mmmm, these logistics are delicious

Talking with Gillian was good. I've known her my entire life, and while I think that came in handy I am thankful for this project's transformative abilities with regards to, well, me.
I outlined my project for her and told what I needed and what troubles I have been having. Mostly, how hard it was for me to get face time with youths.
Here's what she suggested;
If you are researching the reservation in order to really properly gather data you need to go through the Tribe. Which can take time and lots and lots of money. While I am going to pursue this option, it may only become really possinle after January. But here's what Gillian suggested. I will go to Kayenta and give presentations to individual classes, in a class period or so, wherein I outline my experiences post-high school/college life off the Reservation. When I am done with my story I'll open the floor up for the student's questions and a general discussion.
I am thrilled about this idea, mostly because it isn't bogged down in paperwork. I can give 6 or 7 of these presentations in a single day and their are multiple teaches who would like to have me speak with their students. I will probably give multiple sessions like this between now and the end of the semester.Furthermore, I can use the idea of "middle ground" (Gillian called it "in-betweeness) to steer the discussion, since that is what I am presenting on. This is a project of imagination, and I consider myself a fairly observant gal, and I am sure I can gleam plenty from these sessions. Also, basketball games, I need to go to basketball games.

I just finished reading Towlhead by Alicia Erian. I am still digesting the novel, and cannot quite figure out what I shold say about it. Erian has done a very good job of disguising herself in this book...What I do like about this is the way the main character, and speaker, Jasira, functions. There is, of course, her story. The disfuntion is palatble. But there is also the social and cultural backdrop, which helos define the books characters with out completely dictating their circumstances. I appreciate this and would aim for the same air in this project's stories.

I have done alot less work than I would have liked this weekend, on account on my being sick I have been peering at the increasingly shiver-y looking a world from inside my apartment most of the weekend. I am wanting to write a play about a shut-in. Really.

I am however, going to post my first 1,000 word segment tonight. If you do critque this, and I hope you do, keep in mind how rough this all is. I am just trying to show some of the themes and imagery I am working with here. I plan to post another 1,000 words by monday afternoon. As for the other grand, they will be going to my very neglected lumberjack columns.

The essay segment will be posted in the next hour or so.

dinner and a show

I am sick and I am not going to Kayenta. Which may be a good thing.
But! Good news! Fortunes has degreed that I am having dinner with Gillian Vornittagg, one of the KUSD principals tonight. Work some networking magic.
Also, I will begin to post drafts of my first essay this weekend. I will be posting pieces in 1,000 word sections. I hope you all will real, comment and critique.
For now, I think , a poem:

Excavations

I would prefer you
sort of ruined

housed Anasazi style
peering from under cliffs
an eye curtained by rain.

Freckled by bootprint,
spooking astounded hikers.

Hidden like a pottery shard,
the half zig-zag or raven
under sand or dung.

The pilfered feather
the rattling, dislodged tooth

or the preserved, nibbles
corn cob turning to powder
when touched.

The first sifted gold
in the netted pan.

The pressurized shale
shaped by first worm.

I would prefer you
a history so old

it is mere speculation.

chasing the last weekend's tail

This is late, me vouching for the work last weekend.

Here's a summary:

I am trying to figure out a way to up load the two interviews i was able to conduct this weekend, one with West Ellis, and one with that omniscient, Rez-centric figure, my mother. The Ellis interview may be of a grainy and distracted quality. While talking with him, his 20 month old daughter, Eseme systematically emptied my purse and put it back together. The shining moment: Eseme removing a tampax from it's paper wrapper and carrying the object in her mouth.

My biggest challenge for this project, I suspect will be getting to interact with the youth. There is a huge group of adults who would love to speak for them. Right now, a lot of data I am gathering is perception, which is falling into two categories.

1. "The Rez is great...no further comment, thanks you."

2. "Life here is really, really hard. The school is failing. We are poor. Alcohol abuse is rampant... Etc"

Perhaps, I am pig-holing  my subject .I am just finding it very difficult to get a clear picture of the young people's lives.  Ellis, however, was very helpful. He provided me with some insight into the security situations at KUSD, where the fences, brick walls, video cameras, and backpack searches originated and why. 

Note: Investigate bomp threats, Insane Clown Posse, civil rights/privacy rights for individuals under 18.

But beyond that, Ellis gave me great little kernels of story.  I don't know if he realized that that was the gold I wanted. Look forward to drafts. Ellis also told me that he has a study hall on Wednesdays and that i could come in and talk to his students than. Looks like I'll be making a few mid-week visits this fall.

So, anticipate my interviews. 

Anticipate a typed up version of my experiences at the Kayenta cemetery. I believe that one of my essays will chronicle the perceptions of death on the Navajo reservation. I hope to juxstapose traditional Navajo attitudes towards death and illness, with modernity as well as tie those together with the death of my friend, Beranda Thinn, three years ago from alcohol poisoning.

My biggest fear is this project is going to be, because of my work with the Lumberjack, perceived as  journalistic expositions.  I am doing this as a labor of love, and a labor of a few other things. I am really worries about the doors i will be unlocking. I am really worried about hurting this community in my efforts to present an honest, emotional account of this life.  There is a lot I am constructing form memory and from the lives of the people I have known. These reflections are a risky business.

Watch out for an interview with Nalani Piucci, a childhood friend,  interview next week.