I enter the exam room, met by a faint but lovely strawberry fragrance. Mrs. B. rests comfortably on an office chair; she always eschews the exam table. In her 80s, she is a formidable woman, heavyset, her deep brown skin somewhat pale, yet she sparkles in a long, bright, flowery dress, glasses with large silver frames, one hand resting on a cane of knotty oak. Her two adult sons stand …

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Remember organic chemistry?

I have a distinct memory of a rainy December day many years ago. I am standing in the hallway of the chemistry building at UC Davis, looking at a list taped to the wall of social security numbers and corresponding grades. I have just found my grade in organic chemistry, which is a C minus. For a visual person like myself, OChem (as we called it then) was …

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