(upbeat symphony music) - [Moderator] Production of "Applause" on WVIZ PBS is made possible by grants from The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, The Stroud Family Trust, The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(upbeat jazz music) - [David] Hello, I'm David C. Barnett.

Happy New Year and welcome to "Applause."

Let's get things started off this week with the story of a storyteller.

Thrity Umrigar moved to the U.S. from her home in India to study in the early 80s.

Umrigar says she lost her heart to this country and decided to put down roots in Northeast Ohio.

Decades later, she's released two new children's books as love letters to the immigrant experience: "Binny's Diwali" about the ancient Hindu holiday and "Sugar in Milk," a retelling of her favorite Persian folk tale.

- What I've done in this book is I've revived an ancient Persian Indian legend.

And I've sort of modernized it because it's a story about timeless things like kindness and generosity and hospitality and immigration and welcoming people into their new homes.

And frankly, it's a story that I used to tell my adult audiences on book tour very often.

And every time I ended my talks by telling that story, I would sense this softness that would come over the audience.

People would smile.

They would sigh.

They would clap their hands in delight.

It was clearly a story that worked with adult audiences.

And then one day I woke up and I thought: My goodness, I think I've been telling this story to the wrong audience.

Because the people who really need to hear the story, who I imagine will truly, truly get the meaning of the story and respond to it are children.

And that same afternoon, I sat and I wrote "Sugar in Milk."

"Sugar in Milk" begins by this young child coming to America to stay with her aunt and uncle.

We don't know why.

All we know is that she's terribly homesick and she has no friends in this new country.

And then one day, auntie says, "Let's go for a walk," and they do.

And while they're walking, auntie tells her about this ancient legend.

And this is a story about how people from what used to be Persia arrived in India.

So when the Persians landed in India, they were met at the seashore by this Hindu king who had absolutely no reason or no desire to give them refuge and let them in.

But of course, there was a language barrier.

So the story goes that the king asked one of his men to bring him an empty glass.

And he proceeded to fill it all the way to the top with milk.

And he pointed to it as a way of saying: Look, I'm sorry but we are full up here.

We have no room for strangers.

We have no room for more people to come into our country.

And the story continues that the Persian leader of this expedition was a very smart and quick-witted guy.

And he proceeded to take out some sugar.

And he dissolved it very very carefully into that glass of milk.

And then in turn, he pointed to it as a way of saying: Look, if you do let us stay, not only will we not disrupt your way of life, but we will actually add sugar to it.

We will sweeten it with our presence.

And the story ends by the Hindu king being so moved by this gesture and by the wit of this other guy that he flings his arms open and welcomes them into the country.

And I should add that this is indeed the story of my ancestors who came from Persia and were let into India almost 1,000 years ago now as what we would today refer to as refugees.

The book is personally important to me because as a young Parsi child growing up in India, this was a story that we all heard over and over and over again.

And then of course, when I personally myself immigrated to the U.S., this story and the lesson of the story, of contributing, of adding to the life of the community around you, was something that I took to heart.

And it sort of acted as a blueprint in my own life in how to conduct myself in my own life in America.

The difference that I have seen in this country between when I came here as a grad student in the early 80s and the kind of welcoming country that I found: the friendliness, the hospitality, just everything that we treasure and value and love about America was on display.

And frankly, that's one of the reasons why I decided to stay.

I had a perfectly good life in India that I could have gone back to, but I just lost my heart to this country.

And what has happened in the last few years, the kind of hardening of the arteries so to speak, the hardening of people's hearts, the lashing out at immigrants.

You know, it started with lashing out at illegal immigrants, but now it's like there's just something else in the air.

And I thought if there was ever a moment to retell a story about kindness and goodness and the benefits that both sides get when cultures intermingle with one another, something that I believe in very strongly.

I just felt like this was the right moment to tell this story.

And maybe, just maybe, by learning something about a different culture and about a very ancient people, it might help people move forward which we absolutely need to do in this country.

(low playful music) So "Binny's Diwali" had a very different origin point in that Diwali is known as the Festival of Lights.

And it's predominantly a Hindu holiday although it really is celebrated, especially in India for sure.

We were not Hindu, but we celebrated Diwali as happily as anyone else did.

Because I grew up in this very secular neighborhood and this very secular city at the time.

And, you know, it was anytime you got a chance to party, that's what you did.

So Diwali has always had a special place.

It's a very visually beautiful holiday also.

You know, people light these beautiful little oil lamps all around their apartments on the floor or outside their apartments to usher in good luck.

And as somebody who went to Catholic school in India and, you know, was very familiar with Christmas and celebrated Christmas even in my Zoroastrian home, I was struck by that.

So few people in America knew about it.

So I wanted to tell this old, old story; but I wanted to give it some modern relevance.

And so I came up with the figure of Binny who's just this little Indian American girl.

