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In this episode, we explore the journey of finding cultural identity through education, resilience, and community. Joseph Morales is an enrolled member of the Tohono O’odham Nation and is a current student at Arizona State University (ASU).

Our guest shares what it was like growing up mixed — navigating questions of belonging, identity, and connection to culture. Facing moments of disconnection, he found a turning point at tribal college (Tohono O'odham Community College), where he began reconnecting with his roots, his community, and himself. Through the support of Indigenous mentors, peers, and culturally grounded education, he discovered a renewed sense of purpose and pride. That path led him to continue his academic journey at ASU, where he is committed to building Indigenous excellence through higher education and tribal journalism.

This conversation is about more than academics — it’s about reclaiming identity, honoring heritage, and using storytelling as a tool for representation and change. It’s a powerful reminder that reconnecting with culture is a lifelong journey, and education can be a bridge back to who we truly are.

Helpful links:
Joseph Morales journalism portfolio: https://josephmorales.journoportfolio.com
Gila River Indian Community Newspaper /News:https://www.gricnews.org
Optional- American Indian College Fund https://collegefund.org


EPISODE CREDITS:
Produced, edited, and mixed by Tina Andrew
Graphic designed by Breanne Harvey

AUDIO: 
Music licensed via Epidemic Sound

LINKS:
Be sure to follow and tag the podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!

WEBVTT

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This podcast is for educational purposes only. The views and

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experiences expressed are those of the host and guests. The

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content shared here is based on research, personal experience, and

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publicly available information. In college, we spend years preparing for exams.

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We memorize, we study, we rehearse answers, but identity doesn't

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come with a study guide. For many students, discovering who

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you are can feel just as challenging as any final.

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The conversation you are about to hear reminds us that

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reconnecting with culture isn't about having all the answers. It's

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about asking the question sometimes for the first time. College

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students are constantly being tested, midterms, finals, deadlines. But what

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happens when the hardest exam isn't in the classroom. Maybe

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identity isn't something you pass or fail. Maybe it's something

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you keep learning. You are tuned into Dawn Autumn Young Voices,

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and I'm calling this episode Final Exam Identity, featuring Joseph

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Morales Thawn Autum. I'm your host, Tina Andrew. Today I

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have a young person who is wanting to share their

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story and their educational journey as a young person, as

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a student and the work that they do and what

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are their future plans, and also to bring some inspiration

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to any other young people out there that are listening.

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So I'm going to hand the mic over to him

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and give him an opportunity to introduce himself.

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Awesome, it's great to be here. I'm Joseph Morales, a

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member of the Otam Nation San Luci District. I grew

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up off the reservation and kind of an urban while

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my town is rule, but compared to the reservation, it's

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definitely urban. Went to high school. All my schooling was

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done in this kind of urban setting, and now I'm

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studying English and pursuing kind of that setting in tribal journalism.

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That's the work that I do with the Hillover Indian community,

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just to try and help promote indigenous stories for Indian country.

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So when did your journey began as far as wanting

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to tell stories or be in journalism work.

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It happened fairly recently. When I was in high school,

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I wanted to go to like a big university, like

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the University of Arizona was my dream school.

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Oh wow, it's kind of.

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Funny because now I'm at the rival, which is Arisota

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State but that was my dream school, the U of A,

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and I actually wanted to do psychology. I wanted to

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work in tribal health. But I graduated during COVID and

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there was a lot of other conflicts within me and

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you know, personal things. So I kind of took a

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year off and found my way to out them community college.

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Took the introduction courses there, and one of my English

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professors was kind of praising how good I am at writing,

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and I always had an interest in it, And since

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then I kind of slowly started building an education and

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found my way in journalism and especially tribal journalism. And

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that was about probably three four years ago, so okay, yeah,

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fairly recently.

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Yeah.

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So when we first kind of talked on the phone,

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I know, you talked about reconnecting with your roots on

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your autumn side. So it's something that maybe you didn't

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quite grow up learning or knowing, and it wasn't until

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you went to the autumn community college. So when did

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you decide I want to go to a college out there.

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Right, I grew up in a small town, but it's

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very urban compared to the reservation. I just understood that

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I had a lot of things at my disposal compared

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to some of my friends, I had to travel thirty

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minutes to the grocery store. But I always grew up

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not knowing my autumn culture and history. I had glimpses

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knowing at least like I'm an a old member of

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the nation, but that's really all I knew. And I

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think I even like growing up in school, I even

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like said our nation's name wrong. I'd say like Tahona Odom,

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which is a little but I wouldn't change that experience.

