ryan drake -- brian drake was in post of my first two classes that semester. i was struck by the cogency of his arguments and his unerring ability to decipher the point of the assigned readings, which -- well, many of which were rather opaque and somewhat slow going. then when we started to write papers, which were p are -reviewed by other class members, i was struck again by his phenomenal talent for writing, his ability to produce scholarly work that was totally accessible. brian had cracked the code, the first one in both classes to do so. some people never quite figured it out, but i digress. in his remarks tonight, i have no doubt he will demonstrate that talent or all of you -- for all of you. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome brian drake. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. let me begin by saying a few things about henry, who is one of the most -- he's one of the smartest, wittiest people i know. he is a treasure. you are lucky to have him here. thank you very much for those comments. i also wanted to say, as well, it is a thrill to be in k