Reception & Premiere Events in October -- Please Come!

The life stories of four Navajo elders are featured in student-made documentary films that will be premiered at Winona State University on Thursday, Oct. 6, beginning at 5 p.m. in the auditorium of WSU's Science Laboratory Center.

A second reception and premiere event will be held at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona, on Monday, Oct. 10, beginning at 5 p.m. in the fourth floor classroom of the Ned Hatathli Museum.

Seven WSU Mass Communication students collaborated with five students from Diné College, the tribal college of the Navajo Nation, to research, interview, photograph and video record Navajo elders over a 16-day period in June 2011. The students, participating in the 2011 Navajo Oral History project, wrote, edited and produced documentary films that will be archived at the Navajo Nation Museum and Library.

The documentaries were part of a collaborative project led by Dr. Tom Grier of WSU and Dr. Miranda Haskie of Diné College. The WSU students stayed at Diné College's main campus in Tsaile, Ariz., while working on their projects. This is the third year of the Navajo Oral History program.

This year's films feature Mitzie Begay, a Navajo cultural liaison with the Ft. Defiance Indian Hospital from Ft. Defiance, Ariz.; Jack Jackson, Sr., a former Arizona State Senator from Navajo, N.M.; Keith Little, a Navajo Code Talker during World War II from Crystal, N.M.; and Harold Morgan, Legislative Assistant to the Navajo Tribal Council for nearly 30 years from Sawmill, Ariz.

Student teams completed service projects for the elders and interviewed each elder several times. They also interviewed friends, colleagues and family members and did background research while on the Navajo Nation.

After the premiere events, short versions of the films will be available for viewing on the WSU Mass Communication department's news lab web site: Winona360.org.

The premieres will include comments from faculty and students involved and the featured elders. Light refreshments will be served before the presentation of the films. The reception and premiere events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Dr. Tom Grier via email: tgrier@winona.edu or Dr. Miranda Haskie via email: mhaskie@dinecollege.edu.

Day 9 – Class, B-Roll and BBQ

(no professorial soap box tonight...)

This is the beginning of our second and final week on campus here at Diné College for the 2010 Navajo Oral History project.

Today (Monday, May 24) was a class and lab work day. We started the morning in the classroom, debriefing the second interviews with the featured elders, and planning for the third interviews for later in the week.

We spent some time planning out the schedule for the next few days, and agreeing on a date to meet in early June after the projects are finished. We'll meet via ITV between a classroom in Winona and one in Tsaile, Arizona. That's when we'll all watch the final drafts of each project and offer peer evaluation and constructive critique.

The groups will have one additional week to make final adjustments and get the ready-to-publish pieces to me by June 15. I'll get them duplicated and packaged, then begin planning Premiere Receptions for fall, after the school semester begins. Just like last year, we'll try to have student members of both colleges travel to both locations for the receptions to signify the extreme teamwork that went into these projects.

Before class ended today, WSU student Ben Chambers gave us all a tutorial in how to edit video and audio in Final Cut Express a high-end piece of software on the Mac. Sawyer Derry also added to that tutorial. We all learned some valuable tips and tricks in this session.

(above three photos by Michael Ruka)

After class, most students were busy editing images and video, or transcribing the interviews. Transcribing ordinarily isn't a difficult process, but for these interviews it is much more time-consuming because the speakers are sometimes mixing between two languages, speaking quietly, or pausing frequently to formulate their thoughts. It usually takes about three hours to transcribe one hour of video. It's taking nearly twice that long for most of our interviews of Navajo elders.

After lunch, a few of us took a ride in the van on what we called our B-Roll Expedition. We drove north of Tsaile a few miles to gather some great video footage of the Lukachukai Mountains (part of the Chuska Mountain Range), and of the famous Shiprock formation just over the border into New Mexico.

(above photo by Jenn Westman)

(above photo by Michael Ruka)

(above photo by Jenn Westman)

When everyone gathered back in the residence hall hogan, we loaded up in the van and drove out to Wheatfields Lake park where Miranda and Vernon Haskie and their family hosted our group (both WSU and DC students) for an excellent barbecue supper including mutton steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, beans, pickles, corn, bacon-wrapped asparagus tips, etc. It was a great time of food, fun and friendship, with much talking, music and laughter.

(above photo of Carl Haskie by Robbie Christiano)

(above photo of Ben Haskie by Michael Ruka)

(above two photos by Sawyer Derry)

(above two photos of Sawyer "Monkey Boy" Derry by Robbie Christiano)

(above photos by Brianna Klapperich)

(above two photos by Jenn Westman)

(above photo by Robbie Christiano)

Even though we're all crossing some difficult cultural borders for this project, I can say that the students in the WSU group feel very welcome here at Diné College, and they know that their work is valued and appreciated.

Below are more pictures from the day's activities. Wow, I'm very impressed with the quality of photos these students are creating. Not just the candid journalistic photos for our projects... They're really "seeing" life and art mixing here and they are painting beautiful images with light and their cameras.

As always, thanks for reading.

-- Tom Grier

(above three photos by Michael Ruka)

(above photo by Jenn Westman)

(above two photos by Brianna Klapperich)

(above photo by Robbie Christiano)

(above photo by Sawyer Derry)

On Sunday, Nov. 15, a group of seven Winona State University students and two faculty members flew to Arizona to attend a reception at Diné College honoring the collaborative journalism projects completed this past summer by students of both institutions.

It was nearly 50 degrees back home in Winona, Minnesota, while there was snow on the ground in Tsaile, Arizona.

While on campus on Monday, Nov. 16, the students attended Dr. Miranda Haskie's class and heard guest speaker Perry Charlie discuss environmental issues and energy concerns of the Navajo Nation.

Monday evening, about 100 people attended the premier and reception and watched several documentary journalism projects focused on the lives of five Navajo elders. Three of the elders were present and commented on the projects following viewing of their features.

The evening began with comments by Dr. Miranda Haskie of Diné College, one of the organizers of the journalism collaboration.

Dr. Ferlin Clark, president of Diné College, the Tribal College of the Navajo Nation, gave a keynote address congratulating the students on their hard work and dedication, and thanking them for their important contribution to preserving the stories of the elders.

Organizers then showed several of the student projects and invited comments from each of the students involved, and then the elders.

As the program came to a close, Dr. Cindy Killion and Dr. Tom Grier, members of the faculty of the Winona State University Department of Mass Communication, described their feelings about the collaboration and future plans for similar programs.

Short versions of the journalism projects are available for viewing on the WSU Mass Communication department's web site: http://winona360.org.