WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.508 align:middle line:90% All right, questions? 00:00:01.508 --> 00:00:03.300 align:middle line:84% And I always say to my classes, no question 00:00:03.300 --> 00:00:05.970 align:middle line:90% is too big, too small. 00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:08.550 align:middle line:90% Who wants to be the first? 00:00:08.550 --> 00:00:09.180 align:middle line:90% Oh, yes. 00:00:09.180 --> 00:00:10.800 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.640 align:middle line:84% I'd just like to ask what the focus of your craft talk 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:15.750 align:middle line:90% next week will be. 00:00:15.750 --> 00:00:16.350 align:middle line:90% Sure. 00:00:16.350 --> 00:00:18.750 align:middle line:90% It will be-- 00:00:18.750 --> 00:00:21.210 align:middle line:84% I think the official title of it is 00:00:21.210 --> 00:00:24.270 align:middle line:84% The World is Full of Paper, the Epistolary Poem. 00:00:24.270 --> 00:00:25.710 align:middle line:90% But what that is is for-- 00:00:25.710 --> 00:00:28.155 align:middle line:84% it's for people who write fictions, 00:00:28.155 --> 00:00:30.799 align:middle line:84% it's for people who write essays. 00:00:30.799 --> 00:00:32.549 align:middle line:84% I'm going to be focusing a little bit more 00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:34.770 align:middle line:90% of an emphasis on poetry. 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:37.410 align:middle line:84% But where there's a direct address-- writing letters, 00:00:37.410 --> 00:00:39.240 align:middle line:84% cards, that kind of thing, and what effects 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:44.400 align:middle line:84% can happen by having a direct address as letter poems 00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:48.720 align:middle line:84% to an individual, real or imagined, dead or alive. 00:00:48.720 --> 00:00:49.380 align:middle line:90% So, yeah. 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:50.260 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:00:50.260 --> 00:00:50.760 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:00:50.760 --> 00:00:51.720 align:middle line:90% Or misspelled. 00:00:51.720 --> 00:00:54.540 align:middle line:90% Yeah, exactly. 00:00:54.540 --> 00:00:55.740 align:middle line:90% There's other questions? 00:00:55.740 --> 00:00:58.370 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:00:58.370 --> 00:00:58.870 align:middle line:90% Hi there. 00:00:58.870 --> 00:00:59.125 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:00:59.125 --> 00:01:00.917 align:middle line:84% Thank you so much for that awesome reading. 00:01:00.917 --> 00:01:01.720 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:01:01.720 --> 00:01:04.959 align:middle line:84% I'm doing a small project on poets and their identities. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:06.520 align:middle line:84% I was wondering-- I know this is big, 00:01:06.520 --> 00:01:10.090 align:middle line:84% but if you could maybe take away a few things that you think 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:10.728 align:middle line:90% your identity-- 00:01:10.728 --> 00:01:12.520 align:middle line:84% the things you take away from your identity 00:01:12.520 --> 00:01:16.120 align:middle line:84% that most influence the way you manipulate language. 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:18.100 align:middle line:84% Oh my goodness, that's such a good question. 00:01:18.100 --> 00:01:19.683 align:middle line:84% See what I'm telling you, the students 00:01:19.683 --> 00:01:23.230 align:middle line:90% here are just so, so smart. 00:01:23.230 --> 00:01:25.850 align:middle line:84% And I'm listening to this cacophony of like, beep, beep, 00:01:25.850 --> 00:01:26.350 align:middle line:90% beep. 00:01:26.350 --> 00:01:29.450 align:middle line:90% 00:01:29.450 --> 00:01:32.230 align:middle line:84% So I'm thinking, like, sound plays a big part. 00:01:32.230 --> 00:01:36.730 align:middle line:90% The different sounds of-- 00:01:36.730 --> 00:01:39.760 align:middle line:84% what different parts of my identity help shape my writing? 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.060 align:middle line:90% Boy, that's a good one. 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:43.710 align:middle line:90% I would say-- 00:01:43.710 --> 00:01:45.920 align:middle line:84% I so appreciate the question, it's so great. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:47.480 align:middle line:84% But that's almost a question where 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:50.000 align:middle line:84% I'd have to almost ask you, or I would 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.730 align:middle line:84% have to ask my close friends who know me, or my family. 00:01:52.730 --> 00:01:55.100 align:middle line:84% You know, what parts of me do you see in my work? 00:01:55.100 --> 00:01:58.100 align:middle line:84% Because I will say that even though my poems try to start 00:01:58.100 --> 00:01:59.520 align:middle line:90% with a kernel of truth-- 00:01:59.520 --> 00:02:02.150 align:middle line:84% and all the scientific and natural information in there is 00:02:02.150 --> 00:02:05.030 align:middle line:84% absolutely quadruple fact-checked-- 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:09.590 align:middle line:84% stuff about me, or the I, personally, or any 00:02:09.590 --> 00:02:12.140 align:middle line:90% relationships whatsoever is-- 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:15.442 align:middle line:84% just assume it's made up, or massaged very thoroughly. 00:02:15.442 --> 00:02:16.650 align:middle line:90% You know, that kind of thing. 00:02:16.650 --> 00:02:23.360 align:middle line:84% So I will say that I grew up in the suburbs of rural places 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:24.980 align:middle line:90% across America. 00:02:24.980 --> 00:02:27.410 align:middle line:84% But also I had parents who were very 00:02:27.410 --> 00:02:32.840 align:middle line:84% adamant about making sure I knew their favorite foods, their-- 00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:35.990 align:middle line:84% I heard the language when we'd have relatives over 00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:36.860 align:middle line:90% and stuff like that. 00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:39.800 align:middle line:90% Parties and stuff like that. 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:43.250 align:middle line:84% And it was never quiet unless I went outside to get away 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:45.470 align:middle line:90% from my loud family. 00:02:45.470 --> 00:02:48.350 align:middle line:84% And I treasured that time as well. 00:02:48.350 --> 00:02:50.900 align:middle line:84% I lament-- I also teach environmental literature 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:53.690 align:middle line:84% and nature writing at the University of Mississippi. 00:02:53.690 --> 00:02:56.870 align:middle line:84% And we lament all the time how little time there 00:02:56.870 --> 00:02:58.550 align:middle line:84% is to daydream and how little time there 00:02:58.550 --> 00:03:01.700 align:middle line:84% is to be bored nowadays, because you can always be like, 00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:03.710 align:middle line:84% oh, let me check on my friend on Instagram 00:03:03.710 --> 00:03:06.770 align:middle line:84% and see what food she's been eating lately or something, 00:03:06.770 --> 00:03:07.700 align:middle line:90% you know? 00:03:07.700 --> 00:03:09.500 align:middle line:84% But in that space and time, you don't 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:13.760 align:middle line:84% get to think about, oh, that time in fifth grade 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:17.600 align:middle line:84% when I was not listening to my dad point out Saturn 00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:19.370 align:middle line:84% and now I'm so appreciative that he did. 00:03:19.370 --> 00:03:21.470 align:middle line:84% You don't get to think about that because you're always 00:03:21.470 --> 00:03:23.900 align:middle line:84% filling your mind with something on a screen or something. 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:26.240 align:middle line:90% And I'm not anti-screen at all. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:28.920 align:middle line:84% I love what social media has done. 00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:31.730 align:middle line:84% But I will say, I think it's those moments-- 00:03:31.730 --> 00:03:34.640 align:middle line:84% parts of my identity where I had as idyllic 00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:38.360 align:middle line:90% of a childhood as could be-- 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:40.970 align:middle line:84% but being the only Asian-American 00:03:40.970 --> 00:03:44.420 align:middle line:84% almost everywhere I went was lonely on some terms. 