WEBVTT

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He said-- did everybody
hear that question?

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For me, it was absolutely vital.

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I mean, my education at
Arizona State University

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changed my life.

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I have no idea what
I would be doing

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right now if I hadn't taken
that Chicano literature course

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and became a writer,
a reader, a teacher.

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I have no idea.

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So it was very vital.

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So the first person I thank in
my book in the acknowledgments

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is Dr. Aldama because he
changed everything for me.

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And then I had great mentors.

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Norman Dubie-- Alberto
Ríos at Arizona State who,

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as an undergrad, took
me under their wing.

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And they saw something in
those first drafts, so.

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Even now as a
teacher, I always try

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to remember that
kindness that was

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shown to me, that generosity
that was shown to me,

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and I like to pay it
forward to my students.

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I mean, I think that your
education after high school

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is very important.

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One, because it's a means
of sustaining yourself.

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But the best education
to become a writer

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is to be a good reader.

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So for those of you
who are out there--

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this question was asked
to me in graduate school.

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So I was there to be a writer,
and I had no answer for it.

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But a visiting writer came
and he said, to all of us,

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he said, right now I
want to know who are

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your favorite three writers.

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Who are you reading?

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What are the last three
books you read, poetry books?

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And I didn't even
have an answer.

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I didn't even know who
my favorite writers were.

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I had no idea what was going on.

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But that's how you learn.

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So you're going to learn--

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I think that the best education
to become a writer of-- whether

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it's fiction or poetry
or memoir, nonfiction--

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is to read.

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You should know, who are the
people who I like to read?

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Who are doing
things I want to do?

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Who are telling
things I want to tell?

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Mhm.

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Your best teacher, as a
poet, it's always a poem.

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I say that as a teacher.

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