WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.920 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:09.190 align:middle line:90% So this was "The Grief of Rumi." 00:00:09.190 --> 00:00:10.720 align:middle line:90% I'll do a sequel in a second. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.180 align:middle line:84% But I really wanted to read to you a little bit. 00:00:13.180 --> 00:00:14.680 align:middle line:84% We were talking about in the class 00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:16.120 align:middle line:84% that I visited earlier today-- we 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.610 align:middle line:84% were talking about writing in different genres 00:00:18.610 --> 00:00:21.190 align:middle line:84% and writing in fiction or writing in poetry. 00:00:21.190 --> 00:00:27.280 align:middle line:84% And I don't even know, kind of, that stupid difference. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:32.490 align:middle line:90% 00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:35.000 align:middle line:84% So this is just a book that I wrote called 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.130 align:middle line:90% The Disappearance of Seth. 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:48.310 align:middle line:84% And it's about this guy named Seth who disappears. 00:00:48.310 --> 00:00:52.010 align:middle line:90% 00:00:52.010 --> 00:00:55.750 align:middle line:84% So anyhow, I'll just read this short little-- 00:00:55.750 --> 00:00:57.370 align:middle line:84% it moves, it skips back, it's how 00:00:57.370 --> 00:01:00.340 align:middle line:90% it tries to tell the story of-- 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:02.740 align:middle line:84% it tries to tell the story of New York 00:01:02.740 --> 00:01:05.552 align:middle line:84% City after September 11 but before the war in Iraq starts. 00:01:05.552 --> 00:01:07.510 align:middle line:84% And it tells it through these seven characters, 00:01:07.510 --> 00:01:08.470 align:middle line:90% including Seth. 00:01:08.470 --> 00:01:09.940 align:middle line:84% And it tells it in bits and pieces 00:01:09.940 --> 00:01:12.950 align:middle line:84% and continues to move backward through time. 00:01:12.950 --> 00:01:16.630 align:middle line:84% So this is from page 94 of the book. 00:01:16.630 --> 00:01:20.530 align:middle line:84% But it's a scene that happens before the action in the book 00:01:20.530 --> 00:01:21.610 align:middle line:90% ever even starts. 00:01:21.610 --> 00:01:24.320 align:middle line:84% And so it's not only a flashback but it's a deep flashback. 00:01:24.320 --> 00:01:25.930 align:middle line:90% So I'll just read it to you. 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:27.010 align:middle line:90% Whatever. 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:29.600 align:middle line:84% It's an excit-- it's a cliff-hanging ending anyway. 00:01:29.600 --> 00:01:32.440 align:middle line:84% So you must forgive me for that, but you will just 00:01:32.440 --> 00:01:35.590 align:middle line:84% have to buy the book to read and figure out what happened. 00:01:35.590 --> 00:01:37.750 align:middle line:90% "In the dark, Seth moves faster. 00:01:37.750 --> 00:01:39.760 align:middle line:90% He loves not to be seen. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.070 align:middle line:84% Always with Zel, he would turn out the lights. 00:01:42.070 --> 00:01:45.350 align:middle line:84% She would want them on, want to watch him, look at him. 00:01:45.350 --> 00:01:47.410 align:middle line:84% But he was always turning out the lights. 00:01:47.410 --> 00:01:50.410 align:middle line:84% In the dark, he would pretend to be an animal. 00:01:50.410 --> 00:01:54.160 align:middle line:84% He would growl and run his teeth up and down her arms and legs. 00:01:54.160 --> 00:01:56.320 align:middle line:84% He had thought about calling her after 00:01:56.320 --> 00:01:58.600 align:middle line:84% but couldn't think of a single thing to say. 00:01:58.600 --> 00:02:01.180 align:middle line:84% The green tree is dark black in the night. 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:04.330 align:middle line:84% The leaves, smokey and dry, curling up to scatter. 00:02:04.330 --> 00:02:07.120 align:middle line:84% It had been nearly a month that he hadn't called her. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.800 align:middle line:84% Passing the subway station on his way 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:10.810 align:middle line:84% to a friend's place he was staying at, 00:02:10.810 --> 00:02:13.030 align:middle line:84% he suddenly caught sight of the poster. 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:14.950 align:middle line:84% He had planned to call her immediately, 00:02:14.950 --> 00:02:18.550 align:middle line:84% the day after, the morning after, but was too angry. 00:02:18.550 --> 00:02:20.470 align:middle line:90% He had nothing to say. 00:02:20.470 --> 00:02:22.480 align:middle line:84% The poster read "Have you seen Seth? 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:23.830 align:middle line:90% 22 years old. 00:02:23.830 --> 00:02:25.360 align:middle line:90% 5'7". 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:27.100 align:middle line:90% 120 pounds. 00:02:27.100 --> 00:02:27.970 align:middle line:90% Caucasian. 