WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.660 align:middle line:90%
OK.

00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:02.160 align:middle line:84%
Now, what's the
name of it, please?

00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:05.100 align:middle line:84%
Conflict Resolution
for Holy Beings.

00:00:05.100 --> 00:00:05.650 align:middle line:90%
Great stuff.

00:00:05.650 --> 00:00:06.150 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:00:06.150 --> 00:00:08.400 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:10.500 align:middle line:84%
And at risk of
being a salesman, I

00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:13.740 align:middle line:84%
have copies of those
over there, so--

00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:16.710 align:middle line:90%
That title was influenced by--

00:00:16.710 --> 00:00:19.290 align:middle line:84%
I've been friends with
Norman Patrick Brown.

00:00:19.290 --> 00:00:23.640 align:middle line:84%
He's a Diné poet, and he's
done theater and all sorts

00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:24.190 align:middle line:90%
of things.

00:00:24.190 --> 00:00:27.630 align:middle line:84%
And one of his Facebook
posts one morning was,

00:00:27.630 --> 00:00:30.900 align:middle line:84%
"I am the holy being of my
mother's prayer and my father's

00:00:30.900 --> 00:00:31.860 align:middle line:90%
song."

00:00:31.860 --> 00:00:34.820 align:middle line:84%
And that started
off the whole poem.

00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:37.520 align:middle line:90%
Yeah.

00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:38.642 align:middle line:90%
OK, uh-huh?

00:00:38.642 --> 00:00:42.340 align:middle line:90%
I wanted to ask you--

00:00:42.340 --> 00:00:43.510 align:middle line:90%
Yeah, it's on.

00:00:43.510 --> 00:00:47.630 align:middle line:84%
--to say something
about Standing Rock.

00:00:47.630 --> 00:00:52.740 align:middle line:84%
Yes, well, the whole reading
was about Standing Rock.

00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:56.210 align:middle line:84%
Yeah, the whole reading
was about Standing Rock.

00:00:56.210 --> 00:01:04.099 align:middle line:84%
But one reason that it's
a powerful and potent

00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:09.710 align:middle line:84%
and absolutely dangerous time,
and they're standing there.

00:01:09.710 --> 00:01:12.650 align:middle line:84%
It's not by accident that
it has come to this point.

00:01:12.650 --> 00:01:15.740 align:middle line:90%
And we all know it's a point.

00:01:15.740 --> 00:01:19.110 align:middle line:84%
There is a standoff between
what are we going to do.

00:01:19.110 --> 00:01:22.640 align:middle line:84%
Do we remember that we
are part of the water,

00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:26.510 align:middle line:84%
and the water lives in us, and
that we take care of the water,

00:01:26.510 --> 00:01:30.560 align:middle line:84%
and that we say no to
this ongoing greed?

00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.220 align:middle line:84%
Because that's what it's about,
the black snake, the pipe,

00:01:34.220 --> 00:01:35.300 align:middle line:90%
the oil.

00:01:35.300 --> 00:01:37.640 align:middle line:90%
And we have oil stories.

00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:40.010 align:middle line:84%
My tribe, the Creek Nation,
we have oil stories.

00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:42.440 align:middle line:84%
There's oil stories
in the Amazon.

00:01:42.440 --> 00:01:44.570 align:middle line:84%
It's all over the
world, in West Africa.

00:01:44.570 --> 00:01:45.710 align:middle line:90%
And one of a major--

00:01:45.710 --> 00:01:49.070 align:middle line:84%
Ken Saro-Wiwa was killed
because of the oil companies.

00:01:49.070 --> 00:01:53.570 align:middle line:84%
They killed him in
West Africa, the poet.

00:01:53.570 --> 00:01:55.680 align:middle line:90%
And it has to stop.

00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.500 align:middle line:90%
It has to stop somewhere.

00:01:57.500 --> 00:02:03.190 align:middle line:84%
So, at this point, people
are saying it has to stop.

