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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

Marching Orders

When Daniel Fong says Mandarins of Sacramento—now called Mandarins Performing Arts—is “kind of my whole life,” it’s no exaggeration.

Fong has been part of the drum and bugle corps for decades. His interest began in third grade when his older brother joined Mandarins. Fong played in the corps from 12 to 21, the age limit.

He stayed on as brass instructor and music arranger while studying zoology at UC Davis and optometry at UC Berkeley. He joined the Mandarins board in 2017 and became CEO in 2021.

“People form lifelong relationships in the Mandarins,” Fong says. “My best friends now are the ones I marched with back in the 1970s.”

Out & About July 2025

Find out what is happening in Sacramento during the month of July!

Poetry In Motion

The house with the 6-foot banner, poems and illustrations on Ninth Avenue near the zoo belongs to Lance Pyle. Stop and say hello. He’s happy to see you.

Pyle has displayed banners, original poetry and drawings in front of his house since 2023. His goal is to bring joy to the neighborhood.

“Every once in a while, someone stops and reads and I catch them on my Ring,” Pyle says.

Looped In

A chat with Nisa Hayden explains why she has so many successful careers. It’s about people skills.

As an actor, freelance writer, gallery director, arts consultant and garden manager, Hayden’s ability to connect led to a wildly diverse employment history.

The Alaska native grew up in the East Bay and planned to become an attorney. A summons to jury duty at age 18 “turned me off the process,” she says, and prompted her to forego a partial college scholarship.

Imagine That

If something interests Steve Kellison, he turns it into art.

For his “Lost Vincent” series, Kellison was inspired by “The Painter on the Road to Tarascon,” a Vincent van Gogh work destroyed in World War II.

The image of a painter on his way to work embedded itself in Kellison’s imagination and sparked a series of drawings and paintings. In each, the central image is recognizable but captured in various styles and mediums—some in charcoal and pastel on paper, some in oil and pigment stick on canvas. Some are abstract, others more faithful to the original.