Indioravens world

To our Elders, who teach us of our creation and our past, so we my preserve mother earth for ancestors yet to come, we are the lands. This is dedicated to our relatives before us thousands of years ago, and the 1,500 million who were exterminated across the western hemisphere in the first four hound years time starting in 1492.

My Photo
Name:
Location: San Elizario, Tx, United States

My name is David Cantu I live in San Elizario Texas a I am a graduated from San Elizario High School (San Elizario TX) Class of 84. I have received an Associate’s Degree in Automotive Technology from El Paso Community College in 1989. I have earned a Bachelors’ degree in Career and Technical Teaching from Western New Mexico University in Dec of 2007. I just complete an educational program earning a Master’s Degree in Professional Technical Education at ENMU (Easter New Mexico University 2012). Now I am seeking full time employment in a secondary school systems in Career and Technical education program. I am a simple man who tries to live a simple life, like my ancestors I follow Native American traditions and believes. I do recycle old things whenever possible taking old wood and making something new. I like working with my hands. I have been building my little guest house for the last twenty years, with the entire career changes and continuing my education construction has been slow. I spent two and a half years in New Mexico (Silver City) attending WNMU putting a complete Holt to construction. I cannot wait for the day that I finally can say. “I finished construction”.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

July 2010 Via FaceBook

Hello again. I have been busy trying to get back to a regular schedule that allows time for school, yard work, workouts, and personal time to write down my thoughts. July I was still vary busy with two graduate-school courses and spending many hours at the library reading and doing research it seem like I did not have time of other activities. I did my best to keep documentation of my activities in July here are some exerts via face book.


July 1 at 6:36am
 ‎"I'm an Indian, I'm one of God's children."
--Mathew King, LAKOTA

"Today, let me think in beauty, let me walk in beauty, let me pray in beauty." –UnKnown

This was a good start for the month as I received the above message in my e-mail inbox.

July 2 at 8:22am
Check out the 2.46 mi run I did with RunKeeper. I had a nice run to the border today cloudy and cool. I also listened to Young Gray Horse Society, as I was running kept me motivated and going at a nice pace.
RunKeeper
Distance 2.46 mi
Duration 0:25:22
Calories Burned 298

July 4 at 8:24am
On this day I went on a 9.05 mi bike ride- It was a nice pace, quite morning. I had nice ride because not  too many people were out and about today, very little traffic makes for a safer ride, only a few fireworks stands open this early for been the fourth, but that’s good because I like it when it’s quit. .
RunKeeper stats of my bike ride
Distance 9.05 mi
Duration 0:55:00
Calories Burned 267

The fourth of July is just like any other day for me. I do not celebrate the independence day of the United States, instead I take to reflect and thing about my ancestors and say a few prayers. This year I had a few choices to make, but I could not let my good friend Christine Sanchez down. You see she had a fireworks stand a few blocks away from my house and she needed my help with a few things such as trash, food, and just to keep her company when things were slow. She had to spend 4 days at the stand with some help, but it can get lonely and slow some days. When I was there on the fourth I did help her with some customers and a few sales, but I did not enjoy that process and made my way back out of the stand and stood back and her and her helpers do the sales, I did help with inventory and give them the fireworks form the shelves a few times. What an experience, I could never do this on regular bases, but Christine did ask me, and I could never say no to her. She is a member of the Danza and an extended family member.

July 9 at 7:46am
On this day I went on a  2.44 mi run -  Today's run to the border was quit, I saw to ducks water skiing, two little dogs drag racing , the sun rays shining through the clouds to the east mountains (over Horizon Tx). On the way back Priscilla’s dogs ran and barked along the fence have not seen them do that in a while.
Distance 2.44 mi
Duration 0:22:08
Calories Burned 290

FYI: When I run to the river I can see Mexico to the west and when I face east, I can see the sunrise and I say a few prayers. Priscilla is my neighbor and good family friend that lives across the street from my little house.  She has a few rescue dogs that grow-up fast and they like to greet me with barks every time they see me. Somedays when I get home they will bark at me as I back up my truck in the drive and get down after I have parked my truck. When I pass by her house on my run, the does will bark and follow me along the chain link fence.  I think they want to motivate me or just what to be friendly, well whatever their motive, I like it when they do that. Show them no fear is all I do just teas then and play their game.

