Christina McKelvy: 0:14

Well. Topology stories of hope, healing and resilience. I'm Christina. Today we're going to be speaking with Jose from the podcast Finding Arizona. Fighting Arizona is an Arizona based podcast, obviously, that highlights businesses and individuals from this wonderful state. Jose shares about his passion for running and how it connected him with his Hopi culture. Jose talks about valuable lessons that he learned through running, such as resilience and how it helped inspire him to be the best he can be, and how it helped him delve into stories and just his passion for the state of Arizona. So I'm really excited for this episode. I know you will be too. We'll be right back after a very short break.

Christina McKelvy: 1:19

Welcome to Hopology Stories of Hope, healing and Resilience. I'm your host, christina McKelvie. Today we're meeting with Jose from the podcast Finding Arizona. I'm Jose. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you Doing great, thank you. I was just on your podcast and I had a lot of fun, and so thank you so much for returning the favor and being on mine and the little bit that you shared with me about your story of resilience. I'm super excited to dive into that. So let's start off with our audience just telling us a little bit about you.

Jose Acevedo: 1:53

Yeah, absolutely so. I'm half Puerto Rican, half Hopi and the resilience story, I mean it's part of my life and it's integrated on so many levels.

Jose Acevedo: 2:04

So I'll just say that I grew up and was born here in Phoenix, arizona, and then my family moved to Allentown, pennsylvania, and that's where I spent a predominant time growing up, living in this house and kind of. I have a younger brother and just knew only that life, knew only that city life and understood that I am culturally from this tribe, this very, very small, very recluse tribe out in northeast Arizona, and if only ever seen videos and recordings and photos of that tribe I've visited once, when I was six, I want to say, and then another time when I was 10.

Jose Acevedo: 2:57

But really didn't really get it until my mom one day told me we're going to be moving away from my childhood home and moving in on the reservation and moving there until I'm completed with middle school, high school, and that was hard because you see and understand and only know this one life and I was starting to make really, really great friends at that time and what would have been and kind of are lifelong friends that I grew up around and it was difficult to say, hey, I'm going to be moving away forever.

Jose Acevedo: 3:38

And so that was probably the first hardship of my life is just realizing I'm not going to come be living in this city life and moving away from everything that I know and understand and going into this new I would absolutely say this new world, because it's very different out there on that scale and that understanding of culture and diversity is different out there very much so.

Jose Acevedo: 4:06

So it was tough. It was tough in the beginning to. The one story that sticks out is I got into a not a fight, but just in an incident where I got into physical activities with someone the first week out being moved into the reservation and got into it with my mom, told her I didn't want to be there, told her I didn't like living there, and it was a very big, big, big ish fight and from my mom's perspective she probably felt a lot, being that this child that she's had for this many years never really got into incidences, never really was in trouble, now is fighting and now is experiencing this hardship and crying and doing all these things. That's not normal to him. So it was that kind of hardship of my life but also started a new story and a new chapter of who I am growing up as a teenager in this world that I didn't understand, this culture that I didn't understand, and I can kind of get into it more if you feel like I don't know if there's any stories that you want to hear. But it's like, again, moving away was the big real crux of who started this, what I am today. But yeah, I then moved into high school, starting to understand the culture, starting to understand what it's like to be this person, and moved into wanting to be more a part of the group, a part of the society, and realize running was a big part of it. And this lifestyle of like the tribe has a lot of ceremonies and a lot of people who run long distances and that's who they are and a part of who they are.

Jose Acevedo: 6:06

So I took it upon myself like, okay, well, I kind of backed into it. I wanted to do football but I ended up hurting myself and breaking my collarbone. My cousin, who is there helping me recover, is like, hey, why don't you just come run with us? You don't need your shoulder to run, you don't need your shoulder to do that kind of physical activity. So I took a shot and was like, okay, I'll give it more, I'll try it out and give it a shot.

