Inspiration and values

Who or what has inspired you to pursue your program? What values/teachings does that person live by? Or how can you use your education as tool to live by that teaching?

Sharing

Is there something from your culture that you have been working on or that you feel relates to what you are learning in your program or courses? If not how can you use the cultural item/process to explain a teaching or a personal story that relates to what you learned from the item or process.

Example:

Learning to cut fish at first did not seem difficult, until I tried hanging on to the slippery salmon while trying to cut neatly. This reminds me of my experience with trying to keep up with my tests and assignments and trying to keep a social life. It all seems like a slippery slope; once I focus too much on one the other slips out of my reach. Cutting salmon for me symbolizes the balance between hanging on and moving forward to reach my goals that will benefit my family and community. If I don’t learn how to cut salmon than there is less opportunities for my family and friends to have salmon during the year. Just as if I don’t finish my program than there may be less opportunities for myself to take care of my family and support my community. Once the salmon is cut I can decide whether to cook it up or make smoked salmon or even make dry fish. When I finished my program I had more opportunities just as I did once I was able to cut the salmon and decide what was the best way to share and preserve the fish for the future.

 

 

Story and/or Song

Are there stories from your culture or a song that you relate to and why? Does this story or song relate to what you are learning in your program or in the course you are currently taking?

Example:

When raven stole the sun is a common Tlingit creation story. Raven stole the sun from a chief who was a wealthy man, by making himself into a pine needle. The chief’s daughter went to the river to get water and drank the pine needle, so raven became the chief’s grandson. The chief loved his grandson so much that when raven cried he would quickly cheer him up. One day raven cried for the chief’s boxes that he kept safe and out of reach. Raven cried so hard for the first box that the chief gave raven the box to look at. Raven opened the box and stars shot out and went up into the sky making the earth a little brighter. The Grandfather was not angry, but then raven cried again and a lot longer to convince his grandfather to give him the second box. The grandfather finally caved in and gave baby raven the box. Raven then opened up the box and let the moon out. It went up into the sky by the stars making the world brighter. The grandfather was upset, but still loved his grandson. The last box was left and raven had to cry and cry to get his grandfather, the chief, to give up the last box. Raven then of course opened up the last box and released the sun up into the sky. There was no longer darkness and raven brought the stars, moon, and sun to the earth.

My own interpretation of the story, as it relates to my life, will change throughout my life span. This is something I didn’t realize as a young kid listening Elders and story tellers who shared how raven stole the sun. When I think of this story it reminds me that raven found an innovative solution to help all Tlingit people have light. As I continue my education and learning more about my own culture; I will work towards finding innovative solutions with the communities I work with. Raven did not just show up and take the stars, moon, and sun. He built a relationship with the Chief and the daughter by becoming part of the family. This has two sides; the first is the importance of relationship building and the other is to be wary of the people you work with and be careful with the knowledge you share. Raven used his ability to make the world better for all Tlingit people. This is a goal I am working towards by figuring out what skills I have to offer to help my family, and community move forward from the past to help create a better world for the future generations to come.

Cultural Identity Groups

Photo by Natalia 

Cultural identity refers to the many groups of people that we relate to and we feel that we belong to.This could refer to: ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, education, career, language, foods, generation, beliefs, social class, locality, history, and etc.

An example of a cultural identity list might look like this: Tlingit, Alaska native, American, Alaskan, English, female, university student, Fulbright scholar, health educator, Gluten free/dairy free foods, millennial, christian, etc.

Feel free to make this page private by going to the right and clicking on the edit hyperlink under publish>visibility>public>edit. There is more information in the how to guide in the home page.

Photo credit: Natalia. 2016. The skirt project: Connecting gender, religion, and colonialism. Retrieved from                       https://reconciliationsyllabus.wordpress.com