Post # 2

Though the initial post “prompt” encouraged discussion of Smoke Dancing, I would like to make some comments on last week’s Almanac of the Dead reading instead. The first chapter of last week’s reading from Almanac of the Dead was entitled “Famous Criminals.” The two criminals in question are Geronimo and John Dillinger: the subjects of Sterling’s two favorite “Yesteryear” articles from the Police Gazette.

It is interesting to note that the reason that these are his two favorite articles are because they are the two that focus most strongly on Tucson. It is interesting to look into what this may reveal about Sterling’s character. This indicates that Sterling seems to relate most closely to a geographical location (that is, Tucson) than to any other characteristic about an individual. This makes sense, given how closely Indians generally tie cultural and personal identity to land and geography. Another important similarity between Dillinger and Geronimo is race. Geronimo was Apache, whereas Dillinger had no Indian background, but his girlfriend, "Billie" Frechette, whom Sterling mentions on page 78, was of Menomonie descent. This indicates that after land and location, skin color—or at least acceptance of Indians by non-Indians—is important to Sterling. The last important similarity, indicated boldly by the chapter title, is that they were both criminals (at least in the eyes of the United States government). Geronimo was a leader in the Apache Wars; he fought against Union and Confederate attempts at expansion into the Southwest. Dillinger, on the other hand, was a bank robber, but was considered by some in his day (and today) to be something of a Robin Hood figure. History looks on both of these men in a fairly favorable light, relatively speaking, and their exploits are often glamorized. This seems to indicate to me that Sterling identifies with the misunderstood hero figures of the past.

A final interesting thing to note is that Dillinger was born in 1903, within a few years of Geronimo’s death in 1900. Together, they almost symbolize a transformation from the “freedom fighters” of the past to those of the modern era. It begs the question as to how, if at all, this tradition will be continued via the characters in Almanac of the Dead.