Jose Acevedo: 6:34

And that turned into I like it, let me see if I can actually go into a set of the football team, let me do the cross country team, and so that turned into a thing and it's just really propelled me into the society as a whole, who they are culturally and who they are as a whole, and I was like, oh okay, so this is something. And I stuck out with it and was in track and was in cross country and did a lot of running, so yeah, it was just. And then it propelled me into college. That has been a big, it was a transition, but the resilience at that time from high school and gave me opportunities that I think I wouldn't have had if I didn't have resilience in an early you know, it's all propelled me into who I am today.

Christina McKelvy: 7:32

Yeah, it's interesting. So it sounds like you moved to Pennsylvania from Arizona and then you lived there for some time and then you moved from Pennsylvania back to Arizona, but to the Hopi Reservation.

Jose Acevedo: 7:45

Yeah, and I was like three when I moved from Arizona to Pennsylvania. So I don't really know my child, like you know, you don't really remember those early memories of, like you know, arizona, being living there in an apartment building. I see photos that my dad showed me and my mom showed me that they've had an apartment there. You know, I can kind of backtrack and they show me photos and I'm like, oh, I know where that is now.

Jose Acevedo: 8:13

And like you know, I've been living here in the valley long enough to be like, oh, I know where they lived, used to live. I know certain elements of like who they were as individuals, you know, having two kids and then wanting to move away from that place where they were at to help their kids get better education, want to try something new, be around friends and family. And so, yeah, my dad, being one of five, had, you know, a lot of family and his parents were, like, both one of 10. So they had more family than my mom, who is one of three, and they all predominantly live on that small reservation. And so my dad made the choice, sort of like let's try something else, let's go to the East Coast and let's, you know, try living out there for a while. And my mom was on board and then, come the time that we were moving, she realized A, I want my son to have a college education. I can't do that with where we are right now.

Jose Acevedo: 9:25

But, I know that the tribe can help him if he's in school, though like that that was the main crux was like he has to be educated in our schooling before the tribe can say yes to helping him out with his college education.

Christina McKelvy: 9:40

Okay, so you had to be on a school in the reservation in the Hopi School District, or yeah, okay, yeah and and be there for a certain amount of time, which was all throughout high school.

Jose Acevedo: 9:51

Essentially, you have to be there for the four years so that they can help you out. Also at the time was my grandparents retiring. My grandmother was part of the school education system and she was retiring. My grandfather was writing into some health issues that my mom wanted to be there to help. You know, caretaker help provide some sort of helping hand as well be there while he's going through it.

Jose Acevedo: 10:19

So that was just kind of two really big things that I didn't know and understand at the time. I was a preteen. I was like I love what I'm doing here in Pennsylvania, I don't want to move away from my friends, I don't want to do any of this. So didn't understand the whole story. That was, you know, as I grew up more I was like oh wow, I'm really, I'm really thankful that my mom did what she did, or made the choice that she did, and my both my parents making the choices that they did. So it's. I know it was kind of hard for them to at the time, but I'm right now I'm very thankful and if they are watching and hearing this which I know they are because they follow basically everything that I do and love everything that I do.

Christina McKelvy: 11:04

They're my biggest fans. I love that I appreciate them.

Jose Acevedo: 11:08

Yeah, wholeheartedly, 100%, if I haven't said it already to them.

Christina McKelvy: 11:26

Being able to step back as an adult and objectively look at your childhood, I think can be a healthy thing. That I think it is healthy to do that and you're able to do that, be like, oh, I'm very grateful. Maybe in the at the time it was hard to understand, but now you're like, oh, that makes sense, I'm glad they did that.

Jose Acevedo: 11:45

The thing, that's things that stood out too. It's like you know I'm a father now and you know he's three, he just turned three. And it's just again. It's like you want you start to see, like you start to ask those questions. It's like what do I want, what do I want my son to see the best parts of me, or where? And then you start asking Well, where do they come from?

Jose Acevedo: 12:09

What are the, what are the best parts coming from? And you start to go back and you're like, oh, wow, it comes from my mom and dad, these sort of things that happen in our lives. And so you really start to hone in on, like, oh, you know these moments from a perspective of my end is one way, but from a perspective now, as seeing as a parent of another you know person, you're like, oh, wow, that couldn't have been easy. Thank God they chose that route, or thank goodness they, you know, decided to do this instead of that, you know, because I don't know who I would be if we stayed. I don't know what kind of life we would have had if I had stayed, or you know, whatever it may be.

