Aesthetic
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Photography as Storytelling
Several months ago, I submitted the above photo in a contest sponsored by URI Research and Scholarship. It was the first time that I shared my photo without filtering my audience. The photo submitted was also my re-entry into photography, as I have been neglecting it since I graduated last year. I am happy to…
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Trauma & Broken Bones
March is almost here, and it is the month of the Gregorian calendar in which I was born during. It is usually at this time that I begin to reflect a lot about the year that I experienced and the year that I envision. Yet, as February ends and 2018 continues, I have been thinking…
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An Ever Changing One: ‘Two Spirit’ Limitations
One of the things I probably have not thoroughly discussed since I have had this blog is my English “gender identity”. I emphasize ‘English’ because there is a specific cultural, spiritual, socio-political identity within Diné ontologies that I am perceived and that I identified with. As I have shared in a past blog post, my Diné…
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Being Home: Emerging 2018 Thoughts
It has been twenty-three days since the start of 2018. Since December 20, 2017, I have been in the midst of the red mesas and canyon walls familiar to my soul; surrounded by the juniper berries and slumbering yucca plants, healing and reflecting upon the completion of 2017 and my first semester of graduate school.…
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Indigenous Hypervisibility
In the spring of 2016, I proposed a research project, Indigenous Hypervisibility: Examining Frameworks of ‘Success’, to examine how we portrayed ‘success’ and the effects of that this portrayal has on my fellow Indigenous youth. I re-wrote it as a blog post. Historical and contemporary portrayals of Native/Indigenous Peoples often exist in the margins of…
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Rock Your Moccasins 2017
It’s #RockYourMocs week! This is my third year participating in the annual Rock Your Moccasins during Native American/Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month. #RockYourMocs is in its 7th Annual year. It was started in 2010 by Jessica “Jaylyn” Atsye, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico. #RockYourMocs was becoming internationally known as a moment for Indigenous…
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Niłch’itsoh, Hai, and Power
The coming of the big wind and snow. Niłch’itsoh is here, and that means Hai (winter) is on its way. Niłch’itsoh means “big wind” and is the beginning of Hai (winter). It is also the last month, December, of the Gregorian calendar. This year, Niłch’itsoh and Hai remind me of something. They remind me of power. Growing…
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Ahé’hee’ – Thank you
Today, while I mourn for this continuation of an ongoing 500+ year war, I give thanks. To give me a pause and to remember in case I have forgotten. I give thanks to the creator and the holy people who have given me the teachings to walk a path of peace and balance with the…
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Rock Your Moccasins 2016
Last, year on November 15, 2015, I wore my moccasins as part of the national #RockYourMocs when I was studying abroad at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Quoting myself from last year; Being abroad, I have become very aware of my existence as a Native American/Indigenous person on an international level and it is alarmingly isolating.…
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A New Beginning
Welcome to a new beginning for a part of my life that I am reclaiming and discovering within myself. This will be the first of many posts to come. Last night, before the clock struck 12. I decided to start a blog, and this is what has come from that thought seed. At first, all…