Day 8 - Elder Interviews Again

Today (Sunday, May 23, 2010) was the day of the second interview for two of our Navajo Oral History groups: One in Chinle, Ariz., with Grandmother Marjorie Thomas; and the other with Andy Brady, in Shiprock, New Mexico.

Most of our class of Winona State University and Diné College students went to Chinle to help with a couple projects around Grandmother Thomas' place. Robbie Christiano and Kelly Sharatt interviewed Grandma while Sawyer Derry and Ernestine Sanisya looked on.

(above two photos by Sawyer Derry)

The service projects today were related to water, an extremely precious commodity here on the high desert. Prof. Tom Grier replaced a cracked hose fitting and seals on the side of the Thomas' hogan then Grier and Michael Ruka helped repair a couple broken valves on some water holding tanks that Grandmother and her daughter, Leone, use to provide water for the cattle.

(above photo by Brianna Klapperich)

One of the valves was slightly cracked and rusted in place. We had to chip at it with a hammer and screwdriver to remove the old one. Then we used a wire brush to clean up the threads. Michael used a file to re-groove a thread or two. Then the valve fit just fine.

(above four photos by Brianna Klapperich)

Leone asked us to help her go fetch water. The family has tried for years to get a permit to drill a well on the property, or to get the government to run utility water to their place, about four miles outside of the main town of Chinle. Until that is settled, they have to fill water tanks from a community well/tank about two miles away.

(above photo by Michael Ruka)

We helped load a 450 gallon water tank into the bed of her pick-up along with a couple sections of large hose, and a gas-powered pump. Leone drove us to the water tank, almost getting stuck in a sand dune on the Chinle Wash which is now totally dry.

To make matters worse, the wind is steady at 30-35 mph, with gusts to 50 mph or more. The sand flying through the air hurts and blinds. In the truck, it's like driving through fog. Sometimes you can't see more than a city block in any direction because of all the sand blowing. The strong winds also caused several power outages on campus during the afternoon. Leone said this is quite normal, with big wind storms like this occurring several times a year.

(above photo by Sawyer Derry)

On the way to the water Leone told us about how often when people get to the tank, it's empty and they either have to go somewhere else much further away, or simply wait several hours until the tank refills from the well. She also said there is often a line-up of vehicles waiting to fill water tanks. Leone said her son would often go get water at 1 or 2 a.m. to beat the rush, especially during the hotter, dryer months.

(above four photos by Michael Ruka)

(above three photos by Brianna Klapperich -- the last one is a huge multi-image panorama of the dry wash and well water tank near Chinle, Arizona.)

This conversation made me mad. In 1935, the U.S. Government created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) with a goal of providing electricity to even the most remote homes and farms in our country, with the idea that electricity was a need, and a value that should be available to all Americans. Well, at this moment, in 2010, many Navajo homes still have no electricity. But let's set electricity aside for a moment. People can live with out that. But Water??? Isn't that an absolute Need? How can we sit by when thousands of Americans (not only on the Navajo Nation) don't have access to fresh, clean water?

I asked Leone what's the real problem? Money. How much would it take to run water lines to these homes? $100 million? $500 million? $1 billion? How much did we spend in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past six months? $50 billion or so? Hmmmm.

I don't mean to get too political here, and this isn't about whether the war is right or not. It's just about our government helping to ensure that basic needs of all Americans are met. That's one of government's primary jobs ... to my way of thinking.

I'm going to write to Arizona Senator John McCain, and President Obama. I'm going to ask them to come to the Navajo Nation and spend a day with Grandmother and Leone Thomas and help fill their water tanks and see the line-up of vehicles waiting for water. Then, we'll see if they can help fix this. Probably won't do any good, but it's worth a try.

Okay, I'm stepping down off my soap box.

We were glad to help and in fact all felt pretty good that we were making a positive difference in the lives of the Thomas family. Sure, they can get their own water. But Grandmother is having some health issues and can't walk as well as she once did, often using a walker or a cane. And Leone is taking care of the place and her mother since Grandmother's husband died two years ago. It is a lot for her to handle. They were so happy about the work we did for them, they bought us all lunch today at Church's Chicken. Leone WAS going to barbecue mutton for us, but the wind and sand were too bad.

(above photo by Jenn Westman)

The other group: Ben Chambers, Altyn Burnside and Shaina Nez, went to interview Andy Brady, and his son and grandson, to fill in the Living History piece on Andy. They got some great video of the three of them, including environmental shots around the farm. They also shot some video of the San Juan River, which flows through Shiprock. Andy has long been involved in fighting for Navajo rights to the water that flows through the reservation and their town. I'm sure you'll hear more about this in the finished feature on Andy.

After both groups got back to the Diné College residence hall Hogan, Sawyer Derry and Tom Grier cooked a family style dinner of Tex-Mex Chicken-Turkey Chili, Salad, and Garlic Cheese Bread. Everyone said it was delicious. Either it was good, or they were too polite to tell the truth. In any case, every bit of the chili and the cheese bread were eaten.

