There are many advantages to having a last name that starts with A or B. Take, for example, all the hate mail I received for this co-authored editorial calling for Ward Connerly's resignation from the University of California's Board of Regents -- which also appeared in California's major dailies -- just because I came first. I cherished every postcard labeling me a ringleader of "the Berkeley 14."

Incidentally, I got to tell Mr. Connerly that I was one of the signatories during the select-a-chancellor process. He was notably polite. I have to say that, of the Regents I dealt with, he was more palatable than most, even if he seemed to be in denial of the fact that he was "of color."

I suppose I should give a shout-out to then-UCSD graduate student Vicki Mayer, who made several systemwide meetings tolerable for me with her wit, but whose name, unfortunately, starts with M.

And now let's chant: "UC democracy; we see plutocracy!"

Mode: Clintonesque
Muse: Russia - Severed Heads - OP