She's going to school.

Her teacher, Mr. Boomer, has asked her to tell the whole class about Diwali.

And she's extremely excited to do so.

She dresses in a new outfit.

Her mom drives her to school.

And then it's time for her to stand up before the class and tell the story.

And she freezes.

She just is so nervous that she loses her thought and she doesn't know how to proceed.

And then she remembers the story of these little oil lamps and how Diwali itself is a holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil.

And this gives her the courage to control her own fears and her own stage fright and stand before the class and tell this story.

So it's a story within a story.

(playful music) - [Male Moderator] For more on Thrity Umrigar and her new children's books, visit arts.ideastream.org.

Upon discovering a piece of Kansas history in a quilt, Jean Ayres went on a journey to Gee's Bend.

There, she met some women with very different backgrounds with a mutual interest in the culture and history behind the quilts.

♪ Steal away to Jesus ♪ ♪ Steal away ♪ ♪ Steal away ♪ - [Female Moderator] Meet China and Mary Ann Pettway.

Though not related, they're direct descendants of slaves brought to Gee's Bend, Alabama, in the 19th century: no bigger than three square miles and at last census fewer than 300 people.

No roads or stores, just a post office.

But this isolation was no hedge against history's grasp, from the quake of emancipation to the trauma of having their sole ferry burned as punishment for attempting to vote.

♪ Steal away ♪ - [Female Moderator] Their story is one of resilience, faith, and creativity.

But the story of how these ladies got to Kansas City for the weekend is more a story of mystery, gumption, and friendship.

And it all started with Jean Ayres.

- I'm a retired physician who's sewed all her life and began quilting in probably the year 2000 and joined the Blue Valley Quilters Guild and found a group of friends that I found very meaningful.

And I learned that anything with a needle and thread is very common ground for women to be friends.

And I began to be interested also in history of Kansas quilts, if there was something peculiar to the state of Kansas.

Found out with a Kansas quilt study group that there really wasn't a quilt that was peculiar to Kansas because there was no cotton grown in Kansas.

And so by the time the train brought the cotton, they brought the quilt patterns too.

- [Female Moderator] This absence was of particular interest to Jean who was looking for a fitting logo for the ladies' retreat she had started with best friend, Judy Long O'Neal.

Their answer would come from an unexpected source.

- One day I was driving from Kansas City and I said to Judy, "I'm just really in the mood to go junkin'.

"Are you home?

"Let's go to the Antique Mall in Baldwin, Kansas."

And she said, "Yeah, I'm home; let's go."

So we went and we were looking.

In the very back, I saw a quilt.

And I just thought: I think I know what that is, but I don't know the history.

I don't know the name of the pattern for sure.

- [Female Moderator] Jean discovered that her find was in fact a Pine Burr, the state quilt of Alabama.

- [Jean] And when I began to look about the history, there was a woman whose name was Loretta Pettway Bennett who had written the instructions on the pattern for the Alabama Archives.

I found her on Facebook and began a friendship with her.

And eventually, I learned she was born in Gee's Bend, Alabama.

- [Female Moderator] Not long after, their friendship led to an invitation, one that was easy to accept.

And Judy jumped on board.

And the girls hit the road in Jean's Jeep not knowing what adventures lie before them.

- It was bow and arrow season, and all the guys in the restaurant were in camouflage.

And we're in there ordering a salad, and they're eating racks of ribs and drinking beer.

- [Female Moderator] But any hazards faded and they soon found themselves in the quilting mecca of Gee's Bend.

- There are no handshakes.

There are only hugs.

They claim their history and they'll gladly tell you about their grandfather or things they know.

Some of them were part of the slaves that walked from Halifax, North Carolina, to the Pettway Plantation.

So they claim that history, but there's a joy.

There's a feeling of gratitude.

There's a feeling of being blessed.

There's a feeling when you ask them about their quilts.

They talk about when William Arnett, the art collector, discovered them in the 1990s that they didn't know they were making art.

They were making things that were utilitarian for their family.

(voice humming) And the trip to Gee's Bend suddenly wasn't as focused.

I mean, I remembered to ask about the Pine Burr, but it became so much more about the experience of the ground and the people and the friendships and their life and understanding the relationship to plantation times and civil rights.

And it just became an amazing experience, not a history trip.

- [Female Moderator] Their 2013 tour included several stops and wonderful hospitality.

And when their time came to a close, something had changed.

- We got in the car and we began our long drive back.

And I remember that was the quietest part of our trip.

We didn't say anything for a long time because it was a very, very moving experience.

And we had plans to stop along the way.

And it just didn't seem important on the way home.

- [Female Moderator] It was soon after that Jean and Judy had an idea.

Their church is involved in a regional organization devoted to racial and economic equality, More Squared.

And having the Gee's Bend ladies come and share their stories would be a perfect fit.

