Madeleine Albright’s appearance at the Mondavi Center (on the campus of U.C. Davis) marked the opening of the venue’s ninth season of providing artistic performances.  Each season has also included a distinguished speaker’s series, and with Ms. Albright as the opening act, so to speak, that series and the whole season got off to […]

            In the early 1960s, a Broadway play entitled “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off” seemed to capture a feeling that many Americans were experiencing.  The musical itself (written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse) was a short-lived success, receiving several Tony Award nominations.  But its story wasn’t really what the title suggested.  […]

            Mark, a white man, was born in 1946 to a lower-middle class family in San Francisco.  His father was a line worker in a large manufacturing firm.  He supported his wife, Mark, and Mark’s younger brother, on an income that they squeaked by on, with enough left over to allow them a two-week vacation […]

            With the baseball season winding down, two books commend themselves as worthy companions for the hot-stove league that will begin as soon as the last pitch has been thrown.  One is a fascinating historical review; the other is a personal memoir.             “Bottom of the Ninth,” is not, as the title might otherwise suggest, […]