WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.326 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.326 --> 00:00:05.730 align:middle line:84%
I'm going to end
with a poem that

00:00:05.730 --> 00:00:10.440 align:middle line:84%
is inspired by the meteorite
at the Natural History Museum

00:00:10.440 --> 00:00:14.927 align:middle line:84%
in New York, the
Willamette meteorite.

00:00:14.927 --> 00:00:16.094 align:middle line:90%
This is dedicated to Martha.

00:00:16.094 --> 00:00:20.230 align:middle line:90%


00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:23.110 align:middle line:84%
I haven't even gotten
over to see the meteorites

00:00:23.110 --> 00:00:25.340 align:middle line:90%
at the Flandrau Science Center.

00:00:25.340 --> 00:00:26.340 align:middle line:90%
I can't wait though.

00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:28.690 align:middle line:90%
There's so much to do here.

00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:31.000 align:middle line:90%
It's incredible.

00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.870 align:middle line:84%
This is like a university
that has everything that I

00:00:34.870 --> 00:00:36.400 align:middle line:90%
just always want, right nearby.

00:00:36.400 --> 00:00:37.743 align:middle line:90%
It's incredible.

00:00:37.743 --> 00:00:39.535 align:middle line:84%
And everything's like
flat, and manageable.

00:00:39.535 --> 00:00:40.430 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:00:40.430 --> 00:00:43.600 align:middle line:84%
And it's just such
an incredible place.

00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.630 align:middle line:84%
You guys are so
lucky to live here.

00:00:46.630 --> 00:00:49.780 align:middle line:84%
So I'm going to close
with this poem that

00:00:49.780 --> 00:00:54.100 align:middle line:84%
comes from an audience
with this meteorite.

00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:58.303 align:middle line:90%


00:00:58.303 --> 00:01:04.110 align:middle line:84%
"Willamette Meteorite, Rose
Center for Earth and Space."

00:01:04.110 --> 00:01:07.440 align:middle line:84%
"All day, children,
they touch me

00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:11.190 align:middle line:84%
without stopping their
questions and chatter.

00:01:11.190 --> 00:01:14.370 align:middle line:84%
They touch me and
their questions stop.

00:01:14.370 --> 00:01:17.730 align:middle line:84%
Their hands, all day
inside these cavities,

00:01:17.730 --> 00:01:21.960 align:middle line:84%
and for a moment they are
silent, annulus of a wave.

00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:24.300 align:middle line:90%
Then their voices begin again.

00:01:24.300 --> 00:01:26.730 align:middle line:84%
I am a shattered
remnant of a planet--

00:01:26.730 --> 00:01:29.490 align:middle line:90%
nickel iron core of a planet.

00:01:29.490 --> 00:01:31.860 align:middle line:90%
Here I have length and height.

00:01:31.860 --> 00:01:33.030 align:middle line:90%
I have weight--

00:01:33.030 --> 00:01:35.580 align:middle line:90%
15.5 tons.

00:01:35.580 --> 00:01:38.250 align:middle line:90%
Here I am a specimen.

00:01:38.250 --> 00:01:40.110 align:middle line:90%
I am rare and important.

00:01:40.110 --> 00:01:42.600 align:middle line:84%
I should say, metallic
iron meteorites

00:01:42.600 --> 00:01:45.450 align:middle line:90%
are a relatively rare kind here.

00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:49.860 align:middle line:84%
Imagine traveling this
far and for so long.

00:01:49.860 --> 00:01:52.500 align:middle line:84%
First, the main
shock of shattering,

00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:57.750 align:middle line:84%
then two subsequent shocks,
one of which knocked me here.

00:01:57.750 --> 00:02:00.450 align:middle line:84%
I'm among the largest
meteorites found.

00:02:00.450 --> 00:02:03.390 align:middle line:84%
Of what was never found,
I am not the largest--

00:02:03.390 --> 00:02:05.700 align:middle line:90%
not the smallest either.

00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:06.960 align:middle line:90%
These cavities?

00:02:06.960 --> 00:02:10.050 align:middle line:84%
Don't think that's some
kind of outer space thing.

00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:12.990 align:middle line:84%
That's local rain
and oxygen that

00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:16.620 align:middle line:84%
came from sitting in
one place, exposed.

00:02:16.620 --> 00:02:19.020 align:middle line:84%
The first ones dipped
their arrowheads

00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:21.720 align:middle line:84%
in the water collecting
in my crevices.

00:02:21.720 --> 00:02:25.470 align:middle line:84%
They'd drink it, spoon
it into their sick.

00:02:25.470 --> 00:02:30.990 align:middle line:84%
Of course it changes them,
makes them more like themselves.

00:02:30.990 --> 00:02:33.570 align:middle line:90%
Once, I never stopped moving.

00:02:33.570 --> 00:02:36.090 align:middle line:84%
I didn't have these
edges or anything

00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:37.980 align:middle line:90%
that might provoke a name.

00:02:37.980 --> 00:02:41.670 align:middle line:84%
It was pure
contiguity, then fire.

00:02:41.670 --> 00:02:45.180 align:middle line:84%
One day, a tiny dog
wriggled from a handbag--

00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:48.120 align:middle line:90%
cold salt nose.

00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:51.990 align:middle line:84%
And before anyone could
see, he peed on me.

00:02:51.990 --> 00:02:53.850 align:middle line:90%
I liked it, actually.

00:02:53.850 --> 00:02:58.140 align:middle line:90%
Otherwise, no rain, no fire.

00:02:58.140 --> 00:03:00.390 align:middle line:84%
Why do you insist
we are different?

00:03:00.390 --> 00:03:04.200 align:middle line:84%
Here, put your cheek,
put your hand here,

00:03:04.200 --> 00:03:07.170 align:middle line:90%
just above the solid part.

00:03:07.170 --> 00:03:10.440 align:middle line:90%
Float it there without touching.

00:03:10.440 --> 00:03:15.750 align:middle line:84%
Do you feel that hum in
the sponge of your bones?"

00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:17.490 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:20.540 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:03:20.540 --> 00:03:27.000 align:middle line:90%