October 24, 2024: Indigenous Feather-Keeping and Healing Practices with Coahuiltecan Elder Masauki and Guest Elder Milo Colton
On October 24th, 2024, Coahuiltecan Indigenous Elder Masauki Zepeda visited our campus and brought healing to our classroom setting with the help of birds and their feathers. He was joined by Elder Milo Colton, and Sam Martinez assisted with the Drum. Masauki led the class through a guided meditation intended to promote personal healing where he used an Eagle whistle to summon our Bird Relatives to meet us along this journey.
Masauki is a feather-keeper and artisan who works with feathers to create prayer fans, which he then uses in โfeather-paintingโ which is the practice of removing negative energies with the use of healing properties of bird feathers. Milo shared some cultural wisdom on the significance of birds to the Cherokee and many other tribes. We appreciate our Elders sharing their gifts with UBP and we all left the session feeling lighter as some of the burdens had been removed from our hearts, minds, and spirits.
(Photo credits: Kenneth Walker)
September 26 – 28, 2024: Rafaรฉl Rueda-Hernรกndez, Mexican Ornithologist, Xalapa
We were honored to host Dr. Rafรกel Rueda-Hernรกndez, editor of the Journal of Field Ornithology. He gave a talk on “Bird Migration Through a Neotropical Lense: Current Challenges and Opportunities,” wherein students and community members gained more insight into ethical practices by working and publishing alongside ornithologists and community members outside of the United States and Canada.
That Friday morning, Dr. Rueda-Hernรกndez led us on a bird walk at Brackenridge Park in San Antonio where we saw hummingbirds, northern cardinals, white-eyed vireos, and much more. Gathering in community alongside one another was a powerful reminder that our walks are sacred and the spaces we enter as humans with our more-than-human relatives flourish beyond what we can imagine.
On Saturday, we joined Dr. Rueda-Hernรกndez in CalAllen, Corpus Christi, Texas for Hawk Watch where we interacted with other birders and community members. We learned about owls, raptors, and so much more. It was a festive time to spend with others outdoors gazing at the sky. It was a memorable time that can only be prefaced with “You should have been there!” The best thing about the entire visit is that we made new friends along the way.
September 12, 2024: Alberto Lobato, Creator, Crรณnicas de Chivizcoyo
What a joy to welcome Alberto Lobato into the UBP class space. Visitors were able to join via Zoom and attend a Q&A session immediately following Lobato’s talk. Lobato joined us from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and spoke to us about creating stories and the entanglements of storytelling. Three questions Lobato asks himself before any project are:
- For whom am I doing this project?
- What do I want to communicate and how?
- Can I do this for a living?
Lobato’s ethics and moral imperative create a space to share with others, in real life, outside the echo chamber of social media. Through the medium of storytelling, he is able to reassess bird stories that have been with us for generations. His questions are especially helpful as we continue to explore ethical research and response-ability in community.
We heard about many birds including the endangered Sierra Madre Sparrow, Sumichrast’s Wren, and Rosita’s Bunting, among many others.
Please visit Crรณnicas de Chivizcoyo, Historias de Ave’s YouTube and Facebook where you will find Lobato’s ongoing stories. The Crรณnicas is also on Instagram.
May 4, 2024: Yanawawa Earth Dwellers: UBP Scholars Showcase with Special Guest Maria Turvin of Yanawana Herbolarios
The Urban Bird Project closed the 2024 Spring semester with a community event and platica hosted by our community partners Rosie Torres and Maestra Veronica Castillo Salas of Galeria E.V.A. Our talented student scholars presented on research projects which focused on the medicinal and cultural properties of native plants found in the Texas region, Indigenous healing through storytelling and Earth stewardship, microplastics exposure to birds and soil, avian photojournalism, and the Avian Restor(y)ation Digital Repository. Our featured guest Maria Turvin (Mazatl Cihuatl) opened up with a beautiful and healing song and shared some ecological Indigenous wisdom with the group. It was a humbling experience and Maestra Maria reminded us that we are all children of Mother Earth, inter-connected to one another through the living air, water, rocks, plants and other more-than-human kin. The group then moved outdoors to enjoy a delicious meal prepared by Maestra Vernoica, Rosie, and their kitchen crew which consisted of sopes and blue corn tlacoyos.
