Lassos and Music
Salve, it’s me, Janelle! When we got back from refilling the free libraries yesterday, April’s daughters arrived and started to talk about roping (with lassos) and how they had been doing it since they were little. The two of them offered to teach us the basics. We went outside and picked up the ropes and started waving them around in the same way we see in movies. Obviously this was incorrect, so Miah and Bailey showed us the correct positioning of where to put your hands, how to not “helicopter” the rope (which that was hard for me), and how to toss the top against the “cow”. At first I was resistant because it looked really complicated. But then seeing some of my friends try, fail, try again, and have fun, made me want to try it eventually. Once I did try, I had so much fun. Then when I tried to rope the “cow”, I got it on the first try! Everyone was so enthusiastic that the girls gave us two ropes to keep!
Next we got in the van to go to see a concert. We saw Callie Bennet who is a spiritual/inspirational singer and songwriter who has won a NAMMY award as well has recognition in Canada. She is part of the Navajo people and lives in Arizona. We got to the Lame Deer Elementary School auditorium where we saw her warming up. Once she started to sing her voice was amazing. Her voice and the lyrics she sang were beautiful. About half way through her concert her sister China did a contemporary dance to one of her original songs, which was very well done. The concert was most likely my highlight of the trip so far. Callie’s message was about having hope in the young people and she had us remind our neighbor, throughout the concert, to keep hope alive.
