05/12/24 - Daygot Leeyos
What makes you such a threat? We choose the right to be who we are. We know the difference between the reality of freedom and the illusion of freedom. There's a way to live with Earth and a way not to live with Earth. We choose the way of Earth. It's about power.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Listening to First Voices Radio, good day, all you relatives. I shake your hands with a good heart. It's good for all of us to be here. Let's acknowledge your relationship with all the life giving force of the sun and the time to wake up. Today will be a good day.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:I'm here in a humble way. I'm a common man, an ordinary man. I like to honor you in the circle of life with me. I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you and to creation. I thank you for the ultimate gift of life.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Daygot Leeyos is from Oneida Nation of the Wolf Clan, a multimedia artist, MC, poet, music producer, performer, and gardener. She's halfway through a bachelor's degree in cinematography. She studied music production at dubspot in Manhattan and audio engineering at the recording workshop in Chillicothe, Ohio. She has traveled around the world as an activist, cultural ambassador, and performing artist, including United Nations conventions, indigenous ceremony, and international cultural exchanges. They got Lias has dedicated her life to revitalizing and preserving the Oneida language through both immersion classes and hybrid methods.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:She's also conducted research on the connection between indigenous language preservation and suicide prevention. And I just wanted to welcome you along with your mother Sherry Deglin of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida in you're working both with language revitalization. I'd like to welcome you both, Degga and Sherry too, First Voices Radio. It's an honor to have you here.
Daygot Leeyos:It's an honor also to be here. I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Daygot Leeyos, and I'm from Oneida, and I'm Wolf Clan. And, that's the way that we will introduce ourselves and our nation. And I'll let my mother introduce herself.
Sheila:For having us here today.
Daygot Leeyos:So it's also honor for us to be on a show.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Thank you. They got to, Sheila. Yes. First Voices Radio. You know, there's a there's a lot to to talk about.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:We can talk about your music, but you know the the single that I was interested which you will talk about probably is, that missing and murdered indigenous peoples and or women and the idea of language revitalization that seems to be what a lot of nations around Turtle Island, they realize that that the languages are are treasure. Languages are, you know, our lifeline and I think that's what I'm feeling from you, Degas, because I've known you for at least a decade or more and understanding like, wow, this is evolving somehow.
Daygot Leeyos:It is truly
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:the confines
Daygot Leeyos:of our sovereignty. And if if it wasn't for our people, our land, and our languages, then we wouldn't have our complete nation.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Yes. And I think part of that is, like, you you using that language to to keep the the people alive, the young people of life. Give us a thought about or did you work up to this along with your mother that it really is a language out, but it's just recognizing the awareness that this is the medicine that we all carry as indigenous people especially here in the United States. Could you talk about that beginning where where your thoughts came from in in revitalizing the language first?
Daygot Leeyos:Well, I have to say, for me, my life, my childhood growing up, all the opportunities I was given for the language was because of those before me who dedicated their lives to, making sure we had language programming growing up. And there was there was more than there's less than 30 speakers alive today. And so, it's it's crucial that we learn, and that's in on Oneida. There's less than 30 live fluent language speakers left, so it's crucial that we learn our language now. And so I'd like to give this question to my mom to answer because, you know, if it wasn't for her and her hard work and dedication and providing and fighting for the language programs in our communities, you know, I was able to, to participate in, numerous of language.
Daygot Leeyos:We've had a lot of different types of language style learning from, growing up. We would have a language camp where we would be have 2 weeks of language immersion, and we'd actually were given these little, you know, coins that we're able to spend at the store if we spoke the more one night that we spoke, you know, and if we spoke English, someone could take a claim from you. You know? So it was really cool. And so, so we found, you know, through immersion, it was I went through, you know, immersion programs that I liked that were the best.