The Urban Bird Project would like to graciously extend our gratitude to everyone involved in making this semester and end of year 1 a memorable success! It has been such an honor and privilege to work and learn beside each and every one of you! โค๐ฆ๐ผ
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To learn more about Maria Turvin’s work at Yanawana Herbolarios, visit yanawanaherbolarios.org
April 18, 2024: The Ideal Participatory Science Program: Dr. Caren Cooper (NC State University)
This April, we welcomed Dr. Caren Cooper from NC State to discuss best practices for researchers leading participatory science research. Dr. Cooper led us in a workshop, sharing lessons learned from the IDEAL (Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, Large-Scale) Participatory Sciences program. How can we design for equity, inclusion, accessibility in participatory projects? How can we analyze our positionality to minimize biases and prepare strategies to create multicultural projects? We worked together in small groups to explore our own positionalities and to look at positionality tools from all aspectsโeven the potential negatives. We were able to know each other on a deeper level and some of us even wrote a haiku to commemorate the occasion. Thank you so much to Dr. Cooper who learned right along with us and to everyone who helped organize this event.
To learn more about Caren’s work, visit her website carencooper.com
March 21-22, 2024: Relational Rootings & Radical Futuring Together: Dr. Adela Licona (Art of Change Agency) and Dr. Jamie Lee (University of Arizona)
Our world(s) are vibrant and hopeful because of our esteemed guests, Dr. Adela Licona and Dr. Jamie Lee. It was a refreshing visit where we co(labor)ed with one another to imagine a shared future. Drs. Licona and Lee led with an invitation to entwine ourselves with poetry. Then, we were rooted in relationality, learning about their various projects that are community-engaged, participatory, ongoing, and life-giving. We ended the first day by gathering in groups to manifest a radical coalitional future. We spent our second day gathered in and with the community at Galeria E.V.A. to continue dreaming with one another. The workshop ended with a dinner handmade with love and intention by Maestra Veronica Salas Castillo. We are change(d)!
March 1 & 2, 2024: Steps Toward Kinship: Dr. Priscilla Solis-Ybarra, Associate Professor of English at the University of North Texas & Artist-Scholar Paula Gaetano-Adi
In early March, we welcomed Dr. Priscilla Solis-Ybarra, Associate Professor of English at the University of North Texas, for two incredible Urban Bird Project eventsโa workshop with UBP scholars about โSteps Toward Kinship: Developing your EcoGenealogyโ and a plรกtica led by Dr. Ybarra with artist-scholar Paula Gaetano-Adi on โGuanaquerx: The First Robot to Cross the Andes.โ During the workshop, Dr. Ybarra led scholars through a research and writing workshop that helped us often develop hidden and marginalized eco-genealogies, and the incredible plรกtica offered a stunning example of a community-engaged animal-technological praxis with robotic performance art, local histories, and pluriversal futures. Our team of scholars was deeply inspired by these engagements, which helped us further our community-based and interdisciplinary research training with communities at UTSA and Yanaguana, Tejas. Mil gracias to Professors Ybarra and Gaetano-Adi for their generosity and abundant grace as we shared stories and learned together.
You can explore some of Professor Ybarraโs work here and Professor Gaetano-Adiโs work here.
