WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.840 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:08.150 align:middle line:90% Thank you C.D. For that reading. 00:00:08.150 --> 00:00:10.310 align:middle line:84% I just was wondering, having read your work 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:12.770 align:middle line:84% for so long myself and just looking at the way 00:00:12.770 --> 00:00:15.530 align:middle line:90% you use investigative poetics-- 00:00:15.530 --> 00:00:18.800 align:middle line:84% just kind of to use that term-- in different places 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:19.860 align:middle line:90% and geographies. 00:00:19.860 --> 00:00:22.420 align:middle line:84% I'm curious with this because it was about a person in a way. 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:22.920 align:middle line:90% Right. 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:27.890 align:middle line:84% But also a space and a time and events in the way-- 00:00:27.890 --> 00:00:29.930 align:middle line:84% How did that change your experience 00:00:29.930 --> 00:00:32.840 align:middle line:84% of writing the poem length, text, 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:34.280 align:middle line:90% the character of the person? 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:35.520 align:middle line:90% I noticed a lot of humor-- 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:36.020 align:middle line:90% Right. 00:00:36.020 --> 00:00:37.490 align:middle line:84% --which exists in your text anyway. 00:00:37.490 --> 00:00:39.120 align:middle line:90% But it seems somewhat different. 00:00:39.120 --> 00:00:40.820 align:middle line:84% I wonder if it's informed by the person. 00:00:40.820 --> 00:00:42.440 align:middle line:90% And how? 00:00:42.440 --> 00:00:45.200 align:middle line:90% Well, she was killingly funny. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:49.010 align:middle line:84% I mean a lot of the things I put in there were invented. 00:00:49.010 --> 00:00:51.230 align:middle line:84% Not all of them, but some of them were invented. 00:00:51.230 --> 00:00:52.200 align:middle line:90% But they were very-- 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.040 align:middle line:90% I knew her humor pretty well. 00:00:55.040 --> 00:00:57.510 align:middle line:84% And I don't know how it was different. 00:00:57.510 --> 00:00:59.810 align:middle line:90% It was just-- 00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:01.880 align:middle line:90% I wanted to write about her. 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:03.590 align:middle line:84% I always wanted to write about her. 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:06.770 align:middle line:84% I did write one little piece about her that ended up 00:01:06.770 --> 00:01:08.180 align:middle line:90% in a book called Cooling Time. 00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:10.010 align:middle line:84% But I always wanted to write more about her 00:01:10.010 --> 00:01:13.370 align:middle line:90% because she was so riveting. 00:01:13.370 --> 00:01:15.215 align:middle line:84% Even at her worst, she was so riveting. 00:01:15.215 --> 00:01:17.840 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:19.625 align:middle line:84% And she was very aware of her failings. 00:01:19.625 --> 00:01:23.570 align:middle line:90% 00:01:23.570 --> 00:01:25.260 align:middle line:84% I don't know how it was different. 00:01:25.260 --> 00:01:29.690 align:middle line:84% It was just-- the person was what I went after, 00:01:29.690 --> 00:01:31.580 align:middle line:84% and then the person had a context 00:01:31.580 --> 00:01:35.220 align:middle line:84% that was very relevant to that place and that time. 00:01:35.220 --> 00:01:37.520 align:middle line:84% And I guess I also wanted to write 00:01:37.520 --> 00:01:41.060 align:middle line:90% my footnote to civil rights. 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:45.110 align:middle line:84% There's a very elegant canon of literature, 00:01:45.110 --> 00:01:47.810 align:middle line:84% very beautiful canon of literature, 00:01:47.810 --> 00:01:53.640 align:middle line:84% and I enjoyed getting in there when I was working on this. 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.170 align:middle line:84% So this is just a poet dealing with it. 00:01:57.170 --> 00:02:00.350 align:middle line:90% 00:02:00.350 --> 00:02:03.800 align:middle line:84% It's just, I didn't want to be afraid to deal with it just 00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:07.160 align:middle line:84% because it had already been dealt with so well [CHUCKLES] 00:02:07.160 --> 00:02:09.860 align:middle line:90% by others-- 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:11.510 align:middle line:90% people who had real credentials. 