If you are interested in integrating Soje stories into a formal learning setting, consider these assignments or exercises. If you are not a teacher but are still interested in life lessons or simply want to fire your own imagination and creativity, there is something here for you too. Whatever the case, Soje Publishing would be interested in the outcome of your selected exercise.

 

Academic Exercises/Assignments

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“Susie” – Part 2, from Vows

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Option 1

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If we say life is about relationships, how is this implicit in this reading? Just be thoughtful. Simply prepare an evidence sheet, using only quotes from the text. When complete, put aside for a day or two. Later, decide if you would strike out anything not pointing to life as relationships.

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Option 2

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Consider how knowledge is gathered to explore ideas presented in this particular reading and then consider how knowledge is gathered to explore the same ideas in our individual life experiences. How are our stores of knowledge limited in both cases? Try answering this in 500 words. 

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“Red Woman – An Autobiography”

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Option 1

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Most native (indigenous) people of North America identify with a band or clan inside their cultural groups. Such associations are lived in order to learn them, and they have long life (over centuries). Furthermore, such affiliations are not chosen by an individual and are not random. In this reading, circle any words or phrases pertaining to clan longevity and consciousness. Use this to imagine other ways of successfully storing and transmitting that kind of awareness without relying on writing or modern technology for at least a period of three hundred years into the future.

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Option 2

If you were to prepare an auto-ethnography, how would you begin to break this task down? What would guide you if you had no academic/technical support? 

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“Concrete Corner… “

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Option 1

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In this reading, explore silence as of a path of knowledge in indigenous life. Notice, in careful examination of the text, there are only a couple of places where silence or stillness is mentioned, yet the whole work is sustained by stretches of silence in the narration. What is behind the inclusion of silence and stillness as a vital element in this work?  What is the impetus for including it? Work this out for yourself in a visual way to understand it more clearly.

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Option 2

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Though we have many resources to use, no one has a perfect preset plan for living. Our perceptions of life change daily though each day we draw conclusions about life from previous days. There is a dichotomy and irony here. Explain this problem to yourself first.  After reading the text, consider perceptions you hold of life and conclusions you hold about these perceptions. What are their benefits and drawbacks?

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Video - "Chagre Wakan"

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Option 1

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"Chagre" refers to shield. Implied in this is that it is of buffalo hide. "Wakan" is holy. Within these two words are many other connotations from the Otoe-Missourian and the Siouan perspective. What might these connotations be?

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Option 2

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If we were exploring language associations, the term "wakan"or a variation is found through the Americas. It is spelled differently and read as "huaca." The Otoe-Missourian word is not new; it has been used for millennia. Besides meaning "holy," it is the name for snake.  This parallels many Siouan languages in pronunciation, meaning, and symbolism.  Think about the possibilities of how this came to be.

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Video - "Mother Earth and Father Sky: Teachings"

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Option 1

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This film uses Navajo or Diné language. The storyteller is a fluent speaker.  All the teachings or philosophy contained here first appeared in the language and there are unique associations among the language, the philosophy, and the storyteller.  What might those associations be?

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Option 2

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Knowledge as it is expressed and demonstrated in this film is gained through something other than memorization and summary. Nor is this knowledge "pan-Indian," if that term is still in use.  What is it about knowledge that makes us want to "own" it without processing ideas and their stores by our own intellect?  Reflect upon this and produce a tangible response.

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"Crane's Track"

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Option 1

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Think about the traits of the main character.  If you had to respond to this reading without writing about the character, what creative project would you do?

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Option 2

 

Symbols are prevalent in the story. In native communities, symbols are not static; they move.  Explore this idea.

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"Step-Father"

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Option 1

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When we read or hear stories such as this, we usually want to ask, "Why are people like this?  Why is life like this?"  All tribal communities answer this kind of question. Find a wise person in the community willing to talk about this. Visit that person and follow tribal protocols for learning about parental and other kinds of abusive behavior.

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Option 2

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Men and women roles vary in communities. Notions of "power" also vary. How are instances such as the one reflected upon in the story handled when brought into the open?  Do you know this by experience or conjecture?

