You know, I actually didn't read poetry
until I became a student at Arizona State University.
And one of my professors, Dr. Aldama,
he encouraged me to write poetry.
And I started writing poetry in his class, a Chicano literature
course.
He is the first person who saw something, inspired me,
and made me keep writing and reading.
I came to it backwards.
I started writing then I started reading.
But once I started reading, I became obsessed.
And I read everything I could.
But it's Dr. Aldama, who used to work at Arizona State
University, who works in Colorado
now, University of Colorado-Boulder.
He's the man, my teacher, who inspired me.
I mean I remember helping him organize files in his office
about two years after I started writing at Arizona State.
And I noticed in the back of his a drawer
there was a file titled Eduardo C. Corral poems.
He was saving all my drafts and work.
And that really in fact, I was really moved by that.
So, Dr. Aldama.
I think something that should inspire all of you
guys is just being able to tell your own story.
You know, like you get to a point
where you're tired of other people telling
your stories for you.
So they think OK, House on Mango Street was already written.
We don't need to hear anymore about people who look like that
or live in places like that.
Or they think Sherman Alexie wrote
a good book of short stories so we don't ever
need to hear about any other Native Americans.
So, we all have these unique stories.
And they're the stories we've heard
from our parents or our grandparents.
They're the stories you've heard at night that you scare
each other with, whether it's the boogeyman or the hoofer
man or La Llorona.
It can be anything.
Cucuy.
Oh, Cucuy.
But, you know, so you all have a story to tell.
And if you don't tell it, somebody else
is going to tell your story.
And they're going to describe you and your life
and they're going to say their life means this.
And so I think it's important for you guys
to realize that you have something
really important to say.
And you have a story that nobody else can tell,
nobody else can tell it in the way you've told it.
And it starts like Eduardo said, with simple things.
The words you use at home.
The objects in your living room.
The things that comfort you.
The way your family cooks.
The things you smell and see and look
at every morning when you wake up or every evening.
Those are all-- that's who you guys are.
And I think that should be really important when you think
about why you should write.
Like I said before while I was reading,
you all have access like specialized diction
and vocabularies and language.
It's all around you.
You all have it already.
And even the way you play with language nowadays,
text messaging, instant messaging,
that's a way to play with language,
dwell with language too, if you think about it.
You're doing it all the time.
Yeah, there's a book of Twitter poems that just came out.
You know, and it's kind of funny.
You know like there's stuff about Justin Bieber in there.
But you know, have fun with it.
You had to mention the Bieber.
Yeah.
You like him, don't you?
No I do not.
My sister, my cousin does.
In Japan, there's like a big genre of novels
written on cell phones.
And they're bestsellers in Japan like that.
They have better cell phones than we do though.