July 10, 2010


July 2010, back yard after irrigation, my mom said the yard looked like a lake.

New Pavilion Underconstruction

New Pavilion Underconstruction

New Pavilion Underconstruction

New Pavilion Using recycled garage doors
(doors someone was throwing away) looking up from the ground .

New PavilionUsing recycled garage doors
(doors someone was throwing away)

July 11, at 9:33am
On this day I went on a  10.51 mi bike ride. This morning there was very little traffic, it was quit. I did have to wait for the trains in Clint for about five minutes, but it was cool. So I was gone for about a hour, total riding time. Now I can relax, get some Menudo and work on my papers for my courses, hope I don't have Internet issues today.

Bike ride stats:
Distance 10.51 mi
Duration 1:05:00
Calories Burned 315
Average Pace 6:11 / mi
Average Speed 9.70 mph
Elevation Climb 30 ft

July 16, at 1:15 pm
On this day I went on a  2.14 mi run: - Today I only ran for about 2 miles, I had to walk to the floodgates due to chin splits. Today I was greeted by a peacock and two ducks.

stats of my run
Distance 2.14 mi
Duration 0:21:17
Calories Burned 252
Average Pace 9:57 / mi
Average Speed 6.03 mph
Elevation Climb 12 ft
Running to the river weekly is nice, because you never know what you will see. There are cotton fields to one side and house to the other. I run down an irrigation canals that meets with the Rio Grande, that’s the river between Mexico and Texas. The peacock belongs to one of the families that live along the canal and it is very beautiful, I did not have a camera with me on this day.
 

Wow, the day got better:  As I was at the libarary studying for my courses, some ex-students from my days as a substitute in the Clint ISD, and some from San Elizario High School, where I did practice teaching have come up to say hello today. They are now attending EPCC. One young lady is working on Bachelorettes in Business Management. They are just coming up to say help and offer nice words of encouragement. This makes me feel good to see young students working hard to educated themselves and encoureage others.

July 18 at 10:25am

I went on a 10.43 mi bike ride:  Today was a nice ride, the only thing that made me sad was when I got to the San Eli Plaza. I was saddened to see all the trash from last night’s events, and not a single event coordinator out there clearing up the mess. The rest of the ride was great. 8>(
stats of my bike ride
Distance 10.43 mi
Duration 1:05:00
Calories Burned 315
Average Pace 6:14 / mi
Average Speed 9.63 mph
Elevation Climb 17 ft

July 23 at 9:55 pm
The sounds of gun fire, low flying helicopters, it’s another wild night in Mexico. Just remembered a song by an old friend Mason Ruffner, the lyric go like this, "Shouts ring out in the city, I hope they ain’t got my name". Life along the Border can get intreasting at nightmost of the vilonce is farther down in to Juarze about 20 miles away. Yeah it's been a long day for me time to take a break from the school work.

July 25 at 8:35 amAnd that was July 2010. I will be posting August and September in the next week, I will do my best to keep a better journal of October--December 2010, and see what 2011 will bring my way.


No bike rides this morning, however I will get my work-work out later this afternoon at Mantachie Practice. I am going to change my work-out schedule a bite this next few weeks, my home gym is getting dusty and I am getting sluggish lol. Summer school is almost over and I should have more time for myself and family and friends. I’ll be working from home again today.

July 31 at 7:30 am
Summer school is officially over today. My summer break started today and will run through August 18th, (Yes a short break) This week I will focus on getting ready for the dancing on August 7, 8. and 10, next week. Today is a trip to the city dump and constuction on the new pavilion continues I will work from sun-up to sun-down for the next few days.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

June 2010

Hey it's me again I know it's been a long time scenes the last entry. This summer I was super busy with two graduate courses for my master's degree, doing some work on the yard (getting ready for a family reunion in September). I will try and update what has happened over the summer. I have become a big fan of facebook. I will update june via facebook post:

June 3, 2010:
 (10:24 am)Hey San Antonio Facebook Family, it's that time for me to go back to San Eli, and get in a day of yard work and irrigate on Saturday, I will start summer school on Monday. It was nice see all my family this week, if we missed each other there is always next year. Or you all can always drive to San Eli for a weekend of fun in the sun.

