Trusted Adviser in Information Technology & Business with a focus on Native American success. IBMer, Tribal Business Expert, STEM Educator, and Fly-fisher!
So proud of my son Kyle and a fellow 8th grader Kaiya for spending more than 15 hours going through the IBM Design Thinking process to develop a mobile app design to compete in the Notah Begay III Foundation National Youth App Contest. The goal of the contest was to get native youth (grades 8 to 12) to design a mobile app to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes among native american youth through exercise and diet. One key to getting native youth hooked into mobile technology design and development is to show them the various tasks related to hardware and software design. They had fun learning user centered design and creating content for the contest which was due on 10/31/2018.
Also I was very happy FatPipe Rio Rancho opened up in September 2018, this company provided a nice meeting space (in between all the sports and other student activities which forced us to meet in the evenings and weekends) to collaborate and get through the design process. Thanks FatPipe Rio Rancho!
I was in a Houston airport yesterday waiting for my next plane back to New Mexico after teaching a workshop in New York City and I caught the memorial service live broadcast on the local TV in the airport.
One of my vivid childhood memories of my grandfather Homer Yahnozha (Mescalero Apache) was that he very much loved to watch Boxing when it came on the TV in his house in Paguate, New Mexico. Homer was a survivor of the Bataan Death March and from my perspective (as a child) he was unemotional most of the time I interacted with him, a likely result from his experiences in military combat, survival, and service for this country. Boxing was one of the few times I saw his face light up in joy while two boxers went at one another. I’m sure he watched Muhammad Ali a time or two and would have been sad at his passing.
It was heartwarming to see that Muhammad Ali had planned to have a Native American speak at his memorial, one in his Native Language of the Onondaga and the other in English.
The two individuals that spoke were Chief Sydney Hill and Chief Oren Lyons, in attendance on stage was Ernie Stevens, Jr.
I’d like to capture what was spoken by Chief Lyons here because of it’s meaning and that Muhammad Ali had the foresight to provide yet another global and world platform for the Native American community and Indigenous peoples. I have yet to see a full transcript of what was said at the memorial.
I transcribed the words of Chief Oren Lyons here based on the video below:
“Translation (of the words Chief Sydney Hill just before) … He said, my relatives, it is my responsibility to pick up the words for the (native word of his community) the people of the longhouse, they wish you well, they want you to be at peace of mind.
Now this great darkness that has happened to us, you must understand, that he who had gathered us here, that his road is straight, peacefully he will arrive at his land (native words) our creator.
It is the same as you call him Allah, these were the words.
To the family, relatives, and friends, of Muhammad Ali … Muhammad Ali was a leader among men, and a champion of the people. He fought for the people of color, yet he was a man of peace and principles. A man of compassion who used his great gifts for the common good.
His spirit has a clear path to the creator. (Native words) Sydney Hill, spiritual leader of the (native words) 6 Nation Iroquois Confederation Onondaga Nation, and myself (native name), faith-keeper, turtle clan, Onondaga Council Of Chiefs, have journeyed here today to add our voice to this congregation of world leaders, in honor of his work, and for the rights and dignity of people of color and the common man.
He (Muhammad Ali) was always in support of the indigenous people of this hemisphere in our quest for our inherent land rights, self determination, identity, and collective rights that include the natural world.
We know … we know what he was up against, because we’ve had 524 years of survival training ourselves.
In 1978 a congressman from the state of Washington put a bill into congress to terminate our treaties with the United States, and Indian Nations walked from California to Washington DC in protest. Muhammad Ali marched into Washington DC with us.
He was a free independent spirit, he stood his ground with great courage and conviction, and he paid a price, and this country did too, we all did.
Values and principles will determine one’s destiny and the principles of a nation will do the same.
Poor people do not have many options, you fighters know what I’m talking about.
He said that the ring was Ali’s path to destiny. He said he’d be heavyweight champion of the world, and he was, 3 times, and this 4th time, right here right now.
On his journey in life, he lived and learned the hard way, he brought a life into this world, my world, our world, and that life will shine a long long time.
Peace brother, peace, and on behalf of the (native words referencing his community) my friend Ernie, and the indigenous people everywhere, peace, thank you, (native words of thanks).”
This video was made from the slides and recorded audio from a presentation I gave to the 3rd, 4th, & 5th grade Montessori class at Sandia Vista Elementary School (SVES) in Rio Rancho, NM on 2/4/2015. My oldest son is in this class. Enjoy!
PodCampAZ 2010 was a great event with many people wanting to share their learning & experiences. Well worth the effort to travel to Phoenix from Albuquerque. Even though there were less people this year, I renewed many friendships from last year and made many new ones as well.
This year I had the great opportunity to “bask in the awesomeness” of the following speakers:
Chris Hewitt – Forget the Experts…
Derek Neighbors – New Media is a Connection Point not a End Point
Video Genius Panel – Izzy, Clintus, Dave, & Jacqui
Jeremy Vaught – Zero to Hero
Israel Hyman (Izzy) – How to make a living as a full time podcaster
WordPress SEO Genius Panel – Chuck, Charlene, & Sam
Kevin Kitteridge – Do It Live!
Some of the more important ideas that I walked away with were:
Digital interactions can not replace In Real Life interactions
A 3 product approach to developing a viable information product based business
A couple new WordPress/SEO plugins to take a look at
I also had the opportunity to jump in, on the last day, and present what I wanted to share with regard to Media & Time Shifted Learning in a Corporation. The presentation went well, very informal as usual with a couple tangents based on questions. I have re-recorded the content, I posted it in video format in case you happen to have missed the session or did not attend the conference. Just a reminder, these are my opinions and are not opinions of my employer.
Here is the link to the downloadable MP4 video file, it’s 22 minutes long and about 34 MB in size and can be played with the Apple QuickTime Player.
In summary, a great weekend, looking forward to what next year will bring.
Just a quick plug about PodCampAZ 2010 coming up here on November 20 & 21, a event I will be attending.
I attended PodCampAZ 2009 last year, really by chance. I had a weekend free and we were already visiting family in the Phoenix area for the Thanksgiving holidays.
Based on reading the website before the event, I figured I’d get a chance to see what the world of new media and social networking looked like since most of my career was spent in data-center technologies.
The event was free, so there was very little to loose other than time, energy, and being away from my kids for a couple days.
The 2 day un-confernece (this is explained on the website) was really amazing, the power of like-minded people coming together to share information and experiences was eye-opening. I attended presentations on WordPress, Videocasting, Podcasting, and Social Media software. I also met so many people who were experts in their respective areas.
There is value in the overall socialness of this event and its ability to bring people who want to share, PodCampAZ is a great place to experience & learn from the talent in the Phoenix area first hand.
Dominic Pruitt 