My father was a professor of civil engineering at MIT, and my mother taught high school English.

Just before my final year of high school, my brother, sister and I moved with my mother to San Francisco.

My freshman year of high school I joined the chess and math clubs.

I taught high school students Spanish.

I taught English, first at a Catholic school and then at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif.

Chemistry was always my weakest subject in high school and college.