Cafesociety.org spent 5 years working with schools and young people on several of the Native American reservations in Arizona. Here is a selection of those Films made during Cafesociety.org digital workshops with young people on the Navajo , Hopi and Gila River Indian Community reservations. [1998 - 2003].
 

Our largest project to date on the reservation was REZ02 and invloved 8 creative practitioners visiting Arizona to hold a series of new media workshops with young people.

On July 18th 2002, a crew of 8 digital artists made their way from the UK and Holland to Arizona, USA to create a series of digital stories working with a selection of native american and rurally isolated young people.

Firstly we aimed to deliver a language and culture based multimedia project, showing students how to use film making equipment, web design, photography and computer animation to tell a story. 

The project explored Language Ecology which is the preservation of linguistic and cultural diversity. By using multimedia and film making projects we equipped the young people with new skills to record and preserve their own heritage and stories. 

The second goal of the project was to open up discussion with teaching staff from schools in Arizona to the possibility of future ways of collaboratively working and developing online curriculum projects and materials with schools in the Withernsea and South Holderness region of England.

We believe in the necessity for the preservation and celebration of all voices and if the youth are empowered with the skills to use modern day communications technologies, they can continue to speak out in their own voices, protecting and promoting their own cultures as they see fit.

Today is our last workshop day at San Manuel, our final day of the three weeks workshops here in Arizona and our last chance to tweek and tune work and upload it to the internet; today will be a busy one.

Things start at 8.00am with an interview with Geoff Parker, a representative of BHP, the mining company that closed in San Manuel 2 years ago leaving the majority of the workers here without jobs. Nirit, Jon and Raquell get a tour of the mine by Geoff Parker and are given the company line on the past present and future of the situation. From a 3600 workforce there are now 36 employees here. Mostly they are involved in administration and in the company’s attempts to clear up and re-landscape the immense layered quarry that sits at the side of the town and is evidence of past industry.

Meanwhile at the school Murray, Annabel and Gill work with the other students on post production. Annabel is editing the footage for the students video- “When the Clock Stops…”, Gill is working on titles for the film and Murray is producing more weird and dark sounds for SFX. We have a 3.00pm deadline and a screening in the auditorium at 6.00pm with students, family and members of the community- it’s touch and go whether we’ll make it.

Nirit, Jon and Raquell return and Jon sets off to do all those geeky things that enable the web site to expand and work- compressing footage, editing photos, grabbing audio, uploading and so on. Gill organises some last minute poster making with the students whilst Nirit and Rauell set to work on the gargantuan task of trying to make sense of the many hours of footage that has been filmed around the mining issue. There’s tons of good footage but she feels we won’t have time to do it justice with so little time left, a rough cut is called for.

A huge and welcome Mexican lunch of deep fried chillis and refried beans goes down well but the food and heat give us all a bit of an afternoon food coma. Murray and Gill go off for some “Mountain Dew”, a fizzy drink reminiscent of cough medicine but with enough caffine in there to wake the dead.

Back in the school it’s much of the same, by 3pm the students start to drift off to get ready for the 6pm screenig, we have a couple of quiet hours to tidy and finish things off.

The auditorium is huge semicircular affair, the stage goes back at least 20 metres, Annabel and Bob set up the projector and sound, Gill has a dance around the stage, imagining she is Elvis, Luke and Chris make popcorn and set up stall at the enterance. Meanwhile Nirit is working frantically to get her rough cut on to tape as poeple start arriving.

After a short intro from Bob we show the weeks work and talk about the workshops, the students bravely get on stage to explain their own roles and opinions on the weeks work to many rounds of applause.

As people leave, we shake hands and hug and there are at least a few tears. The students have been amazing this week, full of energy and so keen to participate.

With well deserved beers we spend an evening with Bob Shogren (the guy that invited us over here) discussing the prospects of furthering what we have done. Already the school has been offered funds to buy equiptment and potential sponsors have also shown interest in supporting digital media education.

It seems to have been a great success, respect to the people of San Manuel who welcomed us openly and with such enthusiasm.

When the clock stops: Annabel continued full steam ahead editing, inputting sound effects – created by Murray and Luke and working on the intro sequence with a crew of students that continue to amaze her with their skills and ideas. Meanwhile, Gill worked with a group to design a flyer to announce the community showing of the film.

Memory lane: Raquel and Abe worked with Nirit to interview people about their memories of the day the mine closed. Everyone has been very keen to talk about it, perhaps finding it a release to talk. Some of the younger people moved from remembering the trauma of that day to speak about what happened afterwards and it appears that; for them – after the initial shock, they did in fact find other pathways, new horizons. The older people on the other hand reported more problems in moving on.

They interviewed a range of people including: a pharmacist from the hospital; a young mother whose husband was laid off; the brother of Raquel who is 31 and has since found a better job; some older community members; the owner of one of the supermarkets (so they could explore how the mine’s closure affected local business).

Most of the crew finished up late today. Around 7.30 Nirit was still filming interviews with Abe, while a lady waiting to clean finally kicked Jon and Lucy out of the computer room.

