You need to go read this miraculous story by Diana Marcum in the Fresno Bee about Johnny Vera, who was recently voted Prom Queen at Fresno's Roosevelt High--by a landslide. Vera is dignified, larger-than-life and brave, like a transgender Jackie Robinson.

And Fresno doesn't sound like a half-bad town:  at least they have a great high school, and a great newspaper. Photo of Vera and his best friend Mickey Gonzalez, by the Bee's Mark Crosse.

Jack and I first met in Cathy Seipp's living room.  Cathy has a flair for stunningly eccentric decor, and her living room combines a kind of shabby chic affability with the shock of bright red walls--a place where you feel simultaneously comforted and stimulated. That's the atmosphere that surrounds Cathy all the time. She is a connector personality, for whom making friends is an art form. She collects people in a way I've never quite seen, with love ...