Writers Reading

The Geisler Library Writers Reading Series was established in 1987 to promote an appreciation of books and their authors. The series features locally, nationally and internationally known writers reading and discussing their works whether fiction or nonfiction. Past guests have included such writers as Maxine Kumin, James Galvin, Rebecca Wee, Sabina Murray, Ethan Canin, Barbara Robinette Moss, Marilynne Robinson, Ted Kooser, Robert Dana, Jane Hirshfield, as well as Central College faculty and students. In cooperation with the Central College Book Store, copies of authors' works are made available for purchase. Readings are free and open to the public. Join us! For information about Writers Reading, contact Natalie Hutchinson , Director of the Geisler Library Writers Reading Program. (641-628-5219, hutchinsonn@central.edu) 

2008-09 Series -- Celebrating 22 Years of Live @ Geisler

Beverly Rivera Davis, journalist and biographer, reads from her award-winning biography David and Liz: Dancing Through Love.  Davis is a native Iowan and longtime friend of David and Elizabeth Kruidenier, the subjects and co-authors of her book. Educated at the State University of New York, she is a former television reporter and producer, talk show host, and wire journalist. Currently, she is a freelance writer and U.S. political correspondent for PROFIL, an American weekly newsmagazine.  
September 18th, 2008, 8:00 p.m., Cox-Snow Recital Hall.

Richard Powers, winner of the 2006 National Book Award, reads selections from works in progress.  Powers is the author of nine novels that explore connections among disparate disciplines such as photography, artificial intelligence, music composition, molecular biology, game theory, virtual reality, business, and neuroscience.  His books have received various prizes, including the Rosenthal and Vursell Awards, both from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; James Fenimore Cooper Prize, Society of American Historians; Corrington Award; PEN/Hemingway Special Citation; the W. H. Smith Literary Award (U.K.); Dos Passos Prize; Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union, and TIME Magazine's Book of the Year.  He is a MacArthur fellow, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a recipient of a Lannan Literary Award.  His most recent novel, The Echo Maker, won the 2006 National Book Award.  He is a professor at the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois.  This program is made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program. 
October 2nd, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Cox-Snow Recital Hall.

Rick Campbell reads from his newest book of poems, Dixmont, published by Autumn House Press. Other books are The Traveler’s Companion (2004) and Setting The World In Order (2001), which won the Walt McDonald Prize. His poems and essays have appeared in The Georgia Review, The Missouri Review, The Tampa Review, The Florida Review, Southern Poetry Review, Puerto Del Sol, Prairie Schooner, and other journals.  Campbell has won an NEA Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and two fellowships from the Florida Arts Council. He is the director of Anhinga Press and the Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and he teaches English at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida. 
October 30th, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room. 

Nahid Rachlin reads from her memoir, Persian Girls.  Ms. Rachlin’s publications also include four novels and a collection of short stories.  Her individual short stories have appeared in about fifty magazines, including The Virginia Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, Redbook, and Shenandoah.  She has also written reviews for New Times and Newsday.   Ms. Nachlin has held a Doubleday-Columbia fellowship and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship (Stanford). The grants and awards she has received include the Bennet Cerf Award, the PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.   She is presently an associate fellow at Yale. 
November 20th, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room.

Joe Plum, award-winning poet in the oral tradition, says poems from a variety of his works.  Poetry in the oral tradition has been a part of Joe Plum's life since he was a small child. His grandfathers were bardic poets in Wales, and brought the art with them to Iowa.  Plum has shared his poetry, not through books, but rather through his voice, with listeners across Iowa, the U.S., and Wales.  He won third place in the Faulkner House Words & Music competition, and attended the Writer's Workshop in New Orleans.  Plum was invited to say poems in the presence of the Dalai Lama at the consecration of the Great Stupa near Boulder, Colorado, and had his poem "Starlord" translated into prayer books used there.
December 4th, 2008, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room.   

Jon Berry, playwright, reads from a variety of his works.  Berry, an Associate Professor of Theatre at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, has recently translated the children’s play Chanticleer, which will be performed at Central College in February. 
February 5th, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Geisler Library Reading Room. 

Patricia Hampl reads from her novel The Florist’s Daughter and other works.   Hampl first won recognition for A Romantic Education, her memoir about her Czech heritage, awarded a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship in 1981. This book and subsequent works established her as an influential figure in the rise of autobiographical writing in the past 25 years.  Four of her books have been named "Notable Books" of the year by The New York Times Book Review.   Hampl’s fiction, poems, reviews, essays and travel pieces have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, Paris Review, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Best American Short Stories and Best American Essays.

