You can never just say ‘I’m going to pick up a stone and make something beautiful.’
Jesse Monongya
Raised in New Mexico in the famous Navajo rug center of Two Gray Hills, Jesse learned early the perfection of the craft from watching the weavers and their pursuit of balance and technical perfection. The beautiful songs the women would sing as they wove, and the soothing sound of the loom would stay with him as he began his work at the jeweler’s bench years later. The stars the elders talked about looking up in that beautiful black sky of the Southwest would eventually be used in a stunning array in the classic bracelets and pendants he is so well known for throughout the world.
Along with producing his own work, he has been actively involved in several facets of art. He assisted in the placing of historic and contemporary Native American jewelry in the permanent display at the Heard Museum. He also was the Artist in Residence at the Heard Museum during 1986-87, teaching and demonstrating the centuries old art of Navajo jewelry making.
Monongya’s jewelry has been featured in a number of group and private exhibitions and is represented in both corporate and private collections, including collections of many other artists. He has won many awards at the major American Indian art shows throughout the Southwest.
Some of the major influences upon his work have been in varying degrees, Preston, his father, who he did not know until he was a grown man; his Hopi and Navajo background; (his grandfather being the much respected Hopi Elder David Monongya); his Navajo grandfather who taught him the respect of his environment and the old Navajo ways of discipline and the Beauty Way.
The Bear has been a symbol to Jesse as the Strength and Power of his “Dine” culture.
The intricately inlaid bear takes so much concentration that he must take time in between to recover. He tells of the story when he was a very young boy with his grandfather and they came across a bear out in the mountains. His grandfather spoke to the bear in Navajo, acknowledging his strength and power, asking for blessing and to pass safely. The bear retreated from his standing position and walked away into the woods – it was a very strong experience for Jesse.
Through Jesse’s skilled hands we can also share in these cultural and spiritual experiences.
Navajo/Hopi master jeweler Jesse Monongya – preview from JEWELRY episode streaming starting Nov 4 – YouTube
Navajo/Hopi master jeweler Jesse Monongya on cutting stones & his grandfather
Navajo/Hopi jewelry artist Jesse Monongya segment from the JEWELRY episode
Jesse Monongya Studios | Luxury Native American Jewelry, Scottsdale
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world….when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly…. then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment…. God is in control. His will….
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God is just and righteous and holy.
Worship Him only. 2 Peter 2:1-10
How Great Thou Art / Oh the Glory of His Presence | Jesus Image …
🤗🤗 That means so much. I often wonder if the intentionality behind my messages
is received. It’s comforting to know that they land with the mission of spreading!!!
L
VE & LIGHTwith a GOoD sprinkling of SERENiTY!
At times, life is like a river. In that the more you fight or struggle the worse it can be.
Yet if you do your part and stay afloat until the water calm’s.
🤗 That means so much. I often wonder if the intentionality behind my messages is received. Your outcome can be much better. Some days it’s all I can do is say the serenity prayer. And on those days, that was exactly good enough. Give yourself Grace. 🤍🕊🤍🕊🤍🕊🤍
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
-Mahatma Gandhi
Alongside being a Registered Dietician, do you coach, as well?
I do some online coaching with the Run S.M.A.R.T. Project.
The Bigger Picture
Although disappointed, Ganado native proud of Olympic Trials appearance
By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, June 28, 2012
Navajo Runner Alvina Begay Qualifies for Olympic Trials
ICT STAFF
UPDATED: SEP 13, 2018, ~
ORIGINAL: MAY 3, 2012
She is one of the world’s fastest marathon runners.
I coach runners all over the world. I like to keep busy.
What are your top fit tips?
-Eat breakfast every day
-Don’t go too long without eating. If you go too long without eating, you’re more likely to overeat and eat junk
-Unless you are exercising for >/= 90 min, you should not be drinking a sports drink. Sports drinks are high in sugar, sodium and other electrolytes.
