The surveillance state is a miracle of convenience. In the old days, if you ran a red light, you had to go through the rigmarole of being pulled over by a police officer. Today, by contrast, you are more likely to see a flash of light from one of the red-light camera mounted at intersections around the county and a week or so later receive a set of photographs in the mail: one of you behind the wheel of your car with a swear word still crinkling your lips; another of your car entering the intersection illegally; and, finally, a close-up of your licence plate. Just think: all the incriminating evidence sent directly to your home, and you didn't even have to ask for it. It's almost as cleve

What: Review of Blow Up, a music and fashion show. Where: Clubhouse 24. Punchline: Pay no attention to the timid man behind the curtain. It was raining Saturday night in Midtown. Not drizzling, raining. It was coming down so hard that any heads of hair not beneath an umbrella or the hood of a raincoat had that fresh-from-the-shower look. Meanwhile, on the sidewalk outside Clubhouse 24, a newly opened party space at 24th and J Street, there was some kind of sculpture/assemblage in the form of a tree. Christmas tree bulbs the size of disco balls decorated its branches, and it was on fire. Well, more accurately, it had been rigged with a large propane tank so that flames shot out of metal

Unseasonable rain showers have kept maypole dancing to a minimum for the first few days of May.  But longtime dwellers of the Central Valley know to keep their shorts and tank tops handy. It is going to be scorching hot soon.  Spring is effectively over.  Like a clock-watcher at the end of her work shift, spring is so out of here the moment the summer sun arrives, and nobody is going to see her mild days and chilly nights again until 2010. So forget looking up at the cloudy skies.  Look down on the ground.  Wildflowers -- or weeds, if you please -- tell us that summer is coming.  If you've done any crawling around in the grass in the last week or two, you'll have noticed that most wild

The Midtown Monthly blog is reporting that homeless advocates and charity workers are asking community members vigils this week as the police disband the homeless encampment known internationally as Tent City. In a letter to the Monthly, Greg Bunker of Francis House of Sacramento writes, "We are willing to be arrested on behalf of our homeless folks rather than see them be moved or be threatened with an 'arrest' if they do not move when they have NO SAFE PLACE to go!!!!" Sister Libby Fernandez of Loaves & Fishes, Paula Lomazzi of SHOC and Mark Merin of Mark Merin Law Firm also signed the letter.   The letter calls on community members to "bare witness" to police action at the Tent City

 American River Parkway, 5:33 PM. I'm not saying this bunny is necessarily the one. I'm just saying I photographed him on Easter.

Edit: My car entered the intersection a half a second AFTER the light turned red.

Jim, I think you just want to say "liberal," not "neo-liberal." Neoliberalism implies the economic policies of politicians like Margret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan: deregulation and privatization of some government services (usually non-military). It also can refer to center-right liberal pundits who wrote for the New Republic in the 1980s. Mickey Kaus is a good example. Finally, in Europe, the left uses the term as a pejorative. Compare it to the way the left uses the term neo-conservative here.

I enjoyed your MM article, William.

Suggestion: People who live in the same geographical area and are interested in writing about their communities should use this site to network. Going to all the city council and school board meetings would be burdensome for one person, esp. since she or he is doing it for free. But if a group of people coordinated their efforts, they could cover a lot of ground and not run the risk of getting burnt out after a few months.

LGBT is such an ugly acronym, in my opinion. I can never get myself to use it. I also think it confers a false solidarity among these groups. Let's be honest about male domination in our society: if gay men were granted the sexual prerogatives that men in Classical Greek times had, sexual orientation would be a non-issue. (On second thought, maybe this is too pessimistic, but there is a grain of truth to it). I guess I could use gays and lesbians to be more inclusive, but for me the term lesbians feels too sexualized. "Lesbianism" plays such a big role in pornography. The "male gaze" in this regard acts as a kind of veil that hides the experience of real lesbians. What about the term queer? It's a good word. It's a fun word to say. It has a good mouth feel, as it were. Do you think it is culturally acceptable for non-homosexuals to use the term?