Daygot Leeyos:And the one that I went to, in 6 Nations, it was Mohawk 1. And so, you know, specifically, you know, my mom chose to return here to Oneida and to learn Oneida and to revitalize Oneida instead of Mohawk, you know, and they're very similar. And so, you know, so I was in some Mohawk programs too, but it's it's it's important. And so I'd like my mom to answer, you know, why she because she was gonna enroll us into the Mohawk Freedom School, you know, when we were children. And, you know, she chose to to return here home to Oneida and dedicate her life to to language preservation and into ceremonial revitalization and to and bringing that if it wasn't for our language, we wouldn't be able to run our ceremonies and bring our ceremonies back.
Daygot Leeyos:So I'll let her answer that question.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Right. Sherry, thank you.
Sheila:It's true that I was it was very important to me to have my children learn our culture and our language, and I did want them to be in an immersion school. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought I need to be doing something here in my own homelands to help things along. And, I was the director of the health center for 5 years, and I was going through this change thinking of this. And that's when I asked to be get a pay reduction and go to the language program. And over the years, I transformed into a language teacher, and we were very fortunate to be able to have the funding from the nation to do the Burlitz immersion program.
Sheila:And every program has its pros and cons, but it was a nice program, and my daughter had an opportunity to be a part of it. And now today, we still converse in Oneida as much as we can. I am a second language speaker also. And, so I still have a lot to learn. But, being retired out of teaching language, I really, really miss it, and it's true what they say.
Sheila:If you don't use it, you lose it. And so that's why my daughter and I work hard to speak to each other in the language as much as we can. And, I would say that our nation is going through some changes now with the language program, but I'm really hoping for the best possible outcome even if we don't use the burrowitz emotion immersion again that we will have some other type of immersion because I know that our council members see that as very important to learning the language too.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Could you explain the Berlitz immersion?
Sheila:Well, basically, Berlitz is a program that's designed to teach many different languages. And when we contacted them, they were like, oh, sure. You can, teach all these teachers and have them ready to teach other teachers, make other teachers, and they had us translate 40 chapters of English. And a lot of the students were unhappy because a lot of it was based on travel, catching trains, renting hotels. But we did the best that we could do with it, and we integrated some culture.
Sheila:We had culture foreigner, and we had other things. We had introduced lessons that weren't in the chapters, but it was a very, very labor intensive project. And, but it's basically designed that you teach a class all in the language, not using English. And it's very difficult in the beginning, but my first students said to me that they go home and they dream in the language because they heard it all day long, and it was just ingrained right into their bones and their soul. I don't know if that explains it enough.
Sheila:But
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:That is true. I've been told that I I wake up in the middle of the night. I'm speaking in my dreams Lakota. So, you know, you know, something is happening spiritually there, with the language because it's like you say, it's our bones. It's our marrow, and that is is who we are.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:And the other question would be maybe, Teghat and Sherry, one of you, 30 speakers. And what is their approximate ages if there's only 30 left?
Daygot Leeyos:There's less there is less than 30. Yeah. A lot of them are elders, and there's we've had a lot of losses in our community. There's I mean, when I there was 30 when I wrote the report of, language preservation for suicide prevention. There there were 30.
Daygot Leeyos:And then, we have so now I think there's 27, could be could be mistaken. That's the first language speakers. Like, my mother was saying, my grandmother, they she grew up during a time where they were the parents refused to teach the children the language because they would be targeted in society. And everyone was being everyone was you know, it was it was right after the boarding schools. They didn't want their kids taken away.
Daygot Leeyos:You know? So my grandmother didn't learn the language growing up, and my mother took it. She she's sec second language learner, and so she took it upon herself to relearn the language and bring it back into our family. Let's
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:let's, go to the music here, interpreting and and understanding it. And one of the things is our children, the mothers that could be or could have been and the missing and murdered indigenous women and persons or people. Then you, sort of translate that integrated into the the music that you create. Can you tell us a little bit about that, the one that you sent to me that I heard distinctly about the murders?