Blood sugar goes down and the body loses electrolytes through sweat when exercising >90 min. Sports drinks -brings blood sugar back up and replenishes electrolytes
What was the last time you ran in a race?
I ran the Louis Tewanima 10K Footrace in September. It was a 10K trail race on the Hopi reservation honoring and remembering 10K Olympic silver medalist Louis Tewanima.
Where do you see yourself in a few years?
I can see myself still running competitively and working at the hospital in a year. There are so many things I want to do in the next five years. I have thought about going back to school.
I have also thought about settling down a bit. I’ve been on the go, go, go for as long as I can remember. I grew up on a ranch and had horses growing up. I’d love to get some land and a couple of horses.
Alvina Begay, Navajo, has qualified to run in the US Olympic trials on June 22 at the Hayward Field at the University of Oregon thanks to winning the 10,000-meter run in the Event 60 at the Payton Cardinal Invitational. According to LetsRun.com she finished the race in 32:34.76.
Begay is a Nike N7 Ambassador for Indian Country and has a running pedigree that goes back to her upbringing on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, Arizona. As her N7 profile states, Begay grew up running at an elevation of 6,000+ feet, on “endless, dusty dirt roads and trails of her hometown.”
Navajo Alvina Begay – Winner and Inspiration – Native News Network (California Indian education.org)
249: Alvina Begay on The Power of Goal Setting as a Runner and Nurse – Running On Om
Navajo Man Runs 330 Miles Through the Desert (runnersworld.com)
Alvina Begay (@aybegay) • Instagram photos and videos
Navajo runner Alvina Begay – Bing images
Navajo runner Alvina Begay – Bing images
In the women’s 10,000m Alvina Begay of the Navajo Nation and Univ. of Arizona ran an awesome solo effort to earn herself a spot at the Olympic Trials. The pace at the front of the second heat fell off at mile four so Begay charged out on her own, finishing 2min better than her previous best and 11sec under the Trials standard of 32:45. Begay will be one of the VIP athletes at this September’s Buffalo Thunder Half Marathon along with ’64 Olympic Champ Billy Mills.
In the men’s 5,000m, former UNM all-American Chris Barnicle ran a time of 13min 42sec, followed closely by former UNM all-American Ross Millington in 14:11. In heat two Albuquerque’s Matt Tebo improved his best to 13:43, and UNM’s Nicholas Kipruto ran 13:59.
And lastly in the men’s 1500m, (yet another) former UNM all-American David Bishop scorched an elite time of 3min 37sec (3:54mile equivalent) in the top heat. Former Los Alamos standout and Adams State all-American RyanMcNiff ran 3:42.19 for fifth place in heat three – a notable finish time in that it’s two tenths faster than the equivalent of a four-minute mile. A career milestone if there ever was one.
As the race melted into the 18th and 19th lap of the women’s 10,000-meter race at the U.S. Olympics Trials in Eugene, Ore., hopeful Alvina Begay was feeling a combination of things. At that point she was feeling good about how the race was laying out for her. But with six laps to go she started to feel pain along her ribcage. “I felt pretty good,” she said as she stayed within striking distance with the other elite runners.
But when she started to feel discomfort in her midsection, she admitted that her dreams of making the Olympic team started to slowly wilt away. “What I had was a side ache,” she said. “After that it was really hard to get back into the race.” Needless to say, the pain never went away. But like most competitive runners she “ran through it” and finished out the race in 17th place with a time of 32:58.63 last Friday night.
“I’m obviously disappointed with the results,” Begay said in a telephone interview earlier this week while visiting her parents in Ganado. “But when the race was over, I thought about how far I’ve come. “I had to take a step back and look at the bigger picture,” she added. “Not too many people get to compete at an Olympic Trials. I was one of 24 women to experience that.” Begay, who is a Nike N7 ambassador, got her invitation to the trials by meeting the automatic “A” standard during the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in mid-April. At that meet she beat the qualifying standard by 11 seconds with a time of 32:34.76.
