we are going to have a great night tonight. we are honoring literary liens, emma white will be honored, a big night for the massive national book foundation for literature, culture, a big night for all of us. when i have the ability to stand in front of people i mention my mother s name jean christian. she is the reason i like to say about my mother i am the man that i am because she is the woman sheis or was . my mother was my first teacher. my mother graduated from college at the age of 17, the first person in her family to go to college . for me to be a well-known literary advocate in this nation, a place where only a scant few generations ago it would have been illegal for me to read is no small thing. [applause] literature is the birthrightof every single one of us, no exception and if you can read in at least one language youare in my definition free . that is to say , no one can pull the wall over your eyes. no one can give you a set of what they want to call alternati
pastor of bethany baptist church. it s my last year as board chair of the foundation and while of course i will still be involved, it s an honor to represent the board and the foundation on this very special night. we welcome you. the anisfield-wolf book awards were established in 1935 to honor literature that celebrates diversity and confronts racism. edith anisfield-wolf, a person far ahead of her time, endowed this prize to bring necessary topics and voices to our collective attention. over the years, the anisfield-wolf canon has become a living, breathing community of thinkers, writers and artists that spans continents, generations and intellectual traditions, and as the video you just watched demonstrates, anisfield-wolf award winning literature is moving off the pages and into our community in new and exciting ways. the inter-urban art installations show how these essential works of literature capture our attention, attention to language, attention to thought, attention
greer, liz koch and the organizers for staging this festival during such difficult times. mostan importantly, i would lik to t thank joyce carol oats and paul oster for being huge supporters for many years. paul won the first award way back in i think it was 2007. joyce is a recipient of the national medal of humanities, national book o award and has bn nominated for the pulitzer prize. she has written some of the mosn enduring fiction of our time, including the national best sellers we were the mulvaneys and thefalls. she p has been a member of the american academy of arts and letters since 1978. her last two books are poems and a new novel breathe. this is a really phenomenal novel. i urge everyone to pick up a copy of this n after the progra. it s very moving. it s difficult at points. it s hugely insightful. you willl all grow from this. i promise you. paul is an author. he is the morecipient of awards and prizes.ti his work has been translated into more than 40 lan
i think this brings an incredible focus. no question that leadership matters. if we did not know that before, we did not know that elections have consequences, we have seen it over the last nine months. this past tuesday was the beginning of the new era for the republican party. [applause] let me make one thing really clear, the only reason to affiliate with a political party and support a political party is to win. winning campaigns are the campaigns that look forward and not backward. if we don t get it, we are to lose. i took a victory lap. why should i vote for you this time? no one thought it could be done. what do i get free voting for you this time? what voters remember is these things are always about tomorrow. if we are going to articulate a vision for what we want to do for this country, then the voters will abandon us. we saw it happen. anybody who is a supporter of president trump, the line forms behind me. i was the first major officeholder in the country to en
reporter: i have to tell you that getting to watch it in livermore was amazing. we watched it firsthand and joined by hundreds of students at the elementary school looking up to watch the science in action. reporter: the eclipse began at 9:15 am but at the rancho elementary school the students marched on the yard at 10:00, 15 minutes before the max of the eclipse. this is an incredible learning off turned me opportunity and watching this historical event. reporter: reminding them to put on the glasses before they look up to watch the eclipse. the science teacher provided us with cards so that we could check this out on paper, and we could actually see it in person using the glasses. it was pretty good. i did it with paper and sunglasses. i think the eclipse is great. reporter: it was pretty great and and all most of the students got to watch the big show. four or five students stayed inside because they thought it was not having not a great i did have the stu