Dine Culture Class to Start March 31

A new culture class will be offered this coming Wednesday by Freddie Johnson. Welcome Back Freddie!

It's not too late to sign up!

Classes will be held every Wednesday

6:00pm – 7:00pm 

Phoenix Indian Center GED Classroom Suite 250 

4520 N. Central Ave. 

Phoenix AZ 85012

For more information contact: Freddie Johnson @602.264.6768; fax 602.274.7486 or fjohnson@phxindcenter.org

For all ages! Everyone is welcomed!

 

Navajo Song Files Available Again Online

I recently uploaded all the new song files to the Soundcloud music service for all the class members to access the music we have practiced and learned the last year. Unfortunately, the music service I used in the past year was bought out by another company and all the web links featured in previous blog posts were not working. I apologize for this and hope that the new service will be even better. Class members will now be able to not only listen to the files as we upload them to the blog, but you should be able download the music to your hard drives for listening or using as you wish to practice the songs.

The songs have all been compiled into a special Dine Class playlist and includes a lot of the older and newer song selections we recorded in the last year. I also have relinked all previous song files in previous posts on this blog to the new service. The link is:

SoundCloud Dine Class Playlist

Again, I apologize for the delay in providing the music files and let me know if you have any issues accessing the music by leaving a comment in the blog or emailing me at shtom@cox.net.

Sharon

Diné Professor Presents Long Walk and Diné Language Lecture

Phoenix Indian Center, ASU Center for Indian Education, and Central HS Native American Youth Council Present:

Dr. Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie Reading and Lecture

March 27, 2010
Saturday 10:00am –3:00pm
Central HS Auditorium
4525 N. Central Ave. Phoenix AZ 85012
(Parking on South side of Auditorium, right off of North-bound Central Ave
Free Admission

SESSION I
10:00am –12:00 pm: Diné Long Walk
Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie, EdD professor at Northern Arizona University will be reading from her notably acclaimed children’s book, Dzání Yázhí Naazbaa’: Little Woman Warrior Who Came Home: A Story of the Navajo Long Walk. An avid storyteller, she will be retelling the story of the Diné Long Walk through her book which is sure to be a fine historical lesson from the Diné perspective.

12:00pm: LUNCH on your own.
(Food concession provided by Central HS-NAYC)

SESSION II
1:00pm -3:00pm: A look at Diné Language
Dr. Parsons Yazzie will discuss her recent textbook, Diné Bizaad Bínáhoo’aah: Rediscovering the Navajo Language. She will take us on a journey about the creation of the textbook, the Diné writing process, and about the importance of the Diné language to enlighten learners who will hopefully appreciate the textbook even more.

For more information contact Freddie Johnson at the Phoenix Indian Center,
602.264.6768 or fjohnson@phxindcenter.org

Cleaning the Wool-Another Part of the Weaving Process

The class gathered to clean wool that was donated by a local farmer during one of our class sessions. Both parents and students shared in the task and although it was a little messy, the wool was cleaned. The wool will be carded and spun into yarn.

Some class participants have made enormous progress. One person, Sheila Lopez-Aguirre completed her first rug! This is a special present for her daughter. Congratulations Sheila!



The donation to the Weaving Class posed an interesting problem since we didn't have cleaning facilities to work with at the Phoenix Indian Center and you know Dine people always learn to improvise. We decided to take our wool to the alley and started the cleaning process.



We set up buckets/containers and got to work. This is elbow grease at work, all of the class members took a turn at cleaning the wool.



The weaving process is a generational one and we wanted the little ones to take a part. They thought it was messy at first but they got right in there and helped out. They ended up having some fun.



Next, the wool was laid out to start drying out. We had a challenge since we didn't really have a designated area to do this. The class made it work.



The wool is all laid out and ready to dry in the sun. It was an interesting and everyone had a good time helping out.

Singing Class - March Schedule

Hello PIC Navajo Singers,

Hope you are all doing well! Our class for March is going to be on the 3rd Saturday of this month.

Please join us on Saturday March 20th from 1-3 at the Phoenix Indian Center.

Let's expand our song list. Bring a favorite song to share with the class.

See you soon!

Thanks,

Petra