“I had several big races this spring,” she said, adding that the Cardinal Invitational stood out the most since she set a new personal record. And though she didn’t make the Olympic team, Begay called her journey bittersweet. “It wasn’t that easy, but this was a big year for me,” she said. “I wanted to compete in the Olympics, and I feel really blessed that I had a chance to try and do that. “It’s something I’ve always dreamed about,” she added. “It’s a cool experience to go out there and run-in front of a lot of people.”
“No matter how good or bad you think your life is,
wake up each day and be thankful for life.
Someone somewhere else is fighting to survive.”…
-Unknown | Strong women, Thinking of you,
Runner and athlete Alvina Begay (Navajo) is and has always been, on the go. As a young girl growing up on the Navajo reservation, Begay followed in her father’s footsteps and ran. She continued to run within her college career and even trained to represent the U.S. in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. We chat with Begay about training for the 2016 Olympics, her hectic daily schedule, and how she feels about finally settling down after being on the go for so long.
MAY 4, 2020
NATIVE MAX: Where are you originally from?
ALVINA BEGAY: I was born and raised in Ganado, Arizona.
I currently live and train in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Ganado, Arizona is a small town located at a high elevation. Has that at all impacted the way you run?
Ganado is a small town on the Navajo reservation. There are a lot of dirt roads and trails. There is also a lake that I love to run around. Ganado is located at 6,000 ft. in elevation. I didn’t notice anything about being at altitude until I went down to sea level to race. I felt great when I raced, and my times were faster. When living and training at altitude, the body is deprived of oxygen. The body then builds more red blood cells to carry oxygen. At sea level, the body has extra oxygen carrying capacity because of the increased number of red blood cells. I feel very fortunate to have grown up in Ganado. Many runners look for a training location that has numerous dirt trails and is at altitude.
Who or what inspired you to run?
My dad inspired me to run, and my mom encouraged me to dream big. It was the norm watching my dad train and race on weekends. I saw how hard he worked every day to run fast. It was good for me to see that because it showed me how hard I would have to work to accomplish my dreams.
My mom pushed my siblings and me to work hard and dream big. I remember as a young girl, my mom telling me that if I kept running, I would get my education paid for, travel the world, meet great people, etc. She also used tough love on my siblings and me when it came to completing college. She also taught us to stay true to our culture and to use Navajo teachings to get through the hard times.
What happened after you tried out for the Olympics?
I continued running. I had some injuries in 2013 and 2014. I wasn’t able to run very much when I was injured so I completed my Master’s degree and increased my working hours at Flagstaff Medical Center as a Registered Dietitian. Running is such a big part of my life that I get sad and depressed when I’m not able to run or exercise. Going back to school and working was a good distraction while my injuries were healing. I put my knowledge and skills as an RD on the back burner for several years while I was very focused on my running. I feel like it was a good use of my time while I was injured to use my knowledge as an RD to help people.
As the Navajo Nation Faces a COVID-19 Crisis, Alvina Begay Finds Strength in Tradition
This Navajo nurse and three-time Olympic Trials qualifier has leaned on running for health and stress management.
Running has not just served as a profession for Alvina Begay, but lately, as a nurse, a daughter, a sister, and a member of a traditional Navajo family, she’s been reminded that her deeper connection with the sport is also critical to her wellbeing. Begay, 39, lives and works on Navajo Nation, which is the third-hardest hit area in the United States. As of Monday, 2,373 cases of COVID-19 and 73 deaths have been reported on the reservation, which spans northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. Tribal leaders have mandated 57-hour weekend curfews, ordering residents to stay home from 8 p.m. on Friday until 5 a.m. on Monday.
During a time of stress and worry—for herself and her immediate family, many of whom are on the frontlines in area hospitals—Begay, who competed for Arizona State University and went on to become an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier in 2008 and 2012, has tried to remain physically active. In a recent phone interview with Women’s Running, she explained how running plays a role in Navajo tradition, what other teachings are helping her cope, and why she believes the Navajo people are having difficulties fighting the virus.