00:02:11.510 --> 00:02:15.446 align:middle line:90% 00:02:15.446 --> 00:02:17.414 align:middle line:90% This person back here. 00:02:17.414 --> 00:02:19.590 align:middle line:84% I hope this is going to break the ice 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:26.300 align:middle line:84% and ask why you chose the icon of Dear Abby to write about. 00:02:26.300 --> 00:02:30.020 align:middle line:84% Well, because this was a very located piece of work 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:32.930 align:middle line:84% and located in time and geography. 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:38.210 align:middle line:84% And I thought giving things like food prices, 00:02:38.210 --> 00:02:43.160 align:middle line:84% and passages from the Dear Abby column 00:02:43.160 --> 00:02:48.500 align:middle line:84% were very telling about that time, and the kinds of food 00:02:48.500 --> 00:02:51.620 align:middle line:84% that people ate in the Delta then. 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:54.710 align:middle line:90% 00:02:54.710 --> 00:02:58.100 align:middle line:84% Somehow, I thought that they really gave a lot of color 00:02:58.100 --> 00:03:03.260 align:middle line:84% to it, the situation, the circumstance, and the way 00:03:03.260 --> 00:03:04.820 align:middle line:90% people thought then. 00:03:04.820 --> 00:03:10.510 align:middle line:84% Dear Abby was considered rather progressive, 00:03:10.510 --> 00:03:11.855 align:middle line:90% to have a lot of insight. 00:03:11.855 --> 00:03:17.190 align:middle line:90% 00:03:17.190 --> 00:03:21.280 align:middle line:84% So that's why, and also because I found them so hilarious. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:24.150 align:middle line:90% It was absurd. 00:03:24.150 --> 00:03:26.010 align:middle line:90% So I spent some time reading. 00:03:26.010 --> 00:03:30.390 align:middle line:84% That town actually still has a daily newspaper, 00:03:30.390 --> 00:03:33.790 align:middle line:84% which very few small towns still have a daily. 00:03:33.790 --> 00:03:37.980 align:middle line:84% And so, it's a pretty good record 00:03:37.980 --> 00:03:42.750 align:middle line:84% of what was going on there every day. 00:03:42.750 --> 00:03:46.770 align:middle line:84% So the events of the time, even though they were very skewed, 00:03:46.770 --> 00:03:52.380 align:middle line:84% of course, were unfolding in real time in that paper. 00:03:52.380 --> 00:03:55.170 align:middle line:84% I was also reading the commercial appeal 00:03:55.170 --> 00:04:00.180 align:middle line:84% and the Memphis main papers and the Little Rock main papers, 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:02.700 align:middle line:84% of which both of them had two main city papers-- 00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:04.410 align:middle line:90% rival city papers. 00:04:04.410 --> 00:04:07.560 align:middle line:84% But I was reading that daily paper-- 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:08.550 align:middle line:90% on microfiche. 00:04:08.550 --> 00:04:09.900 align:middle line:90% It was miserable. 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:12.858 align:middle line:90% 00:04:12.858 --> 00:04:16.309 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:04:16.309 --> 00:04:17.790 align:middle line:90% C.D., over here. 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:19.449 align:middle line:84% What are you currently working on? 00:04:19.449 --> 00:04:22.740 align:middle line:84% You know, I'm working on myself right now. 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:26.280 align:middle line:90% 00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:29.080 align:middle line:84% I mean, I have a project in the offing. 00:04:29.080 --> 00:04:34.380 align:middle line:84% I'm going to write a book on a tree, which I always 00:04:34.380 --> 00:04:35.330 align:middle line:90% wanted to write. 00:04:35.330 --> 00:04:36.390 align:middle line:90% I love trees. 00:04:36.390 --> 00:04:39.330 align:middle line:90% And it just fell into my lap. 00:04:39.330 --> 00:04:41.340 align:middle line:84% It was offered to my husband first. 00:04:41.340 --> 00:04:45.160 align:middle line:84% And he had so many projects going, he said, "Well, 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:46.620 align:middle line:90% why don't you ask me?" 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:48.950 align:middle line:90% And I said, "Yeah!" 00:04:48.950 --> 00:04:51.360 align:middle line:90% I don't have anything going. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:55.200 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to write a book on a tree. 00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:58.170 align:middle line:84% At first, it was going to be on the Eastern Cedar 00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:00.780 align:middle line:90% or the American Cedar tree. 00:05:00.780 --> 00:05:03.360 align:middle line:84% I really love it, and there's one right outside my window. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.060 align:middle line:84% But I ended up doing it on the Copper Beech, which 00:05:06.060 --> 00:05:07.470 align:middle line:90% is, kind of, a snooty tree. 00:05:07.470 --> 00:05:11.700 align:middle line:84% But it's local, and I can see them every day. 00:05:11.700 --> 00:05:16.130 align:middle line:84% And I found more material and I think-- 00:05:16.130 --> 00:05:17.807 align:middle line:90% or I hope-- to find more. 00:05:17.807 --> 00:05:20.515 align:middle line:90% 00:05:20.515 --> 00:05:21.015 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:05:21.015 --> 00:05:25.520 align:middle line:90% 00:05:25.520 --> 00:05:28.410 align:middle line:84% You may have to come out because I'm not sure we'll hear you, 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:28.910 align:middle line:90% sorry. 00:05:28.910 --> 00:05:32.198 align:middle line:90% 00:05:32.198 --> 00:05:33.940 align:middle line:84% I guess I was just wondering if you 00:05:33.940 --> 00:05:37.178 align:middle line:84% could speak a little bit about your process, 00:05:37.178 --> 00:05:40.498 align:middle line:84% in particular the work that you've done that you 00:05:40.498 --> 00:05:44.648 align:middle line:90% have interviewed people. 00:05:44.648 --> 00:05:48.632 align:middle line:84% How'd you get from the interviews to-- 00:05:48.632 --> 00:05:51.630 align:middle line:84% I'm thinking of One Big Self, especially 00:05:51.630 --> 00:05:53.474 align:middle line:84% in terms of what you read tonight-- 00:05:53.474 --> 00:05:53.974 align:middle line:90% Mm-hmm. 00:05:53.974 --> 00:05:56.922 align:middle line:84% Seemed to say [INAUDIBLE] come out from interviews, 00:05:56.922 --> 00:05:59.520 align:middle line:84% and so I was just wondering, how did you 00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:04.300 align:middle line:84% get from a conversation with somebody to the poems? 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:08.580 align:middle line:84% How do you make decisions about how do you 00:06:08.580 --> 00:06:10.887 align:middle line:84% change that, what gets left out, what 00:06:10.887 --> 00:06:16.340 align:middle line:84% gets included and can help become a poem? 00:06:16.340 --> 00:06:20.110 align:middle line:84% Well, she's asking about a process, 00:06:20.110 --> 00:06:22.370 align:middle line:84% especially in a longer work, I take it-- 00:06:22.370 --> 00:06:25.130 align:middle line:90% which I've done a few of. 00:06:25.130 --> 00:06:27.260 align:middle line:84% And where it involves talking to people, 00:06:27.260 --> 00:06:29.090 align:middle line:84% it's really much more like visiting 00:06:29.090 --> 00:06:32.300 align:middle line:90% than it is like an interview. 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:35.510 align:middle line:84% In my imagination, I'd love to be an investigative reporter, 00:06:35.510 --> 00:06:37.730 align:middle line:84% though there's hardly any such animal anymore. 00:06:37.730 --> 00:06:42.020 align:middle line:84% At least, if there is, they're not getting paid for it. 00:06:42.020 --> 00:06:44.360 align:middle line:84% Not that you're getting paid for writing poetry. 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:47.490 align:middle line:84% People would probably pay you not to write poetry, but-- 00:06:47.490 --> 00:06:51.491 align:middle line:90% if they knew it existed, So-- 00:06:51.491 --> 00:06:53.015 align:middle line:90% or the threat it poses. 00:06:53.015 --> 00:06:56.030 align:middle line:90% 00:06:56.030 --> 00:06:59.210 align:middle line:90% So really, it's very informal. 00:06:59.210 --> 00:07:03.650 align:middle line:84% When I was working on the One Big Self prisoners of Louisiana 00:07:03.650 --> 00:07:09.740 align:middle line:84% with Deborah Luster, she was making formal portraits. 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:11.660 align:middle line:84% And a certain amount of paperwork 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:13.970 align:middle line:84% had to be filled out-- waivers and everything 00:07:13.970 --> 00:07:18.380 align:middle line:84% and was all self-selected, the inmates who were photographed. 