{"id":30273,"date":"2023-12-08T18:29:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T01:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-prep-students-to-publish-second-bilingual-zine\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:15:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:15:59","slug":"navajo-prep-students-to-publish-second-bilingual-zine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/navajo-prep-students-to-publish-second-bilingual-zine\/","title":{"rendered":"Navajo Prep students to publish second bilingual zine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Navajo
Navajo Prep students takes the stage to read their poetry at the Gathering of 4Corners Poets and Writers on Nov. 4 at The Totah theater. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Nestled in Cheryl Wolfe\u2019s class on a Tuesday evening are the gifted and talented students of \u201cInterpretation and Improvisation.\u201d They meet every week to write and read poetry.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 28, the students discussed the New Mexico English Expo and engaged in a poetry exercise.<\/p>\n

Wolfe, English teacher at Navajo Preparatory School, hosts the group and provides support in their poetry. Each meeting, a prompt that was assigned by President Alexis Westbrook is completed. Wolfe said in an e-mail that Westbrook, at four years, is the longest-standing member in the group.<\/p>\n

That night, students shared poetry receiving reassuring finger snaps and verbal support from Wolfe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t censor here,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n

The group ended the night with an exercise that would require them to take on a literary device and pass around their papers, adding a line resulting in a poem.<\/p>\n

\"Lilliona
Lilliona Benally reads her work to the Interpretation and Improvisation group on Nov. 28 at Navajo Prep. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The group challenged themselves to write a poem together. Each student had a literary device and wrote one line under three minutes then passed their papers to the next person. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Navajo. Zine, Ba\u2019 Han<\/strong>\u00e9<\/div>\n

Vol. 1, Issue 1 was officially sent to printers last fall, and published this year. It featured works in the Din\u00e9, Hawaiian, Cree and Spanish language with some intertwined with English.<\/p>\n

The zine was made possible through grants provided by the Poetry Foundation and Navajo Transitional Energy Co., Venaya Yazzie, honorary board member of the Northwest New Mexico Arts Council.<\/p>\n

The program was set up like a residency. Yazzie said students at Prep wrote one poem, which was then workshopped. The native language of student\u2019s would then be integrated into their poems, she said.<\/p>\n

Students were also responsible for their own artwork that went alongside their poetry.<\/p>\n

Inside Wolfe\u2019s classroom there are copies of the book, \u201cThe Din\u00e9 Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yazzie\u2019s work is featured in the book, which teachers can use it in their curriculum. The book provides literature with themes that teachers can reference, she said.<\/p>\n

For Yazzie, the first issue was not hard to compile as the students at Navajo Prep were hard workers and talented.<\/p>\n

Wolfe said Yazzie mentioned the second issue might be expanded in featuring more students from different schools.<\/p>\n

\"The
The first issue of Navajo. Zine that included student poets (Alx Lee \/ Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u201cThe
\u201cThe Din\u00e9 Reader\u201d is a multicultural collection of works that can be used within classroom curriculum. (Alx Lee \/ Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
The poets<\/strong><\/div>\n

The group has members of all grades and tribal affiliations. Tri-City Record<\/em> sat down with the student poets for their perspective on creative writing and the zine.<\/p>\n

For Landon Succo, the songs in the Din\u00e9 culture are poetry.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the songs, they talk about how the horned toad gave armor to one of the twin heroes to fight this monster, so there\u2019s a whole song about it describing each and every action,\u201d he said \u201cThere\u2019s going to be repetition, there\u2019s going to be some type of rhyming within that melody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lily Williams saw poetry in the new metal scene growing up in Gallup. Williams said she began writing her own songs and poetry after attending an Otep concert.<\/p>\n

Rance Wartz said he uses poetry as a tool to express emotions and connect ideas together.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, poetry is my identity,\u201d Lilliona Benally said.<\/p>\n

Benally started writing after being inspired from a friend. They would use their words between each other to connect.<\/p>\n

She grew up in a household that spoke Navajo, Lakota, Anishinaabe and Spanish, creating a complex relationship with her identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I even deserve to speak this language,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Being at Navajo Prep, she\u2019s felt supported in her identity and her personal creative writing.<\/p>\n

Ember Bahe said writing poetry in Din\u00e9 helps her keep in tune with her culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt comes off very strongly, and I feel very passionate and I feel that spark within me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wartz said the work of his peers and their perspectives makes him feel safe.<\/p>\n

Crystal Tsosie said she\u2019s excited to have her work published in hopes to inspire others as her sister did who was featured in the first issue of the zine.<\/p>\n

The idea of having her work out there to pass down and gaining knowledge on the publishing process is what excites Nazbah Billy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see all the things they are capable of, and I just want the world to see what they\u2019re capable of,\u201d Wolfe said.<\/p>\n

\"Cheryl
Cheryl Wolfe spoke highly of the student writers and their ability to pick up on literary devices. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Navajo. Zine, Ba\u2019 Han\u00e9 returns as student publication highlighting Native literary and art works <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81018,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30273\/revisions\/81018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30273"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}