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Listening
to snatches of language coming from every room and every grouping
of people was like watching swirls of beautiful butterflies being
released. O.K. ... a few people were left at the airport, there
weren't any towels, the first full morning of the conference was
marred by the closing of the park to facilitate the Park Service's
"Run for the Seals" and our traditional Saturday night songs and
stories around the fire pit was rained out. Amazingly enough,
none of those things seemed to disturb anyone. There was such
an overwhelming air of excitement, anticipation, camaraderie,
such a consuming desire to share and to learn that even my ingrained
German inclination to see only the problems was completely eliminated.
People
started arriving by plane, van, train, car and taxi on a clear,
but cold and windy Friday afternoon at the Headlands Institute,
a conference center run by the National Park Service. The natural
beauty of the site, nestled at the foot of windswept bluffs, next
to a natural lagoon, with a long expanse of beach and the Pacific
Ocean stretching out to the horizon all in view of dorms and meeting
rooms was a miraculous addition to the ambiance of the conference.
Friday afternoon started out with a special workshop on audio
taping techniques and protocol. Melissa Nelson, Phil Klasky and
Colin Farish of The Cultural Conservancy led participants through
the lessons they've learned in working with various tribes on
culturally sensitive material. L. Frank Manriquez and China Ching
shared short "digital stories" with the audience that they have
been created in trainings with Native Americans led by Third World
Majority.
The
first dinner held in the common dining room set the standard for
delicious and abundant food prepared and cheerfully served by
the Headlands Institute chef and staff. The excellence of the
food was no small unifying measure throughout the remainder of
the conference. Participants looked forward to each meal and returned
to work afterwards refreshed, nourished and very happy. After
dinner Friday, with most late arrivals accounted for, everyone
made their way down to the Conference Center and after introducing
themselves and talking a bit about why they were attending, Loren
Bommelyn (Tolowa), shared with participants his efforts in revitalizing
Tolowa in his community and the enormous progress that has been
made. By the time introductions and Loren's talk were over, it
was already 10PM and most everyone was ready to settle in and
get some rest for the following day's full schedule.
Saturday
morning dawned windy and cold again, with quite a few threatening
clouds scudding across the sky. What seemed like a few thousand
runners, garbed in t-shirts and shorts and numbered jerseys milled
around the conference area, waiting to start their "Run for the
Seals". Ignoring the general chaos of loudspeakers and runner's
entourages ( including lots of dogs!) participants filed back
to the Conference Center after a fulfilling breakfast and settled
in to the days activities. Saturday's keynote speaker was Jessie
Little Doe Fermino (Wampanoag) who graduated from MIT's linguistics
program, had the honor of working with the late Ken Hale and who
is deeply involved in efforts to revitalize Wampanoag.
Jessie
took her shoes off and proceeded to pace, circle and jump during
her moving presentation about her efforts to bring Wampanoag back
and the absolute necessity of bringing the language back. Jessie
exhorted the group to remember that language had been created
for them, not made by them and that as long as the people took
care of the language, the language would take care of them. She
implored listeners to ignore those that would tell them their
language is dead saying that as long as the elders who passed
were in the ground and you lived on the ground, the language was
there. The electric energy of her presentation and her obvious
passion for the work completely engaged the audience. No one wanted
Jessie to stop, but finally it was time to move on to the days
scheduled workshops.
The
co-occurring panels on Language Revitalization and Awakening Sleeping
Languages were an impossible combination - everyone wanted to
attend both! Tears and laughter mingled together with lots of
hope and new inspiration. After lunch choices became a little
easier as the panels divided along funding strategies and using
language in daily activities and language in stories. The long
day of panels ended with a wonderful dinner and then the fire
was lit outside in preparation for an evening of story and song.
Just when Eddie Sartuche began the fireside sharing, the rain
began to come down hard enough to move everyone inside to the
far less inviting neon-lit meeting room. In spite of the lack
of ambiance, songs and stories were shared into the night and
participants had the opportunity to listen to songs from Chippewa's,
Rick Smith and Dan Miller and one of Jessie's Wampanoag students
and to share the very different songs and stories from California
tribes with them and each other.
Sunday
morning the sky started to clear and the group settled in for
their last day of the conference. Sunday's keynote speaker was
Chris Simms (Acoma Pueblo) a linguistics professor at the University
of New Mexico and one of the founders of Linguistic Institute
for Native Americans.