Later in the evening while our students were working on their photos and videos, a group of students from Canisius College of Buffalo New York arrived with their leader, Prof. Keith Burich. Amazingly, WSU Prof. Tom Grier had met Burich at a Navajo Studies Conference two years ago and the two talked about their similar college travel study projects. What a coincidence for both to be on the Navajo Nation at the same time, in the same place, and staying in the same residence hall at Diné College. They seem like a nice group. They'll be here for four days while travelling around the reservation and enjoying cultural experiences.

This blog entry has gotten way longer than originally intended. Thanks for hanging in there and reading (if you're still here). I hope you enjoy the blog and feel closer to our project and the student's efforts. They are really working hard; and having fun.

See some of the photos from today, below.

-- Tom Grier

(Next six photos by Sawyer Derry)

(next photo by Robbie Christiano)

(next three photos by Michael Ruka)

(the next two photos by Brianna Klapperich)

Day 7 - Monument Valley & Valley Of The Gods

(Today's Blog post is guest-written by WSU student Michael Ruka, with input and photos from the other WSU students on the Navajo Oral History 2010 project.)

The plan for today (Saturday, May 22, 2010) was for the group to head north to Monument Valley and the Four Corners Monument. To start off the day, the students were required to wake up on their own, as Professor Tom Grier was still at his conference in Tucson, Arizona. (Yesterday, this was a slight issue, many of the students overslept, and it was up to Tom to wake them all up) Fortunately, everyone did get up on time, and by 8:30 a.m. the group was loaded up in the van, along with Professor Miranda Haskie, and three of the Dine’ College students.

On the way to Monument Valley, Miranda took a slight detour to the Navajo Cultural Center and Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit in Kayenta, Arizona. These exhibits were on the smaller side, but both had interesting artifacts and tons of information. Although they were swamped with French tourists, the students were still able to enjoy the experience.

Once we arrived at Monument Valley, we first took the scenic drive through the valley, where we were able to get many great photographs from both inside the van, and outside at a few of the overlooks. The winds were rather turbulent, and the blowing sand not only got into some of our camera equipment, it also slightly hurt any exposed skin, and was in our ears for the rest of the day. Several students also purchased some authentic Navajo jewelry from various vendors, along the scenic drive.

After the drive through the valley, we ate at The View Restaurant. The food was good, and it was nice to get out of the wind for a time.

The next stop on our expedition, after leaving Monument Valley, was the Goulding’s Museum and Trading Post. This Museum had images and several artifacts from many of the movies that were filmed in the Monument Valley area.

On the way to the Four Corners Monument, we drove through Valley of the Gods, another scenic drive through the southwestern dessert.

We continued on our journey, and after about an hour of driving, we stopped at a Sinclair gas station, where we found out that the Four Corners Monument was closed for renovation. Although this was a disappointment, overall the trip was still a fun time, and we all got many great photographs.

After arriving back at our residence hall, we continued transcribing the interviews from Thursday, and wound the evening down by watching more videos online, and going over the photos taken throughout the day.

Tomorrow we will have another round of interviews for two of our groups, and the other two groups will go along for extra experience and the possibility to shoot some photos or B-Roll film to be used in their documentaries.

Here are some of the photos from the day's journey:

(above seven images by Jenn Westman)

(above three images by Michael Ruka)

(above five images by Brianna Klapperich)

(above nine images by Sawyer Derry)

Day 6 - Class and One Interview

The blog post today was submitted by Brianna Klapperich (with input from the other WSU students that are participating in the 2010 Navajo Oral History project):

Day #6 -

Transcribe: (verb): turn spoken word into written or typed form...A.K.A the first word to be banned by students of the Oral History Project at Diné College.

The day began in the classroom. Students spent time debriefing the others in the class about the previous day's interviews. After all good, great, and unexpected experiences were shared, introductions to Audacity®, a sound editing program, and Adobe Photoshop CS4®, a photo editing program took place. This went quick because Professor Tom Grier had to depart for his seven hour drive to a conference in Tuscon, Arizona, and Ben, Altyn and Shaina had their first interview with their Navajo elder, Andy Brady, a retired coal miner and Air Force mechanic in the afternoon two hours away in a town called Shiprock, New Mexico.

(above two photos by Kelly Sharatt)

(students working in the Diné College computer lab/learning center photos by Tom Grier)

The rest of the day was dedicated to transcribing all the interviews from Thursday to word documents. Some of the students had an easier time transcribing their interviews than others.

The group that interviewed John Kinsel had a difficult time transcribing, about six minutes of interview equaled an hour of transcribing...with a three-hour interview, looks like they will have their work cut out for them the next couple of days.

(students in the residence hall hogan central area, working on transcribing their elder interviews ... photos by Michael Ruka.)

Several students attempted to pass a Frisbee around in the windy Arizona dessert and comedy sketches on the internet posed as stress relief during the lengthy but necessary process for archiving the interviews.

Several students used their free time this afternoon to take a nap to catch up on some sleep because of the last few days of hard work. Students will be getting ready to be in four states tomorrow at once!