00:07:18.380 --> 00:07:22.380 align:middle line:84% And so, there was just a lot of set up and prep stuff. 00:07:22.380 --> 00:07:25.490 align:middle line:84% And Debbie stayed very focused with the camera. 00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:28.850 align:middle line:84% And so, I would just help do the paperwork, 00:07:28.850 --> 00:07:31.160 align:middle line:84% help set up the backdrop because it was all 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.180 align:middle line:84% done outside in natural light and talk to people. 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:37.550 align:middle line:84% People were very eager to talk, especially 00:07:37.550 --> 00:07:40.310 align:middle line:84% in a place like a prison, especially a maximum security 00:07:40.310 --> 00:07:44.030 align:middle line:84% prison where they see people from the outside all the time. 00:07:44.030 --> 00:07:46.620 align:middle line:84% But it's usually the same people over and over and over. 00:07:46.620 --> 00:07:48.260 align:middle line:84% It's a limited number of players. 00:07:48.260 --> 00:07:51.050 align:middle line:84% And so, they're eager to talk to somebody 00:07:51.050 --> 00:07:57.223 align:middle line:84% else who's a stranger, who's not a missionary or a lawyer. 00:07:57.223 --> 00:07:58.640 align:middle line:84% Though, at first, they hope you're 00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:00.110 align:middle line:90% a missionary or a lawyer. 00:08:00.110 --> 00:08:02.030 align:middle line:84% And then, they're, kind of, glad you're not 00:08:02.030 --> 00:08:06.830 align:middle line:84% because then there's a different conversation to be had. 00:08:06.830 --> 00:08:08.410 align:middle line:90% So it's very informal. 00:08:08.410 --> 00:08:11.960 align:middle line:84% And it was a little harder in this town 00:08:11.960 --> 00:08:15.740 align:middle line:84% because these events happened in 1969, a year 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:21.380 align:middle line:84% after King's death and 42 miles from where 00:08:21.380 --> 00:08:22.800 align:middle line:90% King was assassinated. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:24.800 align:middle line:84% So the whole Delta region, all the way 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:26.900 align:middle line:84% up and down the Mississippi River, 00:08:26.900 --> 00:08:29.960 align:middle line:84% was just on fire, all these little towns. 00:08:29.960 --> 00:08:32.480 align:middle line:84% And everything was very, very raw. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:37.130 align:middle line:84% And that town didn't erupt as much as some towns did. 00:08:37.130 --> 00:08:39.350 align:middle line:84% As far as I know, there were no deaths. 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:42.229 align:middle line:84% But there were some very brutal things that happened. 00:08:42.229 --> 00:08:46.420 align:middle line:90% 00:08:46.420 --> 00:08:51.450 align:middle line:84% People now, even now, 40 years later, are still-- 00:08:51.450 --> 00:08:54.420 align:middle line:84% You bring it up and it comes very close to the surface. 00:08:54.420 --> 00:08:55.440 align:middle line:90% It's very raw. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:59.430 align:middle line:84% And so people were resistant to talking. 00:08:59.430 --> 00:09:00.915 align:middle line:90% But I kept it very informal. 00:09:00.915 --> 00:09:04.100 align:middle line:90% 00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:06.120 align:middle line:90% People blabber in the South. 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:07.880 align:middle line:90% It's like we just yammer away. 00:09:07.880 --> 00:09:10.203 align:middle line:84% So sooner or later, somebody's going to start talking, 00:09:10.203 --> 00:09:11.870 align:middle line:84% and it's going to lead to something else 00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:12.810 align:middle line:90% and something else. 00:09:12.810 --> 00:09:17.390 align:middle line:84% And at one point, I came very close to a very hot, 00:09:17.390 --> 00:09:22.010 align:middle line:84% investigative situation where I found out 00:09:22.010 --> 00:09:26.660 align:middle line:84% that someone had some videotapes in their attic 00:09:26.660 --> 00:09:29.090 align:middle line:84% that had been left by their stepfather, who 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:30.500 align:middle line:90% had been the sheriff. 00:09:30.500 --> 00:09:35.330 align:middle line:84% And they were of interrogations and they were way over the top. 00:09:35.330 --> 00:09:38.000 align:middle line:84% And the guy didn't know what to do with them. