I am a proud Bay Area native. Born in Oakland, I graduated from Palo Alto High School and the University of California, Berkeley, before leaving the Bay Area to start a far-ranging academic odyssey. I endured mid-western winters to earn M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Then I endured southern summers when I taught at the University of Georgia and at Tulane University in New Orleans. Then I experienced Southern California as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Irvine. Then I spent several years teaching at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) before coming home to the Bay Area at last to teach at San Jose State. I have published articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and reviews on subjects ranging from California mythology, politics, nativism, and migration to the baseball business, social memory, direct democracy, and McCarthyism. I am always delighted to teach California students about California history and other subjects dear to my heart.