Post by Okwes on Sept 11, 2006 8:53:08 GMT -5
At 94, storyteller tells her last tale to children
Posted: September 06, 2006
by: The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) - Esther Martinez was born the year the Titanic sank and New Mexico became a state.
Her American Indian name is P'oe Tsawa, or Blue Water, the name her friends and family call her. Martinez, 94, is a renowned storyteller from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.
She is also a traditional storyteller for the National Park Service and for numerous schools and organizations, as well as a Tewa language consultant.
Students attending the Luna Community College Youth Academy's National Youth Sports Program recently were perhaps the last group to sit with and hear Martinez's stories. She said it was her last public appearance as a storyteller.
On this day, Blue Water and her daughter, Josephine Binford, told the story of the coyote and the rabbit to the students, a story full of mischief by the rabbit toward the poor coyote.
Binford said her mother heard this and other stories growing up and wanted to make sure the stories weren't lost with the passage of time.
Binford said her mother has written many storybooks, wrote the Tewa dictionary which is still in use in Tewa-speaking pueblos, and numerous curriculum guides for the bilingual education program.
Martinez will be honored with the National Heritage Fellowship Award in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12 for her work in preserving the Tewa language.
After the storytelling session, the students said they learned a lesson about the importance of oral history.
''The stories were very interesting and had a lot of detail. She is 94 years old - that's history we may never hear again,'' said student Nina Martinez.
Shannen Lopez, a Memorial Middle School seventh-grader, said, ''I had never heard the stories before and I liked them.''
Lorraine Martinez, director of sports program, said she was in contact with Binford weekly to make sure Esther Martinez could share her gift of storytelling and knowledge with the class.
''Since the students went on a field trip to Cochiti [Pueblo] two weeks ago, Esther's presence was timely, educational and fun,'' Lorraine Martinez said.
Blue Water is also the author of a book titled ''My Life in San Juan Pueblo,'' a collection of personal and cultural stories.
Esther Martinez's book offers a glimpse of an oral tradition passed from grandfather to granddaughter and features a compact disc of the stories as told by Martinez herself.
Blue Water spent most of her life on Native lands teaching bilingual education, a passion that would lead to ensuring the Native language was preserved. She didn't venture far from home until the late 1980s when she began sharing her tribal stories with outsiders.
Among Blue Water's many recognitions are a Living Treasure Award from the state of New Mexico, the Indian Educational Award for Teacher of the Year from the National Council of American Indians and the New Mexico Arts Commission Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts.
More recently, she was presented an honorary Bachelor of Arts in early education by Northern Community College in Espanola.
Posted: September 06, 2006
by: The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) - Esther Martinez was born the year the Titanic sank and New Mexico became a state.
Her American Indian name is P'oe Tsawa, or Blue Water, the name her friends and family call her. Martinez, 94, is a renowned storyteller from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.
She is also a traditional storyteller for the National Park Service and for numerous schools and organizations, as well as a Tewa language consultant.
Students attending the Luna Community College Youth Academy's National Youth Sports Program recently were perhaps the last group to sit with and hear Martinez's stories. She said it was her last public appearance as a storyteller.
On this day, Blue Water and her daughter, Josephine Binford, told the story of the coyote and the rabbit to the students, a story full of mischief by the rabbit toward the poor coyote.
Binford said her mother heard this and other stories growing up and wanted to make sure the stories weren't lost with the passage of time.
Binford said her mother has written many storybooks, wrote the Tewa dictionary which is still in use in Tewa-speaking pueblos, and numerous curriculum guides for the bilingual education program.
Martinez will be honored with the National Heritage Fellowship Award in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12 for her work in preserving the Tewa language.
After the storytelling session, the students said they learned a lesson about the importance of oral history.
''The stories were very interesting and had a lot of detail. She is 94 years old - that's history we may never hear again,'' said student Nina Martinez.
Shannen Lopez, a Memorial Middle School seventh-grader, said, ''I had never heard the stories before and I liked them.''
Lorraine Martinez, director of sports program, said she was in contact with Binford weekly to make sure Esther Martinez could share her gift of storytelling and knowledge with the class.
''Since the students went on a field trip to Cochiti [Pueblo] two weeks ago, Esther's presence was timely, educational and fun,'' Lorraine Martinez said.
Blue Water is also the author of a book titled ''My Life in San Juan Pueblo,'' a collection of personal and cultural stories.
Esther Martinez's book offers a glimpse of an oral tradition passed from grandfather to granddaughter and features a compact disc of the stories as told by Martinez herself.
Blue Water spent most of her life on Native lands teaching bilingual education, a passion that would lead to ensuring the Native language was preserved. She didn't venture far from home until the late 1980s when she began sharing her tribal stories with outsiders.
Among Blue Water's many recognitions are a Living Treasure Award from the state of New Mexico, the Indian Educational Award for Teacher of the Year from the National Council of American Indians and the New Mexico Arts Commission Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in the Arts.
More recently, she was presented an honorary Bachelor of Arts in early education by Northern Community College in Espanola.