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The speaker, who works in the education department, is conducting focus groups to gather input on how K-12 schools can better prepare young people to lead the tribal nation in the future. They are asking for strengths in the current preparation of students for post-high school education, training, or entering the workforce. Some examples given include dual credit programs and extracurricular activities like HOSA, which prepares students for nursing careers. The speaker emphasizes the importance of input from elders and mentions that the feedback will be sent to evaluators. They also mention the challenges some students face, such as family issues and the need for life skills training. Overall, the goal is to gather insights on improving the preparation of tribal youth after high school. My mother was police rescue and my father is a taxi card from the Caldwell Reservation. I work under the education department, I'm a K-12 education specialist and we're doing these focus groups, so we want to hear from you and what you say in regards to our objective here is we would like your input on how K-12 schools can better prepare our young people to lead our tribal nation into the future. So all of these questions are geared in that area for our objective. There's no right or wrong answers, we greatly appreciate you guys coming and providing input in regards to our schools and like I told you earlier, we did do a focus group in Lafayette and between one side to the other side, we need your input too, you know, with your schools either it being here at Kamii or Fino, Grangeville, whatever you guys feel and your input as elders of the tribe are really important for us, okay? I also gave you guys a copy of the questions that we're going to go over, feel free to write on there if you forget to mention something and also we have Jenny here and she's going to be taking notes and we're also recording and actually these notes and the recording will be sent off to individual evaluators, not within the tribe, a contracted evaluator and they will bring it all together and get a consensus of what your guys' input is, okay? Is there any questions? Nope. Okay, so again our objective is we would like your input on how K-12 schools can better prepare our young people to lead our tribal nations in the future and the first question I have, it's in two parts, there are two questions. Okay, so our first question is, it's in two questions, are about the preparation of our young people for post-high school education, training or entry into the workforce? So when students graduate, are they preparing them for higher education, any type of training or even directly entering into the workforce? So please provide strengths you feel are strengths regarding the preparation schools are making for our youth. I know in Lapwai and I can only refer to Lapwai because I have a daughter there and they're providing dual credit, so where they can take college courses at the high school. So do you guys know of any other programs within the school that they're preparing our youth for when they get out of school? Yeah. I know here in Kamei, they had a group of young women that were interested in pursuing a nursing career. So they were part of this group called HOSA and they were, you know, did the studying for it, got their CNAs out of the way, testing all that and that was kind of like preparing them for, you know, opening up that field of nursing to them. And the little gal that grew up next to us, she is now a nurse, you know, because she started that, you know, when she was a sophomore, junior in high school as an extracurricular activity. And it's, you know, I guess more and more girls are joining that because they see that chance that, you know, maybe that's the field I want to go into. So it's called HOSA, H-O-S-A, I can't know all the words. HOSA? Yeah. And, you know, of course the counselors probably work with the women because you just can't walk into nursing and say, I want to be a nurse. Yeah, yeah. And I know that Tribal Education Program, Kay Kidder, is working with some of our adults, getting them certified CNAs. Yeah, when we brought my mom home, we have actually, it was nice to have a tribal member come in and help us with my mom. So, can you guys think of anything the schools are preparing our youth, our tribal youth, as they leave high school? Do you guys know any grandchildren? I mean, I know you mentioned your, is it your daughter? My granddaughter. Your granddaughter on a society. Are they, do you see them preparing her at all? I don't, I don't ever, you know, only when she, she's so busy all the time, it's like, I see her here and there, but, you know, that's where I thought, I wish I would have had these questions before, because she was just at my house. Oh, and you could ask her. I could ask her, yeah, I could ask her what, you know, what all they're doing. Because like I said, she tried to explain to me this thing that they went on, and it was over my head, but I listened to her. And then, you're like your granddaughter, because we're actually going to reach out with the focus group and reach out to you. So, the questions you're seeing now, some of our tribal youth are going to be seeing them, too, so they can provide input. Any other comments? Do you have? Oh, go ahead. My great-granddaughter, little girl, she comes home and tells us about some of what's going on at school, and there is some, they have different, I think during one of their classes, there's a special training person that comes out and talks to them in class, so. We're recruiting them and stuff? Some resources that they do. Oh, okay, okay, so they actually come, people come into the school and provide resources for them, what they can do, yep. The young gal that was my neighbor and became a nurse, she is part tribal, she's part, I think, Choctaw, that's Indian. Oh, nice. So, and, but one thing I did like about our school is because, you know, one of my grandsons struggled there for a while, and they had them in a class on basic living techniques to live by, you know, like checking accounts, financing, budgeting. Life skills. Life skills, yeah, because I wish someone would have showed me some life skills. But I like that training, you know, and some kids aren't ready for college when they get out of high school, so they've got to find something else, you know, to get some emphasis and say, hey, I can do this, you know, maybe I'll take a class or two, you know. Yeah, more of a training than an academic training, and it's hard for some of our kids because some of our kids are kind of stuck because they're drunk and alcohol with the parents, and they just kind of get lost, and I know that, I have a grandson, and he was going to Tammany, and the mother got out on the drugs, and he, I used to always get my grandkids every weekend, every holiday, because they wanted to be with me and not mom because of the drugs, but they, he pulled me aside and told me he didn't want to be down there no more, he got real depressed, and one day his dad happened to be, because I told him, I'm the grandma, I have no say, I can't do anything, you need to tell your dad, and one day his dad was riding with us, I told him, this is your chance, tell dad now, you know, so he told his dad, and the dad called me one day and he said, mom, meet me down, and bring him with you, he said, and meet us down here, and I can't remember getting a spot, and we got down there, and he told me, he said, you go up there, because his mom was living in a motel room or whatever, he said, you go there, tell your mom to give you all your belongings, and if she wants to get on with you guys, call me, I'll call the police, and we'll show up with the police officer, so we did, we went there, and we went up, and there was no, she knew, and she gave him his clothing and everything, and when my son went up to tell me to, the principal up there, I thought, how can a consultant say that about a child, but my son said the principal up there told me that, my son would never graduate, or his son would never graduate, he missed too much school, the grades were just shot, so much absences, and so he came to Orfino, and he lived with me, and he graduated from Orfino High School a couple years ago, his dad told him that, he said, you should take that down, and take that diploma, and show that principal what can be, you know. Already labeled him. Yeah, yeah. That was a little bit of work, and you know, help. Family support. Yeah, yeah, you know, and presents, he had presents in the school that helped him, just, he had the support there, that he didn't have down there. Yeah. So I'm glad it was a happy ending. Yeah. That's awesome, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, you get those kids, and it's sad, you know, and you know, like with me, I'm a grandma, and I don't have, and that's why I kept, they think that you're just miracle workers, you know, they just think I can do everything, and it's like, I can, I'm telling you, I wish I could. You know how many times I've driven away, and leaving you guys there, and tears are coming down my face, you know. Yeah. I mean, they're out looking out the door, and they're crying, and not wanting me to leave them, and, but yeah, it's like, you know, because you have those kids that are there. I know I've been through it, and it's sad to see. Yeah, it is. You know, so if I see a kid out there, I'm going to donate or help or whatever. I've even had other kids come into my home that we've helped, that my grandson has brought in, and. You know, it's true. