Thursday, June 19, 2008

Sherman Alexie Goes to Community College after a morning in Federal Court



I had a very brief direct encounter with Sherman Alexie. I told him I had enjoyed his recent series of columns for the Stranger about the Seattle Sonics. He thanked me and told me he had testified that morning. I wanted to explore this topic further, but circumstances prevented that. He was at the head of a reception cue that I was in the process of joining about a hundred feet further. I started a follow up question of something like "Well how was court?" when I turned around and saw that I was partially holding up an exiting crowd of about 150 of my colleagues and over 300 cloaked graduates following them. Too bad. I would like to have talked further about his morning at the courthouse.

I have always appreciated creative artists when they feel inclined to passionately speak out about turns in life that they can't get on board with. Alexie is using his celebrity to personalize how his personal experience of fan and family man is compromised by corporate greed and outside money. When Howard Schulz, robber baron pusherman of this millennium bought the Seattle Sonics, he bought an important part of the history and tradition of the city. When you let go of a holding like that, you have a responsibility to make sure it goes to a good home, and not one where the Dad says you are moving across the country.

The next morning I read the Seattle PI account of Sherman's day in court and the transcript of his testimony.One of my favorite moments are

Q When you write who do you write for?

A Everybody on the planet, I hope. By and large I am a
literary fiction writer. I depend on about 150,000 hard core
readers.

But you owe it to yourself to download and read the full transcript. The story of how his shift of allegiances between his father's Minneapolis>Los Angeles to his own adolescent choice to support the Sonics instead. And true respect for the level of physical talent in the NBA. Pardon the length of this quote, but Sherman was on fire here:

A Oh, I mean -- Professional athletes are amazing in any
form. But the great thing about basketball is they are
barely wearing any clothes, they play in their underwear, so
you can see their muscles, you can see their size, you can
see their ability. I mean, LeBron James who is probably the
best player in the world is six foot eight, 260 pounds. He
can jump four feet off the ground. When we look at history,
when we look at mythology, when we talk about Hercules, when
we talk about Athena, when we talk about these gods what we
are talking about is physical accomplishment. So when I look
at a LeBron James I look at current mythology, I look at the
way in which a 100 years from now people will be talking
about LeBron James the way we talk about Hercules.

THE COURT: Mr. Alexie, I can't get a record on you.

Q. You have to slow down.

Major American writer waxing philosphically in a Federal Court comparing pop culture with mythology? This just doesn't happen every day.

Nor does a college graduation often get the opportunity for a real life American artist speaking passionately about what he thinks is one of the greatest things--community colleges.

I didn't take notes, but I am very glad the Columbian's Howard Buck, who has covered the highs and lows of Clark College captured Sherman's comments about his thoughts on three groups of community college graduates.

“I got all emotional,” Alexie explained after his introduction, which included a scene from his film, “Smoke Signals.” “I’m the son of a woman who got her A.A. degree at age 46. My father got his GED at 32. When I look out at you, I see my Mom and Dad, sort of.

“I’m so touched to be here with you, to celebrate all your reinventions,” he said.

Alexie gave shout-outs to three particular subsets of the cap-and-gown crowd:

  • To single parents, after years of corralling children and cramming in studies: “Madness, madness! And now you’re here! Congratulations.”

  • To first-in-the-family graduates: “You are revolutionaries! And you’ve changed your families, forever.”

  • To those who’ve stumbled or overcome chronic cluelessness: “I’m sure your parents and brothers or sisters are sitting there, thinking, “ ‘Can you believe we’re here?’ I honor your reinvention.”



I've made my living in a variety of roles at Clark College for most of the past two decades and I found Sherman's remarks excellent and moving. It is so great to hear someone you admire acknowledge that you are in a good place doing good work.

It was difficult to take pictures or notes at graduation due to robes. Plus I had a bottle of water and a camera both hanging under a bunch of fabric and at one point I got one or both of the cords caught up in my hood. So I kind of missed out on this opportunity to capture the attendance of Al Bauer and Tom Koenninger. These are the statesmen and elders of our community who have been the ambassadors for education in our region. Bauer's volume and quality of educational legislation for the state, not just for his 49th district and adjacent environs. Also great are accomplishments for alumni and Columbian editor emeritus Koenninger, who served as chair of the Washington State Board of Higher Education. This shot will have to suffice. I had my flash forced off by default and missed a better shot of the both of them reasonably in the frame. It didn't make it any less a nice evening for the class of 2008.
posted by well-executed buffet at 8:19 PM
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