[APPLAUSE]
Well, on behalf of Literacy Connects,
I just want to say thank you all for being here and welcome.
The Literacy Connects really believes
in the power of literacy, and learning, and being creative,
and creative expression.
And we really know what it's like when
people don't have access to that sort of thing
and we see what changes it has in their lives
when they actually realize what it's
like to be able to have access to those things.
So the Big Read really gives us the opportunity
to share more of that with the community here,
and we're really happy to be a part of that.
So, like Tyler said, the Big Read
is the national program initiated by the National
Endowment for the Arts.
75 organizations in the country got the grant this year
and we were fortunate enough to be one of those this year.
So we are able to bring the Big Read to Tucson
and we're happy to do that.
It's a little unfair for Literacy Connects
to take credit for that because we've
been working on this for a while,
and it's been a lot of fun, and it's been really exciting,
but we couldn't have done anything
without all of our partners and we have a lot of them.
The U of A Poetry Center has been a huge partner
and really they've been instrumental in making
the Big Read really interesting, and adding to it.
And their creativity and their willingness
to be a part of this has been huge.
And also I just want to briefly thank
our speaker tonight, Paul, who has been amazing
and has been an amazing resource for us.
And he always says yes when we call and ask him for anything,
whether it's information or willingness to go and speak
to even middle school kids we found out maybe tonight.
So I hope I don't jinx that by saying that,
but he's been a really great resource.
Some of you when you sat down you found books;
that's one of the things that we're
doing around town as one of our outreach programs for the Big
Read.
We're giving away books and we're actually
leaving books in areas where people can find them.
So you all here-- some of you at least--
are the first ones really to find some of these.
So we invite you to look inside the book and read it.
And-- well, reading is important so do that.
And also there's a little instruction in there,
how you can get more engaged with the program.
So I invite you to visit our website--
bigreadconnects.org-- bigreadconnectstucson.org.
And if you want to learn more about Literacy Connects,
visit the Literacy Connects website.
And I'm really happy that you guys are here.
With that I just want to introduce
Lee Medovoi, who is an English professor here
and also the head of the English department here at the U of A.
And he's going to tell you a little bit
about Paul, our speaker tonight.
So, again, thank you for being here.
[APPLAUSE]