In 1990 Hampl was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.  She has also received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Bush Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts (twice, in poetry and prose), Ingram Merrill Foundation, and Djerassi Foundation.   She is currently Regents Professor and McKnight Distinguished Professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.   
March 5, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Cox-Snow Recital Hall.

Dr. Danielle Ofri reads from her book Incidental Findings: Lessons From My Patients on the Art of Medicine and other works.  Dr. Ofri, who has a particular interest in the relationship of literature and medicine, is the recipient of the Missouri Review Editor's Prize for nonfiction and the McGovern award by the American Medical Writers Association for "preeminent contributions to medical communication." Her essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, the Los Angeles Times, and on National Public Radio. Her writings have been included in Best American Essays 2002 and 2005, and Best American Science Writing 2003.   Dr. Ofri is an attending physician in the medical clinic at Bellevue Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine.  She is also the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of the Bellevue Literary Review, a literary journal devoted to writings about the human body, illness, health and healing.  
April 30, 2009, 7:30 p.m., Cox-Snow Recital Hall.

2007-08 Series -- Celebrating 21 Years of Live @ Geisler

Jonathan Franzen, critically acclaimed author, read from his essays in The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History and from his international best selling novel The Corrections. Considered one of the premier literary novelists of his generation, Franzen is the author of five books including the novels The Twenty-Seventh City and Strong Motion and the essay collection How to Be Alone. He regularly contributes political journalism to The New Yorker. This porgram was made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.

Lory Wallfisch, Romanian-born pianist and Professor Emerita of Music at Smith College, read from her new translation of eminent Romanian composer Pascal Bentoiu's Enescu's Masterworks. Bentoiu's book is considered one of the most important analyses of the compositions of George Enescu.

Shirin Zubair, Central College Visiting Fulbright Scholar, read and discussed Pakistani women's diaries and poetry. Dr. Zubair's reading is based on her ethnographic field work among rural Pakistani women. She come to Central as part of the "Direct Access to the Muslim World Program" sponsored by the Council on International Exchange of Scholars.

James McKean, poet and essayist, read from his memoir Home Stand: Growing Up in Sports. McKean delivered a lyrical, thoughtful reflection of what it is to be an athlete--inside as well as outside the game--and how one man's love of basketball evolved into a love of poetry, "good turns of speech," writing and teaching.

Katie Orazem, Ames (IA) High senior and winner of the prestigious Davidson Institute for Talen Development scolarship poet and essayist, read from "After Elegies", her portfolio of poems, essays, and short stories.

Glenn Freeman, winner of the Elixir Press Poetry Prize, read from his new collection Keeping the Tigers Behind Us. Freeman's poems and essays have been published by North Coast Review, Poetry, Florida Review and the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association.

Philip Webber, Professor of German at Central College, read from his new book Zoar in the Civil War. Formed by German separatists seeking religious freedom, Zoar became one of the most successful experiments in communal living in America's history. During the 1860's, conflict emerged between the community's pacifist stance, its support for the Union cause, and for the abolition of slavery.

Spring 2008 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Friends of Central Arts, Pella Community High School, the Central College Theatre Department, and the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.

Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Poetry Prize and Professor of English  at Central College, read from new works. His collection Man Under a Pear Tree gained him national recognition. Dubious Angels is also a remarkable volume based solely on the drawings and paintings of Paul Klee.

Debra Marquart, creative writer, read from her memoir The Horizontal World: Growing up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere. Awarded the 2007 PEN/USA Award for creative nonfiction, Marquart's story is a biomythography about an agricultural childhood in the rural Midwest. The book reports the feminine story of agricultural life,  addressing subjects such as fertility and infertility, of land and of women. Marquart has also published a collection of short stories and two poetry volumes.

Sharon Olds, winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award, reads from her collection Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980-2002 and O Western Wind. Often compared to Whitman and other "confessional" poets, she has been much praised for the courage, emotional power, and extraordinary physicality of her work. In addition to her eight volumes of poetry, her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares and The Nation.

James Alan McPherson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his short story collection Elbow Room and the first African American to receive the award, read from his works. Among the most revered authors living and writing in the United State, his novels, short stories and memoirs include Hue and Cry, Railroad, Crabcakes, Fathering Daughters: Reflections by Men, and A Region Not Home: Reflections from Exile. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the MacArthur Foundation Award, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Central College Advanced Poetry Class  members read from their work.

