Dante Loretta

It is a real honor to be here.

I was really excited when Alain Philippe reached out, I think last year, reminding me that I was an alum of the College of Humanities and that he was here to really kind of take a new approach to how the College of Humanities operates and how it reaches out to the community and how it

communicates the benefits of a humanities education.

And I hope you'll see, as we go through the presentation today, it's kind of a hodgepodge of all the things that I have been involved with, for better or for worse.

And kind of just following that creative human spirit that's kind of the theme that I think runs through my career, my activities, and how I try to live my life.

So it's kind of an autobiographical presentation, but I grew up here in Arizona.

None of my family members had been to college before, didn't really know what college was or what opportunities awaited for you there.

But, you know, I grew up in the desert.

I was kind of like a desert rat kid.

I scrabbled around in the arroyos and I got to learn all the cactuses.

Was really in love with nature and exploration.

And I really, really wanted to be an explorer.

That was kind of, when I was a kid, I wanted to go somewhere nobody had ever been before.

Set foot someplace nobody had ever been before.

And then, you know, as you start to realize that there's very few places on Earth that you can actually do that anymore, but there's lots and lots of places in outer space.

And I like this one here.

I know it's not a great picture, but hopefully you recognize C-3PO and Obi-Wan Kenobi exploring the desert planet of Tatooine.

So that was some early inspiration for me.

I think I was seven years old when Star Wars came out, and it was the greatest experience of my life at the time.

I think as many people of that era can attest to.