What does it mean to be "from" somewhere? Dictionary.com's primary definition is this:
"Used to identify a starting point in spatial movement." So "from" at once means two seemingly opposing things: a set place and movement. In 2002, Time Magazine declared Sacramento the most diverse city in America, and South Sac was probably the most diverse area of Sacramento. I spent most of my childhood in a quadrant bordered by Calvine on the South, Franklin on the West, Highway 50 on the North, and Power Inn on the East. On our street alone, there were probably 15 different ethnicities. A quick walk around the block and you probably heard 5 different languages, music from just as many cultures. At different times, I lived next to a mortician, a banker, a drug dealer who sold weed in his driveway to a man in a wheelchair once a week, a bunch of guys who played in the garage like they were the next Nirvana, quiet families, a nurse, a group of teenagers who always (always) wore blue, and many more. Diversity. That's the place I'm from. We are all from somewhere, and that from has led us to places we might've never imagined. When I was playing ball outside at the parks around Elder Creek, or driving down Fruitridge in my early 20s with some friends, trying to find some girls to holla at, or walking through Florin Mall, waiting for my mom to get done shopping, I never thought about the movement part of from. Where it takes us. For a while, I played a lot of poker, and I always had a knack for "reading" my opponents. Before then, I'd always been good at conversation, understanding people, attuned to social cues and changes in inflection and how to play my part in healthy relationships. It hadn't occurred to me that being from such a diverse place helped me "read" things, and this is what led me to writing. And writing led me here. And so that's how being from Sac got me to From Sac. If you're from Sac, or from around Sac, or been through Sac, or have roots in Sac, send us your stories. We might know where you're from, but we want to know where that from took you. Happy writing.
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