Quotes from Ten Little Indians

I always wanted to write. When I was a kid, I was going to write a novel that would be turned into a movie. That hasn't happened...yet. At the different jobs I held over the years, I wrote reports and grant proposals. I analyzed the data and told everyone what it meant. I was more of a technical writer than anything else. I worked at both Los Alamos National Lab and Sandia Labs as a writer/editor and did a lot of Web work. 

Then I discovered blogging and that is what I think I am in part -- a blogger. This led to activism as I started writing about standardized testing, learning, teaching...then along came A.R.T. and the big one -- DAPL. 

Curating the Good Stuff
As I've worked on social media over the last two years, promoting L&LNM, I also became a curator-- someone who finds those who are saying and doing important things and then shares them with others on social media. 

I've been reading Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie. He wrote the collection of stories not long after 911 but I am also seeing the messages the Protectors are sending regarding DAPL...the messages have been there forever. I'm just starting to understand and I apologize for that. 

I want to share with you quotes from Alexie that speak to me and seem to reflect the times. I'm not going to explain why they speak to me because I know I don't have to. 

From Ten Little Indians
"Still, he understood why people were afraid of him, a brown-skinned man with dark hair and eyes. If Norwegian terrorists had exploded the World Trade Center, then blue-eyed blondes would be viewed with more suspicion. Or so he hoped."

"I am a Native American and therefore have ten thousand more reasons to terrorize the U.S. than any of those Taliban jerk-offs, but I have chosen instead to become a civic American citizen, so all of you white folks should be celebrating my kindness and moral decency and awesome ability to forgive!"

"She knew Indians were obsessed with authenticity. Colonized, genocided, exiled, Indians formed their identities by questioning the identities of other Indians. Self-hating, self-doubting, Indians turned their tribes into nationalistic sects. But who could blame us our madness?...We are people exiled by other exiles, by Puritans, Pilgrims, Protestants, and all of those other crazy white people thrown out of a crazier Europe. We who were once indigenous to this land must immigrate into its culture."

"She wasn't supposed to be in college and she wasn't supposed to be as smart as she was and she wasn't supposed to read the books she read and she wasn't supposed to say the things she said. She was too young, too female, and too Indian to be that smart. But I exist, she shouted to the world, and my very existence disproves what my conquerors believe about this world and me, but since my conquerors cannot be contradicted, I must not exist."

"Well, kid, I've got a great idea. Why don't you start making pizzas? Make as many as you can and stack them high. A whole bunch of hungry people will be wandering the streets. Put a sign in the window that says, 'Free Pizza for Rescue Workers!,' and you'll be a hero."
--"I don't think the corporate office will like that."
--"Forget the corporate office."

I could quote Alexie forever but I will stop here. Blue New Mexico skies out there. Appreciate it!