The Absolute Diary- Final Draft

                                                                                                                                 Myron M. Waters

Prof: DeWit

English: 102

March 7, 2014
                                           Don't let Circumstances limit your Potential

    Through this story, the reader learns that you don’t have to let your circumstances limit your potential. He keeps pushing through.

    Arnold also referred to as Junior, started out life with a struggle. He was born with a condition that filled his skull with too much fluid around his brain. This condition also contributed to numerous other physical abnormalities, such as bad vision, ten extra teeth, a lisp, he stuttered, he had seizures, which added to the damaged brain, he was skinny and had big feet. All of these conditions together made a boy with a very reserved and withdrawn life. And living on the reservation, which meant his family was poor, like most of the families on the reservation added to his struggles. Lastly, after having to deal with all that, the kids on the “rez” weren’t  sympathetic to his condition at all. He was a member of the “Black-eye-of -the-Month-Club (3-5). So because of the taunting and monthly fights, which he almost always lost, he usually stayed to himself, in his room, drawing his cartoons, as a way to express himself. His drawings gave him some solace. Living under conditions that can overwhelm you might give you reason to give up. Or you find a way to deal, and not allow yourself to be swallowed in despair. And self-pity. So Junior found that way to deal. That way to live. To “Just do it”. Which is where Rowdy comes in. Rowdy is his best and only friend on the rez. But he is also much more than that. Rowdy was the big brother he never had. And he was Rowdy’s only other sibling.  Rowdy is somewhat of an alter ego for Junior. Things that he would not normally do alone, and surely had no one else to do it with, he could do with Rowdy. He may have been too  reluctant  to challenge himself on his own. But with Rowdy, who would suggest doing things that took him out of his comfort zone, he would dive right in.

    The challenges of living on the rez for Junior, was that all he saw was hopelessness and drowning. Drowning in alcohol. Done by most on the rez. Including his father. And Rowdy’s father, who not only drank to total excess. Drowning. But also was very abusive to Rowdy. Which made Junior an escape for him. They needed each other. They were each other’s escape. Their reason to continue. The pushing of their limits kept the dreams alive.

Within the book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexi the author, writes of many difficult and seemingly insurmountable circumstances Junior finds himself in, but for reasons yet unknown to him, he always finds the strength to overcome them.  

Climbing the “Big Monster” was a critical Ah-ha moment for them. The “Big Monster” was the tallest tree on the rez. The rez’s version of a skyscraper. “It was so tall and green and beautiful”.(224)  So even battling his fears he and Rowdy are off. To conquer another challenge.

     There is more life beyond  the rez,  and being that high over the rez they could even see the beauty of the reservation itself. (225)   Letting them both know, to see it’s beauty you have to rise above. For Junior it meant he would have to leave the rez, though he didn’t know it yet.  The relationship between Junior and Rowdy was one of give and take. They both took shots at each other, but they were also equally supportive. Until Rowdy wasn’t.

    Then it happens. Junior is living his somewhat carefree life and another reality check hits. He goes to school and finds that he is learning  geometry out of the same old book as his mother did some thirty years ago. The realization of everything that has happened in his life to this point had not had the effect that this did. It was more than he could take. He EXPLODED. He was subsequently suspended from school for his actions, and was even more defeated  because he loved school and books.(30) Dealing with his family’s disappointment for throwing the book which hit Mr.P his math teacher, and injuring his nose, bothered him more because he didn’t usually get into trouble, and he had upset his grandmother, whom he loved dearly. Very, very dearly. She was the one who taught him tolerance, the trait he admired most about her.  So  a week into his suspension, Mr. P stops by, and since Indians like to spin lore and like being scared according to Junior, he was sure Mr. P was there to kill him or have him killed. (33) But he wasn’t . He was there to express some personal regrets and confessions. He also wanted to give Junior some words of encouragement.  Mr. P told Junior he understood why he did what he did.  Further into their conversation he reflected on his own ill deeds. Like purposely trying to “kill Indians. Not literally, but he was taught to kill the spirit. We were supposed to make you give up being Indians. Your songs, your stories, your language, and dancing. Everything. We weren’t trying to kill Indian people”. We were supposed to kill the Indian to save the child. He went on to tell Junior he wanted to apologize. He couldn’t apologize to everybody he’d hurt, but he could to Junior. (35) Upon hearing this Junior was furious once again. He wished he had a set of encyclopedia’s to throw at him. He went on to tell Junior how he had also taught his sister and she was ‘aspiring for more than just life on the rez.  He talked with Junior about the dreams of his sister. Of becoming something. Things that made him feel pride and jealousy at the same time. (35) But also how she stifle  those dreams. Junior had already watched his sister retreat from the house to living in the basement. Becoming more and more invisible.

