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Jessica Laskey

Journalist

About This Author

Jessica Laskey is a freelance writer and professional actress who has lived and worked in Sacramento, San Francisco, Dallas, New York City and Paris. She is also the co-founder of Theater Galatea and Indomita Press.

Articles by this author

Taking Root

The garden at Eskaton Village Carmichael is more than a beautiful place for residents to grow plants. It’s a place to get outside and connect with nature and each other.

Helen Root has headed up the gardening committee for five of the seven years she’s lived at Eskaton. Under her leadership, the garden expanded in size and mission.

“One of the first things I did when I was elected in 2021 was update our mission statement,” Root says. “The one I inherited was so straightforward: We rent boxes and fees are used to buy supplies. We do so much more than that! The revision became: We develop camaraderie with one another, encourage other residents to come through and enjoy nature and make it a real experience.”

Out & About November 2025

Find out what is happening Sacramento during the month of November!

Sister Act

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.

Piano Powerhouse

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.

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She performs with the Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy’s The Beatles Guitar Project, where hundreds of students and professional musicians tour the state.

In The Same Boat

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.”