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| making arrows with Stan Rodriguez |
I've been so busy with work these last few months that I have let a lot of things slide. This blog, even though I have plenty to write about that is archives and museum related, keeping in touch with friends and family, and pretty much anything not directly related to the work of building a new exhibit. Plus the other 30 or so jobs I do every day to try and keep the museum treading water. I'm not complaining- more like apologizing to readers (and friends and family) and trying to set up an explanation for this post.
On Wednesday, my co-worker Jessica and I drove up to
Kumeyaay Community College on the
Sycuan reservation to meet with Jess's friend Stan Rodriguez. Stan is very active in tribal education and communication and has agreed to help us with a few aspects of the exhibit the museum is building. Specifically, we needed an arrow and a pair of sandals for the exhibit and he agreed to help. We went up and had a fantastic few hours with Stan- he taught us how to make arrows, how to weave agave fiber, and didn't laugh at us when it was pretty clear we had no idea what we were doing, but just encouraged us to relax and try again.
One of the things I was most excited about was getting to actually use an arrow shaft straightener. We have a large collection of straighteners in the museum and I had done a lot of research on them for a newspaper article and to help me revise exhibit text. But until this week it had all been theoretical knowledge. Now I've actually used a heated straightener, heard it hiss as I straighten a carrizo reed on it, and learned the best ways to ensure that the reed ends up straight.
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| Using an arrow shaft straightener |
I've not only handled the fiber of an agave plant, I've helped make the sandals that will go into our exhibit. Granted, Stan did most of it since the idea is that they actually look like sandals, but I worked on them too. The night was a great reminder that hands-on learning is both fun and essential to museum staff, and archives staff as well. You are not just preserving artifacts, photographs, or papers- you are helping to tell stories of people and how they live. You are entering the lives and cultures of other people and hopefully coming away with not only a better understanding of those lives but also more respect. As one visitor said after seeing our exhibit- "Now when I go out into the desert I think I will have more understanding of how people lived here. It is amazing to realize how it was done and that today most of us couldn't manage it."
The desert has stories to tell, and we can only begin to understand and appreciate those stories when we immerse ourselves in the environment. Whether that is hiking in the desert, learning to make sandals from an agave plant, or turning book knowledge into reality, these are all important ways to relate to our work and see things in different ways. Plus, it's important to remember to get out and interact with people and have fun sometimes- even if you can only schedule it in by telling yourself you're working.
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| Hand made agave fiber sandals |
