Why does the speaker include the following line from paragraph 14 at that point in the talk? “Now, I know somebody's out there thinking, ‘Cry me a river, stupid writer titan lady.’”

From Shonda Rhimes TED talk "My year of saying yes to everything"

he does not belive what the men tell him about the jungle

themselves

an intensive pronoun is a pronoun that ends in self or selves, such as himself, herself, themselves, yourself, ourselves. since band members is a third person plural, the correct intensive pronoun would be themselves. if the band was talked about as a collective noun, itself would be the appropriate intensive pronoun. intensive pronouns are used to add emphasis to the noun it's modifying which is why it directly follows it.

put the trash into the back of the truck and drive the truck to the back. then you must unload the truck.

- "the answers are a and b.  

when cullen speaks of planting while others reap, and standing "abject and mute," he is speaking about the racial injustices present in american society. as these injustices have changed over time, the american identity  has also shifted. those changes are, in turn, reflected in american literature."