Conversation with Cheryl Sarno

Cheryl is a friend and colleague. This is a vulnerable and open conversation I had with her in October of this year. She has lived for 25 years on the Navajo Dine' Reservation in northern Arizona. We did not have a specific agenda but let the conversation develop organically. It is unedited to further enhance the authenticity and intimacy. She expresses herself so beautifully and with honesty. May you be inspired!

Here are Time Stamps to help find your way into the conversation.

At the beginning - conversation about the difference between conversations and interviews... We also spoke briefly about permaculture and gabions and how they are used on the reservation.
7:00 - Description of how she came to live on the land, it's history, living in a multicultural relationship
13:30 - going 'underground'-destruction of the aquifer by coal mining, drought, underground gardens
16:00 - Trauma, pain...weather extremes....The Mother is forcing us to ground, connect, and care for each other...we've been missing the mark by not listening
23:30 - how trauma creates fragmentation and lack of trust
26:00 - not her place to speak for the community
28:00 - white body privilege - the unspoken language
31:00 - being on the land helped her to slow down...emotional revealing of the heartbreak of the Navajo people, Kit Carson, The Long Walk
33:00 - her first day on the reservation as a teen-ager, meeting her future husband's grandmother, so much love (there's a brief pause as Cheryl answers her door)
37:00 - Trusting this was the way for her...love for the community
40:00 - healing power of the Earth....Listening...Intra-related
51:00 - heart-warming story...her first sighting of the land on a road trip....surprise at how at home she felt....