johannawinss 2017

Johanna – Back to Reality

Arriving back from a place that I never wanted to leave was a downer, but I make the best out of everyday. We had a workshop with Ben Florio, who taught us the different ways composers edit music into movies, televisions shows, and video games. I was mostly excited to have the opportunity to play the game of Flower Wars, taught to us by Hector and John Pacheco. This game is very similar to capture the flag, the way we had to organize ourselves and strategize to win the game. In order to have a successful round of Flower Wars there has to be so much communication with each other and know how to play respectfully instead of just playing to win. 

The most exciting portion of the day was when the youth of the Native Youth to College Program separate into two different circles; male and female. In our women circle we were introduced to Aunty Josie, you shared so many songs with us from the Chumash nation, Apachi nation, and Navajo nation. The way every single young lady, raised there voice and sang with so much pride was so powerful and inspiring. So powerful that we even came into one of our classrooms where all the men were and demonstrated how much powerful each one of us had inside of us. What was so amazing and meaningful to me was when I heard that Aunty Josie was from the Yaqui nation as I am. She taught what was so sacred to our people and their medicine, as for other nations it might be sage, but in my nation it is flowers, specifically roses. She shared with me that she was not fluent in our language, but did teach me how to say hello everyone and how I can search online or in books about my culture. I could not stop smiling after meeting this inspiring and beautiful human being.

always happy, Johanna Osuna 

 

jarrodchap 2017

Back at Pizter – Jarrod

When we came back to Pitzer, we all went to a class where Ben Florio was. Ben taught us about how music can make a scene in a video game or movie can really affect the moment. We had a little exercise, where we would watch a video and try to imagine what type of music would be there to make the moment better. We watched some movie clips and listened to the music. The movie scene that i was confused about was the death of Doby, because everyone started laughing which confused me so much.

The next morning, i woke up pretty late and jogged down to the indigenous games so i can get to the blessing in time. We then played an actual game against each other, which taught me strategy and teamwork. Some parts of the games rules were confusing at first but i got it eventually. Some strategies were working and some failed but it taught me that strategy is the best weapon.

Way later, we had a talking circle where Vicente told us so many things that i have never really heard of. I don’t get taught much about culture, so i am glad to learn from someone that knows his culture and can teach me some of it. Then the men sang a song together to honor all the women. Again i am just glad to be here, without this program i don’t think i would ever learned anything about any culture.

vichacon 2017, Dine/Navajo, Media Studies, Native Culture, Southern Paiute

Violet’s back from Wishtoyo day

Coming back from the Wishtoyo village was sad because we had to leave the beautiful village and amazing ocean but we got to come back to Ben Florio. Where we learned about films and the background music which was really chill to come back to and really uplifted my spirit. To start off the eighth day of the summer program we got to do the Indigenous games and play against each other. I thought this was so fun because we got to work with each other in a groups and use strategies. This helped to wake me up and energize my spirit for the whole day. To finish off our day, we got to have a talking circle with Auntie Josie, whom taught us a bunch of native songs. Screen Shot 2017-07-19 at 9.46.16 PM.pngScreen Shot 2017-07-19 at 9.46.38 PM.png