Transformed Focused Realities

Relentless progression

C. Elyse

Oct 20, 2025

white notebook beside white ceramic mug on brown wooden table — Photo by Susan Weber on Unsplash

Hi Friends:

Because writer’s block isn’t necessarily incremental, this issue includes:

A sip…

After one too few, the muse confused calls for Sherman with a male stripper by the same name…

“Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.” ―Henry Louis Gates Jr.

A shout out…

Besides writing The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian—one of the most frequently banned and challenged books in the US—novelist Sherman Alexie is an

award-winning poet, short story writer, screenwriter, critically acclaimed indie filmmaker, graduate of Washington State University, and owner of this.

An active opponent of censorship and controversial for his rejection of romanticized stereotypes of “Indians,” he is also a well-known supporter of writers of color, children’s right to read, and a founding board member of Longhouse Media, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching filmmaking skills to Native Americans.

Active since 1992, his descriptors include ‘prolific’ because his bibliography contains between 22 and 26 titles, depending on the source. An avid reader who is known to have declined the Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction after being publicly accused of sexual misconduct, he is also an advocate for intellectual freedom, literary equity, and Native American issues.

A sentence…

Prompts inspired by The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian:

“I’ve learned that the worst thing a parent can do is ignore their children.”

“You have to love somebody that much to also hate them that much, too.”

“Why would I want to be in the world if I couldn’t touch the world with all of my senses intact?”

“There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away.”

“Poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you lessons about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.”

“I suddenly understood that if every moment of a book should be taken seriously, then every moment of a life should be taken seriously as well.”

“I didn’t know what to say to her. What do you say to people when they ask how it feels to lose everything? When every planet in your solar system has exploded?”

“When anybody, no matter how old they are, loses a parent, I think it hurts the same as if you were only five years old, you know? I think all of us are always five years old in the presence and absence of our parents.”

“I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,’ I said. ‘By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.”

“I realized that, sure, I was a Spokane Indian. I belonged to that tribe. But I also belonged to the tribe of American immigrants. And to the tribe of basketball players. And to the tribe of bookworms. And the tribe of cartoonists. And the tribe of chronic masturbators. And the tribe of teenage boys. And the tribe of small-town kids. And the tribe of Pacific Northwesterners. And the tribe of tortilla chips-and-salsa lovers. And the tribe of poverty. And the tribe of funeral-goers. And the tribe of beloved sons. And the tribe of boys who really missed their best friends. It was a huge realization. And that’s when I knew that I was going to be okay.”

A snack pairing…

Representing renewal and prosperity, and the first to offer its body as food, salmon has helped humans survive. In honor of this sacrifice, it, along with water, is traditionally the first food served at Spokane and Coeur d’Alene tribal feasts.

A sweet melody…

No specific musical genre is natively tied exclusively to Spokane, but the Jazz Age had a rich influence on its musical history.

A book list…

A few titles featuring a protagonist finding voice despite structural obstacles:

Split, by Swati Avasthi

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell

Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Round House, by Louise Erdrich

The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

If I Ever Get Out of Here, by Eric Gansworth

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes, by Atia Abawi