WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.380 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.380 --> 00:00:04.200 align:middle line:90% I'll read my North Dakota poem. 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:07.620 align:middle line:90% 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:10.000 align:middle line:84% I don't know how many of you have been to North Dakota, 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.850 align:middle line:90% but it's quite an experience. 00:00:12.850 --> 00:00:14.595 align:middle line:84% It's almost as good as going to Montana. 00:00:14.595 --> 00:00:19.860 align:middle line:90% 00:00:19.860 --> 00:00:23.490 align:middle line:84% The last spring, a friend and I went to the University 00:00:23.490 --> 00:00:24.310 align:middle line:90% of North Dakota. 00:00:24.310 --> 00:00:25.515 align:middle line:90% Which is in Grand Forks. 00:00:25.515 --> 00:00:29.160 align:middle line:90% 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:32.100 align:middle line:84% And it's a long way from Missoula. 00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:35.790 align:middle line:84% You have to go almost all the way across Montana 00:00:35.790 --> 00:00:40.320 align:middle line:84% and then all the way across North Dakota. 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.480 align:middle line:90% And we went over there. 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:44.100 align:middle line:84% He was a novelist and he was going 00:00:44.100 --> 00:00:46.770 align:middle line:84% to talk about writing novels and I was going 00:00:46.770 --> 00:00:49.830 align:middle line:90% to talk about writing poetry. 00:00:49.830 --> 00:00:54.010 align:middle line:90% And we're dismal failures. 00:00:54.010 --> 00:00:57.360 align:middle line:90% 00:00:57.360 --> 00:01:02.460 align:middle line:84% We got everybody mad at us us over there. 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:07.200 align:middle line:84% The guy who was our host finally broke up with his wife 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:09.199 align:middle line:90% as a result of that trip. 00:01:09.199 --> 00:01:14.690 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:14.690 --> 00:01:17.630 align:middle line:84% And the whole English department was mad at us 00:01:17.630 --> 00:01:21.440 align:middle line:84% and the Indian club was mad at us. 00:01:21.440 --> 00:01:23.750 align:middle line:84% We couldn't figure out what we had done because we 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:28.160 align:middle line:90% were both pretty nice guys. 00:01:28.160 --> 00:01:31.190 align:middle line:84% But I don't know, maybe it came as a result of having 00:01:31.190 --> 00:01:34.920 align:middle line:90% to go across North Dakota. 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:40.530 align:middle line:84% Sorry about this poem and it's called "Not in North Dakota You 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:41.030 align:middle line:90% Don't." 00:01:41.030 --> 00:01:45.440 align:middle line:90% 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:50.780 align:middle line:84% "Yes ducks, in North Dakota, redheads, mallards, teal, 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:55.340 align:middle line:84% and that funny black kind, the seagoing crow. 00:01:55.340 --> 00:02:00.410 align:middle line:84% Miles of gray and wind derange our coyote's stare. 00:02:00.410 --> 00:02:03.410 align:middle line:84% He thinks it's noon in Amsterdam. 00:02:03.410 --> 00:02:08.539 align:middle line:84% We tell him Winnipeg is just three hours north. 00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:12.170 align:middle line:84% Crouched over his cold insulin corpse, 00:02:12.170 --> 00:02:16.640 align:middle line:84% that girl who studied science, eats entrails, 00:02:16.640 --> 00:02:22.010 align:middle line:84% tells standard jokes, bowling balls and light bulbs. 00:02:22.010 --> 00:02:25.640 align:middle line:84% Coyote believes Winnipeg is just a name. 00:02:25.640 --> 00:02:28.700 align:middle line:84% We believe coyotes should be shot. 00:02:28.700 --> 00:02:31.310 align:middle line:90% They laugh at the wrong times. 00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:34.850 align:middle line:84% You say their tongues are out of tune. 00:02:34.850 --> 00:02:38.690 align:middle line:84% The best joke of course, Grand Forks. 00:02:38.690 --> 00:02:43.490 align:middle line:84% People so happy they drink at Frenchy's, explain 00:02:43.490 --> 00:02:48.480 align:middle line:84% their occupation and predict the best duck yet to come. 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:52.570 align:middle line:84% So far south, his craw gorges green bananas. 00:02:52.570 --> 00:02:55.610 align:middle line:90% 00:02:55.610 --> 00:02:59.000 align:middle line:84% Coyote thinks we're silly to believe in ducks. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.450 align:middle line:84% Dammit, even Indians think we're wrong. 00:03:02.450 --> 00:03:07.400 align:middle line:84% You know too much and I become the saint they love to hate. 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:12.500 align:middle line:84% It's not my fault I'm alive, but my friend's. 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:15.110 align:middle line:90% Well, it wasn't all bad. 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:17.750 align:middle line:90% We met the wagon wheel walker. 00:03:17.750 --> 00:03:21.500 align:middle line:84% Drank with the best dancing girls in town. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:24.440 align:middle line:90% Learned the way to Winnipeg. 00:03:24.440 --> 00:03:29.360 align:middle line:84% Best of all, that lovely voice fresh from the East 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.130 align:middle line:90% told no jokes. 00:03:31.130 --> 00:03:36.020 align:middle line:84% Welcomed us with laughter that met the wind head on 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:36.860 align:middle line:90% and warmed." 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:50.740 align:middle line:90% 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:53.680 align:middle line:84% Wagon Wheel Walker was our friend. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:57.850 align:middle line:84% We stayed at a motel that had wagon wheels that 00:03:57.850 --> 00:04:00.870 align:middle line:84% lined the paths going to the bar and the restaurant 00:04:00.870 --> 00:04:01.900 align:middle line:90% and that kind of stuff. 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:05.710 align:middle line:84% And one morning, it was probably about 8:30 00:04:05.710 --> 00:04:10.150 align:middle line:84% he decided to walk the wagon wheels. 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:11.620 align:middle line:90% And he didn't make it. 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:13.170 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:13.170 --> 00:04:14.485 align:middle line:90%