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But yeah, schooling, especially here, it was very diverse, but

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I would get picked on a little bit. I'd call

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like being mixed of Hispanic and Native American. I'd get called,

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like jokingly with my friends half breed or your mix,

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kind of you're not Native enough, you're not Hispanic enough.

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And I would just laugh it off, because you know,

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we're just joking around. But I would hold on to

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that shame. I think it really hurt me, but I

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just didn't know how to deal with it at that time,

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and it got worse in high school. But I'm grateful

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that I graduated when COVID struck because it kind of

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slowed down the world and I really had to address

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a lot of emotions that I was holding on inside,

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my anger, my frustration because I knew a lot of

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my peers were right secretly that Yeah, I didn't know

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my culture, my language, the history and of that. And

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I addressed it and I came content with it and

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started to regain confidence. But I wanted to just run

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away because the time, you know, COVID twenty twenty was uncertain. Yeah,

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so I wanted to list in the Air Force. But

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when I went through that process, I felt like I

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was just a number, just a quota for my recruiter. Yeah,

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and each recruitment process is different, of course, but that's

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how I felt. And I stumbled across tocc on aut

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Them Community College. They made it known to me that

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I was important and I wasn't just a number or

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a student. I was, you know, an Indigenous person that

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could build on their education. I went there and I

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had to take the language course, the history course. I

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always tell people that autumn, even though it was Autum elementary,

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that was probably the hardest course I've ever taken. But

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that's kind of my story and how I regained my

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culture and it came from the school. And you know,

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now I could pronounce some things an autumn, I know

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how to say our nation's name, right, So I'm grateful

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for that school.

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Yeah, that's amazing that you in twenty twenty. For a

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lot of people, it brought out a lot of things internally, physically, emotionally.

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And so that's interesting that you had that type of

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experience during COVID and what it did for you, but

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also coming to this realization of your own identity. So

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thank you for sharing that. And you know, TOCC seems

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like it's a foundation for a lot of people who've

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attended and have similar experience as you. Even though I

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grew up on the Nation all my well most of

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my childhood, and it's it's home, it's a place I

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still go back to. Going to TOCC was also an

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awakening for me to realize that, yes, this is our

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way of life, this is him Duck, and this is

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what I've been living all my life. But as an adult,

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it was there that I really learned to value the

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way that I grew up and not take it for

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granted and really apply the cultural aspects in my personal life, right,

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And so I started to grow an appreciation for that.

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And you know, when my mom was still around. After

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coming to that, my own realization took advantage of hearing

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her stories, listening to our family's history, digging a little

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deeper understanding what did the bite that ceremony look like

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when you were a kid, which is completely different from

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what we see today, which is really interesting. But that

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is where I really learned that I need to practice

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these cultural things to fulfill whatever was missing inside of

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myself as well. Right. Yeah, so when you came to

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that realization, you attended TOCCED.

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Were you there in person?

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No?

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I was not. I was online. Figured it is better

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to do online.

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Yeah.

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Even then being online that they still have a strong

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foundation and make you feel connected as if you were

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in person, which is just great to be a part of.

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They do amazing work there and not like my student

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email that I still have with eocc it's like every

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day I'm getting some newsletter, some event where it's made

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me drive out there a couple of times to check

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out the school and be a part of some events there.

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So they have strong communication and making every student, whether

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they're from the community or an indigenous relative elsewhere, that

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there were all the same family there. So they do

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a really good.

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Job yeah, awesome. So when you were learning more about

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your identity, I'm sure you have talked about it with

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your own family. If it's something that you didn't grow

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up doing, what is how are their feelings about.

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You learning more?

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And then maybe you're also teaching your own family about it. Right.

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They're super supportive because I'm the youngest of my family.

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My family history is it's pretty crazy. Not to go

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too much in depth because I feel like it's not

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necessarily my story. But my grandfather, Lawrence Morales Bad, he's

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passed on now, but he's where we gain our our

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Native American history and culture from. But history was crazy,

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and I believe he was given up to like adoption

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in California. So just from that point on, we never

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really been too evolved in our culture and history because

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we've kind of always been away from the nation. But

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like I said, going to TOCC helped me regain that identity.

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And my siblings, my older brother, my two older sisters,

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they're really supportive of me, and I try to teach

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them and they're very open to wanting to learn. They

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asked me questions sometimes even some words. I try to

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say that this is how you're supposed to say it,

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but yeah, it's it's a complex thing with my family

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because we are western urban, but I kind of take

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that knowledge and regaining my identity mix them together. So hopefully,

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you know, if I choose to have a family, my

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children will have all the knowledge that I've gained and

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they could build on that, which was my knowledge as

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a children was zero. So my family super supportive about it.