00:02:03.190 --> 00:02:05.110 align:middle line:90%
And so it's very powerful.

00:02:05.110 --> 00:02:06.900 align:middle line:84%
It's a very powerful
and potent time.

00:02:06.900 --> 00:02:11.490 align:middle line:84%
It's not just about the
Standing Rock people.

00:02:11.490 --> 00:02:15.175 align:middle line:84%
We were all assigned
to be water protectors.

00:02:15.175 --> 00:02:17.550 align:middle line:84%
And when we took our first
breath here, we were assigned,

00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:19.830 align:middle line:90%
OK, we take care.

00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:21.660 align:middle line:90%
We took on this life.

00:02:21.660 --> 00:02:24.410 align:middle line:90%
We're water protectors.

00:02:24.410 --> 00:02:27.280 align:middle line:84%
And so, that's what is
so important and powerful

00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:29.320 align:middle line:90%
about this time.

00:02:29.320 --> 00:02:31.750 align:middle line:84%
And we're all watching it and
we're all taking part in it,

00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:36.580 align:middle line:84%
in some way, even
if we're not there.

00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:39.880 align:middle line:84%
And it's important to
support what's going on.

00:02:39.880 --> 00:02:42.010 align:middle line:90%
I'm astounded, actually.

00:02:42.010 --> 00:02:44.530 align:middle line:84%
I'm the kind of person that
sometimes something-- and maybe

00:02:44.530 --> 00:02:46.930 align:middle line:84%
it's because of the way I
grew up or some of the things

00:02:46.930 --> 00:02:51.280 align:middle line:84%
I saw growing up-- but if
something horrible happens,

00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:56.560 align:middle line:84%
I'll just kind of put it here
and then it finally hits.

00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:00.070 align:middle line:84%
I guess I kind of take it
in, and then it finally--

00:03:00.070 --> 00:03:01.780 align:middle line:90%
I get devastated by it.

00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:03.610 align:middle line:90%
But I have to wait.

00:03:03.610 --> 00:03:08.470 align:middle line:84%
And it finally hit me just
how absolutely outrageous--

00:03:08.470 --> 00:03:10.190 align:middle line:84%
I mean, it did when
it was happening.

00:03:10.190 --> 00:03:15.730 align:middle line:84%
But the impact of it is that
all of these agencies, police

00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:21.580 align:middle line:84%
agencies, in freezing
weather, would hit people

00:03:21.580 --> 00:03:23.740 align:middle line:84%
with rubber bullets,
water cannons.

00:03:23.740 --> 00:03:25.810 align:middle line:84%
I mean, these people
who were standing

00:03:25.810 --> 00:03:29.120 align:middle line:90%
there protesting peacefully.

00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:36.260 align:middle line:84%
If this had happened to
any non-native group,

00:03:36.260 --> 00:03:38.790 align:middle line:84%
then it would not
have been tolerated.

00:03:38.790 --> 00:03:42.410 align:middle line:84%
There would have been
national, international outcry.

00:03:42.410 --> 00:03:44.255 align:middle line:84%
But because it was
indigenous people--

00:03:44.255 --> 00:03:48.470 align:middle line:90%


00:03:48.470 --> 00:03:53.340 align:middle line:84%
now people are starting to catch
hold but we're all concerned.

00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:54.050 align:middle line:90%
I'm concerned.

00:03:54.050 --> 00:03:55.010 align:middle line:90%
We know the stories.

00:03:55.010 --> 00:03:58.040 align:middle line:90%


00:03:58.040 --> 00:03:59.540 align:middle line:90%
So everybody can do a part.

00:03:59.540 --> 00:04:00.650 align:middle line:90%
We can speak.

00:04:00.650 --> 00:04:03.710 align:middle line:84%
A lot of people don't
know what's going on.

00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:06.780 align:middle line:84%
And to speak out-- there's a lot
of false information going on.

00:04:06.780 --> 00:04:08.540 align:middle line:84%
So I would go directly
to the sources.

