So I'm pleased to introduce our special guest
poet who has a distinguished and varied career.
He is here today first and foremost as a poet,
but he is a lawyer and last but not least, the mayor of Tucson.
His collection of poetry, The Last Clubhouse Eulogy from Chax
Press features an array of poems that
are inspired not only by concerns
for a local and global community but the everyday pleasure
and heartache of what it means to be a human being.
In his role as mayor, he has chosen to give special emphasis
to the issue of literacy.
And he has reinstated a poet laureate position
for the city of Tucson.
I'm so pleased.
And I think we're very lucky to have a mayor who
values arts and literacy.
So please help me welcome poet and mayor, Jonathan Rothschild.
[APPLAUSE]