Jose Acevedo: 12:53

But I really am appreciative that I have more respect and more understanding of my culture where I, you know, come from on that level, not only from my mom's side, but also from my dad's side. Once I started understanding that there's history in culture and there's history coming from one side of the family, it made me pull in and try and understand this other part of who I am, which is my father's side. That sort of came into light when I was like, oh, there's this whole B culture. But what about my other side? What about, you know, my Puerto Rican side?

Jose Acevedo: 13:29

and who I come from on that stock level.

Christina McKelvy: 13:33

Yeah, being able to have the understanding of both. Yeah, exactly, family tree stuff yes, yeah, I love family tree stuff because there's just so many stories in our genes and so I want to delve a little bit more into the running aspect, because you mentioned that that was really where you dwelled into or dived into your culture, the Hopi culture, and learned about it through running. So walk us through that experience, what that was like for you, what you learned from it.

Jose Acevedo: 14:06

Yeah, Absolutely One of the big things that again you start to put yourself into the position of like why are so many people out here running on these dirt roads? Why are there so many trails that lead into different parts of the reservation? All of these little questions that you just go fading away sometimes. Or I started to ask my coach, who's a big part of this whole story. He's one part, a legendary runner. He's been a part of the high school since its opening and he has been the coach of the team since its opening. And he not only is one of the most decorated coaches runners he's gone to school and kind of been a standout runner himself but he's coached other kids who are standout runners as well, like all Americans. And so he is someone who not only has lived a life, experienced a life, but now wants to give back on that level.

Christina McKelvy: 15:22

Yeah.

Jose Acevedo: 15:23

And I come running. You know I'm someone I think he kind of felt for just in the sense of like he knew my story. He kind of knew that I wasn't from the area and my name stands out Jose it's not a common name on the reservation there so he, I think he took it upon himself to just give me some insights and a helping hand here and there when I needed it most. The big element about running is, on the Hopi reservation and in the Hopi culture since the time that they have a story about their emergence, the running aspect providing water to places that aren't water filled, so going from springs that are naturally existing on the land and moving it towards the villages, that's a big aspect that you're looking at. Running and providing it to the families, to the tribe itself, that's a big element. And then running. We are a predominantly village to village kind of living culture and so you know there's only one way that you can get from village to village is with your own two feet, and how do you do that on the fastest format? Running is a big element of that.

Jose Acevedo: 16:42

So I understood that I don't know why on a rudimentary scale from early high school age, and so I find it very I guess I just kind of connected with it and so I wanted to, you know, dive deep into who these rudders are on the team and who these guys are individually. And I really put it upon myself you know I'd said that I had injured myself to really I need to catch up to these guys. I really want to catch up to these guys because these guys are good. They're running times that are, you know, all state times and I, pressed by that, I wanted to be like them.

Jose Acevedo: 17:30

I felt like they were the, you know, the bees knees sort of deal like they are very cool guys, they stand out and they are athletes on a very good scale and so and what's the time running time?

Christina McKelvy: 17:44

We said it's all state. What does that mean For a non sports person?

Jose Acevedo: 17:49

I'm talking. So cost country is 3.5 miles and I want to say they're running sub 20s. Something like that of like times. I can't remember off the top of my head, but where's the I have? I have like a little like shadow box of like clippings from there and I can't look at it. I can't see it right now, but there were. They give the times.

Christina McKelvy: 18:19

I think it was like 19 minutes or something like that, it was fast, it was fast, and they're they're fast guys, little, small, compacted, fast runners.

Jose Acevedo: 18:30

And I was taller like I'm in this photo. I'm taller than my coach, taller than my assistant coach and I'm in I'm a junior in high school and when we won, when I was participating in the state finals. So again, I'm like really striving to push myself to be a part of this team and be, you know, trying to get to their level Along the way. You know I'm a. At the time when I first started I was a big kid. I was, you know, probably somewhere upwards of 200 pounds, 230, something like that, Blossed probably, I want to say somewhere between 80 to 90 ish pounds of weight to drop down to like one, something like 125 at the time.

