Friday, March 06, 2009

Man without a team ...

... Sherman Alexie: The Lumberjack interview. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I think…on an interpersonal level, I think casinos have done some good. In my area, I’ve seen that there’s a lot more interaction between previously antagonistic folks. You know, non-Indians on the borders of reservations who are often employed by the tribe now. So the casino has come to exist as a cross-cultural meeting ground, which is odd. But leave it to the complicated history of Natives and non-Natives, that this den of iniquity becomes a place of love and compassion.

1 comment:

  1. Alexie advises writers (especially those who aspire to being published writers) to read 1,000 pages for each page a writer would produce: "When you look at great writers, you’re looking at people who are actually better readers. Period. So that’s where you start." The prescriptive advice is admirable but (I would argue) flawed in its implication. Voracious readers do not necessarily become published writers. There are too many other obstacles. Furthermore, Alexie's good advice doesn't explain away all the really bad writing that gets published every year (and--in many cases--soars to the top of the best-seller lists). In any event, thanks for the link to the Alexia interview. Now, I'm off to ponder the construction site for our area's forthcoming Native American casino, and it is there that I'll try to figure out whether or not Alexie is correct about how the casino is somehow actually going to be a cultural improvement for Native Americans, invasive Americans, or anyone else for that matter.

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