Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.

A DRAMATIC ESCAPE AND A SUCCESSFUL NEW LIFE, LAN SENA SHARES HER FAMILY'S INCREDIBLE STORY SURVIVING THE FALL OF VIETNAM AND WELCOME IN ALBUQUERQUE.

SHOWCASING STUNNING CHINESE LANTERNS, RENO'S WILBER D. MAY ARBORETUM'S DRAGON LIGHTS FESTIVAL BRINGS CHINESE CULTURE TO LIFE YEAR-ROUND.

BLENDING HIS LOVE FOR MUSIC WITH NEARLY 50 YEARS OF EXPERT INSTRUMENT MAKING, DON MACROSTIE CRAFTS WORLD-RENOWNED MANDOLINS IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

A NEW LIFE >> Faith Perez: So, your parents fled Vietnam following the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Can you tell me about the journey they made from Vietnam to the United States?

>> Lan Sena: Yeah, so actually my mom arrived here in 1975 and her journey was a little bit different from my father's because he actually escaped in 1981.

She, my grandma, some of her siblings and her sister-in-law and her cousins fled together but then got separated because their boat actually ran out of gas.

So, my mom, her sister-in-law and her nieces and nephews were all in a small little boat that went a drift in the ocean once they fled and luckily an aircraft carrier actually came across them and were able to rescue them but even at that point it was so pitch black that as my mom was escaping she couldn't even see the palm of her hand that was in front of her.

So, as this aircraft carrier was approaching, they didn't know if that was a friendly boat or not and not being able to swim with a bunch of little kids was very dangerous for her.

But, she knew that the prospects of returning would be even more dangerous.

Being caught fleeing was punishable by death.

They were very fortunate that it was a US aircraft because they actually feared that they would be captured and they tossed this rope net down below so that they could actually get on but there were tiny children aboard this little boat and my mom had to hold on to two on each side and fling herself onto this rope net and putting the children on going back and forth from the small boat to this rope net while also not knowing how to swim and so the dangers that she faced were really profound; the risk of drowning, the risk of being captured, then even getting separated and being left behind as the boat had to leave.

So, by way of a miracle she was able to get back onto that aircraft carrier, I think shows the resiliency that she had but also a lot of the challenges that so many of them had during that time of escape.

For my mother she really had nothing on her.

Essentially, she had just enough time to grab some small pictures of her friends and her family back home.

She didn't really have much else besides that.

She actually kind of just crafted clothes from bed sheets that she found on the aircraft carrier.

Luckily, she was reunited with her mom.

So, that was a big struggle for my mom just going through the refugee camp, not knowing where the rest of her family was including a lot of her sisters and her siblings didn't actually survive.

But they knew that things would have been a lot harder had they stayed.

>> Faith Perez: So, why did your parents choose to settle in Albuquerque New Mexico?

>> Lan Sena: Well, they actually didn't exactly choose.

It was kind of serendipitous in many ways.

My mother came to Camp Pendleton through the operation of new life and so they actually placed her here in New Mexico and back then in '75 even New Mexico was one of the very few states that were accepting Vietnamese refugees.

So, she was very fortunate to be placed here and really just fell in love with New Mexico.

And for my father he was actually the principal at the refugee camp in Thailand and the woman that actually placed him here in Albuquerque had asked him, "Where would you like to go?"

and my dad said, "Anywhere that has freedom."

So, she said well, I'm from Albuquerque, would you like to live there and he said, "Yes, absolutely."

>> Faith Perez: And after their arrival here, how did the local community in Albuquerque receive them?

>> Lan Sena: Camp Pendleton had over 100,000 refugees and so, within New Mexico, we were receiving 2,000 at a time at the Sunport and when we were doing more research as to how our communities were received here, it was a beautiful and very remarkable, very New Mexican story where community members just stepped up.

We had community members that took pots and pans of their own and gave back to our communities.

My cousin remembers getting his neighbor's bicycle for example.

Community members were just giving their own possessions back to our families and they had community members that helped them get jobs and I think that a big part of how and why she fell in love with New Mexico and wanted to settle here because that's the way New Mexico and our community really have been in the past and even still to this day you know we have a very loving kind community where we want to welcome others and so I think that has been a big component of my upbringing just like my mom and the way she was received and just like my father and how he was received.

My parents wanted to give back to our community and so that has always been ingrained into me, not just about public service but what we do to think of our past generations and for our future generations.

>> Faith Perez: Are there any stories from your parents' experiences that have been particularly like influential or inspirational to you?

>> Lan Sena: When we were growing up we would always have a lot of bowls and plates and things that would cycle through and then some days we didn't have them and I would see my mom and my dad giving them away and so just growing up as a kid you know, just asking questions like, why do we keep giving away our bowls and our plates?

And they said well uh we're giving them back to our immigrant communities, to our refugee communities because we were once them and New Mexico once gave us the same thing, the same pots and pans, the bowls and the plates and so that has always been ingrained in me and inspired me to not just give back to my community but think holistically as well.

You know, how are we approaching our communities?

How are we becoming more of a welcoming state and city?

>> Faith Perez: Why is it important to remember these stories?