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That's amazing that you have that, just that support and

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they're able to listen and to just learn. And I'm

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glad that you're kind of, you know, initiating that for them.

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And I think that one thing that was also with

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TOCC I think we had and assign Yeah, it was

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we had an assignment and it was an not them

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language class and we had to Our final project was

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we worked on our emach our family tree, and that

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helped me to dig in deeper online and I was

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able to find like old census papers and also I

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revealed the name of my great grandmother on my dad's side.

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My dad passed a long time ago as well, but

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all my aunts and uncle were just my one aunt

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and all my uncles.

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None of them.

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Really remembered or knew the name of their grandmother, who

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was their dad's mom. All they knew about her was

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that she died at a young age in her like twenties.

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That was all they knew.

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And their grandfather, Jonas is who raised my grandfather. And

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the census revealed that, oh man, I can't even remember

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her name now, but we.

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Found her name.

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We found how old she was when she did past

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She was twenty seven years old, and we also found

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out that it was from tuberculosis in the forties, early forties,

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I believe, And so I was able to take that

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information back to my family and building our family tree.

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But it's just amazing that you don't realize your own

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family history like you think you know, but.

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You really don't. You really don't.

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Especially for me being like the youngest, I didn't really

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know anything because a lot of my my family members

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are older than me. So when I was able to

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finally like understand complex and deep stuff, everyone was already

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past that, and I was like, okay, so, well, it's

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kind of a little funny that you don't know you

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like you think you know, really, but it's just like

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the surface level of what's to your family legacies.

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Yeah, until you start digging.

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Find not some interesting things.

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I'm sure, yeah, for sure. And it's funny.

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It's like sometimes that's just how it is with families.

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You know, your grandparents, even your grandparents, you know, they're

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not going to tell you everything. And a lot of

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the times you just have to go and ask these questions.

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And it doesn't even have to be something or complex.

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It could just be as simple as like what was

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life like when you grew up? You know, what was

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your transportation? Like, you know, did you guys have a

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TV growing up? Or anything like right, And then they'll

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just open up and you'll learn something new about your

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grandparents or your elders.

234
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That's like with my one of my grandma's on my

235
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dad's side, I always look at it like because she's

236
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an elder, I'm just like, dang, she really got to

237
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witness like a lot of history that I learned about

238
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in books. She is a first first hand witness like

239
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seeing computers coming about phones, TV. And so sometimes I

240
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just kind of throw out a topic out there to

241
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get her going and talking, Like she saw Elvis perform.

242
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In person what I believe in person perform and that's amazing.

243
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I always still stuff out there to really get her

244
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going and talking, and then I'm like, sit back and listen.

245
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Just you don't you tend to not think of that,

246
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especially being young, you just want to go over to

247
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your grandparents and just maybe they'll buy your food and toys.

248
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But as you get older, you're like, they really they

249
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got a lot of wisdom to them.

250
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So yeah, it's pretty cool.

251
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Whenever I get her going and talking, she usually shares

252
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some some pretty big things. I'm just grateful to learn

253
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through her experience and her you know, her telling me

254
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that's awesome.

255
00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:33.360
Yeah, it's funny. I when I before my grandmother died,

256
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I asked her that same question, who is it that

257
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:38.200
she would that she liked to listen to as a

258
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young teenage and Elvis was one of the people.

259
00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:44.759
It's kind of a full circle moment because recently he

260
00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:48.720
got that movie. They released the Elvis movie and I

261
00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:51.519
want to go watch it. Kind of a full circle

262
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moment where now like I listen to Elvis sometimes.

263
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So yeah, yeah, it seems like an Indian country, he's

264
00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:04.240
had a lot of fans. Yeah, well, well, you know,

265
00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:07.679
thanks again for being so open and wanting to share

266
00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.039
your story. And did you always know that you wanted

267
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to go and get a higher education after high school?

268
00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:20.480
I did. I always knew that education just came natural

269
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to me, Like I enjoyed going to school and learn

270
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where some of my peers they didn't really care about it.

271
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They kind of wanted to just play sports or hang

272
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.799
out friends. Yeah, but for me, I always knew like

273
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I wanted to pursue education, go to college, and yeah,

274
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that led me to look in a lot of big universities,

275
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like I said, U of a ASU. It wasn't until

276
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I started to really look at regaining my identity that

277
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I found that. I found that tribal colleges and universities

278
00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:58.080
were a thing, and that was Yeah. I found that

279
00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:01.279
out when I was nineteen, so eighteen years of my life,

280
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I had no idea that those existed.