00:03:44.420 --> 00:03:46.760 align:middle line:84% And yet I never felt lonely because I 00:03:46.760 --> 00:03:49.430 align:middle line:84% knew the plants and animals and the constellations above me. 00:03:49.430 --> 00:03:52.880 align:middle line:84% So maybe that could be combined into my own writing. 00:03:52.880 --> 00:03:57.090 align:middle line:84% I always had to make friends super fast, and kind of smile 00:03:57.090 --> 00:03:59.090 align:middle line:84% with a really saccharine smile when people would 00:03:59.090 --> 00:04:00.290 align:middle line:90% be like, oh, what are you? 00:04:00.290 --> 00:04:02.360 align:middle line:90% You know? 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:05.690 align:middle line:84% So I'm used to being cheerful automatically. 00:04:05.690 --> 00:04:08.900 align:middle line:84% But I'm also used to having quiet and reflective time 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:09.540 align:middle line:90% as well. 00:04:09.540 --> 00:04:12.770 align:middle line:84% So it's kind of a big answer, but yeah. 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:14.740 align:middle line:90% Yeah, thank you. 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:15.340 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:04:15.340 --> 00:04:17.063 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:04:17.063 --> 00:04:17.980 align:middle line:90% Oh, yeah, yeah-- Yeah. 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:18.717 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:04:18.717 --> 00:04:21.339 align:middle line:84% You mentioned Anne Sexton during the reading. 00:04:21.339 --> 00:04:23.290 align:middle line:84% Who are other poets that were either-- 00:04:23.290 --> 00:04:25.990 align:middle line:84% have been important to over time or who are important to you 00:04:25.990 --> 00:04:26.560 align:middle line:90% right now. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:31.900 align:middle line:84% Yeah, you know-- oh my goodness, it feels like just one giant-- 00:04:31.900 --> 00:04:33.997 align:middle line:84% kind of the best dinner party conversation 00:04:33.997 --> 00:04:35.080 align:middle line:90% you can ever be a part of. 00:04:35.080 --> 00:04:39.460 align:middle line:84% When I walked into the Poetry Center here, 00:04:39.460 --> 00:04:41.830 align:middle line:84% people had to almost quite literally pull me out 00:04:41.830 --> 00:04:43.450 align:middle line:90% because I didn't want to leave. 00:04:43.450 --> 00:04:45.040 align:middle line:84% And I'll have time to explore later, 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:50.500 align:middle line:84% but it's just such a stunning array of voices here. 00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:53.170 align:middle line:84% Now more than ever, voices that were not maybe 00:04:53.170 --> 00:04:55.952 align:middle line:84% heard as often before, in the '80s and '90s, 00:04:55.952 --> 00:04:57.410 align:middle line:84% are being published more than ever. 00:04:57.410 --> 00:05:00.880 align:middle line:84% So it's the absolute most exciting time to read poetry, 00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:02.770 align:middle line:90% I believe. 00:05:02.770 --> 00:05:05.890 align:middle line:84% Whereas, for example, I never saw the word lumpia-- 00:05:05.890 --> 00:05:07.750 align:middle line:84% which, anybody who loves Filipino food 00:05:07.750 --> 00:05:10.150 align:middle line:90% knows that's a-- yeah, yeah. 00:05:10.150 --> 00:05:12.560 align:middle line:90% It's an egg roll. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:14.310 align:middle line:90% I never saw-- yeah, but better. 00:05:14.310 --> 00:05:15.518 align:middle line:90% That's right. 00:05:15.518 --> 00:05:16.060 align:middle line:90% That's right. 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:17.920 align:middle line:84% I was trying to be nice here, but yes. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:20.800 align:middle line:84% Lumpia is the best kind of egg roll, yes. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:23.800 align:middle line:90% Let's be honest here. 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:25.340 align:middle line:90% But I never saw that growing up. 00:05:25.340 --> 00:05:29.140 align:middle line:84% I never saw the foods that my parents loved in any poem. 00:05:29.140 --> 00:05:32.530 align:middle line:84% When I also read books about nature and the outdoors, 00:05:32.530 --> 00:05:35.230 align:middle line:84% I never saw any-- so I was a total nerd. 00:05:35.230 --> 00:05:39.070 align:middle line:84% I would read books on shells, or minerals of Arizona, 00:05:39.070 --> 00:05:40.040 align:middle line:90% or something like that. 