The Apple IIe that I opened one Christmas morning was a beige behemoth — not pretty to look at — but amazing to a teenager who had begged her parents to buy our first home computer in the 1980s.

For several of my elementary school years, I was bullied by one of my classmates.

At UC Davis in February, a swastika was carved on the door of a Jewish student’s quarters.

When I was a preteenager, the mail carrier’s footsteps were like music to my ears.

Many of the Templeton High School students who assembled last week to listen to Carl Wilkens weren’t yet born, or were learning to walk when he made a choice that could have cost him his life.

Joan Rich remembers when some local leaders thought that a woman’s place was at home with her husband and children, not standing before them asking tough questions about important community issues.

As I watched the TV footage of East Coasters digging themselves out of snow mounds last week, I gave a sigh of relief that I no longer have to wrestle with Old Man Winter.

Dignity and self-respect are in short supply in American politics. Self-preservation rules the day, a disturbing trend that I hope will not become increasingly accepted by society.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was recognized with a federal holiday in 1983 when I was an elementary school student.

For many Americans, 2009 no doubt brought good tidings and unforgettably joyous occasions.