Documentaries Nearly Done

Every once in awhile, I check the analytics about this blog: things like how many people visit the blog, how long they stay, where they visit from-- geographically, etc.  I can't see individual people or  anything like that, so don't worry; your privacy is safe.  I do see general aggregated data.

I've noticed many people have visited the blog during the past week... I imagine they are hoping to see drafts of the Navajo Oral History projects from summer 2012.

No drafts are available for viewing yet... but they're getting closer to being done.

Five journalism teams are doing documentary projects on five Navajo elders this summer.  The teams are made up of students from both Winona State University (Winona, Minnesota) and Diné College (Tsaile, Arizona).  The Winona students spent nearly three weeks in June on the Navajo Nation working with their teammates to research, plan, record, photograph, write, edit and produce the documentaries.

Since returning to Winona, the WSU students have continued to stay in touch with their Diné College counterparts via ITV, telephone, email, Skype and high-tech MetNet sessions where they watch video drafts and make edits together.

The teams have been working on a Living History documentary, 15-20 minutes in length, about their elder and his or her stories of life, family, work, etc. Each group is also producing a Media Feature, a 3-5 minute program, including one or two of the elder's most interesting stories.

To recap, the elders being featured this year are:

Kee Etsicitty, a Navajo Code Talker during World War II

(Photo by Stefani Schmidt)

Samuel Tom Holiday, a Navajo Code Talker during World War II

(Photo by Tom Grier)

Chester Nez, a Navajo Code Talker during World War II and the last of the Original 29 Code Talkers who helped develop the code

(Photo by Kaitlyn Haskie)

Agatha Spencer, a long-time employee, academic advisor and program coordinator at Diné College

(Photo by Kaitlyn Haskie)

Joe Vandever, a Navajo Code Talker during World War II

(Photo by Elisenda Xifra Reverter)

In each of the first three years of the Navajo Oral History project, we planned to feature one Code Talker, and one long-time or recently retired Diné College employee.  For the fourth year of the project, during Summer 2012, organizers decided to feature several Navajo Code Talkers.  This is partly due to a sense of urgency because these American heroes are leaving us too fast, and their stories deserve to be told.

Chester Nez of Albuquerque is the sole surviving member of The Original 29 Navajo Code Talkers.  After those 29 helped create the code and test it in the field of battle, approximately 400 other code talkers served during World War II.  Of those, estimates are that 30-40 are still alive and active in the Navajo Code Talkers Association.

That helps explain why four code talkers were focused on for the current year's projects.

The documentary projects should be complete by the end of this week (July 20, 2012).  They will be checked and double-checked by the program's faculty members: Tom Grier, Miranda Haskie and Robbie Christiano.  Once they are completely approved, DVD copies will be professionally duplicated and printed.  This will take a few weeks to prepare the master DVDs and the printed materials and get them duplicated.

Reception and Premiere events are planned to show the finished films and to celebrate and congratulate the students' hard work.  Once the films have been premiered at those reception events, copies of the Media Features will be available for viewing on the WSU Mass Communication Department's student feature web-site: Winona360.org.  (Previous years' features are still available for viewing there.)  The student groups may also post their documentaries on YouTube or other web sites.

The Winona reception is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 13, at 5 p.m. (place on campus to be determined). The reception at Diné College's Tsaile, Arizona, campus will be held Monday, Sept. 17, at 5 p.m. in the Student Union Building.

At both receptions, there will be refreshments: snacks and beverages at Winona State; a full traditional Navajo meal at Diné College.  Each student-produced film will be shown, followed by comments from the filmmakers.  For the Diné College reception, the featured elders have been invited, and will have a chance to speak about their participation in the projects.

Please put these dates on your calendar and plan to attend one or both of the reception events.  They are free and open to the public.

Following the receptions, DVD copies of the documentaries will be given to each featured elder and to all participating students.  Copies will be archived at the Navajo Nation Museum, Navajo Nation Library and the libraries at both Winona State University and Diné College.  The Winona Public Library will have copies.  We're proud that the films will be archived at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.

Copies of the DVD featuring the full series of 2012 films will be available for sale at $20 each. The entire $20 from the sale of each DVD will go into a scholarship fund at Diné College.

