WEBVTT

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Hey, everybody.

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How are we doing?

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Good?

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Everybody warm enough?

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Yeah.

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Good.

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We're going to warm it up
really soon with some poems.

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So glad you're here.

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Thanks for choosing the Poetry
Center on a Thursday night.

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My name is Tyler.

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I work here as the director
at the Poetry Center.

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I just have some
quick announcements

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to get through really
quickly and then

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we're going to turn
right to poems.

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We're really, really
thrilled that Roger Reeves

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is visiting us here in Tucson.

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A round of applause for Roger.

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[APPLAUSE]

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And we're lucky.

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So we're going to celebrate
and be excited about it.

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First, tonight I
especially want to welcome

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some poets who are part of
the Poetry Center family.

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That's Aulton, Joshua, and
Niko and maybe a few others.

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And so these are
three amazing poets

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that we've collaborated with in
the past on different programs

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at the Poetry Center,
and I want you

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to join me in welcoming them.

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All three have
autism or apraxia,

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which affects modes
of communication,

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and they each work very
hard with their supporters

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to write poems.

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They're amazing poets, and they
do this by spelling or sometimes

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with other tools.

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And Aulton has written
this little note

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that I want to read to you
all as we get started tonight.

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And so it says, I
would like you to know

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that we understand everything
regardless of speed, pitch,

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or length.

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We have autism
and apraxia, which

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means our brains are intact
but don't communicate well

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with our bodies.

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My body is often unresponsive
to my brain's commands.

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I may vocalize, laugh,
yell, move awkwardly,

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or cover my ears.

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I'm not in any distress or
discomfort or having a problem.

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Please just ignore
these body issues.

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Apraxia also prohibits
speaking with my mouth.

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It is helpful to know
this is a motor problem

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and has nothing to do with
my cognitive abilities.

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Above all, we value,
give and accept kindness.

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So thank you guys for the care
that you all put on kindness--

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[APPLAUSE]

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--which I'm really grateful
for, and I want you all

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to join me in mirroring
that kindness back tonight

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and into the coming weeks
and into the coming months

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and beyond.

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Up next at the Poetry
Center, we have an event

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that's happening on November 21
with the poet Hala Alyan, who'll

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be traveling here
to read with us.

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And that's a visit that's in
collaboration with the Center

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for Middle Eastern Studies.

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And we are very
thrilled to have Hala

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be coming to Tucson to join us.

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So we'll hope to see
you back here for that.

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That's Thursday the
21, back here at 7:00

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0'clock at the Poetry Center.

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And then our final
reading of the season

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will happen on a Wednesday.

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So this is important.

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Different from our normal mode.

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It will be on a
Wednesday, December 4.

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And that's going to feature
the US poet laureate Ada

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Limón, who'll be
coming back to Tucson.

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She'll be in town finishing
her laureateship project,

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"You Are Here," which is a
collaboration with the National

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Park Service, and she'll be
installing a new picnic table

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that features the words of the
poet Ofilia Zepeda at Saguaro

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National Park East.

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That part of her visit
happens on December 3

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and is being handled
by the Park Service.

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The reading is going
to happen on December 4

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and that's going to
be handled by us.

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If you want to be a part of the
unveiling of the picnic table,

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you'll need to RSVP for
that part on December 3,

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and you can find details for
that in the Poetry Center's

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newsletter this weekend, or on
the Saguaro National Park East

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website.

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So our National Park website.

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So those are the two
places you can do that,

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but an RSVP is
required because they

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don't have enough
space for everyone who

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might come at the park.

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So they're just
trying to make sure

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that they can accommodate
as many people as possible.

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For the event on
the fourth, there's

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no RSVP required
for the reading.

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First come, first
served for seats.

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We welcome you all.

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It will be slightly-- it's
not at the Poetry Center,

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it's going to be a short five
minute walk over in the Health

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Science Innovation Building.

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It's a space that's been used in
the past for some other visitors

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if you've been to
any of those readings

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with Sandra Cisneros or
Luis Alberto Urrea, Carolyn

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Forché, that's right.

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So we'll just be right
about five minute walk

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from the Poetry
Center that night.

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And a slightly bigger space
to accommodate the crowd

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that night.

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So again, that's Wednesday,
December 4, 7:00 with Ada Limón.

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That's when that
reading is happening.

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We hope you'll come and join us.

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Books are for sale.

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They're great things to buy.

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They're warm if you hold them.

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They're like little heaters.

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They're going to feel
real good in your hands,

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so it's a great thing
to spend money on.

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There's people in your
life that need presents.

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Take care of them this season.

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It's a great thrill to welcome
Roger, as I said, to Tucson,

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and it's been a
great joy to have

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Roger in our presence
the last couple of days.

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It's been a great gift.

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And I want to welcome up a great
friend of the Poetry Center

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who's going to introduce him.

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And that's my
colleague Manuel Muñoz,

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who's a fiction writer here
at The University of Arizona

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and the creative
writing program.

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Most recently, the author of the
terrific short story collection,

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"The Consequences," which
is just past two years old,

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if I think.

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Yeah So it had a
birthday recently.

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Please help me welcome
my colleague Manuel Muñoz

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to introduce Roger Reeves.

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[APPLAUSE]