Community Events

Indigenous Minds

I can't figure out how to rotate this image but depicted below is a picture of the finals work station of Taylor, Mia, Ma'ili, Aliyah and myself. Finals week was personally pretty rough for me, so on this occasion I was super happy to be invited along to study in green library with a collection of warm support and ample food. I find this picture and this moment powerful because it represents 5 badass indigenous women studying and creating at intuitions that were not made for the express purpose of including our communities. Additionally, I find this image powerful because it flips the script and challenges stereotypes that I think are pervasive about Native Hawaiians and other idegineous groups that we are not motivated or intelligent peoples. Overall, this studying night was a great sucess and I was very happy to be there.

Indigenous Sisterhood

Pictured below is Aliyah, Ma'ili, Kaylee and myself at out sorority's annual charity event STACKS for St. Jude. If y'all are not familiar St. Jude is a children's research hospital that makes sure that all families receive treatment regarding their ability to pay. Through donations and philanthropic endeavors families do not have to pay for treatment and housing/lodging while their child is undergoing treatment. I personally was attracted to joining TriDelt because of the organizations values and how they align with my personal ones. I have been blessed to have these other three women at my side for the past 3 years in the sorority and honestly would not have stayed in the organization if it wasn't for them. Over the years we have been able to positively shift our chapter's culture in terms of cultural appropriation and alcohol sensitivity issues as well as getting people more involved with the native community on campus through powwow.
 

A Lost Indigeneity

Coming into Muwekma, I was nervous. I was nervous not because of the idea of living with a new community, or meeting new people, or even having a triple :), but rather of having to face the idea of homeland. Of culture. Of one’s people. Of the very meaning of indigeneity. As the descendant of slaves (and unfortunately white men who raped some of my maternal ancestors), I simply do not know where I come from. I do not know what tribe my ancestors were a part of, how they lived, what they ate...anything. It was taken from me and countless others, and frankly there’s not much that can be done to find it again. What I do know, I don’t know if I can claim. I know that I have ties to Togo and Cote d'ivoire, but do I really know anything about them? What connection do I really have to France and Ireland, to the homelands of my forced ancestors? To the Dominican Republic? To the Cherokee nation? Even to New Orleans, where most of my extended family current lives, and their Creole culture? Do I still have the right to embrace any of these ways of life, these cultures, these identities? More so, what would my identity be if it weren’t for slavery? Constantly hearing the phrase “Wakanda Forever” can get annoying, but the movie brought up and recognized a very real and stolen reality of Africa’s unmitigated progression (not to say there hasn’t been progression; simply fragmented). This idea of a lost history has transformed into the idea of a lost identity, something that has plagued my mind since I can remember. Growing up as one of the few Black people in a southern, white, conservative community. I truly didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere. My experiences seemed too different from my Black peers and brothers, I certainly didn’t feel welcome in the white community, and I just didn’t know my past. Often I would be too light-skinned for the Black kids and too dark for the white kids.

As I have grown older, however, I have learned to embrace this uniqueness and hodgepauch of ancestries and identities. As I have lived in Muwekma, I have been inspired to try and discover more about these identities and these cultures to help figure out my own. As an art statement to this idea, I have created a collage representing the melting pot of identities that make up me:

Background​ (Left to right): Wakanda and what could have been and what could still be one day, Stanford and my current journey as a student and as a Tree, and New Orleans as my most immediate and obvious point of culture and identity.

Fashion​: a tuxedo to represent my struggles and aspirations to make it as a successful Black man in America, sweat-ridden rags to represent the unique struggles my ancestors had to endure for centuries to allow me to even be here, black and white suit with a trumpet to represent my ties to Black America and New Orleans and my ongoing attempt to connect with that through jazz and music, and a traditional Togan pair of pants and hat to represent my goal to learn about my deep ancestors and to rekindle the connection between Black America and Mother Africa.