Christina McKelvy: 19:30

At six you said you were six, two years.

Jose Acevedo: 19:32

I'm six one, six one and and it's just like it's. You know I had a lot of weight on me at this. So that's the physical aspect. But the mental aspect is, you know, when you see runners pass you, that element of like, oh man, I'm not going to make it or I'm not going to end. You're running in heat, you're running in, you know your body hurts and it's just. You know, when you're also a novice, you know you get shin splints, you get your feet are, you know, hurting you and you're like, how do they do this? They're just running past you. That the mental side of wanting to quit, wanting to give up and not feeling like you're going to ever reach the peak of performance, that was probably harder than the physical. For me.

Jose Acevedo: 20:20

And so it was my coach that was like trying to make me understand. It's like these kids have been doing it since they were five. You've just reached the surface. These guys have been running because it's a part of the culture, and who?

Christina McKelvy: 20:33

they are.

Jose Acevedo: 20:34

They've been not only running during school, when they've actually had to do it, but they've been running outside of school. They've been running, you know, mornings. They've been running, you know, for ceremony on the weekends. They've been running all this time that they've not, you know, done other things where it's like you have just reached the surface level of what you're trying to do.

Jose Acevedo: 21:02

So that was a big conversation with my coach at the time of wanting I don't think I can keep up. I cried, I think I teared up. I was like I don't think I can do this. I don't think I'm good enough, I don't know if I can be a part of this team. And he was like no, you can. You just have to give yourself the grace. Help yourself, visualize something better than what you're doing right now.

Jose Acevedo: 21:28

And that's his big element. His visualization is this. Thing that he teaches a lot in these teams is help yourself, visualize winning. Help yourself visualize finishing on the best way that you can, whether that's, you know, a time or something that you won't, a person that you want to beat on another team. It's like you have to visualize the course and visualize you being successful before you can actually even attempt to put yourself on that starting line. So it was really.

Jose Acevedo: 22:02

He was a big part of understanding resilience, and understanding the culture too is like like he is a big part of my life and help me understand a lot about everything on that time that I was there and living on the reservation. So he was again, I say this, but he's also kind of funny. It's funny enough that I have a godfather that, like, you get initiated into the tribe and you gain a godfather and godmother, but he's a part of that family essentially. His wife is my sister, a god sister, and so it, you know, it's only made us closer. It only made us, you know, be a closer to one another. And his story is also a story that I hope I can capture. He's not a big, he's not a big, you know, self promoter sort of person, but he has a very unique story that I'd love to one day get him to record with me and have a conversation about.

Christina McKelvy: 23:06

Yeah, and it sounds like his story inspired you to make that connection to your culture.

Jose Acevedo: 23:14

Yeah, absolutely. You know just the years that he's put into running himself and he's got great stories too where he's like he told I remember him telling me one time he'd run to go visit my god sister, like at the time he'd run from his house to her house, which was like 10 miler I think. So he's like running 10Ks just to go see his sweetheart and it's just like it's so. It's those types of things that make me bond closer with him and just really again see him in a different light.

Christina McKelvy: 23:52

So you mentioned that your coach was really big on visualizing. Visualized something better than you're doing right now Is that. It sounds like a lesson that you can almost take outside of not just running, but anywhere.

Jose Acevedo: 24:20

Anywhere? Yeah, absolutely. So this will lead into leaving the reservation and going into secondary education and being in college. I had always had hopes and dreams of going outside of the state to go to school, but that never happened. I did my best and I actually graduated high school Solilitorium, which is second, not Valovictorian, but it's like.

Jose Acevedo: 24:51

That's still something that's still lit. I was like that's still something. But on top of that, it's like the Valovictorian was my best friend. We always hung out and it just like it wasn't a big thing to me. I was like I'm just glad to graduate and start something new.

Jose Acevedo: 25:07

So he, that visualization realizing that's like my hopes of going outside of the state to go to school weren't coming true. But I got accepted into the state college, asu, and I was like okay, well, they're offering me a full ride, scholarship and to help me with my education. That's not nothing. So I took it upon myself Okay, the dream's not over.

