With a comedic tone and reflective perspective, Diné and Hopi comedian and motivational speaker James Junes delivered the Native American Heritage Month Keynote Nov. 13 in the Lory Student Center’s Never No Summer Ballroom.

Drawing from his heritage, Junes brings humor and healing together in his “humor-healing” approach, in which he connected his own experiences and journey to initiate critical discussions on substance abuse and domestic violence on Native reservations. 

Before his two-decadelong standup career, including time spent as one half of James & Ernie Comedy, Junes grew up in Kirtland, New Mexico. Junes lost his father in 1971 shortly after his return from Vietnam.

“When I was a teenager, when I found out about this, it really tore me up because I always had the mentality like, ‘Man, I’m going to grow up without a dad,’” Junes said. “’I’m going to grow up with somebody not saying, “Shí awéé.”‘ That means ‘my baby.’”

“My heart matches the scars around my stomach, but my spirit is the one that they have adopted, healed. I finally figured out what my elders were talking about after I had to learn it the hard way, and I don’t want you guys to learn it the hard way. … Don’t let the temptation veer you off course. Don’t let the mindset of the past harm your future. Don’t let the things that’s going to face you dictate how you’re going to face life.” -James Junes, Diné and Hopi comedian and motivational speaker

Junes said in his teenage years, he turned toward alcohol, noting that he “started binge drinking, going to parties (and) being the fool.” 

In 1989, Junes enlisted in the U.S. Navy with the hope of uprooting himself.

“(I) had no idea what I was getting into, but all I knew was what the recruiter promised me … in hopes that I’m going to find something,” Junes said. “See, we all hope that we’re going to find something. We’re going to find it, rather than work for it, work toward it.”

Junes’ former struggles with alcohol returned during his enlistment, forcing him to confront a difficult decision. 

“I got in so much trouble in the Navy that I was given a choice,” Junes said. “It’s either you can continue in the Navy and you can get a dishonorable discharge, or you can take this and get an honorable discharge. So I only did three years.” 

Junes came to later confront his battle with alcohol head-on after he returned to New Mexico and realized he was the only one who could change his own reality.

“July 17 of 1996, I said, ‘I’m going to stop drinking,’” Junes said. “I didn’t know what was going to become of it. All I knew is if I took these right steps, I had to really dig deep and go back to what my elders were talking about. I wanted to do something better for myself.”

After a period of self-reflection and continued sobriety, Junes recalled a talent people often commented on during his youth.

“Everybody — when I was a kid to when I was in high school to when I was in the Navy — everybody always told me, ‘James, you’re funny,’” Junes said. “‘You ought to do something with that.'”

Junes then began his stand-up career, first beginning with five-minute segments. This journey morphed into a full-time career of 24 years, all while continuing his sobriety journey of 28 years.

Junes instilled in the crowd the importance of his first step.

“I knew that there was something that in order for me to do it, I have to take the first step towards it,” Junes said. “So you’re sitting there right now. You’ve got homework, you got this, you got that — everything that involves college life. But there’s these challenges that are awaiting you. There’s always going to be a math problem, always going to be the next problem.”

Junes, in 2012, received a call from Lucasfilm, and he spoke directly with “Star Wars” creator George Lucas.

“The Navajo Nation museum reached out to me, and he said, ‘James, we’re translating Episode Four into the Navajo language, and we want to know if you want to play the part for Han Solo, and if you accept, we have George Lucas on the line,’” Junes said. 

Junes voiced the famous smuggler, a project he recalled fondly as “the most highlighted thing that I’ll ever do in my life, and it was for language preservation.”

In 2018, after a successful career, 25 years of marriage, raising four children and purchasing a home, Junes faced his next challenge in life.

“Everything’s going good, 2018 happened — all of a sudden, I was on the road,” Junes said. “Blood started to come out. (I) went in, got checked, found out that there was a growth in my colon.”

After Junes received a diagnosis of colon cancer, a successful operation removed the growth. However, the cancer returned in 2023, now on the opposite side of his sigmoid colon.

“There’s going to be a punch (in life), and I hope you never have to face that punch,” Junes said. “That punch that will jab you in your jaw, that will drop you to your knees, and then there’s going to be that one punch that will knock you on your back. This one knocked me out like that.”

A six-hour surgery successfully removed the second growth, but Junes was left with an ostomy bag, which was later removed, and the need for another surgery to repair six hernias caused by prior operations.

Through every challenge, Junes said he never stopped pushing forward, both remembering his past and looking into the future. 

“My heart matches the scars around my stomach, but my spirit is the one that they have adopted, healed,” Junes said. “I finally figured out what my elders were talking about after I had to learn it the hard way, and I don’t want you guys to learn it the hard way. … Don’t let the temptation veer you off course. Don’t let the mindset of the past harm your future. Don’t let the things that’s going to face you dictate how you’re going to face life.”

This message resonated with audience members, such as Jessica Holmes, a senior in business administration.

“You’re the only one in control (of) your own destiny, and … despite any hardship you go through, as long as you try your best, … you’re coming out on top,” Holmes said. 

Others said they were touched by the speech, including Ashton Barbone, the RamEvents liaison for the Native American Cultural Center and the planner of the keynote. 

“You need to understand sometimes when you come through hard things, like, you deal with difficult things in life, you feel like you want to give up, but that’s not an option, and that’s never been an option for Native Americans,” Barbone said. “We never had the luxury of giving up. We always had to persevere and stay resilient.”

At the conclusion of his presentation, Junes recited a prayer to the audience, first in Navajo and then English.

“May you be blessed financially, mentally, physically, spiritually,” Junes said. “One day, you’re going to have kids. May you have the right things to say to them. May you not face these things with fear but face them with perseverance. Face them with the good things in life — the things that you were taught that brought us here together, that one day that you will succeed. You will find yourself to be that great person that you are.”

Reach Katie Fisher at life@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.