- Posted on behalf of Sean Howard

Community Events

Community Event 1: Global Indigeneity - Late Night Discussions with Hamzeh

To be completely honest, I knew almost next to nothing about Palestine before I came to Stanford. The extent of my awareness and knowledge came solely from the souvenirs and generic stories that my uncle, who had played professional basketball in Israel, would sometimes brought back. So when Hamzeh Daoud was assigned to the room across from mine freshmen year, needless to say my mind and and global awareness were both exuberantly expanded and refined, and this has only increased even more now that we live together in Muwekma for the time that we lived together in Muwekma :’(. Through our countless late nights, I have learned many tough truths that need to be more recognized. I have learned of the oppression, discrimination, and forced removal of Palestinians from their homeland, much like that of indigenous peoples here in America. I have learned and seen the ripples that these historical and ongoing actions done by the US government and other corrupt institutions have had on so many people's lives, no matter how tangential. In that same breath, I have also learned so so many beautiful new ideas, ways of life, and aspects of cultures that have made me a more whole, defined, and empathetic person. From discussions of the problems and attributes of religion to talks of the differences in text and emoji etiquettes, from hookah to marijuana, from Amman to Dallas, I am forever grateful for the things I’ve learned and the time we were blessed with to live together, and I hope he continues to inspire and disrupt in New York and Geneva as he has done here.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ
As-salāmu ʿalaykum

Community Event 2: Lunch Time - Approaching Ignorance
Earlier in the quarter, I had an amazing conversation during lunch about how best to approach ignorance and microaggression. Hearing each person’s individual and unique methodology to push forward the “woke”-ness of the world has helped me learn more about each person while also helping me reflect on my own strategies and thought process.

- Posted on behalf of Sean Howard

Make-ups

Week 6: Share something good about being native/being in native communities/going on in the native community (you can also share how it's not perfect, but just generally positive things)

One of the many wonderful perks of living in the native community house is definitely the impromptu stairwell conversations and community board. Being able to see people’s genuine, usually anonymous, and heartfelt passing thoughts as they ponder the question of the week really helps me to connect to both the struggles and highlights of my neighbors. As they usually pertain more specifically to the native community, I also feel like it encourages a constant learning (however small) of both the community as a whole, and how it is experienced with each individual person. Additionally, I really appreciate how people in the dorm remain “real” with one another as we pass by in the hallways. Instead of the typical “I’m good, you?” response usually given when asked how someone is, people really trust each other enough here to give more honest, authentic answers.

Week 8: your post should be about the story that you read from ​The Toughest Indian in the World​ or you can comment on anyone else's post

For my Week 8 makeup, I would like to comment on someone’s Week 8 post of an analysis of Sherman Alexie short story Class, specifically how it pertains to masculinity. In the post, the commenter mentions how “the story does not revolve around racial discrimination”, though I still wonder how it played a role. In far too many false and ludacris narratives is the identity of the Black man corrupted and twisted to nothing but an emotionless, beastly body, to a body with no brain that can only destroy, ravish, and work, to a predator who only chooses to prey upon “pure” white women because those of color are deemed less worthy, that it has actually affected reality, self-manifesting its very creation. I wonder if this is similarly true in this case of Edgar. I wonder what his attraction to Susan was in the first place, and where it came from, especially given she started cheating within the first year of marriage. I wonder if his masculine insecurities stem way before this marriage and the dilapidation of it thereafter; if rather, instead of being a result of his failed marriage, they are partially the cause and blame.

- Posted on behalf of Sean Howard

Community Events

The first was Teebs' reading of his book length Nature Poem, which I was really glad I made it for. I've never heard a book long poem before, and felt he captured the essence of the form remarkably for my first experience. His work was multidynamic, humorous yet pensive and poignant, done convincingly well in part due to his mastery of pitch and tone control.

The second was from what was labelled online as an Incredibles screening during a study break at the NACC, but there were only a few people there during the scheduled time and they put on basketball instead. Still a good time.

- Posted on behalf of Julian Saenz

A Children's Book I Helped Illustrate - Final - Adam

I went to this program back in 2016 called the Shoshone-Goshute Youth Language Apprenticeship Program (SYLAP), which was based at University of Utah, and they recruit high school students that have ties to local tribal communities to participate in language revitalization while learning the language (culture was not intertwined with language for this program).

