WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.540 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:06.330 align:middle line:84% I'd like to read next a poem about one of my grandmothers. 00:00:06.330 --> 00:00:10.140 align:middle line:84% I've written a long poem called "Both My Grandmothers" 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:14.640 align:middle line:84% and one of whom came from Poland, the other from Russia. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:17.745 align:middle line:84% And this is the story of my Polish grandma. 00:00:17.745 --> 00:00:21.990 align:middle line:90% 00:00:21.990 --> 00:00:28.590 align:middle line:84% Grandma and the children left at night, it was forbidden to go. 00:00:28.590 --> 00:00:31.890 align:middle line:84% In those days, the Tsar and his Cossacks 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:36.480 align:middle line:84% rode through the town at whim killing Jews and setting fire 00:00:36.480 --> 00:00:38.250 align:middle line:90% to straw roofs. 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:41.610 align:middle line:84% While just down the road, the local pols 00:00:41.610 --> 00:00:45.360 align:middle line:84% sat laughing as they drank liquor. 00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:47.940 align:middle line:84% Grandpa had gone to America first 00:00:47.940 --> 00:00:50.070 align:middle line:84% and earned the money for the rest of the family 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:51.420 align:middle line:90% to come over. 00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:54.390 align:middle line:84% So they left finally, the whole brood of them 00:00:54.390 --> 00:00:58.620 align:middle line:84% with a hired agent running the show, an impatient man. 00:00:58.620 --> 00:01:02.700 align:middle line:84% And there were so many kids and the bundles kept falling apart 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:05.790 align:middle line:84% and poor grandma was frightened of him. 00:01:05.790 --> 00:01:08.940 align:middle line:84% She gave the man all the money, but she couldn't round up 00:01:08.940 --> 00:01:12.210 align:middle line:84% the kids fast enough for him, they were children after all 00:01:12.210 --> 00:01:13.590 align:middle line:90% and didn't understand. 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:17.460 align:middle line:84% And she was so stupid and clumsy herself carrying food 00:01:17.460 --> 00:01:19.470 align:middle line:84% for all of them and their clothes 00:01:19.470 --> 00:01:21.990 align:middle line:84% and could she leave behind her pots. 00:01:21.990 --> 00:01:24.270 align:middle line:84% Her legs hurt already, they were always 00:01:24.270 --> 00:01:29.130 align:middle line:84% swollen from the hard work, the child bearing, and the cold. 00:01:29.130 --> 00:01:30.690 align:middle line:84% They caught the train and there was 00:01:30.690 --> 00:01:33.120 align:middle line:84% a terrible moment when the conductor came 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:34.710 align:middle line:90% by for the tickets. 00:01:34.710 --> 00:01:37.860 align:middle line:84% The children mustn't speak or he would know they were Jewish, 00:01:37.860 --> 00:01:41.070 align:middle line:84% they had no permits to travel, Jews weren't allowed. 00:01:41.070 --> 00:01:43.170 align:middle line:84% But the agent knew how to handle it, 00:01:43.170 --> 00:01:48.180 align:middle line:84% everybody got smeared, that means money got you everywhere. 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:52.440 align:middle line:84% The border was the worst, they had to sneak across at night, 00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:56.130 align:middle line:84% the children mustn't make a sound, not even the babies. 00:01:56.130 --> 00:01:59.670 align:middle line:84% Mama was six and she didn't want to do anything wrong, 00:01:59.670 --> 00:02:02.320 align:middle line:90% but she wasn't sure what to do. 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:04.140 align:middle line:84% The man led them through the woods 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:07.680 align:middle line:84% and beyond they could hear dogs barking from the sentry hut 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.570 align:middle line:84% and then they had to run all of them 00:02:09.570 --> 00:02:11.910 align:middle line:84% down the ravine to the other side. 00:02:11.910 --> 00:02:14.430 align:middle line:84% Grandma broken down from child-bearing 00:02:14.430 --> 00:02:17.820 align:middle line:84% with her bundles and bad legs, and a baby in her arms. 00:02:17.820 --> 00:02:21.210 align:middle line:84% They ran all the children across the border or the guards 00:02:21.210 --> 00:02:22.450 align:middle line:90% might shoot them. 00:02:22.450 --> 00:02:24.450 align:middle line:84% And if the little ones cried, the agent 00:02:24.450 --> 00:02:26.580 align:middle line:90% said he would smother them. 00:02:26.580 --> 00:02:29.400 align:middle line:84% They got to a port finally, grandpa 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:32.190 align:middle line:84% had arranged for cabin passage not steerage, 00:02:32.190 --> 00:02:34.950 align:middle line:84% but the agent cheated and put them in the hold, 00:02:34.950 --> 00:02:38.790 align:middle line:84% so they were on this low deck looking up at the rich people. 00:02:38.790 --> 00:02:42.630 align:middle line:84% My mama told me her grandma took care of all her children. 00:02:42.630 --> 00:02:46.890 align:middle line:84% How Jake didn't move anymore, he was so seasick maybe even dead. 00:02:46.890 --> 00:02:48.660 align:middle line:84% And if people thought he was dead, 00:02:48.660 --> 00:02:52.860 align:middle line:84% they would throw him overboard like garbage, so she hit him. 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:56.010 align:middle line:84% The rich tossed down oranges to the poor children. 00:02:56.010 --> 00:02:59.550 align:middle line:84% My mama had never had one before. 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:03.930 align:middle line:84% They came to New York to the tenements, a fearful new place, 00:03:03.930 --> 00:03:06.750 align:middle line:84% a city, country, people in the city. 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:09.300 align:middle line:84% My mama who had been roly-poly and slow 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:13.080 align:middle line:84% Poland got skinny and pimply and zippy New York. 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:17.550 align:middle line:84% Everybody grew up in a new way and now my grandma is dead, 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:21.510 align:middle line:84% and my mom is old, and we her children are all 00:03:21.510 --> 00:03:25.050 align:middle line:84% scattered over the Earth speaking a different language 00:03:25.050 --> 00:03:28.290 align:middle line:84% and forgetting why it was so important to go 00:03:28.290 --> 00:03:30.930 align:middle line:90% to a new country? 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:34.280 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:39.000 align:middle line:90%