WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.314 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:01.314 --> 00:00:03.066 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much. 00:00:03.066 --> 00:00:04.490 align:middle line:90% Where you going? 00:00:04.490 --> 00:00:06.600 align:middle line:90% I'm not going anywhere. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:08.220 align:middle line:84% I asked Farid, where are you going? 00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:11.250 align:middle line:90% 00:00:11.250 --> 00:00:13.290 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much. 00:00:13.290 --> 00:00:16.050 align:middle line:84% Farid put a lot of time into this-- 00:00:16.050 --> 00:00:19.980 align:middle line:84% this new book, and everyone that participated. 00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:24.510 align:middle line:84% And most of all, let's thank the Poetry Center for its growth, 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:28.500 align:middle line:84% and how it serves all of us, and how it inspires all of us, 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:30.090 align:middle line:84% and all those cool books in there. 00:00:30.090 --> 00:00:33.240 align:middle line:84% There are really cool books in there, 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:38.790 align:middle line:84% and chapbooks, and book books, and art. 00:00:38.790 --> 00:00:43.370 align:middle line:84% So it happens to be here in Tucson, Arizona. 00:00:43.370 --> 00:00:45.450 align:middle line:90% So a big mano, a big hand. 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:48.270 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:48.270 --> 00:00:52.030 align:middle line:90% 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:57.220 align:middle line:84% And I also want to thank the University of Arizona Press, 00:00:57.220 --> 00:01:03.550 align:middle line:84% that actually catapulted me, and took my manuscripts, 00:01:03.550 --> 00:01:06.070 align:middle line:84% and looked at them, and published them. 00:01:06.070 --> 00:01:07.270 align:middle line:90% You know how that is. 00:01:07.270 --> 00:01:10.000 align:middle line:84% You turn something in, and you go, 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.537 align:middle line:84% I might as well go eat some old tacos because that's not 00:01:12.537 --> 00:01:13.120 align:middle line:90% going to come. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:14.662 align:middle line:84% So it's not going to work out for me. 00:01:14.662 --> 00:01:15.898 align:middle line:90% [CHUCKLES] 00:01:15.898 --> 00:01:16.750 align:middle line:90% 00:01:16.750 --> 00:01:18.460 align:middle line:90% But it did work out. 00:01:18.460 --> 00:01:22.270 align:middle line:84% Really, really kind and inspiring editors. 00:01:22.270 --> 00:01:25.690 align:middle line:90% And Chris, where are you Chris? 00:01:25.690 --> 00:01:28.990 align:middle line:90% Chris is here. 00:01:28.990 --> 00:01:32.170 align:middle line:84% And she was one of our-- one of my editors, one 00:01:32.170 --> 00:01:33.190 align:middle line:90% of my first editors. 00:01:33.190 --> 00:01:34.107 align:middle line:90% And she's right there. 00:01:34.107 --> 00:01:36.020 align:middle line:84% Let's give her a big mano right there. 00:01:36.020 --> 00:01:36.520 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:39.580 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:39.580 --> 00:01:41.420 align:middle line:90% 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:44.120 align:middle line:84% And everybody that works at the Center. 00:01:44.120 --> 00:01:46.640 align:middle line:84% A big mano for everybody that works at the Center. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:47.487 align:middle line:90% Let's do that. 00:01:47.487 --> 00:01:48.320 align:middle line:90% Let's do that, also. 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:50.960 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:53.300 align:middle line:90% 00:01:53.300 --> 00:01:55.130 align:middle line:84% And of those songs and words that we 00:01:55.130 --> 00:01:59.480 align:middle line:84% carry, from our childhood, that our mothers, and grandfathers, 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:04.610 align:middle line:84% and grandmothers, and family gave us, and brought us up 00:02:04.610 --> 00:02:06.470 align:middle line:90% with, remember those words? 00:02:06.470 --> 00:02:08.210 align:middle line:84% They could have been just a few words. 