WEBVTT

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And this other piece is
about a woman friend of mine

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who retired from
our campus, and was

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my partner in our department
for the whole time she was here,

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and we were very close.

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We would call each
other sisters,

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and we would take
time out of our day

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to visit as two Indian
women would, just to visit.

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And it would enable us to
continue with the full day

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of students and other things.

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But one thing that I
liked about her teaching

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was that she would always tell
a little story before she would

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start her lecture or her class.

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And I loved that
part of her classes--

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because sometimes I
would sit in with her.

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And one time, she had
not been feeling well,

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and she told her a little story
to us and the students that--

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what her grandmother used
to tell her about what

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you do when you're sick.

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And she told that
to the students.

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And again, it stayed with
me, and after a while,

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I wrote it down--

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what she said, and then
some other things as well.

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But most of it is actually true.

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The linguistics
department on our campus,

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for those who are not
familiar, is closer

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to the west end of campus.

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The other part of
campus that I refer

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to as the main library, which
is at the other end of campus,

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was kind of a walk
away from our building.

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And so it's about this space
that she's talking about.

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And the piece is called "The
Way to Leave Your Illness."

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"The Way to Leave Your Illness."

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"'If you have an illness that
won't go away, take a journey.

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When you get there, leave it.

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Place it on a rock.

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Throw it into moving water.

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Bury it.

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Throw it into the wind.

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Let it go.

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Leave it there for others.'

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She had been sick for many
days and her frustration.

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She remembered what her
grandmother used to say--

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'take it far away
and leave it there.'

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She walked to the other end
of campus, toward the library.

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In her mind, she left the
discomfort, ache, pain there.

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She walked back
comforted, knowing she

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didn't bring it back with her.

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Her illness is now
hidden in the stacks.

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Perhaps it is temporarily
in periodicals,

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or archived in
special collections,

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or perhaps in fiction
and no longer real."

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So that's the [? women. ?]
Thank you very much.

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[APPLAUSE]