    Mr. P gave Junior a thorough talking to about how his life was supposed to be more than an Indian on a reservation. That he had what it took to do better, be better. He made Junior feel there was more to his life. That he had to leave the rez to find it. He wanted him to find his hope, and he could only find it if he did what he had done so many times before. When he refused to give up while fighting a serious brain condition. When he constantly was getting beat up, even when he beat up himself, and being made fun of. And he was made to think of all the times he overcame his fears and challenges before him. And when he did something about having to learn from a 30yr. old book.  All he needed was to seek his hope. And potential. No matter the challenge. So, welcome to Reardan.

    Junior needed to be near the people who had hope. After Mr. P left, and his parents returned home, he asked, “Who has the most hope?” To which his parents replied, “White people.” (45) Then Junior decided he needed to go where they were, and not the ones on the reservation. They were in as bad or worst shape than he. He wanted to go to school off the reservation. He wanted to go to Reardan, immediately. Like tomorrow. Both parents said yes. Like they knew he had what it took to leave the rez. They were just waiting for him to want it.(46) Even with their blessing, there’s another challenge he’d have to deal with. Getting there.

But like he always did, he kept pushing through, and getting there was only the beginning of his challenges. There was also the other Indians on the reservation, and the hicks and rednecks and racist cops in the town. Then there was Rowdy. He had to convince Rowdy to come to. Which he was unable to do. Now he has lost his emotional and physical security support. And his best friend. But he couldn’t even let that stop him.  So the very next day he walks into the new school in Reardan.

    Going to Reardan brings all the problems that a fourteen year old boy could experience starting at a new school. Being excepted, making new friends,  and trying to learn and fit in to a whole new culture. And remaining true to his own. Life dealt him some terrible blows, like losing his grandmother due to a drunk driver, who he loved so much, and was so proud of him for leaving the rez. Losing Eugene, someone that had given him some acceptance points at the new school, to alcohol.  And finally losing his sister in a fire, drunk off alcohol, which almost sent him over the top. He still refused to give up. And the reality of being poor in a place where nobody else had to deal with that.

    In conclusion, Junior in his fourteen years had faced negative circumstances, obstacles, and fears and always persevered. He always pushed, even when he didn’t know he was pushing, which gave him the courage to continue on, hurdle after hurdle, after hurdle.

HE KEEPS PUSHING THROUGH

                                                    

  

Coaxing Young Readers

Reading "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, is an interesting book to read. It seems to tell a story of a young Indian boy, growing up on a reservation with all the ups and downs of childhood. What it really is, is a story about life and how its a struggle to live it, wherever you're from, Ghetto (reservations), Flat lands (reservations), Suburban (reservations), or Wealthy Gated Community (reservations). They are all places where you have a knowledge of a style of life and only that style of life, and how only knowing one style of life always is limiting to your growth and well-being as a complete individual.

Therefore what I would tell a young readers is, "I have a book you would like and it's about you". It's funny and interesting. I wouldn't use words like "thought provoking", "insightful", or even "helpful". I would tell him/her that I saw them all the way through it. And to see if they could find the part that is talking about them. Being young, it always has to be about them. Lets see if I peaked they're curiosity.

So as I said earlier, it doesn't matter which "reservation" you're from. For example, If you're from the Ghetto reservation, all you know is your friends and family, strife, struggle, difficult times and a constant mindset of hustle just to survive. But you still know, even though everyday looks bad there can more than that available to you "out there in the world".
 
