Thank you.
Our first reader today is going to be Peggy Shumaker.
Peggy is one of our own.
Although she wasn't born in Tucson,
she came here with her family at a very, very young age,
attended grammar school in high school here in Tucson,
is a graduate-- got her undergraduate degree
from the University of Arizona-- and received her MFA
in creative writing from the University of Arizona.
Currently, she lives in another beautiful place
called Fairbanks, Alaska.
She was a writer in residence for the Arizona Commission
of the Arts and she served as poet in residence
at Bucknell University.
She has worked with all sorts of groups--
from prison inmates to honor students--
far, far too many to even begin to enumerate here.
The workshop and excuse me--
If you have read any of her works,
you know how appreciative she is,
and how much she loves nature.
And I must recommend to you her most recent book, a collection
of poems and paintings called "Blaze,"
which she co-authored with Kesler Woodward, who
was the artist.
And now, I'd like to present to you, Peggy.
[APPLAUSE]