Welcome to HEAR FIRST. We recommend listening to this 35-minute audio piece outdoors. Choose your own path, try one of our recommended routes, or find a comfortable chair. Happy story-walking!
We believe HEAR FIRST is most compelling when listened to in one sitting. (Or, in this case, one walk.)
Scroll down to enjoy our virtual walk option!
Click here for HEAR FIRST Teaching Guide!
YoloSol’s Diana Almendriz, Anuj Vaidya, and Adnan Beteha
RECOMMENDED WALKS
Putah Creek Riparian Reserve: Traveling south on Pedrick Road from Russell Blvd, drive 1.5 miles, then turn right onto the gravel road leading to a parking lot. Driving north, turn left shortly after the Yolo County road sign. After parking, walk to the left, continue under the bridge, and follow the creek (it will be on your right.) There are benches on this route- and poison oak! Watch your step.
Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area:
From central Davis, take Chiles Road east past the Yolo Fruit Stand. At the fork, drive right up onto the levee. At the top of the levee, turn left and drive down the hill, which will curve to the right. Follow the YBWA map (linked below) to Parking Lot B or C to the Tule Trail (do not follow signs for the Hunter Check Station.)
This location is great for sighting birds. Parts of the trail are overgrown, so you may have to double back/cut across tall grass. There are picnic tables and restrooms (portable) in the parking lots. Note that most trails other than the Tule Trail are closed during hunting season (October-February).
The Halluci Nation
Click here for HEAR FIRST Teaching Guide!
Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park (Sacramento)
Something Inside is Broken
Participate in our “famous” haiku contest!
During the Saturday Series, we started a new tradition that we love—giving our audience a chance to reflect through poetry on the performance. After every show, we pick our favorite haiku, and the audience member wins a Davis Rep t-shirt!
This fall we’ll be recognizing one poet for every month that HEAR FIRST is active. That means you have four chances to win! To participate, simply email your haiku(s), along with your name, to davisrepertory@gmail.com. We’ll be in touch if your haiku is selected.
Sama, poet victorious for GYNECOLOGOS
Christina and Jace at the Fulbright New Zealand Mid Year Awards Ceremony Photo: Hagen Hopkins
Dr. Anthony Burris Photo: Yvonne Hunter
HEAR FIRST
More info about individual selections and contributors
1. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A CREEK
About this piece
Diana Almendariz (Maidu/Wintun) ruminates on the grassy, green creek – also known as Putah Creek – and reminisces on the abundance of life sustained by the creeks of her childhood here, in what is now the Sacramento Valley. She reflects on the many life-ways woven into the creeks' flows through the Yolo bio-region. Diana articulates a love and understanding of the creek as a living entity in her own right - with needs of her own for her health and survival. She calls on listeners - most of us relatively newly arrived settlers to the unceded territory of the Wintun people - to stop imposing foreign plants, ideas and ways of thinking on the land, but to instead understand and see Native California for the beauty that it is. Diana is joined in her call to action by the voice of the creek herself, the songs and flights of birds who flock and nest along her meandering flows, and by the calls of foxes and frogs who consider her un/bridled banks their home.
About the contributors
The YoloSol Collective cultivates community conversations and learning about issues of land and water in Yolo County through arts and storytelling, multimedia engagement, creative outdoor, hands-on educational activities, grassroots organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement. Our intergenerational collective aims to raise awareness of the pasts, presents, and futures embedded in the landscapes and waterways of the Yolo bioregion. YoloSol centers Wintun homeland ecology in its work, and is led by cultural practitioner Diana Almendariz in these efforts.
Diana’s outstanding commitment to ecological and cultural education spans over three decades. She is well-versed with traditional practices and their utility for improving Wintun homeland education across diverse cultural groups. She has actively offered workshops and talks at schools, universities, nature centers, museums, cultural centers, radio, and Native American health centers and gardens. She always inspires and encourages critical questions about issues concerning Native education and well-being among students and community members, including tribal community members.
This story walk was composed and edited by Anuj Vaidya (media artivist, educator, YoloSol co-founder), a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at UC Davis. The piece is drawn from an interview with Diana conducted by activist Adnan Beteha, a recent graduate from Native American Studies at UC Davis. Special thanks to Juliette Beck (Just Transitions strategist, youth advocate, YoloSol co-founder) for her ongoing support of this project.