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:41.560 align:middle line:84% But when I look at the scientists, 00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:43.390 align:middle line:90% I never saw anybody brown. 00:05:43.390 --> 00:05:45.110 align:middle line:90% I never saw any women. 00:05:45.110 --> 00:05:48.460 align:middle line:84% So for the longest time, I thought, 00:05:48.460 --> 00:05:50.390 align:middle line:90% do brown girls not go outside? 00:05:50.390 --> 00:05:51.990 align:middle line:84% Are we not supposed to go outside? 00:05:51.990 --> 00:05:55.990 align:middle line:84% Are we not supposed to say that we love whales, or squid, 00:05:55.990 --> 00:05:59.380 align:middle line:90% or something like that? 00:05:59.380 --> 00:06:04.103 align:middle line:84% So it's a roundabout way of answering the question, that-- 00:06:04.103 --> 00:06:05.770 align:middle line:84% the voices I'm drawn to now are the ones 00:06:05.770 --> 00:06:07.700 align:middle line:90% that I didn't see growing up. 00:06:07.700 --> 00:06:10.160 align:middle line:84% But I will say some of the classics. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.730 align:middle line:84% I was steeped in the classics of Whitman, and Dickinson, 00:06:12.730 --> 00:06:14.560 align:middle line:90% and Frost, and all of that. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:19.300 align:middle line:84% But I loved turning to voices like Lucille Clifton, Rita 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:21.370 align:middle line:90% Dove, James Wright. 00:06:21.370 --> 00:06:24.910 align:middle line:84% Anybody who kind of utilized the land, and food, and family 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:27.760 align:middle line:90% in such interesting ways. 00:06:27.760 --> 00:06:29.920 align:middle line:84% Naomi Shihab Nye though is probably 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:31.720 align:middle line:90% my patron saint of poetry. 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:34.180 align:middle line:84% It was quite literally her poem, when 00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:36.280 align:middle line:84% I was a struggling chemistry major, 00:06:36.280 --> 00:06:39.760 align:middle line:84% procrastinating in the Honors dorm study lounge-- 00:06:39.760 --> 00:06:42.910 align:middle line:84% someone left one of her poems on the table. 00:06:42.910 --> 00:06:45.370 align:middle line:84% I didn't-- this is how bad my humanities education was. 00:06:45.370 --> 00:06:47.717 align:middle line:90% I didn't know that was a poem. 00:06:47.717 --> 00:06:48.550 align:middle line:90% It was a prose poem. 00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:50.050 align:middle line:90% I picked it up. 00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:52.030 align:middle line:84% And it was like that Emily Dickinson quote. 00:06:52.030 --> 00:06:55.210 align:middle line:84% The top of my head felt like it had been blown off. 00:06:55.210 --> 00:06:57.700 align:middle line:90% It just dazzled me. 00:06:57.700 --> 00:06:59.890 align:middle line:84% And the poem is called "Mint Snowball," 00:06:59.890 --> 00:07:03.442 align:middle line:84% and it's about a dessert that her grandfather made. 00:07:03.442 --> 00:07:05.900 align:middle line:84% And I just didn't know that you could even write like that. 00:07:05.900 --> 00:07:08.260 align:middle line:84% So years later, when I finally got to be in a position 00:07:08.260 --> 00:07:11.110 align:middle line:84% where I could invite a visiting writer at my first job, 00:07:11.110 --> 00:07:14.350 align:middle line:84% it was no doubt-- it was actually Naomi Shihab Nye. 00:07:14.350 --> 00:07:16.210 align:middle line:90% And I'm happy to say we're now-- 00:07:16.210 --> 00:07:19.240 align:middle line:84% we write letters to each other, and send Christmas cards, 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:22.930 align:middle line:84% and she always wants to see pictures of my kids. 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:23.590 align:middle line:90% So yeah. 00:07:23.590 --> 00:07:25.300 align:middle line:84% So I like the voices that I didn't 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:29.860 align:middle line:84% see-- that I wasn't introduced to when I was growing up. 