2006-07 Series -- Celebrating 20 Years of Live@Geisler

Fall 2006 in collaboration with the Friends of Central Arts

• Rekha Basu, award-winning columnist for the Des Moines Register, read and discussed her essays. Basu's columns and editorials promote social justice, giving voice to women, minorities, immigrants and the poor. Born in India to United Nations parents, Basu grew up internationally and holds advanced degrees in journalism and political economy. Her by line has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, USA Today and The International Herald Tribune, and her Register columns frequently are distributed nationally through Gannett New Service.
• Lan Samantha Chang, award-winning fiction writer and new director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, read from her novel Inheritance. An accomplished violinist, Sam Chang wrote her first novel when she was twelve. Chinese history and the story of immigration are often the bases of her works which have appeared in her acclaimed collection Hunger as well as The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares and Best American Short Stories.
• 18th Century German Poetry and Music: An das Klavier (To the Clavichord) poems with music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Poetry read by Michael Herrick in the original German with English translations, and rondos and fantasias played on clavichord by Carol lei Breckenridge, Central College's Joan Farver Professor of Music..
• Mimi Khalvati, member of the International Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, read from her collection The Chine and other new works. An Iranian-born poet, Khalvati has worked an actor and director in both the UK and Iran founding Matrix, a women's experimental theatre group, and co-founding Theatre in Exile. Persian culture infuses her work.
• Jon Witt, Central College Associate Professor of Sociology, read and discussed his new book The Big Picture: A Sociology Primer. Witt cuts to the core of the sociological perspective on how our actions shape the world around us and how we are shaped by the worlds we live in.

Spring 2007 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Friends of Central Arts, Pella Community High School, the Central College Theatre Department, and the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.

• Joshua Dolezal, creative writer and Central College Assistant Professor of English, read from new essays and poems. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Dolezal's work arises out of his experience as a wilderness ranger. His work has appeared in such publications as the Hudson Review, Gettysburg Review, Quarterly West, Natural Bridge and North Dakota Quarterly.
• Carol Bly, critically acclaimed essayist and creative fiction writer, performed a short story from her repertoire. Bly is the winner of the Minnesota Humanities Award for Literature. Her recent works include My Lord Bag of Rice: New and Selected Stories, Beyond the Writers' Workshop: New Ways to Write Creative Nonfiction, and Three Readings for Republicans and Democrats. "Bly is both a great writer and a great teacher of writing...brilliant, passionate, and outspoken."
• Ruth David, Kindertransport youth, read and discussed her memoir Child of Our Time: A Young Girl's Flight From the Holocaust. Ruth David was one of the nearly 10,000 children rescued from the Nazis in the Kindertransport program. She and her five siblings were scattered to Argentina, France, and England. Like so many others, Ruth was never to see her parents again. This program was sponsored by the Central College Theatre Department.
• Robert Dana, Iowa Poet Laureate and winner of the Anhinga Prize, reads from his collection Morning of the Red Admirals and other new work. Dana is the author of 13 books of poetry and has served as a Distinguished Visiting Writer at numerous colleges and universities.
• Jane Hirshfield, distinguished American poet, essayist and translator, read from her new collection After, and from Given Sugar, Given Salt (finalist for the National Critics Circle Award). Influenced by her Zen Buddhist practice and knowledge of classical Japanese verse, her work "ranges from  the  metaphysical and passionate to the political and scientific to the subtle unfolding of daily life." 
• Garvice Brannon, Eric Davis and Nate Forsythe, Central College Graduating Poets read from their works.

2005-06 Series -- Celebrating 19 Years of Live@Geisler

• Marilynne Robinson, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and National Critics Circle Award, read from her new novel, Gilead. This program was made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.
• Lavonne Mueller, internationally acclaimed playwright, along with a cast of Central College students, read and discussed selections from her Off-Broadway productions Hotel Splendid and 9/11. Mueller was Central's 2005 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Visiting Fellow.
• Donald Harstad, nationally acclaimed crime/mystery writer read from his latest thriller A Long December. 
• Jennifer New, writer and teacher, read from her best selling book Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art. 
• Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry and Central College Professor of English, read from Dubious Angels and other new works.

Spring 2006 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Friends of Central Arts and Pella Community High School.

