January/February 2006

Features

COVER STORY

Front and Center

On the eve of her departure from the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor talks about her early anxiety as a Stanford student, the struggle to find a job as a lawyer and the challenges of a pathbreaking journey.

It's Their Call

As democracy in China struggles for a foothold, communication professor Jim Fishkin’s deliberative polling experiment is pushing a governing principle that is both revolutionary and old-fashioned: ask the people what they want.

Home Movies

Reed Hastings founded Netflix as a response to irritation over video store late fees, and now his company is the one rental chains want to emulate. Having prospered with direct-mail movies, can he lead the way toward on-demand entertainment? 

Columns

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The Rancher's Daughter

PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

Thanks a Billion

END NOTE

The Big Thaw

What’s to love about Alaska

Departments

1,000 WORDS

Hallowed Ground

BRIGHT IDEAS

Drivers Not Wanted

Robots rule

BEING THERE

You Gotta Have Guts

I ate the whole thing

Red All Over

Buying Time

Returned treasure

Who Is Nico?

A Jeopardy! whiz

Hollywood Goes to School

Guest lecturer Cameron Diaz

Farm Report

Showcase

Game for Change

Michael Cunningham, the sequel

Trials and Errors

Sorting out health advice

A New Staging Ground

Nurturing playwrights

Class Notes

Profiles

SPOTLIGHT: ALAN NICHOLS, '52, JD '55

Have Wheels, Will Traverse Central Asia

UNFORGETTABLE TEACHER: THOMAS A. BAILEY

Notes from the Shoeboxes

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO: GARIN VERIS, '85

Making Boston a Better Place to Play

SPOTLIGHT: LISA LIGHT, '99

Music and Passion

Farewells

REMEMBERING ALFRED P. HILDEBRAND, '63, MBA '66, 1942-2005

He Changed the Checkout Lane