WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.170 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.170 --> 00:00:11.980 align:middle line:90% [SPEAKING IN LAKOTA] 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:16.149 align:middle line:84% I'm greeting you using traditional kinship terms 00:00:16.149 --> 00:00:19.060 align:middle line:84% in my native language, Oglala Lakota, 00:00:19.060 --> 00:00:21.740 align:middle line:84% and I'm saying hello, how are you. 00:00:21.740 --> 00:00:24.250 align:middle line:90% How's everybody doing? 00:00:24.250 --> 00:00:26.410 align:middle line:84% I want to talk a little bit about storytelling 00:00:26.410 --> 00:00:30.790 align:middle line:84% in general first, before I read from these two novels. 00:00:30.790 --> 00:00:34.720 align:middle line:84% I believe in the power of storytelling to change worlds, 00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:38.380 align:middle line:84% to create worlds, to destroy worlds, because words 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:41.530 align:middle line:90% have power beyond imagining. 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:44.770 align:middle line:84% Any of you in this audience could name several stories 00:00:44.770 --> 00:00:46.910 align:middle line:90% that have changed the world. 00:00:46.910 --> 00:00:49.960 align:middle line:84% I have no doubt that the world would be a very different place 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:53.410 align:middle line:84% if Adolf Hitler had not written "Mein Kampf," 00:00:53.410 --> 00:00:54.970 align:middle line:84% or if Marx and Engels had not written 00:00:54.970 --> 00:00:58.420 align:middle line:84% the "Communist Manifesto," or Harriet Beecher Stowe 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:00.610 align:middle line:84% had not written "Uncle Tom's Cabin," 00:01:00.610 --> 00:01:02.890 align:middle line:84% or if Martin Luther King had not stood 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:07.660 align:middle line:84% on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August day in 1963, 00:01:07.660 --> 00:01:09.160 align:middle line:84% and addressed the millions of people 00:01:09.160 --> 00:01:13.880 align:middle line:84% standing before him with these words, "I Have a Dream." 00:01:13.880 --> 00:01:16.990 align:middle line:84% These are a few of the big stories and many narratives 00:01:16.990 --> 00:01:18.880 align:middle line:84% that change national perspectives and world 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:20.920 align:middle line:90% history in major ways. 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:22.420 align:middle line:84% These are stories that told people 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:24.460 align:middle line:84% who they were as citizens of countries, 00:01:24.460 --> 00:01:27.610 align:middle line:84% as members of ethnic groups, as privileged people 00:01:27.610 --> 00:01:30.250 align:middle line:84% or as the children of lesser gods. 00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:35.030 align:middle line:84% Some stories argued for inclusion, some for exclusion. 00:01:35.030 --> 00:01:37.030 align:middle line:84% And there are smaller stories, regional stories, 00:01:37.030 --> 00:01:40.090 align:middle line:84% community stories to serve the same purpose. 00:01:40.090 --> 00:01:42.850 align:middle line:84% There are news stories about the loss of auto jobs, 00:01:42.850 --> 00:01:45.760 align:middle line:84% industry jobs in Michigan, and Illinois, and Ohio, 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.490 align:middle line:84% and Indiana, and thousands of connected stories 00:01:48.490 --> 00:01:50.668 align:middle line:90% about that regional event. 00:01:50.668 --> 00:01:52.960 align:middle line:84% There are people who will always remember what they did 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:55.180 align:middle line:84% and how they managed when they were laid off 00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:58.960 align:middle line:84% from Chrysler Corporation after 17 years of faithful service. 00:01:58.960 --> 00:02:01.870 align:middle line:84% How they lost the retirement, their house, and how they 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:03.700 align:middle line:90% patch their lives together. 