Week Five

This summer, Rivers students are embarking on a variety of interesting and challenging adventures, from doing community service abroad to attending prestigious music camps. Throughout the coming months, we will be periodically checking in with a handful of students to learn more about their experiences. Today, we hear from Emily Hoberman, who is working at the Children’s Hospital this summer.

Today began my fifth week of volunteering at Children's Hospital. When I arrived on the floor this morning, I was greeted by a loud chorus of crying babies. The problem with being on a floor with many babies is that when one baby cries, all of the others join in. However, I have become used to the "audio excitement" and it no longer bothers me.

For the first hour, I held a tiny two week old baby. When I first started holding babies, I was so nervous about hurting them or even moving because they are so small, and many of them come to the floor right from the NICU. Almost all of them are attached to IVs and other monitors which makes holding them a challenge at times. It frequently doesn't feel like I am holding anything when I rock these babies because they are so small, and generally weigh only five to seven pounds. I have learned many techniques for calming the babies such as holding them very close to my body so that they can feel the rhythm of my breathing and can also feel my body's warmth. I have learned that slowly rocking the babies with my arms while rocking in the chair usually puts them to sleep.

After holding several more babies, I played with a five year old boy for over two hours. He and I started off the morning by playing eight games of Guess Who, seven of which he won. Afterwards, he taught me just about every game that one can play with cards, such as SlapJack and Trash, many of which I had never heard of. For such a young person, he was extremely good. I was only slightly embarrassed that he was beating me at many of the games he was teaching me until we started to play Checkers. At that point, after two hours of games and cards, he proceeded to beat me in three games of Checkers! Again, I was very impressed with his skills at these games.

The floor was fairly quiet in the afternoon, so I was assigned the task of completely reorganizing one of the bulletin boards in the main hallway. The board displays the many pictures sent from families of the kids who once spent time being cared for on my floor. This task took about one hour and then I was asked to rock one of the babies that I have been holding since my first week at work. When I first met her, she was only ten days old, and it is truly amazing and wonderful to see how much she has grown. It gives me a great feeling knowing that I gave her hours of comfort during these weeks by gently holding and rocking her as well as singing her lullabies. While this job may not be as intellectually challenging as some, it is very emotionally fulfilling, knowing that I am making a positive difference in the lives of these babies, children and their families.

Next week, I will share more about the importance of singing, talking, playing and reading to the babies and young children during their time at the hospital.

--Emily Hoberman

A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim

This summer, Rivers teachers are embarking on a variety of activities through the school’s faculty enrichment grants, which aim to promote the intellectual growth of Rivers teachers through research, education, and other independent projects. Today, we hear from Alaina Cotillo, who is participating in the five-week St. James’ Way hike that starts in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and ends in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

I have had difficulty recently pulling myself away from the Camino and back into the real world. For that reason, it has been quite a while since my last posting. My experience thus far has been everything I wanted and more. I am still in the process of reflecting upon my travels here, and in the meantime, I thought I would explain what a day in the life of a pilgrim is like.

My day starts around 5:30 a.m. when other pilgrims begin to wake up and make lots of noise packing their backpacks and making preparations for the day. Leaving the hostel about 45 minutes later, I hope that a bar or cafeteria will be open for breakfast but they almost never open until 7 a.m. After my morning café con leche and napolitana, I feel energized and get into my rhythm for the day. On the Camino, I have been walking between 18 and 26+ miles a day and because of that, my day mostly consists of walking and eating. I´ve learned that I need to stop for a few minutes to rest my feet and have a snack every two hours. Sometimes I think I´m on a tour of the pastelerías in Spain rather than a pilgrimage. As someone who loves sweets, I have loved eating anything I want and burning off the calories through my walks! I usually stop for lunch between 2 and 3 p.m. buying some bread, cheese, and meat from a supermarket as well as a few other assorted goodies and sit happily on a shady bench that protects me from the strong, Spanish sun. Arriving at the hostel between 4 and 6 p.m. the day might seem like it is over, but in reality, I´ve just completed the first part. Once I´ve checked in and had my pilgrim´s passport stamped, I still need to shower and wash my clothes by hand, the latter being my least favorite part of the day. Lastly, there are the preparations for dinner which depend on whether or not the hostel has a kitchen. If it does, I will buy pasta or salad ingredients and cook there. If there´s no kitchen, then it´s usually sandwich #2 with yogurt and/or chocolate for dessert. Bedtime is usually around 10 p.m. and if I´m lucky I fall asleep before the people around me start snoring. Although I wear earplugs, I am often still woken up by loud snores coming from all directions in the middle of the night; but that, I suppose, is part of the experience of being a pilgrim.

