WEBVTT

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Now, I want to go
back to a poem.

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This-- I have to locate myself.

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I was teaching at
San Jose State,

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at the south-end of
the San Francisco Bay.

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This is called "The
Star in the Hills."

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"A star hit in the
hills behind our house,

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up where the grass turned
brown touching the sky.

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Meteors have hit the world
before, but this was near.

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And since TV, few saw,
but many felt the shock.

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The state of California owns
that land, and out from shore

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three miles.

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And any stars that come
will be roped off and viewed

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on weekdays, 8:00 to 5:00.

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[LAUGHTER]

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A guard who took
the oath of loyalty

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and denied any police
record told me this.

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If you don't have a
police record yet,

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you could take the oath and
get a job, if California

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should be hit by another star.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I'd promise to be
loyal to California

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and to guard any
stars that hit it,

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I said, or any place three
miles out from shore.

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Unless the star was bigger
than the state, in which case,

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I'd be loyal to it.

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[LAUGHTER]

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But he said no
exceptions were allowed.

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[LAUGHTER]

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And he leaned against the
state-owned meteor so calm

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and puffed a cork-tip cigarette
that I looked down and traced

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with my foot in the dust,
thought again, and said,

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'OK, any star.'"

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[LAUGHTER]

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[APPLAUSE]

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I got letters about that
one when it was published.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Translated into German by
a man at the University

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of California,
Berkeley, and so on.

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