Hello everybody. You are, once again, witness to the rare occurrence of a Kent sighting in the underbrush of blogdom.
In the next month I have a number of public appearances scheduled. I thought I’d make mention of two of them in case any of you happen to be in either area. The first will be in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, on the 25th of October. The city was kind enough to honor Neither Wolf nor Dog by choosing it as their first “Eden Prairie Reads” selection. Their goal is to have 3000 people in the community read the book and discuss it. I’ll be spending the day down there on the 25th speaking to various school, civic, and public groups. It should be most interesting.
The second is a presentation at Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan, on the 9th of November. They are having me kick off a cultural heritage series. This is truly an honor, because it is the Native American students who have invited me. Once again, it was because of Neither Wolf nor Dog that this is taking place.
Such invitations as this pose a real dilemma. For reasons I’ve expressed in many places, I cannot say much about the circumstances or the people of that book. It is a commitment I made and one that I do not wish to break. Yet audiences are always interested in Dan and the others in the book as people.
I feel compelled to speak to the messages of the book, not the characters. And this always seems to leave the audiences vaguely dissatisfied. We are, after all, a culture of personality and story, and it is the personalities and story that people wish to learn more about.
Over the years I’ve become ever more resolute in my conviction that it is my job to carry Dan’s message forward. But I’m still not sure how best to do this without getting twisted up in evasions and negations about Dan and the reservation.
Any thoughts? Contact me.