Part-Timers

It is difficult to remember a time when I held more contempt for someone than I have the past month for the professor of my July graduate school course.

There have been rivals, for sure. The superintendent and school board president in Nebraska who tried to rid themselves of me because their daughters received the wrong post-season basketball awards, for instance. Or the school board in Nora Springs for giving away my basketball job here. An ex-girl/friend, for a time. These have all been high on the list, but I've always been able to convince myself that there are some redeeming qualities to these individuals, despite their actions towards me. I have not, however, been able to attribute any positive attributes to my professor. I have convinced myself (with great help from her actions all month) that she is pure evil, perhaps even the devil incarnate.

I am wrong, of course.

I recently got done reading a book called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and this text highlighted why I'm wrong. The book is not "absolutely true"; it's a novel, and one that I really enjoyed. I like Sherman Alexie's writing, and if you've never read anything by him (and don't mind a little PG-13 language), I'd suggest picking up one of his texts. This novel is about a teenage Native American who decides that in order to have any sort of hope in life, he must transfer to a white school off the reservation twenty miles away. This creates an identity crisis: at the school, all anyone sees for a time is the fact that he's Native American; at home on the reservation, all anyone sees is that he is a traitor who has sold out to white America because he is too good for reservation life. Junior, the book's protagonist, is a part-timer: he is not defined completely by his Native American heritage or by his"white" education. He is not full-time anything.

Obviously the book is about Junior and his experiences, but what Alexie does well is continue this "part-time" theme with other characters. None of them are full-timers either. For instance:

• Junior's father is an alcoholic. Alexie is able to portray him as both an alcoholic and a good father. At one point Junior says, “Yep, my daddy was an undependable drunk. But he’d never missed any of my organized games, concerts, plays, or picnics. He may not have loved me perfectly, but he loved me as well as he could” (189). Junior also describes Christmas, when his father takes the only money the family has, leaves on Christmas Eve to go on a drinking binge, and doesn’t return until January 2. When he does return, in the fog of a hangover he gives Junior his last five dollar bill as a Christmas present. Junior’s response displays the situation perfectly: “Drunk for a week, my father must have really wanted to spend those last five dollars. . . He could have spent that five bucks and stayed drunk for another day or two. But he saved it for me. It was a beautiful and ugly thing” (151).
• Alexie also shows how the popular and rich are not perfectly and full-time happy and content. Penelope, one of the most popular girls at Reardon and an object of desire for Junior, is the perfect example. One day Junior discovers the girl is bulimic. She explains to Junior that “everybody thinks her life is perfect because she’s pretty and smart and popular, but that she’s scared all the time, but nobody will let her be scared because she’s pretty and smart and popular” (108).
• Junior is fiercely loyal to his friend Rowdy, despite the fact that Rowdy is almost the exact opposite of Junior. Rowdy is tough and prone to fight and break the law and blow off school. He is unpredictable and merciless in his commentary. But he is also Junior’s protector, so all his rage and violence and questionable behavior often comes in defense of Junior.

An author is doing a pretty good job of writing if they show the drunk as a good father or the rich and beautiful as the vulnerable. It's a rare skill because audiences don't want to believe it. They want other people to fit nicely into one full-time uncomplicated box of either good or evil. Like I want to do with my professor.

It's been said by some of my friends that it takes a certain amount of time to get to know me. My wife calls it being an "acquired taste." The ones who acquire that taste hang around long enough to realize that I'm not a full-time confrontational, brutally honest jerk who seems quite sure of his own opinions. I'm not full-time anything; I'm a part-timer, just like Junior, just like his father, just like everyone else.

Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have to include my professor in that category as well. Perhaps she is only 90% evil.

***Note: This summer I've added a new feature to the blog - my reading list for the year. It can be found in the right-hand margin. If you have any questions or comments about the books I've read, I'd love to hear from you.