Sherman Alexie keynote
Lizbeth Wilson starting up (man I like her). Recognition of the scholarship recipients and award given to the Immersion institute faculty (10 year anniversary). Yay!
Note: Immersion alum gathering tomorrow at Capitol Club from 6:30-8! I’ve caught up with a couple of folks already and I’m looking forward to seeing everybody tomorrow (and again this July for Program track). Immersion was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Cerise Oberman talking about the envelope she received from Year 10 Immersion–praise for transformational power of Immersion. She said easy to have idea (presented at 97 LOEX) but difficulty was how to turn it into reality. Got support and funding from ACRL. Major push from steering committee–on Immersion program, Best Practices in IL, and Community partnerships program. Created curriculum that reached beyond and taught educational theory, management, leadership, higher education, etc. Created “elixir” that refreshes all who drink from it.
Sherman Alexie intro: playwright, novelist, poet, filmmaker, etc. Representative of NW talent. Various awards and kudos. Nat’l Book Award The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Ed Note: I still need to read this).
“I love librarian conferences!. . there are 1000s of really hot nearsighted women here. you’re not the demographic that gets [upset] by those objectifying terms [Ed note: snerk!] Those oatmeal sweaters really do it for me. . .Librarians unleashed!”
“People have all these ideas about who we’re supposed to be and how we’re supposed to act.”
In college, talking 2 Nez Perce friends (if you know anything about Native American politics you’d know I was going against thousands of years of tribal politics. . .hammering on [white America]. how horrible Indian Health Service was, etc. White guy comes comes up and goes “yeah I hate this country” Nez perce guy knocked him out, “nobody talks shit about this country but me”
NDNZ very patriotic. Serve in army in massive numbers [quotes stats] People don’t talk about it. Frustrated. Books, etc “never an accurate measure of who we are. First of all, we are Americans”
People always shocked by [PoC] interest in pop culture. As if we grew up in a vacuum. [Ed. note OMG YES!!!} Made people uncomfortable. I like making people uncomfortable. Wrote "An Ode to My Sharona" [quotes from poem] “And that’s Native American literature. Expand your definition a little bit.” B/c he stumbled into fame they had to expand definition (though sometimes they say “That’s just Sherman. The others just live in the mountains”)
Gets to be part of big things. Museum of Tolerance exhibit on American Mosaic (Museum of Tolerance. i always thought that was aiming kind of low). On panel w/ Kareem Abdul Jabar, Maya Angelou, etc. “native ethnic insecurity” kicked in. Am I the best Indian [they could find]?
Asked him to pick someone [a hero]–grandfather who died in WWII (Iwo Jima). Didn’t talk about anything emotional so didn’t discuss grandfather’s death. 6 yrs old when grandfather died and grandmother died of tuberculosis several moths after. Father was war orphan. [talked about springing his father's pain on him]
Librarians can be useful–help us deal with pain we wouldn’t otherwise know how to deal with instead of weeping in the aisles
Rafi, museum researcher, found his father was on same ship with Alexie’s grandfather. turns out grandfather was war hero (12 medals). [Aside: Official guardian of father and his siblings was US gov't "Wow it's not Uncle Sam". Even the smallest bit of research just blows away your preconceptions. I don't believe in magic but I believe in interpreting circumstances to [your benefit?]]
Proud that his grandfather was a war hero. Applied to get medals reissued (waiting list). At same time on Iraq anti-war committee [side riff on Seattle liberals. Dress code on marchs--infringing on freedom of expression. You mean freedom to protest the same thing using the same damn chants form the 60? People attending marches dressed as sea turtles [hee!]
Trying to connect. If we find out we have something in common we’ll love each other, we’ll “tolerate” each other. But what if you find out something disturbing? White liberals looooove Indians and let us get away with some heinous shit. First, the rez is super conservative (pro-war, anti-abortion, etc, no separation of church of state. Wouldn’t let a priest pray here but would let them do a blessing, an invocation. And then there’s that Indian poet. . .)
Grew up with human beings- [string of adjectives] Indians. Complex, contradictory. People get uncomfortable with that
Reads poem about his father
“for me nature s one long hallway between buildings.” [feels like] bad Indian. I don’t think Crazy Horse had to pause and take Zyrtec. People would get so disappointed. “I heard there was going to be an indian here”
Even indians do it to each other. Been so bombarded by negative images they grab onto positive. “We want to be what you see,” If I came out in the regalia and introduced his clan. . .[the way people would look at him *starry eyed*] I wish I could be that. “I hate snow. I hate weather. That’s why I live in Seattlte b/c the weather never f*king changes”
Reads poem on tree and nature in neighbor wendy’s backyard
So Oprah invited him on the show (“And I was thinking book sales book sales book sales”). I knew what they were going to ask “Maybe we could get you in front of a totem pole” Never fails. Coastal Salish had totem Salish; they didn’t. What did they have? “Real trees.” Cousin has totem poles. one day going to do interview in front of one of those. Does kama Sutra w/animals on them. Wnat sto do interview in front of one one day w/bears going at it behind him
You end up having double consciousness, triple consciousness, quadruple consciousness. Self conscious, unconscious. Become ambiguously ethnic. Used to be Upper NW was so white that he had to be black, left-handed, everything. Always on guard and hyper aware of image. So on guard about image that it gets to be so that black people want to ban Tom Sawyer ’cause it has n-word, etc. Librarians trying to rec asking leading questions “So where do you live?” “Down the block.” “So how long have you lived there?” “12,000 years” [Ed note: Ah the what are you without what are you?"]
