And this other piece is about a woman friend of mine
who retired from our campus, and was
my partner in our department for the whole time she was here,
and we were very close.
We would call each other sisters,
and we would take time out of our day
to visit as two Indian women would, just to visit.
And it would enable us to continue with the full day
of students and other things.
But one thing that I liked about her teaching
was that she would always tell a little story before she would
start her lecture or her class.
And I loved that part of her classes--
because sometimes I would sit in with her.
And one time, she had not been feeling well,
and she told her a little story to us and the students that--
what her grandmother used to tell her about what
you do when you're sick.
And she told that to the students.
And again, it stayed with me, and after a while,
I wrote it down--
what she said, and then some other things as well.
But most of it is actually true.
The linguistics department on our campus,
for those who are not familiar, is closer
to the west end of campus.
The other part of campus that I refer
to as the main library, which is at the other end of campus,
was kind of a walk away from our building.
And so it's about this space that she's talking about.
And the piece is called "The Way to Leave Your Illness."
"The Way to Leave Your Illness."
"'If you have an illness that won't go away, take a journey.
When you get there, leave it.
Place it on a rock.
Throw it into moving water.
Bury it.
Throw it into the wind.
Let it go.
Leave it there for others.'
She had been sick for many days and her frustration.
She remembered what her grandmother used to say--
'take it far away and leave it there.'
She walked to the other end of campus, toward the library.
In her mind, she left the discomfort, ache, pain there.
She walked back comforted, knowing she
didn't bring it back with her.
Her illness is now hidden in the stacks.
Perhaps it is temporarily in periodicals,
or archived in special collections,
or perhaps in fiction and no longer real."
So that's the [? women. ?] Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]