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:31.540 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:32.300 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:33.020 align:middle line:90% Other questions? 00:07:33.020 --> 00:07:33.770 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:07:33.770 --> 00:07:34.270 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:07:34.270 --> 00:07:35.030 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:07:35.030 --> 00:07:36.392 align:middle line:90% Oh my-- hi. 00:07:36.392 --> 00:07:38.350 align:middle line:84% Thank you for such a beautiful reading tonight. 00:07:38.350 --> 00:07:39.250 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:42.010 align:middle line:84% My question today is about your passion, actually, 00:07:42.010 --> 00:07:45.730 align:middle line:84% and whether it lies in writing and poetry 00:07:45.730 --> 00:07:49.360 align:middle line:84% or if it's a topic that you use poetry 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.760 align:middle line:84% as a means of expressing, or questioning, 00:07:51.760 --> 00:07:55.210 align:middle line:90% or something along those lines. 00:07:55.210 --> 00:07:57.820 align:middle line:84% Gosh, that's a really good question. 00:07:57.820 --> 00:07:59.200 align:middle line:90% Well, thank you, I guess. 00:07:59.200 --> 00:08:02.200 align:middle line:84% I don't know how exactly to interpret the word 00:08:02.200 --> 00:08:03.520 align:middle line:90% "passion" in some ways. 00:08:03.520 --> 00:08:06.460 align:middle line:90% I think that's a compliment. 00:08:06.460 --> 00:08:09.200 align:middle line:84% Some of my close friends would just call that absolute-- 00:08:09.200 --> 00:08:12.880 align:middle line:84% Aimee is just one giant cornball and super cheesy 00:08:12.880 --> 00:08:14.290 align:middle line:90% about everything, you know? 00:08:14.290 --> 00:08:17.200 align:middle line:84% Like, oh gosh, Aimee found a new flower. 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:20.350 align:middle line:84% Or, here we go, there's something about a new mineral 00:08:20.350 --> 00:08:21.128 align:middle line:90% was discovered. 00:08:21.128 --> 00:08:21.920 align:middle line:90% That kind of thing. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:23.860 align:middle line:84% So I love that you call it a passion. 00:08:23.860 --> 00:08:25.690 align:middle line:84% My friends would be like, oh my gosh, 00:08:25.690 --> 00:08:28.510 align:middle line:90% Aimee is a nerd, a big nerd. 00:08:28.510 --> 00:08:30.250 align:middle line:90% That kind of thing. 00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:33.309 align:middle line:84% I mentioned I always kind of was that girl. 00:08:33.309 --> 00:08:36.520 align:middle line:84% In Glendale, they had this wonderful program 00:08:36.520 --> 00:08:38.409 align:middle line:90% called Project Potential. 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:40.809 align:middle line:84% And I'm kind of embarrassed to say it, actually. 00:08:40.809 --> 00:08:42.909 align:middle line:84% But the leader of Project Potential-- 00:08:42.909 --> 00:08:46.235 align:middle line:90% it was a gifted program. 00:08:46.235 --> 00:08:48.610 align:middle line:84% But the leader of it is still actually there in Glendale, 00:08:48.610 --> 00:08:50.950 align:middle line:84% and she was actually almost going to come to the reading 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:52.930 align:middle line:90% and she couldn't make it. 00:08:52.930 --> 00:08:56.380 align:middle line:84% But because I was such a voracious reader 00:08:56.380 --> 00:08:59.200 align:middle line:90% and because I just-- 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:02.440 align:middle line:84% they quite literally didn't know what to do with me. 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:05.140 align:middle line:84% They sent me into this Project Potential gifted program 00:09:05.140 --> 00:09:08.410 align:middle line:84% where I made dioramas all day long, and I was in heaven. 00:09:08.410 --> 00:09:10.743 align:middle line:90% So I made dioramas. 00:09:10.743 --> 00:09:12.910 align:middle line:84% Do you guys-- some of the students maybe don't know, 00:09:12.910 --> 00:09:16.860 align:middle line:84% but it's shoe boxes, and you can create whole worlds in them. 00:09:16.860 --> 00:09:21.840 align:middle line:84% Again, it sounds so quaint, but we didn't have the internet. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:25.860 align:middle line:84% But I was doing things like studying Henry VIII wives, 00:09:25.860 --> 00:09:28.410 align:middle line:84% and I made like a diorama of Anne Boleyn. 