Daygot Leeyos:Yep. MMIWPS. It's, my first single out. It's available on MP 3 right now, though it's still being mastered for the wave. And, that's still my first single on my album, and, you know, I'm lucky that I'm, you know, I'm still alive to be able to have the voice today to be able to release the song.
Daygot Leeyos:And I know lyrics, our bloodline is the frontline. I asked the question, why is it when my sisters sing this silent?
Daygot Leeyos:They don't want real Indians. They just want pretty princesses that don't say anything. Well, we the women that's fed up and indigenous standing up for injustice. Why? Why is it when my sisters sing, they silence us?
Daygot Leeyos:No more stolen sisters. Why is it when? The air we breathe is not free. Carbon markets, a land seized. It's all games and trigger breed.
Daygot Leeyos:They can't assimilate the Indian and me wake No more stolen sisters. Yes. What is it? When top tables turning, changing as mortals. Same as this earth is.
Daygot Leeyos:Can't quote numbers
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:on a value per. They stealing our women, taking our
Daygot Leeyos:dirt, ripping the veins from mother earth. Silence us. No more stolen sisters. What is it? It's from a people for survival.
Daygot Leeyos:The American holocaust who took all the gun shots, fight for the cause, take back, it's rightfully ours. They just behind bars, stripped to specs because we starve. Our nations are defeated. We're still growing and succeeding. They see it.
Daygot Leeyos:They try to rep sovereignty. This means tears running down my cheeks, my heart's bleeding because what I'm seeing
Daygot Leeyos:Just wake up.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Missing murdered indigenous women, MMIW, but they got Lias. Tell us more about that song.
Daygot Leeyos:That song itself, it was supposed to be I I was supposed to there was another version of it reported in Albuquerque, and I was supposed to release it. I was on foot for 4 days. I was targeted in Albuquerque. And my mother came on a plane, and she picked me up. And so, you know, like, I'm lucky that I'm I'm able to put this song out.
Daygot Leeyos:You know, it's a big thing. It's important. I've come this far in my life, so it was important for me to get it out because, you know, I just don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. And the men you know, it's do ever a lot of people know about, you know, the censorship being targeted, and the mainstream media and how, you know, women are blacklisted all the time. And, you know, we're not talking about, well, you know, what's gonna make someone money or profit or, you know, someone to capitalize off you a lot of times.
Daygot Leeyos:So that that was a big question. And many of us know know the answers already in the verses. That's what I talk about is our bloodline is, you know, just being indigenous. You know, it's nothing we did, and we didn't do anything wrong. It's just who we are.
Daygot Leeyos:It's just being indigenous. And it's just, so, yeah, so it's important for women for to know, hey, we got a voice and we're gonna use it. You know? Mhmm. You can You can you can try to censor us, but we're gonna keep speaking.
Daygot Leeyos:We're gonna get louder. So, you know, good luck because this is just the beginning.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:That's great. What I wanna do is you you listen to it and then you come back to it. And the question would be this, is that that language preservation awareness is encoded in the in the song even though you may be using English, there is the the feeling that it is Oneida. That it is indigenous and that if we are able to understand the the lyrics even deeper that the language of Oneida and other native languages are there and really can as you would think and as you would say prevent suicide in our nations. Your thoughts.
Daygot Leeyos:Yeah. If you look at my songs, I I'm on I have on AudioMac. I'm working on the album. You can look up Dayg0tleyos, d I spell it phonically, d a y g o tleeyos. I take the a out.
Daygot Leeyos:So, that's what my that's what my tag is, my handle. And, you can see that I I incorporate I start incorporating Oneida words into my songs, and I start incorporating them as baby talk. Instead of using an incorporated Oneida word, I'll take 2 word 2 Oneida words, you know, baby talk and put it in the song. And so as I evolve my songs, then I'm gonna use more Oneida in it. And, but I start out with words like, and that means, you know, our, original people.
Daygot Leeyos:And, you know, that's on the fry bread song that I had fry bread power. And then I used the Oneida words and concert. So, yeah, this for us, you know, like, for us, my my first single, there is one time in my career that I would like to translate my songs into Oneida, you know. And so and decided and, you know, until then, I am going to incorporate just words so I can teach people. I used to say the word, parts in different songs, and that means peace.
