The Luncheon started off with a presentation by Stephen Haffner of $1500 to ENMU President, Dr. Steven Gamble.  These funds benefit the Blanch and Jack Williamson Scholarship Fund and are the proceeds from the sale of Haffner Press' 2007 chapbook, In Memory of Wonder's Child.

Connie Willis, Steven Gould, Joan Saberhagen, and Christopher Stasheff

A new book from Haffner Press celebrating Jack Williamson's Centennial debuted at the lectureship.  Details at www.haffnerpress.com	Educators and students of ENMU peruse the offerings of the ENMU bookstore: titles by Jack Williamson, Connie Willis, Steven Gould and others (including a flyer for Albuquerque's main SF convention, Bubonicon) adorn the table.

The first of 3 panels (l to r) Steven Gould, Christopher Stasheff, Connie Willis, Walter Jon Williams, Eleanor Wood (SF agent extraordinaire!) and Melinda Snodgrass. (note the plaques and awards around the central mounting of Jack Williamson in the background.  These are some of the awards that Jack Williamson received over the years and displayed with pride in his home.  The display case on the right houses additional awards, including his Hugo, and Nebula awards.) NOTE: It was at this time that it dawned on me to take Vicky Medly to the ENMU Bookstore and have her autograph any unsold copies of THE WORLDS OF JACK WILLIAMSON.  Vickey studied under Dr. Williamson for many years and her Master's Thesis Queen of Space: Women in the Works of Jack Williamson was presented in 2003, and is included in WORLDS OF JW.                This impromptu autographing exercise resulted in my missing the two subsequent panels.

The skinny on the site from Wikipedia:

Blackwater Draw, formerly known as Anderson Basin, is an extinct riverbed near Clovis, New Mexico that contains two important archeological sites. Particularly well-known is Blackwater Locality No. 1, which is the type site of the Clovis culture. Evidence of "fluted" points, spearheads also known as Clovis points (a New World invention) and other stone and bone weapons, tools, and processing implements was found at the archaeological site. These artifacts are in association with the remains of extinct Late Pleistocene megafauna that were hunted by the early peoples who visited there.

The archaeological site is known for its well-defined stratigraphic horizons that exhibit numerous cultural sequences. The sequences begin with the earliest New World peoples and continue through the southwestern archaic, and into the historic period. Investigations at Blackwater Draw have recovered evidence of human occupation in association with Late Pleistocene fauna, including Columbian mammoth, camel, horse, bison, sabertooth cat and dire wolf.

Since its discovery, the Blackwater Locality No. 1 site has been a focal point for scientific investigations by academic institutions and organizations from across the country. The Carnegie Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Academy of Natural Sciences, National Science Foundation, United States National Museum, National Geographic Society, and more than a dozen major universities either have funded or participated in research at Blackwater Draw. Eastern New Mexico University owns and manages the excavations and visitations at the site.

Blackwater Draw was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961 and incorporated into the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Posing at the Blackwater Draw	Showing no fear while awaiting a rampage of extinct mammoths
Rock strata (with a little too much Photoshopping)	Better-looking Strata-shot	More posing
More rock-strata	The structure left of center is a sheltered excavation	Inside the excavation
At the top tier of the sheltered excavation	The longest length of the sheltered dig	Right after this shot was taken, a rabbit shot out from beneath the mammoth's front leg.  Wish I had that shot for you all to see.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!	Get that BEM some sun-screen!
Just a silo in the distance.  It is just a silo, right?	A vacant lot in the middle of town.  Obviously an invisible flying saucer
Alex likes to tickle aliens	Steve apparently likes to phaser them
Little Green Man in one of the many UFO shops in Roswell	Apparently, aliens like to ride on the running boards
Roswell will never want for a Black Light display	Used-Saucer Salesman: "One owner, only 2000 Light Years"
Even Little Orange Men come to Roswell	"Raise my arm, why?  What's behind me?"
After visiting Roswell, we journeyed to the Williamson Ranch in Pep, NM, but took a side-trip to Haystack Mountain for some hiking and rock climbing.
This is what's next to the sign above	This is what's below the sign above
"Magnificent Desolation"	Good thing it's too early for rattlesnakes . . .

Some rock-climbing	Two hours later . . .	Now, how do you get down?
With the sky beginning to darken, we made it to the Williamson Ranch. Jim and Nancy Williamson and their daughter Betty Williamson, along with her husband Milz Bickley, and their daughter Katie, hosted us for a pancake dinner!  It doesn't get any better than this!
The home rented by the Williamson family before they moved to the current property	Entering the Williamson compound	The Saddle Room that was originally the first building on the Ranch
"If I could talk to the animals . . ."	Jack's cabin on the Ranch built in 1934	Paying respects

Okay, Alex, give me a "scholarly" pose . . .	I give up, what's so funny?