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.400 align:middle line:84% And he had called the town museum, 00:09:40.400 --> 00:09:43.340 align:middle line:84% and they said, yeah, they'd like to have them. 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:45.230 align:middle line:84% And then he never brought them in. 00:09:45.230 --> 00:09:47.207 align:middle line:84% And then I thought, I've got to go down there. 00:09:47.207 --> 00:09:48.290 align:middle line:90% I've got to find this guy. 00:09:48.290 --> 00:09:50.240 align:middle line:90% I've got to get these tapes. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:53.960 align:middle line:84% And all my efforts, I didn't go down there for that. 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:57.680 align:middle line:84% And they couldn't get him to respond again 00:09:57.680 --> 00:10:01.590 align:middle line:84% at the museum, which is barely a museum. 00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:04.910 align:middle line:84% And I couldn't get him to answer the phone ever. 00:10:04.910 --> 00:10:07.070 align:middle line:90% And I let it go. 00:10:07.070 --> 00:10:09.050 align:middle line:90% It was like-- 00:10:09.050 --> 00:10:10.490 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:10:10.490 --> 00:10:14.540 align:middle line:84% It felt outside of what I felt I could actually do 00:10:14.540 --> 00:10:17.960 align:middle line:84% or knew how to do something with it. 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:21.670 align:middle line:90% 00:10:21.670 --> 00:10:24.905 align:middle line:90% Someone would know how to do it. 00:10:24.905 --> 00:10:25.405 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:10:25.405 --> 00:10:27.940 align:middle line:90% 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:29.340 align:middle line:84% Thank you for your reading, and-- 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:30.410 align:middle line:90% Barbara, microphone. 00:10:30.410 --> 00:10:30.910 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:10:30.910 --> 00:10:34.040 align:middle line:90% 00:10:34.040 --> 00:10:35.870 align:middle line:84% I'm actually asking this question 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:38.960 align:middle line:84% because my daughter's too shy to but she wants 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:41.390 align:middle line:90% to know what V looked like. 00:10:41.390 --> 00:10:45.890 align:middle line:84% And I wanted to thank you for dedicating this to Mary Cuddihy 00:10:45.890 --> 00:10:48.290 align:middle line:84% and maybe tell us a little bit why you did that. 00:10:48.290 --> 00:10:52.580 align:middle line:84% [CHUCKLES] Well, I haven't seen Mary in 12 years. 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:55.700 align:middle line:84% I was delighted to see Mary here. 00:10:55.700 --> 00:11:02.960 align:middle line:84% And Mary's husband, Michael Cuddihy, 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:11.510 align:middle line:84% edited a very salient and significant and independent 00:11:11.510 --> 00:11:14.480 align:middle line:84% literary magazine called Ironwood and also published 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:17.190 align:middle line:90% a series of books. 00:11:17.190 --> 00:11:20.870 align:middle line:84% And it was one of the great thrills of my publishing life 00:11:20.870 --> 00:11:23.210 align:middle line:90% to get to publish in Ironwood. 00:11:23.210 --> 00:11:28.970 align:middle line:84% And during those years when I was beginning to publish, 00:11:28.970 --> 00:11:34.070 align:middle line:84% I got to know Mary and Michael and so did 00:11:34.070 --> 00:11:37.520 align:middle line:84% my husband, who worked for Mary and Michael for a while. 00:11:37.520 --> 00:11:40.130 align:middle line:90% 00:11:40.130 --> 00:11:42.980 align:middle line:90% So it's great to see Mary again. 00:11:42.980 --> 00:11:54.110 align:middle line:84% And she's one of a kind [LAUGHS] and just one of the great 00:11:54.110 --> 00:11:55.650 align:middle line:90% people-- 00:11:55.650 --> 00:11:59.190 align:middle line:90% great people-- smart, funny. 00:11:59.190 --> 00:12:01.010 align:middle line:90% There's a little of V in Mary-- 00:12:01.010 --> 00:12:07.400 align:middle line:84% smart, funny, wise, interesting, you know, incorrigible. 00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:13.130 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:12:13.130 --> 00:12:15.560 align:middle line:90% And V looked-- 00:12:15.560 --> 00:12:21.230 align:middle line:84% V had very blue eyes which sits slightly close together. 