Jose Acevedo: 25:37

It may be looking different, but you are still doing something that not a lot of Hopes get a chance to do. So what are you going to do with it and how are you going to go about this new opportunity and how are you going to continue your life in this kind of? And I had to visualize. I really had to put myself and visualize okay, I'm going to do this, I'm going to graduate, I'm going to work hard and I'm going to keep trying my best to do all these little things along the way as well. And I wouldn't have succeeded because, again, college is not. I'll put this in kind of data format. I think one in four actually go on to the second year, so one in four Hopes. I don't know if it extends to natives in general, but it's very seldom that a native indigenous person will actually go past that first semester, first year. And it's even smaller if you actually go on and get a secondary master's degree, phd.

Jose Acevedo: 27:06

So I'm very happy that I can say to myself that I'm part of that small group of educated indigenous individuals, and so I'm very happy that I got a chance to do so with the help of my tribe and with the help of individuals from that tribe. That will kind of help me pursue certain aspects or help me understand elements of who my people are and what we do. So it's just really nice to know that it all came from visualizing and that visualization came from learning through running and learning through my coach and him teaching me that element.

Christina McKelvy: 27:57

Like you said, the dream's not over, it just looks different. Yeah, exactly.

Jose Acevedo: 28:03

And so it was really again. It's like you see, something that you wanted to. I wanted to be an architect but it switched because you change your degree. So it's like I went from architecture but I didn't know that there existed something called landscape architecture, and so that really pivoted me, because my people are from the land and they really do consider themselves farmers of the land that they inherit and inhabit it.

Jose Acevedo: 28:38

So I really love that pivot and that was really something that again still a dream, still something that I love doing, still something that is kind of where I wanted to be but just looks a little bit different. It has a different element to it and I think it's that resilience to okay, it's not over, it just looks like something else that just really again helped me thrust myself forward into education, into more education, learning more and being someone who's like I'm not afraid to do, want to do more, I want to get a master's degree and, not afraid of who I am, and I can say that that all came from. Okay, I need to visualize how I'm going to go about every aspect of this education process through college.

Christina McKelvy: 29:35

Yeah, so when you visualize it, your brain doesn't always know the difference between what you're coming up with. You know imagination versus reality sometimes, and so it's like it makes it real when you visualize it, and I apologize if I got that wrong, but that's my thoughts.

Jose Acevedo: 29:52

No, you're totally on track of like yeah, your brain really doesn't. It has like this picture. But sometimes the picture can fool you a little bit because you see certain elements but you don't see. You know, let's say, the peripherals. Like you know, this may come up down the. It's like you have to roll with the punches sometimes because that's just, it's closing one door, but you can't be afraid to open the other, the window that comes after you close that door.

Jose Acevedo: 30:23

So I have just been enthralled that I had the opportunity to actually even learn from someone like my coach and him giving me those techniques, because without those techniques I really think I would have gone in a downward spiral.

Jose Acevedo: 30:42

Just because, again, it's like I think running also provides an opportunity of self-resilience.

Jose Acevedo: 30:49

Because you have to be the person that wants to cross the finish line. You have to be the person that tuffs it out on when your feet are hurting, your knees are hurting, your you know your lower back may be hurt, everything may be hurting on you, but you know you have a finish line, a goal that you know you can rest at. It's up to you to want to want to cross that. You have to be the person. You have to be strong-willed, strong of mind to say, hey look, it might be hurting, but I got less than a mile, or I have this much length to go and I know I can do it. I know that I have the strength to do it. So that's definitely some elements that I'd love to just want to keep teaching others about, because I think everyone has it in them. I really do think that there are people who short themselves on that part because whatever it may be in their history or whatever it may be, but you have to, you have to find that in yourself.

Christina McKelvy: 31:53

Yeah, that internal motivation, yeah, and it's running is such a great metaphor. You know, crossing the finish line, having that resilience, having that drive when you think you want to give up, just keep going, pushing forward. So I think running is a great metaphor for what you want to share with others. Did you continue to run in college?

