More than 85 people attended a poetry benefit at the Guild Theater on April 21, 2012 to raise funds for the “Que Llueva Café” scholarship which aims to support the dreams, hopes, and aspirations of college bound undocumented students so they can earn their college degree and allow their hard work and sacrifice to persevere. Thirty scholars were chosen holistically by a panel of community volunteers through CORE, Chicano Organizing and Research in Education earlier this month. Every year, the group aims to raise $15,000 to help undocumented scholars working towards higher education.  Recipients live everywhere in the United States, not just in California. “When we first put this scholarsh

Life and death, side by side in an endless cycle. This juxtaposition was evident at Sunday’s tour of the Historic City Cemetery where native plants live and thrive amid decaying tombstones of the long dead. In the first “Blooms among the Tombs” walk, landscape architect and gardener Cassandra Nguyen Musto led visitors through the California Native Plant Society demonstration garden. Her talk highlighted the society’s restoration work bringing native plants and beauty to graveyard plots. Not only was it a story of bringing new plant life to the cemetery, but it was also the story of the birth-death-rebirth cycle of the cemetery itself. The original city cemetery was located at Alhambra B

Sacramento resident Judie Panneton, author of “Proud Americans: Growing Up As Children Of Immigrants,” was at Time Tested Books on 1114 21st St. on Thursday to read excerpts from her book and sign books for the audience. “I was a child of immigrants, and my parents were Holocaust survivors,” Panneton said. “I felt really, really different. I just wondered if any other children of immigrants felt different.” The book, a collection of stories from various people Panneton talked to over the seven years it took her to complete the book, gives a glimpse into the lives of children of immigrants and their parents who came from all over the world. “Just about everybody knows somebody in Sacrame

The Muslim Mosque Association of Sacramento announced plans to expand its presence in the Southside Park community by converting a nearby building at 2110 Fifth St. into a multiuse facility and community center. Southside Park Neighborhood Association President Beverly Bumpas said it was the first time the MMA had sent representatives to a neighborhood meeting. Bumpas said she believed their desire to build a new facility has now given them “reason to make the effort to be involved.” A vibrant Muslim community has existed in Southside Park since the first mosque west of the Mississippi River was constructed there in 1946. The Muslim presence in the community has aided in transitioning Mu

Family legend has it that Russian Czar Nicholas II was hot on the heels of the Anapolskies when the clan's grandmother shepherded the children out of the country. The situation was much the same for other Jewish families in 1904 Russia. On Tuesday, descendants of the immigrants, who settled in Sacramento, celebrated the longevity of a downtown business that has remained in the family for more than 100 years. Three generations of brothers, as well as a wife-husband team, have run the business for the last century. The business has changed over the years to become Sacramento's oldest family-operated pawn shop, California Loan & Jewelry Co. The current owners, brothers Larry and Warren Anap

Becoming a U.S. citizen is a big deal, and that's exactly why nearly 3,000 people showed up at the Memorial Auditorium Thursday, Feb. 20. The approximately 900 new citizens crowded the auditorium, while their families and onlookers sat in the balcony to witness the event. Doors opened at 7 a.m., but the ceremony took place at 10 a.m. By 11:15, the new citizens were out the door, many in line for a social security card. Outside the Memorial Auditorium, representatives from the Republican and Democratic parties registered new voters, and vendors sold frames for the citizenship certificates. The line, which nearly reached all the way around the block, was filled with many people speaking in