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Today was a nice day we started the day out with the Indigenous games with Hector Pacheco and I really enjoyed myself and had a great time also it was nice to start the day off with the Indigenous games and do those activities that he gave us. But after a while the heat  started to get to me so there were times where I was getting frustrated and tired  but I still tried to manage to have a  positive attitude and to participate as much as I could. Then I was really excited to dissect a cows eye because I know I won’t EVER have the opportunity or resource to dissect a  cows eye and plus It’ll sound cool when I get to tell my friends and family that I got to  dissect a cows eye man not a lot of people today my age get to say that they did that. But then it ended up being canceled but in the bright side on Wednesday  I    get to do a Sheep brain dissection so Im very excited to do that but yeah. Then we had the one and only ROSA PORTILLO class dude and her class today was an emotional rollercoaster you can say and I honestly didn’t think I was gonna feel the way I did  but I did. But we were asked to bring something that showed or represented the person thats most important to us . So I decided to bring one of my traditional blouses and it reminded me of my mom and she is very important to me in so many ways. And she always wears those kind of blouses and every time we would go to Mexico she would always get us matching blouses. And I felt that what everybody had to say was really important and it brought us closer as a group as well. But also we did an activity with Kim Marcus and we got to shoot bow and arrows and we were able to make mesquite pancakes and they were really good and that was really fun and I was able to learn more about his culture as well. But overall it was a good day but yeah LLLAAATTTEEERRRRSSSS.

Monday. Started at 6am. Again. And let me tell you, it is not always grand. Started off with playing indigenous games with Hector Pacheco. Today Hector told us about his grandfather who shared and passed down these games to him. Reminded me of my grandparents when they share a teaching. It is a real honor being able to learn these traditional games. And it is a great way to build community. As the day went on we had a Neuro science presentation by Tom Borowski. Which I thought was real interesting learning about the functions of Neurons. I am starting to think I might be a little interested in the cognitive aspect of Neuro science. The next activity we went to was with Elder Kim Marcus (Mr. Marcus) who explained all about acorns and how the women used to ground them, remove the shell and used them to make food. It was a little challenging doing the techniques that the women used. Then after a couple food breaks we had theater with Rose. Today we built our own alter and put what Rose asked us to bring. Rose directed us to bring an objected that reminded us of some. It was good to be able to share and hear stories. It was very powerful.

Overall, today felt a little restless but powerful.

P.s down bellow is a picture of myself participating in an indigenous game.

Thank you.

Today was very hard waking up (again) but it was much more fun I got out of bed. The highlights of my day was in the morning during  martial arts we learned a traditional way that Hectors ancestors trained. Then we went to writing admission and i really like that class because t keeps me busy and helps me improve my writing skills. My next highlight was talking about the scholarships because I found out about some pretty weird scholarships. Then one of my favorite parts of the day came, lunch. After lunch we had an hour break and it felt good to just relax. We went to theater and today was different, usually we have fun but today seemed a little emotional as we created a alter in the middle of the class. A lot of us opened up about meaningful things to us and i feel like that brought us all together.

Hope you all had a fantastic day.

So today my head has been everywhere because we have done so many activities that got me thinking. So I just want to talk about the part of the day that I found the most valued. I really enjoyed speaking about the quote in our writing class. “until lions have their historians, the hunt will always glorify the hunter” this quote really got me thinking about how it directly relates to me because I feel like Native Americans are like the lions and our oppressors are the white people and we need to get an education so we can fill the spots of the historians and our people can share our story the right way.

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Today went by surprisingly fast. I thought it was 2 o’clock in the afternoon but it was really almost dinner time. But I enjoyed when Kim Marcus brought what his tribe’s people ate, we got to make and taste the food for ourselves. One of the foods he brought was Pinions or Pine Nuts which I grew up eating out in Apache Land so that made me think of home and how much I miss it. Also he brought the prickly pear cactus fruit which my tribe also eats so I was pretty familiar with that. Also the cactus fruit I ate was really good and juicy. All the foods he brought is what my tribe uses too so all of this made think of home.

(The picture is really irrelevant, but it was the only I could find*)

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 in the class of theater, I have a lot of fun learning two new dances. But towards the end of the class, something memorable happen. Ms. Rose asked us to get in a circle and she called out 4 people to grab anything in the room and try to build an alter with them. The Ms. Rose took out pieces of cloths that were made from her grandmother and she talked about her grandmother’s story about where she was from and her story of coming to the United States. Then she asked another 4 people to organize the cloths on the alter. Then she asked people to volunteer to talk about an object she asked to bring the day before that was important to them or reminded them about someone important to them. I even volunteered. It was an emotional moment to see people let out their emotions when they talked about their certain object. But it was also a moment of trust when the people speaking were willing to tell everyone else something that was so personal. It was such powerful moment.

Today we made food with Marcus Kim and he taught us some tradition food from his tribe and I felt honored that we taught us it. We made mesquite pancakes and smashed acorns. Some of the tradition food that we eat in my family is fry bread. It always brings good memories with my grandparents whenever I eat fry bread. What comes to my mind when I was making food today, was the traditions the ancestors brought.

-jess

ps. I love Kat, Kyla, and Trisha

While making traditional food with Elder Kim Marcus I felt very honored. I felt this way because some traditions die out and I was happy to learn how to make food that our ancestors cooked. Some food traditions we have in my culture is frybread and seafood. The seafood has special meaning to us because our sea creatures are slowly dying away and they play a big role in our culture.

btw I had fun teaming up with my wife Kat

Today, we started off with the same schedule as always, wake up at 6:30, go to the games with Pacheco, and practice martial arts. Today we practiced with sticks by attacking someone and the other person had to disarm them. Then we had breakfast which was really good. Another session that I really enjoyed was when Shelva Hurley taught us how to apply for financial aid and scholar ships. I feel relieved because I now know more and she even gave us advice for the interviews. My favorite session  was with Kim Marcus. We shot arrows with bows across the field. Then we made pancakes with mesquite and honestly, they tasted weird! Maybe I am just a bad cook. Some of the foods at home that are really important to my culture and tradition are shrimp. It runs in the culture of the Huicholes and Coras. I also cracked acorns which was pretty fun. Then my favorite session for everyday was theater. The group helped build an altar in which we then put items that are special to us. Some of the stories behind the item were emotional and took a lot of courage.