Great Expectations

To see the two scenarios being used to prompt dialogue in Great Expectations forums, see http://go.philly.com/friendsdilemma and http://go.philly.com/historyfuture. The project's Neighborhood Citizen Forums begin today. The time of today's forum at the Campion Student Center at St. Joseph's University has been changed to 1 p.m., to avoid conflict with the Eagles game. Five other forums will be held at sites around the city this week. To see the rest of the forum calendar, and to register to participate, please see http://go.

The Guthrie Theater production of "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, adapted by Barbara Field. Directed by Stephen Kanee, set by Jack Barkla, costumes by Jack Edwards, lighting by Marcus Dilliard, incidental music composed by Hiram Titus. Presented by the Annenberg Center of the University of Pennsylvania at the Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., through Sunday. The 1861 opus on Pip the orphan isn't part of Dickens' Holy Writ, although one would hardly know it by this prosily respectful adaptation.

St. Augustine golf coach Lenny Dolson does not hesitate when talking about his expectations for the Hermits this season. St. Augustine had a 20-0 record last season, won the Cape Atlantic League championship, the South Jersey Parochial B title and finished second in the State Parochial B championship. They were seventh overall at the Tournament of Champions. This season, Dolson expects more. Dolson, now in his fourth season, has seniors Earl Morris and Bob Brown returning, sophomore Joe April, and juniors Tom Carter and Chris Silvia.

Ruling that Howard Stern couldn't count XM's nearly 10 million subscribers in figuring his bonus, a judge has scotched his hopes for a $300 million payday from Sirius XM. According to his show's Twitter feed, Stern was "really bummed" by the decision. More bummed than having to spend the summer working with Howie Mandel? The judgment dismissed Stern's suit "with prejudice," which means he can't bring another suit based on the same set of facts. Stern will probably appeal.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The next major is two months from now, when the U.S. Open goes back to the Olympic Club in San Francisco. The last time it was there, in 1998, Tiger Woods tied for 18th as a 22-year-old. This time he will be heading there as a guy who hasn't added any legs of the Grand Slam to his resume since getting his third national championship in 2008. He came here with great expectations, after getting his first PGA Tour victory in 21/2 years just two weeks ago. The four-time Masters winner leaves on a renewed quest for more answers.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The next major is 2 months from now, when the U.S. Open goes back to The Olympic Club in San Francisco. The last time it was there, in 1998, Tiger Woods tied for 18th as a 22-year-old. This time he will be heading there as a guy who hasn't added any legs of the Grand Slam to his resume since getting his third national championship in 2008. He came here with great expectations, after getting his first PGA Tour victory in 2 1/2 years just 2 weeks ago. The four-time Masters winner leaves on a renewed quest for more answers.

Instant fame may be the order of the day in the age of American Idol and Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but it was virtually unheard of in 1836, when it struck, lightning-bolt style, an obscure 25-year-old newspaper scrivener named Charles Dickens upon the publication of his first serialized novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Even more remarkable is the author's enduring popularity. Dickens, who wrote 34 books, including 24 novels, remains one of the best-selling writers of all time.

Sudan is again awash in blood and terror, George Clooney said Wednesday, a day after returning from a fact-finding trip with humanitarian aid workers. No, the Descendants star wasn't chatting up Joan Rivers at some glam red-carpet event. Clooney testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about a border conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, which achieved independence only a year ago after decades of civil war. "What you see is a constant drip of fear," Clooney said about the effects of "a campaign of murder" he said is being waged by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir , whom he accused of war crimes.

Charles Dickens was born 200 years ago this week, and I wonder how he would react to today's United States. He might be amazed to find that the issues he dealt with in works like David Copperfield , Great Expectations , Hard Times , and even A Christmas Carol are the same ones that shape our current political clashes. On the other hand, seeing the people we call "poor" and the children we call "underprivileged" might confuse him. Dickens was 12 when his father was sent to debtor's prison.

This year, flirting with state gold won't be enough. Not for a talent-rich, high school football team that includes six Division I-A senior recruits. Not for a squad that returns eight starters on both sides of the ball. Not for a team that will open the season in front of a nationally televised audience. "People expect a lot from us," Archbishop Wood two-way back Desmon Peoples said. "And they should. We can be something great this year. But we have to go out and do it. We can't just talk about it. " Like the region's other Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA)

The Phillies are about to play games that matter. Finally. The wait is over. But what have we been waiting for, exactly? In a city with a unique regional dialect - where jeetyet and other mashups are commonly understood substitutes, the words hope and expectation were foreign to the natives and hard to pronounce for a long time. Only in the last few years were they added to the local lexicon. In retrospect, the transition was quicker and smoother than any of us could have anticipated.

The most famous quote from Wall Street is delivered by Gordon Gekko. It's a line that's been recited countless times since Oliver Stone's malfunctioning morality tale was released in 1987. "The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good," Gekko says. Days after the Phillies unexpectedly were bounced from the postseason, it's the rest of Gekko's monologue, the forgotten and overlooked parts, that makes the most sense: "Greed is right, greed works.

Even "Conspiracy Theory Marc" was confident Monday night was the night the Flyers would finish their improbable march to the Stanley Cup. Conspiracy Theory was sitting up in Section 213, in the very last row. It was two minutes to puck drop. He was shouting into the din. "No doubt about it," yelled Conspiracy Theory, otherwise known as Marc S. Wagner, a 55-year-old certified public account from Holland, Pa. "Tonight's the night. " Wagner was proven correct as the Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2, to win the Eastern Conference title and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals against Chicago.