281
00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:08.079
So how did you find TOCC?

282
00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:13.000
My family members we kind of, I don't know how. Honestly,

283
00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:18.480
we just knew that the nation had their community college

284
00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:22.559
and it was offered, I believe, like free tuition. They

285
00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:24.759
had a lot of free waivers for being a member.

286
00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:30.160
And I just started to explore. I googled it. It

287
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.359
popped up and I started to see what they offered,

288
00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:39.240
how accessible it was compared to even other community colleges

289
00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:43.079
where you kind of still have to pay. Just started

290
00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:46.440
doing research and called one of the advisors there and

291
00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.440
they got me scheduled like within a week, and I

292
00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:53.480
was ready to start in the spring of twenty twenty one.

293
00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:58.559
I believe. Yeah, it just happened by chance, but I'm

294
00:17:58.599 --> 00:17:59.240
glad it did.

295
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:00.759
So.

296
00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.559
So you went there, you did your two years. What

297
00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.519
did you What did you graduate with?

298
00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:10.200
I graduated with an Associate of Arts and Liberal Arts

299
00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:14.599
with high honors. Oh no, I got like a little

300
00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:18.720
it was like a ribbon or something that showcase. I

301
00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:23.319
had high honors there. But that was amazing. I never

302
00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:28.240
thought that I would walk across that stage. Yeah, A

303
00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:33.240
lot of my visions and of me walking across a

304
00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:36.519
kind of a college stage. Again, it was like big

305
00:18:36.599 --> 00:18:40.640
universities like I've been mentioning. I never thought that my

306
00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:44.559
path would lead me to t OCC but I'm glad

307
00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.960
it did. And a lot of my journey, especially like

308
00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.359
I said COVID, was uncertain. That really helped me develop

309
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:54.599
a mind where I would kind of plan out a

310
00:18:54.599 --> 00:18:57.359
lot of my journey. I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna

311
00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:02.599
do this. I realized life tends not to be that way. Yeah,

312
00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:04.559
so I kind of just take it in the moment

313
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:07.079
instead of focusing on what I'm going to be in

314
00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.599
five years or three years. I have it in the

315
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.640
back of my mind, but I kind of just want

316
00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:16.960
to focus on in this moment, what's going to happen tomorrow. Yeah,

317
00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:19.920
it's going to happen, you know, next week. That's's kind

318
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:20.680
of my approach.

319
00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:24.279
That's really good that you're already at a young age.

320
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.599
I'm in soul, I have an old soul, but some

321
00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:30.400
people around me, I'll take it.

322
00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:34.279
I guess, well, that's amazing that you've been able to

323
00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:40.160
go back and you know, as part of autumn humdug

324
00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:44.720
and way of life, we're taught to whatever it is

325
00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:48.440
that you learn in life, whatever skills you have. If

326
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.359
giving back eventually giving back to the community, how in

327
00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:55.279
what ways do you see yourself, whether it's now or

328
00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:59.240
in the future, that you kind of see yourself giving

329
00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:00.319
back to the commune unity?

330
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:02.960
What other ways or what ways are those do you think?

331
00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:08.920
I think right now, it's just representing at them nation.

332
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:11.880
Any chance I get, even with school, if like I

333
00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:15.319
have to write a report on any topic, I'm doing

334
00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:19.640
something that relates to you know, autumn people and you know,

335
00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:22.599
the nation. I think it's important. You know, I would

336
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.759
love to at some point work in the tribal government there,

337
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:29.279
but like I said, you don't really know where your

338
00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:33.880
journey will take you. A good speaker at my graduation

339
00:20:34.119 --> 00:20:40.279
for TWOCC, she said, sometimes when you're ready to want

340
00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:42.960
to come back and work in your community, that the

341
00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:45.880
community and nation may not be ready for you. Yeah,

342
00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.680
and you got to you just have to accept that.

343
00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:53.240
And that was some good insight because you may not always.

344
00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:55.720
You know, as much as I would like to work

345
00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.599
within the tribal government for people right now, you know

346
00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:03.680
that time just isn't it. But as long as I'm

347
00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:08.359
able to just represent the people I'm helping out nearby

348
00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:12.119
the Hiller River, any community, their sister trib to us

349
00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:16.160
Stockham at Otums, I'm still representing indigenous people.

350
00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:17.400
Yeah.

