WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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Hi, everyone.

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Hello.

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Thank you so much for
joining us tonight

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for such a special reading.

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Like Diana said,
my name is Paola,

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and I'm the event
coordinator here.

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I work very closely with
Diana to make nights

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like this happen.

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But tonight, I'm very
lucky and very honored

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to be here not just as your
event coordinator, but as

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the person who gets to introduce
you to the wonderful Shayla

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Lawz.

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Whoo!

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Yeah.

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If you're not familiar
with Shayla's work,

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I beg you to buy a copy
of her debut poetry

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collection, speculation.

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I promise you you've never
read a book like this.

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First thing you'll notice
when you open it, aside

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from the gorgeous cover,
is that there's actually

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instructions for viewing, which
if a poem has instructions,

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you already know it's
going to be amazing.

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Through this QR code, Shayla is
able to interweave her poetry

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with sound, music, and visuals--

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everything from
Kendrick Lamar's "XXX"

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to Shayla's haunting recording,
"Technical Difficulties."

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Her work commands attention,
while at the same time

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asking you, what does it
mean to pay attention?

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What does it mean
to be a witness?

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In a time where the historical
and continuous violence

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against Black bodies has
become easily accessible

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through technology,
Shayla invites

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us to think critically of
the way that we engage with

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and consume these graphic
depictions of real life

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and death.

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Most importantly, she
speaks on the effect

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that it has on those
viewing their own families

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and communities in
this graphic media.

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Ilya Kaminsky, who
selected the manuscript

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as the winner of the 2020
Autumn House Poetry Contest,

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said, "speculation
is far more than just

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a collection of poems.

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It is a dazzling verbal and
visual performance, a concerto,

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a book of our days that
is as heart wrenching

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as it is an accurate portrayal
of what it means to live

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and sing in America today.

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Beyond this profound
observation of America

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today, speculation
is an imagining,

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a vision of the future."

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Shayla writes, "All of these
years, I wanted to survive.

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Today, I want to be starlight,
tomorrow, something better."

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Innovative and imaginative, she
is truly a poet of the future.

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Shayla has received fellowships
from Cave Canem, Jack Jones

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Literary Arts, the Center
for African American Poetry

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and Poetics, the Digital Studies
Center at Rutgers-Camden,

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and the Hurston Wright
Foundation, where

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she will be the inaugural Writer
in Residence at Virginia Tech.

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She holds a BA in English
from Rutgers University

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and an MFA in Literary
Arts from Brown University.

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Her writing and
hybrid sound work

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appears in McSweeney's
Quarterly, Catapult, Obsidian,

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"The Slowdown," and The Poetry
Project, amongst others.

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She has been a featured
performer at Brown University,

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Pratt Institute, and
featured most recently

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in virtual programming,
including the Poetry Project's

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New Year's Marathon.

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speculation has been featured
in Poets and Writers, the Poetry

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Foundation, and NPR's
"On The Record."

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She's from Jersey City,
New Jersey, and currently

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lives in Brooklyn, where she
teaches at Pratt Institute.

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And we're very, very
fortunate that she's

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accepted our invitation
to travel all the way here

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to be with us tonight.

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So please help me
welcome Shayla Lawz.

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[APPLAUSE AND CHEERS]

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