Through the program, we had an elder come in each week from South Fork, Ely/Goshute, Elko, Fort Hall, and Owyhee, and they shared their stories and took turns teaching the class. Our cohort was the last ones to participate in the program, which is why we transitioned to SCLI at Great Basin College.

We had two hours of instruction and did about four hours of apprenticeship work each day, and the work entailed making teacher materials and children’s print and audio books. Me and my partner Tristen from Battle Mountain worked on this book called Isapaippe Tukkanai Peyen Noyonee U Noopiteppeh; Newenee Tan Paitippeh, which roughly translates to “Coyote brought over the duck eggs from down there, and the Indians scattered.” The story talks about how the Plains and Great Basin tribes were created from the willow basket.

The books help teach learners of any age from the tribal communities the Shoshone language through a series of stories that get released each year. The idea stemmed from a project done on the Goshute Reservation with a children’s book they did back in the 90’s. I feel like these books are contributing greatly for our people because not a lot of people have someone to speak to at home, so they host these language classes like how we do and we take turns reading pages from the book there.

When we were illustrating the book, I wanted it to emulate what real Indians looked like back then. The previous books had the more modern Indian attire that you would have seen in the early 1800’s with buckskin, but since this was a creation story, we would have to go even further than that and gave the lady a sagebrush bark dress and it had some shells on it as well. Since the version of the story came from the Ibapah area, the women around there, Ely, and Duckwater tended to wear basket hats, so we gave her a basket hat. They also didn’t wear braids back then, and they left their hair down and free, usually cutting it by their shoulders. Since she was a duck woman, we gave her duck feet too. It was lit.

On one of the pages, I felt real NDN and painted a page with paint that I made out of berries I got from the side of the dorms we were staying. Overall, the project was really fun to work with. Last year, I also helped illustrate a book and I did a lot better in that book. It should be out by the end of this year or next year, depending. If you guys want resources for language revitalization, hmu.

Final: Indigeneity

When thinking of indigeneity, I was immediately reminded by my interactions with Muwekma residents and how they come from different reservations and villages. When thinking of indigeneity, several things occur to mind. The first is how the sense belonging to a particular group or palce renders one with different qualities and a unique identity. When considering native populations, the different reservations that people come from, and the tribes that they grew up in, I’ve grown a stronger appreciation for how indigeneity brings people together. In talking to Kawena, I’ve learned about the  Kanaka tribe in Hawaii and their culture. In talking to Aidan, I’ve developed a deep fascination for life in Alaska and how remote villages function in the extreme weather and wilderness.

This quarter, I had the privilege of relating that understanding to my coursework. In one of my classes, my classmates have been working on developing wind turbine solutions for Igiugig Alaska. Igiugig is a small village in Alaska that is home to around 50 people. During the winter time, Igiugig faces harsh weather conditions and a short supply of energy. My classmates have been working on redesigning vertical wind turbines for their extreme weather conditions so that the people of the village would have a constant power supply through the winter. It got me thinking that indigeneity, while important in bringing people together, carries its own challenges. Unfortunately, indigenous groups in the United States face many challenges in their land, infrastructure, and equality with non-indigenous groups; putting them at a disadvantage despite their rich culture, heritage, and rightful place here.  

Week 3 Makeup: Disadvantaged groups

Women are often placed in a disadvantaged position regardless of their actions. It is easy to imagine scenarios where our understanding of people's behavior radically changes if a woman is involved. Because of that, women cannot escape being understood as women before they are understood as human individuals. This often puts them at a significant disadvantage relative to others because they are a) considered women first before they are considered individuals on the same standing as their male counterparts and b) have to overcome significant barriers to reach the same success/respect/achievements as that of a man.

Community Post

Community Post #1:

MARCH MADNESS!

I had a great time in the lounge watching college basketball with Justin B. and friends. Always enjoyed food + basketball. It feels extra special when its Rosa's cooking.

Community Post #2:

Mario Kart Study night was a blast. Having that around to play with is both nostalgic and relaxing during this tense time in the quarter.

Week 8 Makeup: Sherman Alexie Reading

I will be responding to Sherman Alexie's short story called Class. 

