In his young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian , Junior contemplates reservation life, wondering how and why Native Americans—nomadic peoples--ever bought into the idea that their destiny meant being tied to some bit of landscape circumscribed by the U.S. government. While Junior understands the pull of place, the significance of home, and the power of stories to keep us coming back, he also reflects that for Native Americans, the pull of place was once a dynamic, limitless experience. Junior makes this observation in this coming of age novel as he begins to make sense of his being an Indian in a white world, which world offers just about everything he wants for himself. The whiteness of the world outside the rez is as much an accident of history as the rez itself, and Junior realizes to be bound by history is to give up on life and, really, to give up on a past worth engaging in new and exciting ways. I was thinking about Junior over the wee