After school

Pool party: Directly across and down the road a little is the town’s only swimming pool and tonight was the night of a Christian youth groups pool party. The crew went across to lend a hand. Murray was Djing. A little bizarre for us, it was fun all the same. Music is music and most of the time it was good. The atmosphere was relaxed and a change is as good as a break after all. Lots of kids running around, nice lighting and a sky full of stars. Only a couple of times was Murray asked to take a particular songs off. And one time that was George Michael. He honestly thought he was being careful.

The day began with the crew’s favourite thing - an early morning start. 7 a.m. and a fresh faced bunch were down at the local Rotary club to give a presentation about why they are here and what exactly it is they are doing with the town’s students. Apparently the mission of The Rotary Foundation is to “support the efforts of Rotary International in the achievement of world understanding and peace through local, national, and international humanitarian, educational, and cultural programs”.

The Rez02 presentation went down well and the breakfast laid on was greatly appreciated by all.

At School

Project development: The first part of the morning was spent checking out the remaining locations for the student’s ghost story film. One of the locations they went to explore was the now abandoned junior school. The school has been empty for a year, ever since the number of pupils attending dramatically dropped following the closure of the mine.

This location was so good and the students were so well prepared (they’d even brought their costumes and props with them) that the test shoot promptly turned into the real thing and the crew shot two full scenes for the film on the spot.

When the Clock Stops: After lunch the students continued storyboarding and developing visual angles for future scenes - they also came up with the name for the film: “When the clock stops”.

This group has amazed Annabel, she’s never worked with such organized students! Equally impressive has been the way the students operate as a group, very supportive of each one another’s various talents.

On this day: While Annabel and Gill worked with the industrious storyboarding group, Jon and Nirit organized a second film to work on. This film that will explore the day the mine closed down, June 23rd 1999. Nirit will work closely with Raquel, an older student who will learn the ropes and be left with the skills to continue the exploration with the younger students when the crew have left. Other students and community members will tell the day as they remember it.

After School

More location spotting: Jon and Nirit went to check out the mine area itself for shooting there early in the morning. Others worked and rested at Bob’s place.

Little Mexico: Dinner was about a 15 minute drive away in another small town called Mammoth or ‘Little Mexico’ (so called because of the majority Mexican community. We dinned at Alicia’s Cafe. A very basic place atmosphere wise, the food more than made up for it – delicious! Full we returned to Bob’s to work a little more, then it was an early night for some while others stayed up working.

Back to work. The crew arrived at the school from their respective ‘host homes’ around 8.30am. The school is a sprawling complex set against the backdrop of a jagged mountain range. It’s monsoon season at the moment so the air is heavy and fairly misty which gives the whole place an eerie kind of feel. Perhaps especially when you know that the mine as closed two years ago and this has been the cause of a lot of misery in the town.

The kids are a mix of Anglo and Hispanic and are once again a lively bunch, a little older than the last schools we were at. Most of the group know each other from school and are supportive of one another’s various skills.

Circle: Activities began with the kids gathering in a storytelling circle. One person began, then the story continued around the circle, with each student adding another element to the storyline. The process was filmed by a couple of the students in order to introduce them the presence of the camera.

Digitizing Stories: This initial process was then developed as a handful of students either elaborated on the circle story or told their own story to camera. After a short break the students were then given a demonstration about how to take the media input they created this morning and digitize the footage.

Narrative: After lunch (which was had in perhaps the only shopping mall in the town, at a sandwich bar, opposite the school) the group reviewed the material from the morning. Laura’s story was picked up on, which developed into a script based around a haunted school.

The students discussed narrative techniques in film, ways to storyboard and brainstorm and they began thinking about all aspects of production, audio and post -production. An inspired and enthusiastic bunch the students soon began to run with ideas, suggestions for locations and Chris began drawing out storyboard. He is a talented illustrator.

Murray worked with a small group trying out some audio ideas, including laying a track under one of the girls singing. By the end of the discussions the choice was to fuse three or four of the school ghost stories into one piece.

Roles: After Annabel explained to them the time constraints and how they might have to condense their ideas the students began allocating roles amongst the group (location scout, story boarding etc). By the end of the day the group were out scouting a few initial location ideas and began thinking about props and costumes to bring in tomorrow.

Strong beginnings: The day was such a success that the crew couldn’t actually get them to leave by the end of it!

After school

Meet and Shoot: After school the crew gathered for dinner at Bob’s place and discussed the day and plans for tomorrow. Dinner was delicious. This time it was Mexican food. After dinner some time was spent working before heading down to Bea’s bar to shoot some pool and relax before a 7am presentation to the town’s Rotary club in the morning!

Sunny Side up: We packed up the van again and left the motel by mid morning. A little further down the road we stopped off for an all American breakfast at a highway diner. Our coffee cups were filled up regularly, the pancakes had maple syrup and the eggs were sunny side up – we left bloated but happy.