Women’s Running: How are you and your family?
Alvina Begay: We’re all healthy and spread out right now. We’ve seen each other from a distance, but we haven’t been able to hug each other—a lot of phone calls and text messaging right now. I currently live in Tsaile, Arizona, and my significant other works here at the college [Diné College] and I was able to get a job at a healthcare facility.
We go back to Flagstaff once or twice a month.
My mother works in Kayenta [near Monument Valley] where she is the director of nursing. And my dad is holding down the homestead in Ganado. My mom comes home on the weekend. My dad is home with the three grandkids—my middle brother’s kids—and running the ranch by himself. I guess he’s a babysitter, home-school teacher, too. My brother works with the IT program at the Chinle hospital and then my sister is in Phoenix with her kids. My two younger brothers are in Flagstaff, and one works at Safeway.
WR: So, most of your family is on the frontlines of COVID-19 in one way or another?
AB: It’s a stressful time for our family. We are definitely reminding each other to be safe, be smart, and we pray—just constantly reminding each other to not let our guards down. There’s a lot of worry especially when this all started on the Reservation, I think we were all really afraid for my mom. That was all before it got really bad on the reservation. It was hard on all of us. She couldn’t come home for several weeks. It sounded really scary. That’s just our life right now. It’s just really unbelievable.
WR: What about your job?
AB: I’ve been a dietitian for about 15 years now, which is the job that brought me out from Flagstaff to the Reservation. I graduated from nursing school in December. I’ve been doing a lot more of the dietitian work right now. I work with the high-risk population and I’m doing a lot of education—not just nutrition education, but a lot of education to patients and their family members about prevention and being very careful at this time.
WR: When did you start to realize how badly COVID-19
was going through Navajo Nation and how quickly the situation was escalating?
AB: At the beginning of the year, I started reading more about it and following the news pretty closely. We got warnings from our Navajo Nation government about the potential that it could come to the Reservation. One of the last classes I took in nursing school was a public health program. We had talked about pandemics, and we even had to watch “Contagion” for one of our class assignments. I felt like I took the news pretty seriously at the beginning. With my mom being the director of nursing, she was already talking about how they were in meetings to prepare. We started getting training at my job for what we needed to do to protect ourselves and our patients.
With the Native American population being at high risk because of heart disease and diabetes and kidney disease, we knew that if the virus came to the Reservation it was going to be a difficult situation. Just knowing that, we took precautions seriously early on. It was really frustrating to see and hear that people just weren’t, in my mind, taking it seriously. I had gone to the hospital to get bloodwork done and they were preparing for people to show up with signs and symptoms of the virus.
We had heard that the first case showed up at the facility where my mom works—just talking to her over the phone, you could hear the anxiety and emotions. Then we found out that it was in the Chilchinbeto community [near the Four Corners area] and the majority of the people there go to the Kayenta hospital. We could hear the fear in my mom’s voice at times and that scared us as a family.
WR: How are you handling the stress of the situation?
AB: The one thing I’ve really tried to do is keep running. That’s always something I’ve fallen back on when times were tough or something was happening in my life that I couldn’t control, to just be in the moment, be by myself, and think things through. That’s something that I’ve used and it’s helped me. We also have two Australian shepherds and they keep us in the moment. We have to take them out running and long walks. Doing those things has really helped us keep clear-headed. It’s so easy to just keep looking at the news and social media, so just being with our dogs keeps us away from that.
WR: Do you also rely on your Navajo roots?
AB: I come from a Navajo traditional family. We are turning to our traditional herbs and our traditional prayers and songs at this time. We’re burning a lot of sage and juniper. We’re making herbal teas and just trying to stay connected to the earth. We use the herbs and the trees to protect us and keep us safe and strong, especially our immune systems.
All of those things are helpful in keeping us okay.
WR: And running is also part of the Navajo tradition.
