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Jacob Crossno
Dr. Suhr-Sytsma
English 181
February 23, 2016
Project 1 Part 2: Artists Statement: How Zits Got to Whiteclay in Chapter Nine and a Half
I used one online article about the Whiteclay issue during a protest to prevent delivery
trucks from bringing alcohol to a nearby town created to serve alcohol to the dry Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation. I based much of my fictional event on this event. The setting and plots are
similar and parallel, but I created dialogue that was fictional, and the results of the event are
quite different because I better wanted to convey the themes of violence. I fictionalized much of
what I read about the event but also made subtle and obvious parallels to the event described in
the article. For example, a protestor, according to the article, responded to being asked to leave
by saying, No, not today, maybe some other day, but not today while I am here, (Schilling,
line 20). I paralleled this by having a different direct response that was Were not going
anywhere. Furthermore, the story by the article involved a boy attempting to sit on one of the
trucks and having a stun gun held to his neck, and I used this to create a similar but different
situation.
I used another article about the Whiteclay issue that reported a good step toward resolve
of the issue that happened recently. Activists called on the [Nebraska Liquor Control]
commission Tuesday to withhold liquor licenses from the towns four beer stores, saying vendors
sell to pregnant women, minors and customers who are already drunk. But agency director
Hobert Rupe said he needs witnesses to go on the record, (Associated Press, Paragraph 2).This
suggests that there can be resolve to the issue by legal means for reasons other than the bars

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making unjust, inhumane profit. I used this as giving a direction to the resolve in the chapter.
They werent going to stop addressing and fighting this issue until there was a resolve. The
resolve I suggested in the chapter by a fictional character was the revoke of the liquor licenses of
the town, and this is the resolve that would be called upon to a commission which deals with
control of alcohol, although it is future to the fictional chapter.
I also used a documentary about the issue and its history. Knowing better background
about the issue and how long it has been a problem in this particular community helped me
understand better how deep the problem goes. Seeing video of some of the protests and speeches
allowed me to have a better look at the issue from a range of perspectives which convinced me to
convey a lot more passion in the chapter by the protestors.
I tried to sound like Zits by using repetition when he was describing things. I also tried to
make strange metaphors like Zits. Zits claims, Were all the same people. And we are all
falling, (Alexie, 130). The meaning of this is left to interpretation. The fictional chapter
parallels these type of metaphors by including a desire to be a clover because it is innocent and
simple and doesnt have a brutal and broken background. I felt this was also similar to his
desire to be a crow. I tried to draw upon ideas Zits has previously expressed like with old-time
Indians, drunken and homeless Indians, and rich and educated Indians and mentioning them in
the fictional chapter. I also tried to sound like Zits with sarcastic comments on things by
responding to his own thoughts with clarification. For example, he asks a question and then
answers it himself. Or, he makes a statement and then immediately revokes it or adds to it. An
example in the fictional chapter is The fog was clear. Obviously the fog was not clear, but it was
not very thick, and not very dense. Finally, I recalled upon ideas Zits had mentioned previously

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in new contexts. Mentioning again rich and educated Indians and professional assholes with
badges allowed me to sound more like Zits and allow the fictional chapter to fit into the novel.
The chapter adds to Flight by continuing the themes of violence and loneliness. It really
makes an addition, however, with introducing a more positive direction to the resolution of the
Native issues. The end of the book provided resolutions to Zitss problems. However, despite
showing many historical and modern social issues along with overall problems experienced by
Natives, the novel did little to provide a movement toward a better experience for Natives. For
example, the novel well depicted the drunken Indians and how alcoholism is a problem among
native communities and depicted how Zits was a problem child, but only one of these problems
was given hope for any measure of resolve. So, I added a lot to the book by including the
passionate phrase Were not going anywhere, to suggest the issues among Natives particularly
the alcoholism in this situation can end just as they have for Zits.
I also established a bit of a new theme by better creating a parallel to A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens. Zits traveled through time to see events of the past that led to the realities of
the present and saw events of the present to put him better in perspective, but the novel lacked a
trip to the future. I took Zits to the future to show that violence would still be present, but as he
developed feelings of sympathy, there was a suggestion that the future would become better, as I
emphasized the quote, Were not going anywhere.

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Works Consulted
Schilling, Vincent. "Oglala Sioux President Arrested at Whiteclay Protest." Indian Country
Today Media Network. Arthur Raymond Halbritter, 19 June 2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.
Associated Press. "Nebraska Activists Scold Commission for Whiteclay Beer Sales." Native
Times. Native American Times 2015, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
The Battle for Whiteclay. Dir. Mark Vasina. Perf. Frank Lamere, Duane Martin Sr., Russell
Means. Green Onion, 2008. YouTube. YouTube, 7 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.