(5:22pm) Just had some French fires with a few crows, about 25 miles, west of Fort Stockton. They said they would show me how to crow-hop for some fries. Dancing lessons are over time to get back on 1-10, about 200 miles away from San Eli.

(8:52pm) I finally made it to San Eli about 30 minutes ago, still unloading the truck and need to find something to eat. (Or go find somewhere to eat).

June 5, 2010:

(5:29am) Maybe being gone for over ten days was somewhat not a good idea, Looks like June will be super busy with yard work, cleaning irrigation ditch banks, the garden, school,fix guitars, finish a song, and yes work on dance regalia somehow get that all in. Just opened the flood gates today I'll start with irrigation and see where the day takes me.








June 6, 2010

(8:30am) Just took the old bike out of storage, didn't mean to put it away this winter but one day I was cleaning the yard and i just stuck in the storage, I am going for a ride around San Eli this morning. First ride of the summer see what happens lol.

Not sure how this works, but this is my map of my bike ride this morning. Miles? Time 1hr 30min. hardest part was the sandy areas on Franklin Canal from Herring to Farm Rd.

http://www.aardvarkmap.net/map/96OJ844R

June 13, 2010
(7:01am) Sunday Morning, Just had coffee and getting ready for a Bike Ride, Today's destination Clint Tx. via Socorro Tx. and a stop @ the flee-market. Maybe I will get to Clint in time for Menudo at the church hall, and then back home I’ll try and post a map, with mileage when I get back.

(10:50am) I just had a nice little ride 10 miles. Wow! It took me 3 hrs only because I made a few stops at flea-market and in Clint to Visits a Friend and had Menduo at the Clint Church hall where I saw my Tia Frances Vargas.
View my RunKeeper activity here:

runkeeper.com

June 18, 2010: 
(7:37am) It's been a few months, but I did ok. Mas or menos (2.6 miles), map does not show where the floodgates are located where I stop for a daily prayer, and then make my way back home., I kind of mapped it out with the cotton fields.








June 20, 2010:
(8:54am)Today’s ride, I took the first leg to Clint the rout we take when we dance in August from San Eli to Clint. On the way back I took a detour. Today I saw Tio Gallio walking on Glorietta Rd. As I listed to Morrison’s lost song by Robert Mirabel, need to ask Tio if he was in Albuquerque in the 1960's.My RunKeeper Activity

runkeeper.com
View my RunKeeper activity here!

June 25, 2010:
(7:59am) Today run not to bad, maybe I should start earlier before the sun comes up. This morning I saw some men working in the cotton fields (killing weeds). I thought about my Grandfather Manual Soto, because he worked the same fields in the 1940-1960s, before I was born.My RunKeeper Activity


runkeeper.com
View my RunKeeper activity here!

June 26, 2010:
(11:10pm) Having a late night BLT, was out all day hanging out with the members of the Danza 8>), I needed a break from the books and school.

June 27, 2010
(9:42am) Check out the 9.42 mi bike ride I did with RunKeeper - It went very good nice pace. When I got to Clint I took a ride through the old childhood playmates houses, and on the way back to San Eli I saw a man fishing with a pitch-fork on Hansend Dr. and FM Rd 1110. That brought some more childhood memories.at

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Old San Eli - Old West!

Old San Eli - Old West!

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

BREAKING NEWS: Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller dies - Cherokee Phoenix

BREAKING NEWS: Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller dies - Cherokee Phoenix

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Trail Dust: Missionary offered a lifetime of hope, help to the Apaches - The Santa Fe New Mexican

Trail Dust: Missionary offered a lifetime of hope, help to the Apaches - The Santa Fe New Mexican

Friday, March 12, 2010

The Navajo Times Online - Community surrounds Peshlakai family following loss of daughters

The Navajo Times Online - Community surrounds Peshlakai family following loss of daughters

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Retelling the history of New Mexico's Native Americans

Retelling the history of New Mexico's Native Americans

Posted using ShareThis

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Slow going for Geronimo lawsuit - Las Cruces Sun-News

Slow going for Geronimo lawsuit - Las Cruces Sun-News

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Dec and Jan Update

Saturday, February 13, 2010


Hello again,

I know it’s been a few months scene the last post. As you see I  have added a few things to the side bar and at the bottom of the blog, this are just a few things I am still learning about and working on.

