I walked onto the quad of Bella Vista High School on a Sunday afternoon to a sight of 20 or so men climbing walls, running like cheetahs on all fours and swinging from trees. This was the Sacramento regional parkour practice, led by a SFparkour.com representative, Victor Lo Forte. He has been a practitioner of parkour, or traceur, French for tracer, for three and a half years and has led the Sacramento group for about two years. "From what I understand, it's basically the discipline of training one's mind and body to prepare oneself to overcome obstacles in an environment," Lo Forte said. Parkour is said to be rooted in early 20th century French military practices. Georges Hébert, a Wor

Contributed by Jenn Walker At age 19 and 20, Sacramento City College students Diana Byrd and Elena Gallegos are discovering the business world firsthand with the growth of their online business Meshugga Chic. Meshugga Chic, casually referred to as just Meshugga (not to be confused with the Swedish death metal band Meshuggah), is the duo's online vintage clothing store, catering to men and women with a unique fashion sense around the world. Their merchandise is an array of color, fun and the unusual. Items like high-waist purple parachute pants, a billowy bright pink and purple windbreaker or an acid wash jumper scream '80s. Anything funky goes. The two launched their site around a year

When Michael Donnoe puts up magnets with compassionate statements around downtown Sacramento, he intends to have them ripped down, plagiarized, and re-posted elsewhere. Having moved to the downtown area around March 2008, Donnoe was struck by election paraphernalia floating around the city, as well as graffiti. "Election signs easily make people polarized," he said. He thought, "How about instead of having an election sign, somebody put something up about respect and kindness." These attempts to disseminate notions of compassion and thoughtfulness pushed him to create the Compassion Project. "It's best described as an art and activism project that is designed to cultivate the causes an

The Sacramento Film & Music Festival pre-screened Paper Heart Friday evening. Paper Heart was co-written by actress Charlene Yi and Nick Jasenovec, and directed by Nick Jasenovec. The film opens with Yi holding a microphone shyly in the middle of the Las Vegas strip, asking the question, “Does anyone really love?” A love-skeptic, she embarks on a cross-country tour to gain perspective on love from couples, divorce lawyers and children at a playground. Her findings are recorded in a way that combines faux-documentary filming and traditional storytelling, only part of which is scripted. Some of the storytelling is done through sequences of puppetry reminiscent of Science of Sleep. The s

Vhcle Magazine set the mood for their Launch Design and Music festival with a swanky location and a variety of tunes Saturday evening at the Greens Hotel on Del Paso Boulevard. The festival was a celebration of design and the arts, as well as a way for Vhcle to brand itself in the Sacramento community, according to Michael Hargis, an architectural designer and coordinator of the event. The Greens hotel is mother nature-meets-urban design. Hargis described the hotel as “1950s mid-century modern.” Upon entering the hotel, brown and green hues meet the eyes and lights hang from the ceiling. Walking through the bar and lounge area, it was possible to see local vendors set up shop. A door le

There's a troop surge for all you dancers out there, and the Afghan Raiders are leading the pack. Thursday night's Bravado at Mix will be hosting the Afghan Raiders (AR), a musical twosome from Las Vegas. The two musicians, Beans and Mikey, are not ethnically Afghani— the inspiration for their name came from the French film Amelie. "[Amelie] is trying to find her boyfriend and she makes up this long, kind of neurotic story about how he might have been kidnapped by Afghan raiders," said Beans. "We thought it was a really cool phrase and intriguing." Beans and Mikey, the other half of AR, have known each other since high school. Heavy rock and punk music brought them together, and their

About 300 people milled in and out of the newest location of Temple coffeehouse at 2829 S St. for the grand opening Saturday evening. The new coffeehouse is the second Temple location in Sacramento. The front area of the building was crowded with young people, business professionals and families mingling. The back room of the café was opened up as a space to snack and play darts. Drinks were free for those attending the private opening event. Anything the customer wanted, the baristas were happy to make. The second location was well-received by community members. “I was so excited that we have an authentic coffee shop in our neighborhood,” said Ann Hamilton, a board member for the New

You better run for your spandex, because Club Lyfestile is an epidemic dancing the nation. Bravado night at Mix, a rooftop lounge and bar downtown, hosted a 13-person dance troupe from Philadelphia on Thursday. Bravado is a party held at Mix every Thursday night. Past guest DJs include Nick Catchdubs, Designer Drugs, and Treasure Fingers. I was able to follow the dancers around town for the night, and had the pleasure to know fun as I had never known before, the Club Lyfestile method. The dancers are Versastile, Bumble Bees, RazzMaTazz, Champagne, Señor Sexweed, Jovius, Blackout, Miracle, Aquamarine, Marvey, Zephyr and Azimuth. They are followed by a videographer, Autofocus. Videos of

Hours before Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was forcefully exiled to Costa Rica on June 27, he met with seven delegates from Sacramento. The seven were: Bill Camp, executive secretary for the Sacramento Central Labor Council (SCLC); Bud McKinney, a sheet mill worker; Chris Bender, a union representative; Greg Larkins, president of IBW Local 340 and a political organizer for the SCLC; Arturo Aleman, a consultant, Kate Allen, a graduate student at UCLA and summer intern for the SCLC and Dion Archuleta, a canner at Campbell Soup in South Sacramento. The following is an account of their experiences in Honduras over a three-day period in which an alleged coup d’état took place. Background

This is the fourth vacant space Sacramento homeless have been forced to leave since July 1. For more background on this event, click the "Storyline" tab on the right, or click this link

