acknowledge gay and david, molly, the entire team of society -- the four arts for hosting this magnificent five-part series. thank you. [applause] and most importantly, i would like to thank dr. cheney for coming here and sharing your views on the president and mrs. madison. thank you. [applause] ok. we will revisit a couple of issues we discussed, but let's jump right into your writing style. tell us a little bit about how you pick your topics and how you approached the research process. >> well, during the writing of -- i was entranced with the ,otion, as gabe pointed out that for the first 36 years of the republic, the virginians were in charge for 32. and i was interested, not only in how this came about, a good story -- but in the interaction between them, the personal interaction. i won't give away too much, but there are surprises there. oh, and how i write. teacher of freshman english for quite a while, getting my phd. torture these poor freshman. i made them take note cards. every note card had to have a separate id on it. and then, you organized a note card, and you wrote. well, i don't do any of that. i feel so bad for all those freshman i misled for all those yea