Operation: Military Kids Podcast

This group recorded audio for their podcast while they ground corn on a traditional matate.

NPS PHOTO

Stories with a View: Lifeskills Through the Eyes of Military Kids

On a recent Saturday military kids from across Arizona spent their day learning about Tuzigoot National Monument, the pueblo, and the Sinaguan culture that lived here. The program is a new partnership between the National Park Service and Arizona Operation: Military Kids - University of Arizona Cooperative Extension. At the end of the day the military kids had made digital stories sharing their viewpoints of this prehistoric site. The military kids came up with amazing videos - in just one day! Watch the episodes below to see how the resiliency life skills these military kids, and each of us, use every day are the same skills the Sinagua used 800 years ago.

We will be posting one video each week, for six weeks - so bookmark this page and check back often! At the end of the six weeks all videos in the podcast will be posted together.
*We will be likely be on hiatus over the holidays. Sorry for the delay!*

 

Arizona Operation Military Kids (OMK) is a grant funded USDA & Department of Defense program at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development which enhances resiliency among geographically dispersed National Guard & Reserve youth before, during and after the deployment of a loved one. More information about Arizona OMK can be found at http://www.operationmilitarykids.org or "Like" Arizona OMK on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ArizonaOMK

 

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  Responsible Citizenship

  Responsible citizenship is an important aspect to everyone's life.  We care for our national monuments like Tuzigoot to help save for our heritage, just as our loved ones fight for us.

  Credit / Author:

  Kailee B. & Maria S.

  Date created:

  2011-12-10

  Download Original File:

  tuzi-Responsible-Citizenship.wmv
  2739 KB

  Video Transcript

  The Hitsatsinom, also known as the Sinagua, lived on the Tuzigoot land from the elevenhundreds to the thirteen hundreds.  Archeologists discovered it was the begining of the eleven hundreds when they started building and settling on these lands.
   
  Caywood and Spicer are the archeologists who excavated Tuzigoot.  In June 1939 workers excavated the site.  They reconstructed several rooms and cleaned and repaired all of the artifacts recovered.  Now Tuzigoot is open to the public.
   
  To show responsible citizenship in 1936 WPA built Tuzigoot museum, to preserve pottery and other artifacts.  Now we, and many others to come, can enjoy and learn about the Histatsonom people and how they lived.

 

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  Communication

  Communication was very advanced within the Sinaguan culture.  Different pueblos on hilltops could send messages to each other.  Today communication lets us "talk" to people around the globe.

  Credit / Author:

  Victoria N. & David Z.

  Date created:

  2011-12-10

  Download Original File:

  tuzi-Communication.wmv
  2444 KB

  Video Transcript

  Living on hilltops people had a line of site between households and monitor their world.  By building where they did, farmland was [not] sacrificed and they avoided the mosquitos and floods which living next to the river invited.  The tower for the site was meant to be used to be able to communicate from one site to another, by either smoke signals, flashing tiny objects or sounds signals such as whistling or horns.  These communications could be relayed over many miles extremely quickly rather than walking or transporting by foot.  At the sites they could communicate with three other sites, which could eventually even relay to Montezuma Castle.  Using methods of communication people could share tips on buildings, or houses, trade, different systems, hunting strategies or upcoming events.  The dense tree line clearly marks the path of the Verde River which is also a great system of communication floating messages down on rafts, or even transporting trade goods or even people.

 

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  Hard Work

  Life may be hard, but it's not bad.  That statement is true now and it was also true for the Sinagua people.  Watch the story to find out about the hard work they performed to eat dinner, and think about the hard work you do every day.

  Credit / Author:

  Jordyn C. & Maddy S.

  Date created:

  2011-12-10

  Download Original File:

  tuzi-Hard-Work.wmv
  2482 KB

  Video Transcript

  This story is about the difficult life for the Sinaguans.  How everything was time consuming and harsh, in the years of 1100 through 1400.
   