Cactus rain: The destination of the day was San Manuel for the next week of workshops, but we decided to stop off at Saguaro National Park in order to see Sabina Canyon. The Canyon is part of the Sonoran Desert, which stretches way into Mexico. Cacti are everywhere, including varieties such as the tall stick-like ocotillo [oh-koh-tee -yoh], the fuzzy cholla [choy -yah] and the round saguaro [sah-hwa -roh].

When we arrived it was sunny. When we left it wasn’t. It is Monsoon season here, but so far we haven’t been caught too badly with this. We didn’t have much time anyway so we felt sure we could take a walk in the stunning nature without too much danger. Wrong. We took little bus out to the last stop on the trail, an experience that felt like we were at Universal Studios on the Indiana Jones ride. At the final stop we began walking. Not far up the trail the heavens opened. Spectacular at first the novelty of hot, heavy rain soon wore off. Feeling cold, we made our way back to get another bus back downhill – back in the van we turned the heater on for the first (and probably last) time this trip.

San Manuel: We arrived in San Manuel around 5pm. We were met at the local garage by Bob, the schools director. This is an old mining town. The mines used to provide for everyone in the town but were closed down two years ago. Since then a large part of the community have left and those that have stayed behind have to travel an average of three hours a day, both ways, to work. The community is mostly Hispanic, the rest white (Mormon). Problems this community face are linked mostly to drinking (and driving), young mothers and general apathy. Apparently there is not much crime in the way of stealing as there is nothing much to steal. We are staying with people who don’t lock their doors at night.

Bob treated us to a fine – not greasy; dinner! For this week we are staying at the houses of some of the teachers, who came over to meet us for dinner This might not continue as we often need to be together to work in the evenings, but the hospitality this evening was much appreciated.

Today was the crews first day off in nine days. Understandably the morning was spent with various people in bed, relaxing by the pool, eating lazy breakfasts and enjoying the fact that what had seemed like a ghost hotel all week was now buzzing with the energy of a very large family having a poolside reunion party! This friendly lot had laid on funky sounds and a big spread.

Open wide: Jon had an eventful morning of his own, as a toothache meant a trip to the dentists. Seems an American dentists is slightly more comfort orientated than a British dentists the potential trauma of the dentists chair over here is solved by a TV screen in front of you when you first sit in the chair and one directly above your head when the chair reclines back.. Jon had the pleasure of a ‘Changing rooms’ style program and a pretty dental nurse. It wasn’t a serious toothache, but he certainly feels much better now

And then there were six: Felix has other commitments for the next week so he spent the morning organizing a hire car and getting his stuff together.

By mid afternoon the new slimline crew of six (Jon, Nirit, Annabel, Murray, Gill and Lucy) set off destination South, towards San Manuel.

Lynchs’ land:

By mid evening we stopped at a roadside garage to ask for a recommendation for a nearby hotel. The place had a distinct David Lynch feel: gutted out race type cars lay like sculptures around the place, strange looking locals stopped by and two women sat like book ends on chairs outside a small shop and spoke to us about bizarre topics, from socks to Satan.

Sweet tooth: Wisely or not we did take the advice given at the garage and followed directions to a cluster of new motels a little further down the highway. We went for the first one we liked the look of. A good choice, the rooms were comfy and the guy working reception turned out to be a friendly Mexican, who is hoping to make his first film soon. Dinner was a place called the Cracker Barrel across from the motel.

The place was decked out like an old frontier restaurant: rocking chairs outside (where was that blues guitar) and an amazing assortment of pictures on the walls inside – from decidedly eerie paintings of people long gone, to classic Pepsi posters and bizarre signs.

The menu looked exciting to a crew whose stomachs have had more than enough of all the greasy, fired food that has been fed to us in the past two weeks (not that we didn’t like it, just too much of it!). We happily choose between vegetable plates, mashed potatoes and roasted (not fired) chicken, only to find that everything here is cooked in sugar. To say the ‘sweet’ baby carrots were sweet would be an understatement.

The shop, which led out from the restaurant, provided some after dinner amusement, classic American bits of nonsense. Back at the motel, the Mexican reception guy, Cesar, joined the crew for a drink later on.. we can’t disclose all that was said over drinks – but it got interesting and late.

Felix and Gill spent the day putting the finishing touches to NAT’s web site and Gill worked on further design to the REZ02 web site. Annabel edited the final cut of some of REZ news features with Brenalee: They cut a piece about a local fried bread stall, which has been on the same spot for the past five years and is known as the “Silver Bullet” and a sports report on what has turned out to be the game of the Rez – basketball. Some of the focus was on the trainers they wear around this area that are called, ‘AND1’. Apparently, the name is taken from a term used in the game when there has been a foul. Brenalee demonstrated a natural ability to edit.

Murray finished off the news jingles and interviewed George the local policeman about his efforts to keep the cultural heritage of this community alive. The stress of deadlines was eased during the day with a Fizzy rockets activity (involving sodium bicarbonate and water), which Anthony filmed. This activity went down so well and the film looked so good that Nirit, Anthony and Daniel worked on the fast edit to this in the afternoon and it was inserted as a fun ‘news’ item on REZ News. At the end of the day the work was shown to a room full of students, teachers and a couple of parents. All were impressed.

