End-of-Summer Report 2019

Both forms of writings [codices and the essay] were tools of colonialism, power structures and control, oppression and suppression.  They kept
out the common man from active participation in the religious and social
institutions, the government, and the academy.  However, as time went on,
both of these art forms became more and more accessible to the common man.

Accessibility became possible because universities and colleges opened
their doors and offered scholarship to the common people, where the
essays, and to a limited extent, the codices and photographs of
hieroglyphs are read and studied in these learning institutions. So the
main question for me remains: how do we make writing tools more accessible and useful to counter many of the damaging forces created by colonialism and elitism, discriminations of all kinds and racism?  Just as the codices and the essay became tools of critical thinking and creative expressions and are now powerful tools for countering colonialism and its negative impacts, we must now integrate these two writing forms into the
multimodal, multi-genre, multicultural, and multi-linguistic compositions
now enjoying modern technology: the internet, social media, and so on. How do we do this?  That’s what my plan of action will attempt to address.

Action!
La Casa Roja and BLTN Partnership

The purpose of La Casa Roja, a non-profit Indigenous Leadership and
Learning Institute is to help indigenous communities build their human
capacities and resources, in partnership with others, to solve their own
problems through critical and creative thinking in order to sustain stronger, healthier communities.  La Casa Roja is invested in providing
leadership and learning opportunities for indigenous peoples globally, to
promote healthy, sustainable solutions to problems that indigenous peoples
face, and to provide research and network-based leadership and learning
programs for indigenous youths, women, elders, and individuals with unique challenges. 

La Casa Roja in conjunction with indigenous peoples will work with Middlebury College and its different language schools, including BLSE, in
creating and sharing multimodal, multilingual, multi-genre compositions
and share them online and offline.  La Casa Roja will work with programs
like BLTN NextGen Leadership Network, Bread Loaf Andover and its
International Peace Literacy program, Vermont’s What’s The Story, and
CWK in Atlanta. La Casa Roja will sponsor and offer multimodal composition workshops in at least 10 Indigenous communities, with a minimum of 10 participants, focusing on multimodal compositions: dance, songs, poetry, plays, etc. and publish and produce them online, both on the La Casa Roja and BLTN websites.  Indigenous youth leaders will run some of the workshops. La Casa Roja will train at least 5 youth leaders to provide multimodal composition workshops. La Casa Roja will sponsor at least one major MultiModal Composition Conference and invite other youth organizations to participate, including those involved with BLTN activities.
Youth leaders and other participants will share their multimodal experiences and products at a minimum of three local, regional, national or international conferences. 

All these activities will focus on searching for, finding, and using self-identity and personal voice to counter the continuing negative impacts of colonialism and all other forms of racism, prejudices, marginalization, and oppression.  In other words, to give agency and power back to la raza!