Daygot Leeyos:I wanna teach my language, you know, but I'm starting out using baby talk. As I become more fluent in my language too, then you'll see it in my songs and you'll see it evolve. And then so in the future, I want to be able to rerecord the English songs in in Oneida. That's one of the dreams I have. You know?
Daygot Leeyos:And I encourage, you know, any indigenous language speakers or musicians, artists do the same. I have a friend. He actually started translating Beatles songs in Mohawk, and it was just really beautiful. I encourage, you know, everyone to to to return to the, to our indigenous languages and our songs. You know?
Daygot Leeyos:So, yeah, I didn't I didn't use one night out in, in this song. I use it in the in the background, in the hype, but in the, the lyrics. I guess the most important thing is you know, because no matter what language we're using, you know, we're all fighting for our voice to be heard. You know? And so this is my first single.
Daygot Leeyos:And so, yeah, I was considering, using 1 Oneida. And then so instead, I decided to just use a little bit Oneida in the evolution of my songs so you'll be able to see it in my album. Oh, one more thing too on that last question real quick. Oh my god. She she's gonna be featured on the Miss and Murdered Indigenous Women song.
Daygot Leeyos:And so her her lyrics are gonna be in Oneida. So I'm looking forward to that, but in that remix version of the song.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Okay. That that's great. That that's we'll listen to that again and other songs too that you have. I was especially interested in song for Blood Creek, and we could talk about that later. But this is not gonna be just for native ears to hear.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:It's gonna go out to many other stations across the nation and world. So what what's going on, Tayga, is a lot of people are not going to understand what fry bread means. So those concepts that are gonna go out to the world in order to bring attention is what is fry bread? You know, what how in the context of what what that is, it's not a traditional food for native people. Could you explain that why fry bread is a very different meaning?
Daygot Leeyos:Okay. Because well, first of all, it was a commodity, and it was given and that's something that our our nation's transformed with. And so in our in in our communities, we actually call it. And so another reference for an actual native being is. You know?
Daygot Leeyos:And so, like, you know, that's another way we refer to, you know, I guess, even, you know, some racist groups, you know, say skin. You know? But they say skan, and it references being an indigenous person. And that so we say, And so that's why I I say in my song, and it it means the original people. The lyrics to the song is no matter what they call us, we will always be originals, Native American, indigenous.
Daygot Leeyos:That's the original beings. That's what we refer to as being a Native American.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Thank you. You said something yesterday that I wrote down, and it you called it, you survived the land of entrapment.
Daygot Leeyos:I was targeted in New Mexico, and it's hard to talk about. It really is. But, you know, I'm grateful that I'm able to talk about it. My mom came and saved me. I was targeted.
Daygot Leeyos:They at the hotel, they towed my car. I was on my feet for 4 days. And so my mom came and she got on a plane and she came and, I called her from someone else's phone because I didn't have a phone charger. And then, I stayed where I was and she can't pick me up. And then they were still targeting me at the hotel and you know, because it was the it was the police force that was targeting me by the time my mom was there.
Daygot Leeyos:And then so I just got in my car and I drove off out of New Mexico. I didn't say nothing to them. I just took them I just went right in my car and took out right from the hotel. It just you know, I went out there for school and, so right now I'm in Utica University. I was in a a cinematic arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico Institute of American Indian Arts.
Daygot Leeyos:And, now I'm
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Mhmm.