After packing up at the school a tired crew headed back to the hotel and relaxed for a while before most headed out to the karaoke bar next to the hotel. The bar manager apparently hates the karaoke as he has to put up with an assortment of people who think they can sing – three times a week. Tonight he had the pleasure of Felix crooning away. According to Annabel, the whole experience reminded her of a Denis Potter film. To finish the evening off the crew got chatting to the security guard who, naturally, asked where they were from? -England, replied Annabel, thinking that she would avoid being too specific, as he would not know where Hull is. To their surprise he replied that, when he was in the Navy, he had spent a great deal of time in Hull. Not only had he spent time there it is also one of his favorite places in the world. Just proves again that you never really know who you’re talking to.

Today was post production day for NAT films and further content creation for the internet site, NA Nirit and Annabel hooked up a projector and began editing the kids footage with them. Gill worked on more screensavers and downloadable desk tops with Chris and Felix and Lucy worked on creating some flash animated poetry with the other Chris (there are two in the class!) and Isaiah.

The poems and the images which will be flash animated (actually digital photos of paintings) have been donated to the Rez sites Poets corner and gallery by poet Mike the medicine man horse, governor of the school and full time artist.

Interviews:

In the afternoon, Nirit, Murray and Lucy were taken on a tour of the area by Mike. While he drove he talked to the camera about his community and his views on the culture, language, identity issues that they face. This is a community where there has been one culture or another trying to oppress them for eons.

Their language is dying and a great deal of their cultural roots have certainly been up rooted. Therefore these issues loom large. Mike is both optimistic while realizing the enormity of the problems. A charismatic man, Mike even took us to his house, in the village where he was chief for a while, stopping off to show us his workshop, where he paints.

Though not so much in the summer because of the oppressive heat and dust storms. No air conditioning in there! The streets were quiet, no-one out in the afternoon heat. As Mike rightly pointed out, only mad dogs and Englishmen step out in the afternoon sun. Although we met a few Rez dogs, it seemed to us that even they were smart enough to be in a cool shade somewhere.

A taste of India:

Jon, Murray, Felix, Nirit and Lucy were treated to another special evening meal by the school tonight. Jagdish invited us to his favorite Indian restaurant. Annabel and Gill were invited too of course, but were tired and stayed in the hotel.

Kate was there and Mike and his son came too. The food was fine, the English in the crew enjoying what is apparently now the national dish of England, an Indian curry. Table talk revolved around future plans to link up between Jon’s education projects in the UK and the projects running over here. Lucy, Murray and Isaiah (Mike’s son) discussed music, games and world politics (this 11 year old is tuned in) and on the drive back Nirit and Lucy drove with Kate where the talk turned to Hip Hop in the Arizona area and where the cheapest music stores are. A tired crew went back to the hotel around 10.30. So well behaved!

Project development: Today was a momentous day in one respect - the crew arrived early!

The reason for such an occurrence was that Felix and Jon were giving Jagdish a course in the software.

Rez news from NAT Films: The group of students led by Nirit and Annabel have decided to create a news program, “Rez news” Today was shoot day. At 9.30 the team left to

NAT (Native American Technology) design: The team led by Gill and Felix are creating a web site. They are mimicking a design company, so their site will show: their services and company profiles and have content such as downloads, games reviews, links, and a space to showcase NAT films. The NAT films content is coming through from Nirit’s and Annabel’s team.

Back at the hotel it was an evening of much needed rest and recuperation for the team. Not a lot to report really; laundry was done while chillin’ by the pool; pizza was eaten on the balcony while the tunes were provided through the crews portable speakers. All followed by an early night.

Diary note: Seems we forgot to mention that Nirit’s luggage was indeed returned to her after the airline lost it at the beginning of the trip. She has been receiving some concerned e-mails. She thanks all for their concern!

Gila Crossing North Campus location

Sticky politics: The crew arrived a little later than planned after getting lost due to starting off in the wrong direction. Well, it is a different building , the Gila Crossing North Campus location not the Gila Crossing Community school we had been to yesterday! Blame it on UK drivers trying to negotiate a maze of American highways and driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Breakfast was very sticky cakes on the library.

This was an immediate introduction to the apparently typical eating habits of a community that has the highest concentration of diabetes of any community worldwide. Of course there are many reasons their diet has become so bad, not the least of which is the fact that their river had a dam built on it in X, taking away the livelihood of the whole community. We knew a little of this before arriving and the information was supplemented by Mike, who

Gave a talk, briefly introducing us to the Gila River community and their cultural and political issues. He is a colorful character, a man of many guises: ex narcotics cop, community leader, school governor and lifelong artist.

Project beginnings: The kids were a little reserved at first, perhaps checking us out. However, Felix’s newspaper icebreaker again did it’s job. This was swiftly followed up by a mind mapping brainstorm session where we all mapped out our likes and dislikes, eventually connecting everything up to the idea of telling a story through computers, the web, photography and video. Following this the kids split into two groups: web and design, led by Felix and Gill and film, sound, photography led by Annabel and Nirit. Lucy floated between groups and continued with content for the web site with Jon.

