The purpose of this blog is to draw you into the world of comics and pop culture— but I also want to share stories that are entertaining, visually exciting, and uniquely thought-provoking. Here’s a short excerpt from a story that really grabbed me. I originally found it in The Best American Nonrequired Reading (2003), a book I picked up back in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Though my pace with reading has slowed a bit, I still love coming back to pieces that offer fresh perspectives, and I hope this one does the same for you.

WHAT SACAGAWEA MEANS TO ME - SHERMAN ALEXIE

In the future, every U.S. citizen will get to be Sacagawea for 15 minutes. For the low price of admission, every American, regardless of race, religion, gender, and age, will climb through the portal into Sacagawea’s Shoshone Indian brain. In the multicultural theme park called Sacagawea Land, you will be kidnapped as a child by the Hidatsa tribe and sold to Toussaint Charbonneau, the French-Canadian trader who will take you as one of his wives and father two of your children. Your first child, Jean-Baptiste, will be only a few months old as you carry him during your long journey with Lewis and Clark. The two captains will lead the adventure, fighting rivers, animals, weather, and diseases for thousands of miles, and you will march right beside them. But you, the aboriginal multitasker, will also breast-feed. And at the end of your Sacagawea journey, you will be shown the exit and given a souvenir T-shirt that reads, IF THE U.S. IS EDEN, THEN SACAGAWEA IS EVE.