00:12:21.230 --> 00:12:25.220 align:middle line:84% So she kind of looked like a Siamese cat-- 00:12:25.220 --> 00:12:29.180 align:middle line:84% gray hair and-- gray very early on and the eyes 00:12:29.180 --> 00:12:31.460 align:middle line:90% sit real close together. 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:34.100 align:middle line:84% And she's double-jointed so she could, sort of, 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:35.750 align:middle line:90% sit like a pretzel. 00:12:35.750 --> 00:12:40.550 align:middle line:90% 00:12:40.550 --> 00:12:42.890 align:middle line:90% She was cool looking-- 00:12:42.890 --> 00:12:44.150 align:middle line:90% smoked all the time. 00:12:44.150 --> 00:12:46.340 align:middle line:84% She didn't have any money so she always just 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:50.180 align:middle line:84% wore black or taupe or something, kind of, 00:12:50.180 --> 00:12:53.080 align:middle line:90% classical-looking. 00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:56.244 align:middle line:90% [BELLS TOLLING] 00:12:56.244 --> 00:12:58.060 align:middle line:90% 00:12:58.060 --> 00:12:58.960 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.010 align:middle line:84% I'm just wondering-- Maybe I should-- 00:13:01.010 --> 00:13:06.360 align:middle line:90% 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:09.690 align:middle line:84% I hear you address your reader in One with Others, 00:13:09.690 --> 00:13:13.920 align:middle line:84% and I'm just wondering what role the reader plays in that text 00:13:13.920 --> 00:13:15.210 align:middle line:90% or in your writing. 00:13:15.210 --> 00:13:17.610 align:middle line:84% Well, that "Dear Readers" is actually 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:28.320 align:middle line:84% just a nod to one of the great civil rights text-- 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:29.620 align:middle line:90% I'm sorry, I'm blanking. 00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:31.530 align:middle line:90% This is a very important book. 00:13:31.530 --> 00:13:35.730 align:middle line:84% And I acknowledge the books that I read in the back. 00:13:35.730 --> 00:13:40.320 align:middle line:84% I had a good time with footnotes actually. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.240 align:middle line:84% But I'll tell you who uses Dear-- 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:45.330 align:middle line:84% It's a 19th century convention, basically. 00:13:45.330 --> 00:13:48.150 align:middle line:90% 00:13:48.150 --> 00:13:57.900 align:middle line:84% So that's artifice but it's also a calling to the reader. 00:13:57.900 --> 00:13:59.595 align:middle line:90% It's also a direct address. 00:13:59.595 --> 00:14:02.910 align:middle line:90% 00:14:02.910 --> 00:14:06.210 align:middle line:84% So it's both artifice and it's both intended to kind 00:14:06.210 --> 00:14:11.760 align:middle line:84% of increase the intimacy of it, which sometimes artifice 00:14:11.760 --> 00:14:16.140 align:middle line:90% actually can do, surprisingly. 00:14:16.140 --> 00:14:19.680 align:middle line:84% I'm embarrassed, though, that I can't tell you this famous book 00:14:19.680 --> 00:14:21.360 align:middle line:84% that you'll probably know as soon as I-- 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:24.120 align:middle line:90% 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:25.300 align:middle line:90% Maybe one more question. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:25.800 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:14:25.800 --> 00:14:26.675 align:middle line:90% Who's it going to be? 00:14:26.675 --> 00:14:27.891 align:middle line:90% Richard would like it. 00:14:27.891 --> 00:14:34.720 align:middle line:90% 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:36.890 align:middle line:90% When you came to read last-- 00:14:36.890 --> 00:14:37.390 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:14:37.390 --> 00:14:41.540 align:middle line:84% --right after Deepstep come shining had come out, 00:14:41.540 --> 00:14:46.870 align:middle line:84% many of us wanted to know why your work previously 00:14:46.870 --> 00:14:50.590 align:middle line:84% was so different than Deepstep, and so we asked you. 00:14:50.590 --> 00:14:53.260 align:middle line:84% And your answer was, "Life gives you 00:14:53.260 --> 00:14:55.600 align:middle line:90% the opportunity to crack open. 