My First Week

This summer, Rivers students are embarking on a variety of interesting and challenging adventures, from doing community service abroad to attending prestigious music camps. Throughout the coming months, we will be periodically checking in with a handful of students to learn more about their experiences. Today, we hear from Alexander Post, who is working at the Children’s Hospital this summer through the Rivers science internship program.

I began my internship in the Simulator Program last week. The main objective of the Simulator Program is to provide a high-fidelity simulation as a tool for healthcare education. In the simulation suite we use a variety of mannequins to train clinicians. The mannequins are extremely accurate representations of the human body - they breathe, talk, blink, and have pulses. In order to create a more realistic environment, the simulation lab is an actual patient room in the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit. The control room is adjacent to the Simulation Lab. From there, the patient simulators can be controlled using computers. Nearly any scenario can be programmed - for example, in the morning one of the simulators could have an asthma attack and in the afternoon it could have a heart attack. The clinicians participating can complete any procedure that they would do on an actual patient. The simulator will have a correct physiological response to any drugs given or procedures done, even if it is not the correct action. Over the coming weeks I will help run simulations, shadow clinicians, and learn about arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats). I am very excited about everything I will experience and learn this summer!

-Alex Post

A little history: Mexico's indigenous peoples, the program, y yo

This summer, Rivers teachers are embarking on a variety of activities through the school’s faculty enrichment grants, which aim to promote the intellectual growth of Rivers teachers through research, education, and other independent projects. Today, we hear from Ben Leeming, who is traveling to Zacatecas, Mexico to study the Uto-Aztecan language of Nahuatl.

The indigenous peoples of Mexico and those of the United States share some similarities (you know, having their lands seized by invading Europeans and the ensuing oppression, forced assimilation, death, etc., etc.) However, there are significant differences worth noting. To be an Indian in the United States, one need only be able to claim blood relation. One can be one-quarter or one-sixteenth Indian and be accepted as such. While some still live on reservations, Indians of modern-day America (at least in the northeast) for the most part look and talk and dress like you and me. In Mexico, Indian identity is a radically different thing. Yes, blood matters. However, in the eyes of Mexico’s indigenous peoples, one must be 100% Indian to be Indian. If you even have one non-Indian blood relative, you are not Indian. But there’s much more.

The most salient identifying marks of the Indian from point of view of both Indians and non-Indians in Mexico are: skin color (dark, not light), where you live (rural, not urban), socio-economic status (poor, not middle class or rich), and most of all, language (indigenous, not Spanish). In fact, the word the indigenous peoples of Mexico use to name themselves is not "indio" but "macehualli", which is Nahuatl for "poor commoner, peon." If one doesn’t fit these characteristics, if, for example, an Indian leaves the village, moves to the city, adopts an urban lifestyle, dress, and speech, they are no longer Indian, they are now mestizo. Of course, it is precisely this process, young Indians leaving the village for the city, losing their language and their traditions, that is happening all across Mexico today and is resulting in the astonishing loss of indigenous language and culture.

However, can you blame them? To be Indian in Mexico, today and since the 16th century has been synonymous with being poor, uneducated, without opportunities for advancement or access to many privileges of society, and more often than not, the object of outright oppression, violence, and some would even say, genocidal programs aimed at forced assimilation or eradication. The pressure on indigenous peoples to assimilate continues to be strong and manifests itself in everything from government policy to racist attitudes among the non-Indian population.

