julia sweig. hello everyone. i'm so pleased to be here with you tonight and. thank you, bradford. stealing thunder of all of my notes here. you're introduction. but i think that that sam's book is so rich that we'll have lots to talk about, especially with your participation. i know many of you were sam's students, and i. i'm sure that i'll try to call on you if you, you know, stick that hand really high. we'll talk for about 25 or 30 minutes before we open it up to questions the audience. let me say that brad skipped over something really quickly he mentioned sam's nine other books. that's nine other books. this is a very prolific writer and reporter who's written about contemporary american life. so many different facets. i'm really honored to have spent the last three weeks in the mornings reading your book, sam. so congratulate shands for bringing this story really to life. a story that is full of surprises. i usually or we often ask an author what was the biggest surprise you? but i'm going t