He encouraged me to apply to a lesser school.

My mother always told me to never limit my dreams to our economic situation. Therefore, I have always lived my life without limitations, knowing that I could do whatever the next person was doing, whether they were black or white, rich or poor.

Yeah, just what I needed, a massive three-day Hostess binge, followed by a week of trying to replicate recipes so that if no one decides to buy and reissue Twinkies and Suzy Q's, I'll be all set. It was a ridiculous endeavor, since most of the experience of Hostess is in the slightly plasticky tastes and textures, which cannot be replicated in a home kitchen. You can make a delicious moist yellow cake and fill it with a marshmallowy vanilla cream, and it will be spectacular, trust me; I ate at least a dozen. But it won't taste like a Twinkie. The cake won't have the springiness, the filling won't have the fluff, and it is impossible to get those three little dots in the bottom. Which would be fine, since I hadn't actually eaten a Hostess product for the better part of a decade, hadn't missed them either. But that little news item hit, and in a Pavlovian fit of nostalgia, I was off to the local gas station to load up on white boxes with blue and red details. Twinkies, Sno Balls, Ding Dongs... even a cherry Fruit Pie. All of them the flavors of my youth, and proof that there are certain things you should leave as fond memories, since they don't really hold up.

It was difficult. I didn't know one person at my high school, ... I learned to drive on the San Jose freeways. My parents were very supportive and confident I was in safe hands.

I graduated from medical school in 1964 and we had never heard of these different kinds of E coli,

It was a pitcher's duel for awhile. It was old school pitching and defense that held them.