Words from Sʔi̓mlaʔxʷ: Wed. Dec. 16, 2015

I am happy. The class is learning the sixth story of Captikwl 1 and Xastitkw is teaching the first teaching set. I watched her introduce the sentences and was struck by how much she has improved over the past 3 months. She was making gestures with her hands while she was saying the sentences. “x̌ʷʕaylxʷ kʷis iʔ tinx uł kʕacúpsəs sn̓k̓lip.” Fox grabbed the sinew and tied it to Coyote’s tail. With an eloquent gesture of grabbing something, and tying it around something. We all practice making gestures and I model the technique when I am teaching but is not easy to do for beginner teachers. I am immensely proud.

Today I have a sense of lightness, a sense that we are getting caught up with ourselves. We started with incredibly high expectations and I worried briefly we would not be able to accomplish everything, but little by little we are adding on new elements to our schedule and accomplishing our goals.

​St̓aʔqʷálqs and I did a first recording session with a new Elder last week, and she is off right now doing another recording session with him. She also recorded Andrew McGinnis and her Father on Monday, in conversation and has plans to record her father and uncle speaking together. I recorded Andrew McGinnis last week and got some great new stories. Sənpokcin just came in and asked if she could help get the marking caught up. I am so grateful to have all the help. I brought in an electric guitar and a handdrum a while ago, and now and then during breaks someone picks one of them up and makes some noise. Last week X̌atma Sqilxʷ was teaching Qʷʕayqʷʕayax̌n how to do flint knapping during lunch hour. My heart sings.