[A note on the text: This is a little essay I submitted to another publication at the beginning of spring.  It was never published, but I stubbornly persist on liking it and wanting others to read it.  As gray skies have robbed of us this year of our little window of SoCal weather, I suppose reflections on the nature of spring are not very much in demand, but since this essay was written in the mood of Stravinsky much more than Vivaldi maybe it is fitting after all.]   The coming of spring always reminds me of the things that make the Sacramento region important. There are many things that do, but somehow they get overlooked in favor of sports teams, parking lots and human beings -- in ot

The surveillance state is a miracle of convenience. In the old days, if you ran a red light, you had to go through the rigmarole of being pulled over by a police officer. Today, by contrast, you are more likely to see a flash of light from one of the red-light camera mounted at intersections around the county and a week or so later receive a set of photographs in the mail: one of you behind the wheel of your car with a swear word still crinkling your lips; another of your car entering the intersection illegally; and, finally, a close-up of your licence plate. Just think: all the incriminating evidence sent directly to your home, and you didn't even have to ask for it. It's almost as cleve

What: Review of Blow Up, a music and fashion show. Where: Clubhouse 24. Punchline: Pay no attention to the timid man behind the curtain. It was raining Saturday night in Midtown. Not drizzling, raining. It was coming down so hard that any heads of hair not beneath an umbrella or the hood of a raincoat had that fresh-from-the-shower look. Meanwhile, on the sidewalk outside Clubhouse 24, a newly opened party space at 24th and J Street, there was some kind of sculpture/assemblage in the form of a tree. Christmas tree bulbs the size of disco balls decorated its branches, and it was on fire. Well, more accurately, it had been rigged with a large propane tank so that flames shot out of metal

Unseasonable rain showers have kept maypole dancing to a minimum for the first few days of May.  But longtime dwellers of the Central Valley know to keep their shorts and tank tops handy. It is going to be scorching hot soon.  Spring is effectively over.  Like a clock-watcher at the end of her work shift, spring is so out of here the moment the summer sun arrives, and nobody is going to see her mild days and chilly nights again until 2010. So forget looking up at the cloudy skies.  Look down on the ground.  Wildflowers -- or weeds, if you please -- tell us that summer is coming.  If you've done any crawling around in the grass in the last week or two, you'll have noticed that most wildfl

The Midtown Monthly blog is reporting that homeless advocates and charity workers are asking community members vigils this week as the police disband the homeless encampment known internationally as Tent City. In a letter to the Monthly, Greg Bunker of Francis House of Sacramento writes, "We are willing to be arrested on behalf of our homeless folks rather than see them be moved or be threatened with an 'arrest' if they do not move when they have NO SAFE PLACE to go!!!!" Sister Libby Fernandez of Loaves & Fishes, Paula Lomazzi of SHOC and Mark Merin of Mark Merin Law Firm also signed the letter.   The letter calls on community members to "bare witness" to police action at the Tent City