Early Sunday morning, over 4,000 runners from around the world participated in the California International Marathon, a 26.2-mile race from Folsom to downtown Sacramento. As the runners scaled the greater Sacramento area into the afternoon, hundreds of supporters lined the route carrying signs of support and yelling words of encouragement. Meadow Bailey, a 34-year-old homemaker from Rancho Cordova, was one of the many who came out to show their support. She said that although this was her first time coming, she had an enjoyable experience. “Everybody is cheering, and there’s a great sense of unity,” she said. Starting near Folsom Lake, participants headed east down Oak Avenue. Passing t

On September 30, 2011, at Beatnik Studios, aspects of Sacramento’s finest culture will come together to support a truly inspiring cause. From 5pm to 9pm entrance is free and guests can stroll the studio looking at P.R. Brown’s photography show “The Known and Travel” while noshing on appetizers. Wine lovers can purchase a souvenir glass for wine tasting and entrance into a gourmet gift basket raffle. 100% of the proceeds are directed towards transforming the lives of orphaned and poverty-stricken children. Guests can further show their support by bidding at the silent auction. After 9pm a suggested donation of $5-$10 is appreciated as the stage opens up to live performances from Katie Jane,

In Vietnam, even when you’re in a room with air conditioning, you’re soaked with sweat within five minutes. When the temperature’s in the ’90s every day, and even the Vietnamese are telling you that they can’t stand the heat, you know you’re in for it. So, imagine this intense heat and the equally intense accompanying sweat. Imagine unfamiliar sights and sounds all around you – the pandemonium of Saigon, the capital of Vietnam, a major city in Southeast Asia. Maybe you sweat a little bit more in this new unfamiliar territory. With all of this firmly planted in your mind, now imagine performing a surgery on one of the most delicate parts of the human body, the eye, to restore sight to a p

The 2011 World Masters Athletics Championships are coming to Sacramento, July 5th-17th.  WMA 2011 is an international track and field competition for athletes 35 and older. It is expected to bring 10,000 athletes and fans from over 80 countries to the area. It has been 16 years since the WMA Championships have been held in the United States. Hosting an event of this magnitude is a tremendous responsibility for the city of Sacramento. The primary venue for this international competition will be A. G. Spanos Sports Complex, located on Sacramento State’s Campus. The secondary facility will be Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium. American River College, American River Parkway, Granite Re

Sacramento will be hosting the 2011 World Masters Athletic Championships, and registration is now open. The worldwide event draws track-and-field athletes from about 80 countries every two years and is rarely held in the United States, with the last time being 16 years ago, according to Bob Burns, spokesman for the Sacramento Sports Commission. “It’ll mean quite a bit of business here locally,” he said, explaining that most of the estimated 5,000 athletes and their families will be staying in the area for at least a week, as the event is held from July 6-17. The biannual event is open to everyone 35 and older, and Burns said there is usually at least one athlete 100 years or older. Reg

Award-winning travel writer and TV host Rick Steves is coming to Sacramento next week to share his thoughts on travel at St. John’s Lutheran Church. “Americans can travel in one of two ways,” Steves said. “They can travel in a way that widens the gap between them and the rest of the world, or with the proper attitude, you can broaden your perspective and get empathy for other cultures.” Steves got his start in the travel industry as a tour guide, and he has since authored more than 50 guidebooks. He is also is the host of the PBS series “Rick Steves’ Europe.” He had a simple message for those who are nervous or afraid about setting foot on foreign shores: “Fear is for people who don’t

Imagine being held at a security checkpoint for seven hours, told you can't return to where you have lived for the past four years, blindfolded, handcuffed and dropped at the border of a rough neighborhood in the middle of the night. This is Berlanti Azzam's story, as told by her to a diverse audience including Palestinians and Jews Wednesday night at the Sierra Arden United Church of Christ. The 22-year-old was six weeks away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bethlehem University when deported from the West Bank to her homeland, Gaza. Azzam was given legal aid from GISHA, an Israeli legal team dealing mostly with freedom of movement issues, but wa

