WEBVTT

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I thought I was
finished with science,

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but it turned out that science
was not finished with me,

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I like to say.

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So after I finished Toxic
Flora, and it was coming out

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and I really thought,
enough already,

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this is getting indulgent.

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But as I tell my students, what
happens when you tell yourself

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not to do something that
you have been doing,

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and love, in fact, you risk
the problem of not writing.

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So I felt a little stymied,
and just decided, OK, I'm just

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going to write about one area.

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So there were some interesting
articles on neuroscience, which

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I didn't know
anything about then

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and still know nothing about,
but loved reading these,

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again, New York Times
articles on them.

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And I gave myself some little
formal assignments along

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with them, and just
decided to play,

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which is exactly what one
needs to do in that situation.

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I should say that before I
start reading from Brain Fever--

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when Toxic Flora
came out, there was

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a young man in the audience.

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And he came up to
me afterwards--

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and the book had just
come out-- and he

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said, "I am an
editor, a copy editor,

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at The New York Times
science section.

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And if you'd like to come
to one of our meetings,

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I could arrange that."

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And I thought, oh, yes.

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Meet all these gods
of science writing--

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gods and many
goddesses, actually.

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These deities of
science writing.

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So I contacted him, and took my
book and went into the subway.

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And as I was emerging
into Times Square, where

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The Times has its
building, I just completely

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broke out in a sweat.

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And I thought,
"What are you doing?

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You are taking your
book and showing it

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to people who you've ripped off.

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And that is not going
to be a fun experience."

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But shameless person
that I am, I just

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kept marching right into
their staff meeting.

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And I had a good time, I
read a couple of poems.

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And I did say that in
the back of Toxic Flora,

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that I cite every
article that I have used.

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So it was very
reassuring and amusing

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when I passed the book
around, that they all

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were trying to see if I
had used their material.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So that felt good.

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And it gave me
inspiration to-- or it

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encouraged me to go
right back to The Times--

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and, well, I did.

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So I'm going to read first,
a few poems from a sequence

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where I use dream theory.

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And I just decided
to choose an object

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and imagine dreaming
about it, and really

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just use a lot of associations--
which I talked about

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today to a group of medical
students, which is really fun,

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of all things.

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The Dream of a Little
Occupied Japan Doll.

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"Among the hundred
porcelain figurines,

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the first one with
slanted eyes, fat cheeks,

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queue, though that's
Chinese, and Chinese bonnet

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is my favorite.

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Among all those in pajamas, or
gowns, or the two in kimono,

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the first is my favorite.

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Of those with rickshaw,
tambourine, or parasol and fan,

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I keep on my desk the
first one, though she--

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or he-- is not
doing a darn thing.

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Here in sleep,
rivalry is reserved.

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And as dreams tune the mind
for conscious awareness,

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perhaps this favoritism suggests
I've quit hoarding and now

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collect myself."

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