so i'm going to turn it over to heather and her wonderful colleague and friend julie houseman who was at cornell and they are really going to get into it and then after that, i really hope we will go to the back and buy and read this book. thank you so much. [applause] >> hello. that's on. hi. i am so honored to be here today and be in conversation with someone who is an incredible mentor. to me personally and to so many young historians, so many young and old historians. i want to start off by saying that it's been so amazing. i first met heather when she was a few years into the research of this book and it's been incredible to watch this unfold and it's been so -- so gratifying to watch book come out and get such incredibly well-deserved praise but also the vehicle has become -- book has become a vehicle so it's just a real honor to be part of the conversation with you about this book. so i thought that we could start off by saying, i want you to tell us a little bit about at trish regan -- attica. i don't know how you would define early training, how did you end up doing this rese