The Kids: Aged between 13 and 16, again it’s a bright bunch of kids. They seem less aware of their cultural heritage than the Hopi group we worked with. As Mike explained, this is a community that is much more of an inner city community in nature. Despite living on the rez, they are situated in the suburbs of Phoenix, and they have been assimilated into Anglo culture much more strongly. People like Mike are working very hard to fuel a stronger sense of who they are and where they come from in this youth, yet they live in a community where drugs and gangs are very real issues.

The heat: Humidity rising as the skies become cloudy. Heavy.

Birthday toast: It was Annabel’s birthday. Kate treated us to a fine Mexican food and Margaritas. Happily, we’re slowly getting geographically closer to the true taste of Mexico. Dinner was followed by a wonder through the streets of Tempe to the Bamboo club, where we sat on a rooftop balcony to toast Annabel with a bottle of champagne. We looked out over Lego land rooftops and scattered neon lights. Somehow Felix found room for some sushi. The night time heat eventually got the better of us up there, the humidity was surely still rising, so we walked, pausing to observe some street spray can art. Pots and pans and a spray can, producing finished pieces of the solar system canvases. Last stop, an all American Hooters bar!

Around 9.30 the crew were packed up and ready to leave Gateway Ranch. Departure was a little reluctant as we had all been captivated with the beauty of the place and the energy of our hosts. It was a shame we couldn’t stay around to meet and work with the kids at the Star School. Still we were looking forward to what the Gila River community experience would be and if our impressions of the Star School have only made us determined to return for a longer period in order to work with the kids some time soon.

The drive was a long one, we finally arrived around 4pm, after traffic jams and a couple of stops to stretch our legs and take pretty view pictures along the way.

The Heat:: Rising. And rising..

First impressions

We finally found our destination, the sister building to the Gila Crossing North Campus location (where we will be teaching), which is situated on the edge of the reservation, just outside Phoenix, close to Tempe. We were met by Mike who is the chairman of the board, director of River Children Project 21st Century, Kris Radke and the school’s principal, Jagdish Sharma. It was immediately obvious that we were back with city people, this was going to be a change from Rez life. Our accommodation for the week is a hotel about half an hour away from the school and about 10 minutes from Tempe. The hotel has a pool

Dinner was in Tempe, after not being allowed into their first choice of location because Jon’s international driving license was not enough for the doorman (according to state law it must an Arizona license or your passport) the crew was happy with a Tai restaurant. After dinner it was straight to bed, tired from the drive, the intense heat and the food.

Morning Explorations

Before heading off to the school the crew took a trip up a mountain. No ordinary mountain this mountain – and the land around it – has been bought by artist James Turrell. For the past 25 years he has been busy creating his own, unique form of ‘land art’. Not yet open to the public, the crew had the honor of exploring the installation as it stands now as their host Mark and his wife know James and the crew working on this piece.

An ex-pilot this is a man with a unique perspective on the land around us. Turrell has actually shaped the mountain to fit his vision: You walk through tunnel ways that lead off into chambers, natural light beams dance through cylindrical openings and round shapes, you pass through from light to pitch black darkness, fumbling to feel the wall and find your way. The whole space plays with your perception of space and gravity. Our voices echo all around.

Out in the open on top of the mountain, looking over the edge you see the landscape from a perspective that stands you in awe of mother nature. Passing clouds cast dancing shadows, encroaching slowly across the land. As Turrell owns the land all around the mountain, the landscape is free of any buildings (as Mark pointed out, his ranch is perhaps the only “glitch” on Turrell’s canvas). This was an imposing experience, back on the ground everything suddenly seemed out of proportion.

At the Star School

Nirit, Murray and Lucy filmed short introductory interviews with the Star School team. Justin treats us to a longer interview. He spoke to us about the concept of “Ke”, which feeds into the school, into how he teaches the children and how he lives his own life: everything being related to everything. He spoke of his community, culture and language. We were enthralled. Nirit, so much so that she almost forgot to concentrate on the filming she was so busy listening !

Felix gave Tom and Kate a crash course in Net Fusions Objects and Fireworks and how to optimize graphics for the web

Jon updated the multimedia content for the Rez02 site

Annabel finished off the editing on some footage from our week at Tuba City /Moenkopi and began editing the interviews

Back at the Ranch

Sunset shadow dancing. Just as the Father sun was beginning his evening performance, the van pulled up outside the Hogan. Murray put on a CD & turned up the tunes. Rather appropriately the first tune was the classic “Don’t worry be happy”. Perfect for a tired crew to shake off the stresses of nine solid days working, moving and dealing with each other in confined spaces! Shadow dancing against the backdrop of an expansive landscape, a majestic sunset and the San Francisco Peaks (one of the four sacred mountains of Navajo land).