The Program

When I tell people from Mexico that I am in Zacatecas to learn to speak Nahuatl, they all reply, "Zacatecas? Why Zacatecas? No body speaks Nahuatl here. You should try Veracruz." It's true. In general, there is no indigenous Nahuatl-speaking population currently living in the state of Zacatecas. (Although there used to be. Back in the colonial period this was a major Nahua area. In fact, one of the documents we have been working on translating here is a 17th century petition from a town called Tlaltenango, which is in Zacatecas. It's is written by the Nahuatl-speaking elders of the town in Nahuatl to the bishop of Zacatecas.) But the question is a valid one: why study Nahuatl in Zacatecas? The story goes like this:

About 15 years ago, a small group of Nahua teenagers from the Huasteca region (San Louis Potosí and Veracruz) came to Zacatecas on scholarship to study at a college preparatory school (in Spanish of course, not Nahuatl). The goal of the program was to enable young indigenous people to complete a high school education and then matriculate at a college of their choosing. Before too long, there was a good sized population of Nahuatl-speaking students living and studying (and in some cases, living and working) in Zacatecas. In 1992, John Sullivan moved to Zacatecas (already having completed a PhD and knowing Nahuatl) and discovered this diaspora community of Nahuas, met the program's co-founder, a native speaker from Veracruz named Delfina de la Cruz, and founded IDIEZ (Instituto de Docenia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas). The goal of IDIEZ was and is to bring native speaking and non-native speaking students together at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas to conduct investigative research into the language and culture of Nahuatl-speaking peoples with the express purpose of "revitalizing" (not preserving - that sounds too much like a museum exhibit) Nahua culture and language in Mexico today.

What is so significant about this goal and this program? A few things come to mind:

1. The history of indigenous peoples of Mexico has been exclusively written by non-indigenous peoples. The scholars who research, teach, and write about indigenous peoples and their culture and history are by and large mestizo (if Mexican) or American/European scholars. This program aims to train indigenous researchers and scholars to be able to conduct research, publish papers, write books, or teach their own history and culture. Think of it: for (virtually) the first time since the early colonial era (when there were some indigenous historians and scholars), indigenous peoples are beginning to reclaim their historical voice and make an entirely different and critically important contribution to the history of their own peoples! This is not only exciting, it's vital.

2. This program links Nahuatl language and culture from the colonial period to Nahuatl language and culture of today. This link is critical because for the most part it has been severed. By and large, Nahuas of today (those macehuallmeh from the villages) have very little idea about their own history, that they HAVE a history beyond the traditions and beliefs which have survived by being passed down through the generations. This program reconnects these two worlds (the ancient and the modern) through education, research, language training, and scholarship. Nahua students learn that these are not two histories, but one.

3. For non-indigenous students (like me) there are many benefits of such a program. I have previously cited a number: exposure to native speakers and learning the intricacies of pronunciation, the benefits on my own research and scholarship of having first-hand knowledge of the culture of today's Nahuas, etc. But I think that perhaps the most important reason for attending such a program is the following. Indigenous languages and cultures are being lost at an alarming rate all across Mexico (and the world). There isn't that much being done about it, either. (John Sullivan reports to me that the Mexican government isn't interested in indigenous languages. Period.) Even if all the native-speaking graduates of this program were to go out and do scholarship, publish, and speak about their history, language, and culture, there is NO WAY it would be able to stem to tide of language extinction. Simply put: in order to counteract this loss, any and all qualified help is needed. White, North American scholars (like me) are a necessary part of the effort to save (revitalize?) indigenous histories. Hence this program, hence my interest in Nahuatl, hence my being in Zacatecas this summer!

¡hasta moztla todos!

Job Description and Overview of an Average Day

This summer, Rivers students are embarking on a variety of interesting and challenging adventures, from doing community service abroad to attending prestigious music camps. Throughout the coming months, we will be periodically checking in with a handful of students to learn more about their experiences. Today, we hear from Emily Hoberman, who is working at the Children’s Hospital this summer.

This summer I am volunteering at Children's Hospital in Boston for two days each week, Tuesday and Wednesday. I work for the Child Life Specialist, and have a variety of jobs on the floor such as holding and rocking babies to sleep and playing with young kids in the playroom. The floor is for children ranging from babies that are just ten days old to kids that are seven years old. While doing a job such as rocking a baby to sleep may seem easy and relaxing, it is actually the opposite, and can be emotionally draining. The kids are very sick, and generally come right from surgery. Although it can be tiring, it is a job that I truly enjoy doing, as it is comforting to see a baby fall asleep in your arms and watch a young child play with toys such as Playdough and baby dolls.