• Ted Kooser, U S Poet Laureate, read from his Pulitzer Prize winning collection Delights & Shadows and other works. Kooser is a major poetic voice and the first National Poet Laureate from the Great Plains.
• Jeffrey Thomson, Academy of American Poets Prize winner, read from his new collection Renovation and other works.
• Richard Terrill, award winning poet and essayist, read from his new collection Coming Late to Rachmaninoff and creative nonfiction works. 
• U Sam Oeur, celebrated Cambodian poet, with award-winning poet and translator Ken McCullough, read from Oeur's memoir Crossing Three Wildernesses, a breathtaking and haunting portrait of the people, myths and traditions of Cambodia before, during and after the devastating reign of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. 
• Central College Advanced Poetry Students read from their new works.

2004-05 Series -- Celebrating 30 years in the award-winning Geisler Library facility

• Charles Baxter, nationally acclaimed novelist, read from Feast of Love, Saul & Patsy and other works. Program made possible by the Patricia Naour Distinguished Visiting Writer Program.
• Robert Wolf, essayist, playwright, and winner of the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Radio Broadcasting, read from An American Mosaic.
• Emily Wilson, poet and Visiting Faculty Member at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, read from The Keep.
• Curtis Bauer, Winner of the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry and Central College Graduate, read from Fence Line.

Spring 2005 writers were supported by a generous grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

• Anya Butt, Central College Assistant Professor of Environmental Science, read translations from her family memoir 6000 Kilometer Sehnsucht  [Six-thousand Kilometers Yearning].
• James Galvin, acclaimed poet and faculty member at the University of Iowa Writers Workshop read from X: poems and other works.
• Emily Lupita Plum, poet and Central College graduate, read from Water and Stone: A Story in Poetry from Japan and other new poems.
• Sabina Murray, novelist and Pen/Faulkner Award Winner, read from  Carnivore's Inquiry and The Caprices.
• Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate, read from Sailing Alone Around the Room and other works. Program made possible through a collaboration with Pella High School, the Des Moines Poetry Festival and Central College with special funds from Pella Corporation, Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

2003-04 Series--Celebrating Central College's Sesquicentennial

• Stephen Corey, Poet and Associate Editor of The Georgia Review read from Greatest Hits and other new poems.
• Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet, Essayist and Novelist read from her new poetry collection The Long Marriage.
• Roderic Ai Camp, Renowned Mexicanist and author of twenty books read from Mexico's Mandarins: Crafting a Power Elite for the 21st Century.
• Robert Schanke, Theatre Scholar and Biographer read from That Furious Lesbian: the Story of Mercedes de Acosta and Women in Turmoil: Six Plays by Mercedes de Acosta.
• James Autry, Mississippi Writer and Businessman read from Nights Under a Tin Roof and other poems. 
• Keith Ratzlaff, Iowa Poet and Central College Professor of English read new works.
• Lynne Sharon Schwartz, Novelist, Poet, Non-fiction writer and Visiting Woodrow Wilson Scholar read from Ruined By Reading: A Life in Books and other works.
• Mary Swander, winner of the Whiting Award and Distinguished Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from her new memoir The Desert Pilgrim.
• Central College Advanced Poetry students read from their new works.

2002-03 Series

• John Smolens, critically acclaimed novelist  and professor of English at Northern Michigan University, read from his literary thriller, Cold.
• Ethan Canin, renowned novelist and teacher at the Iowa Writers Workshop, read from his new novel Carry Me Across the Water.
• R. McKenna Brown, Professor of Spanish and Director of the International Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, read his translations of Pedro Gonza'les's The Dry Season: Q'anjob'al Maya Poems.
• Todd Davis, poet and Writer in Residence at Iowa State University, read from his new collection Ripe.
• Jonene Bichel Van Meter, Central College graduate and poet, read from her new works.
• Joyce Sutphen, winner of Poetry Magazine's Teitjen Prize, the Loft-McKnight Poetry Award and Professor of creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus, read from Coming Back to the Body.
• Rebecca Wee, winner of the Hayden Curruth Poetry Prize and professor of writing at Augustana College, read from Uncertain Grace.
• Walter Cannon, Professor of English at Central College and poet, along with members of the Poetry Writing class, read from their new works.

2001-02 Series

• Robert Schultz, poet, novelist and Professor of English at Luther College, read poetry from Winter in Eden and excerpts from his novel, The Madhouse  Nudes.
• Kevin Stein, award winning poet and Professor of English at Bradley University, read from his new collection Chance Ransom.
• Catherine Rosemurgy, award winning poet and Assistant Professor of English at Northwest Missouri State University, read from her new collection My Favorite Apocalypse.
• Larry Baker, novelist, house detective, sports writer, drive-in movie theater manager, and former Iowa City zoning commission member, read from his acclaimed novel Flamingo Rising.
• Joe Plum, award-winning poet in the oral tradition, said poems from his collection Portage of the Soul. This program was made possible by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council.
• Ray Young Bear, nationally acclaimed poet, fiction writer and essayist from the Meskwaki community in Tama read from his new poetry collection The Rock Island Hiking Club.
• Debra Marquart, fiction writer, poet, Rock and Roll musician and Assistant Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from her short story collection The Hunger Bone and from her forthcoming poetry collection.
• Members of the Central College Advanced Poetry Class read from their works.

