Well, I'm back.

[gement]

I'm back home now, with piles of loot and small heaps of other people's business cards. And again, I walk into the library, but now I feel like I know what's going on, which is cool.

By the way, I don't know if any of his books are this funny, but Sherman Alexie is a hysterical public speaker. Really, really gut-rollingly funny. He spoke for an hour, with the twin running gags of his own Spokane Indian heritage (he's Catholic, and says an animal has never talked back to him) and his librarian fetish ("I've dreamed of this moment... except in that dream all of you were naked.")

He would descend into seriousness very suddenly, because his childhood had a good chunk of reservation education horror in it, and then skim right back up to the surface. It was pretty incredible.

I just had to transcribe the funniest bit. Each of these statements were separated by a very long pause for us to stop laughing:

"So, that hospital is where I developed my fascination with the medical profession, with the idea of saving people's lives, and with white pantyhose. In fact, I'm still fascinated with those.

"In fact, I'm wearing a pair right now.

"And a loincloth. (He's behind a large podium.)

"And my nipples are pierced with dreamcatchers.

"But I'm not going to pull a Janet Jackson here. Well, actually I am. In a moment, Luis (the male president of the PLA) will stand up and rip off half of my shirt.

"And then we will get married. (This laugh punctuated by cheering.)

"I'm sorry, Nancy (Luis' wife). I'm sure you understand."

Comments

[capnexposition.livejournal.com]

He is so farking funny. I love Sherman Alexie. He gave a speech at the UW graduation last spring that I hear was super-funny. I hope they can make him come back for my graduation...

[adularia.livejournal.com]

It was. He told the story of how he became a writer.

It involves dissecting corpses. It gets funnier from there.