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:05.980 align:middle line:84% And with the help of their family and their community, 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:07.396 align:middle line:90% went on. 00:02:07.396 --> 00:02:08.979 align:middle line:84% There are stories about a tornado that 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:12.040 align:middle line:84% hit a small town in Nebraska, and to cut the Presbyterian 00:02:12.040 --> 00:02:13.900 align:middle line:84% Church and the little strip mall. 00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:16.720 align:middle line:84% And for the rest of their lives, the people of that town 00:02:16.720 --> 00:02:20.110 align:middle line:84% will remember exactly where they were when it hit. 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:22.510 align:middle line:84% And years later, when that vacant lot is still there, 00:02:22.510 --> 00:02:25.038 align:middle line:84% all we'd grown, people in that community 00:02:25.038 --> 00:02:26.830 align:middle line:84% would drive by and say things to each other 00:02:26.830 --> 00:02:30.550 align:middle line:84% like, I remember when Alice's quilt shop used to be there 00:02:30.550 --> 00:02:32.442 align:middle line:90% before the tornado struck. 00:02:32.442 --> 00:02:34.150 align:middle line:84% And then they might talk about Alice now. 00:02:34.150 --> 00:02:36.580 align:middle line:84% Everyone thought she was a crabby old bat. 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:38.200 align:middle line:84% But they might also remember and tell 00:02:38.200 --> 00:02:41.410 align:middle line:84% stories about how she always gave fair value for the goods 00:02:41.410 --> 00:02:43.930 align:middle line:84% she sold, and how every night, she 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:46.390 align:middle line:84% left a pile of Green-a-cat chow on the concrete 00:02:46.390 --> 00:02:49.570 align:middle line:84% behind the store for the torn-eared old stray cat that 00:02:49.570 --> 00:02:51.860 align:middle line:90% lived in the neighborhood. 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:54.382 align:middle line:84% There are smaller stories too, like the stories 00:02:54.382 --> 00:02:55.840 align:middle line:84% of the local high school basketball 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:58.300 align:middle line:84% team that made it to the state playoffs, 00:02:58.300 --> 00:03:00.880 align:middle line:84% and won in the final two seconds from the shortest 00:03:00.880 --> 00:03:05.500 align:middle line:84% guy on the team, made an unbelievable lucky shot. 00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:07.870 align:middle line:84% And never mind that after that, he 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.330 align:middle line:84% went to college on a scholarship and flunked out, 00:03:10.330 --> 00:03:13.030 align:middle line:84% and now he sells insurance for a living. 00:03:13.030 --> 00:03:15.100 align:middle line:84% He will always be the community hero 00:03:15.100 --> 00:03:19.730 align:middle line:84% for what he did in that two seconds of his entire life. 00:03:19.730 --> 00:03:22.180 align:middle line:84% His story is part of the glue that 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:25.970 align:middle line:84% binds the community together, that tells them who they are, 00:03:25.970 --> 00:03:28.650 align:middle line:84% what's important and what makes them who they are. 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:32.650 align:middle line:84% Then there are smaller stories yet, family stories. 00:03:32.650 --> 00:03:35.470 align:middle line:84% To establish our personal identity, 00:03:35.470 --> 00:03:38.350 align:middle line:84% to tell us who we are as individuals, 00:03:38.350 --> 00:03:43.010 align:middle line:84% how we fit into a family, and of what stuff we are made. 00:03:43.010 --> 00:03:44.890 align:middle line:84% These stories began almost before we 00:03:44.890 --> 00:03:47.230 align:middle line:90% began to speak ourselves. 00:03:47.230 --> 00:03:49.240 align:middle line:84% Our parents tell us stories, and I 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.230 align:middle line:84% don't mean the "Bedtime Stories of Dr. Seuss," or the "Green 00:03:53.230 --> 00:03:58.220 align:middle line:84% Eggs and Ham" of Sam-I-Am, but the stories about us. 00:03:58.220 --> 00:04:00.340 align:middle line:84% Your mother probably told you stories 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:03.670 align:middle line:84% about some of the cute things you did when you were a kid. 00:04:03.670 --> 00:04:06.610 align:middle line:84% And mothers love to tell those stories because they're proof 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:08.830 align:middle line:90% that you were thinking person. 