WEBVTT

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Thank you, Larry.

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[SPEAKING IN O'ODHAM]

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I'm very happy to welcome
our good friend Simon

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to this part of the desert.

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He's been visiting
with us all afternoon.

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And we have all been very
happy with this event.

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So I want to start out by
reading a little bit about what

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some of the things
that Simon I think

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holds dear, and has
held dear all his life.

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And he writes, "The
power of language

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resides in the
beauty of spirit that

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come about when we
change ourselves

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into helpful, generous,
understanding, compassionate,

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and thoughtful human
beings who benefit others."

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He continues, "If I
am anything as a poet,

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I must always try to be a human
being who is helpful to others,

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for that also is the
power of language,

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to encourage ourselves always
to be helpful to others."

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Simon has demonstrated
this ideal

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as a human being
in so many ways.

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As a product of the 1960s
ideology of equal rights,

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human rights, he has made it
an important part of his life

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to speak for those who can't,
to fight for those who can't.

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One of his most famous
books Fight Back--

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For the Sake of the People,
For the Sake of the Land

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carries this message.

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To this day, Simon will stand
up for a cause, whether it

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is SB 1070, or the book
ban in the schools,

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or the situation of
immigrants in the Southwest.

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Standing up for a
cause is something

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that is important to him as
a human, and as a writer.

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Simon is a nationally and
internationally renowned

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poet, essayist,
storyteller, scriptwriter.

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He is an award-winning author.

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He has about 24
books to his credit,

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including the seminal work
Woven Stone, a volume of three

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of his titles in
one, including Going

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for the Rain, A Good
Journey, and Fight Back--

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For the Sake of the People,
For the Sake of the Land.

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Simon, like a number
of his fellow writers,

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including Leslie Silko, Joy
Harjo, and Luci Tapahonso,

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N. Scott Momaday,
and many others,

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is in a group of writers
who, in the 1970s,

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many claim to signify the era
when Native American writers'

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voices were
asserting themselves.

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Some referred this
time as the renaissance

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of Native American writing.

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In an interview, Simon
comments that he sees this more

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as "A first-time awareness that
we were expressing ourselves."

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When N. Scott Momaday's
House Made of Dawn

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won a Pulitzer Prize in
1969, a new world opened.

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Simon has been
quoted as saying, "It

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was like a gate thrown
open to the voice

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of the Native American writer."

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Through this gate came people
like Simon, and many others.

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Presently, Simon is a
Regents' professor of English

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and American Indian Studies
at Arizona State University.

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He is the organizer of the
Simon Ortiz Labriola Center

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Indigenous Speaker Series,
which because of Simon's stature

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is able to attract
some of the finest

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American Indian scholars,
artists, and writers.

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In 2013, Simon was selected
to receive the Golden Tibetan

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Antelope international
prize in China.

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And I remember I
was with him prior,

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and he was getting ready to
leave for China to receive

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that very prestigious award.

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I found some of the text
that was part of the comment

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as the award was given.

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And I just want to read a
couple of lines from that.

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And they wrote, "Mr. Ortiz,
an honest, compassionate,

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and bold poet, dauntless
defender of the dignity

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and multiplicity
of human culture,

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taking poetry as the
home of his soul,

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and the last purchase of
the culture of his people."

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Please welcome Simon Ortiz.

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[APPLAUSE]