 Joe and Gay, hello, and congratulations. I'd like to thank Professor Shiappa so much for inviting me to your retirement dinner and for letting me send my love by video since I'm on vacation the week of the big event. I know you've done a tremendous amount of good in your years teaching writing at MIT. In addition to guiding students with their projects, you've demonstrated the way a working writer lives his craft, getting the job done day after day after day. As I should know, because I just checked and found out that I have been your editor since 1997. And I'm luckier than MIT since, as far as I know, you're not planning on retiring from writing. I hope that you and Gay are having a wonderful evening full of people who love and value you, which you completely deserve. Congratulations, Joe, and have a wonderful retirement. Hi, Joe. I'm really sorry that I can't be at your retirement dinner. And I really wish that I could be there to give you a hug and say best wishes on your retirement. Since I can't, I'll say it from here. Joe, you're one of my favorite writers. You're one of my favorite teachers. And you're one of my favorite people. And I feel like it's a great loss to MIT that you're leaving them, although I'm sure that it's going to be great for you to have more time for your writing. To MIT, I'd like to say you guys are losing a treasure. I'm sure you already know that. And the only comfort that you have is that you still will have Joe's terrific works. I'd recommend that if you start missing him, you go read, oh, say, Graves or None So Blind, or The Hemingway Hoax, or The Forever War, my very favorite novel, and one that I think about all the time. So you still have those works. I'm sorry you won't have Joe. Best wishes to all of you. And again, I'm really sorry I couldn't be there. Bye, Joe. Hello, Joe. It's a great pleasure to be able to talk to you. On the occasion of this great celebration, I'm proud of you, as everyone is. I want to say that I had one of the greatest conversations of my life with you at a convention in which I responded to your query about my well-being with the sentence, well, Joe, my whole life hurts a lot less now. And I want to mention The Hemingway Hoax, which is my favorite of all your books. So beautiful, so complex, and yet so clear, I cried at the last line.