2000-2001 Series

• Robert Dana, distinguished Iowa poet and winner of the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, read from Summer.   
• Donald Caswell, Kansas City poet, teacher, newspaper writer, and currently  the director of communications for the International  Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers, read from 3-Legged Dog.  
• Keith Ratzlaff, award-winning poet and member of the Central College English faculty, read from new work. Ratzlaff is the winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry and author of 4 chapbooks and 2 poetry collections.  
• Walter Cannon, Central College Professor of English, read new and selected poems.   
• Marvin Bell, Poet Laureate of Iowa and long-time teacher at the Iowa Writer's Workshop,  read from Nightworks: Poems 1962-2000.    
• Barbara Robinette Moss, winner of the William Faulkner Creative Writing Award, read from her stunning memoir Change Me into Zeus's Daughter.   

1999-2000 Series

• Marilynne Robinson, award winning essayist and faculty member at the Iowa Writers Workshop, read from The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought and her acclaimed novel Housekeeping 
• Don Morrill, winner of the Midlist Press poetry prize, read from At the Bottom of the Sky and new works 
• Lovell Beaulieu, Des Moines Register editorial writer, read and discussed his essays on American politics and society 
• Don and Maxine Huffman, Central College Professors Emeriti, read and discussed their book, The New College English, published for Chinese students at Zhejiang University
• Chris Offutt, critically acclaimed author of Same River Twice and Good Brother and visiting writer at the Iowa Writers Workshop, read from new short stories 
• Sheryl St. Germain, award winning poet and Assistant Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from Making Bread at Midnight and The Journals of Scheherazade
• Curtis Bauer, poet and Central College graduate, read from new works and translations of the Catalan poet, Jose Maria Fonollosa 
• Fern Kupfer, essayist and Professor of English at Iowa State University, read from Before & After Zachariah and new personal essays 

1998-99 Series

• U Sam Oeur, Cambodian poet (with poet & translator Ken McCullough) Sacred Vows, U's poetic retelling of the Cambodian killing fields
• Gary Gildner, poet & Iowa Prize winner, Bunker in the Parsley Field 
• Kevin Stein, poet & Professor of English at Bradley University, Bruised Paradise 
• Keith Ratzlaff, winner of the Anhinga Prize for poetry & Central College Professor of English, Across the Known World 
• David Williams, Central College Professor of Music, Celebrating George Enescu  
• Robert Schanke, theatre historian & Central College Professor of Theatre, Passing Performances: Queer Reading of Leading Players in American Theater History 
• Margaret Gibson, poet, Earth Elegy; and David McKain, non-fiction writer, new essays;  Woodrow Wilson visiting scholars
• Robert Hellenga, acclaimed novelist and Professor of English at Knox College,  The Fall of the Sparrow

1997-98 Series

• Ray Young Bear (Poet, Singer, Novelist) Remnants of the First Earth
• Roger Mitchell (Poet & Professor of Creative Writing at Indiana University) The Word for Everything
• Jann Freed (Central College Professor of Management) Quality Principles and Practices in Higher Education: Different Questions for Different Times
• Joyce Sutphen (Poet & Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus) Straight Out of View
• Dean Young (Poet) Strike Anywhere
• Karen Swenson (Poet & Travel Writer) The Landlady in Bangkok
• Central College Advanced Poetry Class Members "New Works"

1996-97 Series:

• Harriet Heusinkveld (Geographer) September 12, 1996
• Ellen Bryant Voigt (Poet) October 24, 1996
• Paul Zimmer (Poet and Editor) November 7, 1996
• Keith Ratzlaff (Poet) December 5, 1996
• Dorothy Schwieder (Iowa Historian) March 6, 1997
• Robley Wilson (Novelist and Editor) March 20, 1997
• Doug Brown (Radio Artist from the WOI Book Club) May 1, 1997

For information about Writers Reading, contact Robin Martin, Director of the Geisler Library Writers Reading Program. (641-628-5220, martinr@central.edu) 

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Revised: September 17, 2007. rem