WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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That was killer.

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Thank you.

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It's so nice to
be here surrounded

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by many of our alums, some of
whom I taught, some of whom

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I did not, and to be here
celebrating this program, which

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has been a big part of my life.

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This is the place I've
lived probably now

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longer than any other place,
which feels strange to say,

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but it's true.

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So it's really great to be
with you all here tonight.

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And shout out to
all the people who

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directed the program in the
past, Susan Briante and Manuel

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Muñoz, who can't
be here tonight.

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Kate, who's doing it
now, Aurelie Sheehan,

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who did it for many years
and is in my mind with Alison

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Deming, also a program director,
the heart of the program,

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shout out to you all.

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You did well to
build this thing.

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But let's talk about Aisha.

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I met Aisha Sabatini
Sloan in 2008

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in my campus interview
for the job I now hold.

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I don't know if
you remember this.

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Probably you do.

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I didn't get to
read any of her work

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as part of the workshop I
taught in my visit, which

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didn't go super well.

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But I met Aisha and a
handful of other MFA students

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over coffee to talk about the
program, their experiences

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in it, and what they most valued
in the faculty and community.

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Part of what I was
trying to understand,

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thinking about whether
I wanted to enter

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the long story of Arizona's
MFA, was what kinds of students

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were here, what kind
of community this was,

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and what they thought
nonfiction was,

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and more importantly, could be.

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Of course, I
remember the students

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I met then that I would go
on to work with closely, Beck

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and Lisa and Kristin and Jennie.

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Shout out to you all.

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I remember you and your
work often and fondly.

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But of the Arizona
students I never

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got the chance to
work with, I mostly

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remember Aisha Sabatini Sloan.

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Aisha's intelligent
vision and empathy

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were as obvious then in
that conversation in 2008

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as they are clear to me
now as the engines that

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drive her work.

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I took the job.

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Any program that had
thinkers like this

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seemed really going to be
a good thing to invest in.

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And unlike my Dogecoin,
it's been a good investment.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Shout out to FDX.

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[LAUGHTER]

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With each of Aisha's
four books so far,

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her work has expanded in its
ambition, formal intelligence,

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its deviousness, its
heart, and its execution.

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I devoured each
book as it came out,

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each one teaching me
something new about what

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nonfiction is capable of doing.

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I particularly love
and often teach

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an essay with a long title from
Dreaming of Ramadi in Detroit,

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the title is "Playlist
for a Road Trip

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with Your Father in Honor
of his 74th Birthday," which

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happens to coincide with the
occasion of Prince's death

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and the release of Lemonade.

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This is always a
hit when I teach it.

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I taught it again this semester.

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A couple of my students
are here and remember that.

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Like the book, this essay
is beguiling and wise,

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hilarious and weird,
clear-seeing and clear-feeling.

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And also for me, a
great introduction

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to her dad, who is
I guess you'd have

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to call him a collaborator.

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Lester Sloan, who we
meet in this essay, who

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I met in this essay, is also one
of her most memorable subjects

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and a powerful influence,
and occasionally, I

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think even a bit of an
antagonist, and clearly

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a hell of a photographer and
for sure an unforgettable guy.

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I know this because in
her most recent book

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Captioning the Archives, out
last year from McSweeney's,

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Aisha and her dad go through
his considerable photographic

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archives and talk about the
photographs and the stories

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around them.

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It's a fantastic and
extremely entertaining read.

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I audibly gasped
often reading it

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as we casually encounter
some extremely famous people

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in surprising and
illuminating ways

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and go deeper into his life and
Aisha's and the relationship,

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as it's described and performed
in the back and forth.

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One of the things I really like
about the book is also like,

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I cannot imagine writing
this book with my dad.

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But you are able to hold
back so beautifully in there.

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It's a wonderful performance.

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And really it's a great book.

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I've had such a
blast reading it.

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Captioning the Archives
makes for a lovely pairing

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with Borealis, a
travelogue and meditation

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on the meaning of place
and being and blackness

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in the Alaskan
outdoors, that is as

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much about the strangeness
of the place as of being

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and being in the place,
and taught me something new

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about looking.

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Just this last
week, I saw the news

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that Aisha signed a contract
for her next book of essays

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with Graywolf.

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And on behalf of the
three of our faculty

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who all have books out from
Graywolf this fall, shout out

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to Bojan and Manuel, I'd like
to extend a formal welcome

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to the pack.

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I think I'm supposed
to make a howling sound

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but I'm not going to.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Aisha, it's been such a
pleasure to read your work

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and to know that it's such an
important part of the Arizona

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MFA story and to
have you back here

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tonight to help us
celebrate that whole story.

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So welcome Aisha Sabatini
Sloan back to the U of A.

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[APPLAUSE]

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