Author: danielgfabian

The overall experience was good and it was nothing like I thought it would be due to theft I thought I wasn’t going to know anybody. Claro my roommate and I got along. The whole experience was spiritual and I got to find myself and find positive and negative assets that I have. I got to make different crafts that I really like and I will give some away to my family members so they will know where our heritage comes from.

1. I learned how to meditate and open up with the other guys. It was my first time and it was a spiritual time. I was able to connect with myself and ask myself questions about how I’m living my life.
2. My biggest take-away is hearing elder Mati talk because he has a lot of wise words that I will always remember such as family and to open up about feelings.
3. My take-away from limu island is snorkeling because I never done it before and it was a lot of fun. I got to see fishes and a octopus and it was good to experience a new insight underwater.
4. They both were spiritual and good to get away from the city. Santa Cruz was just isolated from mainland California which I liked a lot.

It was really fun and I’m really glad i participated in this program.

1. An object I would put on the altar would be a big indian staff in which my grandpa gave to me awhile back. He showed me the writing it had and it showed the tribe and band we originate from. It means a lot because it reminds me where I came from and it is very important to know that.
2. A tradition that has a big meaning is when I spend 4th of July at grandparents house because we get to light fireworks and talk with one another and a lot of funny things happen.
3. A tradition I liked to create would be a family reunion of some sort to get everyone in the family closer. I hope when I’m older I will start it and it will passed down forever.

Today was really better with everyone because I’m starting to know a lot of others, we went to western U and looked at anatomy and held real body parts such as the heart, lungs, and kidney. Today we did more gestures in theater, Antonio and I had did a real creative or where i was on his shoulders.

Today was really interesting with the martial arts we did today with Hector, it was cool to see how in sync the groups became and I believe we became closer. I liked doing the common application because its getting us prepared for the real essay questions. I liked shooting arrows with bows, it just took a lot of stress off. I liked when I shot arrow and it went really far. I enjoyed making the native food because we got to eat just like our ancestors have. The building the alter with Rose was very deep because everyone expressed their objects they brought with a deep meaning and I’m glad they felt comfortable enough to share with the group. While making food I believe that it has a big impact because the food is passing on to another generation.

Today was interesting and it was a lot to take in. The Joe Parker talk was interesting because we got to hear how the “curtain” didn’t close and the natives are still speaking out against the wrong doings. The talk Saginaw Grant gave was one of the most influential talks I have ever heard because he shared his wisdom on how us native youth should live. He discussed that we should have what makes us comfortable and not to be jealous or want more than what we are already fine with. A change I would like to see is the end of racism, even though it’s a long shot I think humans have what it takes to end hate groups such as the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and black panthers. If we didn’t have labels and stereotypes everyone would learn to love and accept each other regardless of ethnicity and religion.

Today when the group went to the museum we met with elder Lori Sisquoc and she taught us how to make baskets just as our ancestors did. I thought this was really cool because I have never done anything like this before. After learning, people might show their relatives to do this too. Today was overall better than the first. We also watched a short videos of films of how native americans are portrayed as, and it had me a little mad because how they were being depicted as ruthless and savage people looking for trouble and I know that wasn’t the case. I think to counter the stereotypes we should hear from elders on their perspective. For the Pamela Peters talk, I liked how she was trying to get the voices of the “forgotten people” out there.

When I first came I was nervous and through the day I started to feel more comfortable because of the theater exercise I participated in. It had me amazed because I could relate to the other youth in this program.