Beach Voices: Alumna reflects on her childhood, cultural roots and new role as tribal steward

Puvungna in the Tongva language means "the gathering place." In the stories I heard growing up, it was the place where we, as First People, emerged and where we received instructions from our creator, Chinigchinich, on how to be good human beings.

It is a place of beginning for many people, including myself. My first memories from Cal State Long Beach are the sounds of a ceremonial fire, clapper sticks, drums, rattles and songs mixed in with the smells of sage, sweetgrass, frybread and stew. I can't think of Long Beach State without remembering the People. Some are still here and some have moved on, but all of them shaped who I am today.

Growing up the daughter of a single mother, I was fortunate that my mom, Victoria Aguilera '05, had a community here on campus to teach me about who I was and how to walk in this world. When she could not afford a babysitter, her professors let my mom take me into the classroom and I'd sit in the corner with my books. By the end of the semester, I was learning things right alongside my mom and her peers.

Learning how to make paper, work with clay, and make quillwork were parts of my childhood education. Between professors, staff, students and librarians on campus my mother was able to provide me with a whole community, and an extended Beach Family.

The California American Indian community taught me how to sing with clapper sticks and tell stories about creation. American Indian Studies and Arts faculty and staff became aunts and uncles who taught me how to round dance, bead regalia and make shawls. Students in the American Indian Student Council watched me learn addition and subtraction in the old Student Council Room in FO-4 while my mother worked on her class essays.

The librarians helped me check out 10 versions of Cinderella from around the world, and they encouraged my love of reading. The Long Beach Pow Wow community taught me about our powwow and how important it was for the students to give back to our community through it.

All these lessons I was taught as a child were what allowed me to become a student leader during my time at CSULB. Becoming active in the American Indian Student Council, Chicanx/Latinx Studies Student Association, and in La RAZA (now La FUERZA) was something that felt natural to me. Becoming a student at CSULB allowed my childhood lessons and my knowledge to expand. I gained valuable leadership skills which helped me plan our annual Pow Wow, student conferences, and Café Culturas. The history and culture I learned allowed me to advocate and create change, not only for my own community on campus, but for others as well.

Most of what I gained through my time at The Beach is my ability to care for those who have passed on. As a child, I participated with my mother and other students in the annual Día de Muertos event, which is hosted collaboratively by the American Indian Student Council and La FUERZA (formally La Raza).

It's a celebration to remember loved ones who have passed on which is held during every fall season. This taught me that death was not something to be feared and instead, we should honor and respect our ancestors and departed loved ones and show them respect and care. In other words, we should show our deceased relatives humanity and never forget them.

This lesson above all is what I bring with me in my new role as tribal cultural collections manager for CSULB. My job is to care for ancestors and repatriate them to their tribal communities. Someone once said, "the final death is to be forgotten," and so, with my position, my goal is to show the care and respect, as I was taught, to the ancestors I steward and to ensure that they are not forgotten.

This is a new chapter in my life and my journey here at Long Beach State, but as with all cycles of life, I remember there is always a new beginning. Every year at the powwow, we sing a song to honor the American Indian Student Council that reminds students "although the road is difficult, the people are excited and anxious to see you and what you will accomplish."

When I was a child, I walked behind my mother and her generation of Native and Indigenous students, as they were honored in that powwow arena. As a student and graduate in Class of '20, I stood to be honored by that song with my own generation of Student Council, and now I go back to my beginning and stand behind everyone once more, this time as a support to the current students in my place as alumna and campus staff.

Miztlayolxochitl "Miztla" Aguilera '20 is the tribal cultural collections manager at CSULB. She is of Mexican descent, a member of the Tongva/Gabrielino tribe and of the Ti'at Society.

Beach Voices is an occasional feature that allows members of The Beach community - students, faculty, staff and alumni - to share their firsthand experiences. If you would like to be considered, email submissions labeled "Beach Voices" to  Strategic Communications.

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