00:04:08.540 --> 00:04:10.790 align:middle line:84%
And if you're on
Facebook, Valerie

00:04:10.790 --> 00:04:12.950 align:middle line:84%
Taliman, who's with
Indian Country Today,

00:04:12.950 --> 00:04:14.390 align:middle line:90%
she's a good reporter.

00:04:14.390 --> 00:04:15.500 align:middle line:90%
And there's other sources.

00:04:15.500 --> 00:04:20.209 align:middle line:90%


00:04:20.209 --> 00:04:23.150 align:middle line:90%
Yeah, so keep them foremost.

00:04:23.150 --> 00:04:25.520 align:middle line:90%
And we're part.

00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:30.030 align:middle line:84%
What happens here, it's
happening to all of us.

00:04:30.030 --> 00:04:31.550 align:middle line:84%
And people all over
the world, there

00:04:31.550 --> 00:04:33.967 align:middle line:84%
are native people showing up
there from all over the world

00:04:33.967 --> 00:04:38.330 align:middle line:84%
because they've all dealt
with these same oil companies.

00:04:38.330 --> 00:04:41.060 align:middle line:84%
The Amazon, the people have
had their homes destroyed

00:04:41.060 --> 00:04:42.440 align:middle line:90%
by these oil companies.

00:04:42.440 --> 00:04:46.515 align:middle line:90%


00:04:46.515 --> 00:04:50.460 align:middle line:84%
All over the US, the gulf,
the gulf waters, and we

00:04:50.460 --> 00:04:51.863 align:middle line:90%
don't even know.

00:04:51.863 --> 00:04:53.280 align:middle line:84%
Most of what's
happened down there

00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:58.260 align:middle line:84%
has been hidden from public
knowledge, the destruction

00:04:58.260 --> 00:05:04.230 align:middle line:84%
in those waters and our lands,
everywhere, the fracking.

00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:05.490 align:middle line:90%
I was in that big earthquake.

00:05:05.490 --> 00:05:07.050 align:middle line:90%
I had come back home to Tulsa.

00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:08.490 align:middle line:90%
And I remember waking up.

00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:11.490 align:middle line:84%
And we'd never had
earthquakes in Tulsa.

00:05:11.490 --> 00:05:16.673 align:middle line:84%
A huge earthquake, it didn't
feel like it was going to stop.

00:05:16.673 --> 00:05:18.840 align:middle line:84%
And I wonder if what would
happen if it didn't stop.

00:05:18.840 --> 00:05:22.920 align:middle line:90%


00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:25.560 align:middle line:90%
OK, other?

00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:27.310 align:middle line:90%
Yes.

00:05:27.310 --> 00:05:28.300 align:middle line:90%
How's it going?

00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:29.920 align:middle line:90%
Hi, Bill.

00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:31.990 align:middle line:84%
One aspect of your work
that means a lot to me

00:05:31.990 --> 00:05:34.600 align:middle line:84%
is the references
to kitchen tables.

00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:37.210 align:middle line:84%
And it's shaped me
quite a bit, just

00:05:37.210 --> 00:05:39.640 align:middle line:84%
seeing people come in
and out of my house,

00:05:39.640 --> 00:05:42.430 align:middle line:84%
all the characters that come
visit my dad and drink coffee.

00:05:42.430 --> 00:05:45.010 align:middle line:84%
And my mom and my aunts
all sitting around

00:05:45.010 --> 00:05:46.450 align:middle line:90%
telling jokes and everything.

00:05:46.450 --> 00:05:48.970 align:middle line:84%
It shaped me a lot as a
person and as a writer.

00:05:48.970 --> 00:05:53.710 align:middle line:84%
I was just wondering what the
kitchen table meant to you.

00:05:53.710 --> 00:05:55.030 align:middle line:90%
Well, I write about it.

00:05:55.030 --> 00:05:57.610 align:middle line:90%
Yeah, I write about it a lot.

