Alexie is cautious, however, about serving as a spokesman for his community, observing that Indian (the term he prefers over Native American) writers are often outcasts within their own communities. "We don't really fit in within the Indian community, so we write to try to fit in and sound Indian," he states in a 1999 interview for
Poets & Writers, "So it's ironic that we become the spokespeople for Indian country, that we are supposed to be representatives of our tribes."
Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. was born on 7 October 1966 to Sherman Joseph Alexie and Lillian Agnes Cox Alexie in Spokane, Washington. His father was of Coeur d'Alene descent and his mother of Colville, Flathead, Spokane, and white descent. Born hydrocephalic, Alexie underwent a brain operation when he was six months old and was not expected to live; or, if he did survive, he was expected to suffer permanent disabilities. Although his recovery was successful, for the first seven years of his life Alexie did suffer seizures and was regularly medicated. Alexie is a registered Spokane/ Coeur d'Alene Indian, and he was raised and educated on the Spokane reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, until he attended Rearden High, a white high school some fifteen miles off the reservation.
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