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Today we started off the morning with Hector and John, it was a good way to start the day off. We learned strategies for a game we are going to play tomorrow. The game sounds really exciting and I can’t wait for it! Another thing we did was learn how to do division on the Nepohualtzintzin ( I think that’s how you spell it). That class is always interesting, learning new things every day. Kandonache let us take the Nepohualtzintzin back with us. It is a fun tool to use. The best activity was weaving baskets at the talking circle. It was my  first time weaving a basket, it took me a while to get the sequence but I eventually got the hang of it. My basket turned out pretty nice for my first time. Everyone was having fun doing it. Today was another fun day here at Pitzer College. 

Today was again, pretty amazing. Having a good day and doing stuff I love is inevitable here at this program. We did indigenous games and we ran which usually I hate pero it was with the rest of the female homies so it was more empowering instead of tiring. We did academic writing and Huitzilin and I were laughing over stuff that makes absolutely no sense…also inevitable. Aztec math was difficult but then it got easier and then it got difficult again…I swear that numbers hate me. After that, I went to the pool and was doing stupid stuff with Anna, Issac, Coyo and Jarrod. And something occurred to me that I never legitimately noticed until I was playing pool volleyball: all of us here are the future. And I know this sounds totally stupid and obvious. But I’ve connected with literally everyone here and it feels so nice. We’ve all gone through shit and yet here we are making a difference in the world for our communities. Then there was basket-making and I talked to Jarrod about what he wants to do in the future and Cuauhtli about his life. I’ve bonded with those two and they’re such amazing guys. I truly admire their existence in my life. We had dinner after that and I was told something that was so…different. Something I’ve never heard in my life. So I was at the dinner table and Zion tells me that I’d be a good mother because I care and constantly know whats going on with others. And Cuauhtli agreed with him and said it was my energy. and it might sound weird that that comment hasn’t left my mind since I heard that which was almost 2 hours ago but at the same time it was eyeopening and kind of flattering hearing teenage MALES say that to me. I’m so used to the typical, stereotypical boy attitude so that was very comforting and relieving to hear. I’m tired.

-Aolani

Hi everyone,  I just want to touch base and say what a great job you are doing with your blog posts!!!  I see many of you really pushing to develop your critical thinking and the power of your voice!!!! Soooo very impressive!

Genna is leading again this evening and I will see you Monday up at Wishtoyo.  I am having Genna screen a short “Injunuity” animation about the Influence of the Six Nations Confederacy on The United States system of Democracy.   I am hoping it will connect with some of the issues brought up in Spirit Game film and will prepare you for the “Doctrine of Discovery”  film you will see Monday evening at Wishtoyo. “Injunuity” is Native American produced series of animations utilizes documentary interviews with  contemporary indigenous activists, youth, elders etc… and then animates their stories.  Here is a link to an interview with the director if you want to know more.

There are many ways to tell stories, film, physical theater, ceremony, dance, poetry, some of these forms you have experienced here in the program. You all have important and amazing stories to tell and I am glad you sharing your stories and writing with us!

Write about your day and how what you do here in the NY2C program connects to your own personal story!

Here is a playlist for all of the “Injunuity” short films

I woke up in a good mood because I knew that my favorite thing was happening today. I had to go through breakfast first. I had some french toast and egg with sausage flats. It was good. Then I heard that it stared 15 minutes after breakfast so I rushed over to my room. I was deciding if I should wear my regalia or just my chichiyotes. I just put on my full regalia just because. When I walked over their I was the only one with my regalia on and I felt weird for a second but I knew I was the only making my culture proud. I was a big help to Candonhache, the teacher of the class. I learned more stories from him and I was happy just to dance. Danza is my life and I admire it. After the class, it was already lunch time. Candonchache said we were working on Mexica time. We then were talking about the difference between women and men. It was a lot to take in but the group was alright afterwards. Before my friends and I headed to the pool, the teacher has playing music and I decided to dance to the music. Everyone jumped in and had more Danza. This was the best part of the day.

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These past two days have been wonderful connection with the rest of the kids at this program, with this i would like to share what happened. On Thursday July 13,2017, the day started off so energetic with our indigenous games with Hector  and Josh. These games empowered me and helped me gain such important values such as discipline and unity. I enjoyed making the soap stone necklace with Julia although it did take me longer to finish than everyone else but at the end i loved doing a hand on activity. Although we did many activities this day I would actually say that the activity that had such a huge and powerful impact in my life would have to be the blanket exercise with our brothers and sisters from Canada.

The blanket exercise was basically a visual representation of the struggles and the impacts the European men had on the lives of the indigenous people of Canada. While the exercise was going on I felt such an anger in me not only because of how the indigenous people were affected but on how it is affecting all indigenous people today especially the other students in this program. Once the exercise had ended we all got to share our thoughts and feelings on what we felt an/or saw. while going around I got to hear many unfortunate storied of my fellow peers about how they were affected and there families were affected as well by the colonizers. I was heartbroken and surprised to hear these stories from them because you don’t really expect to hear those stories from people. I am very happy for this exercise which helped me connect and have more trust in these wonderful people here in this program as well as take my anger and use it to go back home and find more ways to help our people regain what was taken from us many many years ago.

