Everybody’s business

All Chico, all the time
Chico State Assistant Professor Mark Tomita has come up with a way to let office dwellers and former Chicoans enjoy visions of their favorite local attractions and raise money for his department at the same time.

His “Life in Chico 2003” CD-ROM includes slide shows and screen savers, featuring more than 1,100 pictures he took in Chico, Paradise and outlying areas. (Tomika and his digital camera had a busy summer.)

The two-CD set (for PCs only; a Mac version will come later) is available at the A.S. Bookstore and other retail shops for $19.95. Profits will go to the Department of Health and Community Services, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Office of Advising and Orientation. Knowing about the history and culture of one’s surroundings promotes social health and good will, Tomita said.

Tomita figures the CDs would make a great gift for former residents who miss scenes like the farmers’ markets, Bidwell Park and Satava Art Glass Studio. It could also be used for business recruitment, he added. The project taught Tomika, who moved here in 2002, a lot about Chico. Before he did this, he said, “I only knew how to get to Winco and Wal-Mart.”

Senatorial fashion
Another cause looking for donors is The Right Now Foundation, which is raising money for the Senator Theatre restoration effort and the creation of a community performing arts center by hawking shirts.

Kelly Huber, a member of the foundation’s board of directors, said the shirts have been selling fairly well but it would be great if they really got moving.

The shirts come in both regular T-shirt and cute girly style and sell for $20. They were designed by local graphic artist Jake Early and printed at cost by Sundog Screenprints of Chico.

The shirts are available at LuLu’s, GiGi and Made in Chico downtown and all Cal Java locations.

Proceeds will go toward paying off debt, along with future restoration costs. (The foundation is hoping to gain control of the historic art deco theater and raise enough money to restore it to its 1920s glory.)

Anyone found strutting around town in the shirts can also be credited with “raising more awareness” about the theater, Huber pointed out.

Bogart this potsticker?
Just to round out this fund-raiser themed edition of Everybody’s Business, I thought I’d let you know about another offer that came across our desk: Jimmy Ogle of Paradise is selling round stickers (10 for $10) that say “Pot Party” in the hopes of “pretty much” legalizing marijuana and “implementing proportional representation.”

I’m not sure I want to give the green-leafed seals my seal of approval. Make up your own mind at www.pot-party.com.