Jeff Musser was an artistic child who went on to graduate from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000 with his bachelor’s degree in graphic design. He then spent two years at an ad agency in Chicago managing creative for McDonald’s Happy Meals. Despite a respectable salary, Musser was anything but happy.

The next great American play may have premiered earlier this month in Sacramento, even if the show still hasn’t sold a single ticket.

Sometimes even beloved traditions get an update, like the Sacramento Ballet’s annual holiday production of “The Nutcracker,” which offers a new take on the classic story this year.

The City of Woodland held a swearing-in ceremony for the new Mayor Xóchitl Rodriguez on Dec. 4 at the Woodland Community and Senior Center. Rodriguez is the first woman to hold the position since 1998. Rodriguez is replacing Enrique Fernandez.

The California State Railroad Museum curates one of the world’s largest toy train collections. 

Just three years after Sarah Golden shared the first block-printed fabric she ever made on Instagram, she has amassed nearly 35,000 followers and established a successful creative career in surface design. Today, Golden works full-time producing her signature simple, muted designs in both fabric prints and original paintings from her Oak Park studio. “I love a real simple two-color print and I will work a polka dot into every project, unabashedly,” she jokes.

Community theater, often known for supporting and encouraging aspiring young artists, has a new home in the greater Sacramento area. Thanks to a new Youth Theatre For All program, launched by the Natomas Arts and Education Foundation, more than 50 children ages 10-18 were afforded the opportunity to participate in a production of “Bye Bye Birdie” for free for three performances in July.

At Mezcalito Oaxacan Cuisine in Rocklin, the mole takes two days and nearly two dozen ingredients to complete. The recipe reads like a catalog of the Mexican state of Oaxaca’s agricultural bounty: plantains, green apples and raisins; warm spices and half a dozen kinds of chiles; a liberal dose of sparsely-sweetened chocolate.

In 1991, Gregory Perkins was a Sacramento corrections officer struck by a calling to make a difference. He realized that most greeting cards lacked representation of the African American community. Perkins worked with his cousin, an artist, to develop three Afrocentric greeting card designs in an effort to create what he calls an “uplifting product that African Americans can take pride in.”

Bill Wagman greets 25 guests at the front door of his Davis house, then sits quietly at a dining room table while his featured musician of the mid-September evening, Florida’s Grant Peeples, entertains in the living room with folk songs and reciting his offbeat poetry.