Muchas gracias! (Thank you very much)
Thanks everybody, thank you so much
Muchas Gracias. (Thank you very much)
Thank you so much! Thank you, thank you.
What a, what a beauty. What a beautiful thing what a beautiful sight
to be here with you. Muchas gracias todos ustedes (Thank you to all of you)
I wanna punch in my
my secret password, okay? It's enchiladas
99
That didn't work out, let me do it again.
It was enchiladas 98
All of a sudden I need to have my, an additional password. I wasn't counting on that.
This is a beautiful day because of you
This is a beautiful day because of your familias (familes)
Let's give a big mano (hand) to your families, your familias.
Let's give a beautiful mano, a big hand to all those that helped you along the way,
who gave their time,
gave their energy.
And this beautiful campus, that you have been in, lived in, studied in
studied in, past exams in and
made it all the way to this point. Una mano (a hand) for this beautiful campus.
It is good too acknowledge each other. I want to acknowledge
my Creative Writing department. I want to acknowledge
my chair, Andrew Winer. I want to acknowledge
our Chancellor. Chancellor Wilcox
and our Executive Vice Provost
Paul D'Anieri, as well.
And my wife , who's here in this
beautiful space. Margarita.
I've been thinking about the new you.
the new you
and I wrote some words for you. People are waiting for you
the new you.
People are waiting for you to say the words
that will inspire them. I say that because
that's what has been told to me, as a new laureate of the United States.
You are the new laureates of your life.
The new you. People are waiting for your heart
and your mind. Your hard-earned abilities to come together to speak out for them.
I look around, I travel around the United States and people are
are waiting. They look at me
and they tell me they have been waiting.
and so I say that to you. People are waiting for you.
We think of ourselves, we think of our degree
we think all those things we wanna do. But I want you to think
about others and I want you to feel
in your hearts, in your minds, that they are waiting
for you. They really are, they're waiting for you.
They're waiting for you
to bring about change. They're waiting for you
to bring about change for all, for them.
Right here in the Inland Empire, back home in your communities,
your neighborhoods and for the rest of your lives they will be waiting for you
because you have the resources, you have the abilities,
you have gained the resources,
the knowledge, and the instruments of communication
and they are waiting for you.And only you can be
that new you. Only you can do that
No one else can do it, only you can do that
and that's the key. Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Is everybody ready for the new you?
I wanna hear a big YES! I wanna hear a very big yes!
Once again, I wanna say thank you to your parents, Le quiero dar las gracias a sus padres a sus madres (I would like to give thanks to your fathers and mothers)
Le quiero dar gracias a todos (I want to give thanks to everyone)
Let's give them one more one more time, lets give them a muchas gracias (thank you very much)
A thank you.
Remember how they worried, remember all their encouragement
Remember their words like, "why are you majoring in that?"
Remember the words like, "O dios mio!" (Oh, my God)
"Que te pasa?" What's going on with you?
But you made it, you've come this far.
The new you.
You must give your life, to this new you.
I gave my life to poetry
It seemed there was no room for it
it seemed like there was no
path for it. It seemed like there was no support for it
but there was room and I had to make room
for it and I want you to make room for the new you.
We want you to make room for the new you and people are waiting for you.
You must give it your life, you must give it
your time, you must give it your friendship. You must give it the breath
you breath. Steve Jobs did that, Martin Luther King did that, Harvey Milk did that
Cesar Chavez did that, Dolores Huerta did that,
John Okada did that, Gloria Anzaldua did that
Julia De Burgos did that. It is your turn
the new you. My father jumped
let me tell you a bit about my father. He jumped on a train at fourteen
from Chihuahua, way back in the early nineteen hundred's.
My mother jumped on a train at 12, way back, right after the Mexican Revolution.
They gave their life to their new you
and to you.
Poverty, not knowing English. In the midst of always moving, always moving
working towns and ranches, Ranchitos y pueblitos (little ranches and little towns)
makeshift villages to the big city. How did this happen?
My mother's kindness, my father's quiet courage
both of them always having deep faith in change.
The new me, the new you. Now I am here
If I can do it, imagine what you can do
If I can do it
imagine what you can do.
Imagine what you can do. Do not say to your new you
there is no room for you. You have to do what everybody else is doing
you have to conform, snap yourself into the shape of what everyone is saying and
doing and thinking
It is impossible in today's society- don't say that to your new you
Say, I am here to tell you
there's room for you. Everyone is waiting for you, everyone say everyone is waiting for me
"Everyone is waiting for me"
Everyone is waiting for me
"Everyone is waiting for me"
"for my new self,"
for my new mind. "For my new mind", for my new being, "for my new being"
Today is that day
"Today is that day"
Thank you everybody. Thank you everybody.