WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.860 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:03.510 align:middle line:90%
[SPEAKING MOJAVE]

00:00:03.510 --> 00:00:07.290 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.290 --> 00:00:12.880 align:middle line:84%
It's my luck tonight to
be here with you all.

00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:16.200 align:middle line:84%
I would like to take a moment
to acknowledge and honor

00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:19.980 align:middle line:84%
the people whose lands
we're on this evening.

00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:22.500 align:middle line:84%
And I don't mean you
people, but the people

00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:23.550 align:middle line:90%
who are here before you.

00:00:23.550 --> 00:00:26.340 align:middle line:90%


00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:28.530 align:middle line:84%
But it's kind of
an incredible thing

00:00:28.530 --> 00:00:32.250 align:middle line:84%
to be here in a space that
has meant so much to my people

00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:35.790 align:middle line:90%
and to many peoples before.

00:00:35.790 --> 00:00:40.200 align:middle line:84%
It's also my luck to
welcome you to my family.

00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:42.540 align:middle line:84%
These poets who are
here with us tonight,

00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:45.030 align:middle line:84%
the things they've
been building.

00:00:45.030 --> 00:00:49.560 align:middle line:84%
Sandra Cisneros,
Rita Dove, Joy Harjo,

00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:52.500 align:middle line:84%
they're all part of a
family and community who

00:00:52.500 --> 00:00:56.040 align:middle line:84%
have made me and many
other writers possible.

00:00:56.040 --> 00:01:01.830 align:middle line:84%
When I came to ASU, I thought,
what can I offer my students,

00:01:01.830 --> 00:01:03.600 align:middle line:90%
this new community of mine?

00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:06.690 align:middle line:84%
And I thought the thing that
would be the most important

00:01:06.690 --> 00:01:09.930 align:middle line:84%
would be for me to offer you
my family, the things that

00:01:09.930 --> 00:01:11.410 align:middle line:90%
have made me possible.

00:01:11.410 --> 00:01:15.705 align:middle line:84%
And so it was the
easiest thing to think,

00:01:15.705 --> 00:01:17.160 align:middle line:90%
who are the people I love?

00:01:17.160 --> 00:01:20.580 align:middle line:84%
Who are the people
who love me back?

00:01:20.580 --> 00:01:24.480 align:middle line:84%
And they're largely
poets and writers.

00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:28.380 align:middle line:84%
I met Sandra and
Rita and Joy long

00:01:28.380 --> 00:01:29.850 align:middle line:90%
before they were my friends.

00:01:29.850 --> 00:01:31.620 align:middle line:90%
I met them on the page.

00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:35.250 align:middle line:84%
And I knew immediately
that they loved me

00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:36.630 align:middle line:90%
before I even knew them.

00:01:36.630 --> 00:01:42.300 align:middle line:84%
And I knew that because what
I saw in their writing was me.

00:01:42.300 --> 00:01:46.050 align:middle line:84%
I saw the people I
loved, I saw myself,

00:01:46.050 --> 00:01:48.510 align:middle line:84%
I saw tenderness
alongside violence.

00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:51.600 align:middle line:84%
I saw all of the things
that I had hoped for.

00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:54.816 align:middle line:90%


00:01:54.816 --> 00:01:57.270 align:middle line:84%
I saw the languages
that I speak.

00:01:57.270 --> 00:02:01.500 align:middle line:84%
I saw the lands, I saw my
beloveds there on their pages.

00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.140 align:middle line:84%
And to me, that was
the biggest gift.

00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:08.220 align:middle line:84%
And so it's with, again, a
lot of joy, a lot of luck,

00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:12.120 align:middle line:84%
a lot of gratitude that I offer
these women and their stories

00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:12.945 align:middle line:90%
to you tonight.

00:02:12.945 --> 00:02:15.510 align:middle line:90%


00:02:15.510 --> 00:02:18.390 align:middle line:84%
I think that
something that we want

00:02:18.390 --> 00:02:20.520 align:middle line:84%
to do with ArchiTEXTS,
with what we're bringing,

00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.550 align:middle line:90%
is conversation, is community.

00:02:23.550 --> 00:02:26.010 align:middle line:84%
And that, I think,
is why this event

00:02:26.010 --> 00:02:28.470 align:middle line:84%
is happening, that we
are able to reach out,

00:02:28.470 --> 00:02:31.770 align:middle line:84%
that I can reach out, maybe
to their chagrin or dismay,

00:02:31.770 --> 00:02:33.660 align:middle line:90%
to Tyler or to Hannah.

00:02:33.660 --> 00:02:37.140 align:middle line:84%
And sometimes in text and say,
hey, what if we do this thing?

00:02:37.140 --> 00:02:38.970 align:middle line:84%
And they'll say, well,
maybe send an email

00:02:38.970 --> 00:02:41.580 align:middle line:90%
and we'll talk about it.

00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:46.290 align:middle line:84%
And then to Jake and
Angie and Tito Alberto

00:02:46.290 --> 00:02:51.480 align:middle line:84%
at The Piper Center, and to
Joyce at the Labriola Center,

00:02:51.480 --> 00:02:53.220 align:middle line:84%
even the fact that
the Poetry Coalition

00:02:53.220 --> 00:02:57.840 align:middle line:84%
was willing to come here to
help us celebrate these women.

00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.710 align:middle line:84%
And so I won't spend much
more time except to say,

00:03:01.710 --> 00:03:04.560 align:middle line:90%
mil gracias, con [INAUDIBLE].

00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:06.710 align:middle line:90%
Thank you so much.

00:03:06.710 --> 00:03:09.000 align:middle line:90%