The West was very disorienting - vast, big, rough, dislocating, ... None of that represented home.

The West was very disorienting - vast, big, rough, dislocating. None of that represented home.

A plumber's idea of Cleopatra [Mae West].

His wide range of creative, financial and business experience, his commitment to storytelling featuring members of under-represented communities, and his insight into the North American film and television industry make Michael Jenkinson the ideal choice.

Jefferson expected them to bring something back other than samples of this and that. They were really going to represent the West in the American imagination. They had to somehow say, 'This is America.' No one had really had that burden before.

The speech will give millions of Americans an impression of this president and his administration at a time when the edifice is shaky. And we never know until it is delivered how it is going to go or where it will go.