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What It Means To Be Proud To say that T.J. Warren is proud of his Native American heritage is an understatement. When I first sat down to interview T.J., I wasn’t sure what to expect. He is a medium sized man with dark eyes and long black braided hair. With his hat turned around backwards, T.J. sat with his arms folded as I began the interview. T.J. was born in Red Mesa, Arizona. He was the second to the youngest of five children. His siblings include one brother and three sisters who all got along great and found strength in each other. His parents were most influential in his life. Everything they had in life they built on their own. It was their belief that you had to work hard for what you want out of life. As a child growing up on the reservation, T.J. learned to be adventurous. One winter, he and his brother made a sled and found the biggest hill around. “It was the best snow ever,” T.J. said with a grin. Although he knew he shouldn’t attempt the hill, he did anyway. That hill turned out to be a broken foot for T.J. and a hard lesson learned. T.J. often found himself unwilling to listen to his elders, including his grandparents. They were traditional people with a deep spiritual faith.
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