00:05:57.610 --> 00:06:00.832 align:middle line:84%
And in here, yeah,
it was everything.

00:06:00.832 --> 00:06:03.040 align:middle line:84%
That's where you found out
what was going on that you

00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:06.260 align:middle line:90%
weren't supposed to know.

00:06:06.260 --> 00:06:09.970 align:middle line:84%
So our kitchen table had
a little hiding place

00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:12.745 align:middle line:84%
right under there that
I liked to hide out in.

00:06:12.745 --> 00:06:16.210 align:middle line:84%
It was the place of
hidden knowledge.

00:06:16.210 --> 00:06:20.320 align:middle line:84%
But yeah, I think
that it's really

00:06:20.320 --> 00:06:25.390 align:middle line:84%
the place where all
action, peace action,

00:06:25.390 --> 00:06:27.430 align:middle line:84%
begins at a kitchen
table, the place where

00:06:27.430 --> 00:06:28.900 align:middle line:90%
people gather to eat.

00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:34.060 align:middle line:84%
Just as the roots of all wars,
every war has its roots there.

00:06:34.060 --> 00:06:37.510 align:middle line:84%
That's where it starts, in those
places, those intimate places,

00:06:37.510 --> 00:06:39.460 align:middle line:90%
and gathers up.

00:06:39.460 --> 00:06:42.850 align:middle line:84%
You can gauge the
economic situation

00:06:42.850 --> 00:06:47.410 align:middle line:84%
of a country, of a place, by
who's at the kitchen table.

00:06:47.410 --> 00:06:50.170 align:middle line:84%
Is there even a kitchen
table there anymore?

00:06:50.170 --> 00:06:52.270 align:middle line:90%
Is anybody eating there?

00:06:52.270 --> 00:06:55.540 align:middle line:84%
Or is it just the kids
there and nobody else?

00:06:55.540 --> 00:06:58.510 align:middle line:84%
Or is a whole family there,
grandma and the aunts?

00:06:58.510 --> 00:07:01.030 align:middle line:90%
And what are people eating?

00:07:01.030 --> 00:07:03.850 align:middle line:84%
You can gauge the spiritual
situation of a people

00:07:03.850 --> 00:07:06.160 align:middle line:90%
by what are they eating there.

00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:07.630 align:middle line:90%
Is it all processed food?

00:07:07.630 --> 00:07:11.620 align:middle line:90%
Are they opening cans and boxes?

00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:14.920 align:middle line:84%
Or is it food that
they've grown,

00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:20.830 align:middle line:84%
food with real life in it,
food that is free of GMOs?

00:07:20.830 --> 00:07:21.820 align:middle line:90%
There's so much.

00:07:21.820 --> 00:07:25.450 align:middle line:84%
I want to do a class
on the kitchen table.

00:07:25.450 --> 00:07:26.830 align:middle line:84%
Yeah, that's one
of the classes I

00:07:26.830 --> 00:07:30.040 align:middle line:84%
want to do before I
leave where I'm teaching,

00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.800 align:middle line:84%
a kitchen table class that
deals with all of these.

00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:35.425 align:middle line:90%


00:07:35.425 --> 00:07:38.140 align:middle line:90%
Well, I would like to sign up.

00:07:38.140 --> 00:07:39.250 align:middle line:90%
OK, yeah, we're--

00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:41.770 align:middle line:84%
If you have more questions,
please do bring them up.

00:07:41.770 --> 00:07:43.040 align:middle line:90%
We'll close these doors down.

00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:44.470 align:middle line:90%
Thank you so much, Joy.

00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:45.390 align:middle line:90%
Really appreciate it.

00:07:45.390 --> 00:07:46.000 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:46.590 align:middle line:90%
Buy books.

00:07:46.590 --> 00:07:47.180 align:middle line:90%
Hang out.

00:07:47.180 --> 00:07:50.530 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]

00:07:50.530 --> 00:07:52.000 align:middle line:90%