WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.490 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.490 --> 00:00:05.190 align:middle line:84% I think it's a wonderful crowd, an enormous crowd, 00:00:05.190 --> 00:00:10.680 align:middle line:84% to start off this great, and I think very important, series. 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:16.500 align:middle line:84% When Gail and I were talking about getting this together 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:21.030 align:middle line:84% and what it would look like, who we would want to bring, 00:00:21.030 --> 00:00:24.300 align:middle line:84% one of the things that became clear at the beginning was, 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:26.790 align:middle line:84% we wanted to have a diversity of people coming. 00:00:26.790 --> 00:00:32.114 align:middle line:84% Theorists, poets, musicians, philosophers-- 00:00:32.114 --> 00:00:37.290 align:middle line:84% the broad range of people who are interested in the way 00:00:37.290 --> 00:00:43.200 align:middle line:84% that language and nature penetrate each other, the way 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.750 align:middle line:84% that they penetrate us, the way that they 00:00:46.750 --> 00:00:50.590 align:middle line:90% make life and meaning possible. 00:00:50.590 --> 00:00:54.040 align:middle line:84% Because those are really the two great spheres that we humans 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:58.870 align:middle line:84% live and breathe in every day, our language and nature. 00:00:58.870 --> 00:01:03.010 align:middle line:84% And to be able to understand how they come together, 00:01:03.010 --> 00:01:04.840 align:middle line:84% how it is that we inhabit them and they 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:11.050 align:middle line:84% inhabit us, makes us more human and makes life more possible. 00:01:11.050 --> 00:01:13.250 align:middle line:90% So I was very excited. 00:01:13.250 --> 00:01:17.410 align:middle line:84% And I think it was very fitting to have Alison Hawthorne 00:01:17.410 --> 00:01:22.750 align:middle line:84% Deming be the first speaker to head off this series. 00:01:22.750 --> 00:01:25.990 align:middle line:84% Because she herself, I think, embodies a lot of diversity 00:01:25.990 --> 00:01:30.040 align:middle line:84% that the program as a whole is looking to have. 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:35.590 align:middle line:84% She's a poet, an essayist, a philosopher, a great ruminate, 00:01:35.590 --> 00:01:40.130 align:middle line:84% I would say, to perhaps to encompass them all. 00:01:40.130 --> 00:01:41.560 align:middle line:90% She's the author of seven books. 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:43.180 align:middle line:90% Her most recent book is Rope. 00:01:43.180 --> 00:01:44.920 align:middle line:90% It's a book of poetry. 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:46.240 align:middle line:90% It's hot off the presses. 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:49.522 align:middle line:84% I think there's some copies back here somewhere. 00:01:49.522 --> 00:01:50.980 align:middle line:84% Folks should definitely look at it. 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:53.410 align:middle line:90% It's a wonderful book. 00:01:53.410 --> 00:01:58.120 align:middle line:84% Alison, as a recipient of the Walt Whitman prize, 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:02.230 align:middle line:84% the Pushcart Prize, the Pablo Neruda prize, and two NEA 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:02.920 align:middle line:90% grants. 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:04.510 align:middle line:90% For those of you that-- 00:02:04.510 --> 00:02:06.130 align:middle line:90% 28 fellowships. 00:02:06.130 --> 00:02:08.199 align:middle line:84% For those of you that don't know her, 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.569 align:middle line:84% she teaches right here at the U of A 00:02:10.569 --> 00:02:14.200 align:middle line:84% and is a tremendous member of the community 00:02:14.200 --> 00:02:18.010 align:middle line:84% and does a lot of great work and reading. 00:02:18.010 --> 00:02:19.930 align:middle line:84% Tonight, she's going to be talking 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:22.870 align:middle line:84% about my favorite topic, which is the end of the world. 00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:25.480 align:middle line:90% 00:02:25.480 --> 00:02:28.360 align:middle line:84% I sense it's her favorite topic, too. 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:29.530 align:middle line:90% Now I have an excuse. 00:02:29.530 --> 00:02:34.490 align:middle line:84% You know, I work trying to protect endangered species. 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:39.130 align:middle line:84% So in some ways, it's not only my favorite topic, 00:02:39.130 --> 00:02:40.580 align:middle line:90% but maybe it's the only topic. 00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:45.250 align:middle line:84% It's the one that we come back to again and again. 00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:49.090 align:middle line:84% I think it's the issue that we all circle around. 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:53.650 align:middle line:84% And it's an issue that is not just about species. 00:02:53.650 --> 00:02:57.970 align:middle line:84% It's about the two great realms of diversity in this world, 00:02:57.970 --> 00:03:01.660 align:middle line:90% language and biodiversity. 00:03:01.660 --> 00:03:07.150 align:middle line:84% Because linguistic diversity is actually going extinct faster 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:10.910 align:middle line:84% in this world today than endangered species. 00:03:10.910 --> 00:03:14.050 align:middle line:84% There isn't an official list of endangered language the way 00:03:14.050 --> 00:03:17.650 align:middle line:84% we have an official list of endangered species, 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:22.360 align:middle line:84% but approximately 50% to 60% of all existing languages 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:27.430 align:middle line:84% on the planet today are imperiled with extinction. 00:03:27.430 --> 00:03:33.790 align:middle line:84% Within the next 100 years, it's predicted about 80% to 90% 00:03:33.790 --> 00:03:38.920 align:middle line:84% of all languages on the planet will be endangered or extinct. 00:03:38.920 --> 00:03:43.990 align:middle line:84% So in both of these realms, which I just 00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:48.760 align:middle line:84% think of as the two great poles of all of existence, 00:03:48.760 --> 00:03:51.430 align:middle line:90% are in crisis. 00:03:51.430 --> 00:03:55.300 align:middle line:84% And if we are to get through that 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:58.930 align:middle line:84% and to come out onto the other side, 00:03:58.930 --> 00:04:01.870 align:middle line:84% it's not going to be by ignoring it. 00:04:01.870 --> 00:04:05.330 align:middle line:84% And although we do a whole lot of measuring, and it's useful, 00:04:05.330 --> 00:04:09.070 align:middle line:84% I don't think it's going to be by measuring it, either. 00:04:09.070 --> 00:04:11.440 align:middle line:84% It's going to be by a certain kind of taking 00:04:11.440 --> 00:04:14.590 align:middle line:84% stock, a certain kind of rumination, 00:04:14.590 --> 00:04:20.260 align:middle line:84% the kind of thinking and exploring that Alison has done. 00:04:20.260 --> 00:04:23.560 align:middle line:84% And then Alison will speak tonight, or talk tonight, as 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.770 align:middle line:84% Baba Yaga, Demeter, the Drunken Mother: 00:04:26.770 --> 00:04:30.350 align:middle line:84% Myth, Metaphor, and Science at the End of the World. 00:04:30.350 --> 00:04:32.380 align:middle line:84% So folks, welcome to the end of the world, 00:04:32.380 --> 00:04:35.340 align:middle line:90% and welcome to Alison. 00:04:35.340 --> 00:04:39.000 align:middle line:90%