First-Year Reading Experience – 2005
Events
August 27, 4:00 pm, University Theater - Convocation.
Copies
of Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven will be given away.
September 16, 1:00-5:00 pm, Theta Rho Room, Mansfield Library - Symposium:
Teaching Sherman Alexie's Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.
A symposium intended for those teaching and integrating the book at the high
school or college level. Sponsored by the Department of Native American Studies,
Mansfield Library, and the Office of the Provost.
October 20, 2:00-4:30 pm, University Theatre - “Native American
Identity & the Works of Sherman Alexie.”
Panel of Native
American current and former students.
October 17, 7:00 pm, University Theatre - Viewing of Smoke Signals (FREE ADMISSION!).
The film, based on the short story "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix,
Arizona" from Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. From
the New York Times review, June 26, 1998:
Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) are Coeur d'Alene Indians living in Idaho, characters drawn by Sherman Alexie from his sharply etched, mordant book of stories, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven." Lighter and less bittersweet on screen, and adapted by Mr. Alexie into a splendid screenplay, these tales describe a contemporary American Indian culture coming to terms with its past in offbeat, unexpected ways. These range from casual asides about George Armstrong Custer to the patter of the reservation's radio station, where "It's a good day to be indigenous!" is a way to greet the morning.
Thomas and Victor are opposites, with their fates linked by a calamity from the cradle. Thomas was an infant when his parents, who had been drinking heavily, were killed in a fire; it was Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), Victor's father, who saved him. The boys have been rivals and opposites ever since. Victor is the bigger and sterner of the two, with Thomas as his screwball sidekick. It is Victor, for instance, who accuses Thomas of having gotten his ideas of Indian behavior from too many viewings of "Dances With Wolves" and advises him to quit grinning, start scowling and toughen up...
Here is a first feature from Chris Eyre, a 28-year-old Cheyenne-Arapaho filmmaker, that has an American Indian cast and outlook. And it needs no dispensation for novelty: it stands beautifully on its own merits. Mr. Eyre presents an inviting, affectionate and witty look at contemporary Indian lives.
October 24, 7:00 pm, Montana Theatre - Chris Eyre.
Director of Smoke Signals, the film based on a short story from Lone
Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven. Visit Chris Eyre's website here.
TBA -- Adam Beach, star of Smoke Signals
More events and details coming soon!
Contact the First-Year Experience Committee
Webpages: Samantha Hines, Social Sciences and Outreach Librarian
Last updated: 20 Sept. 2005