Mass CommuniMania: A Touristy Day

Eleven Winona State University students and four leaders spent the day today (Monday, May 25) seeing sights all over the Navajo Nation. The group is on the Navajo reservation to work on the 2015 Navajo Oral History Project.

Since today was a holiday, and classes start tomorrow, the group took the opportunity to do some touristy things and take lots of photos -- a given with mass communication types who have an eye for visual journalism.

The group got up early and prepared breakfast in their Diné College campus dorm building.

Heading north from the tribal college campus, the WSU group stopped in Rock Point, Arizona, to visit with Nita and Revaline Nez and their family. Nita is an amazing Navajo rug weaver who was featured in a film done as part of the NOHP in 2013. Revaline is Nita’s daughter, and is an alumna of this program.

Nita Nez; photo by Skylar Ogren.

This planned activity was a surprise to Skylar Ogren who worked on Nita Nez's video in 2013 when he was a student in the NOHP. It was a nice reunion for Skylar, Nita and Revaline.

Above three photos by Taylor Nyman.

Nita gave the 2015 group a weaving demonstration and showed off some of her most recent work. She even sold a couple rugs to members of the WSU group and took orders for more.

Nita Nez weaving; photo by Skylar Ogren.

Above three photos by Chops Hancock.

The Nez place, Rock Point, Arizona

Above two photos by Kim Schneider.

Above two photos by Chops Hancock.

Above two photos by Jacob Hilsabeck.

Above two photos by Taylor Nyman.

Following the wonderful visit with the Nez family, the group travelled further north to the one place in the United States where four states meet: The Four Corners Monument.

Above photo by Jacob Hilsabeck.

Chops Hancock used his personal GPS device to confirm a long-rumored thought that the actual intersection of the states is about 200 feet west of where the brass plates are affixed in a concrete plaza.

Above photo by Chops Hancock.

In the afternoon, the group stopped for lunch at a Burger King in Kayenta, Arizona, and visited the small Navajo Code Talker Museum there. Then, the vans drove north into Utah, to spent a couple hours at Monument Valley Tribal Park, the site that has been seen in hundreds of Hollywood movies.

Above photo by Chops Hancock.

Above three photos by Jacob Hilsabeck.

Above photo by Kim Schneider.

Ben Strand and Kim Schneider; photo by Robbie Christiano.

Above four photos by Ben Strand.

Above four Monument Valley photos by Skylar Ogren.

Above four photos by Taylor Nyman.

Above four photos by Chops Hancock.

On the way back to Tsaile, Arizona, and the Diné College campus, the group stopped a couple times to photograph and enjoy the beauty of the Navajo Nation.

Above eight photos by Jacob Hilsabeck.

Above photo by Skylar Ogren.

After twelve hours on the road, the group enjoyed pizzas from the Dorm kitchen’s oven and worked on photos and videos.

This blog aims to include lots of student-produced work. In this blog entry, you’ll see that come to life. Many student-produced images are included here. If an image isn’t credited, it was created by Tom Grier, WSU MCOM Professor and co-director of the NOHP. All other images will include photo credit to the creators of the images. Even though the project leaders love to shoot lots of images, we like even better to give recognition to our students who make amazing images also. Whenever the same subject matter is shot by students and leaders... we'll try to present the student images first.
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This next segment is weird, but funny. Somehow, Skylar Ogren started shooting slow-motion video of members of the group making a funny horse-like noises. In slow-mo, it looks incredibly funny. He got everyone in the group to try it, and then put it all together into a short video that will probably go viral. While it was happening, Chops Hancock shot these still images -- funny all by themselves.