So Oprah interview: talked about trying to get war medals for grandfather who had been colonized from US government, etc. “Ironic indigenous immigrant” “Don’t want them to represent valor . .I want them to represent little pieces of forgiveness” Listen to yourself. . .you whore (3x) Obama is going to have a heart attack at 50 b/c everybody’s freaking out on him ’cause he’s not the Messiah
Goes to Oprah show during flu epidemic [riff on parenthood and illness. hilarious!] Had flu 3 times in 42 years. People were worried he’d get sick though. [Whenever we try and change ourselves we revert back to our hardwiring. riff on hot yoga and Catholicism] tried all different remedies including sweat lodge. One of the “problems of being an indian celebrity; you always end up in somebody’s sweat lodge. and that’s not a euphemism”
Got flu on plane to Chicago. Just after 9/11 “sweaty, ambiguously ethnic large brown male” going back to bathroom despite seatbelt light being on. freaked out stewardessess. Stayed in Omni hotel, hung out in bathroom thought about “Who am I? What have i become? What will people say about me? What will people say about us?’
Scary–I’m often the first Indian who did that. Distressing and sad that it took this long. “I kicked Stephen Colbert’s ass. A Native American took down a silver-tongued white guy” didn’t have to sign anything. Double consciousness kicked in–this is really revolutionary. On Oprah: this is really revolutionary but I’m dehydrated. Not just famous Indians. Every day ordinary Indians also deal with this–having to be your own individual self and emblematic. {Ed note: Yes, this!!11!] “Hey I know this Indian. DO you know them?” And leaving aside that I usually do, think about what’s involved in that.
Threw up backstage on Oprah (cantaloupe and hadn’t eaten cantaloupe in forever. Cantaloupe transubstantiation [hee!])
Rolled tape, his quote came up. People in audience weeping “like Indian grandma who missed garage sales”. Don’t remember Oprah show. Nothing we remember happens that way. Soldiers came up to give him grandfather’s medals. As native american man, flight reflex kicked in. Half ass salute [hee!]
Gave his father the medals. happy that he had a piece of his father. Gave him a novel or story. librarians can think of handing people paperwork. But handing people their stories, their lives. [Totally killer last line! Oh Sherman, you might manipulate but you do it with truth, like all the best artists. Yes THIS! To all of it. So glad I came to the keynote and stellar job.]
Q&A: It’s good to be an Indian in a position of authority. Sovereign space right now. Maybe I’ll start a casino.
First ?: ? which is better Native American, First nations? We call each other Indian. Some people get mad “I’m Native American” You’ve been to college haven’t you? [hee!} Class thing at work sometimes. Technically should be indigenous or aboriginal but makes me feel like I should be wearinga loincloth (over my pants). When I look at Canada [influence of First Nations] “sometimes I really wish the British had won” which is a long way of saying [shrugs], situational thing [with white people Native America, with each other Indian] He’s Indian, Spokane, Sherman.
2nd ?: Indian Killer-why Seattle? Wife wouldn’t live in Spokane. Also bookish city. Leftist politics–took coming here to find his political tribe–leftist white Seattle.[riff on Stuff White People Like. Hi-larious]. Right amount of animosity-problem with homeless Indians and Indian misleadership.
Film projects-Don’t hold your breath. Has power in book publishing. No political sway for indians in cinema. Possibly an HBO project on Indian basketball team. Johnny Stockton joke [which I will admit I totally did not get] Like HSM [riff on Alburquerque and race relations. also hilarious.]
New book of short stories War Dances, YA novel pushed back, finishing The Magic and Tragic Year of My Broken thumb, novel sequel to Smoke Signals
Write to redress representation? Write interesting stuff. Not sitting down to combat stuff; recipe for boring writing. Problem: Every stereotype is true butindividual people have different relationships with stereotypes. Alcoholism and indians-true for his family [runs down list]. (However, raise your hand audience if you love an alcoholic or drug addict. [hands go up]. But every problem I write about a problem for everybody. Universal theme: crappy fathers. I tell my story and people respond. In the real world I am a political animal but in my art I follow my whim and sometimes my whim gets me in trouble
Time out: It’s flashing red. Why is red bad? Why can’t it be white? [love the nervous chuckling form the audience]
ETA: I’ll come back and clean this up more later if I have time
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