"Don't Say Bosco!" My Interview with a Grown A** Man - Part Two

Life of a Dog on the Rez

I continue my interview with my brother Faron. We talk about covid, becoming grown ass men, language, culture, traditions, and of course powwow. Faron loves to sing and in this episode he shares several songs with us, some that he composed, and some that were given to the Rio Grande Singers. I truly appreciate his gift and his willingness to share. The seven Keres speaking villages of New Mexico are, Santa Ana, Cochiti, Zia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, and Laguna. The Tewa language is spoken by Nambe, Pojoaque, San Illdefonso, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara and Tesuque Pueblos . The Tiwa language is spoken by the Taos, Picuris, Isleta and the Sandia People. The language of Towa is spoken only by the Jemez people and Shiwi-ma is spoken by the Zuni. All these villages make up the 19 Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. The Navajo and Apache nations are also located in New Mexico and have their own language, culture, and traditions. As Faron says, “Language is our identity, its what makes us who we are.”
In previous episodes, I explained who "Bosco" is. I want to give a special shout out to “Bosco”, we never learned his real name but I'm sure his ears are ringing. Know that we truly send you our blessing and thank you for coming into our lives to bring us happiness and joy. Sometimes I imagine "Bosco" being this bad ass, lead singer for a well know drum group, having a voice that is smooth as silk and stays crisp even after his drum has been whistled by 4 different traditional dancers. Shout out and big up’s to you "Bosco", wherever you are. If you have an inspirational "Bosco" in your life and would like to share with the world, you can DM me on Instagram or shoot me an email. I truly believe, everyone has a story, come share it with us. I would love to connect with you and find out if you ever stayed out all night, were caught by your parents, unable to go to sleep and had to chop weeds all the next day.

One more thing, I would like to ask for your help for an upcoming episode I am working on. I’m looking for Rez Dog haiku to share with the world. For those unfamiliar, a haiku is a traditional form of Japanese poetry, that consist of three phrases that contains no more than 17 syllables. The rules of writing a haiku are as follows:

- No more than 17 syllables in the entire poem.

- Haiku is composed of only three lines.

- Every first line of haiku has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables.

An example of a haiku goes like this:

“Standing on three legs,
I mark my territory,
On rez car tires.”

I don’t doubt that you, my wonderful listeners are poets and and don’t event know it.. To find inspiration, just walk around and observe the beauty of the rez! You can DM on Instagram at, lifedogrez.podcast or email me your submissions to [e-mail] They will be used in an upcoming episode and who knows, you might get an incentive for the most creative haiku.

This episode is dedicated to the late Parnell "Bahje" Mali from the village of Tewa, First Mesa. Thank you brother for the opportunity to get to know you. The Rio Grande Singers will never forget you, and your love and dedication to the language, culture and traditions of the Hopi people. You are truly missed by all! Rest in peace brother, until we meet again!