The Sacramento Press has approximately 2,000 contributors signed up on our site to voluntarily write articles. Without them, we wouldn’t exist. To just tell you how great they are isn’t enough. In an effort to show you why we love them, we will continue putting the spotlight a new contributor every month in our “Community Contributor Spotlight” video series. Without further ado, we present to you Amabelle Ocampo:     If there's a particular contributor you would like to see featured, let us know! Send us an email at support@sacramentopress.com. To meet contributors featured in the past, visit our Community Contributor Spotlight splash page.

Thursday, May 24 marked a day when youth voice was alive at the capitol.   It was the "Annual Shadow a Legislator Day" for foster youth leadership advocacy group, California Youth Connection.  Among the excitement of hundreds of elementary school children on a civics field trip of the state capitol, an important announcement was being made by Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and Daniel Heimpel, a child welfare journalist and CYC Board Member.   They urged support for two bills, AB 2093 and AB 1712, which will affect the future of foster youth across the state.  In honor of  Foster Care Awareness Month, Skinner's legislation, Assembly Bill 2093 "Foster Youth Higher Education a

  Tango by the River is facing some harch economic realities.  The studio has been losing money every year since it opened in 2000.   "Visions of Eden can no longer subsidize the studio during these hard times," states owner Donna Tielsch in an email asking for the community's support in upcoming fundraising events to save the studio from closing.   A fundraiser is scheduled on Monday, May 14, a tango pizza party to be held at the studio from 7p.m.  The guest of honor is Eduardo Saucedo.  The suggested donation is $25.  There are special events being held at the Tango by the River studio weekly in Old Sacramento.  To find out more details, please go to their site www.rivertango.com or

There's no use in sugar-coating. Reality hurts. This is the message of a commencement address given by Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye of the Supreme Court of California on Saturday as she painted a dismal outlook of the future, grim with lack of decent paying options for recent graduates of University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. It was the kind of speech where even the most optimistic of parents cringe upon hearing of the lack of jobs available to those armed with newly minted law degrees.  Still, the bleak expectation failed to deter the graduates from pursuing their calling.  Within this class is the mark of resiliency.  Each held their heads high holding on to their

What do women want?  Try a gentle nudge, fusing health with spa treatments to spark awareness that women self-care is necessary, especially when the goal is to live well enough to enjoy watching your own grandchildren grow up.  More than 1,300 people attended the 2012 American Heart Association’s Annual Go Red for Women benefit at Woodlake Hotel on Friday.  A white linen luncheon complete with chicken salad, walnuts, cranberries, and light vinaigrette, chocolate truffles and mousse dessert graced the tables as girlfriends engaged in conversation, a mini shopping spree, red feather boas, Macy’s gift cards, zumba with the Golden 1 Credit Union mascot, and sparkly heart shaped accessories

On any given Tuesday, Michelle Gorre's students push through more of what feels like a workout instead of a tango class at Sierra 2 Center.  She guides the class through warm-ups, isolations, drills, routines, floor work, and cool-down.  The participants move through  exercises to become better dance partners.  With the same discipline and energy she expects from her class, Gorre is raising funds to support the cure with her TNT Leukemia & Lymphoma Society training team.  She is very close to reaching her goal, with a little bit further to go.    This Friday, April 13, 2012, a tango dance party will be held at The Capital Athletic Club on 1515 8th St. At 7 p.m., there will be a beginn

The 48-hour film challenge took place on the weekend of March 30, for the Sacramento Film Festival at The Artisan. All the 32 registered teams had to make a creative sprint that began 7:30 p.m., March 30 and ended at 7:30 p.m., April 1. Only 26 teams completed their project according to Martin Ayala Anaya, the event organizer. Mine was one of them. As an aspiring multimedia journalist, writing stories for a year, then following my friends on their film projects in the last three. I decided to attempt the challenge for myself. After all, the best way to learn is to just do it.  My vision was to have a crew of all foster children who have turned 18 – and “aged out” of the system that I m

There's a willing way to the heart and it cuts like a tai chi saber.  For centuries, tai chi, chi gung, and "internal" martial arts practices have been known to improve mental and physical acuity. At Riverwalk Park in West Sacramento, every other Sunday, at 12:30 p.m. Daniel Quincy Sifu  will be sharing this art form with the public. Quincy has been teaching tai chi since 1986. He has taught many students through Tai Chi Club in UC Davis, Experimental College, and public parks in the East Bay and Sacramento.  He was first introduced to the art form while doing his post doctorate research in biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. He was active in all kinds of sport

More than 300 people attended Thursday night's Art Mix at the Crocker Art Museum blending the celebration of Black History Month with Valentine's Day.   Heart and Soul-idarity, was the theme of the evening bringing together the passion of singers, dancers, poets, painters, and art afficionados to an eclectic era in learning. There was something to please everyone. The evening began with a Tour of the museum called Love Stories.  At the same time, some event attendees crafted hands on momentos of the event with African-art-inspired accessories by Betty Davis and Yvonne Warren.  Sol Collective's Jazz'n Love Lounge featured spoken word, poetry, and music performance in the art of words tra

It’s Friday night at Ace of Spades with Chino Moreno, lead vocalist of the Deftones, and Shaun Lopez, guitarist of Far, crossing over to a new experimental era with †††. A line of tattooed girls with skin tight jeans slink through the crowd as fans trickle in. Over 500 people paid homage filling the bar, to near capacity with a mix of high school students, collegiate couples, 80’s heavy-metal fans, punk rockers and adult film models. There were two openers Secret Empire, a six man band from Los Angeles and Dawn Golden and Rosy Cross from Chicago.  Both bands were the opposite of the other, balancing a yin that sided on the side of heavy metal and the yang on the side of experimental elec