Daygot Leeyos:I'm doing media communications, art and performing arts, and Unified University for this fall. So I'll have 2 years left. So
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Well, thank thank you for that. And Sherry Deglan also. And I wanted to really emphasize to people that there's several spots or or sites, websites that you can go to. You can watch Daygots on YouTube at dayg0ts. Also, soundcloud.com, d a y d o t s, and AudioMac like she says.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:And check this check the, the name out, check the songs out, and there there are songs of survival, songs of of strength, sounds of language, sounds of what's going on now in in Degas generation. And I'm sure a lot of that is coming from the DNA of the Oneida, from native people before America. And a lot of native people are not referring to ourselves as native Americans anymore because we are here and still are here before America ever showed up. And part of that is coming out in the music that Degas Lios is is talking about and singing and, rapping with. And I'd like to thank you again.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Are there any final thoughts, Degas or or Sherry?
Daygot Leeyos:I guess one thing I would like to touch about, talk about real quick is in our language preservation. In the immersion, some of the things that we'll do are activities that we we will do in real life, like cooking, shopping, playing sports, sewing, planting. And so, those are activities. So we learn how to use the language in real life activities. Another thing that we'd have is our language night games where we'd have family game nights.
Daygot Leeyos:And so one of the thing that I'm looking forward to do now that I'm I've returned home. I'm here on nation land in Oneida, Indian Nation. And I would like to start a language day nest. Right now, I I started a bee I I have an 2 bee boxes now. And so, there's things that it's just really going back to cultivating the land and, seeing what I can make of the sustainability practices here in Oneida.
Daygot Leeyos:And there is this, the lady there's this lady named Laura Cornelia Kellogg. And so this is who I'm writing my screenplay about. Because when I went to a school, my teacher told me, you know, not to write about, not not to write fiction about yourself because no matter who you write about, you're gonna be writing about yourself. Your story is not over yet. And so I chose Laura Kennett Kellogg.
Daygot Leeyos:And what she her vision and she was Oneida, and her vision was called Lolomi, and that means hope and and hoping. And that was to have a sustainable industrial society. And so I wanted to bring that back to life here in Oneida.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Okay. This is, about it. We ran out of time, and, I probably have to edit some out, but that may be repeatable. And so just to understand that, and it has to fit 25 minutes. You know, we went further than we should, but that's okay.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:I I could probably bring because I wanted to play music in between, you know, your thoughts. And that's all I can say now. We'll do what we can and explain it. And maybe as you go along, they get and and, Sherry, the the evolution of yourself coming from that situation you were in in New Mexico. And then now you're going to school and you're understanding a little bit more as we go along here to come back and visit First Voices Radio so that people can can see and hear especially the younger people the transformation, the evolving through your language, actually, people can at least hear it and witness it by what you say.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:And I think that's one thing we can do is invite you back in the future. Again, Degga Elias, thank you so much for being here.
Daygot Leeyos:Awesome. Thank you for having us. Y'all go big thank you. Freedom.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Freedom. Freedom. Free. Free. Free.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Free. Free. Free. Free. Free.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Free. Free. Hello. I wanna welcome you back to First Voices Radio. Again, my name is Tioksen Ghosthorse.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Many of you may not know, and some do, that I am a faculty at The New School University in New York City, Parsons School of Design, and I held a class, a mixture of under grad and post grad students taking a course in becoming earth, facilitated by Halal Malak and myself for the spring semester 2024, the voices converged in upstate New York in the Catskill State Park. And after spending a day, we talked about silence. I wanted to know what the students thought. Some were from urban, some rural, but all were in school in the city of New York surrounded by woods, mountains, rivers, and no connection, no in range for cell phones. Basically, they were out of touch, out of range.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:And here is their thoughts, and I wanted to bring it to you. And First Voice is to kinda let you know what I'm doing and what I'm doing with students and working with nature, keeping that alive in the hearts and the minds of another generation. Maybe they'll remember Earth in a good way also, a becoming Earth.
Raiha Zainab:Hi. My name is Raiha Zainab, and in our class, we've been talking a lot about water, and nature and kind of returning to nature, especially being in the context of New York City. And today, we came to these beautiful woods, and we stopped by the stream. And I had this moment when I was just listening to the song of the water and kinda sitting in silence with it, and this is this is kind of about that moment. I long for the water, it longs for me back.
