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Jan Myhre's avatar

I also am challenged with ADD and SAD (seasonal depressive disorder). Big Pharma played a big role in my life as a wife and mother. As my oldest son said, "Mom, it's better living through chemistry!" He is correct. My best luck to you as you, like me, traverse the territory of an unordinary brain. I have found it has its pluses when it comes to creativity!

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Jan Myhre's avatar

I also am challenged with ADD and SAD (seasonal depressive disorder). Big Pharma played a big role in my life as a wife and mother. As my oldest son said, "Mom, it's better living through chemistry!" He is correct. My best luck to you as you, like me, traverse the territory of an unordinary brain. I have found it has its pluses when it comes to creativity!

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Kathy Ortiz's avatar

I love your book You Don't Have to Say You Love Me. Recommend it constantly. Thanks for keeping your writing flowing!

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Monica Tognetti's avatar

I Like your candor. Loved Smoke Signals.

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Jack Duane's avatar

Terrific ! Such courageous honesty makes your writing daring , bold, and truly compelling. So glad to receive your posts !

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Tiberiu Lupu's avatar

Dear Sherman, I have been meaning to ask you something very personal for a while. And I understand if this is not the place to answer it. But here goes nothing: can you tell me if and how being bipolar interacts with your being a writer? Are there aspects where it helps or does it actually make you less productive? Would you be the same writer had you not suffered from this condition?

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Julie Chay's avatar

I like reading your fans’ comments. You inspire us. I’ll be reading your beautiful story all day. Down in the basement.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Julie.

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Julie Chay's avatar

Reading your readers’ comments

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Leslie Gelb's avatar

Really appreciate your sharing all this! Xo

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thanks, Leslie.

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SunshineToRoses's avatar

Your mom looks very pretty, happy and proud of you in this picture.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

She was on all three counts!

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Hallie Aldrich's avatar

The living couch, a verb/noun hybrid. Do you still have that couch?

Jung said (I para-quote), “ the most influential part of a child’s life is the un-lived life of the parent”. Or, rather, I think it’s also the obsessive life of the parent. My dad was obsessed with taking photos; now it’s my turn! Funny, I just realized my mom’s favorite movie is the Black Stallion. I currently own a huge black … gelding. As usual, I miss her mark, hahahaha. Happy Belated Mother!

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

A meaningful typo!

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RonMcF's avatar

Wonderful Mother's Day tribute, Sherman. Georgia has written a fine poem on those horses at vantage & took her HS students up to see them, but she took a more mundane route. She's not at all keen on snakes. My mother wasn't as fearless as yours ("bipolar fearless"?); in fact, she feared both water (yet lived most of her life in Florida) & birds. I wish she'd been around to read some of my recent poems about her, but she was familiar with a few of my feeble efforts.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thanks, Ron. I need to read Georgia's poem!

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Linda Loegel Hemby's avatar

Beautifully written. You write totally from the heart, deeply and expressively. Thank you.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Thank you, Linda.

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Mixelle Garcia's avatar

I love textile arts. What colors and patterns were in her quilts?

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

Too many to count! She did make memorial quilts made from the deceased's favorite articles of clothing when they were alive.

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WindyDay's avatar

I read this like I was starving for the words. The last part brought tears to my eyes-I have not forgiven. I know I will not be forgiven. And there was no idea of what love might bear. Because there was so little love ( it was never born, really), and so much fear, anger, rage, and violence.

I live just under the surface of all of this, taking desperate gasps of air when I realize I'm suffocating.

The disease lives on in me, and I will never be out from under it. It's ok to finish out my days as peacefully as I can. I like the image of myself grazing in a mountain meadow. In perfect peace.

Thank you for this essay.

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Sherman Alexie's avatar

I hope you find peace in this life.

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WindyDay's avatar

Thank you.

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WindyDay's avatar

I read this like I was starving for the words. The last part brought tears to my eyes-I have not forgiven. I know I will not be forgiven. And there was no idea of what love might bear. Because there was so little love ( it was never born, really), and so much fear, anger, rage, and violence.

I live just under the surface of all of this, taking desperate gasps of air when I realize I'm suffocating.

The disease lives on in me, and I will never be out from under it. It's ok to finish out my days as peacefully as I can. I like the image of myself grazing in a mountain meadow. In perfect peace.

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