Jose Acevedo: 32:17

So people asked me this and I did on a more personal level, like I would go out and do runs by myself and just kind of keep running, and I still run today. I live near a canal and so that canal allows me to go run trails and be out and do running that way. It's also something that's just kind of stuck like as far as a physical activity that I enjoy doing. It's always there, it's always possible. My knees are still still, still kicking.

Christina McKelvy: 32:52

They they're.

Jose Acevedo: 32:53

They're not too creaky. I'm still able to get out there and do what I need to do. So, yeah, it's just something that I really I love. I love doing it. So I think an element of like has always been there, where it's like it's always going to be a part of your life. It's always. As soon as I found out that it's part of my culture, it kind of clicked in my head and it's like oh, so this is always going to be with me, it's always not going to be a thing and it's not going to go away. I am going to be a continual runner in some sort of fashion. But also in my head I'm like I also kind of want to give this down to not only my son, but I have nephews, that I want to share this with them and and and teach them the same things that I was taught, which is that, that visualization, so that they can use it to help them succeed and help them with whatever difficulties that may come across them.

Christina McKelvy: 33:51

And what would he say?

Jose Acevedo: 33:53

that is the biggest lesson or benefit you've learned from being able to practice a visualization and the biggest, I guess the biggest thing or the biggest benefit I mean again, I think, is the self talk, self motivation in those, in those little hard times too, it's like with those little hiccups in life where maybe you think you messed up, it's like okay, I mean I may have messed up or I may have, you know, made a mistake or may have, you know, not done something Right yeah to have the discipline and the techniques to say, okay, well, how do I correct this?

Jose Acevedo: 34:36

or how do I? You know it's gonna be okay. Where do you find the silver lining? In in the cloud, you know that's, I think, that's the greatest benefit of all, because we all, you all, have struggles in life. We will all have something that comes across our table that will, you know, knock us down. I Think for me, I have always strived to really again have self positive talk or have some kind of that. So trying to find that silver lining that will always be something that I reach for and something that I want to be Educating and advocating for is, like you know, yeah, we're all imperfect, but you can provide yourself with the ability for hope and the ability for something positive.

Christina McKelvy: 35:31

Yeah, that, that discipline, that again it goes back to that internal motivation and I just also love how you know, with your story, that progression of you're moving away to the East Coast, which you know you said you were three but so different from Arizona and then moving back To Northeastern Arizona, which is very different from Phoenix. Yep, you know, on the Hopi reservation and reconnecting to Is it your mom or dad's side? It's my mom's side, your mom's side. You know your Hopi culture through running, a tradition that I'm assuming is probably thousands of years old.

Christina McKelvy: 36:09

Yeah, and it's beautiful how it started. You know water and transferring water and the Hopi culture so rich to with you know a lot of the legends and stories and connecting to that side through running and how you continue to do that, how you find other lessons and aspects to it in your life, not necessarily just physically but even mentally and Emotionally. So I think that's that's amazing. You know just something that a lot of us take for granted. I mean, I don't run, but you know I'm sure there's a lot of people that just take running for granted and don't even think about what it could do.

Jose Acevedo: 36:45

Yeah, it's just. It's incredible that I can look back on on those elements and really see the the through line and string that connects them all, and I'm very thankful for Not only my my coach, but my my parents and my grand, ultimately my grandfather, who has passed To give me insights on those types of things of you know, perseverance, storytelling, culture, and that will allow me to. I Ultimately believe that it'll allow me to progress forward as a good person and a good father and a good individual as a overall whole person.

Christina McKelvy: 37:29

Perseverance and storytelling, and that's what you're doing with your podcast, you know, yeah.

Jose Acevedo: 37:34

It's kind of bled through on on so many levels. It's just one of those things. It's like, yeah, they're running, help me learn about culture and and the culture it led to storytelling, and those stories Ultimately led me to believe that Every story has a meaning and and every person has a story to tell. So now I get a chance To listen, which is what my grandfather really Wanted me to do from the get-go anyways. He always kind of made he, he and I had this relationship of like pal but also Poke fun of my pals sort of deal, and that's the culture as a whole. You laugh at the pain and you laugh at the at the hard times, because you know that's just the type of people they are. It's like the hardships are hard but you you can find the silver lining and learn to laugh at that and and find humor and things. But he would like to say that I wasn't a good listener.