- [Jean] The idea was picked up.

- [Female Moderator] Other parishioners and volunteers joined.

And early in April, it all came together.

♪ He's calling ♪ ♪ He's calling by the thunder ♪ ♪ The trumpet sounds ♪ - Lot of these quilts that are hung in here are made up out of old clothing, out of old jeans, corduroy, you know, whatever ladies got a hand onto at the time.

- I'd make a quilt about this size.

And I said, Oh, I don't like this.

I cut and I cut and I'd take it loose until it get to suit me.

(piano playing along with choir humming) - [Mary Ann] Our parents took care of us the way that they knew how to take care of us.

- The best that they know how.

- You know, our houses, they were not insulated as houses are now.

That's where the quilts come from.

You know, they made the quilts to put on the floor 'cause we had to lay on the floor.

We didn't have no beds to lay on.

So Mama had to make quilts.

- When we tell you our story, we don't be telling for nobody to feel, we don't want you all to feel sorry for us.

We just be telling it to let you all know where God had brought us from and what he doing for us and how he has opened up doors and made ways for us.

Gee's Bend is on the map now.

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪ - [Male Moderator] Steve Brown of Cleveland was part of the competitive yo-yo movement from its start back in the 90s.

Since then, he's watched it grow into the international phenomenon it is today, a phenomenon that changed his life.

Ideastream spent some time with Steve in 2016.

- I didn't have any plans.

I didn't have any goals.

I didn't have any skills.

I didn't have anything.

I was just like another random kid wandering around, you know, waiting for life to happen to him.

- [Male Moderator] Brash, impulsive and unemployed, at 18, Steve Brown found himself living on the streets of his home state of Florida.

- I was sleeping in my car, which then that died.

So once the car died, I was just sleeping outside.

And I would couch surf or, you know, just kind of make do.

- [Male Moderator] Desperate for work, one day he wandered into a local novelty store that was looking for someone who could juggle and throw a yo-yo.

Knowing nothing about either one, Steve took matters into his own hands.

- I stole a yo-yo from his store on my way out the door.

And I taught myself a couple of yo-yo tricks and went back to his store.

I was like: Hey look, I can do a couple of things.

- [Male Moderator] The job amounted to assembling magic tricks, tchotchkes and yes, yo-yos.

Illusionists and magicians who shopped in the store shared a few things with Steve, like how to work a crowd and hand gestures that he began using in his yo-yo routines.

- Hanging out in his store, I was introduced to a lot of jugglers and people who did diabolos, devil sticks, magicians.

And so, I took inspiration from all of it.

And as a result, I ended up being one of those few yo-yo players that had a distinctly recognizable unique style.

Because I didn't make up tricks based off of other yo-yo tricks.

I made up tricks based off of other stuff that I had seen.

(upbeat music) - [Male Moderator] At the same time Steve was sharpening his skills, yo-yoing was becoming a competitive sport all thanks to a small innovation that replaced the wooden dowel in the middle of the yo-yo with a metal ball bearing that made it possible for yo-yos to spin for minutes at a time allowing contestants to do elaborate tricks.

- There was an invention of using a roller bearing as part of the axle into a yo-yo.

And so with a roller bearing, and today we just refer to as a ball-bearing yo-yo, you can take basically instead of that yo-yo sleeping for say 10 seconds, yo-yo's at the bottom of the end spinning, we call that sleeping.

So it took from a wooden yo-yo sleeping say 10, 15 seconds, now with a roller bearing, a ball-bearing yo-yo, you're sleeping minutes.

And so you can imagine what that would do with how many tricks you can do.

Instead of those basic 10 tricks, now all of a sudden you expand to thousands of tricks.

- [Male Moderator] In 1996, Steve entered his first yo-yo competition.

It was a small event that had a big impact on his life.

- For me, it was a creative outlet.

This was the start of me finding a purpose for myself and then kind of expanding on it and like really creating a place for myself in the world.

I still didn't see it so much as a career as I saw it as a way to sort of reclaim an identity for myself.

You know, in a noisy busy world, I wanted to have a space for myself.

- [Male Moderator] Steve's talent for throwing a yo-yo attracted the attention of Duncan Toys, the largest manufacturer of yo-yos in the world located in Middlefield, Ohio, near Cleveland.

And one day, they came calling.

- They actually approached me and offered me a job and I turned them down.

And then I turned them down three more times after that.

And the gentleman who was the sales manager at the time finally kind of wore me down.

And I said: Sure, no problem.

- Steve started off on our demonstration team and he was going across the country.

We had a big like Duncan minivan.

And he would go from retailer to retailer, retailer.

And then, we brought him up here to continue not just demonstration, but to manage our team, to create additional players, additional team members, as well as help us with the marketing and product development.

- [Male Moderator] Steve's brash behavior eventually got the better of him.