Today July 14,2017 was a day of connecting and sharing with the rest of the young ladies in this program. Once lunch ended boys and girls got separated to have some time to connect in between gender groups. In our session we spent time doing arts and crafts with our elder Julia. We began once Julia set the individual bags with beads, wire and 4 loose chains in them. Once we all had our own bags with beads I began to add one by one of my beads onto my wire, with every bead I put into my wire I felt a connection being built with the rest of these beautiful and strong young women who were sitting besides me. While hanging the 4 loose chains onto my bracelet I felt thought of 4 women traumas and that is what each of the loose chains on my bracelet mean. Once we were done wit our bracelets we all picked one paper with a beautiful design on the front and an inspirational quote on the back. While doing this we all connected by dancing, singing and being very silly. Before this happened we got an amazing opportunity to spend three hours with ur aztec math teacher Vicente, during these three hours we did danza and Vicente shared some amazing stories with us that I will keep in mind. I appreciated everything we did today and want to give thank to everyone for really trying to connect.

Peace and Love Christine

This day is a well deserved day, my friend and I went to breakfast at the cafeteria. I wasn’t hungry enough to grab a big plate so, I instead fixed myself a decent bowl of cereal and then headed to the table to chat.

first off I wanted to say that the Aztec dance is a great way to start off my morning with Vicente and Coyo. I would like to give respect to them as they help me learn the teaching of this dance and the meaning of it. Not only that but Vicente and Coyo also taught me how the Nepohualtzintin was created. Another thing that he taught me was that the Aztec value the sun and were highly educated before the Spaniards colonized Mesoamerica.  I am glad that Vincent taught me this valuable  lesson, if i didn’t know about this I could’ve live my life not knowing about the Nepohualtzintin knowledge and their sacred way.

Another exciting thing was that i spend my time with the girls on beading a cute bracelet and coloring with Julia. I would like to give thanks to Julia for coming down and showing us on how to bead.

After that Marissa and I went on a trip to Yogurt Land. Inside the store is very cool compare from outside and the Van ( including the A.C ). The plaza, also known as “The Village”

Friday July 14th                                                                                                              – Marisa Sosa

Yesterday was a pretty energy shifting day, the whole group became much closer and I know this will only enhance our level of engagement during the rest of our workshops and talking circles. For example today during story telling with Tata Vicente I really felt moved by hearing stories that originate directly from my ancestors. Tata looked at me, my brothers, and sisters as if we were his children and he was telling us a bed time story; Our ancestors signed treaties that would lead us to adopt catholicism just to protect our families, traditions, and knowledge. Our great leaders knew that so much more would be lost if we didn’t give rule to the Spanish empire. My blood boils with anger when I hear that other native people assimilated and embrace the catholic church. Now that I understand why they assimilated, I don’t feel as disturbed by something that once enraged me so much. Later in the day the males participated in ceremony, where as the sound of the drum got harder the beat beat of my heart did as well, and my voice during prayer became medicine for the reminder of the atrocities our people continue to face today. Later when we had free time students either went to the village for frozen yogurt or they went swimming, both seemed a little too chaotic for me especially after an exhausting day so I decided to stay with Nana Julia, Tata Vicente, and Alejandro, and just colored, listen to the trees dancing in the wind, and enjoyed the company of proud indigenous people (something I don’t get to do often).

I woke up in such a good mood. I was able to get more sleep which made me feel rejuvenated.  After breakfast, we had a danza circle that I was really excited for. Elder Vicente taught me different steps of doing danzas I thought I already knew. It was a really fun and interesting time that I spent with the group. After that, we had lunch that was delicious. Then, boys and girls were separated into their own talking circles at different locations in the Pitzer Campus. The talking circle was very informative and really opened my eyes about my surroundings when it comes to how men or I treat females. I felt very happy and relieved to have had that conversation with my brothers of the program.

Finally, a group of us went to the village near Pitzer Campus. I went to the comic book store with some of my new friends and I was very excited to see so many comics. I purchased the newest comic of The Flash that looked very interesting and action-packed. Then, we went to Yogurt land that was nearby and joined up with the larger portion of the group. We had laughs, but we had to leave to check out the rest of the village because of the shortage of time. We passed by a record store that I had to go into. I felt like a kid in a candy store and found so many CD’s that I wanted. I eventually decided on about six that were some of my favorite albums. On our way back to the campus, our driver, Violet, allowed me to put on a RATM CD. It was a very relaxing and joyful day.

Yesterday was a very long day. In the morning we woke up before seven to play indigenous games. After winning three matches of the Aztec games with Hector, I felt exhausted, knowing there was only one more person to play, Tlaloc. As his arm came swinging down I had milliseconds to react to try to block. His arm has a lot of sweat after he also played three matches before. As my arm made contact to block it slipped off and he took the last point to win the game.  We learn though the experience of playing that no matter if we win or lose, we still respect each other and don’t feel like gloating during those games. Although I have learned to us the Nepohualtzintzin when I was younger school. Our Elder Vicente has brought perspectives on it. I thought it was for counting but my mind was completely blown when he thought us how easy it is to find the square root. This was shocking because we had never been exposed to higher math and realizing how advanced our ancestors were. We meet with our elder Julia to create necklaces. After being gave soap stone and a metal sander we sat down for 45 minutes to work. My hand started shaking before being half way done. The edges were fast to carve off. Once the stone  was smaller if you carved it to fast you could easily mess it up.