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. I too have the same experience. My husband and I, we raised our own four boys, then we raised five of our grandchildren, and we worked full time, and it was difficult, and we had to hire, like a nanny person that came in and helped us out, because if we didn't have that nanny help, it was hard to, you know, it was hard in life to raise five grandkids and get them off to school and provide for their well-being every day. It was difficult. And they were full of energy. At that age, they were full of energy, but. Awesome. But it was a good experience. We got them raised and did the best we could, so. She's out on her own now. Yeah. I have to admit, when I moved back from South Dakota, I lived there for a number of years, and I didn't have nowhere, no job, no place to live, and I actually had to live with my mom for like three months, until I was able to get off my feet and get a home and everything, so. Thank you, as parents and as grandparents, thank you. That's awesome. I think growing up and going to school in the 60s here, you know, and particularly in high school, we had one little girl, and she did miss a lot of school, you know, and she was, her mother was very involved with politics, always wanted to be at meetings, so she had to drive her mom to these meetings and stuff like that, and she herself became a very vocal lady, but I always remember sitting in class, and she wasn't there as usual, and they called the roll call, and it was my government class, and she showed up for school that day, and both her and my son were mousetrapped open because the teacher looked like, oh my god, you decided to come today. Aww. And I thought, you know, that's such a discouragement, you know, see me after school, I'll help you get assignments out, but right now I think our school is really attempting to get better counselors, especially, you know, for ones that can help the kids prepare, and what do they call it, those teachers that help students to have, you know, learning skills, and one of my grandsons had to go through speech because of his speech, and another one has autism, and she really totally understands that deficiency in him, you know, he's very smart, you know, you know, questions me, so she can see when she's struggling at an assembly or a crowded room, she'll take the headphones too, and she'll put them on, you know, that's a big nuisance to him is loud noise, so, but I think we're getting a different style of teachers than what we had, you know, and teachers were looking at the whole child and not just the academic sort of thing, okay. Yeah. So, the question again is, the first part is, provide some examples of school strikes, and with you sharing, you know, them looking at the whole child and not just the academic portion of it, and then you guys sharing your stories regarding the extended family, you know, that you guys were able to be those youth heroes, you know, to move on, and the school allowed it, I mean, Tammany, that's really a sad story regarding Tammany. So, the next question, and you guys already touched base on it, is where and how can schools improve? How do you think schools can improve? And even though a lot of your children, I mean, you have grandchildren, I mean, I have grandchilds in eighth grade, you know, where and how do you think schools can improve? You know, I was asking Robin yesterday about J01. Right. She said, and she didn't really know about J01, J01 used to help a lot. Yes. Back when my kids went to school, they helped out a lot, because she said that she wouldn't mind having, like, looking into tutoring. I said, well, I know that they used to have tutors. I said, I don't know now, because I don't, my grandkids don't, you know, they don't need But I know that they used to, you know, get tutoring. Did J01 pay for it? Yeah, I think we used to have a J01 committee, you know, several years ago, when I retired from my job and moved back home. But it only lasted maybe about a year, and there was no interest for J01. We didn't get any help from any of the tribal programs, so it just kind of went by the wayside. You know, years ago, years ago, we took it upon ourselves, and we created our own little community committee, and we would have fundraisers. And one time, the kids, the school wasn't going to let the kids play the game, because they didn't pay their fees. Oh, thanks. So, Chris and I went to talk to the principal, and explained to him that we have this committee, we have the funding, we have the money sitting in the bank, but our secretary lives in Tamiami, and we just have to wait for her to come down to get the money out. And if he could let those kids play that game, we assured him that he would get his, they would get their money the next day, you know. And he did, they did let them kids play, and their secretary did come down the next day and get the money out and go pay those kids a fee. But I remember back in the day, that was the avenue, the Orpheno parents, or just whoever, just community, you know, we just got together, and we'd just have little potlucks or whatever, and have meetings, and you know, we kind of would go with the principal here and there, back in the day, but you know, I don't know, I have nothing to do with the school anymore. But I know back then, we just had our own little committee. That wasn't part of the school. That wasn't part of nothing, we just kind of made it just our little Indian community, just kind of come up with it together, and had our fundraisers, and just were, you know, doing things with our kids. So it's still ongoing with us. We help our... Help your own? Yeah, we never only help our own. We see our monthly potlucks, and we talk about fundraisers for our children. For our children and the community. Yeah, and it's kind of crazy because, you know, who knows the kids better than their own families? You know, people in the community know the kids a lot better than the school. Yeah. Is there any other, I mean, resources or anything you guys are familiar with? Yeah. I don't know what type of tutoring they have at other schools, but up here we have CAP, an after-school program. And I worked there for a while, and if the kids brought their books in and all that, they could let the school work there. You know, SketchUp would have like about an hour after class that they could, you know, work on their homework or just talk, you know, finish an art project. And then we'd give them like 15 minutes to run a while when they came outside. But, you know, it's just to keep, especially the ones that would really fall behind, you know. And then I know I worked with Indian Education in San Diego as a project aid. But, unfortunately, it was city-wide, so different schools had different, you know, native students. Programs. Yeah, so I'd have to go. But we were fortunate there because we did have the good tutoring classes, and we recruited college students from San Diego State University. Oh, nice. I never thought of that. I even thought of a football player that was one of our tutors, and he turned out to be a wonderful counselor to the young boys, you know. And we'd have a game, and they'd all kind of go to him, and he would be tossing the footballs to them, and they'd kind of act like they were trying to tackle him. But I think, you know, maybe could not work. We need recruiting, you know. If you have an extra few hours to a day, maybe come and, I guess it's called the Big Brother Program, Big Sister Program. Once you do that, there might be a college student that I wouldn't mind earning a couple dollars by sitting down with a student. Okay, so right now what I'm hearing from you is that you guys pretty much help your own. You know, that there are tutoring available, but you guys aren't really aware of what services are available at the schools for at-risk kids. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then I also heard from you guys regarding, do you guys know your, you know the community, you know what's best, what's needed in there. So the schools actually have a lot of resources. Other than JOM, are you guys aware of any other resources at the schools? Or be known here, Kami and I, LabWays? Nada? I think that, I think they have like Students for Success come in. Okay. I don't know who else, what other programs go in, because I remember, I remember when my grandson went, they would go, he would go, I can't remember the guy's name. But he kind of helped him, kind of went to the school, kind of talked with him and whatever, kind of helped him out here and there. And he was from the tribe. Mm-hmm. You know, I don't, I wouldn't, I would have to ask my grandson if he knew what, because they never did come to the home, they just kind of always, I think they went to the school or out to the community center. But I know that they do reach out. Okay. Okay. Was your grandson Jaron? Yeah. That was his dream. Yeah, there you go, there you go. They would go to the school, because it was Jaron and Romero and Ty. Yeah. Yeah, they did like, to the school where there was something they did outside the school, kind of different trips they took and stuff like that. Yeah. Yep. I know, years ago, before my brother got so involved in coaching, and I can't remember who the other father, uncle was, but they were mentors. They would work with the junior high students. It wasn't particularly physical fitness or any sports, but just to sit in the classroom and observe how they were behaving, if they were listening or if they looked like they needed help, they would kind of pull up beside their desk. And it wasn't just the native students. Any student they see struggling and getting discouraged about their grades or something. So they need a strong mentor that they can look to and laugh and joke with them. If they say, man, I can't tell them about, well, I had to sit out two football games because my grades were down low too. Do you, I mean, speaking of mentors, do you feel like these mentors should be tribal members, non-tribal members? I mean, just someone who could influence the youth overall. I would feel more comfortable with tribal members. A tribal member. Myself, I don't care. If they're getting any help, good. Yay! Send here both tribal and other people that want to. As long as they can influence, huh? Positive influence. Okay. Okay, so question two. Please think about community programs and how they prepare young people. What are their strengths? So we have community programs in both the dominant, you know, Kami and I are female community, but also within the tribe, those community programs. What are their strengths? And can you provide examples of those strengths? I think for me, back, Alexis helped out a lot. Our community coordinator helped out a lot. Oh, nice. Okay. She helped with the, I forget what you call that, where the kids have to do an activity or whatever. She helped mentor and guide my grandson in that. I mean, she's helped a lot of the kids, not just certain ones. Alexis just opens up for all the kids. You know, she's been a lot for our kids. Well, it's nice to have our community coordinator and have that support for the community, for our children, grandchildren, and the families. It's really important to us. And we're kind of a tight-knit community, so it's like we all, we have our potlucks and, you know, we all come together and have our little drawings, you know, and the kids are all there, and it's kind of nice. Yeah, like they say, you know, it takes a community to raise a child. Yeah. Yeah. Excuse me. Go ahead. No, no, I was just going to say, I mean, we Powwow people and, you know, our Powwow family, you know, cramping our children. My kids, you know, go for it. They're being inappropriate, running with their moccasins and eagle feathers on. You address it. I think that's the way we are. Yes. But then she'll have their kids, they get up and they say the prayer and they meet with them. Oh, nice. Before we have to sit down with our potlucks. Yeah. It's nice to have that in our community. And then cultural values. I mean, right now with historical trauma, they're saying, you know, to help kids become resilient, you know, and not carry that on, you know, they need to know where they come from. And them being able to speak Nimiipuu is good. Good. So with the community program, can you guys provide any more examples of strengths? I know you talked about students for success. You guys talk about your coordinator, you know, coming here and mentoring kids. Is there any other programs you guys see? I mean, you guys got a boys and girls club here now. And then there's that youth group here on Main Street. I mean, do they influence some of the kids? Do they help some of the youth you guys see? I have lots of nieces and nephews that just go out there, hang out, you know. And the one thing I did see is, you know, as a community, you know, powwow, going to worship services, you know, basic manners, teaching them, you know, what they should and shouldn't do because they're representing your family. And I know a lot of people don't believe in the switch dance. You know, I was brought up doing the switch dance. And I mentioned it too from a youth group that was up here doing something for the Easter egg hunt. And they were joking around, and I was kind of getting loud, and I said, apparently there was something called the switch dance. And they said, what's that? And I said, I'm going to go get a switch, and I'll be right back in. But, you know, you just don't, you know. At the powwows, I always have to explain to my kids, I said, if you go out there and act goofy or don't dance right, it's going to whip you. And I'll let them, too, you know. And so we've got to restore that back in our kids. You know, honor those elders that are out there teaching you in church, you know, because they're older than you, they're wiser than you, and they learn growing up from being your age to what they are now. So I know we have that programs after school. After school program. And I think that's good. And they take them on field trips, you know. They know it's going to be a field trip. Then we get more students signing in for the field trip. But, yeah. I know down at the YF, we have two or three people that are always organizing basketball tournaments, basketball games, you know, and teaching their young people how to raise their registration fees to get into tournaments. So that's teaching them a sense of value. It's just not going to hand it to them. They're going to have to earn that registration fee. We used to have a play-to-pay program up here after my mom passed away. She left a portion of that thing for the kids that want to play football, basketball, but they can't pay the fee. So at the beginning of the school year, we'd put that out, you know, what they needed to do. Eventually, the funds were going to be exhausted. So we're trying to get that going again. But it was just a family that was helping these kids, I guess. And it wasn't just boys. It was girls, you know, and pay to play. I like that. Yeah, and I like that too because that's good for them because when we do our fundraisers, we make our kids come in, and they have to volunteer and put their time in as the fundraisers do it, helping, you know. It's not a free ride. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's good. Like Marilyn said, it teaches them because I know our kids come in when we have our fundraisers. They come in and help. And that ability for them to get involved on a team is going to teach them teamwork and how to work as a team and be part of a team. Yeah, so with the community programs, I mean, you provided some examples, right, you know, the mentoring, the after-school programs. So the next question is just the complete opposite. How can community programs improve? You guys spoke, I mean, I mentioned the club, the Boys and Girls Club that started up here. I mean, the youth club here on Main Street. I don't know, does Orpino have any? I think when we got too old and we kind of stepped back, we just went to the wayside, you know. It's like, yeah, it's just like, you know, we all got older and, you know, we just kind of stepped back. No one picked it up. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we still go and do the fundraiser, but we're not actually in it. And that was actually brought up to me by a parent that we need to step back and get you guys back. I said, well, I'm available. I'm willing to help, you know. I'll do what I, you know, whatever. But I was going to, I know they had, I don't know who it was, they had a guy come up to Orpino and teach our kids sit-in. And I sit back, and he asked me, and I said, no thanks. And my grandkids kind of, why don't you want to do it? And I said, well, I was raised by old, real old ladies. I said, and they were church. I said, back when I was little, I was taught that stick game is gambling and that gambling's a sin. I said, I have nothing against it. If you kids want to do it, go for it. That's why I brought you out here. That's your decision. I said, but grandma don't want to do it. It's out of respect for my elders that raised me. Yeah. I said, and I had to explain that to him. Well, then whoever the guy was that was doing it overheard me talking to my grandkids. He kind of got upset with me, because he was kind of a force then to kind of explain to them about it's OK to do the stick game. And I told him, yeah, I'm fine with it. I just choose not to do it. But it's not about me. It's about the kids. And if they're willing and they want it, go for it. You know, I know he kind of had attitude with me after that, but he's like, sorry. So have all of you guys experienced working with community programs then? I mean, tribal, non-tribal? I mean, what do you think needs to be improved? Yeah. Yeah. With my children, when they were in high school and all that, their god is counselor knew who I was. Because I would be visiting them two to three times a day. But Carb came home not up to what I expected. I was in there talking to Mr. Hawley on this day. But to see you get involved with your children's activities at school. We have sixth graders do this around the world in so many days. And they pick a country they want to represent. So one year I went to Guatemala on a mission trip. So my grandson was all excited. I'm going to talk about Guatemala. Can you give me everything you have on this? You know, for display. And he wrote up his own history for himself, you know. And he was so proud of his table when people come to Guatemala. That's unusual. But it's encouraging when your parents, your grandparents, or someone who close to shows up to watch you in sports, go to your school recital or musicals, you know. And I know it means a lot to them. It meant a lot to me as a little girl. You know, I'd be out there looking for my dad or mom, you know. When I lived in San Diego at the high school, they send out the open house invitation. And they put a notation, credit will be extra credit for those whose parents participate in this one, you know. So I went to each class that my children were involved in and had them sign off on the piece of paper, you know, that I attended. And the last one was athletics. And it was with a football coach. And they were talking about their role, the ins and outs. And I'm raising my hand, raising my hand. And I said, so is it extra credit for a child to sign in? And he looked at me and goes, who's your son? And I told him, he said, he'll get credit. And my son comes home from school, he says, yeah, I got extra credit today, extra laps. But, you know, because you need to be involved with the school. You know, even if it's just chatting with the teacher out on the street somewhere, you know. And there's this program up here, Alicia Wheeler, who I was working with, with the teachers and the student aides and all that. And I was able to go to two meetings. And then I got really too busy to go. But they were sitting in the teachers' room and looking at me, oh, we know your son. So is he your grandson? I said, no, it's a great-grandson. So it was neat just meeting these other teachers, just by touching them, you know. That's good that they recognized you. Because I know when my mom would go in to the school, in Lapland school, she'd get recognized too. What did we do wrong? Yep. I thought on the community awareness, it'd be nice to get to our, especially the grade school kid, my great-grandson, when the teacher gives him a packet of different papers and things to bring home to his mom, he gets ashamed of it or something. He doesn't want to show his mom or something. But we need to work with the grade school kids to make them more aware. It is important to show your work to your parents. What you're doing. Something to be proud of. So with community programs, we talked a little bit about their strengths, where they could improve. And the consensus I got from our discussion here is more contact with the community. I mean, it's a good rapport. If you can go into the school and get recognized, it's good for that, not only for the students, but for the teachers too. So they know where the students are coming from. I don't know if they send out progress reports before the nine-semester time of week is up. The report cards are coming due. If they send out progress reports to advise the parents, as well as the student-led, they're falling behind in this class or that class. Let us know well in advance. So I don't know if the kids get progress reports. So more communication. Overall communication. OK, so let's look at question number three. And question number three has three different areas. There it is. Different sub-questions. So for our next three questions, please think about how education or learning is related to the concept of nation building. So think about it. How is learning linked to our nation building? So the question is, what cultural ties or personal motivations are needed for tribal members to encourage them to work for the tribe and the community? So we're linking education to our tribe. And now we're talking about cultural ties. Is there cultural ties to our tribal, for them to stay here, our youth to stay here to work? And how can we encourage and support these cultural ties? Like me, for instance, my mom always said, you owe me two years of college, two years. And here I end up getting my master's through U of I. And so I actually am a teacher. I'm a special education teacher. And I wanted to help my own tribal members. It was sad as a teacher, because the way I was raised, I was getting my daughter. I have a later in life daughter. And I was getting ready for her nanny. And it was really sad that some of the kids would come to school because I'd be talking, getting ready for her nanny. And they would ask me, well, what do you want, Indian name? And I kept trying to direct them, go see your grandparents, go see your parents. And so for education, coming back, like some of our college degree students, tribal members, are they coming back to work for the tribe, or are they moving elsewhere? And how can we encourage them to come back here and help their own, so to speak, I guess I'm trying to say. And I agree with you, the last question, with communication as a teacher, one bad phone call home, two good phone calls home. Two good phone calls home to someone else. So I try to keep that communication open with my parents. And I have students walking in, and I go, who's your parents? Who's your grandparents? Because I've heard it to you, the extended family is really important. If I didn't get support from the family, I reached out to the grandparents, that extended family. Because who knows these children more than their family? So how can we encourage and support, through learning, our education, to keep our tribal members here to work for the tribe? Can we pull some cultural ties here, so to speak? Lately, I've seen two people that went away, got their degrees, doctors. That's a doctor, I can't say her name, at Nenepu Health, in Cartwick. And now we have another doctor, an Nenepu doctor, that's going to be joining us back later on, a Wilson girl. Haley? Haley, yeah. So they came home because the reason they wanted to school was they wanted to come back and help the people, especially in the medical field and our clinics. Because our clinics were getting so dysfunctional for a while, with so many EDs that were coming right and left, and being terminated or leaving. So I know I'd feel better if I had one of my own doctors, you know, my own people taking care of me. But nowadays, we just don't know who's going to see when we walk into the clinic. But I think that would maybe even start encouraging more of our men to go seek treatment. So many wait to the last minute. But I'm sure there has to be something that we can do to encourage them to come back. We've had some come back, and something done, haywire, or lack of communication, or lost horns or something like that. We've had a woman that had her, you know, business and management and all that, and masters, and, you know, felt like, well, I can't work with this turmoil, so she left. And it's part of a very successful tribal program out on the coast. So sometimes we have a bad habit of pushing away our own people. Okay. Yeah. Any more comments? But we need to encourage our people to come back. After World War II, my dad went to school. At LC then, the teaching college, it closed. So his football coach said, hey, go down to Arizona, Tempe. He said, I sent a good letter for you down there. Not just for continuing college, but for football. So when he got down there, he did play football, but he got his degree while he was there. And we went to a boarding school for a while after that, to San Carlos, and then to outside Reno, that strip. And then he came back here because he was a coach and teacher. Nice. So why do you think he came back? Because he had a big family to support. I think there were already four of us in the family. And he just always