351
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:22.559
And so moving forward into you know, after TOCC, you're

352
00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:28.799
now a student at Arizona State University watching college football,

353
00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:30.079
waiting for your team.

354
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.680
I think I'm bringing the bad luck because all my

355
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:38.440
teams don't do well. Hopefully this isn't the case.

356
00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:45.839
So what's what's that like that transition from a two

357
00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:49.920
year community college going to a big university.

358
00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:55.240
Yeah, it's eye opening for sure, going from a tribal

359
00:21:55.240 --> 00:21:59.480
college to a mainstream university. I'm still online, but at

360
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.119
SEE they're pretty intimate where it's about thirty twenty people

361
00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.400
in a class, and you tend to recognize people like, oh,

362
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.920
I had you in this class last semester, and you

363
00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.519
build a relationship. Now I'm in an online class of

364
00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.640
about one hundred plus people and I'm usually the only

365
00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.599
one that is openly Native American and talks about topics

366
00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:26.039
any chance I get. So it's just eye opening kind

367
00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:29.759
of Even online you lose that community. I can only

368
00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:33.519
imagine how it is for in person students. But I'm

369
00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:35.519
glad I went to a travel college because it gives

370
00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:39.480
me the confidence to represent my people and where I

371
00:22:39.559 --> 00:22:40.640
come from.

372
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:44.519
Yeah, I think that it definitely probably helps lay the

373
00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:49.039
foundation of that, not just with a higher education, but

374
00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:53.920
with cultural identity and how you choose to move forward

375
00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:57.039
is up to you, and it's great to hear that

376
00:22:57.160 --> 00:22:59.960
this is how you're choosing to move forward, right. Yeah.

377
00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:05.000
I just always following like the student on Native American

378
00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:08.599
student clubs there because it's when I try to go

379
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:12.160
to that campus. I just know where kind of friendly

380
00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:15.920
spaces are that could relate to me right away. So

381
00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.799
hopefully in the near future I could go on campus

382
00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:22.480
when I have free time and connect with some students there.

383
00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:28.319
Yeah, definitely. So you said that you're wanting to get

384
00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:31.319
more into journalism. Can you talk a little bit more

385
00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:31.799
about that?

386
00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:36.680
Right? Like I said, it came from my time at TOCC.

387
00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:41.200
I took an Introduction to Writing course, and a lot

388
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:46.960
of the curriculum the education topics at TOCC relate to

389
00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:53.279
Indian country, like authors, movies, history, all of that ties

390
00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:56.880
back to the nation or just Indian country in general.

391
00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.880
So I wrote a paper and one of my professors

392
00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:03.400
met with me to revise it and he was just

393
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:07.559
talking about my approach to it was kind of philosophical

394
00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:10.400
in a way, and I always had an interest in writing,

395
00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:15.799
but I kind of lost my mindset and wanting to

396
00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:19.119
do something I love because when I first wanted to TOCC,

397
00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:22.960
I wanted to do like computers or business, something where

398
00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:27.000
I know there's going to be money. And I think

399
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:29.480
that was a mistake because I wasn't doing it for

400
00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:32.960
the right reason. So when I talked to my professor.

401
00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:37.359
He reintroduced that interest that I forgotten about, and that

402
00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:42.559
led me to take multiple English courses and transitioning my bachelors,

403
00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:47.640
my Bachelors of English at ASU to tribal journalism and

404
00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:52.440
now I'm interning with Hillar River Indi community in their

405
00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:57.119
newspaper doing journalism and it's been it's been amazing gaining

406
00:24:57.160 --> 00:25:03.880
the experience writing about and agenous events promoting indigenous communities.

407
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:04.440
Cool.

408
00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:08.119
So when it comes to journalism work for somebody who's

409
00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:11.720
not familiar with, well, what does all that entail? What

410
00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:15.720
is the day a day and life of a journalist's

411
00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:18.160
intern look like as far as like, how do you

412
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:21.759
find your stories? Do you need any specific equipment? Do

413
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:23.920
you go to the events or do you do a

414
00:25:23.960 --> 00:25:27.319
phone call? Can you share a little bit what that

415
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:31.440
process is like for you as a a journalist intern? Right?

