Thank you very much, Renee.
I'm so happy she's here.
She was a wonderful student and wonderful poet.
And it's great that she's at the Center.
This is very special for me to be reading in Arizona.
This is my fourth reading for the Poetry Center.
I started reading here 26 years ago.
And so this is a dear to my heart, this place.
I did have an adventure getting here, I have to tell you.
600 flights were canceled from the airport
from which I was departing.
We had a sheet of ice on everything and was glass.
Everything was ice, and the airport
was closed for a long time that day.
And I was trying to find backup flights.
There wasn't a single seat available on any plane
into Tucson or Phoenix for days.
So I thought, if I don't get on this plane, it won't happen.
So I struck up a conversation with another gentleman
in group seven, boarding group seven for my flight.
And we turned out to be across the aisles from each other,
and we struck up a conversation during the flight.
And we ran out of fuel in the air
and had to land in Albuquerque to fuel up
because of storms in Phoenix.
And I thought, this isn't happening.
And finally, I said, listen, I have to get to Tucson.
Do you know Arizona?
Can you help me give me advice?
If we land in Phoenix in the middle of the night,
how do I get to Tucson?
And he said, why do you need to get to Tucson?
Do you live there?
And I said, no, no.
I have to be there tomorrow night for a big poetry reading.
And he said, where?
And I said, at the university.
And he said, well, I'm the president of the university.
[LAUGHS]
So I thought, well, I'm going to take this occasion
to talk about the MFA program, the Poetry Center, the prison
program.
So there you go.
He's a nice guy.
He really is a nice guy.
He's a physicist.
He thinks physics and poetry have
something to do with each other, so he's not stupid.
So I thought, he really, really-- he was lovely,
and it was great, and he helped me get on a plane.
He really did.
He found me a cart, and he said, B5,
they're taking off in 15 minutes.
You have to get there.
So it was good.
That's how I'm here, your president.
That was good, OK.
Yes.
Robert Shelton.
OK, he's your new guy.
Seven months he's been on the job.
I told him about the prison program.
He didn't know about that.
And I said, well, how long have you been the president?
And he said, seven months.
And I said, well, let me bring you up to speed here.