Raiha Zainab:I've been crying out for the soul of the worlds, asking for a transcendence I cannot know. Asking for the ocean, she calls my name. I long for her love. Ask if she'll wash away this pain. I cry for the river.
Raiha Zainab:It cries for me back. I've spent so much time away from the silence of the elements, from the way. Maybe all we were meant to do is breathe. Then we made so much clamor, got lost in all this noise. I want to come back to the peace we avoid.
Raiha Zainab:Is it not really so simple? Was it not meant to be so simple? I search for the silence. It settles me in. Asks me to remember who I have always been.
Raiha Zainab:Before all that clamor. Before all that noise. You are made of the ocean. You are made of the sea. She speaks to you and whispers.
Raiha Zainab:You can always come back to me.
Dalton Dancer:When I think of silence, I think about how I grew up with a lot of silence because I grew up, an only child, in a rural area where I didn't really have other kids that I played with, so I spent a lot of time by myself, and I spent a lot of time in nature. And it's crazy to think about how I lacked that silence in my life now that I, you know, I'm a student in New York City, and I have a cell phone and, I have so much that I'm always thinking about and considering, or I've opened so much information that's always coming at me. And I think about how, a lot of students or a lot of students from from New York City or some a lot of people from New York City come upstate, for college, to Western York or around here. And something that I've heard about is that a lot of those students, when they move out of New York City to a more rural area or to the other cities in in New York State, which are a lot quieter in comparison to New York City, that they actually experience a lot of anxiety because they're not used to that silence.
Dalton Dancer:That's interesting to me because I think the the reverse is a lot clearer that, like, people from quiet rural airplaces when they come to New York City are very overwhelmed and anxious, but the reverse can be true. And I just think about how Emporia is to make space or silence enough. You're not used to it. It can be an adjustment. I just don't wanna ever be in that place where, like, silence makes me anxious.
Dalton Dancer:I wanna be, you know, acquainted with silence. And my name is, Dalton, Dalton Dancer.
Erwin:I wrote about my the change in, like, my relationship with silence, and I really didn't wanna write from, like, the eye point of view, but I felt like I didn't have the language to do otherwise. So I feel like it's still about other things but before New York silence meant all the things that went unsaid which was quite a lot of things. Silence back then held anger and fear and might have been the only thing holding me. My first year in New York, the silence broke open. The city sounds were music that I rejoiced in and I finally heard the sound of my own voice.
Erwin:My first time home, a familiar silence was crushing. I sang an endless tune to fill it and remind myself that it could not hold me in. Living in New York again, I'm free of the past and heavy silence, but I've noticed there are also heavy voices that can drown out my songs. As I sing, they grow louder making sound of battle. Why can't it be a symphony?
Erwin:Though in the dissonance, I've learned a new tune. For For silence is my intuition and the new music I listen to. My name is Erwin.
Joseph LaVey:Hi. My name is Joseph LaVey. Silence is spatial. Default. Principle.
Joseph LaVey:Can there be visual silence? Sense based silences? Who in silence? They were here before us. They should be treated as wise, respectable.
Joseph LaVey:A higher power of antiquity, sanctity. Silence is sacred, and as a rarity to be with. I think of silence overseeing death as in mourning, mourning all things, holding silence, echoing silence, mirroring, reflection as though to be confronted. Who are we when left with them with silence? I am vulnerable inside out.
Joseph LaVey:Silence is the language we all know, written on my veins like a prayer for the land, the water, the sky. Silence, I ask you, be my guide to becoming Earth.
Alejandra:3 days ago, a loud siren next to me popped my ear. For the last 3 days, there's been a loud void sound in my left ear. Trying to bring it back to normal, this void made me aware of the thirst of silence. A thirst that struggles to be pleased in New York City. Sirens, screaming, casseroles, boom boxes, all weaving a symphony of urgency, a symphony of a system that doesn't stop.
