CONTENTS:

WHO IS SHERMAN ALEXIE?
HYPERTEXTS
THE BLUES
STORIES THAT MAKE THE WORLD
TRICKSTERS AND INDIAN HUMOR
SPOKANE CULTURE

Who are the Spokane Indians?
Where do the Spokane Live?
Spokane Oral Tradition
Spokane Language
Coyote and Humorous American Indian Art
Spokane Indian Reservation
Spokane Medicine
Spokane History
Resources

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WHO IS SHERMAN ALEXIE?

Sherman Alexie is from a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian family. Visit "the official Sherman Alexie site" for biography, texts, and a comprehensive series of resources on Alexie and his work. For an introduction to Alexie's politics and activism, read this news article about his visit to the University of Washington. For general information, check out this list of Online resources by or about Sherman Alexie.

Click here for reviews of Alexie's work:

• First Indian on the Moon
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
• For reviews of his poetry, and for more extensive background and commentary, visit the Modern American Poetry site.

1. Sherman Alexie, "Inside Dachau" (poem)
2. Sherman Alexie, "Defending Walt Whitman," (poem)
3. Sherman Alexie, "At the Trial of Hamlet, Chicago, 1994" (poem)
4. Sherman Alexie and Russell Banks on Heros and Villains
5. Sherman Alexie on Love, hunger, money . . . and other not-so-facetious reasons why the Spokane Indians want to bet on casinos in the online edition of the High Country News

For information on the form and tropes of the Blues see this week's handout.

You may also want to listen to these American Indian blues & music clips from Honor the Earth:

1. SHERMAN ALEXIE / JIM BOYD (Small World 450K)- Jim Boyd, a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State, is a singer/songwriter with three self-released recordings - Reservation Bound, Unity and Reservation Blues (a collaboration with Sherman Alexie). He owns his own music production company, Thunderwolf Productions, and is currently preparing to record a new album, First Come, Last Served, to be released in 1997.
2. Click on any of the following artists for more music clips by Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice, Frank Hyde and Mike Jones, Indigenous, Keithe Secola, and John Trudell. See the Honor the Earth for additional music and for biographies of the artists
3. For more American Indian music clips see the Across the Canyon Vol. 1 Web Page 

Rodney Frey's Homepage (Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of Idaho)

Stories that Make the World

TRICKSTERS AND INDIAN HUMOR

Tricksters:

Here are some trickster homepages and stories:

1. Raven Homepage (Northwest)
2. Innu Mythology (Canada)
3. How the Buffalo Were Released on Earth (Coyote)
4. Coyote and the Monster of Kamiah (Nez Perce)
5. Trickster at the Crossroads: West Africa's God of Messages, Sex, and Deceit (West African)

Humor:

SPOKANE CULTURE

Who are the Spokane Indians?

The above link is to homepage of the Spokane tribe of Indians. It includes Tribal history, pictures from the past, legal information, and much more. For more information, you should also visit this comprehensive site on Spokane history and culture, including information of language, literature, and poetry, For statistics see this page put together by Laura on background information on the Spokane tribe. Also see the page of Resources on the Spokane created by Magne Kristiansen of the Wellpinit School District. and includes Questions and Answers about the Spokane Tribe.

Where do the Spokane Live?

The Spokane Reservation is located on the right edge of this map. 

Spokane Oral Tradition

This page is a link to David Wynecoop's page on Spokane Myths and Legends and other Northwestern Oral Tradition. It includes links to a number of Coyote Stories. You might want to compare the style and content of these stories to "Children of the Sun" a history of the Spokane Indians by David C. Wynecoop (Spokane)

Coyote and Humorous American Indian Art

This is a page put together by Laura with links to American Indian art containing humor, tricksters, and coyote. You may also click here for a link to Native American Artists.

Spokane Indian Reservation

This is a page put together for tourists on the attractions of the Spokane Indian reservation. You might want to compare it to pages put together by American Indian tribes themselves (for example the Pinoleville Indian Reservation).

You might want to compare this page to the one put together by members of the Spokane Indian Tribe.

Spokane Medicine

This is the web page for the Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations (Spokane Tribes of Washington, Colville, Kalispel, Nez Perce, Kootenai, and Coeur d'Alene Tribes of Idaho).

Spokane History

Visit this site for links to historical and cultural readings, historical documents, maps and picture.

Resources

This page includes a bibliography of resources on the Spokane Tribe put together by Magne Kristiansen of the Wellpinit School District.

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