December 2, 2023: Urban Bird Project Fall 2023 Student Research Symposium
Students of UTSA’s Urban Bird Project Fall 2023 course Community-Based Research Methods in Environmental Justice presented their research at a Student Symposium, hosted by Galerรญa E.V.A. Presentation topics encompassed varying issues related to restor(y)ation of birds or places prevalent to the Yanaguana region and abroad. Community Indigenous Coahuiltecan Elder Masauki Celso Zepeda performed a blessing ceremony for each of the students who presented and the UBP Team respectfully asked permission to close the circle with an offering and prayer, and openly shared words of gratitude, love, and encouragement amongst each other. The UBP Team appreciates each person involved in making this a successful and joyous semester and we are so very proud of our student scholars. We are excited for their future endeavors and wish them many blessings as they continue on their academic journeys. We’d like to give special thanks to Maestra Veronica Castillo of Galerรญa E.V.A. for hosting the event and providing lunch, and to Beatrice Castro and La Chingona Coffee Co. for supplying coffee and conchas. We also thank the many Students, faculty, community members, and our relatives and Ancestors for making this possible.
November 9-10, 2023: Neotropical Ornithology: Dr. Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza, Universidad Veracruzana
We had an incredible visit with Dr. Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza from the Universidad Veracruzana. His talk, “Neotropical Ornithology: Past, Present, and Way Forward,” highlighted ethical citation practices across disciplines and ornithology in the neotropics. Dr. Inzunza’s class talk was followed by a bird walk at Brackenridge Park, where we spotted Eastern Phoebes, Kingfishers, Caracaras, and much more. Our walk led us to the Japanese Tea Gardens where we continued through rich San Antonio history. The afternoon ended with a sobremesa at a local deli with soups, sandwiches, plรกtica and cafecito. We wish Dr. Inzunza a safe trip home and many more years of (story)birding!
November 2, 2023: Mobile Practices for Holistic Connections: Rosie Torres (Choreographer) and Ceiba ili (Educator and Musician-Activist)
We welcomed community artists Rosie Torres and Ceiba ili to the classroom for special movement work to express alternative and art-based methodologies. Rosie opened with an impactful talk about her purpose in movement and dance. When she found her calling as a movement artist, she never looked back as a water protector. The students were given leading roles as participants, witnesses, and weavers. With Ceiba on the flute, students made their way from the classroom to the outside space on the grounds of UTSA. The purpose of this transition was to flow with the elements as participants simulated bird movements and wind movements as elements in complete relation to one another. Connecting with the four directions and the earth, students were reminded of their instincts and how those instincts are valid in research. We are grateful to Rosie and Ceiba who made our Thursday afternoon a beautiful and inspiring experience.
October 26-28, 2023: Peace and Dignity Journeys: Josรฉ Malvido (Xicano, Yoeme, & Tohono O’odham).
The Urban Bird Project welcomed Josรฉ Malvido, Xicano, Yoeme, and Tohono O’odham, Ph.D. Student from the University of Arizona. Josรฉ shared his journey from the mining hometown of Ajo, Arizona, to his commitment to the Peace and Dignity Journeys. His talk on the pre-hispanic origins of the migration of humans and birds was refreshing, given our recent talks on the subject. Josรฉ’s commitment to these journeys was inspiring and inviting as he detailed his run and the complexities of running through borders as the team runs across North and South America. He generously gave a community platicรก around coordinating the run. He shared space in the classroom and within our local community. We are grateful for Josรฉ’s presence and are sending great energy his way as he completes his program. Gracias, Josรฉ!
Vanessa Quesada is our local run coordinator. She explains how the run began here: “How did Peace and Dignity Journeys Start?”
October 21-23, 2023:
Arte Plumario Kozamalotl – Ruben Flores and Gaston Aguilar
It was a great honor to welcome Ruben Flores and Gaston Aguilar of Arte Plumario Kozamalotl from Morelos, Mexico, to the UBP classroom, followed by a community plรกtica at Galeria E.V.A., one of our community partners. Ruben and Gaston shared stories about reviving the pre-conquest art of creating artworks with bird feathers, which the incredible Cihuatlatohki Laura Yohualtlahuiz Rios-Ramirez translated. They both demonstrated a breathtaking art piece with the brilliance and iridescence that only hummingbird feathers could offer. A group favorite was an art piece that showcased a woman making corn tortillas in a traditional style. All facets of the piece, including the shading on the face, were made with the featherwork technique. Flores and Aguilar explained techniques such as application and gave a history of featherwork before and after the Spanish conquest. The event’s culmination was a sobremesa beautifully assembled by Veronica Castillo, Rosie Torres, El Seรฑor Beto, and all the wonderful people at Galeria E.V.A. We are honored to have shared space with such impactful people. Their energies continue to radiate the UBP.
