First Interviews

Three student journalism teams visited with Navajo elders today (Thursday, May 28) for the first time as part of the 2015 Navajo Oral History Project. A fourth will meet and interview their elder tomorrow (Friday).

The three teams all report their interviews went well: they got excellent video, good photos and audio. They also took many photos of themselves working in the field doing journalism, and learning while doing.

The blog editor, Prof. Tom Grier, was tired and didn't get through all the submitted photos for the blog. My group was up at 5 a.m. and left the dorm by 6 a.m. for the 3.5 hour drive to interview World War II Veteran and Navajo Code Talker Bill Toldeo in Grants, New Mexico. They did a service project for Bill and his family, cleaning two patios and gardens, weeding, raking, sweeping and cleaning. They they ate lunch with Bill followed by the interview, clean-up and a 4.5 hour trip back to the dorm, including a grocery run, and a couple stops for some beautiful B-roll of the Window Rock Park and the Navajo Code Talker Monument.

Here are some images from the day... more to come.

The students are having fun, and learning a lot-- about Navajo culture, and about documentary journalism in the field.

Thanks for reading and sharing the blog. At last count, the blog had nearly 1,000 page views in the last two weeks.