Ricardo Cate, Kewa (Santo Domingo)

Ricardo Cate' grew up with his grandparents on the Santo Domingo Reservation during assimilation. It is traditionally known as Santo Domingo Pueblo (the Spanish explorers gave it that name), then some activists changed it to "Kewa", which is its indigenous name.

Ricardo got his sense of humor from his dad, uncles, and his brothers and their relentless teasing and joking around. He started drawing cartoons with his best friend David in 7th grade. They were the only ones that understood the humor in their cartoons and realized that what they were creating was unique. They read every MAD magazine that came out and wished that they could draw like Don Martin.

Today Ricardo's cartoons are featured in daily newspapers such as The Santa Fe New Mexican. People from his community/tribe really enjoy his cartoons and they always "get it", while their non-Native counterparts have a hard time understanding some of them. He has since learned to make the jokes more universal.