One of the key points of the project is that the participating students sign an intellectual property release form, giving the rights to the documentaries to the Navajo Nation for all time.  Students have agreed they won't make any money on the projects.  Their hard work is a gift to the Navajo people.  The documentaries will become important historical documents.

What the students do get is a sense of satisfaction that they are making a difference in the world.  They also have the ability to use the projects in their own portfolios to show potential employers their abilities and cultural sensitivity.

More information about the receptions will appear here on the blog in the coming weeks.  Soon after fall semester begins in August, the blog will become a place to promote participation in the fifth year of the Navajo Oral History project in Summer 2013.

Students who may be interested in participating next summer should contact WSU Professor Tom Grier (tgrier@winona.edu) or DC Professor Miranda Haskie (mhaskie@dinecollege.edu). There are a limited number of spaces open for students and they will fill quickly.

Thank you to all who have followed the blog throughout the summer.  We appreciate your attention and support.

Day 8 - Interviewing Navajo Elders

On the 8th day of the 2012 Navajo Oral History project (Monday, June 11, 2012), the student groups went out into the field on the Navajo Nation for the second interviews with several of the selected Navajo elders.

The students asked the interviewees more questions, seeking more depth and breadth of material for the documentary films they'll be writing, editing and narrating next week.

One group visited Kee Etsicitty, a World War II Navajo Code Talker, at his home in Chichiltah, New Mexico.  That group includes Kelsey Foss - WSU, Sammi Luhmann - WSU, Robin McGee - DC, and Stefani Schmidt - WSU.

Navajo Code Talker Kee Etsicitty

Kelsey Foss runs the video camera

 Sammi Luhmann interviews Kee Etsicitty

Kee Etsicitty with his son, Kurt, and interviewer Sammi Luhmann

Sammi Luhmann (left) with Kee Etsicitty and Kelsey Foss
(above five photos by Stefani Schmidt)

Following their interview, this group also travelled around the Chichiltah area, shooting B-roll footage that may find its way into their documentary.



(above two photos by Stefani Schmidt)





(above three photos by Sammi Luhmann)

Another group, consisting of Ashleigh Clyde - DC, Lionel Harvey - DC, Laura McCormick - WSU, and Eli Xifra - WSU, had their second interview with Agatha Spencer who has been a long time employee of Diné College, most recently serving as an academic advisor.

 Agatha Spencer - Academic Advisor at Diné College

Lionel Harvey, Eli Xifra and Laura McCormick interview Agatha Spencer.

 Robbie Christiano holds the light diffuser while the group interviews Agatha Spencer.

A light moment between interviewer Laura McCormick and Agatha Spencer.

(above four photos by Joel Farber)

 

Shawn Tsosie is a recent Diné College graduate who has gone on to further his higher education. He talked on-camera about how Agatha Spencer helped him through many difficulties and toward success in college. (photos by Shannon Bolte)

(photo by Robbie Christiano)

  

 (above two photos by Shannon Bolte)

A truck and hogan on Agatha Spencer's property. Photo by Elisenda Xifra Reverter.

A third group held their second interview with Chester Nez, the last surviving member of the Original 20 Navajo Code Talkers.  The group, consisting of Emily Gust - WSU, Kaitlyn Haskie - DC, Kelly Kusilek - WSU, Elena Lavorato - WSU, and Marla Sandoval-Redhouse - DC, interviewed Chester for an hour or so touching on information about his service as a Code Talker, and his life both before and after World War II.

 

Chester Nez, last of the Original 29 Navajo Code Talkers. Photo by Liam Krause.

 

 

The Navajo Oral History project team that interviewed Chester Nez. (Clockwise from lower left: Emily Gust, Kaitlyn Haskie, Elena Lavorato, Kelly Kusilek, Marla Sandoval Redhouse, and Chester Nez.

(above three photos by Liam Krause)

The two student groups who did not have a schedule interview today, tagged along with the active groups.  They were helpful with lighting and still photography, as well as lighting and audio concerns. One of those groups begins their interview sessions on Tuesday with Samuel Holiday, a Navajo Code Talker, who lives in Kayenta, Arizona.  The other group will interview Joe Vandever, from Haystack, New Mexico, another Navajo Code Talker, beginning next week.

