A California Convert

While I was in Sacramento recently, all of my happy memories began to run together.

Was it here that I'd seen the band Kudu performing? No, that was in Queens at PS.1. Was it in Sacramento where all my friends lived? No again, that's the East Coast.

But for whatever reason, I associated good things with the city. It's like for only the fourth time in my life, I had fallen in love.

Truth be told, perhaps it was because I had such low expectations. When one thinks of California, 20 other places before Sacramento come to mind. There's Los Angeles and San Francisco and Oakland and Berkeley and San Jose and Burbank and on and on.

Then there's Sacramento, the capital.

I walked around the downtown area as if I'd lived there my whole life. I became a local. At The Beat, the city's best-known music store, I picked up a few used cd's, most notably Linda Rondstadt's greatest hits. This was my nod to California, as she had ruled the charts in the '70s and '80's as the personification of California Cool.

At Beers Books, I bought a few used books, including The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan and Jubilee by Margaret Walker, who had taught for decades at my alma mater, Jackson State University.

By the end of my trip, I was all "I don't want to watch no movie; lets go watch the stars put on a show."

There were mountains in the distance. And for the first time in a long time I felt a profound peace in my life.

The idea of going to San Francisco, which is only 80 miles away, had been floated. But it didn't happen.

No biggie. I have a feeling I'll be back in that part of the country sooner, rather than later, living my life in the sunshine.



"I don't want to..." from the India Arie song, "Nature"