JILL MOMADAY
ACTRESS, SEGMENT REPORTER FOR COLORVISION

Q: How did you first get involved in Colorvision?

A: I first heard about this guy, Marc Johnson, from a friend of mine who is a photographer. She said, "There is this guy that I know, putting together this really interesting sounding program. He's the producer of it and he's looking for different hosts for the program. And she said, "You would be perfect, Jill, so I gave him your phone number."

I didn't hear, of course, for several weeks. I thought, oh well, he's not going to call and this isn't happening. And then he did call! We had this great conversation and he gave me some ideas of what he was doing with the program. We hit it off over the phone and had a lot of fun talking to each other. He called me back a couple of times and then we decided to meet. And so, that's how I got pulled in.

Q: Have you ever hosted before?

A: I have hosted different shows for the Institute of American Indian Art. I've also been involved in a couple of documentary-type pieces. But never something like this, where I am actually hosting a piece.

Q: What kinds of segments did you host?

A: I did two segments. The first segment was in Seattle. It was on the naturalization process. It was sort of ironic for me to see all of this, you know, growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and being Native American. The ceremony had all sorts of people, Russian people and Asian people and people from all walks of life. It was interesting to see the whole process they go through and what it must mean for them to become Americans.

Q: What was your role in this segment?

A: We followed this one guy who was from Mexico through his day and his preparations. He worked on this great horse farm for these wonderful people. We interviewed him and followed him through his work and through the naturalization process. We talked to him about what it meant for him personally and for his family, who were still back in Mexico.

Q: What about the second segment?

A: The other segment was in Hawaii. I was brought into a Polynesian men's society, which is a closed, small, neighborhood-type thing. These men get together and have this ceremony, if you want to call it that, in this old storefront. It was just fascinating for me. We went out to see these fields of kava plants. We cut the plants and worked with them and met some of the men as they were working their normal daily jobs.

Q: What was the ceremony like?

A: In the evening, the men would get together around this huge wooden bowl in the middle of the floor filled with this murky, cloudy liquid, called kava. A woman comes in to serve the men. She ladles out the kava into the coconut bowls and hands it to them. They sing the most beautiful ancient, traditional, Polynesian songs I have ever heard. Some of them have guitars, others just sing and harmonize. The men take their shoes off and sit on wooden stools that they place around this enormous bowl in the middle. It's a wonderful thing. I mean, I never would have been brought into something like that. It was a great experience for me to sit around in this society of men as they are performing this ancient tradition.

Q: What is the benefit of a program series like Colorvision?

A: I think it's very important to have programs like this, especially for our young people. I think America needs to have an outlet where we can see that the world is truly diverse, that there are a lot of different people here with their colors, their ideas and their ways of life. Traditions and cultures make America really rich. We don't want to
lose that.