  A day in the life of a Singuan.  Her day starts out by waking up and walking to the outside food area.  By getting ready she grabs her grinding bowl, her grinding rock and a handful of corn and pours it in.  And she starts grinding.  [Sound of grinding corn]  In a little while a man comes and sings to them.  So they will have a beat to make the grinding go faster.  [Girls sing a chant]  They sing and grind for about 6 hours.  It's very time consuming and difficult.  At the end of the day she grinds so much corn it took her 6 hours to feed only a family of four.  And that is a hard day in the life of a Sinaguan grinder.  The End.

 

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  Resiliency

  Resiliency is so important in so many ways.  When loved ones are deployed we need to be resilient... but plants need to be resilient for droughts, and the Sinagua, of course, had to be resilient living out here in the desert.

  Credit / Author:

  David N. & Tyler C.

  Date created:

  2011-12-10

  Download Original File:

  tuzi-Resiliency_edited.wmv
  3988 KB

  Video Transcript

  In a land before computers.  Or TV.  Or even electricity for that matter.  The great mesquite tree which has a long tap root which they would use to located enough moisture to grow their crops.  The people would use the trees leaves in order to indicate where enough water was.  But when there was not enough water, the tree would shed it's leaves indicated that there was in fact, no water.  Now adays people just rip off the leaves.  The salt bush is a bush who's leaves taste like salt.  Leaves can either be put into soup or stew for flavor or turned into ash and used as seasoning.  The matate and mano were rocks used to grind corn into wheat to make bread.
   
  You there!  Play me a tune!  You wanna control / so we waited.  I put on a show / now I make it.  You say I'm a kid / My ego is big.  I don't give a --  And it goes like this / Take me by the tongue and I'll know you...
   
  Nowadays people don't have to work as hard to get their food.  In fact, most people don't have to work at all.
   
  The yucca tree, er, especially a soap tree yucca is a succulent type of plant.  It looks a lot like a cactus, but the leaves are amazing.  They contain these really strong fibers.  So, if you can cut a leaf off and pound it, you can scrape away all that green pulp after you're done and you have lots of fibers.

 

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  Cooperation

  Cooperation allowed the people of Tuzigoot to farm more fields, and to prepare more food for their families.  Cooperation helped them to survive.

  Credit / Author:

  Jordan B. & Emily G.

  Date created:

  2011-12-10

  Download Original File:

  tuzi-Cooperation.wmv
  2046 KB

  Video Transcript

  Luscious crop fields the Sinaguan farmers worked on daily.  Here are two Sinagua farmers who operating together to get their work done.  Farmers use water from the river to grow crops on the farm.  After hours of farming the Sinaguas head back to their dwellings to continue their day's work.  The rooms of the Sinaguan dwellings were connected to look like honeycombs.  Sinaguas built doors on the roof to keep heat inside.  This is one of the destinations a Sinaguan woman typically spends her day.  Sinagua women have to cooperate together to grind the corn from whole to finely ground.  Singuan women form an assembly line to grind the corn for evening meals.  After work and cooperation the Sinaguas rest the night away. 

 

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  Teamwork

  Teamwork was essential to the survival of the people who lived at Tuzigoot.  From building walls to grinding corn they had to work together to make life go smoothly.

  Credit / Author:

  Adam M. & Angel M.

  Date created:

  2011-12-10

  Download Original File:

  tuzi-Teamwork.wmv
  2348 KB

  Video Transcript

  Tuzigoot National Monument.  We are here at Tuzigoot National Monument, and we are doing a video of how the people lived here.  Here we are in one of the rooms.  The inside walls are made of rocks and mud.  This is the entrance to one of their living areas.  This was the roof of one of the rooms.  Over time people have preserved it to make it presentable.  This was the outside wall of one of the rooms.  These were the stones made to grind corn.  The corn was  colors including red, blue and purple.  The people of this community harvested corn.  They grinded it into cornmeal with rocks.  They grinded the cornmeal on big stones.  They used the matate as a grinding stone and grinding the cornmeal with a mano.  We have preserved many different artifacts.