Bugs dinner: Down at the house the crew were treated to Mark’s infamous carrot sauce pasta. Delicious. The black, beetle like flying bugs that come out at night here were most intrigued by the lure of lights, people and carrots. Eventually we gave in and retreated outside to the darkness where their attack was subdued a little The evening progressed with a showing of Miles – the nine year old son of Mark and Kate - showing us his first digital film. Nirit had spent the evening editing the mornings shooting with him. First time results were impressive. Following the premiere Murray and Gill were joined on the trampoline by Jon.

Mystic texts: Late into the night, Nirit and Jon discussed the Kabala (a heavy spiritual exploration into Judaism & numbers – decoding our future). Three guys visiting the area who are also staying at the ranch – Devin (New Jersey), Jason (Connecticut), Aktan (from Turkey) – have an interest in this, Jason has been reading about this for the past few years. The guys are traveling around with Jason, who has a students grant to research Native American spirituality. The conversation got interesting as Nirit translated parts of the Hebrew text and the guys discussed what they knew. Jon was a little unnerved by it all, but he felt better after asking Nirit to accompany him back to the Hogan.

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.

School run

The team set off from Herman’s Hogan around 8am (7am, Hopi time). Coffee, showers and food were on the minds of most. We found our coffee while calling in on old colleague of Jon’s, Luanne Somers at the ETIP centre at Monument Valley High School in Kayenta. ETIP is a centre dedicated to the advancement of use of digital technologies in the classroom. Jon, Ray and Felix end up giving a spontaneous, twenty minute, presentation to a class of school teachers there to learn about ETIP. All this on very little sleep, only one machine coffee and no showers!..

At Moenkopi Youth Program
Project development:

Design: Gill finished off the flyer, poster and t-shirt designs with the girls. Looking good.

Sound: Murray tightened up the soundtrack, laying vocals to the music. Vocals included some Hopi chanting and humorous rap.

Film: Annabel finished off the basketball promo. Lucy worked with Bobby on his story – “The Coyote and the Chipmunk” – and Annabel and Nirit filmed the finished script.

Community interview: Lucy and Nirit are taken to meet one of the students grandmothers. They chat to her about the Hopi language in her community today. She tells us her thoughts on the beauty and importance of the Hopi language to her and her community.

Back at Base

A productive household: The crew settle into a late night session trying tto meet the deadline for tomorrow. Nirit is lost in the basketball edit, Jon and Felix repair the website, Murray in bits and beats, Ray is braving a MAC, Lucy writes up some content, Annabel and Gill go through the still images; Shonie and Marci iron on the “Rez Dogs” logo onto the t-shirts.

A word from our hosts: “Lots of pale skins with creative minds – you guys came here with good intentions towards us and looks like you’ve achieved it! (Marci).

At Moenkopi Youth Program

Project development

Best in the West vs Rez Dawgs: Names have been selected for the Basketball teams. Gill’s girls are well on their way to a great design for the flyer and t-shirt.

Spoken words: Nirit’s crew begin editing their interviews; Annabel makes progress editing a promo spot with Bobby; Murray records the vocals for the soundtrack with Ramson and Derek (aka. Sonny);

Once upon a time : Bobby and Rejna select stories they want to tell in English and Hopi.

www.Rezo2.net: Lucy writes and Jon and Felix battle with Dreamweaver software.

The heat: Still no air conditioning - the sun was fierce today - we have nothing left to sweat - until tomorrow.

Out and about – Herman’s Hogan

After school the crew set off for Monument Valley and Herman’s Hogan. Herman is a Navajo medicine man and an old friend of Jon’s from previous visits. We arrive just before darkness falls and a spectacular full moon rises. A large tribe of Rez dogs are there to greet us. Some gaze and some buy from Herman’s jewellery, conveniently laid out on the Hogan floor. Business over with, the gems are pushed back and the beats begin. 6 drummers and 4 singers, all from Herman’s clan take their places in the Hogan. With drums, voices, stories we stay awake and last well into the early morning..

Dawn awakening: Ray is rudely awakened from a perfectly peaceful sleep on a trampoline; the crew tackle squatting on the red sand and Herman’s live stock show they are far from camera shy.

The crews experience: “Like being back in my favourite photograph” (Annabel);
“a reunion with old friends” (Jon);
“took me somewhere else without any additives” (Murray);
“trippy” (Gill);
“different” (Ray).

Successes
The crew ran through the equipment list check and the kids were given a how to handle equipment tutorial. No equipment breaks today.

Project development:

Words project ‘Happiness is..’: The crew worked with small groups of kids in rotation; Annabel focused on editing the images, Murray began on the soundtrack (incorporating the words being spoken), Gill worked on the graphics for the credits.

Web site: Jon and Felix continued working on web site development.

Interview techniques: Nirit began working on interviewing techniques with kids.

Diary and research: Lucy wrote the diary from the first few days, floated between the kids listened to them telling her stories. About their music, their dances and their culture.

Basketball: After Lunch the crews idea that the kids organise a basketball match which would involve preparing all the promotional material and making a film about basketball, was presented to them. They liked it.