knew he was going to come back. He missed his mountains. He missed living in the mountains and doing his thing. The community was encouraging. Yeah. They were telling him, yeah, come home. We'll help you get settled. So you guys haven't said anything. What are your thoughts? We're trying to get my house to go. No. My own experience is when I lived in Boise, whenever I needed medical or dental, I had insurance, but I went to Duck Valley. And my own experience is when they had their doctors and dentists, their own people, they would provide housing for him and other amenities just to encourage him to stay. And Duck Valley is a rural area, so it was difficult to get doctors and dentists down there. That's how they recruited us. Yeah. Okay. So we're talking about cultural or personal ties. The first section, how can we have them, how can we support them coming back, encourage them in families, extended families, so to speak? I mean, this is their homeland, we could say, or even incentives for them to move home. So question number 3B, what else supports and encourages personal motivation to work for the tribe or community? So what else can you think of? We have incentives. We have ties here. You know, this is our homeland. Can you guys think of any other reasons to motivate people to stay here to help their tribe? But that's just it. A lot of times our tribal members move home and they can't get a job once they move home. Okay. You know, we have a lot of that, well, I'm hiring this family member over that one or whatever. You know, I've seen a lot of that. Like nepotism? Nepotism within the tribe, picking and choosing nepotism. Yeah. And the bigger families are going to get the job. They've got the more full influence. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of them come home and they can't get a job. I've heard this word mentioned, just like when they do the sports, athletic for the week, and all that, and if there's a tribal member, particularly from Las Vegas, it's a popularity contest. That's what we're basing votes on, is popularity. And I have to agree with that because when I look at sports, I always have to do a comparison, you know, how this compares to someone else and how many yards they got and all this stuff. How many times has he already won this award? Yeah, yeah. So I've always kind of voted for the underdog, you know, when it comes to stuff like that, because it would be better to encourage someone that's struggling to achieve that. That level. Mm-hmm. And always keep uplifting the one that's doing it. Already up there. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter at La Playa High School, I mean, she's a towel bunny to the max. I mean, she wins everywhere. Straight-A student. She's on National Honor Society and all varsity sports. Mm-hmm. And I mean, just the flip side of it is she works hard to be where she's at, but the stress, I mean, being like a varsity player, the stress, the anxiety in her, biting her nails, getting frustrated when she misses a shot, I mean, just the pressure she feels. So I understand, you know, the low-level students, you know, we need to bring Ivy. Mm-hmm. But then those students, some of them who are up there, I mean, the stress to keep that, yeah, to keep that level. Like playing up here in Kamii, you know, they almost beat La Playa. It was a good game. It was really a good girls' varsity game, and Kamii and I almost had us, you know, and here my daughter had to get out there because of foul trouble, and boy, her anxiety was. I'm so proud of Ashley's son and Arvino. Oh, yeah. You know, because that is. Okay. You know, we all know Arvino is, you know, it's always been a prejudiced community. Mm-hmm. You know, and to see that one of our own stand out. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. That's really good. That's really good. So do you think we have any, can you think of any personal motivations for anyone to work for the tribe or stay in the community, work in the community? Can you guys think of what would, like you, you guys are all living here. You moved back from Boise. Why? Family. Family. Mm-hmm. We came back from San Diego in 1991. First, my husband was a career military. Mm-hmm. Okay. 22 years, and so we weren't sure where we wanted to go after retirement, but then I had my first grandchild born up here. Oh, okay. So, of course, that was the main attraction I wanted. Yeah, yeah. My granddaughter to know me, know who her cousin is, and plus that, my mom was getting up there in years. Yeah, I think that's why I moved back from South Dakota, you know, from my family's side. I miss the family gatherings, you know, the family dinners, and then when I got here, I go, Oh, my God, all the civil rivalries, squabbles. Okay, and I miss this. I miss this. Okay, good. Take the drama out the door. Yep, yep, that's it, that's it. Whose side are you on? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so, question number four. Is there any more comments you guys want to add over here? Anything you want to add? I just feel, you know, it starts right in the home. If we stay involved with that child throughout their life, they're going to succeed. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, you know, and like I said before, some of them don't get that. Some of them, you know, don't. Some of them are lucky enough to get the support eventually, but then some don't. Mm-hmm. You know, I think this is good, and I think that we need more of this, of our tribal programs, reaching out to the communities like this, you know, because I know our, you know, we never hear anything. No. You know. I'll remember that next time. And ever since COVID, it's got really bad, the communication. Ever since COVID, it's really been down, you know, just within our own, you know. Okay, so, question number four. Can we do those, right? Yeah, we can. No, no. It's good for a break, and then I'm actually going to ask them if they could come in and take our order for lunch now during our break, because it's 1030, and we only have a few more questions left. I'm sorry, this game is too sweet. That was the whole thing. I know. I'm putting this in. I didn't bring my medicine with me either. Oh, no. Don't forget, there's a step out the door. Yeah. And would you guys like some more coffee? No. Okay. I don't even have coffee. I'm going to have this. I'm going to make myself, like, one. Maybe one and a half. Okay. Maybe limit yourself. I think we're having a blizzard. Oh, my goodness, we are. Looks like there's a storm rolling in, huh? Oh, actually, there's an optional effect here. Yes. Oh. Oh, yeah, she came in and said so. Oh, okay. I was worried about that. I was worried about that. I don't know if I should push this on the front. Should I stop this until we continue? Yeah. Oh, the sun's gone. It's raining. Okay. Downpouring. Is it downpouring? Yes. Okay. The sign fell out. It fell down. We don't need it no more. Okay. I get it. Okay, so we just placed our order, and I asked her just whenever it's ready to go ahead and bring it in, because we're almost done here. So, as a refresher, our objective, we would like your input on how K-12 schools can better prepare our young people to lead our tribal nation into the future. Is our school getting us ready, getting our youth ready to come in and lead us as a tribe? So, question number four, if you could design an innovative K-12 school to meet the unique education and cultural needs of our tribal students, what new ideas would you have for academics? What kind of ideas would you have regarding academics? And I know previously you said more of the life skills, more, I heard that, more of the life skills, preparing them for every day. You know, and I also heard, you know, in not only four-year education, but technical college sort of things, and the dual credit. So, academically, if we were to create, if you had the perfect idea for a school, what would it look like academically? You were the boss, and you had control. I'll be curious. Yeah. I think we should be a little bit more challenging to kids. So many of them depend on Google to look up stuff. My grandson in third grade had to write down, I will be quiet in class, I will be quiet in class. And when I went to the house, he was sitting at the laptop, computer, putting in, I will be quiet in class. He said he had to write a whole page of that to turn in. He goes, can you show me how to copy and paste? Oh, I am not going to do that. So, but, you know, today the kids, because of technology, they don't have to sit there and go check out a book from the library or, you know, look for the answer right there where Google will give it to them. So they don't really, aren't really being challenged that much. And then I also heard previously regarding shorthand, penmanship. Oh, yeah. And I'm not going to throw ideas in your head, but that came up in yesterday's conversation. Not teaching cursive