WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.930 --> 00:00:07.440 align:middle line:84% So I think I'm going to go ahead and share 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.960 align:middle line:90% a couple of new things. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.350 align:middle line:84% I told Larry when we started talking 00:00:13.350 --> 00:00:16.140 align:middle line:84% about this topic of this seminar-- 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:17.760 align:middle line:84% a little bit later, though, I told him 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:24.630 align:middle line:84% that I had already been working on some pieces that 00:00:24.630 --> 00:00:27.000 align:middle line:90% actually had to do with water. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:32.729 align:middle line:84% So it was fortuitous that we ended up dealing 00:00:32.729 --> 00:00:35.280 align:middle line:90% with this topic this semester. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:41.310 align:middle line:84% So I was certainly motivated to finish some of the pieces 00:00:41.310 --> 00:00:46.425 align:middle line:84% that I had started a while back because of this class. 00:00:46.425 --> 00:00:49.710 align:middle line:90% 00:00:49.710 --> 00:00:52.170 align:middle line:84% And this one's called "Blessings for Water." 00:00:52.170 --> 00:00:55.740 align:middle line:90% 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:59.220 align:middle line:84% In class today we were talking about-- 00:00:59.220 --> 00:01:03.630 align:middle line:84% one of the students asked about some of my poems 00:01:03.630 --> 00:01:05.340 align:middle line:84% where he thought that they seemed 00:01:05.340 --> 00:01:10.590 align:middle line:84% like they were teaching you something, or informing 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:12.450 align:middle line:90% you something. 00:01:12.450 --> 00:01:15.030 align:middle line:84% And I told them, there are some pieces 00:01:15.030 --> 00:01:18.900 align:middle line:84% that I tended to think about that way to share information, 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:22.620 align:middle line:84% that perhaps others will gain something from it, 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:25.500 align:middle line:84% say, about O'odham history or O'odham practices. 00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:30.600 align:middle line:84% Nothing too deep, but light things. 00:01:30.600 --> 00:01:34.485 align:middle line:84% And I mentioned in class about the idea of going to the ocean 00:01:34.485 --> 00:01:37.650 align:middle line:84% and when you go to the ocean, you always greet the ocean 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:40.240 align:middle line:90% before you do anything else. 00:01:40.240 --> 00:01:44.370 align:middle line:84% And a lot of young O'odham, when they read that, they ask, 00:01:44.370 --> 00:01:45.270 align:middle line:90% is that true? 00:01:45.270 --> 00:01:48.390 align:middle line:84% And we say, yes, or, ask your grandma, and they say, 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:49.830 align:middle line:90% yeah, it is true. 00:01:49.830 --> 00:01:53.730 align:middle line:84% And so they will pick up that practice 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:56.790 align:middle line:84% and do it the next time they go to SeaWorld. 00:01:56.790 --> 00:02:00.150 align:middle line:84% They go they go greet the ocean before they go there 00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:05.010 align:middle line:84% you know Disneyland or whatever entertainment 00:02:05.010 --> 00:02:06.840 align:middle line:90% they went to California for. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:10.470 align:middle line:90% 00:02:10.470 --> 00:02:14.280 align:middle line:84% But anyway, so that's why this piece is 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:18.960 align:middle line:90% called "Blessings for Water." 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:25.800 align:middle line:84% And so again, it's a little bit of a list, at least for me. 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:30.250 align:middle line:90% 00:02:30.250 --> 00:02:34.900 align:middle line:84% "I've touched the water of the White River of eastern Arizona. 00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:38.890 align:middle line:84% I've put my foot in the slow currents of the San Pedro 00:02:38.890 --> 00:02:42.040 align:middle line:90% in Patagonia, Arizona. 00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:47.440 align:middle line:84% I've felt the icy flow of the Merced River in Yosemite. 00:02:47.440 --> 00:02:50.110 align:middle line:84% I've ridden the waves of the Colorado 00:02:50.110 --> 00:02:52.840 align:middle line:90% and rested on its flows. 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:57.700 align:middle line:84% I've seen the Rio Grande run rapids in the North and meander 00:02:57.700 --> 00:03:00.520 align:middle line:84% through the flat of southern New Mexico, 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:04.840 align:middle line:84% where whooping cranes rest on their way home. 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:08.950 align:middle line:84% I've lived in a place called Red River, where there is no Red 00:03:08.950 --> 00:03:12.220 align:middle line:90% River, but named for a movie. 00:03:12.220 --> 00:03:16.990 align:middle line:84% I've lived near the Rillito River, a river named twice, 00:03:16.990 --> 00:03:20.860 align:middle line:84% a river that can flow with the best during rainy winters 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:23.530 align:middle line:90% and rich summer monsoons. 00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:28.030 align:middle line:84% The Rillito, dry riverbed most of the year, 00:03:28.030 --> 00:03:31.840 align:middle line:84% harboring the homeless and those alone. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:36.310 align:middle line:84% As for larger bodies of water, we must pray at their feet 00:03:36.310 --> 00:03:38.200 align:middle line:90% and give gifts. 00:03:38.200 --> 00:03:43.150 align:middle line:84% I've done so, and record them here as documentation. 00:03:43.150 --> 00:03:46.660 align:middle line:84% I have offered blessings at the Pacific Ocean, 00:03:46.660 --> 00:03:50.380 align:middle line:84% in San Diego, Los Angeles, La Jolla, Venice, 00:03:50.380 --> 00:03:53.680 align:middle line:84% and Ventura Beach, always surrounded 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:59.020 align:middle line:84% by vacationers and dogs running along the sand as witnesses. 00:03:59.020 --> 00:04:01.600 align:middle line:84% I've offered prayer at a dry, hot desert 00:04:01.600 --> 00:04:06.370 align:middle line:84% beach in the Gulf of Mexico, with only Mexican fishermen 00:04:06.370 --> 00:04:09.730 align:middle line:90% caring for nets as my alibi. 00:04:09.730 --> 00:04:13.540 align:middle line:84% I've humbled myself at the black beaches of Hilo, 00:04:13.540 --> 00:04:18.040 align:middle line:84% and another time at Waikiki, oblivious to bronzed bodies 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:19.660 align:middle line:90% and surfers. 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:24.280 align:middle line:84% I've offered blessings only once at the Atlantic Ocean, 00:04:24.280 --> 00:04:27.370 align:middle line:84% at Martha's Vineyard, with the woman who 00:04:27.370 --> 00:04:31.440 align:middle line:90% shook her language from sleep." 00:04:31.440 --> 00:04:32.000 align:middle line:90%