WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.440 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:06.320 align:middle line:90% 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.060 align:middle line:90% Thank you for that introduction. 00:00:08.060 --> 00:00:20.200 align:middle line:90% 00:00:20.200 --> 00:00:22.320 align:middle line:84% This is a "Letter to Bruce Wayne." 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:25.920 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.240 align:middle line:84% "A good place to hide a drop of water is a stream. 00:00:29.240 --> 00:00:31.880 align:middle line:84% A good place to hide a stream is beneath an ocean. 00:00:31.880 --> 00:00:34.660 align:middle line:84% A good place to hide a man is among thousands of other men. 00:00:34.660 --> 00:00:36.220 align:middle line:84% Watch how they rush through the city 00:00:36.220 --> 00:00:38.020 align:middle line:90% Like water through a ravine. 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:40.420 align:middle line:84% I've searched many famous cities for you. 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:42.800 align:middle line:84% There are three listings for Bruce Wayne 00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:47.560 align:middle line:84% In Houston, two in Pittsburgh, one in Miami, one in LA. 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:50.880 align:middle line:84% In Tampa, Bruce Wayne is a retired chemistry teacher. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.360 align:middle line:84% In Flagstaff, he drives a taxi in hopes 00:00:53.360 --> 00:00:56.440 align:middle line:84% to procure a diamond for his soon-to-be fiance. 00:00:56.440 --> 00:00:59.260 align:middle line:84% A good place to hide a star is a galaxy. 00:00:59.260 --> 00:01:01.980 align:middle line:84% A good place to hide a galaxy is a universe. 00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:03.240 align:middle line:90% Look at the night sky. 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:06.140 align:middle line:84% Justice used to be a cowl and cape. 00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:08.920 align:middle line:84% The flicker of wings under an attenuated moon 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:11.240 align:middle line:84% And you, like a gargoyle, crouched 00:01:11.240 --> 00:01:13.120 align:middle line:90% atop some stone edifice. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:16.260 align:middle line:84% To conceal a universe, place it in a multiverse. 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:19.500 align:middle line:84% That hypothetical clash of alternate realities. 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:21.640 align:middle line:84% The dilemma of the word alternate 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:23.660 align:middle line:90% is how it implies a norm, 00:01:23.660 --> 00:01:27.420 align:middle line:84% A progenitor stream from which the alternate diverges. 00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:28.740 align:middle line:90% Which is the alternate? 00:01:28.740 --> 00:01:30.860 align:middle line:90% Which is right here, right now? 00:01:30.860 --> 00:01:33.620 align:middle line:84% There is no such thing as Gotham City, 00:01:33.620 --> 00:01:35.180 align:middle line:90% But here is Gotham City. 00:01:35.180 --> 00:01:38.320 align:middle line:84% And I've been so naive believing the truth of the old 00:01:38.320 --> 00:01:39.480 align:middle line:90% mythologies, 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:42.220 align:middle line:84% How they promised a recognizable villain, 00:01:42.220 --> 00:01:44.740 align:middle line:84% A clown with a ruby slashed mouth, 00:01:44.740 --> 00:01:46.380 align:middle line:90% A lunatic's laugh. 00:01:46.380 --> 00:01:49.240 align:middle line:84% In the universe where I exist, supervillains 00:01:49.240 --> 00:01:50.820 align:middle line:90% look like anyone else. 00:01:50.820 --> 00:01:53.760 align:middle line:84% Give them an old flannel to wear and a square jawline 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:55.060 align:middle line:90% to smile at the world, 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:57.800 align:middle line:84% and suddenly, they're hanging a noose in my middle school 00:01:57.800 --> 00:01:58.660 align:middle line:90% bathroom. 00:01:58.660 --> 00:02:00.540 align:middle line:84% They're shouting Get out of my country 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:02.380 align:middle line:84% from the window of a passing car. 00:02:02.380 --> 00:02:05.740 align:middle line:84% They're pulling a pistol in a crowded bar room, or bus stop, 00:02:05.740 --> 00:02:07.220 align:middle line:90% or the middle of the street. 00:02:07.220 --> 00:02:08.470 align:middle line:90% They could be anyone. 00:02:08.470 --> 00:02:09.789 align:middle line:90% They could be anywhere. 00:02:09.789 --> 00:02:12.950 align:middle line:84% A good place to hide a sociopath is a full-length mirror. 00:02:12.950 --> 00:02:15.890 align:middle line:84% A good place to hide that mirror is the heart of America. 00:02:15.890 --> 00:02:17.830 align:middle line:84% In the battle of good versus evil, 00:02:17.830 --> 00:02:20.930 align:middle line:84% I was so certain that good was going to win. 00:02:20.930 --> 00:02:23.990 align:middle line:84% Now, I just hope something good will survive. 00:02:23.990 --> 00:02:26.270 align:middle line:84% Get a job cutting hair, selling cars. 00:02:26.270 --> 00:02:28.110 align:middle line:90% Make it home in time for dinner. 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:30.490 align:middle line:84% I suspect there's a parallel dimension 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:33.750 align:middle line:84% where, you, dear vigilante, long for this as well. 00:02:33.750 --> 00:02:36.210 align:middle line:84% To have a normal life is victory enough. 00:02:36.210 --> 00:02:40.170 align:middle line:84% To remain anonymous and not be spat upon on the subway. 00:02:40.170 --> 00:02:42.850 align:middle line:84% In Boston, Bruce Wayne owns a pawn shop. 00:02:42.850 --> 00:02:46.210 align:middle line:84% In Milwaukee, he plays pinochle and feeds stray cats. 00:02:46.210 --> 00:02:49.550 align:middle line:84% In New Hampshire, he goes fly fishing on the Sugar River. 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:52.530 align:middle line:84% Reels in one brook trout after another. 00:02:52.530 --> 00:02:54.810 align:middle line:84% When he removes the hook from a mouth, 00:02:54.810 --> 00:02:57.170 align:middle line:84% He might place the fish into a cooler, 00:02:57.170 --> 00:02:59.650 align:middle line:84% Or he might set it back into the stream. 00:02:59.650 --> 00:03:02.610 align:middle line:84% The alternate or the original no longer 00:03:02.610 --> 00:03:05.390 align:middle line:90% certain in which he stands. 00:03:05.390 --> 00:03:08.440 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:08.440 --> 00:03:11.000 align:middle line:90%