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Returning to Wishtoyo for my third year it really opened my heart and mind to continue my adventure. I learned to clean abalone, make rattles with gourds, and information about everyones presentations. The group I was in presented the water cycle and the problem we want to show and introduce to the world.

My take away is the memories! I love-making new memories with new people and all my close friends.

At limuw I want to take the knowledge of the history of the island and the differences from the mainland. That water is important and is limited on the island.

These experiences with continue to be with me through memories and laughter. Both places have opened my spirt to express myself the way as if it is a first impression.

 

While I was away I saw a few new things such as a Blue Whale, Dolphins, traveling long distances on a boat, snorkeling, and even being sea sick. At Wishtoyo I enjoyed being there and making happy memories with everyone. When we traveled to Limuw Island I enjoyed going for a run with a few friends while everyone else drove. During that run I really enjoyed how everything seemed peace full. On the island we also went hiking to a beach that was amazing it was a lot of fun for everyone. 

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   I learned a lot at Wishtoyo and Limu, I was able to open up to people and learn to meditate. I liked that everyone there was welcoming and I learned to embrace my indian heritage

2. My biggest take away at Wishtoyo was the Men’s Ceremony, everyone was able to speak their minds and not be judged. All the guys connected students, mentors, and elders.
3. My take away from Limu Island was the activities we did to bond with each other. Snorkeling, kayaking, horse shoe, and pool. It was really cool to learn from people.
4. I felt it was the perfect combination with each other. They complimented each other giving us knowledge of our heritage.

My second time at Wishtoyo was yet again another amazing trip. I learned more about my culture and how important it is to keep traditions. A first time experience I did was go snorkeling at the island. At first I was scared, but it was wonderful to see the sea critters with my own eyes instead of through pictures. My biggest take-away from Wishtoyo is learning how strong and powerful women are. I learned this through our Women’s ceremony, and felt honored to be apart of it. My biggest take-away from Limu Island is that there is land out here that is still very sacred and fresh. What I mean by this is that at Limu Island there’s native plants and Native Artifacts still on the Island from a long time ago.

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.

 

Reflect on your visits to Wishtoyo and Limuw Island

1. Talk about what you learned and what first time experiences happened while there and what they meant to you.
2.  What is your biggest “take -away”  from Wishtoyo?
3. What is your biggest “take -away” from Limuw Island?
4. How did the learning from both places/perspectives compliment and contrast each other?

Anything else you want to add …

 

 

Hi, 

So I’m only going to write about the parts of my day that really stood out to me cause I’m tired. But anyways, today when we did the martial arts, we raced and i think that was my favorite part of the morning even though I lost. It just felt really good to run again. 

I really liked the sheep brain dissection because I like neuroscience and medical things so i liked to see the pineal gland and how different things inside the brain looked. I feel like i learned a decent amount of things from that activity. 

The talk that we had today about gender roles made me feel kind of conflicted because i get that it isn’t fair to generalize what females are meant to do and be like and what males are meant to do and be like but i also think that it’s just part of the equal balance thing. There are some things that males are more skilled at and there are some thing that females are more skilled at just because of body stucture and all the other factors that may affect how people do things. And i think that if someone is outside of these roles, it’s not bad, but they’re seen as individualizing themselves. Which is, to other people, seen as a bad thing. So you cant be in the roles or outside of the roles without being judged. 

But yeah,  i broke my phone so i’m doing this the day after. See ya 

“They tried every genocidal tactic on us and we’re STILL here” -indigenous activist speaking at a rally for Idle No More 

Today, Elder Rose Henry spoke from her heart about Indigenous rights and resistance. Her firey truth conveyed a strength and power that ignited my passion for positive social change. When she spoke, I felt my agency reawaken. First, she played the “Women’s Warrior Song” and I witnessed 800 women drum on Coastal Salish Territory in memory of the 3,000+ indigenous women murdered or missing across the country. Then, she played the “Strong Woman Song” by Lisa Muswagon and Raven Hart-Bellecourt. She said that we as indigenous people are resilient and have never lost the power to heal ourselves and our communities. She taught us about singers like Buffy Sainte-Maire who were not afraid to speak out for justice even in the face of persecution and ostracism. She taught us that public transit, health care, clean air, food and water are all areas that need to be addressed in order to change the systems that oppress people today. She encouraged us to do our research on social issues and make connections between things like substandard housing, the corporate-military industrial complex and our nation’s history of violence against First Nations people.

Much of what she said, I’m still processing, however; I’ll leave you with a poem to convey the feeling her words imparted on me.

We survived! 
Indian Wars, Boarding Schools and Relocation

1. I have a necklace here in California with me that means a lot to me. I got it two years ago at pitzer pipeline from a friend of mine. To be completely honest, he was the first guy I felt free to open up to and is still a really good friend of mine. When he gave it to me I felt important and I didn’t know I was the type of friend someone would give a present to. I guess it might be something not that important but it’s really important to me because it does make me the person I am today. And even though I’m still fighting with my emotions and my past but then I think of all the things that make me feel important and right now at Pipeline the orange shelled necklace with blue rocks on it (I wish I knew the actual names) makes me feel important.
2. A tradition that has a lot of meaning to me would be when I go to my grandparents house for

One thing I would like to put on an altar is something that resembles the moon. My grandpa pasted away almost two years ago and when ever I see a moon I think of him. He would joke around with me as I was growing up that he was going to send me to the moon. A tradition I have with my family is every Easter we go to my grandmas for Easter. We as a family get together to have a egg hunt through the whole front and back year. One tradition I would like to have is to have a run with friends and family early in the mornings  of holidays and special occasions.