Day 10 - Class and Window Rock

Day 10 of the 2012 Navajo Oral History project was a good day as the students met for class in the morning, then had some touristy-style fun in the afternoon.

During class, each student journalism team reported on the status of their projects and their plans to complete the information and interview gathering process by next week.

 

Laura McCormick showed some video her group was working on for transitions within their documentary films.


Prof. Tom Grier presented a workshop on "Voice and Articulation" and had students practice narrating sections of a documentary film to prepare them to record their own narrations next week.

After class, the Winona State University group, along with several Diné College classmates traveled 45 minutes to Window Rock, Arizona, the capital of the Navajo Nation. Following lunch at a local Mexican restaurant, the students helped with some economic development on the Navajo Nation by visiting the local flea market and purchasing many souvenirs and trinkets to bring home.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

  

Eli Xifra at the Window Rock Flea Market. (photo by Sammi Luhmann)

Later in the afternoon, the students visited the Navajo Nation Museum and Library and then the Navajo Nation Zoo.

 

They also visited the Window Rock Tribal Park and hiked up to the actual "Window."

(photo by Sammi Luhmann)

 

 

People on top of Window Rock. photo by Shannon Bolte

The Navajo Code Talker Statue at the Window Rock Tribal Park.

 A view from the top of the Window.

 Sammi Luhmann on top of the Window.

Liam Krause displays his Spiderman-like abilities climbing the Window Rock.

The Window
(above 5 photos by Joel Farber)


Shawn Tsosie, Laura McCormick and Robbie Christiano on top of the Window Rock. photo by Sammi Luhmann

Group photo at the Window Rock... photo by Kelly Kusilek

After a quick dinner in Window Rock, the group returned to Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona.

Ten members of the class spent three hours in the evening doing a service project for Leonard Haskie, the father and father-in-law of Vernon and Miranda Haskie of Lukachukai, Arizona. This weekend, the family is having a Blessing Way ceremony for Vernon and there were many things to do to get the property ready to host such an important event.  Students moved BBQ sets, cleaned a large kitchen-cooking area, picked up trash and cleaned the ceremonial grounds.

Studentes in the class have been invited to attend and see The Blessing Way ceremony first-hand this weekend.  This is quite rare that a biligaana (white person) would be invited to attend such an event. Out group feels fortunate and humbled to be invited to see the event, and even more to be asked to help with the preparations.

Because it is a Navajo spiritual ceremony, no photographs are allowed.  The students will have to maintain the visual images in their memories.

Day 10 - Interviews and B-Roll

Every day here on the Navajo Nation during the 2011 Navajo Oral History project has started early and ended late. The students working on the Navajo elder documentaries have bonded with their elders and are working hard to gather and tell their stories respectfully and accurately.

Two groups left in the morning and stopped at Navajo Code Talker Keith Little's home for a third and final interview with Keith.

(Above three photos by Jessica King)

Keith enlightened the group more about his service to the United States during World War II and how he was treated-- and his work celebrated-- since his return home in 1945. Keith's wife, Nellie, spent quite a bit of time digging through photo albums to find pictures of Keith and his family over the years.

It was hard for your blog editor (a Minnesota Viking fan) to find out that Keith Little really likes the Green Bay Packers. This was a joyous moment for Robbie Christiano, a Packer fan since childhood.

The second group in this van did a third interview with Harold Morgan, legislative assistant to the Navajo Tribal Council. As that interview ended, Harold explained the significance of the bell mounted outside the Tribal Council chambers, and rang the bell for the students.

During a short break between interviews, the groups visited the Navajo Nation Museum and Zoo and shot some B-roll of important sites around the Window Rock, Arizona, area.

(Above three photos by Alex Fisher)

(photo by Molly Golden)

About dinner time, the groups stopped at Sawmill, Arizona, at Harold Morgan's place and interviewed Harold's Grandson, Michial, who spoke highly of his grandfather and the things he has learned from him.

This group stopped at a supermarket on the way back to the dorms at Diné College and bought some pizzas to make for dinner.

The two other student work teams left the Diné College campus at 7:15 a.m. and didn't return until after 9 p.m. They spent the day interviewing Mitzie Begay for a third time. As they finished their interviews and prepared to leave, Mitzie gave each of the student journalists gifts and the emotions were high in the room through lots of hugs.

The Navajo language doesn't have a word for "goodbye." Instead, most Diné people prefer to say "Hagoneé" which translates roughly to "until we meet again."

These two student groups also visited with Debbie Dennison, a local school superintendent, who knew Jack Jackson, Sr. (another of the featured elders) well. Along the way, they captured b-roll video of the schools where the featured Navajo elders went as children.

(Above two photos of road construction around the Diné College campus by Alex Fisher., These photos help tell the story of the construction funding secured by Jack Jackson, Sr., one of the featured elders for this year's Oral History project.)

(Above two photos by Alex Fisher)

(above six photos by Dave Dvorak)

The group creating a documentary about former Arizona Senator Jack Jackson, Sr., also interviewed his neice, Deborah Jackson-Dennison, a local school superintendent.

(above two photos by Dave Dvorak)

In the evening, they stopped at the home of Tina James Tafoya, a former Miss Navajo, who now works with Mitzie Begay at the Fort Defiance Indian Health Service Hospital.

NOTE: This second van that included the Jack Jackson, Sr. team and the Mitzie Begay team arrived back at Diné College and immediately started downloading their video, editing their audio and photographs and transcribing their interviews. No pictures from this group, yet. This article may be updated with more images.

Thursday will be a class day and catch-up day. In class, each group will explain the progress on their journalism projects and decide on any last details that must be completed before the Minnesota students leave the Navajo Nation next Tuesday. The rest of the day will be spent running around gathering B-roll and photos to supplement the projects.

It's amazing to Prof. Miranda Haskie and I to see how quickly these young people have bonded with their elders and their fellow students. They are united by the importance of their work and the desire to do an honorable job of telling the amazing stories of their elders.

These students are working hard, pouring their time and talent into these projects. They are learning much about the craft of journalistic story-telling, and even more about themselves as they discover their place in a world that includes the deeply spiritual culture of the Diné (Navajo) People.