writing? Yeah. It's really needed because we went through graduation last year, a college student and a high school student. They couldn't read my cards. Oh, they couldn't read your, oh. And they looked at my reading card and said, I can't read cursive. Oh, that's a long hand. Oh, cool, huh? Yeah. Do you have shorthand? I did very little shorthand. I did longhand, but nowadays I was wondering, this is my great-grandson, when he brings, I always ask him if he has any homework he should be working on when he comes home. He says, no, I did it at school. Well, nowadays the teachers, they just copy everything from the, they don't have workbooks or anything. They just give them the paper. That's what they work on that day. They don't have books like we used to have, bring books home and do our homework. Everything's copied from them. Maybe academically go back to more of the old school teaching, you know, the paper, pencil, studying for a test, you know, get away from the technology, so to speak. There's a lot of hearing from you guys. Did anyone watch Good Morning Mary? This morning on NBC, they were talking about a school that the beginning of the school year, of school day, each student had to put their laptop into this box. Oh. And they'd go in and so, not their laptop, their phone. So nobody had a phone, their laptop. They'd go look it up in the dictionary. They'd go look it up again. Do we even know it? Encyclopedias that they're reading these days anymore? Yeah. Yeah. How to use the dictionary. Mm-hmm. I used Google to help her spell for me. Yeah. Even, yeah, the spell words. Yeah. I know my daughter used her phone when she struggled in algebra. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. And they should be using their students to tutor the younger students. You got those students that are, you know, intelligent, smart, good grades and whatever, they could be tutoring the younger, the grade school kids or whatever. Or even mentoring. I know you guys talked about mentoring. Yeah. Having someone older than them, not only academically, but mentoring them too. I had a little four-year-old foster child one time. And I had her going out to the language class when Jeannie Hodges was doing the languaging. This little one was a handful. She was there, there, there. And Jeannie would just not know what to do. But Jeannie would call out something, and she'd just be up over there, and she would yell out the answer, and it'd be correct. You know, Jeannie said, we have a little multitasker, baby. Well, then she started in school. I got her in school, and the teacher started calling me. She was going to school, and she was teaching the other little kids their colors in next person language. Oh, nice. And the teachers had to call me to make sure that she was teaching them the right words. Oh. And she was. And I told Jeannie that. I said, it's crazy. I said that she's remembering it, and she's doing it correctly. And I said, because in here, she just fobs around here and there, and you're just getting her to sit still hard. But she was soaking it in. They can do that. Yeah. I think they're not paying attention or learning, but I'm going to turn it around. Yeah. How does a person who has that patience to work with them? Or even hands-on learning. Yeah. You know, not so pencil, paper, but maybe some more hands-on learning. I mean, or even like you were saying with CNA classes, you know, the technical parts. I mean, maybe prepare them more. So academically, what I'm hearing from you guys is more old school. You know, more old school, paper, pencil, writing your name in cursive, being able to read cursive. You know, that's just crazy. I mean, my mom made me practice my handwriting. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I know up here in Kami, every senior has to have a senior project to work on. And several of them went to the fire station to see if there was something they could learn, you know, about fire prevention, even becoming an EMT, or what's involved with that fire science. So I know three young men that did that as their project, you know. And then together they did a project together on fire prevention, fire safety, different types of fire levels you can be as far as a firefighter. And I know one of them became a landline, a wildlife firefighter. Oh, okay. He leads a crew out. He's like a, what do you call it? Not an elite firefighter, but he's, you know. A hotshot. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, you know, that was offered, you know. The community got together with the senior class and offered the clinic, St. Mary's Clinic, with those girls that were wanting to learn how to get into nursing. They just kind of followed around the nurses down there, or the fund office, and scheduling. Because there's so much more involved in nursing than just picking your poke. Yeah. You know, there's records, there's billing, you know. So more out-of-classroom learning, so to speak. Mm-hmm. And they did this on their own, you know, like they had all their... Following their own interests. Yeah. Yeah. I know when I taught in South Dakota, we went and visited Pine Ridge. Not Pine Ridge. Porcupine School District. And it was crazy, because they did year-round school. Oh, I don't like that. But what I liked about it is they were able to integrate a lot of their cultural activity. Like around here, it would be gathering, you know, stuff like that. I think it was like three months on, three months on, and then like two weeks off. And it really helped their attendance. I mean, like Christmas time, can you imagine getting a long time? I mean, and that's the way they work their schedule. So for academics, it's more old-school teaching, paper, pen, writing, out-of-classroom experiences. I mean, for their life skills, so to speak. I go to my son's house, and his kids will ask him to cook for them. I know, it's crazy. I know, it's crazy. My daughter moved in with me, and she makes all the bread right now. I don't have to make bread anymore. Okay, so I know we touched a little bit on this, and designed an innovative K-12 school. And we talked a little bit about extracurriculars. And we talked about sports. So, if you could design an innovative K-12 school to meet the unique education and cultural needs of tribal students, what new ideas would you have for the extracurricular activities? And it's really nice to hear, you know, a Native student outshining others in a, I'm going to say, dominant white community. That's awesome. And it's awesome to hear, you know, that Native students can go beyond what is expected of them. That's awesome. And you know, that is why we had that powwow in Orfino, was because the school just didn't want to work with the tribe. They just did not refuse to work with the tribe. And so, that is why we put together the powwow committee, and Melvin went up there and talked with them, and we were able to get the high school to have our powwow. That was a big, major step. You know, and that did help. That did close that gap, having that powwow up there. And that was our goal, was to close that gap between those non-Indians and us, because it was such a big divide. I really liked that powwow. I'm really glad it happened. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It turned out nice. Yes. I agree. So, back to, if you guys could design the perfect school, what would your extracurricular activities look like? Would you be concentrated in sports? Would you be concentrated in more cultural stuff? I mean, education? Yeah. I think, you know, of course, I wouldn't reach extracurricular teaching sports, but there's drama, there's music, and we have some talented musicians that went to school here, you know, making all-state bands and all that. Mm-hmm. And particularly drama. So, when I was in high school, we did a play about, you know, it was kind of centered around, you know, an old Indian storyteller. And I sat there thinking I was going to be an automatic tick or something. Oh. For the main role, you know. Mm-hmm. You don't get to think about disabilities, but there was a role in it. But I thought, you know, like, learning. Like, we all learned the Constitution. We all learned the pledge of allegiance and all that. They should be learning Chief Joseph's speech and what it means to us around here. And... Or even, like, the Death and Dive. Mm-hmm. Or the Death and Dive theme. Yeah. It's like those hairy foot boots kind of teaching a class like that at Wilson High School. Mm-hmm. You know, I wish you could have grabbed them for us before all this. But, yeah, just things like that. And they have, like, demonstrations, you know, where the kids get to go in and show off their outfits and how they dance. And I don't know if they've done that this year. Oh, yeah, we just had that talent. Yeah. Didn't you guys hear in the Kamiya area that they had that powwow here at the school? Mm-hmm. And the kids just swarmed it. Oh, that's awesome. And all the benches and bleachers cleared. The kids all went down there. They were trying to pick someone they knew was dancing and kind of tripping each other trying to do what they were doing. But, yeah, I thought that was kind of and I've been involved with it. You know, as a, usually I'm asked to say the blessing and usually the husband carries the flag. