Pipe Dreams

David Chase never wanted to be a TV guy. But these days his mob drama The Sopranos is one of the most influential, talked-about series of all time and he has a lot to say about what's on television.

by Jesse Oxfeld

Here's to that most essential collegiate accessory, the baseball cap, and a few devoted owners whose cherished headwear goes way over the top.

by Kevin Cool

After 16 years of living in an all-frosh dorm, Linda Paulson still marvels at the peculiar rhythms and revelations of student life. This longtime resident fellow ruminates on freshmen's relationship to Proust, the rebellions they foment late at night and the 3 a.m. knock on the door.

by Linda Paulson

While parents wait and hope, doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital perform delicate operations on the world's smallest humans, seriously ill infants as much as four months premature. The success of their efforts has pushed neonatal medicine into a new frontier.

by Christopher Vaughan

Political liberalism, symbolized by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society initiatives of the 1960s, is dead, asserts historian H.W. Brands. The cause of death: the mistrust of government that began with the Vietnam War.

Thanks to a University policy that allows students to paint murals in their dorms, residences around campus have become canvases for expression. A reporter takes a colorful tour of the paintings and brushes up on their history.

by Kathy Zonana

Former Stanford star Paul Carey briefly made it to the majors, but now he spends his summers as a manager in the South Atlantic League, home of Wacky Wednesdays, mascot races and the Sand Gnats, Carey's team of big-league wannabes.

by Jon Weisman

Their history spanned more than eight decades, from horse-drawn water carts of the 19th century to antiwar arson fires of the 1970s. Student firefighters, who lived and worked alongside professionals, battled spectacular blazes and established bonds that persisted long after they left the Farm.

by Theresa Johnston

Somewhere on the East African savanna about 45,000 years ago, Stone Age humans exploded with creativity. What caused the great leap that made us capable of language, art and engineering? Archaeologist Richard Klein proposes an answer.

by Mitchell Leslie