"GREATLY
EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS" COULD sum
up the response by the reading public to "Discovering
Dickens: A Community Reading Project," which has delivered
weekly installments of Charles Dickens' serial novel
Great Expectations to nearly 7,000 participants
since last December. A large chunk of readers are from
nearby locales -- including 1,123 readers from Palo
Alto and 428 from Menlo Park -- but the installments,
delivered as facsimile reproductions of the 1860-61
serialization of the novel, also have found an audience
in North Dakota (three readers), New York (167 readers)
and Texas (95 readers). All told, readers come from
273 California cities and towns, 46 states and the District
of Columbia, and 22 countries. "The postage is killing
us," said a cheerful LINDA
PAULSON,
director of the Master of Liberal Arts Program, as she
opened valentines from readers in her office last Friday.
(Some readers have wondered if it's appropriate to make
donations to the project. Absolutely, Paulson said.)
The saga ends in early April; on March 16, MARCO
BARRICELLI
of the American Conservatory Theater will give a free
dramatic reading of the 15th installment at 7:30 p.m.
in Dinkelspiel Auditorium. You can read along online
at www.stanford.edu/dept/news/dickens/.
DR.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. BEGAN AN APRIL 4,
1967, speech, "Beyond Vietnam," which he delivered
at Riverside Church in New York City, with the words:
"I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight
because my conscience leaves me no other choice."
Tonight, at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Church, actor ALDO
BILLINGSLEA,
an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre
and Dance at Santa Clara University, will deliver
a dramatic reading of the speech, as edited by CLAYBORNE
CARSON,
professor of history and editor of the Martin Luther
King Jr. Papers. Folk singer JOAN
BAEZ
will perform at the event, which is sponsored by Veterans
for Peace Inc. The text of the speech can be found
on the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project website
at www.stanford.edu/group/King/. In tonight's presentation,
Billingslea will substitute the word "Iraq" for "Vietnam."
MICHAEL
OSOFSKY, A PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR
from New Orleans, is one of 20 students selected as
members of the All-USA College Academic First Team by
USA Today. A senior with a 4.0 GPA and aspirations
to be a U.S. senator or professor, Osofsky was chosen
from a field of 500 undergraduates based on academics,
leadership and activities. Osofsky, a George Mitchell
Scholar, has presented research on Louisiana prison
employees who work on Death Row to members of the American
Psychiatric Association; he also wrote and helped implement
an alternative education program for first-time juvenile
offenders in New Orleans. Osofsky gets points for well-roundedness:
He formally apprenticed to celebrity chef EMERIL
LAGASSE.