00:04:08.830 --> 00:04:11.740 align:middle line:84% Now even immature then, but thinking. 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:12.520 align:middle line:90% You were clever. 00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:16.630 align:middle line:84% And that story that she tells you may subconsciously make you 00:04:16.630 --> 00:04:19.149 align:middle line:84% believe that you are an intelligent person, 00:04:19.149 --> 00:04:21.880 align:middle line:84% and that knowledge is what helps determine 00:04:21.880 --> 00:04:23.740 align:middle line:84% how you meet the challenges of life 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:27.210 align:middle line:84% with confidence in your intellectual strength in family 00:04:27.210 --> 00:04:28.500 align:middle line:90% stories. 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:31.810 align:middle line:84% Everyone has family stories that get repeated among siblings, 00:04:31.810 --> 00:04:33.810 align:middle line:84% and parents, and aunts, and uncles, and cousins, 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:36.210 align:middle line:90% and grandparents. 00:04:36.210 --> 00:04:37.710 align:middle line:84% There may be a story about the ne'er 00:04:37.710 --> 00:04:40.800 align:middle line:84% do well uncle Vincent, who always shows up drunk 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.490 align:middle line:84% at grandma's family Christmas dinner, and says mean things, 00:04:44.490 --> 00:04:46.470 align:middle line:90% and falls into the pumpkin pies. 00:04:46.470 --> 00:04:49.110 align:middle line:84% And everyone dreads his presence but no one throws him 00:04:49.110 --> 00:04:54.540 align:middle line:84% out because he's grandma's son, and she loves him. 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:56.070 align:middle line:84% And she believes that one day, he's 00:04:56.070 --> 00:04:59.083 align:middle line:84% going to join AA and get sober and become 00:04:59.083 --> 00:05:00.375 align:middle line:90% president of the United States. 00:05:00.375 --> 00:05:01.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:04.883 align:middle line:84% I think everybody's got some of these family members. 00:05:04.883 --> 00:05:07.050 align:middle line:84% If you don't, I got some I can give you, if you just 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:10.028 align:middle line:90% speak to me after the reading. 00:05:10.028 --> 00:05:11.820 align:middle line:84% I think they grow him on Mars or something, 00:05:11.820 --> 00:05:13.680 align:middle line:84% and then they bring down spaceships, and kind of 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:14.580 align:middle line:90% sprinkle them around. 00:05:14.580 --> 00:05:17.220 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:20.100 align:middle line:84% And there's a story about cousin Jack, who's 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.740 align:middle line:84% uglier than a movie theater carpet, 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:24.840 align:middle line:84% spindly legged, crooked nose, not 00:05:24.840 --> 00:05:27.000 align:middle line:90% pleasing to look upon at all. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.330 align:middle line:84% But somehow, cousin Jack managed to attract 00:05:30.330 --> 00:05:32.400 align:middle line:84% and married a local beauty queen. 00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:36.300 align:middle line:84% It's a thing of wonder, a topic of family discussions, 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:38.250 align:middle line:84% and those discussions about cousin Jack 00:05:38.250 --> 00:05:43.770 align:middle line:84% and his beautiful wife are really discussions about us. 00:05:43.770 --> 00:05:46.350 align:middle line:84% Excuse me, I have a lozenge in my mouth 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:48.070 align:middle line:90% because I have a dry throat. 00:05:48.070 --> 00:05:50.460 align:middle line:84% So if I go [COUGHS],, will somebody please run up here 00:05:50.460 --> 00:05:51.270 align:middle line:90% and Heimlich me. 00:05:51.270 --> 00:05:51.870 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:53.140 align:middle line:90% I would appreciate that. 00:05:53.140 --> 00:05:53.640 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:05:53.640 --> 00:05:56.160 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:00.390 align:middle line:84% These stories about cousin Jack and about Uncle Vincent, 00:06:00.390 --> 00:06:04.050 align:middle line:84% they have messages and themes that go beyond family gossip 00:06:04.050 --> 00:06:05.460 align:middle line:90% to deeper stories. 