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, that's a good one. And there's more of the cultural, you know, regarding powwows. Mm-hmm. I mean, and it's kind of sad because our culture is our way of life. You know, and for us to be, because of the separation of church and state, and I heard this yesterday, you know, that we can't bring that in there, you know, into the school setting because it's a religious church, you know. So, with extracurricular activities, I mean, you know, bringing a simple powwow, you know, educating others, you know, being prideful of who we are. And with my master's degree, I did it on historical trauma, and I wondered, you know, what did my mom do, you know, for us, you know, a teacher, two police officers, well, actually three police officers, you know, what did she do to us? You know, she brought out that, what do you call it? Switch dance. Switch dance. But, so, the cultural needs, you know, of tribal students, you know, they, I mean, with historical trauma, they need to learn, you know, who they are, where they come from. You guys mentioned you came home. You know, this is your homeland. You guys came home. You know? Okay. You know, up here, there's a lot of diversity, a lot of, you know, there was prejudice, even when I was growing up in high school, and it was extra hard on us because our dad was a teacher in this school. And I didn't really know what that trauma was until after high school, and then I don't know, I mean, I've been living that, you know, most of my life. Yeah, it was like normal. It was normal. And so, after, I don't know, the elections or something like that, the Indians just need to get over it, you know, because it was being posted. And one of them was my classmate. I grew up right alongside him, and, you know, we were friends, you know, and we were families. We all knew each other. And I was really hurt. And I said, okay, you want us to get over it? Can you get over 9-11 yet? Can you get over the German Oxycontin? I said, yeah. I said, write them out of the history books and see how you feel. And so he kind of said, okay. Okay, so moving on from this question, if you could create your own school, Part C, it says readiness to impact the community. So what would you do? How would you get the community ready? If you were going to create your own innovative K-12 school, how would you get the community ready? Well, my own experience is the community cultural awareness. Going to the schools or out to the different youth groups when we lived in Boise. My late husband, he would get our grandkids, they would dance for an entire big class because they never knew our culture. And the teachers were all, they found out and at least made them aware of what our culture is. And they were impressed with our culture, with the way our grandkids were dressed in their regalia and going out there and dancing. They even got them involved in the round dance. And at the end, the teachers and all the kids sent little thank you notes. Oh, that's great. That's kind of fun. Yeah. Yeah, that cultural community awareness. Bringing out the culture more. Yeah. I always wondered, like I said, my historical trauma, resiliency. What did mom do? She experienced a lot of racism because she attended Gonzaga. And she graduated from Gonzaga. And she was a single mother of five. And so she really put up with the racism at Gonzaga. And then we lived in Spokane. The Relocation Act, we lived in Spokane. And there were no resources. I remember my brothers going to school with moccasins on because mom couldn't buy them shoes. Yeah, yeah. So all of this historical trauma, I mean, getting the community ready, you know. Yeah. When I worked with San Diego City School District, we had to attend at least twice a year a racial ethnic workshop. And so the first one I went to, it was all about the history of the blacks. You know, the slavery and the boycotts and all that. And then the second one I went to, it was just kind of a continuation of that. So the presenter, who was a black lady, you know, I think had a question. And I raised my hand. I said, you know, I'm American Indian. I said, we do have quite a few Native students in our class. Why don't we address a little bit of that history? What went on there? And, you know, she sat there and she put something in her mouth. I will bring that to the table. But after that session was over, I had so many of those people, teachers and counselors, that were in that same training, come up to me and ask, well, what would you like to see? You know, what are we missing? And so I kind of did my own little mini-workshop for that. Nice. Educated them. Uh-huh. It's nice. Because when they were getting ready to have graduations, they were letting every other Indigenous group down there get up and say their greetings to the family and friends. In their native language, Latino, Mongolia, you know, Chinese, you know, whatever. And one girl signed up, but she was told she couldn't do it. She was Indigenous to the area for one of the times. Wow. So I took her to the news stations, to the television. They let her sign up. They let her sit. She could do it. So when memory called me, I said, yeah, that's what I'm going to do. Now I need to find someone to teach me how to do it. Well, just like now, graduation, I mean, social media is big, but the Indian girl couldn't wear her beaded cap. She had a feather on it for graduation. And here they posted a picture of another student who's decorated her cap. And they allowed that. That's like crazy. That's really. So learning this to impact the community is pretty much, you know, educate them. We're Indians. We're a sovereign nation. Carrie, I think, too, the question is how to get the kids ready to impact the community. Thank you. There's something more. Yeah. Yeah. I would have to have them involved. Yeah. Their input. It's always good to have their input. Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys need me to go? Are you guys good? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, guys. One final one. So we talked about how would we like, you know, input on K-12 schools to better prepare our young people to lead a proud nation. So this last question, what does self-determination in education mean to you? What does self-determination in education mean to you? Now, I actually looked up the definition between, because I couldn't decipher, you know, between sovereignty and self-determination. So sovereignty means your personal rights. It's just about you. Sovereignty means, I'm sorry about that. Sovereignty means us as a tribe as a whole. Self-determination means you as an individual. So you as an individual, what do you think it means in education? Self-determined in education. So what do you think? You as being an elder of the tribe with children and grandchildren who went through the education system of the dominant society, what do you think your self-determination would mean to you? And you guys did get a little bit on the cultural side of it, you know, in bringing in more cultural knowledge, education to non-tribals. I'm going to say non-tribal. Because we're just not talking, I mean, you were from San Diego and you probably had all kinds of races, you know, different racial people, you know. So what does self-determination mean? What you feel it means. Taking pride in who they are. Taking pride in who we are. Taking pride in who we are. And especially my thing was how you're representing not just you, but your family and your people. And because, you know, sometimes depending on what part of San Diego you lived in, were gangsters, gang members, thugs and all that stuff, white guys. But we were fortunate that we lived in the Navy housings. But my son had a mentor, his name was James Shikazi, he was part of the Indian education program. And we were going to a football game and my son was looking at everybody and he says, don't wear red or blue, we're going into this territory. And I remember James was sitting there and he took his hat off and his braids were down. He goes, you don't belong to a gang, you are part of a tribe. And you can give yourself that. But, you know, just the way it was down there, but I think that just kind of made my son have more pride in who he was. Because he went by Nipah, you know, instead of Randy, he went by Nipah. Because that's what everyone thought, that's caught, and even his coach, you know, Nipah. So, he took pride in that, you know, that they knew who he was and what he represented. So, but, you know, it