Author: alysha0130

Yesterday (August 8) was my nephew’s 4th birthday, so my day was blessed from morning to evening: We woke up really early, went to ceremony at 7:00 A.M., and ate breakfast at 7:30 A.M. in order to get in the vans and head out to Pechanga. The drive took about an hour and a half, but because I rode the “party bus”, we had a nice time jamming out to music and enjoying our ride over there. Once again, it was a hot day, but we were honored to see the 2300 year-old Great Oak that stands on that reservation. I felt like I got to see two wonderful trees this summer, and although that may seem like an unusual object to be so happy about, but back where I live, the only trees we have are the normal “lollipop” trees. So, seeing the different formations of trees are so cool! We left Pechanga and headed out to Dr. Rega’s house at around 1:00 P.M. for a pool party. Normally I do not get in a pool (I have a fear of pools…and water guns, sprinklers, etc.), but yesterday, my mind was calm and somehow, I gained the strength to get into a pool and have fun with everyone. I scared Brittany a couple of times, which was so funny!! Later that night, we had a workshop with Deron Marquez to talk about Tribal Government, and Adelina Padilla joined us. That was a nice way to end the night, because I got to learn about Tribal Government and the schedule, which I didn’t know before.

Yesterday was the hottest day I’ve experienced in California…106 degrees!! It was so hot when we were trying to improve on the Native garden. We spent about two hours on Pitzer’s Native Garden. Some of us were planting new trees, while the rest of us were pulling out dead grass with a shovel. Gardening combined with heat is not fun, it is frustrating. After we gardened, we ate lunch, had free time, then headed off to L.A.

It took about 45 minutes to get from Pitzer to Los Angeles. All of us were under the impression that we would go to a museum or in the center of L.A., when we really went to another Native Garden. This time, instead of gardening, we took a tour of the garden and learned of all the Native plants that grow in the garden. I ended up getting bumps and red spots on my skin because I was allergic to many of the plants that surrounded us. Aside from all my allergic reactions, my favorite plant was the lavender bush because it smelt so nice and calmed me down right away. The weather cooled down as it got closer to dinner, and after dinner, we circled up and sang songs to end the night. As we drove back to Pitzer, Ashley and Fabian called the radio station to win tickets for Trey Songz tickets. They ended up winning four tickets, but when the phone was being passed around, the phone hung up and Ashley screamed because she had lost the tickets that she won.

Yesterday was a fun day, even though some of us experienced sad things (like Ashley), but it was enjoyable. Five days left…. 😦

We have done a lot since the last time we blogged:

On Friday, we had a salsa dancing class. It was fun to learn about that type of dance because we had a funny teacher who got everybody involved. Everybody felt comfortable to be around her and be ourselves.

On Saturday, we went to Chaffey to help improve on the garden. It was a lot of work to do in a few hours, but we helped out a lot. I had the experience to yank out the root of a tree, thanks to the experience I had back at home. For lunch, we ate fresh food from the garden, such as salsa, vegetables, even brownies. It was yummy to have fresh and natural food from a garden that we all contributed to. Later that night, Red Cloud and Crystle Lightning came to Pitzer to help us in a workshop. It was very cool how we all came up with really difficult words, yet, Red Cloud was able to put them all in a rap. After dinner, we attended a Lightning Cloud concert with the Japanese students, had a dance party, and got their autographs at the end of it.

Yesterday, we went to the Farmer’s Market to look around and shop: I bought some fruits, a Blues Brothers poster, and a Mango Smoothie…which was yummy! We also had a culture class in which we jammed out on the drums and sang different songs that represent our culture. After that, we had a class on Native Hawaiin Hula Dancing. We all learned to dance hula and got to see Jessica sing a song. That was nice for me, because I had never seen a Hula dance before. After dinner, we watched a documentary called “Alcatraz is not an Island”; it was about how Native Americans from all over the country came together to protect their land and their way of living. This was after the government took back the land of the Natives. It was an interesting documentary to watch.

