San Juan College Hosts Traditional Navajo Shoe Game

I tell my students, look, listen, watch, learn. And so that's one of the things I tell anybody that's come in and just, you know, just engage yourself. But be but have that confidence and be brave, you know, and sit among the community. There is a lot of people afterwards I'll come up to me and say that this is something they've missed. This is something they never grew up with. This is something that was, that was taboo, that was pushed aside for them. It was it was inaccessible to them. But I feel like in the last five, six years of me doing this, I've seen a lot of growth in our community. You're watching the local news network brought to you by the Big Idea Makerspace at San Juan College, and Express Employment International.

So my name is Kevin Berlin. The way we introduce ourselves in my clan [Speaking Diné] Come from the communities in the center of New Mexico. And tonight, San Juan College Native American Center has asked me to, present. I think this is my third or fourth year, helping them and assisting them with their community shoe game.

So that's what this first night we've done. The first night is like a workshop. We go through the story, go through, the song, we go through the history, the storytelling aspect of it. Then we go through the songs and then we go through the scoring system, and then we try to play like, like a little mock game of it of sorts, and it really gives it courage to, to those that have not had the opportunity. But now we're engaged. And so the second night when we play the game, it really gives these new learners the opportunity to to engage with the game that really is inaccessible at times to them. We get a lot of new learners that that are older or reaching that stage and in their life where they've never had the opportunity. And now San Juan College and and what I do help to provide those opportunities of learning. One of the things that San Juan College the director here says, you know, I'm seeing that this is really starting to grow. And the years that we've started, you know, years ago, it was only little families in like chapter houses that would do this on the rez.

But now it's expanding to where, you know, a lot of effort has been going into making it more accessible for all of our relatives and, and our youth. And really, these, these new learners that are coming that shoe games is starting to be more, present across the reservation and even off reservation border towns is starting to spread. And and we are seeing our youth are wanting to play these games. They're wanting to learn these songs. They're wanting to engage. No longer are they happy with being content, being pushed to the side or it being inaccessible. They are wanting they're asking for these things to be, for for these opportunities, for them to learn, really enjoy seeing students engage.

Because a lot of times, a lot of times, students and young people, you know, anybody is that they're pushed out, right? And it's really like gate gate kept the songs and stories everything. But now I'm here to see kids and students and new learners come in and really engage with the game and learn and really be part of the culture that is really intimidating for new learners and anybody to go into, you know, like a full on, full, full shoe game. Just sit there, listen, just observe, see, get as much information as you can. Attend one. Attend to. Attend two. Attend three. Attend four. You know, start to make friendships. You'll start to find relatives. You'll start to see that, you know, you'll you'll you'll start to as you're more comfortable, you'll start to gain that confidence to engage in the game itself.

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