An average day at work consists of arriving in Boston by 9 :00 AM, and cleaning the floor's playroom and dirty toys for about 30 minutes. During the next four hours, I will usually hold three to four babies for approximately one hour each. After taking a quick lunch break, I come back to the playroom by 2 :00 PM, and work on an art project that the Child Life Specialist needs help with (e.g., painting the babies' feet, and putting the prints on paper to make July 4th cards.) After this, and for the last two hours, I will either hold more babies or play with the older children. Playing with the children who are between three and seven years old can be difficult, as they easily lose interest in the activities that they are engaged in. I usually walk around the floor with them, read them books, or do an art project with them. I have worked for three weeks on this floor, and am loving everything about it!

-Emily Hoberman

Back in the classroom

This summer, Rivers teachers are embarking on a variety of activities through the school’s faculty enrichment grants, which aim to promote the intellectual growth of Rivers teachers through research, education, and other independent projects. Today, we hear from Ben Leeming, who is traveling to Zacatecas, Mexico to study the Uto-Aztecan language of Nahuatl.

I have begun to develop a morning routine which includes leaving the house around 8:00, making the 10 minute walk to the Institute (grabbing a coffee along the way…still haven’t found a good place and am refusing to be drawn to the one Star Bucks – that’s how they write it – in Zacatecas). When I get to the institute I am usually the first one there so the place is quiet and I can attend to the daily batch of emails – or update the blog – before my 9:00 class. Speaking of classes, this is how my typical day is shaping up:

8-something – 9:00 email

9:00-11:00 beginning modern Huastecan Nahuatl

11:00-12:00 tutoring (one-one-one session with Sabina, from Veracruz and a native Nahuatl speaker)

12:30-1:45 home for lunch and playing with the kids

2:00-4:00 beginning classical Nahuatl (the form of Nahuatl used in the 16th – 18th centuries, and the form used in the documents I study and translate)

4:30-5:45 home for dinner and playing with the kids

6:00-8:00 intermediate/advanced classical Nahuatl

8:30 home for bedtime (the kids', that is...)



Classes are going well, but 7 hours a day is a lot! (Not to mention approximately an hour of walking to and from the Institute!) As far as the modern class, learning a new language is hard work. It’s awkward, difficult, and my tongue often ends up in a knot. I feel like an elementary school student all over again. But it is fun, and the native-speaking instructors are really good. Their methodology is TPR (total physical response) which basically means you act everything out and there is very little (if any) “traditional” blackboard teaching. I am getting a feel for the ins and outs of pronouncing Nahuatl words – very different in many cases from English or Spanish – and in some cases pretty similar. I am saying things like, “quena” (yes) and “axcanah” (no), “queniuhqui tiitztoc” (how are you?), “ximoquetza” (stand up!) and “ximocehui” (sit down!) as well as the colors: “xoxoctic” (green), “chichiltic” (red – related to the word “chilli” as in red chili pepper), and “chipahuac” (white).

I just had my first oral test. It basically consisted of half a dozen spoken questions for which I had to produce responses in Nahuatl. I don’t think I have had an oral assessment since high school so I bumbled a couple of the questions. (Something tells me that they won’t flunk me out of the program, though…)

Back to the classes: I was initially skeptical of the “need” to learn to speak a modern dialect of Nahuatl since my pursuits will rarely take me past my office, a library or perhaps an archive somewhere. However, the philosophy of this program’s director is gradually beginning to sink in and make sense to me. If one learns only the archaic form of the language, one has only ONE lense through which to view that language. However, if one learns more than one variant of the language, one has another lense, and therefore is equipped with a broader perspective and is able to make more nuanced conclusions. The Nahuatl spoken today in the region of Mexico known as the Huasteca (basically the state of Veracruz) is one of the oldest or least changed dialects of Nahuatl. But it IS different in some important respects. By being able to compare the older Nahuatl with the Nahuatl that is spoken today, someone like me has (or will have) a much richer understanding of how that language works, how it evolves and has evolved over time, etc.