416
00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:38.400
Right? So a typical day, Well, I guess before I

417
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:41.960
really I tend events, but before that, I do a

418
00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:45.960
lot of research in the community chats or just people

419
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.160
in general who call our office space that want coverage,

420
00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:55.359
finding events that may be of importance. You can attend

421
00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:57.519
all of them, so you kind of really have to

422
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:00.680
make a priority list of maybe what you think is

423
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.519
best suited for the upcoming issue, and then from there

424
00:26:04.599 --> 00:26:08.799
it's seeing what date the event lands on, getting your

425
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:12.480
equipment ready, which is for me, a camera and my

426
00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:16.440
phone in case I have to record an interview with somebody,

427
00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:20.319
making sure I have like a piece of paper and

428
00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:25.039
a pen to take notes, go through the event. And

429
00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:30.359
that's kind of the surface level. When I do an event,

430
00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:34.039
I tend to walk around the room or whatever space

431
00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:36.559
it is to kind of get the angles of maybe

432
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:40.279
what would look good on the camera, which eye sights

433
00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:43.960
are better than others. And then once the event kicks off,

434
00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:47.279
I'm usually running around taking pictures of anything I can,

435
00:26:48.200 --> 00:26:52.279
making notes of any statements, interviewing any people I can,

436
00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:55.799
and all that data gets collected by me, and then

437
00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:59.079
I start writing. Started gathering all these pieces of information

438
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.400
to an article. If there's any time where I need more,

439
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:07.160
I make sure to get contact information, call people, email them,

440
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.480
set up zoom interviews. Yeah, that's usually a lot of

441
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:16.359
what I do to make an article that people could read.

442
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:17.519
Yeah.

443
00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:22.279
I actually highlighted a TOCC student. He's from Hillar River

444
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:26.519
Indian Community and he was part of a recent roundtable

445
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:32.799
discussion at the school where he talked to a Congress representative.

446
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:38.799
Her name is Adelita. Yeah, she was there at TOCC

447
00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:41.880
he was there, he got to talk to her. So

448
00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:42.960
I'm kind of highlighting.

449
00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:47.079
So where can people find this information if they wanted

450
00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:51.839
to read anything with the Hillar River Indian Community.

451
00:27:52.039 --> 00:27:56.359
Yeah, the website should be Hillary River Indian Community News

452
00:27:56.839 --> 00:28:01.680
or GRIN for short. Yeah, that's the web page where

453
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:06.240
they have tons of archives of past issues, past articles,

454
00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:10.119
like dating back a few years. So if anyone wants

455
00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:12.839
to go check out my work or just see read

456
00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:15.839
up on what's happening in hell Inning Community News, I

457
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:18.799
can for sure check out that website. Cool.

458
00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:23.599
Yeah, So is this something with the journalism work? Is

459
00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:27.000
it strictly just what you're doing now or do is

460
00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:29.839
there other skills that you want to learn as far

461
00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:35.359
as like getting stories or recording or you know, what

462
00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:39.440
is the next step after this phase? I guess right.

463
00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:44.440
I've been interning for about two years now, roughly two years,

464
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.079
and in this time I'd really just been honing my

465
00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:51.519
skills on writing taking photos, because the writing skills I

466
00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:55.480
knew were always there, but taking photos with something new

467
00:28:55.519 --> 00:28:58.799
to me, editing them with something new to me, and

468
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:01.319
I feel like I've become more confident in that. So

469
00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:05.319
now it's it would be good to learn graphics, kind

470
00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:10.720
of more social media, recording, recording audio, recording videos. I

471
00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:13.480
feel like that's the next step that could be vital.

472
00:29:13.960 --> 00:29:17.319
SOE just like on staying on that path of what

473
00:29:17.400 --> 00:29:19.599
you want to do. And it's good that you're doing

474
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:21.799
what you want to do because then you're able to

475
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:23.039
enjoy it as well.

476
00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:28.079
Right, Yeah, a lot of people tend to I heard

477
00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:29.960
a lot of time that a lot of people do

478
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:34.119
something they don't necessarily really enjoy your love, And I

479
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:37.119
had tons of mentors say do what you love because

480
00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:38.480
it won't be a.

481
00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:38.920
Job to you.

482
00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:39.519
Yeah.

483
00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:42.319
And when I first started doing this internship, I covered

484
00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:47.440
a community run event taking photos and I started to

485
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:52.240
smile and feel like warm inside again. I knew I

486
00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:56.599
really enjoyed this and it wasn't work or daunting task. Yeah.

487
00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:01.079
I found enjoyment in doing it, and then I stay

488
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:05.640
consistent with it and I'm just enjoying the moment.

489
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:06.400
Awesome.

