WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.800 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:04.375 align:middle line:90%
[SPEAKING IN MOJAVE]

00:00:04.375 --> 00:00:07.320 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:12.880 align:middle line:84%
It's my luck tonight to
be here with you all.

00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:16.200 align:middle line:84%
I would like to take a moment
to acknowledge and honor

00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:19.980 align:middle line:84%
the people whose lands
we're on this evening,

00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:22.620 align:middle line:84%
and I don't mean you
people but the people who

00:00:22.620 --> 00:00:23.550 align:middle line:90%
are here before you.

00:00:23.550 --> 00:00:26.340 align:middle line:90%


00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:28.530 align:middle line:84%
But it's kind of
an incredible thing

00:00:28.530 --> 00:00:32.250 align:middle line:84%
to be here in a space that has
meant so much to my peoples

00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:35.790 align:middle line:90%
and to many peoples before.

00:00:35.790 --> 00:00:40.200 align:middle line:84%
It's also my luck to
welcome you to my family.

00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.540 align:middle line:84%
These poets who are
here with us tonight,

00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:47.160 align:middle line:84%
the things they've been
building, Sandra Cisneros, Rita

00:00:47.160 --> 00:00:51.570 align:middle line:84%
Dove, and Joy Harjo,
they're all part of a family

00:00:51.570 --> 00:00:54.540 align:middle line:84%
and community who have made
me and many other writers

00:00:54.540 --> 00:00:56.040 align:middle line:90%
possible.

00:00:56.040 --> 00:01:01.860 align:middle line:84%
When I came to ASU, I thought
what can I offer my students,

00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:03.600 align:middle line:90%
this new community of mine?

00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:06.690 align:middle line:84%
And I thought the thing that
would be the most important

00:01:06.690 --> 00:01:09.930 align:middle line:84%
would be for me to offer you
my family, the things that

00:01:09.930 --> 00:01:11.410 align:middle line:90%
have made me possible.

00:01:11.410 --> 00:01:15.330 align:middle line:84%
And so, it was the
easiest thing to think,

00:01:15.330 --> 00:01:17.160 align:middle line:90%
who are the people I love?

00:01:17.160 --> 00:01:20.580 align:middle line:84%
Who are the people
who love me back?

00:01:20.580 --> 00:01:24.480 align:middle line:84%
And they're largely
poets and writers.

00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:28.380 align:middle line:84%
I met Sandra, and
Rita, and Joy long

00:01:28.380 --> 00:01:29.850 align:middle line:90%
before they were my friends.

00:01:29.850 --> 00:01:33.510 align:middle line:84%
I met them on the page,
and I knew immediately

00:01:33.510 --> 00:01:36.630 align:middle line:84%
that they loved me
before I even knew them.

00:01:36.630 --> 00:01:42.300 align:middle line:84%
And I knew that because what
I saw in their writing was me.

00:01:42.300 --> 00:01:44.370 align:middle line:90%
I saw the people I loved.

00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:46.050 align:middle line:90%
I saw myself.

00:01:46.050 --> 00:01:48.510 align:middle line:84%
I saw tenderness
alongside violence.

00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:53.670 align:middle line:84%
I saw all of the things
that I had hoped for.

00:01:53.670 --> 00:01:57.270 align:middle line:84%
I saw the languages
that I speak.

00:01:57.270 --> 00:01:58.920 align:middle line:90%
I saw the lands.

00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:01.500 align:middle line:84%
I saw my beloveds
there on their pages.

00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.140 align:middle line:84%
And to me, that was
the biggest gift,

00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:08.220 align:middle line:84%
and so it's with, again, a
lot of joy, a lot of luck,

00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:12.120 align:middle line:84%
a lot of gratitude that I offer
these women and their stories

00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:12.945 align:middle line:90%
to you tonight.

00:02:12.945 --> 00:02:15.510 align:middle line:90%


00:02:15.510 --> 00:02:18.390 align:middle line:84%
I think that
something that we want

00:02:18.390 --> 00:02:22.260 align:middle line:84%
to do with ArchiTEXTS, with what
we're bringing, is conversation

00:02:22.260 --> 00:02:27.180 align:middle line:84%
is community, and that, I think,
is why this event is happening.

00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:29.880 align:middle line:84%
That we are able to reach
out, that I can reach out,

00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:31.770 align:middle line:84%
maybe to their
chagrin or dismay,

00:02:31.770 --> 00:02:35.160 align:middle line:84%
to Tyler, or to Hannah,
and sometimes in text.

00:02:35.160 --> 00:02:37.140 align:middle line:84%
And say, Hey, what
if we do this thing?

00:02:37.140 --> 00:02:38.970 align:middle line:84%
And they'll say, Well,
maybe send an email

00:02:38.970 --> 00:02:41.580 align:middle line:90%
and we'll talk about it.

00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:47.070 align:middle line:84%
And then, to Jake, and Angie,
and Tito Alberto at The Piper

00:02:47.070 --> 00:02:51.750 align:middle line:84%
Center, and to Joyce at the
Labriola Center, and even

00:02:51.750 --> 00:02:53.370 align:middle line:84%
the fact that the
Poetry Coalition was

00:02:53.370 --> 00:02:57.840 align:middle line:84%
willing to come here to help
us celebrate these women.

00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.970 align:middle line:84%
And so, I won't
spend much more time

00:02:59.970 --> 00:03:04.560 align:middle line:84%
except to say mil
gracias, con [INAUDIBLE]..

00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.630 align:middle line:90%
Thank you so much.

00:03:06.630 --> 00:03:07.130 align:middle line:90%