Christina McKelvy: 38:34

I Was your grandfather, my grandfather, yeah yeah, and he was.

Jose Acevedo: 38:43

You know I can. It's like you know you, I really wish at the time I could have. Sometimes I look back I'm like I really wish I had a better Relationship, but also I think it's kind of beautiful that I've taken everything that he thought was not a part of my vernacular and have made it a part of my vernacular and strive to want him to be Looking at me as like good job son and good job Sonny, and I really do appreciate that. He vocalized certain aspects of who he was and who he, what he believed in, and I really want to push that Forward so that my grand you know my grandson and my you know future kids and whatever family that comes out of my son.

Jose Acevedo: 39:35

I want them to realize that, like they have this history and they have something of a legacy On all scales, like not only just hit their culture, but you know, dad, grandpa, dad did something that he really wanted you to learn from, and and that's what the every story that we've collected with this podcast is Hopefully telling them is like look you, there are all these different elements, there are all these different individuals stories, and you can learn from every single one of them, whether that's Good, bad or in between. Please just listen to them because they are important. They they have a chance to talk to you in a meaningful way that you know may not have been the same for me, but it's different for you, and I hope that it Hopefully propels you to be a better person yeah, all those stories, and hearing just also that the stories come from Arizona.

Jose Acevedo: 40:44

Yeah, that's.

Jose Acevedo: 40:45

I think that's a really great aspect that I sometimes, like people, say it's like, have you painted yourself in a corner?

Jose Acevedo: 40:52

Like not really, because you know Arizona's ongoing change in its, you know melting pot will continue to keep moving forward and keep moving in different directions that I will never like. There's so much that I haven't captured and so much more that I need to go out, and because we've we've dealt with a lot of the valley I haven't even touched most of you know the outside towns and cities that have so many unique stories on themselves, that have heard from other elements of podcasting, books, magazines, you know other cultural writings. So I think that that is something that I I never, I never would consider myself, like you know, painting myself in a corner, because every there's so much more here in just a single state and then all different other states. I encourage others to go learn about their own history of state, where they come from, family and whatever it may be that you know you're interested in or you know have questions about. Do your own in education and dive right into it, because you'll find something that really stands out on so many scales.

Christina McKelvy: 42:13

It's very grounding.

Jose Acevedo: 42:16

It's also very grounded, Like you know there's one part, there's the high. We could. We could sit here and say you know, you'll learn elements of yourself and be haul, like you know this high education, ivory tower sort of situate, but also at the same time you're learning this grounding like elements there's. There's definitely something about it where it's like you can even say that it's a circle of life that like it'll just kind of spiral back into one another. It's like these old stories help speak to these new stories and back and forward again. And I don't know it's. It's beautiful to me because I can see it with my own eyes and ears and I want.

Jose Acevedo: 43:09

I can see it, but I can't explain. I can't really explain it cause I'm almost like rooted, yeah, you have to. You have to partake yourself Like you really do, have to allow yourself and open yourself up to it, and I feel like a lot of podcasters do. I feel like there's a lot of podcasters who really get it, and you're one of them. This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and who you are, and that you'll learn from my episode with you. It's like you have this element of like your story that you're bringing into your podcast and you will definitely share the elements based on these other stories, but they all connect into this really beautiful tree of life that will really show off. You know the grounded roots and also the high beautiful. You know stories that are the leaves and, yeah, everything in between. So I rarely I rarely do I ever find a podcaster who doesn't get that element.

Christina McKelvy: 44:14

Well, thank you, jose, and it's, it's. It is fun just to hear the different stories of individuals and perspectives and you know, storytelling is a part of the Hopi culture and you know, just, you're doing that.

Jose Acevedo: 44:36

Yeah, I hope my. I hope my grandfather is a little bit proud of me just from that point in perspective, because that's something that I've always wanted to share with him is that I have. I have stories too Like.

