Imagine a caravan of buyers, many from out of the area, flocking to our San Joaquin Valley for Americana gold. Imagine thousands of yard sales and swap meets flourishing for a week along Highway 99 as it winds through the heart of our state. Imagine a valleywide festival, celebrating who we are, sharing (and profiting) from our junk. Welcome to my dream of the "Great Highway 99 Yard Sale Trail."

And so, in spring

I have been very appreciative of all of the field trips organized by my agriculture instructors for their classes. It has been eye-opening to learn what I did not know.

Almost everyone who visits Yosemite National Park has fond memories. Some may be tied to spectacular waterfalls thundering with spring snowmelt. Others might be just sitting with a family member, watching deer browsing in one of Yosemite Valley's lush meadows.

This is National Library Week, when the American Library Association encourages people to thank their local libraries for their services.

Modesto's campaign donation ordinance, known as TIN CUP or Time Is Now to Clean Up Politics, is coming in front of the Modesto City Council and citizens need to speak out. We have a chance to level the playing field between residents and special interest groups with deep pockets.

What is at stake in the Modesto Irrigation District water rate discussion?

I love the elderly. Then again, I was practically raised with them. I have volunteered at Miller's Place since I was 10. I am a student at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, but I always volunteered when I returned home to Modesto.

Psychologist-types don't like to talk about the "one-third" axiom much. It makes our field seem too primitive and we desperately want to be thought of as real doctors.

Whoa, Nellie, hold your horses and your bloomers! A community column in the April 11 Bee piqued my interest. Patricia Kopf wrote, "Councilman John Gunderson has introduced an idea to our City Council suggesting that walls on commercial buildings in downtown Modesto would be a suitable canvas for select 'graffiti artists.' " The city, in regard to public art, deals with city property rather than private property.

We see so much violence and hatred in the media these days that we are often numb to the newest incident. It’s not that we don’t care — we just can no longer absorb the seemingly never-ending barrage. Until the incident strikes at your heart. I sat in shock when I saw the explosions in Boston at the marathon finish line. And then I started to cry. Because this isn’t one more tragedy. Boston is my hometown. For years, I lived and worked just a few blocks from where the blasts occurred.

Our community has been busy lately building villages, but not with lumber, hammers and nails. People in leadership roles, teachers and educators, students and parents have joined together with a singular focus on education.

Poet T.S. Elliott may have opined that April is the cruelest month, but in Modesto poetry is alive and wonderful. Modesto is home to many poetry groups. One of the largest, The Poets of the San Joaquin, affiliated with the California Federation of Chaparral Poets will host a poetry convention in Modesto on April 20.

Whoa, hold your horses! It seems that Councilman John Gunderson has introduced an idea to our City Council suggesting that walls on commercial buildings in downtown Modesto would be a suitable canvas for select "graffiti artists."

I have been doing the countdown to opening day at John Thurman Field since September. That long, barren stretch without live baseball will end at 7:05 p.m. Thursday, when we hear those ever-important words, "Play ball!," and the first batter from the Lancaster Jethawks stands in against the first pitch from our Modesto Nuts.