WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.410 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.410 --> 00:00:05.620 align:middle line:84%
Thank you so much, Elizabeth,
for that introduction.

00:00:05.620 --> 00:00:09.870 align:middle line:84%
And thanks to all of you
for coming this evening.

00:00:09.870 --> 00:00:13.140 align:middle line:84%
Special thanks, of course, to
the program for inviting me

00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:21.090 align:middle line:84%
to my former faculty, and to
my classmates, Aisha and Matt,

00:00:21.090 --> 00:00:24.540 align:middle line:84%
and other people in
the crowd amongst.

00:00:24.540 --> 00:00:30.360 align:middle line:84%
I'll never forget getting my
acceptance letter to the MFA

00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:35.415 align:middle line:84%
program and asking
myself, where is Tucson?

00:00:35.415 --> 00:00:38.160 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:41.130 align:middle line:84%
And having to get out a
map and discover the answer

00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:42.695 align:middle line:90%
to that question.

00:00:42.695 --> 00:00:44.070 align:middle line:84%
And being from
New England, I was

00:00:44.070 --> 00:00:47.280 align:middle line:84%
so excited to get to spend a
few years in the Southwest,

00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:49.500 align:middle line:90%
in the desert.

00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:53.880 align:middle line:84%
And I'll also never forget
reading one of Elizabeth Evans'

00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:58.800 align:middle line:84%
novels as I prepared
to leave for Tucson,

00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:02.970 align:middle line:84%
and shocking myself and
everyone else in a coffee shop

00:01:02.970 --> 00:01:05.519 align:middle line:84%
by reaching the end of the
novel and bursting into tears.

00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.220 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:01:08.220 --> 00:01:11.310 align:middle line:84%
The chance to get to study
with faculty like Elizabeth,

00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:17.010 align:middle line:84%
and Aurelie, and many other
people was just life changing.

00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:20.910 align:middle line:84%
So tonight I'm going to read
a story from my debut story

00:01:20.910 --> 00:01:23.460 align:middle line:84%
collection, which came
out about a year ago now.

00:01:23.460 --> 00:01:25.930 align:middle line:84%
It's called You
Never Get It Back.

00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:30.270 align:middle line:84%
And the stories all follow a
young woman from New England

00:01:30.270 --> 00:01:32.370 align:middle line:84%
through her early
20s into her mid 30s

00:01:32.370 --> 00:01:34.770 align:middle line:90%
as she moves around the country.

00:01:34.770 --> 00:01:37.290 align:middle line:84%
At first she studies
the Optical Sciences,

00:01:37.290 --> 00:01:39.910 align:middle line:84%
and then she decides
to become a writer.

00:01:39.910 --> 00:01:43.860 align:middle line:84%
And so the story I'll read from
is called "Shoulder Season."

00:01:43.860 --> 00:01:46.860 align:middle line:84%
It takes place about 2/3 of
the way through the book.

00:01:46.860 --> 00:01:49.740 align:middle line:84%
And she's deciding at that point
to leave the graduate program

00:01:49.740 --> 00:01:52.170 align:middle line:84%
in Optical Science and
to become a writer.

00:01:52.170 --> 00:01:54.500 align:middle line:90%
So it's set here in Tucson.

00:01:54.500 --> 00:01:55.000 align:middle line:90%