Picuris Pueblo

Yesterday Cynthia and I spent an with Grandma Ann of the Picuris Pueblo...loved it. I only intended to walk her down the muddy road to get back to her house from the luncheon the Senior Center served each day for its elders...her knees were obviously really bad as I watched her hold the walls of the building to make her way to the steps to the road. Holding hands, we walked through the mud, wet from the snow that had fallen the day before. Then, at her house she invited us in and we spent some time listening to her wonderful stories of her family, her life, her husband (who she missed afte r8 years) and putting wood into her fire. Great times! She invited us back for their run and dance celebrations in August. Then we lunched in Penasco (I had yummy chile relleno & loved the honey soaked sopapilla--sorry diet!) and went to visit Cynthia's friends at the Penasco Health Clinic... good day!

Out & About in New Mexico

Yesterday I drove back from Garambuio, a small town west of Las Vegas, New Mexico, after spending a few days with Sharon Franklett. Sharon once volunteered for me at the RAP School, when I taught high school students in the Mission District of San Francisco in the mid-80's. Most community people in the Mission worked at RAP, the Real Alternatives Program, which was mobilized around keeping Latino youth out of incarceration, fight police brutality and providing alternatives for the youth.

Sharon, now a biologist, has worked with the US Forestry Service on land management. She has advocated for inclusion of the Native voice in restoration of lands, among a variety of things... She also hosts Native Film events, which I attended on the first night in Villanueva. The movies were excellent, my favorite being, "The Salt Song Trail," in which the Southern Paite reinstitute their traditional trails, but go to the Sherman Institute to send the spirits of the dead Indian children who never made it back home to their ancestral lands. My favorite quote happens when a Paiute man worries about how no one does the songs anymore and the grandma says, "Why don't you sing the song? You know them!"

The movie reminded me so much of the work of Cirilio Bawer, Kalinga, working with the elders, and the youth, practicing their chants in homes and the school building up in the Cordillera Mountains. That's why I hate it when I hear people say tradition cultures are dying. They are not. Althought many languages have been lost, I know of many peoples out there investing their time in revitalizing their language, their songs, their rituals.... It's like Datu Vic, Taalandig leader, saying, "This is LIVING CULTURE...LIVING TRADITIONS...."

...right now on our way to Picuris Pueblo to provide elders a workshop on diabetes prevention... more later...

Out & About

The Taos Pueblo was closed so I visited the Millicent Rogers Museum. She had inherited wealth through profits from Standard Oil and her family's partnership with the Rockerfellers. A jewelery maker, she had the most exquisite turquoise necklace I've ever seen--Zuni I believe... her collection of silver, the pottery of Maria Martinez, and old Hispanic silver was impressive...things rich folks can buy. I loved the pottery tradition of San Ildelfonso, revived by Maria & Julian Martinez. She passed on the tradition to her family members. Beautiful work...also, check out the Apache baskets!

Taos Sunsets

Almost missed the sunset while beginning my Pinoy curriculum...check out the sky! Gotta go eat & then back to writing...

Taos Pueblo Peace & Quiet

Finally getting the R&R needed to work on my curriculum. The beautiful skies distract me, wrote a poem this morning when Cynthia took off for her 12 hours shifts providing care to the Pueblos Indians in Santa Fe... the work we do is so vital...

a cold morning
in taos
i sit
watch the sunrise
three clouds peed over the mts.
like apostrophes
then disappear
overwhelmed by the intense
brilliant light
of a new day

on the tree outside
birds flit
back and
forth in the chill winter air as
my
mind
wanders
jumping from
branch to
branch, reviewing
details of my life


...this poem inspired by artist Kublai Millan Ponce of Mindanao, after looking @ photos & reading poems from the gift he gave me of his time, conversations, and good times spent with Kalpna & the other 2008 Fulbrighters at Ponce Suites....he was so right... your words & mine, mingling, are precious & last through eternity.

Update on Kenneth Sula's Recovery

A Special Thanks to everyone who extended their prayers to Kenneth Sula. Your prayers did wonders! He is now at home recovering and I am thankful and appreciative of all of my friends and family that helped him recover by praying for him. You are wonderful! I love you all.

A Tribute to Apo Mendung Sabal

I know traveling is impossible for most of my family, friends and colleagues. It was a huge blessing to have gone back home and spent the precious time I did with Apo Mendung Sabal. I am eternally grateful. I wish I had the video & digital recordings I had of her in June, 2008, so that I could again hear her wonderful voice and listen to her meaningful prayers about the spirit world and her connection to it.
You can read about her and hear her voice by ordering her CD by clicking on the title above or finding the link at:

http://www.skyinet.net/~taomusic/taomusic/mogul.html

I am posting photos of Apo Mendung Sabal taken by Katribu member and Photographer Tan Tan (Jonathan Cena of Davao, Mindanao). He's got great photos of the IPs (indigenous peoples) of Mindanao, including the ones he sent me upon the death of Apo Mendung Sabal. These photos show her dancing and chanting at the Kapwa Conference in Iloilo, Panay and also returning to Mindanao with Sheila (a Katribu member), Maria Todi (T'boli) and being welcomed by Tan Tan's fabulous family.



The post below is what I sent my family members upon hearing the death of this wonderful chanter. We are raising money for her family members and you can write me directly if you want to assist them in covering the expenses of her hospital bills.


I met Grandma Mendung Sabal, a T'boli chanter, in Iloilo, Panay, Philippines at the Kapwa Conference. We shared the vitality of life, a respect for our ancestors, the joy of the present and the dreams of our future--tribal elders, community leaders, cultural bearers, artists, educators and youth. My last memories of her were watching her teach Frances, a dancer from Manila, how to properly wrap the malong in T'boli fashion, and also giving her my Hawaiian sarong.

We joked that she could go back home and tell everyone she had been to Hawaii. She pulled two handmade T'boli bracelets (made for the ankles, but fitting on my wrist instead), and asked me to hang them on the wall to remember her. Two days before she passed I finally printed photos I had of her and with joy, remembered how we both embraced each other & argued over who was more beautiful --her or I... then I won the argument by telling her that she was the more beautiful, because of her wonderful chants that she kept alive...chants of prayers that the spirits use to guide us. Good memories and a wonderful woman to always remember!

As a supporter of tribal people preserving their cultural heritage, protecting ancestral lands and guiding the youth as cultural bearers, I salute her! Praises & thanks to Mendung Sabal.

To read more, check out my friend Leny's blog by going to:

http://kathang-pinay.blogspot.com/

...It's really cool that Mendung even wore my sarong all the way back to Davao, as I saw photos of her from Tan Tan, as they disembarked with the Katribu members.