Early morning rise

No rest for the wicked, it was an early rise in order to make it to “Star School”, situated on the edge of the Navajo reservation at the edge of the Painted Desert in Northern Arizona, close to Flagstaff. After a call in to a local camping shop to pick up some ropes to tie bags onto the top of the van, the crew set off. After a drive down tracks that led to what looked like the middle of nowhere they found the school!

Star School

A solar powered school, “Star school” is apparently a unique kind of place. Established a year ago by Dr Mark Sorenson, he and his team are still in the process of developing the place, though it is already an active school. This time the students are the adults who teach at the school and / or are involved with the school and the local community. Students of the school are a mix of Navajo, Anglo. Hispanic and a couple of other Native tribes. So, this time the crew work with teachers/ community leaders Mark, Kate, Justin, Richard and Tom to create some initial multimedia content for the web site of Star school and guide them through the setting up of their networks and about their hardware choices. Initial talks with the team at Star school threw up some fascinating conversations.

Project development: Following initial talks the team established their network and conducted a first audio interview that will be written up as a piece for Star school to use as content on their web site, to introduce what they are all about to the world. Tomorrow, some interviews will be filmed, these will be brief portraits of those involved in the school for the Star school web site and a more in depth interview exploring Language ecology, ecology and culture with Justin for Rez02.

Back at the ranch

Dirt track driving: For the two nights we are here the crew are guests of Mark and his wife Kate at the Gateway Ranch. Their ranch is around 7 miles away from the school and is in a stunning location. An expansive landscape formed from volcanic rocks long ago stretches as far as the eye can see The sand is black this time. Gill and Annabel had been taken up their earlier in the day, to get some much needed sleep. Murray returned to collect Felix, Jon, Lucy and Nirit after a hard days work.

The drive back took them along a dirt track, where Murray nearly hit an oncoming car and further up the track he was having such fun driving through large mud puddles from the afternoon’s rain that we missed the turning to the ranch! We’re currently reviewing Murray’s off road driving skills…

Cook out: dinner was cooked over an open fire at the ranch. Certainly the best meal yet. And even the veggies were happy, with veggie burgers and corn dogs, fresh corn and delicious potatoes. Felix attempted grilled bananas and chocolate for desert. The moon was majestic in the sky. All in all the best dinner experienced on the trip yet.

Bedding down: Felix, Jon, Ray and Annabel opted to sleep in the Hogan, which is situated a little way away from the house. The location treated the crew to stunning views, extraordinary lights at sunset (and again at sunrise) and an atmosphere of calming, quiet, isolation. That despite four people being in there. It was comfortable too. The other three (Lucy, Nirit and Gill) opted for beds and power at the ranch. The beds were very much appreciated, possibly by Nirit the most who , despite being the smallest , managed to loose herself in a large double bed.