LRU Visiting Writers Sherman Alexie

Tonight we went to the Visiting Writers presentation at Lenoir-Rhyne University.  It featured Sherman Alexie, a Native American who is also a writer, poet, movie maker and obviously an exquisite stand-up comedian.  

This was our third trip this year to see a Visiting Writer at LRU in Hickory.  Two of them were in the 230 seat Belk Centrum, one featuring Isabel Wilkerson, and like tonight, the place was also packed with two closed-circuit theaters also filled.  The other one was in the Monroe Auditorium and it was also filled to see Jon Meachum.  

I could recite some of Alexie’s punch lines, but won’t, because he delivers them so beautifully.  He has stories to tell, stories that won’t quit, stories that really can’t even get started good because they take flight and morph into something else.  You sit there wondering what on earth he is talking about, and then suddenly you realize he’s talking about you!  And by then, he’s already on to something else that you probably never thought of until you realize where he is going.  And then he goes some place else.  And the crowd loved it.  And Alexie loved it.  Obviously, I loved it.

The producers asked we not take photographs and that was a shame because there were so MANY wonderful opportunities.  

After his presentation he received questions.  I asked the first one which was about the Native American’s concept of God or Spirit or Energy.  He obviously missed my focus because he clearly interpreted it as being a religious question.  His response was that all tribes had their own concept of god and they were all different and he didn’t want to talk about his own concepts.  The second questioner asked him if he ever had considered “stand-up” comedy  work.  His response to that was excoriating, lengthy and  humorous.  The third, and last questioner asked a question that went on and on, assuming the nature of a statement or two and finally led into a question that I don’t think was ever even asked because Alexie began getting involved in the thing. 

So this season for the Visiting Writers at LRU comes to an end.  It was a great year and next year promises to be even better.  It’s another thing that Hickory does really, really good.