I been busy with school this last month, my graduate courses this semester require more reading then in the past. Not only reading text book and other literary works, but as one of my professor would say reading the world. This semester I have been challenged to read and try an understand Paulo Freire’s philosophy on Pedagogy. If anyone of you have read Freire’s work you would understand my struggles. But I will not boar you with details, just understand if you do not see me around I am at the library trying to make sense of my reading.

This month I am just posting a few updates on other matters and my work at home while I did have a winter break. Well the weather in the last few months has been wet, some snow and rain, and this has put a delay on some work. For those of you whodo not know, this year the Family Soto, that’s my maternal family, is planning a family reunion. This will be the first reunion for the family and things are looking good. My dad and I offered the family to have the reunion in our back yard. Yes we have a big yard and we have been planning to build a pavilion with an outdoor kitchen for some years.



This past Dec and January I worked on an old wood burning stove. It has some family history from a distant relative on my Grandfathers’ Manuel R. Soto. The stoves belong to the Rivera Family down the street, where they got it and how long it’s been in the family is unknown. A good research project I think some day I will ask questions. I build a platform for the stove. As you can see I still need the smoke stack and tile on the floor and walls, but it’s a start.



This year we set a goal to have the pavilion ready for the reunion. But the weather is not helping us and my studies are also require more of my spare time. This means less time to work on our projects. Now it’s February and its time to start preparing the garden for planting and cleaning up the irrigation canals for the first irrigation day in March. This means I must find a way to get this all done and still have time for other activities such as tennis and just plain having fun. Although working in the yard, building, and gardening are fun things to do in themselves.

As you can see in order to build something new, some things had to be removed. First we had to trim down some trees that had too many dead branches. The two trees on the upper right are right where we plan to build the pavilion, you can see we have some poles there ready. Before we start it's better to remove the tree's otherwise they could fall with age and destroy our work. Trimming trees equals fire wood so nothing goes to waist and is recycled.




 
Ok you know that old storage building in the pictures above well that’s coming down or should I say it's already down, (gone), and all the stuff inside had to be sorted out for either storage or as junk for recycling for cash. But a lot of stuff was too far gone damaged by water and age so it went to the land field. This footing on the left will become a wall to help keep water and dirt outside. This new storage area is on the side of the garage.

This is the new tool shed storage for lawnmowers and yard working tools and equipment only. This was build with old garage doors and used center blocks and 2x4s we had laying around. This is what I do recycles what I can to build things we need, most of my little house is build with recycled items.

In January I returned to Silver City for the red paint powwow. I got to see some old friends and meet new people. I did go there to gourd dance again. I will post more information on the red paint powwow in the coming days. http://www.redpaintpowwow.net/about.html


I had a blast is Silver City NM, I have been blessed and Honored to have had a chance to spend some time talking with good people, decedents of the Chiefs Mangas Coloradas and Victorio. Silver City had snow that week and then again over the weekend I was there, but that did not stop the powwow. I did not take many photos because I respect the regalia and indigenous people. I only took a few from a distance.

.Photo on the right is a Hoop Dancer; He was snowed-in in Arizona and got to Silver City a day late he showed up late, but the powwow committee made time for him to dance. The photo on the right is a Lady Fancy Dancer; she was so fast that I had a hard time trying to capture her while dancing
Please enjoy the photos here, I will show you progress as work continues and whenever I remember to have a camera handy. For now I am just going to post some of the stuff I did get to work on in January before I started my semester. I will do my best to update this blog monthly, I have been using Facebook more to keep in touch and I am now administering to Family Web Pages on MyFamily.con. With my graduate work and keeping the WebPages up to date I am very busy as you can see.
 
Until next time , may you all continue to walk in peace.
David