Personal Biography:

I have been living in the eastern Sierra for the past ten years. It is a pristine and exceedingly beautiful high desert environment. My most significant mentors here have been Paiute elder Norma Nelson, and my friend and Paiute community leader, Paul W. Chavez. Following my father’s career as a diplomat for the U.S. Government, my parents raised me in diverse surroundings including Mexico where I was born, Turkey and Illinois where I spent my childhood, in Greece and Virginia as a young adult.

I moved to California via Wyoming in 1993. Heroes outside my family include Jacques Cousteau, Carmen Campbell, and Jean Kondo-Weigel. Since 1996 I have initiated programs for community-based action mostly around the revitalization of Indian languages but also on environmental diversity and restoration. I have been fundraiser, program planner and manager, and lead technician and trainer. I work in small towns, reservations, and low-income neighborhoods where experiences of these types are uncommon because much work of this nature must initially be volunteered. I am a geeky girl and have loved digital media development technology since Photoshop 2.5 (before layers!). When attending college for fine arts and writing, computer-based tools for these topics had not yet been introduced to the general public. When I finally did get my hands on these tools, I saw how everyone else should get their hands on them too. At that time, Norma Nelson was teaching me how keeping Indian languages alive is directly connected to the health of Indian communities and the health of the community’s traditional environment. For Indian cultures that are very endangered and rely on being passed on orally, imaginative citizen groups have found digital recording and editing technology particularly useful for preserving and perpetuating their languages. They are also able to control the distribution of media that portrays them in the public eye.

Since 1996, I have trained people from at least 20 language groups to become self-sufficient in technological skills that enable them to have better economic opportunities and opportunities for self expression. In collaboration with the director and staff of the Owens Valley Career Development Center, in 1997 I initiated the Nüümü Yadoha Program, a California Indian language revitalization program that operates in five counties.

This year I am working independently with several colleagues on audio and video productions in native California languages. My interest in public policy issues includes community-controlled, independent media production and the infrastructure development for distribution of media.

Goals:

Goals for the Fellowship

In our role as leaders we often become very focused and keep our noses to the wheel until our particular goal is secured and our people are taken care of. Sometimes we work in isolation. We have been chosen to participate in the fellowship because our sponsors foresee that we have many years of public service left to give, and, over the past years, we have records of proven accomplishment and management. It is worthwhile to refresh ourselves through a fellowship so that we can cross-pollinate, explore, and take time to dream again. Although I have very pointed project goals, I don’t have rigid goals about the fellowship as this is all a very new experience for me. I do feel that I am at the top of my game in my ability to serve my community and that the connections that I make through the fellowship will change the way I will do things in the coming years in ways that I can’t imagine today. And all for the better. I feel it is my great pleasure and obligation to bring that home to those who have honored me in this opportunity.