yellowsunrey 2018, Azteca, Hector Perez Pacheco, Higher Education, Indigenous Games, Indigenous Rights, Life Skills, Mexica, Mexica, Nahuatl, Native Culture, pipeline program, Telling Your Story, Uncategorized

Ja-Rey sweats and protects

so honeyyyy, 

Today we were giving the opportunity to play an indigenous game called Mexica flower wars. The objective of the game was to capture the warriors who were carrying sacred staffs by touching the tops of their opponents heads. It really wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The day before we learned how to protect over self using indigenous martial arts.  we learn to block our heads and our stomachs but also learned how to move energy. Our instructor, Hector Pacheco reminded us how disciplined our ancestors were by cultivating a focus atmosphere within the students. He taught us the knowledge behind the game and how those with the sacred staffs represent future generations. The goal for the team was to protect the new generation and to listen to those of the future. Participating in Mexica flower wars built a stronger sense of community at the NY2C program between the students. We were able to communicate with each other and focus our energy on one purpose. From this we would be able to apply the same skills we learn during the game to help enrich our communities. Being able to organize and communicate with people in our community allows use to cultivate the energy and discipline we need to create a more inclusive future for indigenous people all over the world. I had a good time though it was so hoooot up in there. it was funny also, I can’t wait to learn a lot more about…. everything. 

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vickeycohen 2017, Azteca, Huichol, Mexica

Second last blog from Victor…

Today was truly sad, simply for the fact that we ended writing and aztec math classes today :(. I started of my morning doing danza, which reminded me of the morning ceremonies that I did growing up in Anahuacalmecac. Sooo we finished write class today along with my Common App. and I had a hard time today when writing about my Abuelita Flora’s passing , but she wouldn’t want me sad.  Finally we ended our atzec math class today and the one thing I learned today was that my people didnt sacrife other people and that it was a lie made up the Vatican and Cortez. I knew it all along.

vickeycohen Azteca, Mexica

Victor: 4 Days left?!?!

Felt pretty tired this morning… But I started the day with Indigenous Games which boosted me up for the day. I went to work on my common applications and fabricating the foundation of the essay, which i’m going to start writing tonight. After that I went to Aztec Math which was awesome as always but i’m a little sad that that’s going to end in a couple of days 😦 . Then we had a class on Social Movements which was AWESOME!!!! We talked about the Zapatistas and the Idle No More movements and I received lots of new information on those movements.

vickeycohen 2017, Azteca, Mexica

Victor: Wishtoyo

We arrived to Wishtoyo and were welcomed by the Wishtoyo family. We all gave each other hugs and greeted each other. We then all had lunch together and talked to each other and enjoying the food. After that we had some free time, I decided to just gaze off into the sunset and write some things in my journal.we then had dinner which was delicious and after that, Mati talked about the Chumash culture all the way through until bedtime, which I enjoyed and took in every moment of it. Woke up the next morning, we went to the beach, didn’t do much but chill out and catch some California sun. After that I did 2 different activities before dinner which were Sacred Geometry, Which i was really into and I also made a traditional abalone necalce. We had burritos for dinner, which made me feel at home again, I was starting to grow a connection to Wishtoyo. Unfortunately I did not go to the sweat lodge due to not hydrating enough prior to it, so I just watched the stars and thought about people in my life for a bit and went to bed.I felt somewhat emotional the next morning because we were leaving Wishtoyo, but before we left, we got to surf at the beach, which for me resulted in getting a bad sunburn on my back and neck and also before we left, we had one final lunch in Wishtoyo… We said our goodbyes to everyone there and has we were going out the gate of Wishtoyo, the people we had met there sung a song and prayed for us, It made me emotional in the inside. We got back to Pitzer College and we were late for dinner… Soooo while we were in Music Scoring class, our mentors got us all In-N-Out!!! So right after an hour spent in an awesome music class, we had our food and went to bed.