00:02:27.970 --> 00:02:28.930 align:middle line:90% Long, brown hair. 00:02:28.930 --> 00:02:32.950 align:middle line:84% Worked at Windows on the World as line cook, breakfast shift. 00:02:32.950 --> 00:02:34.180 align:middle line:90% Please call." 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:37.420 align:middle line:84% No photograph of him, of course, because no one in New York 00:02:37.420 --> 00:02:38.740 align:middle line:90% would have one of him. 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:40.900 align:middle line:84% No one would recognize him now anyhow. 00:02:40.900 --> 00:02:43.930 align:middle line:84% His hair completely in dreadlocks, a full beard 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:45.220 align:middle line:90% on his chin. 00:02:45.220 --> 00:02:47.680 align:middle line:90% So he was missing to someone. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:50.980 align:middle line:84% He recognized the phone number at the bottom of the poster-- 00:02:50.980 --> 00:02:52.270 align:middle line:90% Zel. 00:02:52.270 --> 00:02:55.120 align:middle line:84% All the silence disappearing into weeks, 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:56.830 align:middle line:90% into colder months-- 00:02:56.830 --> 00:02:59.320 align:middle line:90% the cinders floating in the air. 00:02:59.320 --> 00:03:01.480 align:middle line:84% Seth crosses the street, walking quickly now, 00:03:01.480 --> 00:03:04.030 align:middle line:84% feeling like a dead man suddenly negotiating 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:05.620 align:middle line:90% the broken sidewalk. 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:09.550 align:middle line:84% He hadn't been reborn, hadn't been heroic in any way. 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:11.470 align:middle line:90% He had missed the train. 00:03:11.470 --> 00:03:14.420 align:middle line:84% And though there was a person in the place who cared about him, 00:03:14.420 --> 00:03:16.150 align:middle line:90% he hadn't called. 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:19.300 align:middle line:84% Angrier, he noticed a group of young men sitting on a stoop, 00:03:19.300 --> 00:03:20.780 align:middle line:90% circled in cigarette smoke. 00:03:20.780 --> 00:03:21.280 align:middle line:90% "Hey!" 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.590 align:middle line:84% One of them yells at him as he gets closer. 00:03:23.590 --> 00:03:25.090 align:middle line:90% Seth keeps walking. 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:26.770 align:middle line:90% "Hey, he's talking to you." 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:30.340 align:middle line:84% Seth is passing the men now, heat blossoming on his arms, 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:31.510 align:middle line:90% on his face. 00:03:31.510 --> 00:03:34.750 align:middle line:84% One kid jumps down off the stoop and blocks his way. 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:37.390 align:middle line:84% "Hey, fucking raghead sand nigger." 00:03:37.390 --> 00:03:42.070 align:middle line:84% "Fuck off," snarls Seth, shoving the boy aside with a stiff arm 00:03:42.070 --> 00:03:43.780 align:middle line:90% as he tries to continue. 00:03:43.780 --> 00:03:47.020 align:middle line:84% Seth, sick to his stomach, remembers the first time 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:50.470 align:middle line:84% he punched a boy in the face when he was 11 years old. 00:03:50.470 --> 00:03:52.508 align:middle line:84% They were studying the Middle East in school 00:03:52.508 --> 00:03:54.550 align:middle line:84% and Seth had brought a book from home with Hebrew 00:03:54.550 --> 00:03:58.510 align:middle line:84% writing in it and a rough black canvas cover. 00:03:58.510 --> 00:04:00.730 align:middle line:84% One of the other boys who had usually teased him 00:04:00.730 --> 00:04:03.850 align:middle line:84% knocked the book from his hands and onto the floor. 00:04:03.850 --> 00:04:05.560 align:middle line:84% At home, Seth's father had taught him 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:08.650 align:middle line:84% never to even place a book backwards on a table 00:04:08.650 --> 00:04:11.110 align:middle line:90% or upside down on a shelf. 00:04:11.110 --> 00:04:13.630 align:middle line:84% And that any book written any Hebrew script was sacred. 00:04:13.630 --> 00:04:15.400 align:middle line:84% He picked up the book with trembling hands 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.320 align:middle line:84% and placed it carefully on his desk. 00:04:17.320 --> 00:04:19.570 align:middle line:84% Then he turned around to face the bigger boy who 00:04:19.570 --> 00:04:21.070 align:middle line:90% was still laughing at him. 00:04:21.070 --> 00:04:22.840 align:middle line:84% "Let's see you how you like it," Seth 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:24.880 align:middle line:84% said fiercely and slammed the boy's face 00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:27.040 align:middle line:90% with the heel of his open hands. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:29.080 align:middle line:84% Then without looking, he ran from the classroom 00:04:29.080 --> 00:04:31.900 align:middle line:84% down the hall into the bathroom where he sat down on the floor 00:04:31.900 --> 00:04:33.500 align:middle line:90% and cried." 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:34.000 align:middle line:90%