connection to the ocean, mountains, and skies, Patricia says that being Hawaiian is her pulse.

  • Arizona: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Arizona

    S1 E28 - 4m 43s

    LaVona Evans was born in 1912 on the same day Arizona became a state. Naturally, she’s felt that her own identity has always been tied to her state. Between the parades and parties celebrating their joint centennial, LaVona shares what has kept her in her small rural community for a century.

  • New Mexico: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    New Mexico

    S1 E27 - 4m 53s

    Floyd Ashley is a retired educator who has spent his life dedicated to the Navajo people. During his years as an activist, teacher and community leader, Floyd has seen his share of struggles and dualities experienced by the Navajo Nation in the Land of Enchantment in New Mexico.

  • Oklahoma: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Oklahoma

    S1 E26 - 4m 54s

    Chuck White and his family narrowly survived an EF5 tornado, escaping their house minutes before it, and his Oklahoma neighborhood, were leveled. Determined not to let any storm keep him from living where he wants to, Chuck rebuilt his home on the very same plot.

  • Utah: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Utah

    S1 E25 - 5m 29s

    Daniel Shellabarger lives in a cave in the breathtaking canyons outside Utah's Arches National Park. A middle-aged former Peace Corps volunteer and social worker, Daniel disavowed the use of money in any form ten years ago and believes that wherever we are at any given moment is our home.

  • Wyoming: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Wyoming

    S1 E24 - 4m 59s

    People come to Jackson, Wyoming for many different reasons: for Sven Taow, it was the promise of a high-paying summer job. He didn't find riches but Sven discovered a passion for the wilds of the American frontier and the Teton Mountains. Like many Jacksonites, he’s seeking a balance between paying the bills and pursuing the next peak.

  • Idaho: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Idaho

    S1 E23 - 4m 42s

    Mexico-born Evaristo Mireles moved to Idaho decades ago as a teenager searching for a job. He has worked long hours with local farmers and raised his children in the state. Evaristo's desire to return to Mexico wanes as he comes to terms with how he's lived most of his life in the United States: between two cultures.

  • Washington: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Washington

    S1 E22 - 4m 52s

    Mohinder Sangha moved to Northwest Washington in 1983, becoming the first Sikh person to start berry farming in the region. Since then Mohinder's farm has thrived, and with his service and leadership, he helped build a temple and planted seeds for a vibrant community of over one hundred Sikh berry farmers.

  • Montana: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Montana

    S1 E21 - 4m 57s

    It was the past that brought Dave Varricchio to present-day Montana. Over the past 20 years, paleontology work in Big Sky Country’s wilderness has provided him with unique insight into the Montana of 75 million years ago. While focused mainly on changes in the Earth's crust over the course of millennia, Dave also observes more rapid changes in the evolution of this once sleepy college town.

  • Nebraska: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Nebraska

    S1 E20 - 4m 53s

    Dereck Higgins has vivid memories of being harassed and attacked as a child. As an adult, he has managed the isolation and suspicion he is dealt by his near all-white surroundings in Nebraska through punk rock and electronic music. A lifetime of bucking expectations and cultivating a thriving musical community has brought Dereck to a place where he no longer seeks permission to belong.

  • Nevada: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Nevada

    S1 E19 - 5m 13s

    Clay Greenland's desire to help others as a paramedic drove his life but his son's suicide prompted a retreat from Tennessee to a remote corner of the Nevada desert. Now Clay has gradually found a role in a trailer park community that helps him heal through a revived yet fragile sense of public service.

  • West Virginia: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    West Virginia

    S1 E18 - 4m 56s

    Though Hanna Sizemore grew up wandering the mountains of West Virginia, her passion for understanding a larger universe took her to Silicon Valley, NASA, and eventually back to her Appalachian roots in the National Radio Quiet Zone. Here she negotiates communication and a sense of belonging with beloved neighbors and friends that often come from opposing ideological tribes.

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