PROJECTS

Listening Ground addresses the endangered orality of tribal American people in this digital age.  Great care is being given to keep the integrity of the oral tradition transmissions as we archive and preserve these timeless stories and ancient wisdom for future generations.

<> Hama-Ha, Winter Hearth (Audio Podcast)
This inaugural podcast series is set around the winter fire hearth and regenerates winter storytelling time. In tribal American oral traditions there are specific stories and topics only shared during winter, such as Coyote and Raven stories, hunting songs and winter life ways.  Host storyteller, Larry Littlebird, is joined by guest Native elders and storytellers. We envision the Hama-Ha, Winter Hearth podcast becoming a featured radio program with weekly episodes. 

<> Adobe Porch (Audio Podcast) 
This podcast series is the summer seasonal companion to Hama-Ha winter stories. In winter, the stories are quiet, reflective, introspective, then in summer, stories of instruction are shared.  These stories tell how to do the simplest recipe or perform the hardest task. They help the boy or girl become a man or woman. They help us learn how wool is turned into a rug or the clay is formed into a water jar, so that every detail of action, every moment of thought and feeling can be done correctly by the individual and community. During the heat of the day, in the shade of an adobe front porch, host storyteller, Larry Littlebird, is joined by guest Native elders and storytellers. We envision the Adobe Porch podcast becoming a featured radio program with weekly episodes. 

• Native Elders/Storytellers: We have been blessed over the years to work with and know many consecrated tribal American storytellers.  Several of these precious ones have already crossed over.  Many are on our endangered radar. We feel an urgent prompting to capture these story dialogues as Larry Littlebird visits with tribal elders and kin.  

<> Listening Ground Video Series (7 episodes) 
This episodic video series that chronicles a Native American man’s listening journey as he walks about on the land during a time of severe drought and great climate change in his beloved Southwest homelands.  Larry Littlebird, a Pueblo Indian artist and revered master storyteller shares stories, songs and prophecies from his rich tribal American heritage and oral tradition legacy.  Drawing from his multi-faceted background as a wilderness facilitator and experienced hunter-farmer, Littlebird offers a striking point of view as he asks the provocative question:  “What are the benefits and blessings of climate change?”   Read more >>

• It All Begins with Water (Pilot Episode): An evocative, visually rich video features Larry Littlebird, Pueblo Indian storyteller/artist and hunter-farmer, as he shares stories, about climate change and building resilient communities during times of drought. Stories of our kinship to water and our relationships to land.  As we walk with Littlebird about on the land, we get a rare glimpse into simple living rooted in indigenous land wisdom and spiritual principles. 
• The Planting Stick (Episode): Larry Littlebird, a traditional Pueblo Indian farmer, shares stories and songs about his rich Pueblo Indian life ways through the lens of indigenous land wisdom. Littlebird is in his cornfield singing a blessing song for planting corn “the old way”.  As we walk with him on the land, we meet the Plant People, the Bee People, and we discover how the walking stick becomes a planting stick which then transforms into a talking stick.  The long awaited summer rains comes to the dry land. This is a climatic point in the arcing episodic story.

White Corn Woman, Larry Littlebird, acrylic on masonite, 2013

<> Interactive Website
The Listening Ground interactive website will feature recorded Native stories as well as become an online resource for educating people about tribal American people, history, art, culture and place. The website design will be visually evocative with layers of material leading the "listener" through a personal experience in a spiraling motion much like the oral listening process unfolds between storyteller and story listener.  

<> Book and Study Guide
Weaving together Larry Littlebird's work as a master storyteller, gifted artist/painter and writer, the Listening Ground book will draw from the breadth of Littlebird's storywork spanning the past five decades. This exclusive compilation of story, art and poetry with a companion study guide will be used for developing an approach to storytelling based upon tribal American oral traditions and educational concepts. This exceptional book will be a treasure trove for all ages and generations to come.  

<> Collection of Indigenous Stories 
The collection will include: 

1. Ways of Blessing:  Stories that prepare people for rituals and give them the strength for ceremonies.
2. First Things:  Stories told about concerning being new, first things and starting over. Stories about being born and coming into this world. Creation myths, legends of traveling from the second world to this world, the birth of First Man and of Changing Woman.  Stories about how the rivers came to be, what drove mountains up and valley down and how corn arrived on this earth.
3. Explaining Why:  Stories given to explain why Coyote has a bushy tail, why animals cannot talk with people anymore, why skunks and owls are to be avoided.  Questions that cannot be answered are shared. 
4. Saying What Cannot Be Said:  Stories of death and how to prepare for dying. Ancient prophecies of the world dying, ready to be reborn, to move on into the fourth world.  These stories can be very clear and explicit telling exactly what to do to prepare.  Or they can point to what cannot be said directly and leave the important things to silence.

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Listening Ground is supported by story listeners like you! Many of these stories and recordings are generously made available online at no charge. In the spirit of reciprocity and the indigenous way of blessing, we ask you to join us in the practice of "Tsrou-cu-we", which expresses  GIFT in Keresan Pueblo culture.  TO DONATE >>