The three faculty members involved agreed the projects are coming together.  The students are bonding with their elders.  The students are coming together as cohesive teams bonded around the task of faithfully and accurately telling the life stories of their elders.

Meeting the Navajo Elders

On day three of the Navajo Oral History project field work (Wednesday, June 6, 2012), members of the class traveled across the Navajo Nation to meet the elders they are going to interview for the first time.

One group got into a van at 6 a.m. and drove four hours to Albuquerque to interview Chester Nez, the last surviving member of The Original 29 Navajo Code Talkers.  Chester is originally from Chichiltah, a small community on the Navajo Nation near Gallup, New Mexico.  He now lives with his son, Mike, and his family in Albuquerque.  

 

  

(Above three photos by Shannon Bolte)

(photo by Shawn Tsosie)

(photo by Kelly Kusilek)

 

(Above two photos by Joel Farber)

 

 (Chester Nez and his son, Mike Nez. Photo by Shannon Bolte)

All Navajo Code Talkers during World War II are considered heroes and are held in high-esteem.  There is a slightly elevated place of honor for "The Original 29."  These are the men that helped develop, test and refine the code, and the first to use it in battle.  Many years after their military service, they received Congressional Gold Medals in 2001 from President George Bush.  Once the U.S. Military was confident of the code's strategic value, the Navajo Code Talker project grew to include about 400 additional Marines. 

You'll see more about this in the group's documentary film when it is completed.  The basics are introduced here so blog readers can understand how special it was for members of our Navajo Oral History project to meet this true American hero.

Another group drove to Chinle, Arizona, to meet and interview Agatha Spencer, a long-time administrator at Diné College.  Agatha was a secretary in the formative days of Navajo Community College, the first tribally-controlled higher education institution in the U.S.  She has held many positions at the school and has watched it grow and change into Diné College.  She is now an academic advisor in the Diné College-Chinle Center.

 

 

(Above three photos by Ashleigh Clyde)

When that group completed their interview, they had a little extra time and visited Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  They stopped at a few of the overlooks into the canyon and learned some of the history and stories of that beautiful place from Lionel Harvey, a fellow Diné College student who lives in Chinle, Arizona, at the mouth of the canyon.

(Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Photo by Laura McCormick)

(White House Ruins Trail in Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Photo by Elisenda Xifra Reverter)

A third group traveled to Chichiltah, New Mexico, to interview Kee Etsicitty, a Navajo Code Talker during World War II. Kee, and about 400 other Navajo men, enlisted in the U.S. Marines in the 1940s and became part of the Navajo Code Talker project.  

 

 

 

 

(photos of Kee Etsicitty by Liam Krause)

This super-secret group of soldiers went into battle across the South Pacific in places like Iwo Jima, Saipan, Tinian, The Marshall Islands, Roi-Namur and the Kwajalein Atoll during the war.  They fought side by side with the Marines to gain control of the islands and kept vital information flowing using their native language in a code that was never broken. 

There are two more groups that, due to conflicts with the elder's schedules, will begin their interviewing next week.  The students in those groups came along on this first interview day to observe and help. 

At the end of the day, the student journalists and their faculty leaders met back at Diné College.  All were tired, but happy with their first day.  There was discussion of camera angles, lighting, microphone placement, etc.  Mostly, there was a general sense of awe at being able to meet these Navajo elders who have given so much of themselves to help make life for their community, and the U.S., better.  

A continual theme is the humbleness exhibited by the elders.  They say things like, "I was just doing my job," "I feel very lucky to have been able to serve in this way," and "I'm not special. Others did more than me..."  That humble attitude and dedication to others is part of what makes these Navajo elders so special and worthy of attention.

As a faculty member of this project, I truly enjoy watching the young journalists in action.  They just take charge and get their jobs done.  They were a bit nervous at first, of course -- so was I.  But, nervousness gave way to confidence, as they fell right into their work. 

After only one set of interviews, I know we'll have great documentaries to screen this fall.  The dates for the screening have not yet been set, but will most likely be in late September or early October.  There will be receptions to premiere the films and congratulate the film-makers at both Winona State University and Diné College.  The dates will be posted here on the blog.

On Thursday, the class will de-brief.  What went right? What could have been done better?  What else do we need to know about the elder?  What other images or video do we need for our documentaries?  They have a few days to plan for their second interviews which will take place on Monday.