00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:10.880 align:middle line:84% They could have been a little song or a rhyme 00:02:10.880 --> 00:02:14.570 align:middle line:84% or a saying or a story or a photograph 00:02:14.570 --> 00:02:17.270 align:middle line:84% that our parents or mothers said, look. 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:19.340 align:middle line:84% Look this is your uncle here, Beto. 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:21.530 align:middle line:84% And this is your uncle right here, Chente. 00:02:21.530 --> 00:02:23.210 align:middle line:90% And they went to Fort Bliss. 00:02:23.210 --> 00:02:26.720 align:middle line:84% And here, they're all dressed up in their outfit, the army 00:02:26.720 --> 00:02:29.210 align:middle line:90% outfit, and it's 1920, Juanito. 00:02:29.210 --> 00:02:31.580 align:middle line:84% And they did this because they were 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:34.970 align:middle line:84% trying to help grandmother Juanita, and me, 00:02:34.970 --> 00:02:38.900 align:middle line:84% and your tía Lela cross the border from Juárez. 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:41.540 align:middle line:84% And given that they were in the army, maybe 00:02:41.540 --> 00:02:42.650 align:middle line:90% that helped us, Juan. 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:45.950 align:middle line:84% So remember them, and here's the photograph. 00:02:45.950 --> 00:02:48.080 align:middle line:84% And she did that with all the photographs, 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:49.880 align:middle line:90% from all those early years. 00:02:49.880 --> 00:02:51.590 align:middle line:90% And they became stories for me. 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:53.600 align:middle line:90% And they became poems for me. 00:02:53.600 --> 00:02:55.640 align:middle line:84% So let's thank our parents and family 00:02:55.640 --> 00:02:58.235 align:middle line:84% for telling us their stories that we still have. 00:02:58.235 --> 00:03:00.835 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:00.835 --> 00:03:03.620 align:middle line:90% 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:04.490 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:03:04.490 --> 00:03:05.510 align:middle line:90% And that's what it is. 00:03:05.510 --> 00:03:07.190 align:middle line:90% That's the fire right there. 00:03:07.190 --> 00:03:08.360 align:middle line:90% That's the fire. 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:10.130 align:middle line:90% That's the intensity. 00:03:10.130 --> 00:03:11.360 align:middle line:90% That's what moves us. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:13.760 align:middle line:84% And all we have to do is put our hands on paper. 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:15.920 align:middle line:84% All we have to do is put our hands on paper, 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:19.670 align:middle line:84% and just let the hands flow, and the words will come. 00:03:19.670 --> 00:03:23.090 align:middle line:84% And there it is, there's that poem, and there's that story. 00:03:23.090 --> 00:03:23.930 align:middle line:90% That's right. 00:03:23.930 --> 00:03:25.190 align:middle line:90% And you have them. 00:03:25.190 --> 00:03:28.610 align:middle line:84% And that's the goal, that's the beauty, that's the spirit, 00:03:28.610 --> 00:03:31.790 align:middle line:84% and that's one generation to another generation. 00:03:31.790 --> 00:03:33.860 align:middle line:90% And that's how we continue. 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:35.120 align:middle line:90% How beautiful that is. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.220 align:middle line:84% And each one of you has those stories. 00:03:37.220 --> 00:03:39.800 align:middle line:84% Each one of you has those poems and songs. 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:41.840 align:middle line:90% So we're here to appreciate you. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.260 align:middle line:84% And we're here to say, hello, again, 00:03:45.260 --> 00:03:48.170 align:middle line:84% to your family in time through time. 00:03:48.170 --> 00:03:49.700 align:middle line:90% And that's how it was for me. 00:03:49.700 --> 00:03:52.070 align:middle line:84% So I thank my mother and my father, 00:03:52.070 --> 00:03:55.730 align:middle line:84% who played the harmonica, and I forgot to bring mine. 00:03:55.730 --> 00:03:58.550 align:middle line:90% And all our families. 00:03:58.550 --> 00:04:01.510 align:middle line:84% So this is for our families, too.