This series that we're here for tonight,
we're so excited that Simon Ortiz is here.
This is really special.
And we're excited to have him back in Tucson.
And he's been here many times before.
And this is special for me, in particular, my first time
to see him in this place.
And so we're really pleased that Simon has made this trip.
The next event in this particular series
will be on March 12 and that's with Ofelia Zepeda.
And she'll be reading here at 7:00.
And that's coming up next from the Poetics and Politics
series.
There's a family days event, if you
have little kids, this weekend.
And that's on Saturday.
It's here at the Poetry Center.
It starts at 10.
There are age-based writing workshops for kids.
Please come join us.
There's coffee for the parents, or the grandparents,
or the aunts and uncles, whichever you happen to be,
however you get kids here.
It's a lot of fun.
Come join us.
And I just want to quickly acknowledge and thank one
of my hardest working coworkers, Hannah Ensor.
Where's Hannah?
Oh, you're here.
Stand up.
[APPLAUSE]
Stand up.
So she'll do questions later.
You've seen her before.
But Hannah is the program coordinator
of the reading series.
She is in charge of all of the moving parts that we have.
And so when we collaborate and partner with other people,
and when we're doing our own events here
at the Poetry Center, if they happen,
it's because Hannah has helped to make them happen.
So we're enormously grateful for her help, always.
So thank you.
I also want to thank, of course, the organizers
of this particular mini-series that the Center's collaborating
with, Larry Evers and Ofelia Zepeda
for their visionary leadership in thinking about what
this series could be, what it could do,
how it's happened in the past, and what
it might do in the future.
And we're just so thankful to them always for that vision
and for their willingness and collaborative spirit to partner
with the Poetry Center in these ways.
And I'll welcome Larry Evers up, who will explain
more about what happens next.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]