Class is a a story about an Indian man named Edgar who marries a white woman named Susan. The story follows how the couple met and their relationship dynamics as a married couple. Though the story does not revolve around racial discrimination or socioeconomic class(both Edgar and Susan upper middle class and financially comfortable), Edgar soon discovers that Susan had been cheating on him shortly after their first anniversary. Though he was not particularly upset, he is disappointed. When his wife gives birth to a stillborn, their marriage loses its remaining intimacy; and he finds himself seeking that intimacy and gratification in prostitutes and escorts every time he leaves town on his many business trips. With his marriage breaking apart, he eventually finds himself at a bar near the plains he grew up in in Eastern Washington. In an attempt to prove himself, he ends up fighting a tribal man who beats him to a pulp. 

The story explores masculinity, identity, and roots. While Edgar's marriage to a white woman pulls him away from his native background, he finds himself seeking validation in different places outside of his marriage. The fact that he found himself in a bar brawl despite the fact that he doesn't drink speaks volumes about how his cushy job and distant marriage emasculated him. 

Since the story is told from the perspective of Edgar, it is difficult to track the reasons behind Susan's character development. Regardless, it seems that her role is to bolster/reaffirm her husband's masculinity. When she can't provide that, Edgar seeks his roots. 

Personal Narrative

Throughout our history my tribe has had suspicion of western education, and
with good reason. From the early 1900s my ancestors up until my Mother’s
generation were sent to forced education camps run by the BIA and various
religious organizations. in my home village of Klukwan along the Chilkat River my
relatives all grew up going to a presbyterian boarding school and were beaten if
they spoke their language. My Great Grandmother was the first person to speak
English in Klukwan and my Grandmother was the first one to get a college degree.
Thus was born some of the natural prejudices

Naturally during the whole ANCSA process many tribes were very reticent of
the process. The law and change it brought to Alaskan Natives is defined by the
young Natives with western education that had been estranged from their tribes
stepping forward and representing their tribes during a time where if traditional
dealings with the federal government had been followed then we would have lost
all. Men like Emil Notti and Willy Hensly and women like my Grandmother, Irene
Rowan, despised at the time for their western methods of thought saw an
opportunity and seized hold of it before it was too late due to their western
education.

Education, while no replacement for traditional thought and knowledge, can
help our people survive in the modern world, so then why do our leaders in our own
western designed corporations such as Sealaska, Klukwan Inc., or Goldbelt Native
Corporation shun those who have any actual business knowledge and promote
those who rather hold the biggest stick. Those who have good ideas founded in own
personal knowledge and research are bullied out while those who are “elders” take
down potential usurpers at any notice.

The most successful Native Corporation ever, Klukwan Inc., was run by my
grandmother when she was twenty five years old and followed up by her nephew
when he was twenty. Most Native corporations started this way and had a boom of
industry in the eighties. These young Natives in the 70s and 80s are still in charge
today, but their strategies are very different. Now they are the corporation oligarchs
and over assuming “business experts.” Weren’t these the ones who defied their
elders and brought the safety of our people at the cost of western ideologies?
Weren’t they the ones fully embracing new ideas? I ask where these leaders are now
and why are they not ushering on the next generation of new thinkers, and what
makes them so different than us, the young blood of Native Alaska?

- Posted on behalf of Aidan Hellen

Advice from a Native Senior

Stanford is really hard and at times it seems that everybody is out only for himself
or herself, but that is not true. Learning to accept certain parts of people is the most
important skill I have learned at Stanford. I feel that finding a certain group that
understands you is a goal worth striving toward, but it’s not going to happen right
away and will take the effort of years of self-study to truly understand how you
interact with people.

Don’t feel bad if you feel like you’re interactions are shallow and superficial,
they are, but people are just as scared as you so learn to reach past it. My passion at
Stanford has been very hard to discover and even harder to explore. I am an
engineering major, and that means that when your passion is not engineering its
really hard to explore it sometimes. I realized during my sophomore year that
maybe my Grandmother being pushy about getting into the family business was not
the worst thing that I could have experienced. It gave me a burning desire to explore
to ways of thinking and experience as much Native culture outside Alaska as I could.
This passion for understanding my own identity has united me again with the Native
community here.

- Posted on behalf of Aidan Hellen