He wasn't the corporate type; and after a few years, he left the company.

- It was tremendous work, but a really bad culture fit.

I'm not an office person.

And I just didn't understand how to work in an office with people.

I didn't understand how to work with a team.

You know, I was a performer who was always just kind of doing his own thing.

So everything that I knew how to do was me, me, me, but very well; but it was still just all about me.

So I clashed really hard with a lot of people very early on.

It took me a long time before I started to kind of get the hang of things.

But realistically, by that point, I was so burned out from trying so hard to fit into this style of work that I just wasn't good at at all.

So I just had to, I had to make some apologies.

Then I had to go.

(chuckles) ♪ Another cup of coffee and I drag myself to work ♪ - [Male Moderator] Today, Steve is still in the yo-yo business.

He runs the online magazine "Yo-Yo News," and he's overseeing as the 2016 World Yo-Yo Contest takes place in Cleveland attracting contestants from all over the world.

- The World Yo-Yo Competition, and to a smaller extent like every yo-yo contest, it's not just a platform for the tricks.

It's not just a platform for the kids.

It's an opportunity for people to find their tribe.

- They might've met at a contest when they were 12 or 13 and then they see each other throughout the next five, six, seven years bringing those groups together, bringing those friends together from all across the countries and finding that common thing, which is the yo-yo.

(crowd cheering) (jazz music) - [Male Moderator] On the next "Applause," as temperatures cool down, we'll explore why birdwatching in Northeast Ohio is heating up.

And a group of astronomers gather together to gaze into the stars for a one of a kind winter celebration.

- [Narrator] We'll take all these images and put 'em together to get a photograph.

- [Male Moderator] Plus, an artist whose medium is insects.

All this and more on the next round of "Applause."

The new year often starts with a toast.

At a bar in Reno, Nevada, they've elevated cocktails to flavorful works of art with seasonal ingredients and delightful garnishes.

Take a look.

- An artisanal craft craft cocktail would be taking a classic cocktail and spinning it and putting your take on the cocktail, maybe doing something a little bit more creative.

And it is a complete culinary approach on all your ingredients.

(upbeat jazz music) Everything is going to be very important from start to finish.

The cocktail needs to look beautiful.

And then the garnishes need to tie in completely as well.

So we do a lot of dehydrated garnishes for our program because, of course, they will always stay looking nice.

Dehydrated roses might be one of them.

(upbeat jazz music) The garnish that we're doing for an Old Fashioned is a dehydrated pineapple that we then dye with red beets to add a little bit of flair to it.

(upbeat jazz music) - What really gets me jazzed about cocktails in general is just the fact that there's so much on the market and there's so many opportunities to try something different.

Since we're working with such seasonal ingredients, we have to pay extra attention.

Because every season, those ingredients change.

And so we have to change the drink to keep it consistent.

- [Ivan] I like to add a little bit of flair to the situation as well.

So like we might smoke a cinnamon stick or some star anise and like completely smoke the cocktail glass.

And then we'll pour the cocktail on top, and you have this kind of like little bit of a show.

And at the same time though, you're adding depth to the cocktail.

(cocktail shakers shaking) It's an art form at the end of the day.

It's the same thing of watching an artist do a painting, a chef making a beautiful dish.

So now the cocktail world is completely like following those footsteps.

- [Truly] I even drink cocktails like I'm coursing out a meal.

You know, you start light spirits, something maybe a little bit like a martini style drink and then work your way to like a deeper, richer, maybe a Sherry-based cocktail or that late night kind of nightcap.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Ivan] More and more bars are opening up doing craft cocktails and, you know, well-thought cocktail lists and so on.

I think that it's very predominant in large cities.

And I think Reno is growing at such a fast pace and having lots of people that are well-traveled moving here.

And so there's a hunger for it.

(upbeat jazz music) I think more and more people are becoming more educated in fine drink and interesting spirits.

If they're coming to a fine place to get cocktails, they wanna learn something.

So they'll be either watching the bartender's technique, or the bartender will be talking about the ingredients that they're putting in there.

- Citrus infusion and Earl Grey, fresh lemon juice.

- [Ivan] And so you're dropping or giving a little bit of knowledge to the guests, which at the same time you're still also making a beautiful cocktail.

So it's just like a performance, if you will.

(cocktail shakers shaking) We're always learning and always growing.

And our technique is gonna constantly be moving forward and upward.

And at the same time, so will our cocktail program.

And I think that's the important thing is always striving for knowledge and growth.

- [Male Moderator] That's it for today's show.

You'll find more stories online at arts.ideastream.org.

As always, thanks for watching.

I'm Ideastream's David C. Barnett hoping that the new year will be good for you.

Stop on by next week for another round of "Applause."

(upbeat music) Production of "Applause" on WVIZ PBS is made possible by grants from the John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, The Stroud Family Trust, The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.