Category: John Spevak

On Monday, April 7, the State of the College presentation will take place at Merced College, as it has for more than a decade. After a luncheon, President Chris Vitelli will explain to those in attendance where Merced College is...

The start of the spring semester in high schools and colleges is a good time to ask, “What does it take for a young person to succeed in life?” Many people say it’s a college education, which most people think of as a four-year...

Some days I feel like I’m out of it — that I’m just not with it, not with what’s happening in the world today. Such was the case when I was listening to the nightly news recently and heard a story about “influencers.” The story...

The Christmas spirit gives us hope. We can find hope especially in the message of the angels to the shepherds. In Luke’s account of the Christmas story, angels appear to shepherds, lighting up the sky. Within their message is...

There is only one place I enjoy visiting more than a library, and that’s a bookstore. It’s all part of my enjoyment of reading, something I hope all my grandchildren and great grandchildren develop, if they haven’t already. One...

Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended, many of us spend more time indoors. There are few indoor activities better than reading, and there are few places better to find good books to read than our local libraries. The Westside...

Friendship is generally undervalued and underappreciated these days. Seldom does anyone write or talk about the value of friendship. That’s too bad, because a good friend is a jewel. And someone who has been a good friend for 63...

Here we are in October and the baseball season is over—at least for Cubs and Giants fans. They were eliminated weeks ago, and each club played its last 2024 game on Sept. 30. In fact, the only thing I got excited about the last...

October days commemorate two European explorers credited with the “finding” of the Americas. Their exploration parties, though, came 500 years apart. After much study and debate, historians give Leif Erikson credit as the first...

Every so often columnists need to write “feel good” columns so their readers feel good about life. Today I’m writing a column, dear reader, that should make you feel good about your life—at least in comparison to mine lately....

I am fortunate that my readers continue to connect with this columnist, so here are some more comments and questions from them. Dear John, I loved your column on “the simple life.” I laughed so hard, and it was so true of me...