WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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So I only printed out
page 2 of my introduction.

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I realized when
I showed up here.

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So I'm reading from my computer
like a fool, with my apologies.

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Also, my apologies in advance
for going a little hard

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with this intro.

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If you ask me to do it,
then I'm going to do it.

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So hi.

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I'm Ander Monson, and I teach
in the MFA program here at UA.

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We have a lot of
traditions in our program.

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But maybe my favorite one
is bringing back our alums

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to read in this beautiful
space, the Poetry Center, that

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means so much to our program and
our students, and, of course,

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to you all gathered here
tonight in this moment.

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The space is a meaningful one
to us for what it represents,

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a celebration of writing
and the writing life.

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The largest and most visible
work of our students.

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It's also, though, a
celebration of freedom,

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of expression of speech,
of thought of beauty,

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of disagreement, of
complication, of nuance,

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of rat-interrupted
sex and of meaning.

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The kinds of resistance
that art provides.

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These freedoms feel, TBH,
more than a little bit

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under threat at the moment.

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That's bad.

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But what this also
means is that,

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if the powers that be consider
these things a threat, then that

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means that those of us
who make these things

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are powerful, capable
of being a threat.

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That means that those
of us-- thank you.

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That means that those of
us who attend these events

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are powerful, that
our presence here

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is a threat to those
that try to silence us.

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That means that spaces
like the Poetry Center,

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and the MFA Program
in Creative Writing,

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and the classrooms in which our
creative writing students learn

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about this power, how to
locate and identify it,

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how to wield it, how to control
it, or at least hold on to it

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long enough to let it speak
through us, and of us,

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and with us.

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This means that these
spaces vibrate with power,

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as I feel this one does, as
we do here together tonight

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in this very sentence.

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Probably too long, that
I am hereby ending now.

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So let's pause for a moment to
feel that power, what we have

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in sharing here in this moment.

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Thanks.

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So it is one of my
personal traditions

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to introduce writers who were
once my students, via what I've

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learned from playing Dungeons
and Dragons, the role-playing

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game that occupies
me and my band

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of worthy adventurers
many Sunday afternoons.

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Thus, to illustrate
the true nature

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of these giants of literature
that we host here tonight,

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I will introduce them
to you via their entries

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in the Monster Manual.

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This is second edition
Monster Manual.

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The core D & D text
that holds the secret

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of the strange creatures that
you might encounter in the world

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or in the Poetry Center
on nights like this.

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From the back, it says, "This
is the original source used

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by dungeon masters and players
to create challenges and combat

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scenarios.

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So prepare yourself."

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In that tradition.

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I first present to you, Thomas
Dai, clearly a storm giant.

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One of the most intelligent
and respected true giants

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is the storm giant.

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These great, generally
reclusive creatures

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inhabit only out of the way
spaces, such as the mountains

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of Tucson and Idaho.

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Storm giants are
contemplative seers

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that live in places far removed
from mortal civilization.

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Most, like Thomas, have pale
purple-gray skin and hair,

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and glittering emerald
eyes, which, as you can see,

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he definitely has.

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[LAUGHS]

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They are benevolent
and wise, unless they

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are angered in response to
which the fury of a storm giant

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can affect the
fate of thousands.

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Their abodes are
typically cloud islands.

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You can find them in those 60%
of the time, mountain peaks,

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30%, or underwater, 10%.

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And there the storm giants
build their spacious castles.

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It is probable that the
lairs of storm giants,

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Thomas Dai's, will have
animals as guards and/or pets.

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Thomas Dai's dwelling on cloud
islands, or mountain peaks

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will have one or two rocks,
huge birds, which they will also

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employ as a riding animal,
or one to four griffins.

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Those storm giants
who dwell underwater

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will have two to eight sea
lions, which Thomas Dai also

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has.

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Storm giants like
Thomas Dai tend

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to wear fine tunics
and belted sandals.

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When they wear armor,
it is usually scalemail,

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which there is no need for,
I presume, this evening.

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They have vision that extends
into the infrared spectrum,

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which allows them to see through
fogs and clouds with ease.

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This vision makes them
outstanding essayists.

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They are good at making books,
like the very fine Take My Name,

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But Say It Slow, published
last January by W. W. Norton

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and available over
here hopefully.

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They are light of
foot, especially

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considering their size.

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They run well.

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They are skilled
at making traps.

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Storm giants are wanderers
by nature, disinclined

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to settle in one place too
long, geographically or

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intellectually.

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Curious and
surprisingly stealthy,

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storm giants like Thomas prefer
to start any battle from cover,

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surprising, beguiling, and
scattering enemies with spells.

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Unlike other sorts of
giants, Thomas Dais

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do not typically hurl
rocks, for they have

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strong aptitudes for magic.

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A storm giant is able to hurl a
lightning bolt of 8DA once per

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day.

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All storm giants are
able to levitate,

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lifting weights of up to
30,000 gold pieces equivalent

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in addition to their
own body weight.

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They are able to breathe
normally underwater as desired.

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Note that Thomas Dais
dwelling underwater

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are able to cast lightning
bolts and move at normal speed.

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When they desire to
do so, Thomas Dais

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are able to cast any of
the following spells:

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predict weather, call
lightning, control

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winds, cultural critique, killer
sentences, weather summoning.

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Storm Giants are slow to anger.

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But when aroused
for combat, it is

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probable that a storm giant
will summon a storm and call

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lightning, for this weather is
most favored by an angry Thomas

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Dai in battle.

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Storm giants are not harmed
by electrical energy,

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even including such discharges
as blue dragon breath.

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As a result, they are often
resistant to workshop criticism,

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and are not easily dissuaded
from bad ideas in writing.

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[LAUGHS]

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Often these become good
ideas in execution.

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They are often
responsible for sightings

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of lightning bolts streaking
across mountain peaks, such

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as we've had today.

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Some storm giants hold the
ability to mark and claim

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a mortal humanoid as a thrall,
either by cursing them or making

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a pact with them.

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Perhaps this will happen
to you this evening.

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Please welcome back
to Tucson Thomas Dai.

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