WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.850 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:02.850 --> 00:00:07.220 align:middle line:90% 00:00:07.220 --> 00:00:08.810 align:middle line:84% We did that, we did that Native thing 00:00:08.810 --> 00:00:10.610 align:middle line:84% where we just kind of walk by and hit 00:00:10.610 --> 00:00:14.840 align:middle line:90% each other on the shoulder. 00:00:14.840 --> 00:00:17.810 align:middle line:90% Where's Joss? 00:00:17.810 --> 00:00:19.230 align:middle line:90% Said she would save Yeah? 00:00:19.230 --> 00:00:19.730 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:19.730 --> 00:00:21.050 align:middle line:90% I'm good. 00:00:21.050 --> 00:00:27.830 align:middle line:84% [SPEAKING IN MOJAVE] It's not that far actually. 00:00:27.830 --> 00:00:29.105 align:middle line:90% It's just six hours. 00:00:29.105 --> 00:00:32.340 align:middle line:90% 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:32.840 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:35.540 align:middle line:90% It's good to see everybody here. 00:00:35.540 --> 00:00:38.690 align:middle line:84% Thank you to the American Indian Studies program 00:00:38.690 --> 00:00:44.190 align:middle line:84% and to Ofelia and Larry for having me, 00:00:44.190 --> 00:00:49.235 align:middle line:84% Alexis who carted me around this afternoon, and Cybele-- 00:00:49.235 --> 00:00:51.500 align:middle line:90% Cybele is somewhere. 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:52.470 align:middle line:90% And Tyler. 00:00:52.470 --> 00:00:54.470 align:middle line:84% The good thing about bringing Tyler all this way 00:00:54.470 --> 00:00:58.260 align:middle line:84% is every time I see him he's a little bit more tan and so-- 00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:00.510 align:middle line:84% you know, and this one looks like it's going to stick, 00:01:00.510 --> 00:01:01.160 align:middle line:90% I think. 00:01:01.160 --> 00:01:03.740 align:middle line:84% So this is his coloring you've got here. 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:06.110 align:middle line:84% But thank you for putting me up in the studio. 00:01:06.110 --> 00:01:08.270 align:middle line:84% You know, I've had a really wonderful time. 00:01:08.270 --> 00:01:10.250 align:middle line:90% And Susan and John. 00:01:10.250 --> 00:01:11.570 align:middle line:90% There's John there. 00:01:11.570 --> 00:01:14.630 align:middle line:84% We've got the Indigenous knowledge part down, 00:01:14.630 --> 00:01:17.150 align:middle line:84% so it was good to find somebody who had that, whatever they 00:01:17.150 --> 00:01:20.090 align:middle line:90% call digital literacy down pat. 00:01:20.090 --> 00:01:23.060 align:middle line:84% But, I mean this has always been a good place to come and-- 00:01:23.060 --> 00:01:23.870 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:01:23.870 --> 00:01:25.790 align:middle line:84% And I mean there are really good people here. 00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:28.610 align:middle line:84% So at home we would say [SPEAKING MOJAVE].. 00:01:28.610 --> 00:01:30.320 align:middle line:84% You know, it feels like family here. 00:01:30.320 --> 00:01:34.640 align:middle line:84% So I'm just going to read in and out of a few things 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.890 align:middle line:90% and we'll see what happens. 00:01:36.890 --> 00:01:38.390 align:middle line:84% So the first thing I'm going to read 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:42.320 align:middle line:84% is, I've been working on some prose pieces, which 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:44.990 align:middle line:84% should make people panic whenever you hear a poet say 00:01:44.990 --> 00:01:46.550 align:middle line:90% I'm working on prose pieces. 00:01:46.550 --> 00:01:48.752 align:middle line:90% You're just like, oh crap. 00:01:48.752 --> 00:01:50.210 align:middle line:84% Maybe they don't know when to stop. 00:01:50.210 --> 00:01:52.496 align:middle line:90% Maybe they don't, you know-- 00:01:52.496 --> 00:01:54.770 align:middle line:90% maybe it's awful. 00:01:54.770 --> 00:01:57.920 align:middle line:84% But one of the things that I've been writing about recently 00:01:57.920 --> 00:01:59.867 align:middle line:90% is basketball. 