490
00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:09.240
Yeah, it's a it's a great feeling when you know

491
00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:13.200
that all your hard work is paying off. You know,

492
00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:16.839
you dedicate a lot of time to your craft, and

493
00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:22.200
you stay focused and you discipline yourself and you pursue

494
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:26.759
through whatever challenges that you faced along the way, and

495
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:30.079
then you're you know, you're kind of going in that

496
00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.000
path that you want to go. And yeah, it's a

497
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.279
great feeling. And you know, for me right now, my

498
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:38.799
day job is my dream job. And I tell people

499
00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:42.880
that all the time because working in radio, still doing

500
00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:47.839
podcasting in radio as well. So I work at kCi

501
00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:52.519
Community Radio station and I do Cultivating Indigenous Voices there,

502
00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:55.799
which is actually a sister podcast of to Young Voices,

503
00:30:56.519 --> 00:30:59.880
and it's a show that also gets broadcasted on air.

504
00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:05.000
And I've been in tribal radio since twenty nineteen. So

505
00:31:05.079 --> 00:31:09.559
I was in the stemfield working for many years after COCC.

506
00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:15.359
I graduated within Associates in Science in Life Sciences and

507
00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:20.960
then transferred to the JOVE never finished, but I dedicated

508
00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:24.960
a lot of my career in STEM, working for Swar

509
00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:28.240
National Park, and I even did some research work at

510
00:31:28.240 --> 00:31:34.440
Biosphere two and working in the lab doing root analysis.

511
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:38.240
But then in twenty nineteen or in twenty sixteen, I

512
00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:41.559
started doing the podcasting stuff. And then in twenty nineteen

513
00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:44.400
I decided you know, I'm just gonna go for it.

514
00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:50.559
I'm gonna leave and go into radio and do podcasting.

515
00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:54.359
And so that's where my radio journey really began. I

516
00:31:54.359 --> 00:32:00.000
had been doing radio prior, but very little little time

517
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:04.599
I'm doing it. But then I started working in tribal

518
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:07.119
radio and really started to fill up myself as a

519
00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:11.880
radio personality, a radio person being on air, going as

520
00:32:11.960 --> 00:32:17.119
Lady T and so I had a lot of success,

521
00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:20.720
especially working on the Nation and during the pandemic twenty twenty.

522
00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:24.759
At the end of twenty twenty, they brought me in

523
00:32:24.799 --> 00:32:28.440
to work and then I got offered a position at

524
00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:32.480
kCi as a production coordinator. So now I'm behind the

525
00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:37.960
scenes producing many programs and shows and doing audio sound

526
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:42.200
engineering or assisting with the audio engineering sounds and so

527
00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:45.440
a lot of that. So all these skills, these DIY skills,

528
00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:49.000
right that I did over the years is paid off.

529
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:52.400
Yeah, And it goes to the point I've kind of

530
00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:55.079
made where you don't know where your journey will take you.

531
00:32:55.319 --> 00:32:58.880
Like you said, you're in STEM and transition to podcasting

532
00:32:58.920 --> 00:33:01.880
in radio, even you kind of had some knowledge, Yeah,

533
00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:04.839
you just don't know where life will take you. Yeah,

534
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:08.960
I just gotta enjoy it. Like I believe Bruce Lee said,

535
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:12.839
be water. That's kind of my mot just go with

536
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:16.640
the flow, because absolutely you can't swim upstream, it's going

537
00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.000
to keep going one direction.

538
00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:24.799
So it's kind of I love that water.

539
00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:30.200
Yes, I have to add some water sound effects later.

540
00:33:33.480 --> 00:33:35.119
Isn't water? Should I?

541
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:36.200
Yeah? Should?

542
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:39.920
I reconnecting to my identity for.

543
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:44.000
You, I mean so amazing that you've been able to

544
00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:46.319
apply your skills as a young person.

545
00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:47.319
Now you're going to.

546
00:33:47.359 --> 00:33:52.400
Be doing more things and working. So I'm looking forward

547
00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:56.200
to following, continuing to follow your work and to learn

548
00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:58.319
and maybe in the future we could do some kind

549
00:33:58.359 --> 00:34:00.160
of collaboration for sure.

550
00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:03.960
Yeah, I'm always looking to collabse more outside of the

551
00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:07.720
hiler of Inning community. Yeah, I know that it's important

552
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.559
the work I do there. A lot of individuals expressed

553
00:34:10.599 --> 00:34:13.360
and are happy when I cover events, and I love

554
00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:18.119
covering the community there because it's promoting Indigenous excellency and

555
00:34:18.199 --> 00:34:21.519
what's happening everyday life that a lot of big media

556
00:34:21.559 --> 00:34:24.880
outlets don't cover. But I do want to explore kind

557
00:34:24.920 --> 00:34:28.880
of more personal projects cool an Indian country because there's

558
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.679
a lot of stories across the country that don't get

559
00:34:31.719 --> 00:34:33.039
shared as much as they should.

