WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.840 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:09.580 align:middle line:84% And then the last piece I chose for the land, of course, 00:00:09.580 --> 00:00:14.010 align:middle line:84% has to do-- continuing to do with water. 00:00:14.010 --> 00:00:20.910 align:middle line:84% And this is an unpublished piece at this time. 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:24.000 align:middle line:84% And I called it "Blessings for Water." 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.590 align:middle line:90% "Blessings for Water." 00:00:25.590 --> 00:00:27.570 align:middle line:84% And I end the piece-- and I just want 00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:33.510 align:middle line:84% to comment on the last line, because for some people, 00:00:33.510 --> 00:00:34.590 align:middle line:90% it does need a context. 00:00:34.590 --> 00:00:37.840 align:middle line:90% 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.650 align:middle line:84% There's a woman who's also, actually, 00:00:40.650 --> 00:00:51.810 align:middle line:84% a MacArthur Fellow, Jesse Little Doe Baird, from Massachusetts. 00:00:51.810 --> 00:00:59.940 align:middle line:84% And she almost single-handedly brought their language 00:00:59.940 --> 00:01:06.360 align:middle line:84% back to life after it hadn't been spoken for over 100 years. 00:01:06.360 --> 00:01:11.550 align:middle line:84% And she used an early-- very early, I think from the 1600s-- 00:01:11.550 --> 00:01:17.310 align:middle line:84% a translation of a Bible, the Saint James Bible. 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:20.400 align:middle line:84% And I remember visiting her at her home 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.710 align:middle line:84% when she was working on this language 00:01:22.710 --> 00:01:24.690 align:middle line:90% revitalization project. 00:01:24.690 --> 00:01:28.320 align:middle line:84% And this Bible-- she had a copy of it, and it's very thick. 00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:32.830 align:middle line:84% And it was on her kitchen table open, 00:01:32.830 --> 00:01:37.620 align:middle line:84% and probably nearly every page or every other page 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:41.670 align:middle line:84% was flagged with a little colored piece of paper. 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:44.070 align:middle line:84% And when I just glanced at it, it sort of 00:01:44.070 --> 00:01:46.290 align:middle line:90% looked like a butterfly. 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:50.790 align:middle line:84% And when I was asked to write a letter about her 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:55.410 align:middle line:84% for the MacArthur Foundation, I described 00:01:55.410 --> 00:02:00.480 align:middle line:84% you know her work, that the book itself looked like a butterfly, 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.330 align:middle line:84% but the work itself was a butterfly. 00:02:04.330 --> 00:02:08.910 align:middle line:84% So the last line is in reference to this woman. 00:02:08.910 --> 00:02:11.730 align:middle line:90% "Blessings for Water." 00:02:11.730 --> 00:02:15.370 align:middle line:84% "I've touched the waters of the White River in Eastern Arizona, 00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:19.350 align:middle line:84% and I've put my foot in the slow currents of the San Pedro. 00:02:19.350 --> 00:02:23.730 align:middle line:84% I've felt the icy flow of the Merced River in Yosemite. 00:02:23.730 --> 00:02:25.950 align:middle line:84% I've ridden the wave of the Colorado 00:02:25.950 --> 00:02:27.690 align:middle line:90% and rested on its flows. 00:02:27.690 --> 00:02:31.740 align:middle line:84% I've seen the Rio Grande run rapids in the North and meander 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.140 align:middle line:84% through the flats of southern New Mexico, 00:02:34.140 --> 00:02:37.620 align:middle line:84% where whooping cranes rest on their way home. 00:02:37.620 --> 00:02:41.550 align:middle line:84% I've lived in a place called Red River, where there is no river, 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:44.580 align:middle line:90% but named for a movie instead. 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:48.660 align:middle line:84% I've lived near the Rillito River, a river named twice, 00:02:48.660 --> 00:02:53.340 align:middle line:84% a river that can flow with the best during rainy winters 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:58.530 align:middle line:84% and rich summer monsoons, a dry riverbed most of the year, 00:02:58.530 --> 00:03:02.670 align:middle line:84% harboring the dreams and debris of homelessness. 00:03:02.670 --> 00:03:06.390 align:middle line:84% For the larger bodies of water, we must pray at their feet 00:03:06.390 --> 00:03:08.100 align:middle line:90% and give gifts. 00:03:08.100 --> 00:03:11.310 align:middle line:84% I have done so, and record them here. 00:03:11.310 --> 00:03:14.280 align:middle line:84% I have offered blessings at the Pacific Ocean 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:18.120 align:middle line:84% in San Diego, Los Angeles, La Jolla, Venice, 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:22.230 align:middle line:84% and Ventura Beach, with vacationers and Frisbee-chasing 00:03:22.230 --> 00:03:24.480 align:middle line:90% dogs as witnesses. 00:03:24.480 --> 00:03:27.090 align:middle line:84% I've offered prayer at a dry, hot desert 00:03:27.090 --> 00:03:31.710 align:middle line:84% beach at the Gulf of Mexico, with only Mexican fishermen 00:03:31.710 --> 00:03:35.040 align:middle line:90% caring for nets as alibis. 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:39.690 align:middle line:84% I have humbled myself on the black beaches of Hilo, Hawaii, 00:03:39.690 --> 00:03:42.720 align:middle line:84% and another time at Waikiki, oblivious 00:03:42.720 --> 00:03:45.840 align:middle line:90% to bronzed bodies and surfers. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:50.220 align:middle line:84% I've offered blessings only once at the Atlantic Ocean, 00:03:50.220 --> 00:03:53.340 align:middle line:84% at Martha's Vineyard, with the woman who 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:56.680 align:middle line:90% shook her language from sleep." 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.180 align:middle line:90% So that's the water.