Alejandra:Yesterday, silence felt like a treasure that I couldn't find. In the midst of this scratching noise, I asked my body, what should I be listening to? The sirens of my heart went off. They screamed, I am not enough to my inside. They say what an ancestor silences, a second generation carries it in the body.
Alejandra:How much of this pain I carry isn't even mine. I now hear the pain in shape of silence from my female ancestors that had to be silent as a way to survive. The silence I'm seeking is weaved between the threads of breath, the 5 senses, and the 4 elements. It is gifted by the land, by the river, by the breeze, confirming that the great mystery speaks with no word. Alejandra.
Skyler Martin:Hi. My name is Skyler Martin. So I wrote, I feel like I'm never in silence. I'm always moving, thinking, never spontaneously silent. Some nights when I'm walking, I home, I pause my music and listen to the silence in the city, notorious for constant sirens yelling and honking.
Skyler Martin:I list listen to the wind blow its way past buildings, the leaves on trees rustling in conversation. We go into nature to escape, to sit in silence, but is it really? Everything, every being is moving, growing, becoming, a part of us or Earth. The water speaks as it rushes over rocks, past plants at its edge full of life, and the life that will keep going, past years and generations, the silence or noise found in nature will always stay constant.
Nora:My name is Nora, and I wanted to write without using I or nouns, and I totally failed. I think it's not quite possible in English, so I'm using I as nouns, but, try anyway. Silence to me is a state of being where I allow myself to deeply relax and listen. I'm dissolving into a place of expansiveness and holocentric song. Silence is not the absence of sound, but rather the receptiveness to awe that sings.
Nora:An orchestra of polyrhythms, a more than human multiplicity of vibrations. By deeply relaxing, I shift from the front of my body dominated by the sense of vision toward the back of my body where listening and sensing can more easily unfold. I'm breathing in relationship with the many. I'm floating on the vibratory waves of that which is too vast to be named. Time does not exist.
Bowen Li:Hello. I'm Bowen Li. I have my poem actually in my phone, which is digital version, but I think I I should do an improvisation, just because I experienced so much after the day. Digital desert. Digital desert.
Bowen Li:I'm living in a small box, being silent all the time. Well, I've been keeping thinking about a way to speak my voice. Where should I find the answer? Hear the spur flying across the valley. I see rivers, invisible forces changing the shape of the land.
Bowen Li:They have a lot to say. I guess I found the answer to it from all the elements and the land I'm living.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:And that's the students from the class Becoming Earth. This, colonial project is built on a violent exclusion, genocide, and disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples and involves the marginalization of ancestral and traditional forms of knowledge. In spite of this, these ways of knowing and forms of wisdom have survived and are integral for social and ecological transformation. So in this class, we discuss the historical, philosophical, and spiritual roots of our current cultural etymologies and ecological crises as we are all present on this land. And students were introduced to indigenous voices on topics involving cosmo vision, world views and ways of knowing, relations with land, animism, and natural law.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:And by going deeper into western world views, intellectualism, and modernity as they relate to knowledge, we studied perspectives of indigenous critiques, including calls for decolonizing education, research, and land relations in food systems. We also explored different ways of relating with one another in Earth. We also related to the deeper listing and shifting paradigms of knowledge. We used art and storytelling and music design and experimental research practices on as they relate to language and the land, and how knowledge is transmitted differently in in different cultures, and the future as it possibly shapes. And these are only a few statements from students.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Their words will bring you more next week possibly. So I wanna thank you students for all being there, becoming Earth.
Narrator:Dying. You know you've got to find a way
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:Alright. And as we go out here on First Voices Radio with Teo Ksin and myself here, goes towards with what's going on on plane for change. And before that was silent running, very old one, Mike and the mechanics. And the first song was a water song by Vince Fontaine out of Canada. And I'd like to thank our producer, Liz Hill, Red Lake Ojibwe.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:So I have to remember that. Wow. I have it right here. I just didn't read it. Okay.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse:But I like to say, My name is. Thank you for joining us here on First Voices.