Now for the opposite end of the spectrum:  Example #2.
You could be from the "Wealthy Gated Community reservation".  All you know is the "lifestyle of the rich and famous", fast luxury cars, lavish home, abundant money, and privilege. But as you grow and learn there is a whole other life outside those lavish walls you "hopefully" feel you need to know more about that side of life also (not want to be poor), so as to develop into a well rounded person with empathy, understanding, compassion and kinship with others. To be, all you can be.

Myron

Critiquing the Reading Assignment

Reading the (3) three papers on "The Absolute truth of a Part-time Indian", I decided to write about the first paper.

In reading the paper, a couple of times. I don't think enough information, especially information directly relating to Alexi was given in the paper since there was the continued reference to,        and comparison of struggles he had in his own life. Unless I missed that in the book. There was also references in the paper to other books and characters that we, the reader, had very little knowledge of such as, who is Victor and what is "Smoke Signals"? Later it became slightly clearer as the paper went on, but I feel it would have been better for the reader to have that information when it was brought up. Like when he first mentioned Victor and Thomas and let us know they were characters in his other book. As I said, it did become clear later but in its current place I was wondering who? And what? But that being said, I think Paper #l had good information was written in a way that for the most part had a flow that was easy to follow and most statements, metaphoric and actual were followed by substantiating evidence or examples and a lot of clear references to pages in the book itself.

Now, personally I didn't get the "Stupid Horse" parity to Arnold's life, but in reading how the writer made that comparison it could  be an exceptable one. I think the author mentioned lots of areas that described the story with many examples and did a good job of comparing Arnold's life to anyone's who is dealing with the struggles of growing up in a difficult situation and knowing there could be more to life than what is immediately in front of them. All they have to do is want it bad enough. Having dreams visualized in his drawing wasn't enough. He had to leave. Which was also clearly stated in the paper.

Myron

Senseable Gun Laws

I wonder why is it so hard to get a bipartisan consensus by our elected officials and the population in general on this gun issue that can lead to a "reasonable" gun rights policy, unless it's true, and I don't want to believe it is, that all, or a significant majority of people on the right are gun worshipping fanatics. How can any mature, law abiding (and owning a gun legally is law abiding), reasonable, thoughtful human being be so opposed to fair and reasonable gun safety (and here comes the bad word for most on the right) regulations. I personally own guns, don't want to give them up BUT  I'm 100% behind responsible gun safety and ownership. Nor have I ever heard the President say anything remotely, no matter how you spin it, that he has some hidden agenda to take away the 2nd amendment which states "... the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Now, no law, act of congress or the President, - locking every school house down like Fort Knox, or having "a good guy with a gun" Mr. La P would not have absolutely saved the lives of twenty babies and their teachers . All we can do is "take reasonable" steps to keep people safe, especially our young and most vulnerable. Now, I will easily agree that much more should  be done on the Mental health side of this problem, and lets just say we put a "good guy with a gun" in our schools. How many? One? He/she can only be in one place at a time. So how's three or four? Still, one place at a time and 3-4 live firearms moving around an elementary or middle school yard. A little uncomfortable for me.
But, can't we reasonable people explore other options like:
     1) Requesting toy gun manufactures not make their products so almost identical to the real thing. Do the children really have to have it identical. Can they really tell the difference. They're children!!
     2) How about the color? The show 20/20 did a piece on children playing with guns the happened across in the home and found in public areas. Why does a real firearm, an admittedly dangerous/deadly weapon need to be painted pink like a toy?
     3) Is it to much to ask, are we being totally unreasonable to ask that if you purchase a fire arm legally that you MUST learn how to use it. You don't have to become a marksman. But you must complete X amount of hours of training before you receive it, with a locking device.
One lady called a radio show making the argument as to why she needed a 20 round clip for her "assault rifle. She said "I'm not the best shot and some shots are going to miss" so I guess she should have a one hundred shot clip so 99 things outside of her house could die so one will hit the intended victim. It's to unreasonable to require her to learn to be a better shot.  I don't get it. Where's her responsibility????
Everyone is required by law in every state in this country to pass a drivers test, both written and on-the-road, before they are issued a drivers license, another potentially dangerous/deadly weapon.  WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE.
COME ON PEOPLE, CAN WE TRY TO DO SOMETHING JUST BECAUSE IT THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

