WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.713 align:middle line:90% Thanks, guys. 00:00:00.713 --> 00:00:01.380 align:middle line:90% I appreciate it. 00:00:01.380 --> 00:00:01.880 align:middle line:90% Yeah, yeah. 00:00:01.880 --> 00:00:03.265 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:03.265 --> 00:00:04.640 align:middle line:84% I think you'll be good with this. 00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:05.140 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:05.140 --> 00:00:06.600 align:middle line:90% You can come here. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:07.700 align:middle line:90% Or you can do it here. 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:10.520 align:middle line:84% Let me introduce from here and then I'll sit. 00:00:10.520 --> 00:00:12.960 align:middle line:90% How about that? 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:13.900 align:middle line:90% Good evening. 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:14.900 align:middle line:90% Good evening, everybody. 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:19.040 align:middle line:84% This is such a wonderful thing to be asked to do. 00:00:19.040 --> 00:00:22.840 align:middle line:84% Tonight's guest is a very, very special one. 00:00:22.840 --> 00:00:25.120 align:middle line:90% A revered elder. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:29.280 align:middle line:84% And that's a term we don't use lightly. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:33.840 align:middle line:84% Our literary elders are the keepers and dispensers 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.560 align:middle line:84% of hard-earned wisdom and hearts that are somehow 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:40.280 align:middle line:84% made whole again, despite what they 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:43.160 align:middle line:90% have witnessed and experienced. 00:00:43.160 --> 00:00:46.200 align:middle line:90% Their art is their generosity. 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:49.960 align:middle line:84% The work that they have done to transform and transmit 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:55.840 align:middle line:84% to us as humble readers something for our meditations 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:02.860 align:middle line:84% and even in some cases, the very secret key to a liberated mind. 00:01:02.860 --> 00:01:05.860 align:middle line:84% If you know very little about Julia Alvarez 00:01:05.860 --> 00:01:08.980 align:middle line:84% before this evening, trust me that tonight you 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:12.820 align:middle line:84% will hear some extraordinary poems that 00:01:12.820 --> 00:01:17.020 align:middle line:84% will give you the arc of a very rich life indeed. 00:01:17.020 --> 00:01:20.140 align:middle line:84% From her childhood in the Dominican Republic 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:22.020 align:middle line:84% to her upbringing in New York, she 00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:25.100 align:middle line:84% has been a dedicated professor of literature 00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:29.140 align:middle line:84% and writing at Middlebury, urging on generation 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:34.340 align:middle line:84% after generation of students in their love of letters. 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:36.780 align:middle line:84% All the while, she has produced what 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:40.500 align:middle line:84% now stands as a formidable contribution 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:43.420 align:middle line:84% to the literature, not only of this country, 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:48.080 align:middle line:84% but to the entire Americas through not only her novels, 00:01:48.080 --> 00:01:51.300 align:middle line:84% but also her essays, and a bevy of books 00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:54.780 align:middle line:90% for children and young adults. 00:01:54.780 --> 00:01:59.870 align:middle line:84% Quote, "I've been in packed rooms with many writers, 00:01:59.870 --> 00:02:02.570 align:middle line:90% but with Julia, it is different. 00:02:02.570 --> 00:02:05.570 align:middle line:84% The buzzing energy is not only anticipation 00:02:05.570 --> 00:02:10.009 align:middle line:84% for what she is about to share, but a sense of gratitude 00:02:10.009 --> 00:02:12.290 align:middle line:90% for what she has given. 00:02:12.290 --> 00:02:16.170 align:middle line:84% I'm especially moved by seeing young people enthralled just 00:02:16.170 --> 00:02:17.810 align:middle line:90% to get a selfie." 00:02:17.810 --> 00:02:20.130 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:20.130 --> 00:02:22.730 align:middle line:84% "In her, they see how liberating it 00:02:22.730 --> 00:02:29.570 align:middle line:84% is to be vulnerable about family or shame or loss or love. 00:02:29.570 --> 00:02:34.890 align:middle line:84% There is great pride, too, in seeing that her roots are strong 00:02:34.890 --> 00:02:37.290 align:middle line:90% and unshakeable." 00:02:37.290 --> 00:02:39.830 align:middle line:90% That quote is by me, by the way. 00:02:39.830 --> 00:02:43.390 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE] 00:02:43.390 --> 00:02:43.890 align:middle line:90% 00:02:43.890 --> 00:02:48.010 align:middle line:84% And that's in this month's Poets and Writers magazine, which 00:02:48.010 --> 00:02:51.490 align:middle line:90% features Julia on the cover. 00:02:51.490 --> 00:02:55.470 align:middle line:84% This book, Visitations, is really a celebration. 00:02:55.470 --> 00:02:58.590 align:middle line:84% And it's being received that way by many, many people. 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:02.390 align:middle line:84% And accompanying Julia and her brief tour this spring 00:03:02.390 --> 00:03:03.550 align:middle line:90% are writers-- 00:03:03.550 --> 00:03:05.650 align:middle line:84% lots of writers are in conversation with her, 00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:10.390 align:middle line:84% who all of us were the result of her considerable influence 00:03:10.390 --> 00:03:13.870 align:middle line:84% and her inspiration to so many different communities. 00:03:13.870 --> 00:03:18.670 align:middle line:84% Angie Cruz, Natalie Diaz, Rigoberto González, 00:03:18.670 --> 00:03:20.510 align:middle line:84% all of us walking through the door 00:03:20.510 --> 00:03:24.710 align:middle line:84% that Julia has helped create with her commitment 00:03:24.710 --> 00:03:27.590 align:middle line:90% and her tenacity to the word. 00:03:27.590 --> 00:03:30.150 align:middle line:84% If you haven't already, I'm going 00:03:30.150 --> 00:03:34.750 align:middle line:84% to ask you to search out Julia Alvarez on PBS's 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:37.430 align:middle line:90% American Masters series. 00:03:37.430 --> 00:03:39.250 align:middle line:90% Yes, she is on that level. 00:03:39.250 --> 00:03:40.670 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:40.670 --> 00:03:45.070 align:middle line:84% So how fortunate we are to have her visit here at the Poetry 00:03:45.070 --> 00:03:45.570 align:middle line:90% Center. 00:03:45.570 --> 00:03:49.190 align:middle line:84% So could you help me in giving a Tucson bienvenida 00:03:49.190 --> 00:03:51.470 align:middle line:90% to the great Julia Alvarez. 00:03:51.470 --> 00:03:54.820 align:middle line:90% [RAUCOUS CHEERS, APPLAUSE] 00:03:54.820 --> 00:03:57.000 align:middle line:90%