I was born in Sacramento. I left my family home in the suburbs of Citrus Heights in 1990 at 18 years of age and began my true Sacramento life. I’ll explain what I mean by that, but first I’ll tell you how it is now. This is... Sacramento. Sacramento now is still great, but much, much changed from the Sacramento I came up in. A major shift started in 2014-ish. I was slinging books at Beers Bookstore on my second stint. The last time I worked for Beers was in the mid-late 90’s.

Summer comes to campus after finals week and graduation, though it’s chilly on this particular morning. No faculty, no students, only staff keeping the engine of the school running from behind the scenes, always behind the scenes. In the new found quiet on a summer Sac State campus day, all of the wildlife feels more comfortable stepping out of the shadows. I’ve already seen many turkeys, including a turkey mom with her many fuzzy baby chicks, bunnies, squirrels, lizards, but

The freedom of waking up early to drive somewhere for the day. Daytripper. This time, it’s Santa Cruz. I hadn’t been in awhile, but I planned a day around an evening event and everything fell in to place. 4:20am: I wake up before the 5am alarm and prep everything I had meant to prep the night before. 6:30am: It’s time to hit the road to be able to make a 10:30am Yoga class in Ben Lomond, a friend’s lovely new Yoga studio. I stop once to add gas, get a chai and baked treat to

“Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.” ~Rumi Love. One syllable. A simple word with the most complex, layered, nuanced meaning. The deepest of human emotions, love. It’s the feeling we all want, need, crave. We all want to be loved. Love hurts. It really does. It’s painful to feel true romantic love. It’s painful to have love and lose it. Unrequited love is one of the most painful human emotional experiences. Love twists up the core of me, an