00:09:28.410 --> 00:09:36.150 align:middle line:84% And the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman. 00:09:36.150 --> 00:09:39.610 align:middle line:84% So that's-- that should have been a warning to my parents 00:09:39.610 --> 00:09:41.890 align:middle line:84% that I was never going to be a doctor. 00:09:41.890 --> 00:09:44.410 align:middle line:84% But I think they just thought, well, at least Aimee 00:09:44.410 --> 00:09:46.030 align:middle line:90% is keeping herself occupied. 00:09:46.030 --> 00:09:47.830 align:middle line:90% That kind of thing. 00:09:47.830 --> 00:09:49.670 align:middle line:84% But I always joke with my folks now 00:09:49.670 --> 00:09:53.200 align:middle line:84% and I say that my greatest gift to humanity 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:57.730 align:middle line:84% was all the lives I saved by not becoming a doctor. 00:09:57.730 --> 00:10:01.480 align:middle line:90% And they agree, very much so. 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:04.660 align:middle line:84% I also will say, those of you who are struggling with majors, 00:10:04.660 --> 00:10:05.950 align:middle line:90% here's a tip. 00:10:05.950 --> 00:10:10.090 align:middle line:84% I came through being a junior of chemistry, honors major. 00:10:10.090 --> 00:10:13.000 align:middle line:84% I never lit a Bunsen burner in my life. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:14.900 align:middle line:84% I was always terrified of a Bunsen burner. 00:10:14.900 --> 00:10:16.990 align:middle line:84% I always got somebody else to do it for me. 00:10:16.990 --> 00:10:20.020 align:middle line:84% That should also have been a red flag that I was not 00:10:20.020 --> 00:10:23.560 align:middle line:90% suited to chemistry. 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:26.890 align:middle line:84% But if someone had asked little Aimee-- 00:10:26.890 --> 00:10:28.330 align:middle line:90% or high school Aimee, even-- 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:31.180 align:middle line:84% what do you truly get excited about, it was reading, 00:10:31.180 --> 00:10:32.140 align:middle line:90% reading, reading. 00:10:32.140 --> 00:10:34.270 align:middle line:84% Not just not necessarily literature, but just 00:10:34.270 --> 00:10:35.860 align:middle line:84% about the world and the natural world. 00:10:35.860 --> 00:10:38.350 align:middle line:84% Going out there, trying to identify plants and stuff 00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:38.980 align:middle line:90% like that. 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:40.938 align:middle line:84% Little did I know that that gave me the biggest 00:10:40.938 --> 00:10:42.898 align:middle line:90% vocabulary for poems. 00:10:42.898 --> 00:10:44.440 align:middle line:84% So I never sit down to say, I'm going 00:10:44.440 --> 00:10:48.200 align:middle line:84% to write about chalcopyrite today, the mineral, 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:50.090 align:middle line:84% but it's just part of my vocabulary. 00:10:50.090 --> 00:10:51.580 align:middle line:84% So if I need it for a metaphor, I 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:56.980 align:middle line:84% can plop it in there with not too much effort, I guess. 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:59.740 align:middle line:84% But it also makes for strange dinner conversations. 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:03.370 align:middle line:84% Or the first time I showed my best friend 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:07.460 align:middle line:84% this cockroach video, it was over the phone. 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:09.460 align:middle line:84% And she said, would you please warn me? 00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:14.500 align:middle line:84% I was about to have lunch, and now I don't want lunch anymore. 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:15.300 align:middle line:90% That kind of thing. 00:11:15.300 --> 00:11:18.100 align:middle line:84% So I'm not quite sure if that answered your question, 00:11:18.100 --> 00:11:20.800 align:middle line:84% but just to give you kind of a little bit of background. 00:11:20.800 --> 00:11:22.180 align:middle line:84% That I always loved-- and it goes 00:11:22.180 --> 00:11:24.470 align:middle line:84% back to what my dad said, is please promise me 00:11:24.470 --> 00:11:26.470 align:middle line:84% you'll always feel like a student on this Earth. 