End of the year but not the end of the adventure.

By Sky Vasquez

At 5:30 am I was reading an article featuring actress Laura Dern who was promoting her latest movie. The writer was asking questions related to the character she was playing but the subject of the conversation turned to Laura's father, Academy Award winning actor, Bruce Dern. He recently expressed to her that he was "'doing his favorite work' at the age of 79 years old." This sentiment inspired me to write this long overdue post as we go into the new year. I truly feel this is a great time in my life, even though I may be at an age where most people think 'you are too old'.

Today is the last day of 2014 and I am looking back on my year and noticing how far I have come. For starters, I now live on the other side of the United States. I moved my entire existence (most importantly, me & my son) from Washington, DC to Portland, OR. Cleared out & sold a lot of stuff, packed what we couldn't live without, and shipped our lives 3000 miles away from a place I have felt familiar and safe in. During this whole process, I didn't really FEEL how big this change was until a couple of weeks ago. 

This fearless leap into the unknown to a place where the town motto is "Keep Portland Weird" has finally caught up with me. I didn't really know the city and I didn't have any family or friends here. It made me realize this change was really bigger then I expected.  My positive thoughts and the few people I knew along with others I was introduced too, got me looking at this city in a sunnier light (yes, that was a reference to the amount of cloudy days here).

Along with the move, this year found me opening up artistically more then I could have possibly imagined. I have been artistic my entire life. My talent continues to grow through education and experience but I have always kept that part of me very closed off. I never shared it, unless you were in my immediate family or I felt comfortable enough with you to share (which was very rare). For the longest time, I wouldn't have even dared calling myself an artist.

A year ago, I made a decision to share my talent with the world. It started with telling friends then posting online, showing my work to people who had no idea I had this gift, and even participating in an artist retreat set up by a good friend of mine. My art is now shown and sold at the Cultural Center of my tribe! How amazing is that?  I'm not afraid to say it but THIS WAS HARD! Hard to share a side of myself that I had protected for so many years. The more I open up and share my work, the more I am finding out about myself as an artist.

I still slip back into the comfort zone of anonymity once in a while but then something will inspire me and give me the confidence to try new opportunities. What I am most proud of is that my son knows me as an artist. He shows how proud he is of me by telling everyone he meets "My mom is an Artist."  (He was even trying to get me to be an art teacher at his new school. Haha!) I am setting an example for him and didn't even realize it: "Follow your passion no matter how scared you are." He was watching me through this entire process and he became my biggest cheerleader without me noticing. 

Another opportunity that I have taken advantage of this year, and has become one of the favorite things to look forward to for 2015, has been this blog. A year ago my positive thoughts helped contribute to many things including Brightside of Rez. This blog was inspired by some amazing Native youth I had the pleasure of speaking with. In February of this year, many of these youths spent time with me and showed me the hope they have in their lives. After listening to them, all I wanted to do was feed that hope. From there it became important to me to feed into the hopes of all our tribal people. As I started working on this blog, I was fortunate to work with many optimistic Natives who were brave enough to put themselves out there by sharing memories and stories through writings and videos.  These stories were great representations of what is done to support our Native people. They show that the Native communities we have built are powerful and provide us with what we need to succeed. Whether that be someone to talk to, passing along our culture, providing a place to go to, or even just sharing a smile. I am grateful to be a part of this and to show how positive interactions can really launch a person's life.

So, like Laura Dern's father, I too am doing my favorite work at my age. I am looking forward to what 2015 will bring for me in this new city, my artwork, and Brightside of Rez.  I BELIEVE it will be fantastic.