“I never learned my Navajo language and I was never inspired to learn it. As I got older, I realized how valuable our language is to the livelihood of our Navajo Nation. ” -Dr. Shawna L. Begay
Our Navajo or Diné language is in danger of becoming extinct. Help us create and develop the first Navajo-English educational media TV puppet show, “Diné Bí Ná’álkid Time” which means ‘The Navajo Movie Time.’ It will inspire and teach our youth basic language skills using media as a technology tool. Parents, grandparents, children and grandkids can learn to speak Navajo fluently together within their own homes.
Long-time friends and educators, Dr. Shawna L. Begay and Charmaine Jackson have teamed up to create this new TV pilot for an all-ages audience or for anyone who wants to learn the Navajo language.
With your support, it’ll be the first educational Navajo and English puppet show that will teach and preserve the Navajo language and culture through digital media.
After several years of extensive research on the Navajo Nation, Dr. Begay recently completed her PhD from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with her doctorate thesis, ‘Developing A Navajo Media Guide: A Community Perspective.’ As project director, she quickly realized she was a pioneer on the topic.
“When I decided what topic to study I realized there existed very little research in Indigenous educational media, especially with our Navajo people,” stated Dr. Begay. “As Navajo people, we have our own learning objectives and Navajo way of knowing is completely different for Euro-Western schooling. I decided that I had to research and develop our own curriculum guide that is meant to teach Navajo through media.”
Dr. Begay and Jackson, co-writers of the show, developed the first 3-puppet characters and plan for many more. The pilot features Nanabah-a young Navajo girl, Gáh (Rabbit) and Dlǫ̀ǫ̀ (Prairie Dog) who will go on endless adventures learning about language, gardening, the environment and the importance of family values. Nanabah is fluent in Navajo and likes to teach children about life on the reservation with her animal friends and special guests. Children who want to learn Navajo will also be an important part of the show by interacting with Nanabah, her friends and storyline.
Dr. Begay’s research concluded there exists very little research in the area of Indigenous educational media. Currently media is a very powerful tool that can be used to teach. She is cognizant of the digital age we live in and the opportunities to utilize media to revitalize the Navajo language.
“Star Wars and Finding Nemo,” dubbed in Navajo, was a great place to start and it has garnered national exposure of our language. However, we need a show based on our own Navajo learning principals our ancestors set out for us to learn and live by. I don’t think a non-Navajo, non-Native or non-Indigenous person can do that for us, nor should they. We, as Navajo, need to produce this show ourselves, if we are to be truly sovereign,” added Dr. Begay.
Both educators, Dr. Begay and Jackson, of Naalkid Productions have been talking about this educational language project for about the past four years and still have a long way to go to finance their dream.
“With the support of Navajo TV Anchor Colton Shone, our team of Navajo artists, filmmakers, family and friends, this video pilot is a huge step forward,” said Jackson. “Our journey has just begun and the big next step is finding financial support to create a whole new puppet TV series.”
We aim to raise $50,000 with this project which will allow us to continue with pre-production and production aspects of making this digital media project become a reality. We need your help to save our language by teaching Navajo to our future generations.
Pre-Production: -Script writing for the pilot show -Puppet Development/Creation -Casting for puppeteers and other talent that will be on screen -Hiring of all key cast and crew
Production: -Locations and permits -Rental of Studio space -Equipment: cameras, sound, lights, etc. -Cast and Crew budget
Despite all the notes on this post, they’re still at $13,155 of their $50,000 goal.
This is the funniest and most thoughtful I’ve ever seen an organization use a meme and it’s good people with good goals who don’t just want your money on top of it
i never talk about these things but i can’t remain silent.
i know tumblr doesn’t give a SHIT when things happen in countries outside the “most popular ones” (such as the usa & england). it’s true, don’t lie to me. y’all don’t give A FUCK. not every issue and problem in said countries gets the appropriate exposure but in general shit shows up on the news WORLD FREAKING WIDE. you set up donations, you help out, your spread the word, you say “pray for x”……
southern europe is burning.
my country is burning.
people are dying – at home, on the road, trying to run away, in their cars.
yesterday my country had 300 active fires.
people are losing EVERYTHING they own.
i have a friend that is on a train right now passing through places that have been burnt to the ground and she says the smoke is so intense it’s getting inside the train and she can barely breathe.
and yet, even though several people (myself included) have been trying to bring awareness to what has been happening in southern europe… what we get from most of you, those not part of the countries suffering, is silence. we don’t ask for money, we don’t ask for shit other than a reblog to spread awareness… something you can delete in 24/48hrs if you wish.
i don’t know what to tell you. i’m angry. i’m frustrated. i’m disappointed. i feel like i’m screaming into the void. “a reblog does nothing” – you know that’s a damn lie, you know exposure always helps, you know people start paying attention when posts on social media become popular. my country in particular is a small one, we get ZERO exposure. y’all are only starting to figure out we even fucking exist bc of the shit we’ve been winning lately.
but hell, if the EU doesn’t give a shit, why should some user on tumblr dot com?
again, i don’t know what to tell you so i’ll let the images speak for themselves:
An image captured by a Nasa satellite shows a thick plume of smoke blowing southward from the Greek island of Chios over the island of Crete
Torneros de Jamuz, Spain
Duca, Croatia
A helicopter from Italy’s civil protection service drops water on a fire near the railway between Venice and Trieste
Residents take refuge on the beach as a wildfire burns on the mountain next to the village of Lithi, on the Greek island of Chios
Men gather cattle during a forest fire in Vieira de Leiria, Marinha Grande, Portugal.