00:11:26.470 --> 00:11:28.960 align:middle line:84% And I never understand students who 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:32.140 align:middle line:84% say they have nothing to write about. 00:11:32.140 --> 00:11:36.250 align:middle line:84% From Lucky Fish there was a rabbit 00:11:36.250 --> 00:11:38.800 align:middle line:84% I was studying called the pygmy rabbit-- because that's 00:11:38.800 --> 00:11:43.450 align:middle line:84% just what I do in my spare time, is read about various animals. 00:11:43.450 --> 00:11:46.960 align:middle line:84% And before I could get a poem finished out of it, 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:49.990 align:middle line:84% the last pygmy rabbit on Earth died, actually. 00:11:49.990 --> 00:11:51.430 align:middle line:90% It was extinct. 00:11:51.430 --> 00:11:54.430 align:middle line:84% And so that was, I think, probably the single most 00:11:54.430 --> 00:11:57.580 align:middle line:84% trigger moment for me to realize that it is a race-- 00:11:57.580 --> 00:11:58.690 align:middle line:90% for me anyway-- 00:11:58.690 --> 00:12:03.460 align:middle line:84% to write down all the amazing things that are on this planet 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:05.500 align:middle line:84% that maybe people overlook or whatever. 00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:10.210 align:middle line:84% Certainly that I get certainly excited or passionate about 00:12:10.210 --> 00:12:12.520 align:middle line:90% before they disappear. 00:12:12.520 --> 00:12:14.200 align:middle line:84% And when I go in and teach poetry 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.320 align:middle line:84% to high schools or elementary schools, I will tell you this-- 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:19.720 align:middle line:84% I mentioned it earlier this morning. 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:24.010 align:middle line:84% The sheer number of students who ever even seen a firefly 00:12:24.010 --> 00:12:28.180 align:middle line:84% or held a ladybug, let them crawl over themselves, 00:12:28.180 --> 00:12:29.320 align:middle line:90% is dwindling. 00:12:29.320 --> 00:12:33.658 align:middle line:84% Like on average, probably, maybe two or three 00:12:33.658 --> 00:12:36.340 align:middle line:84% sixth graders out of a class of 25 00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:38.170 align:middle line:84% will have ever even touched a bug. 00:12:38.170 --> 00:12:38.770 align:middle line:90% Touched a bug. 00:12:38.770 --> 00:12:41.620 align:middle line:90% Or seen a firefly. 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:43.300 align:middle line:84% I've done talks where I actually had 00:12:43.300 --> 00:12:46.210 align:middle line:84% to bring up a firefly field on YouTube 00:12:46.210 --> 00:12:49.780 align:middle line:84% to prove that fireflies exist because that many students 00:12:49.780 --> 00:12:51.490 align:middle line:84% thought I was just making this bug up. 00:12:51.490 --> 00:12:55.960 align:middle line:84% Like, oh, yeah right, professor, there's a bug that lights up. 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:59.310 align:middle line:84% And I was, like, no, I promise you, that was my childhood. 00:12:59.310 --> 00:13:01.930 align:middle line:84% Like, what are you-- and can anybody 00:13:01.930 --> 00:13:04.360 align:middle line:84% guess why they've never seen a firefly? 00:13:04.360 --> 00:13:06.128 align:middle line:84% What are they doing in the summer? 00:13:06.128 --> 00:13:09.000 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:10.080 align:middle line:90% All of the above. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:10.770 align:middle line:90% Screens. 00:13:10.770 --> 00:13:14.190 align:middle line:84% That's their video game competitions, their movie 00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:15.480 align:middle line:90% extravaganza nights. 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:17.610 align:middle line:84% They're inside in the air conditioning. 00:13:17.610 --> 00:13:19.500 align:middle line:90% And I just remember-- 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:22.410 align:middle line:84% maybe now I see-- maybe now as a parent I could see. 00:13:22.410 --> 00:13:25.440 align:middle line:84% But we were basically not allowed to be inside. 00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:28.680 align:middle line:84% We were outside from right after breakfast, in Glendale. 00:13:28.680 --> 00:13:30.090 align:middle line:90% We would swim, swim, swim. 00:13:30.090 --> 00:13:33.600 align:middle line:84% We'd have to be almost dragged out of the pool. