Paco and Kohl

It was very nice to meet the two Native American students, Paco and Kohl, in my English 102 class. They gave us an amazing presentation and taught us a lot about Native Americans' culture, and shared their own personal experiences with us. Paco was very passionate when he was talking about his stories. One thing I learned from them is to keep an open mind to learn another culture. The real culture is not from the media and books, but from the personal stories and interactions. In order to know one culture, you have to know the people in person and try to observe the culture differences. I like when Kohl explained how generous that Lakota people are, and it makes me to think of my own culture. There is similarities between different cultures. I really enjoyed listening to them, and I learned a lot from them. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is a novel for young adults written by Sherman Alexie who grew up on the Spokane Reservation in Wellpinit, which is the same place with his character, Arnold Spirit, in the novel. The novel tells the story of Arnold, a budding cartoonist who leaves his school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend a white high school. During his young age, he deals with poverty, alcoholism, racism, and death, but his hope, love and the power of positive thinking give him strength to fight, and also light the path to chase his dreams. 

In the book, poverty amongst Native Americans causes many negative outcomes such as low-income, poor education, and increased rates of alcoholism. Arnold tells us "Poverty doesn't give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor." When it comes to being poor, Arnold doesn't say that it makes him a stronger or better person, he views poverty as something incredibly to overcome, and a condition that simply reinforces itself.