Reflections on Flight

Prior to starting our latest novel in class, Sherman Alexie's Flight, we did a group project to learn about the history of Native Americans and the United States. My group was responsible for Pine Ridge, the American Indian Movement, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Although I was gone for the first day of research, and thus not assigned one of the major parts, I was able to learn a lot about all three through proof reading my classmate's work.

After a week of preparation, we presented to our class. I was horrified at how Natives were treated. I knew that they had been treated poorly, but some of the things the US has done to them are horrible. Our presentations were almost all about how awful the Natives were treated. The novel focused on how both sides did horrible things. This surprised me because I expected Alexie, a Native, to focus more on the horrible things the US did rather than on the horrible things the Natives did, but instead he focused on how both sides were wrong.

Learning about the back story of things such as the Ghost Dance and the Battle of Little Bighorn helped in my understanding of the story and some key aspects of it.

The Last Christmas Tree

Yesterday our family did what we've done every year since before I was born: we went tree hunting. About 3 miles from our house there is a small tree farm selling all sorts of Christmas trees. We always seem to get a balsam fir tree, which is a short needle tree with strong branches perfectly suited to hold ornaments. While we were wandering the ranks of trees at the farm, I suddenly realized that this was probably the last time I would ever cut down a Christmas tree with my family. Instead of making me sad I felt happy, which really surprised me. I thought back to the years we would have to wade through thigh deep snow to get to the trees, and the years there was no snow at all. I remembered the year we had to buy our tree from a sketchy-looking man in a parking lot on December 23rd. Looking back on those memories made me feel happy to have spent such great times with my family.