If These Lands Could Talk... What Would They Say?

Our Story

The land has a way of teaching us if we want to know, if we want to learn. "If These Lands Could Talk" started as an internal conversation that emerged during travel across traditional Diné (or Navajo) homelands in the summer of 2019. Driving through the red-pigmented and towering mountains and canyons, I couldn't help but to wonder what these lands would reveal if they had a voice. As I read through stories written by local Indigenous people accounting lessons from the past and the impact that persists today - I learned that there are many gaps in education and what is taught in traditional education or found in textbooks. As a world traveler, I noticed parallels between these lands and other lands that I had the privilege to travel to throughout my life. Much of our world's history is passed down through generations, best and most accurately at times told through the people who inhabited the land for generations, and through the people who still nurture these lands today.

In a sudden moment, the words just came out of my mouth, "If These Lands Could Talk, What Would They Say?" A question and statement all at once. I couldn't help but to wonder how many times have we traveled somewhere but are not aware of what peoples lived and cultivated the land or what structures they built to mold, shape, or even elevate the human condition as we know it today?

Through these experiences, I realize how the past, present, and future are part of an overlapping continuum of human experience - like deep roots coming out of a mountain.