Follow Arte Plumario Kozamalotl on Facebook or Instagram.
October 5, 2023: Brackenridge Park Guest Panel with Alisea Garlock, Gary Perez, and Greg Harman
We welcomed Alesia Garlock (Community Defender), Gary Perez (Lipan Apache), and Greg Harman (Co-Editor, Deceleration News*) to the Urban Bird Project class on October 5, 2023. The panelists urged the public to “sound the alarm on the city’s development project for Brackenridge Park with an invitation to prayer and a call to tell the world.” The panelists expressed their deeply personal, cultural, and Indigenous investments in Brackenridge Park, one of the oldest parks in San Antonio, Texas, that is now threatened in the name of progress and expansion. The park has served as a cultural site for many people of San Antonio who have camped in the park in the days leading up to Easter for over 70 years. Students asked questions about how to become involved with the preservation of Brackenridge Park and its ecology, to which the panelists invited students to be vocal on social media, seeing the value in social action via online networks. Further reading: The Paisano (Independent Student Publication for the UTSA Community) write-up: “Brackenridge Park Guest Panel Addresses Environmental and Cultural Setbacks” by Naydine De La Fuente, Staff Writer, October 10, 2023.
*Deceleration News is produced by Co-Editors Marisol Cortez, Ph.D. and Greg Harman.
Spring Equinox – A Todo Dar Productions
The following is from the founders of A Todo Dar Productions, Virginia Grise & Maricella Infante.
“… There are only two moments in the year when the Sun is exactly above the equator and day and night are of equal lengthโthe Spring and Fall Equinox. When we began celebrating the Spring Equinox during the pandemic part of our intention was to create ways for us to connect, to name and nurture our communities across geographic spaces. We asked folks from all over the country and folks in Mexico to celebrate Spring with us. People from across the country took the time to acknowledge Spring in their own way and sent offerings of poems and pictures and paintings and letters and handmade books, seeds to plant and nurture and audio files and videos of running water, the river, the oceanโreminding us that we are not alone, reminding us that we walk this camino together despite our distance.
As we enter a new season, I want to share with you our video of our last in person celebration of the Spring Equinox. A culmination of Un Taller for Dreaming, a 6 week performance lab we understood this gathering as a Performance in Three Acts: Land Acknowledgements, A Sobremesa (shared meal prepared by the taller cohort and Veronica Castillo), and Offerings to the River. We sang songs to the river with Karla Kopalli and the next day Chas Jewett (Lakota) and Priscilla Ybarra led a water ceremony, the Urban Bird Project led a bird walk and Entre Palmas (Mincho Jacob and Alba Sereno) made us a meal from organic maiz and Spring vegetables. And folks who could not attend sent offerings of poems, writing, and reflection.
Thank you for participating in this on-going project of connection and celebration, for being in community with us. Gracias. -vgrise”
September 7, 2023: Dr. Amanda Tachine
We were honored to host Dr. Amanda Tachine (Dine‘) to speak to our Community-Based Research Methods course. Dr. Tachine is Navajo from Ganado, Arizona. She is Nรกneeshtโรฉzhรญ Tรกchiiโnii (Zuni Red Running into Water) born for Tลโรญzรญ ลรกnรญ (Many Goats). She is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership & Innovation at Arizona State University. Amandaโs research explores the relationship between systemic and structural histories of settler colonialism and the ongoing erasure of Indigenous presence and belonging in college settings using qualitative Indigenous methodologies.
She is the author of the award-winning book, Native Presence and Sovereignty in College: Sustaining Indigenous Weapons to Defeat Systemic Monsters and co-editor (alongside Z Nicolazzo) of Weaving an Otherwise: In-relations Methodological Practice.
