Nov 28, 2025
After 35 years in public relations, Mia McDaniel knows how to grab attention. That’s why she titled her book “My Father’s Burning in Hell.”
“I was scared because I knew the title was really negative,” McDaniel says. “You’re either going to say, ‘Wow, I’ve got to get this book’ or ‘I never will read this.’ But I figured if you’re buying this book, you really want to see what this is about.”
The memoir isn’t built around a traumatic childhood. Rather, the Carmichael resident exposes family secrets and discusses the impact of having two narcissistic parents, one who’s a predator. But it’s not a sob story. It’s a well-told tale of how truth can set you free.
Oct 28, 2025
Find out what is happening Sacramento during the month of November!
Oct 28, 2025
Sacramento and its sister city Jinan, in China’s Shandong Province, are similar. Both are capitals, both have rivers and both share rich cultural scenes. Grace Liu knows this firsthand.
Liu is a Jinan native. She attended Shandong University before coming to Sacramento State¬. The J Street campus was the only U.S. school she applied to, due to its sister city status. She earned a master’s degree in management information science.
When Liu arrived in 1996, she was contacted by the Jinan-Sacramento Sister Cities Corporation, a nonprofit set up in 1984 to “foster mutual understanding, cultural awareness and friendship” between Sacramento and Jinan.
Oct 28, 2025
The best place to find Jennifer Reason is at a piano or microphone. Reason figures she’s played for “pretty much everyone at every place in town.”
She recently finished an artist residency at The Jacquelyn club, where she assists with shows. She’s a regular at Fleming’s Steakhouse in Roseville.
A musical theater expert, Reason is in the pit at Broadway at Music Circus shows, including the upcoming “White Christmas” in December, part of the company’s first year-round season.
She performs with the Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy’s The Beatles Guitar Project, where hundreds of students and professional musicians tour the state.
Sep 28, 2025
On the water, rowers can’t think about much else. Rhythm and teamwork take concentration. Or as Shari Lowen puts it, when you’re in the boat, you’re in the boat.
This works for Lowen and her fellow ROWsist members. Lowen founded ROWsist rowing group within the River City Rowing Club in 2023 for cancer survivors like herself.
She wanted to “give people who’ve been through cancer an opportunity to use their bodies and minds” along with “the community and emotional aspect of doing something together.”
Sep 28, 2025
Bill Cerruti just returned from his annual trip to Italy. It was work and play.
Cerruti and his wife, a native of Lucca, lead tours as part of their work running the Italian Cultural Society, which they founded in 1981.
As a young man, a proud Italian American and East Sacramento native, Cerruti searched for a cultural organization to meet other young Italians and stay in touch with his roots. When the Italian American club system didn’t click with him, he started his own group.