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"Jolt"

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Option 1

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Sometimes we become disassociated with our communities, through no fault of our own. When we do, how does this manifest in our lives? Tell your own story of a character who has become disconnected to his or her community.

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Option 2

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What would you say is the message of this story? Explain how you arrived at that conclusion.

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"All You"

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Option 1

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Create an image (or concept map) of the physical and spiritual landscapes in this story. What new ideas does it generate within you?

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Option 2

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The "center of the world" is an idea often explored in various literature.  What might this story reflect about the center of the world in the storyteller's experience?

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"Why I Teach English" by I. Morris

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Option 1

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In the classroom environment, we might call this an exploratory essay for its identification of a problem and resolution to it.  Tribal community might point to maturity as a factor in resolution. In what ways does this reflection show maturity?

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Option 2

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Loss or weakening of tribal language is a topic embedded in this writing. It is an emotional issue for each of us who have actually heard our ancestral language. We might respond subjectively, purely from an emotional or cultural base. Or we may be more objective or stoic about language loss, whether we have heard our ancestral language or not. Are these the only ways to respond?  Offer another option.

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"The Choctaw and Ireland"

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Option 1

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Here, two different peoples through a certain condition have been able to extend a helping hand to one another. Think of a time when a total stranger assisted you without any expectation of future compensation or pledge of loyalty or alliance. How did that circumstance affect you in a tangible and uplifting way and how long did the effect last?

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Option 2

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Think of the authority of storytellers. From where does that authority come? What does that authority have to do with integrity in a tribal place?

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"Everyday is a Blessing"

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Option 1

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Consider the pace of this narrative. What factors and elements contribute to that pace? What part does pace play in the effectiveness of storytelling? What does pace have to do with the storyteller's point of view and the story context?

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Option 2

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When people tell war stories, would you say there are common elements in their stories when it is lived experience?  What common elements are identifiable?  Are these elements the same through time, say over a five hundred year period?

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"Why Do I Teach English?" by Velma Hale

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Option 1

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The writer talks about relinquishing language and heritage. Think of a time, when you thought that you may have been asked to relinquish these (as an American, or tribal citizen/member) and discuss how you responded. What was learned from the situation?

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Option 2

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Willingness plays a part in learning language. Show this in a creative work.

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"Iwasde"

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Option 1

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The title of this poem is a verb in a tribal language (Otoe-Missourian) and it presents a paradox by the speaker. What do you think each implies about tribal knowledge?  What do you think is the order of relevance in this work?

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Option 2

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The experience presented here is not restrictive. How may this poem be used, and in what "real settings,"and for what purposes?

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Video - "Maya Suje"
 

Option 1

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The images included in the video pertain to teachings of native people in the Americas. What do you know about the teachings behind the images?

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Option 2

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Often, others think that teachings about nature and the elements among native people are always positive, but this is not so. Create your own work on this idea.

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Video - "No Bullet Can Pierce Him"

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Option 1

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The war experience is not one every person has, nevertheless, we think we know its horrors and we create ideas of valor because of it. To what are we comparing our knowledge of it, if we have never participated in it?  Reflect on this and create an un-essay on your ideas.

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Option 2

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What in war changes and what stays the same over time?  Write a monologue or soliloquy on this.  Read it to someone.  Is there a prevailing attitude in your work?

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Life Learning Exercises

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Option 1

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Pick any text and prepare a creative response to it, using any of the following:  photography, drawing, painting, poetry, or script writing.  Do not focus on analysis, criticism, summary or retelling.  Rather, show that you “heard” the entirety of what was expressed and the point of it. Be true to content and tone.  When your response is complete, let it sit for one week before rereading or studying the selected work.  Then examine what you composed and what you learned about yourself.

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Option 2

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Pick any text.  Read it carefully and notice how daily life is being observed and in that close up observation, something happens to time.  To understand this idea better, try going outside and observing something in nature, an animal or plant, face to face.  Really observe, just observe.  What happens? 

 

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