Police arrived at the most recent Safe Ground location on North D and North 11th streets Monday afternoon to notify about 100 homeless campers that they must vacate the premises. Safe Ground is an attempt to find a safe, legal space for the homeless to settle. Reverend David Moss was the only arrest made that afternoon for trespassing. Sacramento Police Department spokesperson, Sgt. Norm Leong commented, “He refused to identify if he was camping on the site and refused to leave.” The empty lot is owned partially by the city and two private property owners. Joan Burke, Director of Advocacy with Loaves & Fishes, said those camping were aware only of the city ownership of the property. “W

It's the middle of summer and time to air out your best Halloween costumes, as the Trash Film Orgy is back in town. The debauchery begins this Saturday at the Crest Theatre with the screening of "Flash Gordon," a science-fiction classic. The Trash Film Orgy (TFO) is in its ninth year running, produced by Christy Savage, Darin Wood and Amy Slockbower. "It is much more than a regular movie film. We do indeed try to find the best in cult and exploitation cinema," said Savage. Exploitation cinema? Savage defined this as, "pushing the envelope a bit. A little extra boobs, blood, more explosions, action and monsters." When researching and booking films to showcase at the festival, Savage sa

In 2001, two-and-a-half-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk became a victim of food. His death was induced by hamburger meat contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. Kevin’s story is one of many issues discussed in Food, Inc., the recently released documentary directed by Robert Kenner. A special screening of the film was hosted by the Pesticide Watch Education Fund on Friday evening at the Crest Theatre. Food Inc. begins with an aerial shot of farmlands that transform into the packaging of a Farm Fresh product. The film discusses the modern food production industry’s tendency toward using an agrarian visage for goods manufactured in factories. Much of the data and research in the film is provided b

The Tour de Sacramento kicked off today and will continue for three weeks of activities and ride-alongs around the Sacramento area. The event coincides with the Tour de France. The three-week event in Europe is a world-famous race, but tour organizer Dawn Dais says that the Tour de Sacramento has a different feel to it. "We don't really want to encourage a competition. Its going to be super laid back and fun." Dais has written a book called "The Noncyclist's Guide to the Century and Other Road Races," that details her training for a bicycle race and breaks down the process to encourage people of all backgrounds to participate in cycling. Today, a bike safety check and a Safe Cycling Cli

For the past three months, young people from 10 to 21 years of age have come together in Sacramento once a week to discuss their role in their physical environment. As part of the Youth Voices for Change initiative, the group called the Sactown Heroes collaborated with UC Davis scholars, artists and graduate students to explore their community, what they like about it and what could change. The culminating event on Tuesday was a presentation of their findings to the community. 14-year-old Bradly Palmer said he would change "where youth are welcome and where they are hired for jobs. Some places discriminate against youth because they think they're trouble-makers." He is a student at West

Emergency overflow shelters shut down their accommodations to the homeless in Sacramento, including Cal Expo so the homeless took a stand Wednesday morning. Hundreds gathered in front of Loaves & Fishes on the corner of North 12th and Ahern Street for a march to bring awareness to the recent closings of shelters and the criminalization of poverty and homelessness. Event organizers expected around 200 attendees, but at one point during the march, there were counts of close to 1,000 people walking to 420 Richards Blvd., a vacant parcel next to the new police station. Many of those participating in the rally who rely on shelters for a place to sleep at night said they are afraid of legal c

On Tuesday evening, hundreds of workers with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) congregated at the steps of the Capitol to voice their frustrations with how the state legislature is handling the budget. Yvonne Walker, President of the SEIU, opened the rally with a fiery speech about how state workers “are on the tipping point,” with the continued proposals to cut state workers’ pay and adding a third furlough day. Walker described the two-day furlough already in place for state workers as “the equivalent of one month’s pay.” She explained an additional day of unpaid leave would increase the financial burden on state workers, causing some to lose their homes. Workers were w

Kings fans proudly received the three newest members of the team Saturday evening at Marshall Park. The park was a festive sight with families and fans clad in purple and white awaiting the arrival of University of Memphis guard Tyreke Evans, Israeli forward Omri Casspi and University of Washington forward Jon Brockman. The players were bestowed with numbered jerseys for the first time since the draft picks were announced. Evans wearing number 13, Casspi with number 18, and Brockman number 40. Season ticket holder Joseph Smith expressed his admiration for the Kings and the Maloof brothers for bringing the community and families together at such an event. "It keeps us going as a family,

A swarm of children took over the Capitol Tuesday to defend education in the face of massive budget cuts.  Ranging in age from eight years old to 18 years old, students from all over California sought to answer the question, "What is the purpose of public schools?" The Children's Rally, coordinated by Sandra Tsing Loh, an author and member of the Burning Moms organization, is a congregation of young students as participatory citizens in the political dialogue of their state legislature. The Burning Moms originated as a group of parents, fathers included, who had frustrations about the education system in California. “I'm a Proposition 13 baby, and my children continue to be affected by

The Crest Theatre transformed into a circus ring for the first weekend of the French Film Festival. The night began with a high-production fashion show, Cirque de la Mode, and the curtain came down after the showing of “Lola Montés,” which was the inspiration for the whole night. Audience members were greeted by a ringmistress wearing a futuristic can-can dancers’ outfit, whip in hand, strutting across the stage and warning the audience, “This show is not for the faint of heart!” And the show proved to be beyond vibrant. DJ Roger was spinning French electro tunes from the likes of Yelle and the Prototypes as the models took to the stage. There were can-can outfits, fishnet stockings, pl