This week Carleton welcomes the extraordinary Sherman Alexie to campus, and students are excited! Alexie is an author, poet, and screenwriter whose stories of the Native American experience have been incredibly influential. See what students have to say about the impact of his work on them.
“I was first exposed to Sherman Alexie’s work in eighth grade with his Sundance-winning film, Smoke Signals, based on a short story from his book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven. The humor of the movie was eagerly adopted into the rotary list of inside jokes used by my friends and me, and to this day I can’t meet anyone named Victor without hearing Thomas’s nasal, sing-song refrain of ‘Hey, Victor!’ in my head.” -Sam Braslow
“When I found out Sherman Alexie was visiting Carleton I was so thrilled. I have been wanting to see him for years and it seems as though I’ve been cursed, narrowly missing him on a number of occasions. I’ve been reading Alexie since late middle school, when I picked up his 2007 book, Flight. I was immediately drawn in by his ability to portray young people, use humor, and present complex issues all while keeping his prose very accessible. Since then, I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on, from interviews to short stories. I bet I’ve read his The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian five times or more. The way that book specifically deals with intense emotional pain while still being absolutely hilarious and relatable has always impressed me. Most recently, his short story collection, Blasphemy, from 2013 is full of captivating, powerful short stories and is very versatile. He continues to keep his readers engaged while never breaking from his style.” -Morgan Tuff
“Sherman Alexie’s Reservation Blues will make you question whether to laugh or to cry. I was too intimidated to read it for three years, but I shouldn’t have been—it’s one of the most engaging and genuine books I’ve ever read.” -Ellen Currier
“In high school we read ‘What You Pawn I Will Redeem,’ and it was one of those stories that stays with you for years, not only because it was heartfelt and moving, but because of the unique structure of the piece: it takes place over the course of 24 hours, and it is time-stamped (i.e., vignettes split up by specific times on the clock). One of my comps stories is time-stamped like this, and it was inspired by ‘What You Pawn I Will Redeem,’ so one third of my comps exists thanks to Sherman Alexie.” -Jill Poskanzer
“I heard Alexie speak when I was in high school and he was hilarious. He told very serious stories in a way that made people understand the severity of the issues at hand and he raised awareness but he did it in a way that wasn’t about pity or guilt.” -Camille Coonrod
“I worked with middle-schoolers reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian and the students just really loved it and connected with it. I think it helped them better understand some of their own experiences as members of non-dominant groups.” -Sonja Dangler
“I read his novel Reservation Blues in high school and thought it was fantastic. It was my first real exposure to the genre of magical realism, and the narrative style was by turns heartbreaking, hilarious, and full of whimsical wonder. I also watched Smoke Signals, the film he helped create from his stories, with my family and loved it as well. I got the “John Wayne’s Teeth” song stuck in my head and it became an instant family classic. Despite living not far from a Blackfeet Reservation all my life, and having an uncle by marriage of the Kootenai tribe (who, incidentally, recommended the film to us) Alexie’s works were the most instrumental of all things for me in considering the modern Native American experience. -Malina Workman
“I was the hostess at the Queen Anne Café in Seattle where Alexie would always sit at the bar by himself. He knew what he wanted and there was no charm or conversation to be had.” -Ingrid Lyons
“I had read a lot of Alexie’s short stories in The New Yorker but I think I first really noticed him when he was on The New Yorker Fiction Podcast where he was reading a short story by Jessamyn West and he just had a really wonderful voice, and his sense of humor and thoughtfulness really struck me.” -Zoe Borden
“I heard Alexie speak when I was in middle school and he’s one of the few speakers I remember to this day.” -John Reynolds
“My love for Sherman Alexie comes from my best friend, who knows everything about his life and tells me things like, ‘he once tweeted about his irrational fear that one of his sons would marry a woman named Alexis Sherman.’ Knowing these things, combined with feeling that he’s talking to me every time I read his writing, makes me feel that I am very close with him.” -Anna Donnella
“I’m taking a class on Native American religious freedom currently and Sherman Alexie’s writing that I read in middle and high school still shapes how I think about the issues of Native American religious freedom and expression. His writing is so humorous while really addressing real issues. It’s raw.” -Emily Buckner