For most people Memorial Day weekend means a three-day holiday and a time to remember those who have given service to our country. It is also time to spend with family. One creative way of spending time with the family is to go to the Discovery Museum from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. to see the top 20 images from the Nikon Small World competition. The winning works of 20 photographers from the Nikon Small World photomicrography competition are on a nation tour, and they will be on display at the Discovery Museum until July 15. Celebrating its 37th year, Nikon Small World is the oldest and most respected competition that uses a light microscope to create images. While this is the only exhibi

What do you get when you have a European, Asian and American political perspective in the same art museum? Zócalo Public Square’s “Is Democracy Too Slow?” panel discussion hosted at the Crocker Art Museum and co-sponsored by Cal Humanities. Joe Matthews, a contributing writer for the LA Times, moderated a panel discussion on Tuesday evening. Panelists Ezra Vogel, Janice Thomson and Christine Pelosi (Yes, that Pelosi) shared what political lessons we can learn from other countries. Each panelist eluded, in part, to the need for communities of citizens to come together to make a significant difference in government. Dr. Vogel expounded on China’s recent modernization under Deng Xiaoping.

Filmmakers took 48 hours to incorporate an object, a name, a phrase and a genre into a four- to seven-minute short film last month as part of the Sacramento International Film Festival. Saturday night, the Crocker Art Museum hosted the 26 completed submissions in the three-hour 48 Hour Film Challenge screening event. The following night attendees found out who won during the awards ceremony on the Delta King. As a first-time filmmaker, W. Mark Dendy found the 48 Hour experience harrowing. “It was managing the whole crew and keeping in contact with them,” he said. “I got a text message at 11 on the second night that one of the main supporting actors was pulling out. We were shooting all

The Sacramento International Film Festival opened to a packed house this last Saturday at the Crocker Art Museum to the film “A California State of Mind: The legacy of Pat Brown” directed by Sascha Rice. The Sacramento International Film Festival, in its current inception since 2003, has three objectives: serve as a skills incubator for the local film community, bring international films to northern Californians, and provide a forum for conversation between independent filmmakers and industry professionals from Hollywood. W. Mark Bendy is a first time director, who participated in Cine Visionaries and the 48 Hour Film Challenge events, shared some of his experiences last night during the

Lisa Ling has been lucky. Over her 20-year-long television career, she has been able to tell compelling stories without sacrificing her journalistic integrity. Originally from Carmichael, Ling graduated from Del Campo High School in 1991. She is best known as a co-host on “The View,” host for “National Geographic Explorer,” and currently hosts “Our America” on the Oprah Winfrey Network. On Tuesday, she shared some of those stories with a captive audience for the final presentation of this season’s Sacramento Speaker Series, hosted at the Community Center Theater. She was introduced by Jim Jordan, her former English teacher and yearbook editor, and she made sure to recognize Betsy Burns,