I had the distinct honor of listening to novelist and poet Sherman Alexie last night. First off, I just have to say he is hilarious and a superb public speaker and comedian. Immediately coming out of the speaking, the only thing I could think of, as a writer, was I wish I could be a humorous public speaker like that. I wish I could travel the world as a well published writer, and be able to speak in front of large crowds as care free and humorously as he did. It was wonderful.

So what was it that he talked about that was so thrilling and funny? To my surprise, he did not talk much about his published works. As a writer this was surprising to me because of all the book signings that I’ve been to, the usual format has been a reading, a Q&A session and then the book signing. Instead, he spent the time talking about his childhood and what it was like growing up as a Native American on a reserve in modern day America. There was a lot of humor packed into the talk, but mixed in with the humor was real and powerful emotions.

He talked about how because he was born with ten extra teeth that most humans don’t have, he had to have them pulled, and the dentist believed Native Americans only deserved half the novocaine as whites because they only felt half the pain. But then after a story like that, Alexie would throw in the statement: “I hope I run into him some day so that I can give him a kick to the crotch. I mean a mythological kick to crotch.” When addressing the frustrations from his peers when he left the reserve, his response (in hindsight) is that he is not better than them, but he is better than the expectations society has for Native Americans on reservations.

For the last 20 minutes or so (before he entertained the last question) Alexie went on a rant about homosexuality and all the different ways it is ridiculous for homophobics to be against gays. It was really quite funny. He also addressed transgender issues by talking about how when a male seahorse dies (because male seahorses are the ones that become pregnant) the alpha-female sea horse changes to male so that breeding can continue. His question to the audience was, if God didn’t love transsexual capabilities, then why did he create transsexual seahorses? It was great.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and it inspired me as to what I might do as a writer.

Until next time,

Joe