didn't make him stand out anymore, you know, but he himself comes to mind. And I did share with his friends, you know, I even heard some of his friends, you know, outside the OMS, because he cussed words. And I said, okay, okay. Yeah. Anything? I would say getting our non-neighbors to understand and have respect for our culture. We are our own special people. You've got to understand what our culture is like and respect it. We are a nation. And I was in Lapland one time to get, turn in some paperwork, and my husband was with me. And as we were walking through the business office and down to the HR and all that, we passed a few women and all that, a couple guys. And I said, oh, hi, Ashley, how are you doing? What are you doing down here? And my husband was looking. Do you know them? And I said, no, that's just what they call people. In German, yeah. Yeah. So, I said, yeah. Yeah, I had a hard time teaching because a lot of my students, you know, I was related or extended family. And so they would call me Carrie, you know. And other teachers thought they were being disrespectful because they were calling me by my first name. And I go, well, I'm kind of related some way, somehow to them, you know. I don't think it's being disrespectful for them to call me by my first name. We were at a – Harris Hood did a presentation on Indian stories and legends at the BIAS one night. So, he said the prayer and all that and explained what was going to happen. And he said, okay, we've got food here at the table. You know, you've got to help yourself. So, I had already cooked supper at home. I was going to eat with my husband. So, I was just kind of sitting there waiting. And a young man was sitting there and kept looking at me. He said, wait, wait a minute. Get your food. You know, because I was the oldest member there. So, I thought, I'm sorry. Being respectful. Yeah. We feed you guys. Showing respect. I mean, maybe food, bringing out food like this is part of our culture. You know, feeding visitors. You know, gifts. You know, welcoming them to our homeland. I mean, it's really nice. I was at a school and they actually, you know, welcomed us to our homeland. You know, that's really nice. A blessing. Yeah. I mean, understanding that culture. So, any more comments on self-determination? What does self-determination mean to you? You know, in education. And I know you guys spoke a lot about going to schools and having them understand who we are. You know, a nation within a nation. You know, not all Indians are white. I think when I was little, there was only like two of us that went to this school. Oh, okay. Like I said, I went to high school at North Central, and it's like one of the biggest inner city schools in Spokane. And I was the only freshman on varsity basketball. And I was the only Indian, of course. You know, and it's like everyone knew who I was, but they didn't know who I was. You know? Mm-hmm. That was really... So, Mom made me live the life way. I came back and lived with my Aunt Gloria. And that was the experience for me. I mean, you know, being able to survive on or off the reservation. So, self-determination. Do you guys like that term? Too powerful? Not powerful enough? I like it. Yeah. Because it's given me a chance to even now, at my age, who you want to know who I am. Especially when you're out and about with someone close to you. And to your grandma. Yeah. Respectful. Mm-hmm. And some of them are mistaken. Yeah, that extended family. Even in South Dakota, the school district didn't like it. Because a lot of my in-laws, I talked. And so, they called me Carrie. And they thought they were being disrespectful. But, you know, going and looking at historical trauma and self-determination. I mean, wow. You know, I felt bad for what happened to the Jews, you know. And even the war. They talked about the war with the Islam, you know, yesterday. Yeah. What's going on out there? It's like all over the news, you know. But look at what happened to us as Natives. You know, the same thing happened. I was fortunate with my Calypso. He had recorded a tape, I guess it was reel-to-reel. Mm-hmm. With this man from Ocena. His name was Schwing. And those people finally died. But they had a son there that was out. So, he used to be there prosecuting a jury or something. He had those reel-to-reels. Wow. And he mentioned that to Randy. And he said, well, aren't you married to one of the girls from that church? And Randy said, yes. So, him and Randy sat down, and they made CDs. Mm. And one of them that I'd like to listen to, the Gotham Paracletic's voice, was when he went back to Carlisle. Mm. How that happened to him. With the understanding he was going to get a good education. For the first two years back in Carlisle, he worked on a worker's farm. Doing this and doing that. And then I heard stories of other people that were sent back that sent there. Became seamstress, had to be nannies, you know. And eventually they went to the school, but they were just like. For an education, not to be like a worker. Yeah. They wanted to be educated. But then in June, I think it was Joanne Kaufman's grandma said, well, I taught her how to be a good cook. Learn how to cook, you know. But I was just, you know, I kind of felt bad for him. Because, you know, he was just a young boy, you know. Mm-hmm. Like his dad said, well, it's OK. He's going to go get s'mores to go. Yeah. Yeah. That was a, wasn't her name, or his mom was Zoe Swain, I think it was. Mm-hmm. I have inherited one of my late husband's books that she wrote on. I think it was the Nez Perce. I think, I can't remember what it was. I still have it. That she wrote about the Nez Perce. When she didn't live here in Arfino, she was married to an attorney. The families, their boys were all attorneys. Nice. Well-educated people in the community. She was a painter. She painted a lot of the tribal members from Arfino. That's right. I didn't hear that. Mm-hmm. I don't know if they still do, but they used to have that painting at the hospital at Clearwater Valley of James Miles, because that was his land in the hospital. Mm-hmm. It's on there. I don't know if he donated it or sold it, but the Zoe Swain had painted that picture of him, and they were to put that in that hospital. It was in that hospital forever. Last I seen it was downstairs. Oh. I didn't know. I was down there not too long ago. I didn't see it anywhere. I didn't go downstairs. Yeah, but they used to have that painting that she done in the hospital. Well, I think the Historical Society or the Historical Museum in Arfino does have some of our cultural type of things and pictures in the museum, but I've never ... I should take the time to hold on and see what they have. I know they do, because one day I was taking my uncle in there to get his cage, and we were in the hallway of the courtroom, and he looked up, and he goes, Babe, that's my mother. Wow. I think it's ... They had a picture, and I went into the office, and I asked the lady. I said, My uncle is saying it's his mother. She said that's to get a hold of the museum, that he could get a copy. I don't know if he ever did, but that's what she said. That's good to know. I just feel like a foreigner when you guys talk about Arfino area. I mean, wake me up. Tell me. I have seen a picture, same from the historical book down there in Arfino. It was of my colleague who was known for his crafting the canoes or juggling with the Indian clubs. I used to, when I was little, I used to go to that park there in Riverside. It seemed to be called Canoe Camp. He'd be there telling stories and talking about the clubs he had. I don't know what ever happened to them. Oh. He was brought up in the Sapa area, but still got property from his mother up in Cavendish. But that's how I kind of learned myself then at that age, just sitting there listening to his teaching. I'm Indian. I'm an express Indian. Then in places away from here, in San Diego, when my son was in Boy Scout, sometimes I would say, oh, you're an expert. I'd go, no, I'm an expert. No, no, no. That's the wrong way to say it. That's fierce. Fierce noses. I just wanted to chicken choke him. He wasn't going to listen. He considered himself an educator and all that stuff. Even on that park. See, I could put up a teepee. He had a big little Boy Scout teepee. But there's some people out there who do need a little bit of education and just kind of try to educate you on yourself. Yeah, yeah. Like I'm saying, it's self-determination. Them trying to tell us who we are. Any more comments in regards to any of the questions? Do you like them? Do you don't like them? Make you think too hard? Brought back memories? I mean, any other comments? The Danish's were too sweet. The coffee was good. Anything more Joyce that you need to add? Okay, ladies. Thank you. I like your blouse. Thanks. I think I got it a long time ago.
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