Learn more
Advocacy: Save California Salmon
Personal Narrative: Diana Almendariz, “Tule Helped me Find My Tradition”
Website: YoloSol
2. BASKET SONG
About this piece
This song is sung in Numu [Northern Paiute], and is a basket song that originated from Owens Valley, California. This song unfortunately has lost its literal translation over time as songs and Numu Yadooana [the Paiute language] have changed, as all languages do over time. Due to the loss of dialects within the Numu language, some of the eldest Elders are unable to translate this song word for word. We know this is a basket song and where it originated from, but are unable to fully translate. Basket songs were usually sung and performed by women in the springtime. Women would showcase baskets they had made during the cold winter months to the community. This song is a testament as to why learning, recording, and sharing songs with future generations is so important.
About the contributors
Christina Dawa Kustmana Thomas is Numu [Northern Paiute], Newe [Western Shoshone], and Hopi [Tobacco Clan]. She grew up on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Wadsworth, Nevada and is an enrolled member of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. She is an Indigenous scholar, vocalist, dancer, cultural activist, language warrior, and her greatest role, a mother. Christina graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Minor in Biology in 2019. Christina is attending the University of California, Davis as a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Native American Studies Department and earning a Designated Emphasis in Performance and Practice Studies. Christina attained her Master’s Degree in Native American Studies from UC Davis in 2021. Her practice is rooted in the Great Basin, more specifically Northern Nevada. Christina’s primary fields of study are historical musicology and language regeneration of Numu Yadooana [Northern Paiute language]. Her research amplifies Numu ways of doing music history — privileging Numu knowledges, languages, and performance — as a means to Indigenize music studies curriculum.
As a recognized community leader Christina has been a part of community-based Numu arts and language regeneration projects for over a decade, primarily through documenting and performing Paiute songs and stories to (re)awaken. Her volunteer work and passion for language/cultural regeneration and working with Native youth have won her several recognitions throughout the state of Nevada, nationally, and internationally. Some recent awards include 2023 Fulbright Scholar, 2022 Emmon Bach Fellow, 2021 Ford Predoctoral Fellow, 2021 & 2022 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Honorable Mention , 2021 & 2022 Jack Montoya Scholar, 2021 Magrit Mondavi Graduate Fellow, 2020-2021 Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Award, 2021 Cobell Graduate Research Fellow, 2020 National Humanities Podcasting Fellow, 2020 Mellon Public Scholar, and 2020 KTVN’s Someone to Know.
Learn more
Webpage (Yocha DeHe Wintun Nation): “Language is the Heart of Our Culture”
Article: “Te reo Māori inspires Native American to save her own Indigenous language from extinction”
Podcast (The Backdrop, UC Davis), “Lewis Lawyer on Documenting Patwin, One of California’s Indigenous Languages”
3. LAND BACK
About this piece
This conversation grew out of a speech Rita wrote during high school about Native peoples’ contributions to combating climate change. Since then, it has expanded to include discussion of the land back movement as well as the term “rematriation,” both of which have powerful connections to the environmental movement.
About the contributors
Rita Azul Huhndorf-Lima (Yup’ik) was raised in the Bay Area and Alaska. This fall, she will begin her studies at Columbia University.
Music: Landback by The Halluci Nation
Learn more
Story Map: Land Back
Podcast: Indigenous Voices at the Intersection of Environmental and Social Justice
Website: The Halluci Nation
4. SOMETHING INSIDE IS BROKEN
About this piece
For over a century, Johann Sutter has been presented as a local hero of industry and political leadership. More recently, efforts of Native historians have helped to correct that narrative, recognizing that Sutter enslaved Nisenan people, including children, and with the support of the US government, worked actively to destroy their homes, language, and culture. Something Inside is Broken is the title song from a 2016 rock musical about Nisenan resistance to Sutter and his Fort. In this scene, Symyk’aj (SOO-ma-ky, played by Jack Kohler), the chief of the Auburn band of Nisenan, realizes his mistake in attempting to make a deal with Sutter. As tensions between the Fort’s slavers and the Nisenan escalate, the mythical figure Peheipe (J Ross Parrelli) grieves for the state of the world.
Something Inside is Broken is now an award-winning film. Recently acquired by PBS, it will begin airing in November.
About the contributors
Jack Kohler is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and founder of On Native Ground, a nonprofit film/media organization. Jack is the writer, composer, and director of Something Inside is Broken as well as the writer and director of multiple documentaries and feature films. His latest film, Gift of Fear, addresses the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).
J Ross Parrelli is a singer/songwriter from Auburn, CA.