The day was a good one, and I can’t wait for what lies in the future days.

My roommate, Tamela, and I took some time to take a picture with a Sour Patch Kid….

Personal assets that I listed were: trilingual (English, Navajo, and Latin), dedication, friendliness, leadership, and wide range of interests. Assets that I listed for my family and community were: strong, committed, open (to new ideas and people), responsibility, and supportive. My community and I can contribute to other communities using these assets in many ways. One way we could contribute is by being friendly to other people who are struggling and open ourselves to new people, new situations, and new ideas. Another way we could contribute is be strong and committed to support others and feel better around each other and around new people. The final way we can contribute is through communication; we can communicate with each other to help understand one another and make changes if we need to. One thing that I do as a Student Senator at my school is volunteer work and community service work. We either pick up trash in our school district, have a food drive, or go to the Ronald McDonald House and Soup Kitchen to feed the homeless. Doing these activites make me feel good because it makes me feel needed or important to others, and without me, they would have starved another day, but instead, they got to eat a wonderful meal.

Yesterday, we went to Western University to learn about diabetes and what we can do to prevent it. We also learned about family practice in Medicine and advice we can give the doctors.

The ideal physician patient relationship would be: having a relationship that is personal, but not uncomfortable. For example, my doctor asks me questions about how I am doing and has a friendly conversation with me from time to time, rather than just a basic check-up or physical. It is nice to have a little talk with my physician, just to feel more comfortable being around them.

Cultural information that doctors should know about their patients is family history in their genes or tribe. This is important to know just in case the patient is diagnosed with something that isn’t related to their personal medical history, they can connect the information with that of the family and ethnic history.

Questions that doctors should ask about Native Culture and Health are: (1) What are the common problems or diseases that have occurred to your family and background that we should be aware about? (2) What lifestyle do you have on the Rez compared to the city [diet, surroundings, activites, etc] that may be the cause of poor health?

I have had a good experience with medical treatment when I had surgery back in 2010. My nurse would always check up on me every now and then, and she was always available to help me on my way to the restroom (because I couldn’t walk well due to the surgery). All the nurses and doctors would be willing to help me whenever I needed help, which made me feel safe and important. That was a wonderful experience that I had with medical treatment.

I was born in Tucson, Arizona with six toes on each foot, and didn’t remove them until I was three years old. When I was five, I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and right now, I am a Junior at Volcano Vista High School (Home of the Hawks). My classes are primarily located in the Arts and Entertainment Academy–I study classes such as Drama, Film Production, Creative Writing, Computer Graphics, and Set Direction. While in school, I have made one “mock-umentary” and one documentary as part of class finals for Information Technology and Honors English 10. I love being a part of the Film Production that happens in Albuquerque, and I have even had the oppurtunity to get near/around three movie/television sets (The Avengers, Odd Thomas, and Breaking Bad). My favorite actors are Steve Carell, Robert Downey Jr., and Jimmy Fallon and my favorite movies are comedies…even though my favorite movie (currently) is The Avengers.

I am going to graduate from Volcano Vista in May 2014, and when I do, I plan to go to New York University to study Film Production–such as Screenwriting, Directing, Producing, Acting and Editing. Ever since I was younger, I have been dreaming of someday working at NBC Studios, either in Burbank or New York City, for the show Saturday Night Live. Hopefully, I will achieve that later in my life. Also, I am currently busy with a script for a movie that I hope will someday be on the big screen.

So, this is a little bit about me that I hope everyone enjoyed learning. I am really excited to be here in this program to improve my knowledge of medical studies and media studies. If you would like to see the projects that I have worked on, there are links down below; I didn’t really act in them, I was the person behind the camera. Thank you!!

Alysha’s “Mock-umentary” about a Daily Life at Tony Hillerman Middle School; May 17, 2010

Alysha’s Documentary about Social Networking; May 2012 **Please note that the program I used to create this video changed up the timing a bit, so you may want to pause a couple of times in the beginning, if you cannot read the whole text in time. After the first 2 minutes, it should be back to normal.