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Apple: List 3

In this memoir, Gansworth explores his experiences growing up on a Native American reservation.

This list covers The Red Album, "The Boy Who Fell to the Rez"–"Her Majesty" (pages 97-229 of the 2020 Levine Querido edition).

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
15 words 54 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. hapless
    unfortunate and deserving pity
    What I want to know is: wouldn’t you believe
    in a god who got tired of waiting for you to act, if you were
    on the brink of genocide for 500 years, and because I know
    this comic is from 1968, what I really want to know is:
    when do I get to see the Indians as the superheroes, not
    the super hapless, when are we the victors, not the victims?
  2. discretion
    power of making choices unconstrained by external agencies
    After two months, when it's over, I will have
    collected just shy of $900, half of which will help
    pay the bills, half of which can be used
    (somewhat) at my discretion...
  3. obsolescence
    falling into disuse or becoming out of date
    But I kept each of those purchases, willing them to retain
    more lasting value than their makers had in mind. Planned
    obsolescence and scarcity were for people with a different
    life from the one I’ve lived from ages one to twelve.
  4. impervious
    not admitting of passage or capable of being affected
    Maybe they knew how pathetic
    it was to maintain an identity
    whose alter ego was that
    of a millionaire, for our house
    was sure Stately Wayne Manor
    in the most impervious of disguises.
  5. articulate
    express or state clearly
    This is
    our nightly contract, our constant
    solace for the wishes we don’t even
    dare to articulate to each other for fear
    they will go up in the same smoke we
    pump into this room every day.
  6. oblique
    not direct, explicit, or straightforward
    Rigorously study the novels of Stephen King, the lyrics

    of Rush, Pink Floyd, Bowie, Beatles together, Beatles apart,
    write your own similar work about authoritarian rule, isolation
    and desperation, oblique and nameless love, the Monsters you
    know, the Monsters you don’t, and never correct people who
    read this work, when they assume you are telling it truthfully
    from the Monster’s Point of View, that you are writing
    the true story of your life.
  7. premonition
    an early warning about a future event
    Does she believe these sparks
    are a premonition of the inevitable and shut her blanket off?
  8. eclectic
    combining or composed of elements drawn from a variety of sources
    We share the toughness of having
    to stand in the Poor Kids Free Lunch Ticket
    Line at school every day, and we both embrace
    mysterious aspects of songs we love together,
    two Eclectic Music Indians in a Southern Rock
    and Old Country and Western Loving Rez.
  9. virtuoso
    having or revealing supreme mastery or skill
    She laughs nonstop and calls me Geddy
    after one buzzy night when I reveal
    the epic Rush lyrics I have committed
    wholly to memory, and I react the same
    way at a crazy smoking air guitar solo
    she grinds out on her front porch, as if
    it were an arena stage, making her own
    fake virtuoso sounds with her mouth,
    not bothering to imitate any actual song.
  10. anthropomorphic
    suggesting human features for animals or inanimate things
    Eventually, you will become what’s called
    an “Indian writer,” but weirdly, when you make
    this assertion, an unlikely percentage of people
    hear you say “Native American storyteller”
    instead, and they expect you to reveal life
    lessons for children disguised as stories
    about anthropomorphic animals, so here's
    a story about siblings and reservations and
    the culture of returns, but just in case
    you can't hear me, let me tell you a little
    something about robins and their young.
  11. derelict
    worn and broken down by hard use
    ...and that night, we witness the first rising
    corpses that would change the landscape
    of horror movies, moving them from castles
    to derelict farmhouses, at the woods' edge,
    just like our own sagging-roofed houses.
  12. regalia
    especially fine or decorative clothing
    Afternoon announcements remind us
    to pick up regalia we were measured for,
    weeks in advance.
  13. wherewithal
    the necessary means (especially financial means)
    Dreams of drawing with pen and quill, fade like a distant call,
    as this life drains me of my will, and then my wherewithal.
  14. decrepit
    worn and broken down by hard use
    Down frozen roads, you creep to my decrepit home.
  15. dregs
    sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid
    On my new shirt, I smell the smoke
    of kerosene burning late,
    sooty dregs from when we were broke,
    gone, I can carry some weight.
Created on Tue Oct 13 09:30:43 EDT 2020 (updated Tue Jul 01 11:21:58 EDT 2025)

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