00:01:59.867 --> 00:02:02.450 align:middle line:84% And people have been waiting for me to write about basketball. 00:02:02.450 --> 00:02:03.470 align:middle line:90% And I couldn't. 00:02:03.470 --> 00:02:06.740 align:middle line:84% I don't think I had enough time away from it to write about it. 00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:09.360 align:middle line:84% And I wasn't sure how I would come to it. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.500 align:middle line:84% But it turns out that the way I came to it 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:16.970 align:middle line:84% is through family and through my home where I learned to play. 00:02:16.970 --> 00:02:18.402 align:middle line:90% [MUSIC - AC/DC, "THUNDERSTUCK"] 00:02:18.402 --> 00:02:20.360 align:middle line:84% This is important, if you don't know this song. 00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:25.410 align:middle line:90% 00:02:25.410 --> 00:02:26.040 align:middle line:90% You know AC/DC? 00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:28.667 align:middle line:90% 00:02:28.667 --> 00:02:29.250 align:middle line:90% I'm going to-- 00:02:29.250 --> 00:02:38.470 align:middle line:90% 00:02:38.470 --> 00:02:40.610 align:middle line:84% Just wanted to give you guys some context, so-- 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:43.670 align:middle line:90% 00:02:43.670 --> 00:02:46.070 align:middle line:90% The Mustangs. 00:02:46.070 --> 00:02:50.180 align:middle line:84% In another life my older brother was a beautiful, muscular boy 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:52.520 align:middle line:84% who could jump from a standing position 00:02:52.520 --> 00:02:54.950 align:middle line:84% and grab a missed shot right from the rim, 00:02:54.950 --> 00:02:58.670 align:middle line:84% either hitting a waiting outlet or spring back up to drop it 00:02:58.670 --> 00:02:59.660 align:middle line:90% into the net. 00:02:59.660 --> 00:03:04.130 align:middle line:84% He had thin ankles, long, lean legs with high calf muscles 00:03:04.130 --> 00:03:08.870 align:middle line:84% balled tight like fists and split like upside down hearts. 00:03:08.870 --> 00:03:13.100 align:middle line:84% Runner's legs, jumpers legs, Indian legs. 00:03:13.100 --> 00:03:16.190 align:middle line:84% He also had the upper body of a Mojave man, 00:03:16.190 --> 00:03:19.730 align:middle line:84% wide-chested, broad shoulders, arms and hands 00:03:19.730 --> 00:03:21.980 align:middle line:90% that hung down near his knees. 00:03:21.980 --> 00:03:24.590 align:middle line:84% "Like slingshots" is what my mother always 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:27.720 align:middle line:90% said, meaning he was a fighter. 00:03:27.720 --> 00:03:31.010 align:middle line:84% He played varsity basketball for our small-town high school, 00:03:31.010 --> 00:03:32.390 align:middle line:90% the Needles Mustangs. 00:03:32.390 --> 00:03:34.520 align:middle line:90% They wore royal blue and white. 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:36.530 align:middle line:84% A bright blue Mustang was painted 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.140 align:middle line:84% on the front of the gymnasium, another inside 00:03:39.140 --> 00:03:41.180 align:middle line:84% against the brick wall, and a third 00:03:41.180 --> 00:03:43.970 align:middle line:84% in a circle on the wooden middle half court. 00:03:43.970 --> 00:03:45.050 align:middle line:90% Mustangs. 00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:48.350 align:middle line:84% I have always associated them with basketball. 00:03:48.350 --> 00:03:52.640 align:middle line:84% I have always felt them in me, tolling beneath my sternum, 00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:56.810 align:middle line:84% drumming in my belly, hooves in my ears, jolts of muscle 00:03:56.810 --> 00:04:00.320 align:middle line:84% in my throat, the way my brother must have felt them running 00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:05.120 align:middle line:84% his veins in those years, breaking up and down the court. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.750 align:middle line:84% I love my brother best in memories such as this one. 00:04:08.750 --> 00:04:12.410 align:middle line:84% I sat in the wooden bleachers of the Needles Mustang gymnasium 00:04:12.410 --> 00:04:16.430 align:middle line:84% with my mother, my father, and all of my brothers and sisters, 00:04:16.430 --> 00:04:19.370 align:middle line:84% and watched my brother run out to the warm up song, 00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:21.740 align:middle line:90% "Thunderstruck," by AC/DC. 00:04:21.740 --> 00:04:25.400 align:middle line:84% It begins with an unhinged chant-like yell, followed 00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:27.500 align:middle line:84% by the strike of the word "Thunder," 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:29.450 align:middle line:90% and then, "Thunderstruck." 00:04:29.450 --> 00:04:32.570 align:middle line:84% The word "Thunder" is growled 15 times, 00:04:32.570 --> 00:04:37.310 align:middle line:84% followed by 19 war-cried versions of "Thunderstruck." 00:04:37.310 --> 00:04:40.970 align:middle line:84% Dressed in Mustang blue tearaway warm-up pants and shirts, 00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:43.790 align:middle line:84% my brother and his teammates, some of whom 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:47.420 align:middle line:84% were from our reservation, were all glide and finesse. 00:04:47.420 --> 00:04:50.180 align:middle line:84% Their high tops barely touched the floor. 00:04:50.180 --> 00:04:53.510 align:middle line:84% They circled the court twice before crossing it and moving 00:04:53.510 --> 00:04:55.820 align:middle line:84% into a layup drill, while "Thunderstruck" 00:04:55.820 --> 00:04:57.860 align:middle line:90% filled the gymnasium. 00:04:57.860 --> 00:05:00.740 align:middle line:84% They were all the things they could ever be. 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:02.120 align:middle line:90% They were Mustangs. 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:04.820 align:middle line:84% They were young kings and conquerors. 00:05:04.820 --> 00:05:07.670 align:middle line:84% On those nights they were forgiven for all 00:05:07.670 --> 00:05:09.680 align:middle line:90% they would ever do wrong. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:12.620 align:middle line:84% "Thunderstruck" played so loudly that I could only 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.380 align:middle line:84% see my mother's mouth opening and closing 00:05:15.380 --> 00:05:18.710 align:middle line:84% but could not hear what she hollered to cheer my brother. 00:05:18.710 --> 00:05:21.590 align:middle line:84% To that song they made layup after layup, 00:05:21.590 --> 00:05:24.290 align:middle line:84% passed the ball like a planet between them, 00:05:24.290 --> 00:05:27.350 align:middle line:84% pulled it back and forth from the floor to their hands 00:05:27.350 --> 00:05:28.760 align:middle line:90% like a yo-yo. 00:05:28.760 --> 00:05:31.970 align:middle line:84% I was 12-years old and I realized right there 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:36.140 align:middle line:84% on those bleachers the power music had over the body, 00:05:36.140 --> 00:05:38.540 align:middle line:84% the way it commanded the thoughts to quiet 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:40.250 align:middle line:90% and set the mind loose. 00:05:40.250 --> 00:05:43.820 align:middle line:84% I saw it in my brother, in those wild boys. 00:05:43.820 --> 00:05:45.530 align:middle line:90% I saw it in my mother. 00:05:45.530 --> 00:05:47.165 align:middle line:90% I felt it in my chest. 00:05:47.165 --> 00:05:49.790 align:middle line:90% 00:05:49.790 --> 00:05:56.870 align:middle line:84% And so it surprised me to find my brother again in basketball. 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:00.730 align:middle line:84% And that's where I learned to play. 00:06:00.730 --> 00:06:02.930 align:middle line:84% And I think I was looking for a new subject. 00:06:02.930 --> 00:06:05.570 align:middle line:84% I was looking for a way to not write about my brother, 00:06:05.570 --> 00:06:07.220 align:middle line:90% to find something new. 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:09.800 align:middle line:84% And I realized you can't run from the stories that 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:12.320 align:middle line:84% are in you, that they're going to come 00:06:12.320 --> 00:06:16.500 align:middle line:90% to the surface no matter what. 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:17.000 align:middle line:90%