Chris
delivered much of her two hour presentation entirely in Acoma
and really showed the audience how to use total physical immersion
in the transmitting of language. The amazing thing about Chris'
presentation was that everyone understood her, even though they
didn't understand Acoma- it was the most brilliant display of
masterly technique and Chris left little doubt about why her program
is such a success. After being completely inspired and renewed
by listening to Chris and watching how she worked, the group was
ready for the final panel of the conference. The plenary session
was titled "Tribal Leaders Forum on Language Revitalization" and
even though a few tribal leaders were unable to attend at the
last minute, those that did more than made up for their absence.
Alvis Johnson, Chairperson of the Karuk tribe; Greg Castro, former
tribal chair of the Salinan Nation and Steve Banegas, Chair of
the Barona Luisenos all shared with the audience their thoughts
on the challenges of supporting language efforts through tribal
government. It was a wonderful session, one that bears repeating
in the future and it brought lots of audience question and answer
at the end. Chris Simms shared one of the strategies she used
in getting tribal support - teach the young people a prayer in
language and have them go to the tribal council, share the language
and ask for support. Sounds like a winning strategy!
As
the group slowly left the conference room and headed back for
a last shared meal, we stopped to look at the cordoned off trees
where the Park Service had told us a horned owl was nesting and
after fruitlessly searching in the tops of the trees, came face
to face with a very alert looking horned owl mama, sitting in
her huge nest almost at eye level in the crotch of one of the
first trees. From there we came upon a restive group of folks
all dressed for serious hiking, waiting for Sage La Pena to lead
them on a native plant hike through the Headlands, identifying
the plants in language and sharing their healing properties. Many
participants had to pack up and wend their long way home after
lunch and it was a time of mixed emotion, so happy to have been
together and seen each other and so sad to say goodbye and know
it would most likely be quite some time until we all met again.
As L. Frank pointed out, watching the faces of participants from
the front of the room throughout the conference was the most moving
experience of all. The faces of the audience were filled with
a desperate hunger and yearning, perfectly beautiful in their
open desire to absorb as much of the knowledge and information
as they could to save their languages.
After
all the goodbyes were said and the dorms cleaned up and papers
packed up, we made our way to the Headlands Center for the Arts,
right up the road, where the grand finale of the Conference would
take place. Sunday evening was planned for a public presentation
of stories and song in language for a broader audience. The Headlands
Center for the Arts staff co-sponsored an evening performance
with a dinner afterwards at the Center. Two performances were
planned; John Moreno and Georgiana Valoyce Sanchez ( Chumash/O'odham)
shared the Chumash story of the Dolphin and the Rainbow Bridge
in song and story accompanied by their magnificent "Ocean" drum
that L.Frank Manriquez played in the background. The drum is round
and arms width wide and as you slowly move it from one side to
the other, it sounds for all the world like the tide rushing into
shore and back out again. The 120+ people in the audience were
enraptured!
After
the Chumash story, Clarence Hostler and Charlie Thom along with
Phil Tripp and with a special guest appearance by Brian Tripp,
told the Yurok basket story against a beautiful backdrop of projected
slides of the Klamath River area that Deborah Bruce had added
basket designs to. The story was compelling and the dance and
song completely mesmerizing, but the show was completely stolen
by Clarence's eleven year-old granddaughter, Chalisa Hostler.
Chalisa came out during the show in full regalia and sang in accompaniment
to the story in what was the most crystal clear, pure and hauntingly
beautiful voice that any of us had heard. We were all sad to see
the performances come to an end, but it was a joy to share the
extraordinary loveliness of the culture and the language with
a whole new group of people. The Art Center prepared a fabulous
dinner and conversation between audience and performers was lively.
Staff at the Headlands Center for the Arts told us that this was
the largest audience and most engaging event they'd had in quite
some time and there was no doubt in our minds that we need to
be doing more cultural sharing of this type.
If
the conference participant surveys and the audience surveys from
the performance and the many, many calls and cards of thanks and
appreciation we have received are any indication, the Language
is Life Conference was a huge success. Now it is up to all of
us that attended to keep the momentum going and carry the work
forward so that for the 6th biannual Language is Life Conference
we'll need to find a space twice as large to hold all people that
are carrying on this most critical aspect of cultural work- keeping
the language alive and release the butterflies again.
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"Finding
Our Voices"
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March
8th-10th, the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
sponsored the 5th Biannual Language is Life Conference held at
the Marin Headlands in Sausalito, California. Over 250 participants
representing over fifty California languages and a smattering
of out of state tribes spent three days attending workshops, participating
in panels, listening to keynote speakers and in general, networking
around language like never seen before! As always, the logistics
of bringing together folks from the far corners and remote regions
of the state, made the actual assemblage a sweet reunion for friends
and acquaintances that rarely have a chance to see each other
and opened the possibility of making many new friends for many
others. 
