Day 2 - Diné College Museum & Buffalo Pass

The 2011 Navajo Oral History class met on Tuesday morning for a class session on interviewing skills and techniques. We also talked about how important it is for visual journalists to create images that truly help to communicate an intended message: the feeling, the emotion, the information, the texture, etc. of the scene.

We talked about the schedule for our first meetings with the elders which occur on Wednesday or Thursday. The journalism teams got together to make sure each knew their responsibilities for the interviews.

Alex Mitchell, director of the Ned Hatathli Museum at Diné College led us on a tour of the museum's facilities and exhibits. He described a series of murals that depict the Navajo creation stories and the history of Navajo life in the southwestern United States. He also showed us the museum's collection of Navajo sand paintings which are used in sacred ceremonies.

(Above three photos by Robbie Christiano)

(photo by Josh Averbeck)

(photo by Alex Fisher)

(photo by Dave Dvorak)

There's lots of dogs running around the Navajo Nation. They're fondly known as Rez Dogs. They don't really have homes, and they're a bit skittish around people, but they hang around hoping for a food handout. Some are friendlier than others. Dave and Alex noticed this Rez Dog hanging around that seems happy to be around people. They named her "Belle." They won't be bringing Belle back to Minnesota.

(photo by Dave Dvorak)

In the afternoon, we took a drive up the Chuska Mountains northeast of Lukachukai, Arizona, to Buffalo Pass to see a great overview of Red Valley and Shiprock.

(photo by Alyssa Reimers)

(above two photos by Robbie Christiano)

(photo by Molly Golden)

(Above two photos by Michael Ruka)

(Above two photos by Dave Dvorak)

(above three photos by Alex Fisher)

Below are three beautiful nature shots by Alyssa Reimers.

On the way down the mountain pass road, we stopped in a meadow for some walking and photos.

(above two photos by Alex Fisher)

(photo by Dave Dvorak)

(photo by Alyssa Reimers)

Josh Averbeck and Robbie Christiano set up a self-timer shot for a group portrait. (Next two photos by Josh Averbeck)

About halfway down the mountain road there's a small waterfall of spring water. It's clear, cold and great-tasting water.

(photo by Alyssa Reimers)

(photo by Alex Fisher)

(above two photos by Dave Dvorak)

We stopped in Lukachukai to take a few more photos and Prof. Grier found a pottery shard on the ground. This is possibly a shard from an Anasazi corrugated clay pot. As with all historically significant artifacts, we looked at it took a few photos, then left it where we found it.

(photo by Robbie Christiano)

(photo by Dave Dvorak)

(Photo by Molly Golden)

(Photo by Robbie Christiano)

For dinner, Alex Fisher made some delicious vegetarian sloppy joes that everyone enjoyed. (Sorry no photo of the sloppy joes, they were so good, they disappeared quickly.)

After dinner, several of our group played Disc Golf, then we relaxed by the fire in our dorm hogan.

It will be an early morning on Wednesday as we head out to the first meetings with the elders. The students will do three hours of chores for the elder as part of their service project, then they'll interview the elder, using video, still photography and audio recording equipment.

It will be a busy day tomorrow, but the group is excited to get the real journalism work of this adventure started.