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.490 align:middle line:84% And then wait the requisite 30 minutes. 00:13:35.490 --> 00:13:36.910 align:middle line:90% And then out, swim, swim, swim. 00:13:36.910 --> 00:13:37.950 align:middle line:90% We'd do night swimming. 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:39.930 align:middle line:90% I mean, we were just outside. 00:13:39.930 --> 00:13:42.390 align:middle line:84% And if we were not swimming, I was 00:13:42.390 --> 00:13:45.540 align:middle line:84% like investigating what happens if I put my hand in a cactus, 00:13:45.540 --> 00:13:47.160 align:middle line:90% or what will I find. 00:13:47.160 --> 00:13:48.662 align:middle line:84% I mean, that's the kind of stuff-- 00:13:48.662 --> 00:13:51.120 align:middle line:84% I tell my students all the time in my nature writing class, 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.190 align:middle line:84% you guys are among the last group 00:13:53.190 --> 00:13:56.730 align:middle line:84% of students who know what it's like to just be bored outside. 00:13:56.730 --> 00:14:00.000 align:middle line:84% Because the boredom that is happening now is bored inside, 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.018 align:middle line:84% and let me see what I can fill the time with online. 00:14:03.018 --> 00:14:04.560 align:middle line:84% And that breaks my heart for writing, 00:14:04.560 --> 00:14:07.790 align:middle line:84% in terms of what is going to be-- 00:14:07.790 --> 00:14:11.430 align:middle line:84% what is going to be used for metaphors now. 00:14:11.430 --> 00:14:14.830 align:middle line:84% I think the vocabulary is going to be different in some ways. 00:14:14.830 --> 00:14:20.310 align:middle line:84% So anyway, it's this kind of a sobering, depressing thought. 00:14:20.310 --> 00:14:20.970 align:middle line:90% But, yeah. 00:14:20.970 --> 00:14:26.280 align:middle line:84% So, unsolicited advice, if you have-- 00:14:26.280 --> 00:14:28.380 align:middle line:84% it's not too late, college students too. 00:14:28.380 --> 00:14:30.120 align:middle line:90% You could be outside. 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:32.160 align:middle line:84% You could be outside, even in Arizona. 00:14:32.160 --> 00:14:33.970 align:middle line:90% I'm living proof of it. 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:35.760 align:middle line:84% And we didn't use sunscreen, although I 00:14:35.760 --> 00:14:37.320 align:middle line:90% wouldn't recommend that now. 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.660 align:middle line:84% Sunscreen wasn't even a thing in the '80s, I think. 00:14:39.660 --> 00:14:43.290 align:middle line:84% And we were just outside, and it was the best foundation 00:14:43.290 --> 00:14:45.250 align:middle line:84% for being a poet, I think, actually. 00:14:45.250 --> 00:14:46.750 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:14:46.750 --> 00:14:47.250 align:middle line:90% Good. 00:14:47.250 --> 00:14:48.490 align:middle line:90% A couple more. 00:14:48.490 --> 00:14:50.430 align:middle line:90% Or is there-- is that it, or-- 00:14:50.430 --> 00:14:50.980 align:middle line:90% any more? 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:52.605 align:middle line:84% Well, we could continue more informally 00:14:52.605 --> 00:14:53.790 align:middle line:90% in the book reception line. 00:14:53.790 --> 00:14:54.180 align:middle line:90% Sure. 00:14:54.180 --> 00:14:54.680 align:middle line:90% Good, good. 00:14:54.680 --> 00:14:56.640 align:middle line:84% It was sobering, but also a great advertisement 00:14:56.640 --> 00:14:58.380 align:middle line:84% for the Insect Festival on Sunday. 00:14:58.380 --> 00:14:59.070 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:00.450 align:middle line:90% Oh my goodness, yes. 00:15:00.450 --> 00:15:02.550 align:middle line:84% And I think I have it on good word 00:15:02.550 --> 00:15:06.390 align:middle line:84% that you might be able to pet and see a Madagascar cockroach 00:15:06.390 --> 00:15:07.590 align:middle line:90% live, in person. 00:15:07.590 --> 00:15:11.580 align:middle line:84% So you know where I'm going to be on Saturday, so yeah. 00:15:11.580 --> 00:15:12.330 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much. 00:15:12.330 --> 00:15:13.780 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much everybody. 00:15:13.780 --> 00:15:14.280 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:15:14.280 --> 00:15:16.160 align:middle line:90% Thank you.