Gill began working with Kayla and Trisha on the graphic design for the flyers and t-shirts for the teams. The girls had strong ideas about using traditional design, and symbols from Hopi and Navajo cultures; Murray began working on a soundtrack for the film with student Derek leading the inspiration; Nirit began creating the film with students Bobby, Leandre and LaTonya filming and interviewing; Annabel focused on the editing with Bobby; teacher / student Ramson began researching the history of Basketball in the Hopi culture. Lucy helped with research / inspiration for the graphic design and sound.

The heat: the computer room is given an extra fan. Crew in the conference room are grateful for small mercies.

Crew impressions of the kids so far:

Noisy (Murray); Vibrant (Ray); Absolutely amazing (Annabel); Wicked (Gill); Beautiful (Jon); Future (Felix); Inspiring (Lucy)

I believe the children are our future, teach them well & let them lead the way, quote from Ms Whitney Huston, from Nirit.

Back at Base:

Chinese flavours: A tired but inspired crew arrived back home. Murray, Annabel, Gill and Ray went to eat at a Chinese restaurant on the Navajo reservation. All reservation businesses must be Navajo owned, but there really was a Chinese cook there. Perhaps they are married to a Navajo, the food was exquisite.

Wrestling, fried bread & books.

Jon, Felix, Nirit and Lucy gratefully accepted an invitation to Marci’s house. Fried bread and beef stew awaited us. Jon is a vegetarian, but that didn’t matter. The star of the evening was the fried bread. Excellent.

Nirit wants to make a short film piece about this special dish. Marci’s son Dorian wrestled with Felix. Not sure Felix was actually winning that one. Afterwards he treated us to his Scottish accent. (Seems this Scottish theme keeps coming back at us.. firstly the chance encounter at Monument Valley, Murray’s highway drive, Marci and Dorian’s obsession ). Marci and Dorian dream of going to Scotland one day. Lucy was happy with Marci’s books of stories. Jon fell asleep on the sofa.

Breaking the ice: We were amazed with the kids. So well behaved, shy at first but the first icebreaker soon did it did the job and broke the ice as teams competed to build the highest structure out of newspaper.. ‘ last one standing wins’. Ray led the winning team with his physics. Following this, the kids began to open up, by the end of the day it was obvious we wouldn’t need any more ice breakers. Breaks were taken playing basketball on the indoor court at various points in the day. The kids were energised, the crew, slightly less so.

Pleased inspectors: The sight of the kids exploring the tools impressed the project director from the Moenkopi youth project and a group of visiting Gates Foundation people who fund the equipment at the centre.

Projects completed:

Pictorial intros: Polaroid’s were taken and put onto the white board. Each crew member and kid went onto the board with their names.

Hands on: A series of panoramic pictures around and about the centre were taken by the kids under the guidance of Nirit.

Word play: A playful exploration into the Hopi language and everyone’s defining characteristics got underway as each crew member and kid told the group what ‘Happiness is’ in one word. Everyone then wrote their word on a piece of paper, English one side, Hopi the other and presented their words to the camera. The crew then guided the kids to take the filmed images through to a finished piece. Basically, using word play to introduce all aspects of digital media production; concept, filming, sound design.

Things to work on
A Nikon Coolpix 5000 and a JVC dvcam were broken, so giving the kids a ‘how to handle equipment’ tutorial becomes priority for tomorrow.

Added diligence to the supervision of the kit at all times is re-enforced amongst the crew.

The heat: the computer room is actually a cunningly disguised sauna. No air conditioning but we do have one small fan.

Back at base:
Crew meeting >>
A project meeting was held to review the day and tighten the project planning for the rest of the week. Based on what was learnt about the kids today, the group decide to see if the kids want to involve their love of basketball within their exploration of their own language. There will be a basketball tournament, with the kids creating the promotional materials, the soundtrack and a short film about basketball.

Navajo traditions

Gill, Murray and Annabel drove through to the Wallmart at Flagstaff for essential technical supplies. We’re glad they’re back, following their experience with large trucks happily sitting in the middle of the road. All obstacles were neatly avoided by Murray who was combating a day of intense work and heat by envisaging points in the landscape as looking mysteriously like the Scottish highlands, thus proving the power of the mind over matter, as that Scottish breeze kept him alert.

Meanwhile back on the Rez, Jon, Nirit, Lucy and Felix listened to Navajo tales of witchcraft. The spoken words were recorded, but, no images. To protect the anonymity of the individual, their voice will be disguised.

The day starts in fine style as this time it’s Ray who takes over the kitchen. Omlettes to be proud of. Eggs for strength, as we prepare to spend the day exploring the desert in Monument Valley.

8 people and around 10 cameras, feeling slightly Japenese, we hit the road. The journey is smooth, we stop for drinks and telephone calls home, Jon and Lucy discuss the green hills of England and the foot & mouth crisis with a Navajo lady selling items by the garage. She asks us what we’re hear to do. We tell her and she approves.

