Crossing Between Worlds: The Navajos of Canyon de Chelly

Ze-ee-lo-ee is the Navajo name for a grass that grows in Canyon de Chelly, which I learned along with a few other words from Lupita McClanahan. A former park ranger, Lupita and her husband Jon now lead private tours through the Canyon and are included among those profiled in this fine 109-page documentary of the Navajo way of life. That way is a slower way, one that stops to greet the sun rising in the east, and puts in the time to paint in detail with grains of sand or threads in a woven blanket. A photograph of one such portrait is included with dozens of images of people and places in the Canyon. The portrait painted in a carpet is indistinguishable from the man portrayed. The book explains some of the pre-requisites of life within the Navajo Nation, from the border towns of Flagstaff, Arizona and Gallup, New Mexico to the interior. It also details the history of the reservation, establishment of missions and schools in the 1910s, 20s and 30s, and the 1933 livestock reduction program that brought wealth to a few and poverty to many. But it also delves deeply into the Canyon de Chelly microcosm, which is a community and family unto itself. Readers learn of ceremonies, both serious and light-hearted, as they are performed by the people who live here. The Kinaalda, for example, the puberty ceremony for young women, requires them to rise before the dawn on the second of four days and run into the sunlight. By the last day, the women are ushered into womanhood. Of course, there are problems in the Canyon, chief among them the lack of employment opportunities. One of these is provided, of course, by the tourist industry. But that alone cannot absorb enough workers to accommodate a population of more than 150,000. At Tsaile, at the eastern end of the Canyon, Navajo Community College gives young men and women higher education, while promoting them into the world of professionals. But until these youths advance, the book notes, the older generation has been left to "flounder between two worlds." For those who wish to learn the trials and joys of Navajo life, this book is an excellent place to start. Reading it, one comes away with a sense of what it means to "walk in beauty." --Alyssa A. Lappen

The navajo are a mysterious and beautiful people that are in the most honest fashion brought to life by Jeanne Simonelli and her photographer Charles Winters. The beautiful pictures taken of the people of Canyon de Chelly mirror and compliment the beautiful stories they tell and the lives revealed in Simonelli's intimate portrayal of Navajo life. This is a joy to read, and an essential companion in the study of the Navajo, or in any visit to the Navajo Reservation.