00:06:05.460 --> 00:06:08.880 align:middle line:84% They might tell you that you come from a family, 00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:12.540 align:middle line:84% where being beautiful may not be necessary for happiness, 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:14.550 align:middle line:84% or that you shouldn't give up hope, 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:18.040 align:middle line:84% or that you should never discount the element of luck. 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:21.000 align:middle line:84% We are created by stories, all of the stories. 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.700 align:middle line:84% The men and narratives of whole world 00:06:23.700 --> 00:06:26.042 align:middle line:84% or national consciousness, the regional stories, 00:06:26.042 --> 00:06:28.500 align:middle line:84% and the local community stories, and the personal childhood 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.170 align:middle line:84% stories, and the family stories, all 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:34.980 align:middle line:84% go into creating our individual and collective identities 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:36.950 align:middle line:90% and making us human beings. 00:06:36.950 --> 00:06:39.750 align:middle line:84% You may be remembered for good or for ill, 00:06:39.750 --> 00:06:41.850 align:middle line:90% long after our passage. 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.820 align:middle line:84% A person is not someone who simply 00:06:44.820 --> 00:06:47.220 align:middle line:84% struts and frets his hour up on the stage, 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:49.380 align:middle line:90% and then is heard no more. 00:06:49.380 --> 00:06:51.450 align:middle line:84% As long as there are stories about us, 00:06:51.450 --> 00:06:54.210 align:middle line:84% even gossip, even if we are only remembered 00:06:54.210 --> 00:06:57.360 align:middle line:84% as the ugly duckling who captured a swan, 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:00.120 align:middle line:84% or the drunkard who fell into the pumpkin pies, 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:02.680 align:middle line:90% the grandma's Christmas dinner. 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:06.460 align:middle line:84% Those are the stories and we were the storytellers. 00:07:06.460 --> 00:07:10.780 align:middle line:84% All of us, everyone tells stories every day. 00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:13.510 align:middle line:84% Even the question, how was school today 00:07:13.510 --> 00:07:18.250 align:middle line:84% is an invitation from a parent to a child to tell a tale. 00:07:18.250 --> 00:07:20.920 align:middle line:84% Most of the stories we tell are about mundane events 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.740 align:middle line:84% that are meant to carry information 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:28.030 align:middle line:84% or to serve a social function by demonstrating interest 00:07:28.030 --> 00:07:30.350 align:middle line:90% in another person's life. 00:07:30.350 --> 00:07:33.460 align:middle line:84% But all storytellers are not created equal. 00:07:33.460 --> 00:07:36.520 align:middle line:84% Two people can tell the same story, 00:07:36.520 --> 00:07:38.740 align:middle line:84% and the first storyteller, may he like you, 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:42.790 align:middle line:84% enchant you, and educate you, and elicit tears of sorrow 00:07:42.790 --> 00:07:45.550 align:middle line:90% or tears of joy or laughter. 00:07:45.550 --> 00:07:48.005 align:middle line:84% And another person might tell the same story 00:07:48.005 --> 00:07:50.710 align:middle line:84% and in the back of your head, you're thinking, 00:07:50.710 --> 00:07:53.950 align:middle line:84% Oh god, I wish they'd just stop, and I'd rather 00:07:53.950 --> 00:07:57.330 align:middle line:90% be home sorting my sock drawer. 00:07:57.330 --> 00:08:00.300 align:middle line:84% If it's a written work, the first author 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:03.030 align:middle line:84% invites you into the story and set you 00:08:03.030 --> 00:08:06.720 align:middle line:84% on a bench like "Forrest Gump" and let you participate. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.080 align:middle line:84% In the words of Stephen King, you fall through the pages. 00:08:11.080 --> 00:08:12.570 align:middle line:84% Another author may bore you or make 00:08:12.570 --> 00:08:15.630 align:middle line:84% you feel excluded or bar the door to your entrance, 00:08:15.630 --> 00:08:18.660 align:middle line:84% and that isn't always the case of a bad storyteller. 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:21.870 align:middle line:84% Often, it depends upon who the reader is as a person. 00:08:21.870 --> 00:08:24.990 align:middle line:84% With your own personal canon of literature might be, 00:08:24.990 --> 00:08:28.260 align:middle line:84% what your personal experience might be, and yes, the stories 00:08:28.260 --> 00:08:33.195 align:middle line:84% you read and we're told that make you a unique human being. 00:08:33.195 --> 00:08:35.820 align:middle line:84% Of course, there are some people who couldn't tell a good story 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:37.470 align:middle line:90% if their life depended on it. 00:08:37.470 --> 00:08:40.380 align:middle line:84% And unfortunately someday, it might. 00:08:40.380 --> 00:08:42.809 align:middle line:84% Of course, there are people who may not even be writers, 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:46.760 align:middle line:84% but they're great storytellers, and what's the difference? 00:08:46.760 --> 00:08:49.020 align:middle line:84% Why can some people charm you, and others bore you 00:08:49.020 --> 00:08:51.320 align:middle line:90% or even repel or disgust you? 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:53.475 align:middle line:84% What you needed to be a good writer. 00:08:53.475 --> 00:08:55.100 align:middle line:84% Well, I think there are six things that 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:58.890 align:middle line:84% are needed to be a good writer, you have to be curious, 00:08:58.890 --> 00:09:02.030 align:middle line:84% you have to be observant about what's going on around you, 00:09:02.030 --> 00:09:04.190 align:middle line:84% you have to have a work ethic, you 00:09:04.190 --> 00:09:06.470 align:middle line:84% have to have attention to craft, you 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:09.487 align:middle line:90% have to have talent and luck. 00:09:09.487 --> 00:09:11.570 align:middle line:84% And of all the six attributes of a writer than one 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:14.860 align:middle line:84% that is indispensable, this talent, 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:17.470 align:middle line:84% if you just look at what gets published 00:09:17.470 --> 00:09:20.020 align:middle line:84% and what's on the "New York Times" bestseller's list, 00:09:20.020 --> 00:09:22.150 align:middle line:90% you can see that's true. 00:09:22.150 --> 00:09:25.930 align:middle line:84% The one that you can't do without is luck. 00:09:25.930 --> 00:09:32.060 align:middle line:84% Willie Nelson was once asked about how much talent 00:09:32.060 --> 00:09:35.750 align:middle line:84% it took for him to write all of the songs that he wrote. 00:09:35.750 --> 00:09:38.490 align:middle line:84% And he said, it takes very little talent. 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:40.890 align:middle line:84% He said, I'd rather have a little luck than all 00:09:40.890 --> 00:09:44.100 align:middle line:90% of the talent in the world. 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:46.460 align:middle line:84% And what do I intend with my writing? 00:09:46.460 --> 00:09:48.480 align:middle line:84% Well, first of all, I'm a storyteller. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.230 align:middle line:84% So I want to entertain first, and of course, there 00:09:51.230 --> 00:09:54.410 align:middle line:84% are always layers of meanings to the stories that I tell, 00:09:54.410 --> 00:09:57.020 align:middle line:84% but if a reader only gets him likes the main story, that's 00:09:57.020 --> 00:09:58.310 align:middle line:90% fine. 00:09:58.310 --> 00:10:01.670 align:middle line:84% If some reader sees something deeper, then I'm glad. 00:10:01.670 --> 00:10:04.700 align:middle line:84% If I have given someone insights into another world, 00:10:04.700 --> 00:10:06.230 align:middle line:90% then I'm happy. 00:10:06.230 --> 00:10:08.810 align:middle line:84% And I am the luckiest person in the world because I 00:10:08.810 --> 00:10:12.020 align:middle line:84% get to do what I love for a living, I get to teach, 00:10:12.020 --> 00:10:13.960 align:middle line:90% and I get to write.