Myron M.
myronsnlndr95.blogspot.com
myronsnlndr@hotmail.com

• Reply

Myron Waters
Getting at Obama's State of the Union:

Well. I think he did what I expected him to do. He has very good speech writers and he is quite an elegant and effective orator.
That being said, I personally was hoping for more. More passion, more directness, a more defiant and respectfully "in your face" message. I see the President as someone who had his heart in the right place both times he ran for office but someone who had an uphill battle since day one, for several different reasons. And Race was definitely one. I think he hit on all the areas everybody thought he would, but there wasn't enough details in each area to make the case. If we look at any one of the issues he mentioned, they all have a valid need to be addressed. But, take gun control for example, with all the tragedy that has happened and is happening every day, I think he could have not only mentioned where they happened but why and how they happened, and what "good, bipartisan, common sense", ways to deal with this problem.
Watching the partisan reactions to the speech lets me know that nothing is likely to change until he is gone. Or at the very least until there is a House, Senate and President all under the same party. Which is unfortunately terrible for our country. He is a President, not a King or Dictator. Contrary to what some GOP hate mongers want to characterize him as. Which means the party of "NO" is going to do nothing but obstruct as they have for the last 5 years. He doesn't seem to be a big practitioner of the Executive Order or he would use it more. Even though they can be cancelled or over written by the next president, who's going to have the balls to do it if it's in place and working for millions of people, i.e. the Affordable Care Act, also negatively referred to as "Obama Care" by the GOP.
Finally, as far as the Republican rebuttal goes. I didn't see them all, of which there were four(4), which shows, in my opinion, that they don't speak with one(1) voice even within they're own party, there's fragmentation and disagreement, and we're supposed to follow or believe in them??? The "official" response was also a dish of the same old thing, just toned down. "We have a better plan, a better way", but if they do why haven't they brought those ideas to the table and worked on making things better for the people they claim now they want to help. US, the middle class and even less fortunate. I hope my dissatisfaction with the whole process is coming through LOUD AND CLEAR


http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/obama-income-inequality-100662.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/full-text-of-obamas-2014-state-of-the-union-address/2014/01/28/e0c93358-887f-11e3-a5bd-844629433ba3_story.html

The Native American Indian in Todays Society

When you think about the American Indian today you should think of the first peoples of this
country. I have never and will never understand how you can come to a place, where people live and
have  been living for many hundreds of years and say "I discovered America". But I digress. So after the land was "rediscovered" and some bloody battles were over, the former but "non-existent" owners were banished and driven out to live in the most desolate areas.  The current state of existence for a vast number of  Native American Indians has been relegated to small reservations in several states. Some larger groups were pushed into a few Western States, into a life of pauperism. Though some have managed to carve out a relatively decent lifestyle through coming off the plantations, most have held on to their original culture and practices. With help from the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs), some tribes have been able to negotiate treaties with the U.S. government.

(2000 American Indians' Cultural Network)
 In the contemporary relationship between the federal government and federally chartered tribes, as it has reached the present through a number of historical stages, the United States Congress with its powers to ratify treaties and regulate commerce is the trustee of the special Indian status. The trusteeship involves protection of Indian property; protection of Indian right to self-government; and the provision of services necessary for survival and advancement. In the commission of its trusteeship, Congress has placed the major responsibility for Indian matters in the Department of Interior and its subdivision the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In addition to the central office in Washington D.C., the BIA maintains regional offices in 12 states, mostly in the West, with agencies on particular reservations as well. Many Native Americans have positions in the BIA, but relatively few are at the highest positions.

Nowadays, there exist about 300 federal reservations in the United States, with a total of 52,017,551 acres held in trust by the federal government, the large majority west of the Mississippi. There are also 21 state reservations, most of these in the East. Some reservations are restricted to one tribe, others are jointly held. Some reservation land is owned, rented and occupied by non-Indians. The largest reservation is held by the Navajo tribe. Although the reservations are sovereign nations, the People are also considered U.S. citizens.