WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:05.010 align:middle line:84% Janice made reference to this one. 00:00:05.010 --> 00:00:13.860 align:middle line:84% And I appreciate Janice's very, very thoughtful introduction. 00:00:13.860 --> 00:00:15.360 align:middle line:90% And this is my story. 00:00:15.360 --> 00:00:17.100 align:middle line:90% And it is a true story. 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:22.320 align:middle line:84% As those of you who know them, people and our nation, 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:27.720 align:middle line:84% you know that we are split between two countries. 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:32.280 align:middle line:84% For us, it is always one continuous home. 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.930 align:middle line:84% But an international border split us. 00:00:36.930 --> 00:00:39.510 align:middle line:84% And it didn't used to be a problem. 00:00:39.510 --> 00:00:42.880 align:middle line:90% The problem happened after 9/11. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.680 align:middle line:84% And it has gotten worse since about moving back and forth 00:00:46.680 --> 00:00:52.920 align:middle line:84% between the two, well, back and forth in our homeland 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:55.770 align:middle line:90% basically. 00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:58.560 align:middle line:90% And so I have this problem now. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:01.800 align:middle line:84% I can't go back and forth, because so many of us 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:08.830 align:middle line:84% who were born at home have no documentation of our birth. 00:01:08.830 --> 00:01:10.980 align:middle line:84% And so that has been the problem. 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:16.530 align:middle line:84% And the issue comes up only when I get an invitation 00:01:16.530 --> 00:01:19.390 align:middle line:90% to travel outside the country. 00:01:19.390 --> 00:01:23.830 align:middle line:84% And I don't have a lot of desire to travel outside the country. 00:01:23.830 --> 00:01:28.842 align:middle line:84% But I just think, well, maybe if I went, that would be fine. 00:01:28.842 --> 00:01:31.950 align:middle line:84% And I think without having that documentation, 00:01:31.950 --> 00:01:32.750 align:middle line:90% I think it's fine. 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:35.940 align:middle line:90% I could probably leave. 00:01:35.940 --> 00:01:38.250 align:middle line:90% I just can't come back. 00:01:38.250 --> 00:01:40.110 align:middle line:90% So that's the trick. 00:01:40.110 --> 00:01:41.910 align:middle line:84% So at different points, I have looked 00:01:41.910 --> 00:01:46.170 align:middle line:84% into the possibility of getting some of the documentation I'm 00:01:46.170 --> 00:01:47.340 align:middle line:90% supposed to have. 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:53.350 align:middle line:84% But every time I start on it, I stop and I just tell myself, 00:01:53.350 --> 00:01:55.830 align:middle line:84% I say to myself, and I believe this-- 00:01:55.830 --> 00:02:05.190 align:middle line:84% I don't need papers to really tell me who I am 00:02:05.190 --> 00:02:06.750 align:middle line:90% and where I should be. 00:02:06.750 --> 00:02:12.300 align:middle line:84% So this is that story of my thinking about this 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:17.730 align:middle line:84% and relying on the memories of other people 00:02:17.730 --> 00:02:20.132 align:middle line:84% and trying to account for myself. 00:02:20.132 --> 00:02:22.215 align:middle line:84% And this is the one that's called "Birth Witness." 00:02:22.215 --> 00:02:27.010 align:middle line:90% 00:02:27.010 --> 00:02:30.790 align:middle line:84% "My mother gave birth to me in an old wooden row 00:02:30.790 --> 00:02:33.220 align:middle line:90% house in the cotton fields. 00:02:33.220 --> 00:02:38.020 align:middle line:84% She remembers it was windy, around 1:00 in the afternoon. 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:42.040 align:middle line:84% The tin roof rattled a piece uplifted from the wooden frame, 00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:45.280 align:middle line:84% quivered and flapped as she gave birth. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:49.420 align:middle line:84% She knew it was March a windy afternoon in the cotton 00:02:49.420 --> 00:02:51.790 align:middle line:90% fields of Arizona. 00:02:51.790 --> 00:02:57.310 align:middle line:84% She also used to say I was baptized standing up. 00:02:57.310 --> 00:03:00.790 align:middle line:84% 'It doesn't count,' the woman behind the glass window tells 00:03:00.790 --> 00:03:04.720 align:middle line:84% me, 'if you are not baptized the same year you were born. 00:03:04.720 --> 00:03:10.000 align:middle line:84% The baptismal certificate cannot be used to verify your birth. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.520 align:middle line:90% You need affidavits,' she said. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:15.700 align:middle line:84% 'You older siblings, you have some don't you? 00:03:15.700 --> 00:03:19.900 align:middle line:84% They have to be old enough to have a memory of your birth. 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:22.630 align:middle line:90% Can they vouch for you?' 00:03:22.630 --> 00:03:25.450 align:middle line:84% Who was there to witness my birth? 00:03:25.450 --> 00:03:27.910 align:middle line:90% Who was there with my mother? 00:03:27.910 --> 00:03:29.950 align:middle line:90% Was it my big sister? 00:03:29.950 --> 00:03:32.920 align:middle line:84% Would my mother have allowed a teenager 00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:35.140 align:middle line:90% watch her giving birth? 00:03:35.140 --> 00:03:36.970 align:middle line:90% Was it my father? 00:03:36.970 --> 00:03:40.900 align:middle line:84% I can imagine my father assisting her with her babies. 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:45.400 align:middle line:84% My aunt, who was there when I breathed my first breath, 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.280 align:middle line:84% took in those dried particles from the dry cotton 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:51.190 align:middle line:84% fields, who knew then that I would 00:03:51.190 --> 00:03:54.530 align:middle line:90% need witnesses of my birth. 00:03:54.530 --> 00:03:57.070 align:middle line:90% The stars were there in the sky. 00:03:57.070 --> 00:03:58.840 align:middle line:90% The wind was there. 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.540 align:middle line:84% The sun was there, the pollen of spring 00:04:01.540 --> 00:04:04.750 align:middle line:84% was floating and sensed me being born. 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:07.090 align:middle line:90% They are silent witnesses. 00:04:07.090 --> 00:04:09.760 align:middle line:90% They do not know of affidavits. 00:04:09.760 --> 00:04:11.860 align:middle line:90% They simply know. 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:13.900 align:middle line:90% 'You need records,' she said. 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:17.500 align:middle line:84% 'Are there doctors receipts from when you were a baby? 00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:20.829 align:middle line:84% Didn't your parents have a family Bible, you know, 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:22.990 align:middle line:90% where births are recorded? 00:04:22.990 --> 00:04:27.620 align:middle line:84% Were there letters, announcements of your birth?' 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:30.040 align:middle line:84% I don't bother to explain my parents are 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:32.860 align:middle line:84% illiterate in the English language. 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:34.840 align:middle line:84% What I really want to tell her is 00:04:34.840 --> 00:04:38.680 align:middle line:84% they speak a language much too civil for writing. 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.260 align:middle line:84% It is a language useful for pulling memory 00:04:41.260 --> 00:04:43.030 align:middle line:90% from the depths of the Earth. 00:04:43.030 --> 00:04:46.360 align:middle line:84% It is useful for praying with Earth in the sky. 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.110 align:middle line:84% It is useful for singing songs that pull down the clouds. 00:04:50.110 --> 00:04:52.090 align:middle line:90% It is useful for calling rain. 00:04:52.090 --> 00:04:54.820 align:middle line:84% It is useful for speeches and incantations 00:04:54.820 --> 00:04:58.780 align:middle line:84% that pull sickness from the minds and bodies of believers. 00:04:58.780 --> 00:05:01.870 align:middle line:84% It is a language too civil for writing. 00:05:01.870 --> 00:05:06.670 align:middle line:84% It is too civil for writing minor things like my birth. 00:05:06.670 --> 00:05:09.040 align:middle line:84% This is what I really want to tell her. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:10.840 align:middle line:90% But I don't. 00:05:10.840 --> 00:05:15.130 align:middle line:84% Instead, I take the form she hands me. 00:05:15.130 --> 00:05:17.045 align:middle line:90% I begin to account for myself." 00:05:17.045 --> 00:05:19.837 align:middle line:90% 00:05:19.837 --> 00:05:20.920 align:middle line:90% I still have those papers. 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:24.240 align:middle line:90% [AUDIENCE APPLAUDS] 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:32.000 align:middle line:90%