Other cast members: John Douglas Ayers, Natalie Benally, Elle Beyer, Han Beyer, Lon Beyer, Sammy Cee, Peter Hardyman, Megan Chesnut, Isabella Delatorre, Danny DeLeon, Derek Dozier, Mark Hoffman, Caleb Jernigan, Carly Kohler, Selena Perfino, Keny Ramos, Matt Rives, Alicia Marie Siu, Ayotli Marie Siu, Rachel Sprague, Arielle Taylor, Jehnean Washington, Simon Wilson
Learn more
Article (History Channel): “The Enslaved Native Americans Who Made the Gold Rush Possible”
Media/Film: On Native Ground
5. SHE WOULD LAUGH
About this piece
“She Would Laugh” is excerpted from Ya-nah’s memoir, Old Salt & Mud. She selected this section for its history and bittersweet depiction of one last Thanksgiving with her grandmother. Among other things, Ya-nah’s story highlights the joys of Native family and community as well as the impacts of intra-tribal disputes. This piece is underscored with Red River Valley, one of Grandma June’s favorite songs.
About the contributors
Ya-nah Geary Mandujano is a citizen of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians of Tehama County. She grew up in Davis, where her family still resides, and spends her time working on hobbies such as writing and crochet.
Learn more
E-book: Old Salt and Mud
Photography: “He Gave us Good Medicine: Native California Through the Eyes of Photographer Dugan Aguilar”
6. IT’S SPECIAL, IT’S SACRED
About this piece
A tender conversation between a mother and child teaches about some of the challenges facing Native children in the Davis Joint Unified School District.
About the contributors
Jace Naki’e Thomas is seven years old and is Numu [Northern Paiute], Newe [Western Shoshone], and Hopi [Tobacco Clan]. He likes to swim, play basketball and baseball, and dance at Pow-Wows with his mom and cousins. Jace likes to draw and play piano. He loves dinosaurs, Godzilla, and King Kong. Jace wants to be a pilot like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds when he grows up.
Christina Dawa Kustmana Thomas (see bio under 2.)
Learn more:
Video: Teachings about hair
Local Organization: Native Dads Network
Article (2022): Native boy’s hair cut by classmates
Social Media: Boys with Braids Facebook Group
7. PARTING QUESTIONS
About this piece
As non-Natives attempt to learn more about the history of the places they occupy, we often place additional burdens on Native community members by asking them to answer our many, many questions. This final piece is inspired by Wintun grandma Pam Gonzales, and leaves listeners with questions for their own reflection and further exploration.
Music: Red, White, & Blue (sung by Christina Dawa Kustmana Thomas)
This song is sung in Newe [Western Shoshone] and is about Iwo Jima. There are many different versions of Flag Songs in the Great Basin and Indian Country. Flag Songs are not like the Star Spangled Banner, but are songs that pay tribute to the country and/or describe the flag. Native American soldiers have been fighting for the United States before we were considered citizens of this country. Despite Native Americans being the first peoples of this country, we were the last to receive citizenship, when President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924.
About the contributors
Anthony Burris is a citizen of Ione Band of Miwok Indians and Assistant Professor of Native American Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at California State University Sacramento. He comes from the Sacramento area and now works with local tribal nations on issues of cultural heritage preservation. Anthony holds a Ph.D. in a Native American Studies from UC Davis.
Pam Gonzales (Wintun/Concow/Huchnom) is a mother and grandmother dedicated to educating educators and communities. She is active in campaigning for better representation of Wintun Homeland History in Native American Studies and Ethnic Studies curriculum in our K-16 educational institutions.
Learn more
Curriculum: Education Resources from Redbud Resource Group
Curriculum: Educator Resources from Save California Salmon
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
Jennifer Grace (associate producer, sound and video editor): Jennifer is a theatre and digital artist, actor, and writer. She is the creator of the web series This is Working, and has recorded multiple audio books. In addition to professional credits in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Jennifer has performed with Davis Rep in The Thanksgiving Play, GYNECOLOGOS, En Las Sombras, and The WUI. Jennifer teaches acting at UC Davis.
Oona Hatton (producer): Oona is co-Artistic Director of Davis Repertory Theatre and Associate Professor of Performance Studies at San José State University.
Abel Herrera (Virtual Walk footage): Abel is a student at Woodland Community College. He is a staff member of the Ethnic Studies Yolo Academy and a lover of reading and walking.
SPECIAL THANKS
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Pam Gonzales, Dr. Jessica Perea, Dr. Beth Rose Middleton, Dr. Melissa Moreno and Ethnic Studies Yolo Academy, Margaret Kemp, YoloSol, Lucas Hatton, Royal Hatton, Mariel Garcia Llorens, V’Santi Tobey, City of Davis Arts and Cultural Program
