Visions (2)

Visions (2)


No money for lunch so I rode an elevator to the top of the ONB
Building, highest elevation in Spokane, where I stood at a
window and witnessed 500 years of America:
"Over 1 Billion Illusions Served".

There is so much of this country I love, its supermarkets and
television, the insane demands of the dollar bill in my pocket,
fireworks celebrating the smallest occasions.

I am happy that I can find a cup of coffee 24 hours a day.

But, America, in "my" country, there are no supermarkets and
television is a way of never opening the front door. The fields
here are green and there are no monuments celebrating the invasion
of Christopher Columbus.

Here, I imagine 1492 and 1992 are two snakes entwined, climbing
up the pole some call good medicine, while others name it
progress or Manifest Destiny. Maybe it's economics or an extra
inning baseball game. Maybe it's Cotton Mather and Andrew
Jackson looking for rescue. Maybe it's a small pox blanket
wrapped around our shoulders in the coldest weather.

Then again, who am I to talk? In the local newspaper I read
this morning that my tribe escaped many of the hardships other
Native Americans suffered. By the time the 20th century reached
this far west, the war was over. Crazy Horse was gone and the
Ghost Dancers were only ghosts. Christopher Columbus was 500
years and 3,000 miles away, fresh from a starring role in
the Great American Movie.

I've seen that film at the reservation drive-in. If you look
closely, you can see an Indian leaning against the back wall.
You won't find his name among the end credits; you cannot hear
his voice or his song.

Extras, we're all extras.


Sherman Alexie.......from Old Shirts & New Skins