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.560 align:middle line:84% And when it does, you should take it. 00:14:58.560 --> 00:14:59.060 align:middle line:90% Oh! 00:14:59.060 --> 00:14:59.940 align:middle line:90% And since then-- 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:04.750 align:middle line:90% 00:15:04.750 --> 00:15:05.740 align:middle line:90% Glad to hear that. 00:15:05.740 --> 00:15:08.860 align:middle line:90% 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:11.950 align:middle line:84% Since then, many of us have cracked open. 00:15:11.950 --> 00:15:15.430 align:middle line:84% And now, looking to you again, how does one 00:15:15.430 --> 00:15:20.290 align:middle line:84% find the crystallizing moment that takes that fiery slop 00:15:20.290 --> 00:15:23.740 align:middle line:84% and turns it into something cohesive and intelligible? 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:27.588 align:middle line:90% 00:15:27.588 --> 00:15:29.540 align:middle line:90% Because certainly you do that. 00:15:29.540 --> 00:15:33.930 align:middle line:84% Actually, I thought this book was fiery slop. 00:15:33.930 --> 00:15:36.650 align:middle line:84% I really thought I'd fail in this book. 00:15:36.650 --> 00:15:39.560 align:middle line:84% It was a much less pleasurable experience 00:15:39.560 --> 00:15:43.550 align:middle line:84% than writing Deepstep come shining. 00:15:43.550 --> 00:15:46.520 align:middle line:84% And I just kept hitting a wall with it. 00:15:46.520 --> 00:15:48.380 align:middle line:84% I just thought, I just can't get there-- 00:15:48.380 --> 00:15:52.640 align:middle line:84% can't get up on that one, as Miles Davis would say. 00:15:52.640 --> 00:15:54.740 align:middle line:84% You have to keep getting up on that one, 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:57.510 align:middle line:90% and I just couldn't do it. 00:15:57.510 --> 00:16:00.770 align:middle line:90% And so I overwrote on this one. 00:16:00.770 --> 00:16:05.960 align:middle line:84% And then I started clearing it out some, 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:10.700 align:middle line:84% and I started feeling better about it, that it had-- 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:12.980 align:middle line:90% So you don't always know. 00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:15.410 align:middle line:84% It's not always that clear that you've 00:16:15.410 --> 00:16:16.880 align:middle line:90% done what you set out to do. 00:16:16.880 --> 00:16:19.340 align:middle line:84% Or even if you didn't do what you set out to do, 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:22.130 align:middle line:84% all the better, you did something else. 00:16:22.130 --> 00:16:26.780 align:middle line:84% Was there a moment, or a line, or idea, or theory 00:16:26.780 --> 00:16:30.000 align:middle line:84% that coalesced this book-- something 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:31.018 align:middle line:90% that you could point to? 00:16:31.018 --> 00:16:31.560 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:16:31.560 --> 00:16:37.650 align:middle line:84% There's a kind of afterword in the book that has everything, 00:16:37.650 --> 00:16:45.030 align:middle line:84% sort of, compressed into one paragraph 00:16:45.030 --> 00:16:47.520 align:middle line:90% that I wrote fairly early on. 00:16:47.520 --> 00:16:49.708 align:middle line:84% And then I never could throw it away, 00:16:49.708 --> 00:16:51.250 align:middle line:84% and I didn't know what to do with it. 00:16:51.250 --> 00:16:54.090 align:middle line:84% And then, I finally put it at the very end. 00:16:54.090 --> 00:16:56.820 align:middle line:84% And I felt like when I recognized 00:16:56.820 --> 00:16:58.680 align:middle line:84% that I didn't have to throw it out, 00:16:58.680 --> 00:17:04.800 align:middle line:84% because it did do something, it went a little extra 00:17:04.800 --> 00:17:08.130 align:middle line:84% and that I had written it early on meant that I really 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:11.099 align:middle line:90% was onto my work-- 00:17:11.099 --> 00:17:14.609 align:middle line:84% that work and just wasn't trusting it. 00:17:14.609 --> 00:17:17.670 align:middle line:84% I often don't trust it-- the process. 00:17:17.670 --> 00:17:21.270 align:middle line:84% But I was really, really frustrated with this one. 00:17:21.270 --> 00:17:24.790 align:middle line:84% But I felt good about it in the end. 00:17:24.790 --> 00:17:25.290 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:17:25.290 --> 00:17:26.399 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:17:26.399 --> 00:17:27.119 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.330 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:17:29.330 --> 00:17:37.195 align:middle line:90%