Locals looking to make more of a connection with our true Four Corners neighbors will appreciate next week’s focus at Fort Lewis College.
Native American Heritage Week, five days of performances, presentations and demonstrations on campus presented by the Native American Center, is not just intended for the 1,200 Native American students that attend FLC every semester.
The public is welcome, and should accept the invitation to attend.
On Monday, poet, educator and motivational speaker Tanaya Winder will speak at 5 p.m. in the Vallecito Room of the Student Union. Her presentation, “Finding Your Fire: Changing the Narrative” is rooted in some of the persistent problems facing Native people, but her message, one of hope in creating individual definitions of success and finding a true path – “stepping into your story,” as she defines it – is one that will benefit all.
Tuesday’s presentation features FLC grad Brandon Francis at Noble Hall, room 130, at 5:30 p.m. He will explore the traditional agriculture of the area, describing “the prehistory of agricultural practices along the San Juan watershed and its importance to the tribal entities still dwelling near it.”
Francis will discuss his research with the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, his work reconnecting Diné people with traditional agriculture, and display the produce he has grown in this area. Three sisters soup will also be served.
“Keepers of the Game,” a film about an all-native girls lacrosse team from Salmon River High School in New York, will screen at 5:30 p.m. in the Vallecito Room on Wednesday, and on Thursday there will be a Navajo rug weaving demonstration from 1 to 4 p.m. in the gallery at the Center for Southwest Studies. Apprentice Zefren Anderson, a Shiprock resident, will share his knowledge and skill with weavings and techniques that have been used in the southwest for the last 2,000 years.
And on Friday, at 6 p.m. in Room 120 of the Center for Southwest Studies, Dr. Lloyd Lee and Dr. Manley Begay, Jr., from Northern Arizona University will discuss their new book, Navajo Sovereignty: Understanding and Visions of the Diné People.
In addition to the opportunity to make new connections and learn more about native culture and history – did you know, for example, that Native students at FLC represent more than 150 tribes and nations? – there are also opportunities to have breakfast with Winder on Tuesday morning and lunch with Lee and Begay on Friday.
Visit http://bit.ly/2lLmA3M for details.