>> Lan Sena: Thinking of the story of New Mexico back in 1975 when so much pain that had been going on.

Not just from the Vietnam War, but the pain of our own communities, of our Vietnamese communities, having to be displaced, having to be separated from their families not by choice and so I think coming back to those stories and knowing the possibilities and the love and the kindness that the Land of Enchantment gave back to our communities is so important to tie us back as to why we do the things we do, why we are the Land of Enchantment.

I think that that's been so important to showcase these stories to heal from them as well so that our first generation Vietnamese Americans can tie back to those communities and really know, you know, what was at stake then and why we should carry these stories moving forward because it's part of our history.

SHARING THE LIGHT - The Chinese Lantern Festival usually falls on the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, which marks the end of the Chinese New Year.

It is a time when people get together to celebrate, and the way we celebrate it is to put out these beautiful lanterns in the park, and people would get together with their families and friends and walk around the park, and that's how the Lantern Festival was started.

But now that since we're doing it in the US, we do it year-round, so it will be a good time for people to just come around with friends and family.

It's an event that's not just for small kids, it's basically for people of all ages.

And it's our first time in Reno.

We also try to do a festival in every state in every major city, so that's how we chose Reno, because Reno is a very artistic town.

And I think the Arboretum itself is the perfect place for us for this kind of show.

Because we need to have trees, have trails, and people can make a turn and see different lanterns.

We always prefer to do it in an arboretum, a botanical garden, where they have this kind of setting.

- The Wilber D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden is 25 acres 13 of them are developed into gardens and groves.

An arboretum is actually a collection of trees and the botanical garden would be a collection of specialized trees, as well as woody shrubs and flowers that are almost like a living museum here in Reno.

- [Huiyan] As far as I heard, not many people have ever been to the botanical garden, even though it's been here inside Rancho San Rafael Park, the park itself is quite popular, I think, but not many people have been to the Arboretum yet.

So, we are hoping with this festival, we'll get more people to come visit, and get to know more about the Arboretum, and make it a popular venue for other events as well.

- To be able to have the Dragon Lights Festival here has really brought so many thousands of people here, that again talk about living here in Reno, Nevada, or visiting Reno, and never knowing that we were here.

And that really highlights the value of the Arboretum, the collection of trees and the plants that we have here.

Because people can come through and see the dragon lights unlit as really sculptures, art sculptures.

And at night they can come and see it lit up, and be able to see the reflection off of the trees, and really be able to experience nature in a whole different way.

- [Huiyan] In this festival of Dragon Lights Reno, we have more than 40 larger than life lanterns here, and one of the biggest one, it's a frog that's almost two stories high.

In the whole lantern making process, the first and the most important one is the designer who come up with the concept and the design of a lantern set.

And then we have the welders to come in to weld along the lines and bring it into a 3D shape, and then we have a whole team of ladies who are specialized on gluing fabric onto the lanterns.

So, they have to pick the right color as well, and they have to do it really quick, because like you can see, we have 40 sets of lanterns here, that means there are more than a thousand small components of lights.

So, they have to do that in only 4 weeks' time.

So, it's really amazing what they can do and how fast they can do it.

- [Huiyan] We also have a dragon that's almost 200 feet long, and the head itself weighs over 600 pounds.

So that's three school buses, maybe, and it's three stories high, and it took us almost one week's time to build it from scratch.

All the pandas, or all the animals, all the eyes on them are hand painted by just one person, that's the designer.

And also, the scales on the dragon, it's also hand painted as well, it's spray on.

They're all made of LED lights, and silk, and fabric, and metal.

- [Lynn] I think the peacocks were my absolute favorite, and they were my favorite from the very, very beginning and I think that it's the colors of them that are just so vibrant, even during the day.

Many of the children enjoy the water exhibit, and the sharks and the fish that are down over past Evan's Creek Bridge.

I think that they enjoy them the most, and I've heard that quite a lot.

Also, the snails that are in Dixie's Plaza Garden are also a favorite of many, many people.

It's important for the Arboretum to host these events because it brings people here, and it brings attention to the Arboretum.

With any Arboretum, finances are important.

And to keep sustainability for this particular place is incredibly important.

So, the more people that know about it, the more messages can get out, to be bringing people here to sustain business.

But also, just to stay in health.

There's more than two miles of walkway here, so for a senior, who maybe doesn't have the ability to get out in Reno or anywhere else, this is a safe place for them to be able to walk.

For young children to be able to first experience the gardens and the groves, and different flowers that maybe they don't have in their own yard.

- [Huiyan] Part of our objective to do this show is to share Chinese culture with people from different backgrounds, and will see it as a platform for culture exchange and also an experience for people to come and learn a little bit more about Chinese culture, Asian culture.

- I think that it's really very, very important to be able to recognize where Reno has come from in regards to the Chinese culture, and really the foundation of developing Reno with the mining community and how we were first established, as well as the railroad and the importance that they had here.

So, I really think it's a wonderful opportunity to be able to blend the past and the present and really acknowledge that history that we have here in Reno.

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD I moved to this farm a little over 40 years ago.

I've been out here about 41, 42 years.

Moving here, there was a machinery shed that I thought that'll make a nice shop.