560
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:39.360
Yeah, So as far as enjoying your time as a student,

561
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:41.679
is there anything else that you want to share with

562
00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:45.679
the listeners about your story and who you are, or

563
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:48.840
share words of encouragement to any other young person out

564
00:34:48.840 --> 00:34:52.239
there who may have had similar experiences as you have,

565
00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:57.519
being coming from two different indigenous communities and just as

566
00:34:57.519 --> 00:34:59.039
far as your journey.

567
00:34:58.760 --> 00:35:04.039
Right, just some words of encouragement to anyone who feels

568
00:35:04.039 --> 00:35:07.719
like they connect with my story being mixed or maybe

569
00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:11.599
just not having as much knowledge in their history of

570
00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:15.880
their culture. Looking too, I'd say look into tribal colleges

571
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:20.000
and universities, whether it's even one in your own community

572
00:35:20.199 --> 00:35:23.800
or not. They know what it means to be an

573
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:28.960
Indigenous person, especially navigating higher education, and you'd be surprised

574
00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:32.480
on what you could do with education and wanting to

575
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:36.360
learn something that impacts you. I've gone to do some

576
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:43.280
pretty amazing things going to the American Indian Higher Education Conference.

577
00:35:43.800 --> 00:35:49.519
It was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, representing TOCC but also the

578
00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:54.119
nation with my student internship doing tribal journalism. I've gone

579
00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:57.639
to take photos of former President Joe Biden when he

580
00:35:57.719 --> 00:36:01.440
addressed his apology for the boarding square eras I got

581
00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:05.320
a recent ambassador. I got to be an ambassador with

582
00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:08.559
the American Indian College Fund, which is a big organization

583
00:36:08.719 --> 00:36:13.400
that promotes Indigenous higher education. They offer tons of scholarships.

584
00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:16.960
So just take a chance in wanting to learn. It's

585
00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:20.079
going to be scary, but you could do anything you want.

586
00:36:20.199 --> 00:36:24.880
Don't let American society or history or anyone tell you

587
00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:28.679
what you can and can do. You gotta shoot for

588
00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:33.880
the stars and you'll achieve it. You may fall fail, cry,

589
00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:38.800
I know I have, but the journey is something that

590
00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:41.000
you should enjoy and you'll get to the light at

591
00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:42.760
the end of the tunnel for sure.

592
00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:46.199
Well, thank you so much, Joseph for taking the time

593
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:50.039
to share your story and share words of encouragement and

594
00:36:50.119 --> 00:36:53.880
talk about your experiences that you had as a person

595
00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:57.559
who knew little to nothing about your own cultural identity

596
00:36:57.639 --> 00:37:03.039
to now feeling accept and feeling confident and comfortable to

597
00:37:03.159 --> 00:37:09.239
acknowledge your autumn side, but also just embracing it as well.

598
00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:10.280
That's amazing, right.

599
00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:13.039
Oh, the pleasure. Thank you for having me on here.

600
00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:16.320
It's been amazing. I never thought i'd be in the

601
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:20.440
spaces I've been, especially being on like a podcast. I

602
00:37:20.519 --> 00:37:24.119
never thought in a million years you'd see me doing

603
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:27.199
these things, but it's important. You know, we're Indigenous people.

604
00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:30.559
We've always been here, We're always going to be here.

605
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:34.760
And education, I think is the future for us. And

606
00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:38.480
instead of looking at it as scary kind of uncertained,

607
00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:40.840
we could look at it to make our communities and

608
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:42.639
our people better.

609
00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:43.239
Yeah.

610
00:37:43.280 --> 00:37:46.079
So we just got to shoot for the stars, like I.

611
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:49.159
Said, yes, and move like water.

612
00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:52.440
Yeah, be watered. Don't fight that that stream, it's always

613
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:55.760
going to go in one direction. Just navigate the journey.

614
00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:57.880
Yes.

615
00:37:57.880 --> 00:38:01.000
So well, thank you so much, thank youppreciate having you

616
00:38:01.119 --> 00:38:08.159
on as a guest. Thank you, thank you for listening

617
00:38:08.199 --> 00:38:13.760
to this episode titled Final Exam Identity featuring Joseph Morales

618
00:38:14.119 --> 00:38:19.719
Down Autumn. I'm Tina Andrew and this has been Dawn Autumn.

619
00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:20.440
Young Voices