We call in at Luanne’s house on the way there. Luanne is a teacher who coordinates at various Native American schools. She’s not home. We leave a pink post it note on the door and carry on. Happy we bought pink and not yellow.

Just before Monument Valley visitor centre we stop and check out some Navajo arts and crafts stalls. The road is dusty and hot. The rocks of Monument Valley rise up in the distance. We feel like we’re in a film set. We are looking for Herman, an old friend of Jon’s who sells jewellery here..he’s not there but we chat to his nephew. Nirit films and Nirit and Lucy interview him. He tells us the stories depicted on the jewellery. In Navajo and English.

We drive on and up into Monument Valley. To say it takes your breath away is an understatement.

Work begins today and we have our first project planning meeting as a group all sitting in the same physical space. A controlled panic ensues. Some great ideas are formulated and a schedule confirmed. We are ready for the youth we will begin to work with on Monday. We are excited to know what will they create with us.

The rest of the day continues in true American style, Burgers to eat and walkie talkies to play with, bought at Wallmart a few years back, on one of Jon’s previous visits. Walkie talkies are popular in this area, we can receive from a 2 or 3 mile radius round from Shonnie’s house so we tune in and chat back. Murray records the transmissions.

Late into the night we prepare for the workshops and begin building the site for rez02.net.

Our first sun rise on the Rez and cameras are already in hand, Jon interviews Ray about why we are here. After a late breakfast our host Shonie took a jet lagged crew out to a local flea market. We encounter the hot, dry desert air for the first time.

We explore food, herbs, jewellery, t-shirt designs. We chat to some locals and taste the local fried bread, mutton and stew. Then the dust devils stand up to attention, as a sand storm begins to blow. We head for cover in the van, taking a drive up to a higher spot for our first team view. Stunning desert rocks, looking like they’ve been carefully air brushed in gradual tones of sand red orange. The cameras come out and we sit in wonder clicking away.

Back in the van we follow the road round to the famed dinosaur tracks, there’s a fossilised egg there too. Murray is convinced it’s ‘Diloafasaurous’ tracks. Nirit experimented with some new imprints for future generations to find fossilised Nikisaurous. Back at base, the techies got their computers out, the projector came out and Shonie’s white wall became a cinema screen.

Shonie takes Nirit on a magic car ride. Nirit explores.

Shonie becomes the star of the day as Jon interviews our host.

We explore the local supermarket, return home and make the household discovery of the trip so far – Felix is an unbelievably good cook. We leave him in the kitchen. The result is delicious.

That night the crew experience their first taste of local tradition that is still very much alive. Marcy escorts a tired but curious group to a Squaw dance ceremony.

On July 18th 2002, a crew of 8 digital artists made their way from the UK and Holland to Arizona, USA to create a series of digital stories working with a selection of native american and rurally isolated young people.

Phoenix Airport 1pm Thursday July 18th: Jon, Murray and Annabel arrive and are met by Shonie and Marci. Shonie is an old friend of Jon’s, Marci is his girlfriend. Shonie is of half Navajo and half German Jewish blood and lives on the Navajo reservation where he moved from city life in Phoenix around 15 years ago.

Six of our crew flew in from the UK and two flew in from Holland. Four went via Frankfurt; one went via Pittsburgh; one via Newark and one via Detroit. One had arrived direct from Holland three days earlier. Eventually they all came together outside a Casino, off highway 89 direction North from Phoenix. Two hours later they arrived in Tuba City, Arizona.

Together they picked up the first essential item for the trip ‘ the van for the crew ‘ and made their way to an all American style warehouse for supplies. It was enormous. Motorbikes, drinks, food, clothes, technical equipment, huge plasma screen TVs. They picked up food supplies and Felix fell in love. It was immediate. He stumbled across an isle of wall to wall Beef Jerky. He looked, he bought some, he tasted. It was Love at first taste.

Back at the airport, Gill, Ray and Nirit arrived one after the other. By 10 pm Nirit was through customs, but her bag was not. No fresh clothes, no computer. By 11pm they were in the van driving North. They were hot, they were sticky, they were tired. Felix was still happy. Nirit was not.

About an hour and a half later the van pulled off the highway to pick Lucy up outside a Casino. She’d arrived three days earlier and been staying with George, Annie and Zamora in Cottonwood. George is a Yaki Indian from Mexico, Annie is from Canada and Zamora is their four year old daughter – a wise soul in a young body. Finally all together, the team left the casino behind, no richer, but getting more tired by the hour.

After a couple of hours of driving there was a pit stop at Wallmart. A classic American one stop shop for whatever you could possibly need. Nirit needed clothes! Not an easy task, Nirit is a small woman. American sizes are far too big. Finding clothes she liked in the children’s department was not easy. Almost an hour later we stumbled out and back into the van.

Finally we arrived in Tuba City on the Navajo Reservation, Arizona. We piled out of the van and into Shonie’s house, where he is kindly letting us stay. A tired, thirsty crew were happy to arrive. Felix decided to get a haircut immediately. Obviously still high on his new love Murray gains a new nickname from Marci – Murray, aka Moby.