maxie is a now-13-year-old long haired chihuahua. [laughter] he's all black -- she's all black, and she has a copy of the book i wrote about maxie. [laughter] and he is my beloved. you know, i talk with him, i talk with john every single day. every day. i talk with john. and he talks back to me. which is wonderful. the saddest part came two days after his memorial service when i got a telephone call telling me that i would be awarded the presidential medal for the humanities. and i thought, oh, my god. why couldn't he have lived to see this? he was my champion. on the first day i volunteered at that tiny little station, wamu, which was on the campus of the american university, you went off the curb, you couldn't hear the station anymore. [laughter] but i came home, this is 1973. npr got off the ground really in 1970. and so wamu was not even a member of npr at that time. you had to have five full-time employees to be a member of npr, and we did not. i came home from my first day as a volunteer at that station, and john rehm -- honest

she is now a 13-year-old long-haired chihuahua and has at copy of the book i wrote about maxine and he is my beloved. i talk with him and john every single day and he talks back to me which is wonderful. the saddest part came two days after his memorial service when i got a telephone call telling me that i would be awarded the presidential medal for thehuman. humanities and i thought why couldn't he have lived to see fy this? he was my chant "the first day that i volunteered on the little station on the campus of the american university. if you went around the curb you couldn't hear the station anymore. [laughter] but i came home this is 1973 npr got off the ground in 1970 and so it wasn't even a member at that time. you have to have five full-time employees to be a member of npr, and we did not.. i came home from my first day as a volunteer at the station and honestly this is so hard to believe way back then, john rehm said to me someday you will be the host of the program. so he dreamed for me and saw ahead for me in ways i couldn't see for myself. now contrast that with what we talk