Jose Acevedo: 44:49

I wish he was still here, where he I could be like in sharing with this, with him, where it's like, look at the story I captured, like, or look at the thing that I heard about, and you know what do you think about this, and I think he would be very. I think he would be another big fan of mine, like my parents are, where he just like, listens to every episode and is really happy about them, and I think, hopefully he will understand that, even though I may not have been his, you know, what he thought in the beginning is different than what he can see now. So the growth, the growth. Yeah, see the growth. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Or when you're around, coming home, we have dialed, we have earphones in the side.

Christina McKelvy: 45:39

So no hard feelings or anxietyём, but we talk often���قد agua you, thank God you. Third, you appreciate it. They said how they thought you were not killer or weird. You will be like hybrid wane, going back and forth from me and going away and continue of my guess. What brings them hope? What gives them hope?

Jose Acevedo: 46:01

I think we talked about this, but yeah, it's like the stories yeah old, new, they all bring me hope because I can see the silver lining. I can see where it comes from and, being not only the person who's listening, but also wanting to connect with the individual behind it, those stories really do bring me a level of like I not only learned something, I am better from it, but also, wow, look at it's all part connected in some sort of way, whether it's someone doesn't doesn't know who they are or having a difficult time, but they overcame it Like. These are all elements that we can all appreciate and learn from, and so the stories themselves really do provide me hope because, no matter how tragic or how hard it is, I can see the silver lining in my who I am.

Jose Acevedo: 47:07

So I hope that when people listen to me, I can provide something of a positive outlook and provide some sort of hope for them, and that is the best. The best compliment I could get is you know, you provided me hope, Jose, or you, you know, you really do see things in a positive light.

Christina McKelvy: 47:33

Yeah, well, thank you, and thank you Tell our audience where they can find you speaking of sharing stories and podcasting.

Jose Acevedo: 47:43

Absolutely so. I like doing this outro because I'm I've getting better and better at it every day. You can hear every episode of our podcast at finding Arizona podcastcom. If you want to find us through social media, that's under finding Arizona podcast, under all platforms. And if you would like to just send us an email, tell us who you want in next or say congratulations, good job, whatever it may be under the sun, that's finding Arizona podcast at gmailcom, and I hope to hear from all of you. I hope that you guys will become fans of us just as much as I'm a fan of Christina and Hopology podcast now. And kisses, hugs and belly rubs to our four-legged friends.

Christina McKelvy: 48:24

Well, I love that. Kisses, hugs and belly rubs to our four-legged friends.

Jose Acevedo: 48:28

That's my, that's my, bob Barker outro, because I was. I was always a fan of Bob Barker and his spade. I was like how do I make that my own, or how do I, you know, I, I don't know I think I heard it somewhere Back around that's, oh, that's, no, that's that's Bob Ross. So I'm a big fan of Bob's in general so that's. That's the painter Bob Ross.

Christina McKelvy: 48:51

That's right. Oh my goodness.

Jose Acevedo: 48:52

He's my designer, painter, creative person that I look seek to. But when I was thinking about it, I have to find a way to, like you know, close a conversation in a very positive light or end the episode in a positive manner. What's better than our four-legged friends cats, dogs, anything in between? Yeah, we love them.

Christina McKelvy: 49:17

Give them hugs and kisses hugs, kisses and belly rubs to our four-legged friends. Well and there, thank you so much, jose, for being on here and I just am looking forward to continuing to listen, to Finding Arizona and the guests to bring on and the stories you tell. And, yeah, I appreciate it.

Jose Acevedo: 49:37

Thank you, christina, you have a wonderful day.

Christina McKelvy: 49:40

You too. Again, please follow him if you want to learn more about the state of Arizona and the individuals that live here. There are so many great tidbits, such as the dreams are not over, it just may look different. I love that quote. Or visualizing something better than you're doing right now. That was from his coach. These are such great takeaways and things that we could continuously do every day Again. Visualize something better than you're doing right now. Hmm, and the dream is not over, it just looks different. Anyways, you know where to find us on all your podcast streaming stations. If you want to support the show, please click on the Buy Me a Coffee link. I love coffee, so I would really appreciate it, and I will see you in a couple of weeks.