The first thing that seems to suggest that a metaphor is intended in Carter W. Lewis’s “Echo Location” is the pending marriage between the white university professor, Benjamin Rindell, and his black fiancée, Emmy.  In the play’s opening scene, the two are sitting on the lawn in Rindell’s backyard.  Rindell is distressed because he accidentally […]

“Once you give up your integrity, the rest is a piece of cake.” -J.R. Ewing, “Dallas” oil baron With the first votes about to be cast in this year’s presidential campaign (Iowa caucuses next week; New Hampshire votes the week following), it’s time to contemplate whom the respective political parties are going to end up […]

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra returned to the Mondavi Center (on the campus of U.C. Davis) last week for at least the third time (by our count) in the last four or five years.  And again on this visit, the musicians were led by Pinchas Zukerman, who conducted the entire performance and doubled as soloist on […]

If you have watched any of the many Republican presidential debates and have managed to catch any of the very few (and strangely hidden) Democratic debates, you have observed one very distinct difference between the two political parties.  And that difference says a lot about where the ideologies are for both. On the Republican side, […]