A candid conversation with San Jose State University students

Thank you to all the students at the Visiting Authors Seminar for your very thought-provoking questions about nonfiction, Woody Allen, West Coast wildlife, NWA's "Straight Outta Compton,'' "Juno'' and many other issues. Feel free to send any other questions into the blog or to my email address. (One of the students actually brought in that classic NWA album some weeks back because the other students had read my references to it but hadn't heard the record.) I completely forgot to answer your question about my favorite California wildlife. I'd say that it is a tie between the black bear and the marmot. As far as creatures that I despise with all my heart, it's a dead heat between horse flies, skeeters, ticks and giardia.