WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.458 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.458 --> 00:00:04.374 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:04.374 --> 00:00:07.300 align:middle line:90% 00:00:07.300 --> 00:00:08.740 align:middle line:90% So good evening. 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:11.440 align:middle line:84% It's really great to be back at the Poetry Center, which 00:00:11.440 --> 00:00:14.710 align:middle line:84% is such a fabulous place, and to be introduced 00:00:14.710 --> 00:00:19.060 align:middle line:84% by Tyler, who is such a fabulous director of the Poetry Center. 00:00:19.060 --> 00:00:21.700 align:middle line:84% I want to do some thanks to those 00:00:21.700 --> 00:00:24.310 align:middle line:90% who made this evening possible. 00:00:24.310 --> 00:00:25.392 align:middle line:90% I'm Fenton Johnson. 00:00:25.392 --> 00:00:27.850 align:middle line:84% I'm an Associate Professor in the Creative Writing Program. 00:00:27.850 --> 00:00:30.100 align:middle line:84% And as Tyler mentioned, tonight's reading 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:32.830 align:middle line:90% is part of the prose series. 00:00:32.830 --> 00:00:38.470 align:middle line:84% It is also sponsored by the Religion, Secularism, 00:00:38.470 --> 00:00:41.020 align:middle line:84% and Political Belonging Project, which 00:00:41.020 --> 00:00:44.260 align:middle line:84% Dr. Lee Medovoi, the Head of the Department of English, 00:00:44.260 --> 00:00:46.750 align:middle line:90% brought to us from Portland. 00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:48.730 align:middle line:84% And I will read you the questions, 00:00:48.730 --> 00:00:50.770 align:middle line:84% they're lengthy, so not that long, 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:52.570 align:middle line:84% but they're easier to read, that are 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:54.910 align:middle line:90% at the heart of this project. 00:00:54.910 --> 00:00:56.800 align:middle line:84% The project's key research questions 00:00:56.800 --> 00:01:01.480 align:middle line:84% are, how are we to understand the contemporary resurgence 00:01:01.480 --> 00:01:03.160 align:middle line:90% of religious discourses-- 00:01:03.160 --> 00:01:08.890 align:middle line:84% I think they mean, particularly, fundamentalism in that phrase-- 00:01:08.890 --> 00:01:12.160 align:middle line:84% social practices and forms of cultural organization 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:16.270 align:middle line:84% in political arenas, civil society, and the public sphere? 00:01:16.270 --> 00:01:18.520 align:middle line:84% I don't need to say to anyone here 00:01:18.520 --> 00:01:21.340 align:middle line:84% about the relevance of looking at fundamentalism 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:23.110 align:middle line:90% in today's environment. 00:01:23.110 --> 00:01:24.970 align:middle line:84% What light do these developments cast 00:01:24.970 --> 00:01:27.670 align:middle line:84% on long-standing accounts of modernity 00:01:27.670 --> 00:01:30.550 align:middle line:90% as a secular historical process? 00:01:30.550 --> 00:01:35.020 align:middle line:84% How are current definitions of religious and secular shaping 00:01:35.020 --> 00:01:39.310 align:middle line:84% local, national, transnational, and universal understandings 00:01:39.310 --> 00:01:41.110 align:middle line:90% of political belonging? 00:01:41.110 --> 00:01:43.340 align:middle line:90% And I'll say a word about that. 00:01:43.340 --> 00:01:48.100 align:middle line:84% I was on the steering committee of that gathering of Dr. 00:01:48.100 --> 00:01:49.360 align:middle line:90% Medovoi's. 00:01:49.360 --> 00:01:51.510 align:middle line:84% And we were discussing the speakers 00:01:51.510 --> 00:01:52.510 align:middle line:90% that were going to come. 00:01:52.510 --> 00:01:54.730 align:middle line:84% And I said, how about bringing a creative writer? 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:58.150 align:middle line:84% And to his credit, Lee said, yes, of course. 00:01:58.150 --> 00:02:00.280 align:middle line:84% And the first person that came to mind 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:03.670 align:middle line:84% was my fellow member of the Kentucky writer 00:02:03.670 --> 00:02:06.730 align:middle line:84% mafia, Erik Reece, about whom I'll 00:02:06.730 --> 00:02:08.289 align:middle line:90% say a little bit in a second. 00:02:08.289 --> 00:02:11.360 align:middle line:84% Our other sponsors are the Institute of the Environment-- 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.410 align:middle line:84% thank you to Dr. Diana Liverman, who's here tonight-- 00:02:14.410 --> 00:02:17.620 align:middle line:84% through its WEES Project, which provides travel and lodging 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:21.190 align:middle line:84% expenses to bring leading voices in the environmental movement 00:02:21.190 --> 00:02:24.730 align:middle line:84% to campus; the College of Social and Behavioral Studies, 00:02:24.730 --> 00:02:27.580 align:middle line:84% for its support of the Prose Reading Series; 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:33.010 align:middle line:84% Department of English; and Dr. Karen Seat, who, 00:02:33.010 --> 00:02:36.880 align:middle line:84% in her position as Head of the Department of Religious 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:40.780 align:middle line:84% Studies and Classics, also came on board to help 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:43.430 align:middle line:90% make this evening happen. 00:02:43.430 --> 00:02:46.030 align:middle line:84% And then, of course, the Poetry Center, the inimitable 00:02:46.030 --> 00:02:49.420 align:middle line:84% and wonderful Poetry Center staff. 00:02:49.420 --> 00:02:53.890 align:middle line:84% Tonight, to introduce Erik, will be 00:02:53.890 --> 00:02:57.250 align:middle line:84% one of our star creative nonfiction graduate 00:02:57.250 --> 00:02:59.740 align:middle line:84% students, Page Buono, who has a background 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:02.140 align:middle line:90% in environmental journalism. 00:03:02.140 --> 00:03:05.830 align:middle line:84% And it was a delight to be able to see 00:03:05.830 --> 00:03:08.170 align:middle line:84% the readiness with which she rose 00:03:08.170 --> 00:03:10.300 align:middle line:84% to the cause of introducing Erik. 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:13.840 align:middle line:84% I'll leave that to her capable hands. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:18.940 align:middle line:84% But I would be remiss if I did not say how pleased and happy 00:03:18.940 --> 00:03:25.690 align:middle line:84% I am to have a fellow member of the writer, the Kentucky writer 00:03:25.690 --> 00:03:27.070 align:middle line:90% mafia here. 00:03:27.070 --> 00:03:30.220 align:middle line:84% There is something about Kentucky. 00:03:30.220 --> 00:03:34.060 align:middle line:84% It is either the limestone in the ground or the bourbon 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:37.850 align:middle line:84% that comes as a result of the limestone in the ground. 00:03:37.850 --> 00:03:41.590 align:middle line:84% But there are an extraordinary number of writers and readers 00:03:41.590 --> 00:03:43.540 align:middle line:90% in that small green place. 00:03:43.540 --> 00:03:49.060 align:middle line:84% And it's a real pleasure to bring Erik, for whose writing 00:03:49.060 --> 00:03:52.930 align:middle line:84% I've had such admiration for so long. 00:03:52.930 --> 00:03:56.710 align:middle line:84% So I'll leave the formal introduction to Page. 00:03:56.710 --> 00:03:59.110 align:middle line:84% But it's great to see you all here. 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:01.300 align:middle line:90% And, Page-- where is Page? 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:04.140 align:middle line:90% Page, if you want to come on up.