Home is where you find it

If you go to the Found magazine Web site and search for “Sacramento,” two items come up. One is a black-and-white photo of a caveman lining up for a parade of indeterminate occasion. The second is a torn note with the words “Love is The Root of estrogen” written in lime-green crayon. What does one have to do with the other? And how do both represent Sacramento, other than the fact that they were discovered here?

Frankly, it could be too early to tell. Like a paleontologist who’s only dug up a tooth and a toenail, the amateur anthropologists who habitually excavate Sacramento’s streets for stray letters, lists, photos and drawings have only begun to sketch the outlines of the organism we call home. But we at SN&R, always hungry for a good story, are here to help hasten the exploration.

On October 27, inspired by Found magazine founder Davy Rothbart’s upcoming visit, SN&R will publish Found in Sacramento—a photo essay of your finds from throughout the Sacramento area. We know you’ve got the goods in your house: the funny breakup note you found in the street, the snapshots that were in your basement when you moved in, the grocery list stuck in the library book you borrowed, those inscrutable poems written on cardboard and left leaning on downtown trees or even the indecent snapshot you found stuck on a bulletin board at the local coffee shop. (Advice to the lovelorn: When she dumps you, get the negatives back!)

We know you’ve been collecting this stuff for years, so be a dear and share with the rest of us. Send your submissions to SN&R’s Found in Sacramento, 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 by October 12. (We value your finds as much as you do, so we’ll even send them back if you send us a self-addressed stamped envelope.) If you have questions, don’t hesitate to e-mail foundinsacto@newsreview.com.

With enough submissions, we can connect the dots between the caveman and the love note. We’ll create a telling portrait of the human condition that is uniquely Sacramentan—if only because that’s where we find ourselves being human. Remember, on October 27, there’s no story without you.