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Junior had alcoholic parents however, his mother was much more responsible than his father. His father would often miss holidays to go get drunk at the bar and return days later.
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Alexie suffers from Bipolar Disorder which basically makes have intense mood swings.
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Because of Juniors brain damage, he often has seizures.
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Alexi's had an alcoholic father and a sober alcoholic mother. His mother worked multiple jobs to support the family while Alexi's father went binge drinking.
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Sherman Alexie was born on October 7th, 1966 in a sacred heart hospital in Washington, and was raised in an Indian Reservation.
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Alexie was born with hydrocephalus, a condition where his brain creates extra liquids, and when he was 6 months old he had brain surgery that may lead to death or mental disabilities. However, after his surgery he had no side effects.
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MLK leads the civil rights movement from 1954-1968 when he was assassinated. It relates to racism happening during the time of the book.
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President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This act was made to end segregation in public places which relates to the way that the white kids and Indian kids in the book were segregated.
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Neil Armstrong in 1969 was the first man to go to the moon.
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During the 1960's when Junior/Alexie was born, was the Vietnam war.
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In 1978, Israel and Egypt sign the Camp David Accords which was basically a peace treaty.
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Indian Termination and Relocation Policy was signed in 1956 which was when Indians were encouraged to move to urban areas to eradicate the reservations.
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Junior had Hydrocephalus which is a condition where his brain created extra fluids. At school, Junior was teased about it.
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Alexie was on the basketball team for Rez and his new rich white kid school; however, what he mostly excelled in was reading.
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Junior enjoyed reading and playing basketball. He played for JV at Reardan and varsity for Wellpinit.
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Alexie hated school because he was often teased and abused. In the same way, the white nun teachers would also torture him at school.
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Junior was bullied by classmates at Reardan which eventually led him to transfer over to Wellpinit.
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Junior loved to read. Despite all of his daily problems, he could read anything, anywhere. During his middle school time, he read tons and tons of books.
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Alexie was exposed to white people when he moved out of the Rez and made friendships.
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After Junior left Reardan, he had a hard time at his new school; however, ended up dating Penelope, the most popular girl in school. This lead to other friendships.
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He said a quote, which said "If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing" which is him having a new understanding of white kids.
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Junior after making friends with the popular white kids noticed that white kids are not so bad. Take for example, Penelope the most popular girl in school would make Junior feel better and would tell him to not feel ashamed of his financial problems.
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Junior after all his school years realizes how being an Indian actually is not all that bad.
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Alexie has realized that nothing is wrong with being Indian.
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Alexie tried many careers however never really liked any until he started teaching literature, him liking to read.