WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.860 align:middle line:90% What an amazing community. 00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:04.160 align:middle line:84% It's such an honor to be here with all of you 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:06.240 align:middle line:90% and in the same space. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.920 align:middle line:84% Our bodies, in the same space, appreciating things together, 00:00:10.920 --> 00:00:12.672 align:middle line:90% it's just lovely, lovely. 00:00:12.672 --> 00:00:15.450 align:middle line:84% Thank you so much, Julie, for those beautiful introductions. 00:00:15.450 --> 00:00:21.230 align:middle line:84% And thank you, Tyler and Cynthia and Eleanor and Paola 00:00:21.230 --> 00:00:24.270 align:middle line:84% and lots of other people who have made this such a pleasure. 00:00:24.270 --> 00:00:26.543 align:middle line:84% And thank you also for the students in our class 00:00:26.543 --> 00:00:27.960 align:middle line:84% this morning that we got to visit. 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:29.610 align:middle line:84% It was so fun to chat with all of you. 00:00:29.610 --> 00:00:31.640 align:middle line:90% You had such great questions. 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:35.090 align:middle line:84% I'm just absolutely in love with this place, 00:00:35.090 --> 00:00:39.590 align:middle line:84% as was my grandfather actually, who lived here in Tucson until 00:00:39.590 --> 00:00:43.650 align:middle line:84% his death in 2021, actually on January 21st, 00:00:43.650 --> 00:00:45.120 align:middle line:90% just a couple of days ago. 00:00:45.120 --> 00:00:49.940 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to read just a small poem for him. 00:00:49.940 --> 00:00:52.208 align:middle line:84% My step grandmother, who I got to visit today, 00:00:52.208 --> 00:00:54.000 align:middle line:84% wasn't able to come and be in the audience. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:59.120 align:middle line:84% But I'm thinking about Judy and thinking about you too, grandpa. 00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:01.940 align:middle line:84% This is called The Year Not Long Enough 00:01:01.940 --> 00:01:05.720 align:middle line:90% to Measure His Single Death. 00:01:05.720 --> 00:01:07.890 align:middle line:90% On the vanishing sand of lake-- 00:01:07.890 --> 00:01:11.600 align:middle line:84% So this is set-- sorry, this is set in Sarnia, Ontario, which 00:01:11.600 --> 00:01:13.700 align:middle line:84% is sort of north of Bay City, Michigan, which 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:16.230 align:middle line:90% is where my family is from. 00:01:16.230 --> 00:01:19.460 align:middle line:84% And they snowbirded down here to Tucson. 00:01:19.460 --> 00:01:22.200 align:middle line:84% On the vanishing sand of Lake Huron, 00:01:22.200 --> 00:01:25.200 align:middle line:84% 20 women line up-- by blood or marriage-- 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.810 align:middle line:84% to practice their piercing pig calls. 00:01:28.810 --> 00:01:33.567 align:middle line:84% 50 years after our last farm sold their fields to the beach-- 00:01:33.567 --> 00:01:34.067 align:middle line:90% suey. 00:01:34.067 --> 00:01:37.890 align:middle line:90% 00:01:37.890 --> 00:01:40.600 align:middle line:84% And the men and children fling their shoes, 00:01:40.600 --> 00:01:42.580 align:middle line:84% Show off their brightest underpants, 00:01:42.580 --> 00:01:44.670 align:middle line:90% And hop in dusty tater sacks 00:01:44.670 --> 00:01:46.990 align:middle line:84% For the prize of Kentucky Fried Chicken, 00:01:46.990 --> 00:01:51.090 align:middle line:84% Potato salad, and lime jello with shreds of carrot. 00:01:51.090 --> 00:01:54.060 align:middle line:90% It's the Midwest. 00:01:54.060 --> 00:01:56.370 align:middle line:90% This is how my family has prayed 00:01:56.370 --> 00:01:58.690 align:middle line:90% For over a hundred years-- 00:01:58.690 --> 00:02:00.310 align:middle line:90% The highest holy day, 00:02:00.310 --> 00:02:01.930 align:middle line:90% The first Saturday of August, 00:02:01.930 --> 00:02:05.250 align:middle line:84% The date chosen for a constellation of birthdays 00:02:05.250 --> 00:02:07.440 align:middle line:90% until his death. 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:10.449 align:middle line:90% Remember this year, dog year. 00:02:10.449 --> 00:02:12.060 align:middle line:90% The placement of the planets 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:16.270 align:middle line:84% Triangulate the position of every bovine in Ontario. 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:18.030 align:middle line:90% His red swim trunks, 00:02:18.030 --> 00:02:20.470 align:middle line:90% Still soaking the wooden floor, 00:02:20.470 --> 00:02:25.100 align:middle line:84% His ashes swimming back on every wave toward shore. 00:02:25.100 --> 00:02:27.660 align:middle line:90% 00:02:27.660 --> 00:02:32.160 align:middle line:84% He was a veterinarian also, hence the bovine. 00:02:32.160 --> 00:02:34.050 align:middle line:84% Somebody once said, I think your grandpa 00:02:34.050 --> 00:02:38.440 align:middle line:84% knows every cow between Bay City and Sarnia, Ontario. 00:02:38.440 --> 00:02:39.670 align:middle line:90% And it's probably true. 00:02:39.670 --> 00:02:42.970 align:middle line:90% And he knocked them all up. 00:02:42.970 --> 00:02:46.650 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:46.650 --> 00:02:49.890 align:middle line:90% Not to boast, but you know.