Another huge benefit from learning the language from native speakers is this: all that we know about pronunciation of classical Nahuatl comes from written descriptions recorded by the Spanish priests and friars who were the first non-native linguists to study Nahuatl. In the case of one major grammarian, Horacio Carrochi, when trying to describe exactly how to pronounce a difficult sound, he is forced to write, “I can’t explain how to pronounce this word. You have to hear a native speaker say it.” For anyone studying Nahuatl in the isolation of a classroom in the States or Europe, one is left to wonder, but for us, my teacher can simply SAY the word and I can hear for myself exactly what it sounds like (at least in the modern dialect…which in most cases we are pretty sure is similar in sound).



As for the classes in classical (older) Nahuatl, these are my favorite times of the day. The beginning class is definitely “too easy” for me, but I am attending anyway because the instructor, John Sullivan – US born and educated scholar – is a vast wealth of knowledge about the language and I am learning SO MUCH even about the “basics”. As for the advanced class, the approach is not quite as structured as the beginning, and we use primary source documents to delve into the more complex aspects of the language. This is where I am most happy and comfortable. We are currently working though a 17th cent. document from Tlaltenago (south of here in the state of Zacatecas) which was written by the Nahua elders to the bishop in Zac. city (where I am now) complaining about their priest and asking for a new one. It seems that this priest, one Salvador Hernández, didn’t speak Nahuatl very well and cared more for his Caxtilteca (spanish) parishoners than his Nahuatl-speaking ones. So we basically take the translation line by line, and wrestle with it as a group. This is what I love to do most. And it looks like I am the most experienced member of this class, aside from our Profe, of course. Being the most advanced learner is good for the ego, but it also means that I am not quite as challenged as I would otherwise be (maybe) and I am hoping that it will get harder. But I am still learning A TON and it feels really good to be immersed in the language I love so much. I am hoping to be able to spend some one on one time with Prof. Sullivan working through some of the problem passages in Molina I know that this will be extremely helpful.

Final comment: having a trilingual learning experience is great, but exhausting. Classes are conducted entirely in Nahuatl and Spanish (for the modern) and Nahuatl, Spanish, and English (but barely!) for the classical. I often feel like an alien trying to speak a new language, when I speak both Spanish and Nahuatl, but I can hear my Spanish gradually improving. My Nahuatl, on the other hand…ask me at the end of the summer.

So, things are going well from my angle. I’m so glad to be here and am trying to soak up as much of life in Mexico as possible.

Day 4-12: Pamplona to Burgos

This summer, Rivers teachers are embarking on a variety of activities through the school’s faculty enrichment grants, which aim to promote the intellectual growth of Rivers teachers through research, education, and other independent projects. Today, we hear from Alaina Cotillo, who is participating in the five-week St. James’ Way hike that starts in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and ends in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Well, no bull sightings in Pamplona as I was a few weeks too early for the Running of the Bulls during the Fiestas de San Fermín. Walking through the streets, visiting the cathedral, and eating outside in the Plaza Mayor were a treat nonetheless. Since leaving Pamplona, located in the Navarra region, the scenery has varied greatly depending on the day and also on the region. The thick greenery from the mountains became sparse as the land became dryer. One day last week, feeling confident in my trekking abilities, I decided to walk and listen to my iPod. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bad decision as I began to pay more attention to the lyrics of the songs than to the narrow, rocky path on which I was walking. All of a sudden, I felt my back foot catch on something and in an instant, I hit the ground. My immediate reaction was to self-assess. First off, I had no searing pains in my body. Secondly, I searched for my iPod and camera in the brush, because both went flying as I fell. Luckily, they both still work. Finally, as I picked myself up, I noticed blood dripping down my leg from my knee crashed into a rock. It looked worse than it was, and in the end, I only had a few bruises and scrapes as well as learned not to walk the Camino while listening to music.

As I approached the Navarra-Rioja regional border, the majority of the landscape turned into vineyards, which produce the grapes that make the world renowned Rioja wine. Every field was immaculately cared for and I found it interesting to see the various shapes and sizes of the grapevines depending on what type of grape had been planted. The vineyards quickly changed to field upon field of wheat as I entered Castilla y León, Spain´s largest region. Currently I am in Burgos, one of the region´s main cities. This is the first full day of rest I have taken since beginning my pilgrimage 12 days ago. During that time, I have walked nearly 200 miles. I think a day of rest is well deserved!

Alaina Cotillo