Anyone who has been to the Basque Country and visited any of the villages that dot the coast and the valleys between those peaks shrouded in mythology certainly knows the importance of the fronton to the Basque people. The plaza of most any town is often surrounded by the three corner-stones of Basque life: the Church, the tavern, and the fronton. I know best the one in my dad’s home town of Munitibar. Festivities may always begin with a mass at the Church, but they always center on the fronton, either a game of pelota or animal tests or a bertsolari contest. The fronton is the public space in which life happens.

The Basques who immigrated to the US brought their games with them. And, the fronton. A wonderful open-air fronton sits in my mom’s home town, Jordan Valley, Oregon. But, the oldest is in Boise. In fact, the fronton in Boise is probably one of the oldest sporting venues in the US. Like Wrigley Field in Chicago, it will turn 100 in 2014. The Jacobs-Uberuaga boarding house will turn 150 the same year. The Basque community in Boise is gearing up to celebrate these milestones, important not only in the history of Boise Basques, but Basques in the US as a whole. The fronton endures, just as the Basques have endured.

I personally am not overly familiar with Boise’s fronton. I may have stepped foot in it once as a kid. However, both Mark Bieter and Henar Chico have written wonderful testimonies about the role the Boise fronton has played in their lives. Mark describes the history of the fronton and how, to pelota players in the US, it is sort of the Wrigley Field of pelota. Henar, a newer resident of Boise, has become an aficionado of the fronton and the pala leagues that are very active. The fronton has become a very important part of her life in Boise. Both paint a picture, both past and present, of a building that has served as the cornerstone of the Boise Basque community for nearly 100 years. And, knowing the Basques, will likely be standing strong for another 100 years.

Continuing on the big news of ETA ending violence, here are two more perspectives that might be of interest.

First, Mark Bieter, who, by the way, has a wonderful blog that you should be reading if you aren’t already, has an interview he did with Jaime Otamendi, who is “a long-time ETB journalist and host, about ETA and when one of his friends was killed by ETA members as the two were having coffee in a bar in Tolosa.  Pretty amazing guy.”

Second, if you are in Reno, you might want to check out this discussion on Wednesday night.  Experts from the University of Nevada’s Basque Studies Center — Joseba Zulaika, Imanol Murua and Xabier Irujo — will be discussing ideas about Basque identity and nationhood. You can be sure that how the end of ETA changes the future of Euskadi will be a central part of the discussion. This event is free and open to the public. Here are some details:

Wednesday, November 16· 7:00pm - 9:00pm
University of Nevada, Reno
Knowledge Center, Wells Fargo Auditorium

The Basque Country has changed dramatically since the time my father left for a new life in the United States.  Not only politically, with the death of Franco, the activity of ETA, and the rise of the Basque Autonomous Community, but socially, as well, as the Basque people have taken their culture into the 21st century with the big green recycling tubs, punk music, and wifi.  How would it be for a 6-year-old, accustomed to life in the United States, to just be uprooted and replanted in the Basque Country of the 70s, with Franco still ruling and Guardia Civil on every corner?

That is just the life Mark Bieter describes in his blog posting My Life Under Franco, capturing life the way only a 6 year old can (well, or a grown man remembering life when he was 6).  From the ever-pervasive Ducados to the terror of a kid starting school when no one knows his language, or vice versa, Mark does a nice job of drawing you into the life he experienced those many years ago.