During her vist, she shared her personal story of her own scholarly growth and held a student workshop at the Downtown campus for the UTSA Graduate students and PhD candidates in the program, where they explored epistemological and methodological approaches to conducting research within local Indigenous communities. We are very grateful for her visit and the knowledge she shared during her presentation.
August 31, 2023: Masauki Celso Zepeda & Special Guests
The ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ (UBP) invited Coahuiltecan Elder Masauki Celso Zepeda with special guest Linda Ximenes of Tap-Pilam, to the UTSA main campus Thursday August 31st. Mr. Zepeda shared his traditional knowledge as a feather keeper and ceremonial fan artisan. He discussed the cultural significance of each bird feather, as well as the different colors, designs, patterns and materials he uses in his craft. Students were led through a prayer drum ceremony as the elders walked around the classroom and shared the medicine and healing of the bird feathers as an offering.
August 24, 2023: Opening Ceremony with Native American Inter-Tribal Group & Danza Azteca de Yanaguana
The ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ (UBP) at UTSA, funded by the Mellon Foundation, successfully began a new Fall 2023 academic team-taught course called ๐ช๐ค๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐-๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ & ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ค๐๐ข๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ where students will train to work in transdisciplinary and community-engaged research that centers Indigenous, Black, & Chicanx praxis in the borderlands.
This week on Day 1, university students enrolled in the course got to meet the Principle Investigators, staff member, and PhD candidates involved in running the project.
Day 2 began with a Land Acknowledgement followed by an Opening Blessing Ceremony provided by the Native American Inter-Tribal Group de Tejas and Danza Azteca de Yanaguana , to respectfully ask permission to begin a new academic year and enter into the space which the institution is built upon.
We look forward to a fruitful semester with our students and are eager to see their growth as scholars!
Stay tuned for more updates throughout the year!
July 16, 2023: Latino Conservation Week “Agua es Vida; Water is Life”
Sana sana, Yanaguana. The Urban Bird Project partnered with Latino Outdoors, San Antonio River Authority, and Books in the Barrio for Latino Conservation Week in San Antonio, TX “Agua es Vida; Water is Life,” which highlighted the importance of protecting our oceans, rivers, and creeks at Confluence Park.
Rosie Torres, indigenous dancer and choreographer performed a bilingual reading of the book We Are Water Protectors, written by award-winning Ojibwe author Carole Lindstrom. Ms. Torresย began the program by leading children and their families through a dynamic Land Acknowledgement filled with movement, song, and a call to the four directions. The reading was followed by a water ritual at the banks of the river and a nature walk led by the Urban Bird Project (UBP). UBP members guided children and their families on the proper way to use binoculars and drew attention to the birds and the incredible biodiversity the River supports. Throughout the nature walk, the guides shared water and bird stories rooted in Indigenous wisdom. The goal of this program was to highlight the idea that by protecting our waters, we are protecting life. Registered families received a FREE copy of the book We Are Water Protectors and were invited to share aguas frescas and turtle-shaped conchas.
Water is our most sacred natural resource, and we hope this program will help connect children to nature and encourage them to become defenders of plants, wildlife, and our rivers and creeks these species depend on.
July 11-27, 2023 :ย Galerรญa E.V.A. “Playing & Learning” Summer Camp
During July, the Urban Bird Project is joining Galerรญa E.V.A. for their “Playing & Learning” Summer Camp with fun filled bird activities including guided birdwalks and bird art watercolor painting along the Confluence Park trail. The UBP team introduced proper binocular use and birding basics. As we walk, we share culturally significant stories of commonly seen species in the area while connecting ancestral knowledge specific to the Yanaguana region. Students are being taught how to ID birds and are learning about the ecological significance of water, animal, and land Relatives. Connecting youth to cultural identity through community and nature engagement has shown to have a positive effect on well-being. UBP is honored to partnerย Galerรญa E.V.A. for this cause.