Sherman Alexie, born October 7, 1966, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, grew up on a 156,000-acre Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, W Eastern Washington, population: approximately 1,000. Alexie was born with hydrocephalus (water on the brain). Medical professionals didn't have high hopes for Alexie, thinking he wouldn't have a long future, assuming he died in surgery. Amazingly, he survived, but he suffered numerous side effects throughout most of his childhood, such as seizures, bedwetting, and an enlarged skull, to name a few. Unfortunately, he was made fun of. The kids at school called him “the globe” because of his enlarged skull. However, Alexie found her happiness in books. By the age of 12, he had read every book in the Wellpinit school library (Grassian 2). Alexie attended Reardan High School, 20 miles from the reservation, where he excelled in his academic career, earning him a locked admission to Gonzaga Jesuit University in Spokane, but began abusing alcohol. While he initially considered a career in medicine, he felt that his persistent fainting spells in anatomy class called his medical career into question. Soon after, he enrolled in a poetry workshop. Alexie had an eye-opening experience, inspired by the poems he had read, he began to write his own. Alexie began writing poetry and short fiction in 1987 when he transferred to Washington State University. Alexie earned his bachelor's degree in 1991 from Washington State, and soon after his work was published in Hanging Loose Press, which also encouraged him to quit drinking. He also received a huge career boost when James Kincaid of The New York Times recognized his book with overwhelming admiration, calling him "one of the major lyrical voices of our time...... middle of paper ......ing . They are just marinating in their own inevitable death. Who they are as Indians (their culture) is lost under the dirt of the reservations. Shermans Alexie, "Crows Testament", "This is What it Means to Say Phoenix Arizona" and "Because My Father Said He Was the Only One Indian" Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-Spangles Banner' at Woodstock", describes the life on reservations while using the Foucauldian concept of biopower to further explain the lives of Native Americans in today's modern American society. Collectively, Alexie argues that their current lifestyle is a consequence of the economy and that the limited amount of money circulating on reserves is not enough for them to live a substantial, let alone mediocre, life. In each text we get a little closer to the lives of the native Indians, observing how they live and why it ended the way it did..