I think I got kind of interested in guitar in high school.

It was during the folk revival of the 50s and 60s, and I was interested in that music and trying to learn that.

My name is Don MacRostie.

I own and operate Red Diamond Mandolins here in Athens, Ohio.

I graduated college in '66, and that was around the start of the Vietnam War.

So, I wound up in the Navy.

I was in Vietnam.

I was on an aircraft carrier.

I got out of the service in '70.

I decided to use my GI bill, go back to college.

I came to Ohio University.

I enjoyed not only going to college, but I loved the area.

I saw a lot of the county and a lot of the Southeast Ohio, and I've been here ever since.

My sister-in-law had a mandolin, so I was looking at that and I don't have a lot of space.

It'd be a lot easier to build a smaller instrument.

So that's how I picked a mandolin.

I was thinking about a name that I could put on the peghead and I was reading a book about a fellow who in the 1800s was traveling Europe, hunting Stradivarius violins, and one of the names of the Stradivarius violins was the Red Diamond.

And I said, ah, that's that name I'll use that.

I've been building for close to 50 years.

I've seen how instruments come through to the audience and there's an instrument that seems to, for bluegrass music really project out a sound.

And that's the Gibsons of the early '20s.

They were signed by Lloyd Loar.

>> Don MacRostie is one of those guys that was always on the search for the secret formula to the best sounding mandolin, and in my opinion, he found it.

What sets Don's mandolins apart from the rest, in my opinion, is the constant pursuit of the golden era sound.

And when I say that, I mean the mandolins of the early 1920s that were manufactured by Gibson.

He's come up with this really interesting process of measuring the flexibility of the top and back of some of those legendary mandolins, and then using those measurements to kind of guide his own building process.

>> When I build mandolins, I start out with the sides.

I make the blocks.

I bend the sides and glue them up into a rib assembly.

That's the first step.

And I even put the linings in that allow the tops and the backs to be attached to the side.

Then I'll carve tops next, and the tops will be carved and glued on.

And at that point I'll voice it to some extent.

That means make it of a flexibility that will produce a good sound.

It's the combination of the arch shape, the flexibility, the species of wood, and many other things that produce a sound.

Once that's done and the neck is fitted in, I'll glue the back which makes the rib assembly, the body assembly very rigid.

And then you can put the neck back in it and set your angle and finish up the neck.

It'll get a fingerboard.

It'll get a peghead for mounting tuners and decoration of the peghead.

It's traditional for a good mandolin to have a darker finish.

It's a sunburst they call it.

So, it's a shaded finish from a bright sun in the center, golden to a darker edge.

Once the instrument's completely done, you put strings on it.

I was building mandolins in mid 70s, and it turned out that there was a company here in Athens that did instruments there.

It was called Stewart MacDonald.

And then I got into product design with them.

I was able to do things there because of my prior building experience and the things that I was doing there, I was able to bring home and better do my building.

For bluegrass and a lot of other styles of music, the F5 mandolin is what's desirable.

It's beautiful.

The design is incredible.

It's attractive.

A lot of people buy kind of on reputation, and if I build instruments that really please other people, I get customers.

People are excited about playing music.

They want a, they want a good instrument.

They, they love it, and, and they share it with their friends.

>> I think Don is helping to strengthen the arts in Ohio by building the best instruments possible.

And I would consider Don's mandolins to be some of the best in the world.

You see him across the bluegrass scene.

Alan Bibey, a really great bluegrass mandolin player, plays his mandolins regularly.

Josh Pinkham, another amazing world- renowned mandolinist, plays Don's mandolins, and it makes sense that his mandolins are some of the best in the world because he is a sensitive person that way.

He can see what you need and what you're looking for in an instrument and wants to make a product that fills what you need.

It almost feels like a family relationship when you purchase an instrument from Don.

I own two Red Diamonds, and when I look at every nook and cranny and corner, everything is just perfect.

There's not a single thing out of place.

And it's really interesting to kind of look at a mandolin and then hear the sound that comes off of.

The lows are rich and sustaining.

The highs aren't too shrilled, they're very glassy and bell like.

So, it's really interesting to play a red diamond compared to some of these other mandolins.

There's life in every single note all across the fingerboard.

Not only is he building the best instruments that he possibly can, he's bringing attention from around the world to central and southern Ohio through the kind of craft that he's chosen in his life.

And I think that's really important because it brings fresh musicians and fresh perspectives to this region.

And then they take a little bit of Ohio back with them whenever they take one of his mandolins.

>> As I started building mandolins, I started learning to play mandolin too.

By playing you're able to understand musicians that you're building for.

I play with a couple of guys regularly right now.

We've played together for 40 years probably.

Music has allowed me to buy a farm, raise a family, and love what I do.

There was a term back in the 60s that I latched onto, it's called Right Livelihood, and it meant what you're doing in your working life has to be right or contribute to the planet, the world, the neighbors, and not be destructive.

And I think that building instruments and playing music is right livelihood.

I was able through both Stewart-MacDonald, employment at Stewart-MacDonald, and my, my building to do, do well, you know, to, to have a good life.

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Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, for the Arts New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.