AB: As Navajos, it is a huge part of our tradition. We have a “Coming of Age” ceremony when young girls go through puberty. It’s four days and during those days, you have female mentors and teachers. You are taught how to work hard and how to take care of your mind, your body, your spirit. You’re taught the lessons you need to lead a fulfilling, good life. You run three times a day to the east and you yell so that the holy people can hear you. The purpose of that running is to teach young women to take care of their bodies, to keep their bodies and immune systems strong and physically prepare for whatever you might go through.
Running has always done that for me—it helps me stay fit and healthy. So, the Navajo culture teaches us to take care of our bodies, to run and stay fit because we don’t know when we’re going to be tested physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And I feel like that time has come right now. That’s what our warriors did before the treaties—our Navajo people were strong and healthy because they had to be physically fit if they had to go into battle at any moment. They had to be prepared for the unexpected. Being physically fit helps in times like this, when we don’t know what’s going to happen.
WR: I know that you were a bit scared that you’d been exposed to COVID-19 and you felt reassured because of the running you were able to do.
AB: For sure. When you’ve run as long as I have and you’ve put in the miles, pushed your body to crazy levels, doing crazy workouts—with all that training you’ve done you become more in tune with your body. You know your body and that’s how you can gauge changes in your body. I was exposed to the virus and I was lucky to get tested right away. After the test I had to wait about a week for the results. I was scared, but I ran every day and felt fine. I had really good runs, but I was paying attention to my breathing. I was running eight to 12 miles and doing some workouts—and I felt like if I had the virus I wouldn’t have been able to run that far. I was grateful that my body could run that long without any issues. Throughout the day I was taking my temperature, just being super aware of how I felt. I was smelling foods to make sure I could still smell. I was paying attention to the little details. That was reassuring. After being physically active my entire life and I feel like that’s where I’d notice changes. Being an athlete, you can feel the tiniest changes in your body. It’s like your own personal test—it’s a saving grace.
WR: As more cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed throughout Navajo Nation, it caught the attention of national media. Do you think it’s been a fair portrayal of what’s going on there?
AB: The Navajo culture has the clan system—everybody is related to each other in one way or another. Navajo are family oriented. It’s the Navajo Kinship. Part of that system is that if you see somebody, you shake their hand—that’s the formal, polite way to greet somebody. If you don’t shake your hand, it’s considered rude. There’s that part of the clanship and then because of historical traumas, Navajo people help each other out a lot. If a family or somebody is struggling, people will drop food off or stop by with money. We help each other out. Social distance is a tough concept for Navajos because of the clanship. Right now, I’m hearing stories about some elders checking on each other. Somebody’s family member is sick, so they’ll visit that family member, but they’re not supposed to right now. There’s that cultural piece and it’s one part the media isn’t covering. They’re focusing a lot on poverty and that’s only a small part of it.
Also, because of the historical trauma, some people are afraid to go to the hospital because they don’t trust it. There was a time when women were sterilized if they went to the hospital—there’s distrust in the system and the federal government.
We were listening to a podcast the other night with a woman from the Chilchinbeto community who was saying that every Sunday the extended family had dinner together. That’s like 20 people—if there’s one person sick in that group, 20 people will get it.
We’re also seeing a lot of people who don’t have adequate housing. There could be 10 people living in a two-bedroom house. If one person is sick, everybody is going to get sick. It’s a mix of a lot of different things. It’s more complicated.
WR: So what’s the light at the end of the tunnel?
AB: One good thing I’m seeing and what I love about my Navajo people is that despite restrictions they still try to find ways to help each other. People are making masks. We have so many volunteers delivering food boxes. Even though there’s social distance, they’re still trying to work around it and do what they can. And they’re encouraging people to wear masks to protect the elders.
I believe that our Navajo people are survivors. A lot of us are traditionalists and this is really bringing us back to our traditional values, reconnecting with Mother Earth and the teachings.
That’s how our ancestors survived.
How Evolving Traits Helped Humans Survive Unstable World | Live Science
That’s how our ancestors survived. – Bing video