Since the birth of the nation there have been great American heroes from Tom Payne to Lil’ Wayne. The next chapter in heroism starts now in an epic 5,700+80 mile journey for love and country – for USA and mopeds. Steve Rosen, proud resident of Midtown Sacramento and proud designer and owner of a custom ‘USA: A-OK’ vintage pedal start moped – is making an attempt to get himself and his transport to the far-off Swiss alps for an 80-mile race at the face-melting speed of 30km/h (20 mph). He will be the only American participant in the competition, the Red Bull Alpenbrevet. While Rosen is dedicated to winning, he also wants to spotlight his nation, and his community and to build permanent tie

Mimi Ruiz, a 24-year-old Costa Rican woman, is in the middle of a life-changing experience in Sacramento. With dreams of being a translator, she knew she had to improve her English, but flying from the small city of Cartago in Central America to plop down in the United States for 18 months while she got a feel for the language just wasn’t an option. But then friends of hers told her she could work as an au pair – a foreign nanny – and get the sort of cultural and linguistic immersion she sought. She arrived Feb. 28 and found an added benefit. “Going to another country will help you mature,” Ruiz said. “When I came here, I had no family or friends here.” She did, however, have a home.

  The stretch of an NBA player’s reach goes far beyond their measurable wing span. From the internet to television, player’s lives are dissected and analyzed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Savvy players create charitable foundations, Facebook fan pages and blogs to market themselves and keep the fans “close”. While the Sacramento Kings Omri Casspi is not your “average” American-born basketball player, it is clear that Omri’s impact goes far and beyond what any might have originally expected. This past December marked the launch of www.casspi18.com, an interactive website that connects fans directly to Number 18, giving them the chance to write him questions, follow in-depth Om

High energy and fun brought Old Sacramento to life at the Second Annual Sacramento World Music and Dance Festival.  The two-day festival kicked off Saturday at the Benvenuti Performing Arts Center, which featured Angentine tango champions Miriam and Leonardo.  Festivities continued Sunday in Old Sacramento. Both days were a celebration of international cultures through ethnic dancing, musical performances, historical storytelling and traditional reenactments of stories and folktales from all over the world. Despite the sweltering Sacramento heat, close to 5,000 attendees managed to stay cool under the shade of large tents and trees, and with the aid of popsicles and cold drinks sold by s

TEAM MARIA set out early Saturday, September 12 on the fundraising bike ride from Carmel through Big Sur to Hearst Castle Beach in support of Best Buddies International, a community for helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. TEAM MARIA exceeded their goal to raise $30,000 for Best Buddies by earning $80,000 in only six weeks. TEAM MARIA had riders on each of the four distance legs of the race – all riders completed the Challenge. TEAM MARIA includes Capitol insiders: Former Speaker Fabian Nunez; Staff from Dewey Square Group and Lucas Public Affairs and First Lady Maria Shriver's friends, family and staff.  For more insight on The Audi Best Buddies Challenge an

In the wake the recent presidential elections or re-selection of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, supporters of the opposition Presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi have staged massive protests within the country to show their displeasure of the announced results. With a record voter turnout in what amounted to as a very heated contest for the top public post in Iran, observers, reformers, and analysts alike across the globe felt that popular candidate Mousavi could unseat Ahmadinejad when it was all said and done. However those hopes were all but dashed when the official reporting came out that in fact Ahmadinejad had not only won by a close ma

Doesn't matter the color We all breathe the same We eat the same foods  We breathe in the same air And the same blood flows through us We are one, a nation of many Black, green, and white Brown, red, and yellow We are the same We are all the  same So come and celebrate Celebrate this day Of many colors Come celebrate unity and peace We are international one Let's sit down and have a feast Drink from the same cup Let's celebrate our success Because it takes a whole community To save one, and we are one Let's put our differences aside And have a ball, this the great day To show our strength To show our might International Day is alright We've overcome struggles We'v

By the time Levi and Jessie Benkert had driven home from the airport, the young couple knew what they had to do. They would sell most of their belongings, pack up their house in West Sacramento, put their development firm LJ Urban on hold and move their family to Africa. “We just have to,” Levi said. “There’s no other choice.” In early March, Levi spent 14 days in Ethiopia, assisting a small group with setting up an orphanage for a handful of children who come from a village in south-western Ethiopia where the Karo tribe lives. The Karo people continue a 200-year-old practice in which they kill young children considered ethnically “un-pure” or “unclean” by throwing them in the river with