Hey everyone my name is Marissa and I am Gablieno Tongva from the LA Basin. I am from San Bernardino and can speak a bit of my language. Today was a great way to start off this experience. All the students and their parents were gathered and checking into their rooms and settling in while I was meeting new people and getting to know my piers. Around 10:30 we all met up for the opening ceremony and introduced our selfs as we embraced each others presence. Two common tribes that were there were the Navajo and the Gablieno Tongvas. We had wrapped up the ceremony and everyone said all of their fare wells to their families. About an hour later we had Val as a speaker, and she talked about her back round and i was really touched by how she was able to speak about all the trauma that had happened in her life. Soon after we all gathered to make dream pillows which was ran by my great grandmother, Julia Bogany. Noon came by and we all gathered in the cafeteria to eat lunch, which is where I met my roomie and my friends from last year. We all laughed and had a good time. With our filled stomachs we headed back to the room above the cafeteria which is where we did Indigenous games. As we did the Indigenous games I learned many things. One being that having the ability to do self defense and use it in emergencies is a huge benefit. Before blogging time we did the circle with my great grandmother, Julia Bogany. As we were speaking in the circle it felt very powerful because I got to listen to who was important in everyones life and even got to listen to some back round stories of my piers. I was touched because there had been so many different age groups that were important to people whether they were younger siblings or great great grandparents. Over all I would like to thank everyone who did workshops today and took the time to teach us all and show us their ways.
nativeyouth2college.org 