2010 Navajo Oral History projects are nearly finished

We had another class meeting on Friday, June 25, and viewed all the projects. A few of them are done, and a few more need just a little work on the audio track or some tweaking to the edits and transitions.

These students are working hard to create projects focused on the lives and accomplishments of their feature Navajo elders. I know they take their work seriously and being picky and obsessive about getting the stories right. They want the elders to be proud of the work.

I'm proud of all the students.

I've asked them to make their final edits and get the finished versions to me in the next week so I can start the process of mastering the burn discs, then ordering the professionally duplicated versions. Each student will get copies of the DVDs so they can share their hard work with their families and friends. And we'll be placing copies at both the Diné College and Winona State University Libraries. In addition, the pieces will be archived at the Navajo Nation Museum and the Navajo Nation Library.

As soon as we are sure the pieces are complete and in ready-to-publish form, we'll be posting the media-friendly versions on Winona360.org. I plan to post links to the finished pieces right here on this blog.

We'll also be planning receptions to premiere the works both in Winona and in Tsaile, Arizona, home of the Diné College main campus. Those receptions will probably happen in September, or perhaps early October.

Thanks for reading and staying interested in this important project.

-- Tom Grier