Charred trees are seen on the hills above the Cloister of Thivaidas on Mount Athos, a World Heritage Site in Greece
Portugal
This is fucking important. I am glad someone fucking spoke about this and said what they had to say. The damage is terrible, and all the evergreen, stone, even the ground is black. I was fucking terrified when Croatia was burning. The fire was near a village where I like and I thought it will burn down. I thought the church will burn down. I thought the cemetery where my grandpa is buried will burn. I still remember the smell of smoke, and when I went to check how bad is fire, my clothes and hair and skin all stunk of smoke. It didn’t go away for weeks.
This is NASA’s picture of Croatia and Montenegro burning. My fucking country was burning. Fucking reblog this. I don’t care that it isn’t UK or US, or that it doesn’t go with your blog, fucking. Reblog. It.
Not my blog type, I dont care.
God please stay safe everyone, take care
A perfect example what is wrong with the media. I can’t recall hearing about it in the German news.
This is my mom’s fundraiser for her Kenyan friend David. It was originally started to help the kids he was working with, but now he needs help. The site has to be updated, but he has cancer. On top of that, he has a permanent disability. If you feel led to donate, please do. Our family wants to try to either help him move to a better medical facility in Africa, or bring him to the US. This is not a scam, my mom has been in personal contact with this man over the phone, and he sounds really sick. He’s never asked us for money. If you’re not comfortable donating, please pray
God absolutely does not hate you. God doesn’t hate anyone. You could do everything in your power to conspire against Him, but that wouldn’t change how much He loves you. There’s not a single person who has ever or will ever exist that God wouldn’t love.
I’m not saying there’s nothing you need to change about yourself, or that there’s a balance between being gay and being a Christian (because I’m sorry, there is no balance, it’s one or the other, God doesn’t share His place in anyone’s heart with sin), but I’m saying God won’t stop loving you no matter what you do. He loves us so much that the sin that traps us breaks His heart. He hates sin because it separates us from Him, even if we don’t think it does. It’s not you He hates, He’s trying to save you from what He hates, from what’s threatening your faith and your soul. There is no good or okay sin, all sins hurt us, even if we like the sin we’ve fallen to.
As an update, they’ve moved into a house together and are still super cute
Gundam Guy is truly a man of patience and diligence. From his attention to detail building his models to the loving attention and detail for his wife.
Hey all!
Elle is actually one of my ride or dies. We became friends about 8 or 9 years ago on this here blue website, and I love her so fucking much.
Their story is sweet, but unfortunately, they’re going through some hard times. Elle’s endometriosis is super bad, and she’s neck deep in medical bills, on top of being unable to work due to the disease. This is making it really hard for them to keep up with other bills, as she can’t supplement their household income.
She’s had a GoFundMe up for a long time now, but it still has a long way to go. They really do need the help so they can live their cute ass lives!!
If you can boost this and maybe consider donating (instead of that Kylie bullshit), it would be incredible. I’m posting this on her behalf since she doesn’t use Tumblr anymore.
tumblr is massively wrong about the Amazon strike and there are a few key people trying to get the right information out and y’all are too focused on sticking it to Amazon to bother getting it right. @brainstatic started noticing yesterday that the dates people were posting were funky and @janothar started posting that even the Spanish strike isn’t starting on the 10th and yet y’all are still spreading this like it’s fact. I honestly have not seen a damn thing about the strike literally ANYWHERE but tumbr so I decided to use our good friend google and here’s what I’ve found.
There are a handful of other sites reporting that the strike started on the 10th and that other EU countries are participating; however, as @brainstatic pointed out already, these all link back to the same .info site that is not reliable and is not backed by reliable news sources (unlike Reuters, which is a reliable news source). The Observer article that links to the .info site above also literally uses tumblr’s “the boycott starts on the 10th” as a source for the boycott starting on the 10th… meaning that TUMBLR started those rumors, not the Observer article, and there is no reliable source for the boycott starting on the 10th other than the fact that y’all made that shit up and some online news source picked it up and ran with it. You can’t use an article that sites you as the source as a source for your bullshit. Got it?
If you want to support the striking workers, know when they are striking and what they want from you. Know what the actual activists involved are calling for. Know when and where the strike is taking place. As of right now, the strike is ONLY in Spain, it is 3 days long starting on the 16th, and it is ONLY focused around Prime Day. It did not start yesterday on the 10th. It is primarily about raising wages and other similar issues in Spanish factories, which are unionized already. It is not about people dying in American Amazon factories. Having half-assed, half-researched boycotts here and there that do not correspond to the strikes and are not well coordinated is not going to make a point. Having an organized, well-informed, large movement is what gets your point across. So stop what you’ve been doing and do this right. Boycott Prime Day and stop spreading misinformation.
Look, a romantic wishlist is a nice thought, but it’s also creepy and unfair. It’s setting up an impossible monstrosity of expectations and you’ll be disappointed for no other reason than you played yourself.
I don’t mean lowering your standards. I mean setting real ones, for actual people who exist. For people who are just people and not a customized Frankenstein creature.
The person you’ll end up with is going to be their own person with their own hopes, dreams, goals, anxieties, and weird little habits. They’re not a checklist trophy that will meet your every size or quota.
They’re going to be way different and in fact way more interesting than the stitched up hologram made from half-baked movie cliches and choir-preaching memes.
Relationships are about compromise. Not compromising yourself, no. But about two weird people making it work. It’s a wild mix of chemistry, compatibility, non-negotiables, history and trauma, highs and lows, disagreements and pushback and feedback, augmenting goals, and lifelong change.
“Get you a guy/girl who” only works if you see yourself as a main character-savior-hero and you see others as a secondary prop to fulfill your romantic comedy narrative. In that case, you have other issues and you can wait.
And waiting in the meantime is a really good time for growth, for self-discovery, and for becoming the kind of person you never knew you were looking for. Singleness, really, isn’t waiting. It’s being.
AngelMihe 