San Francisco has a wonderful array of murals that grace the walls of building throughout the city. The first major murals to grace the city were a group of 35 monumental murals that took up 76 blocks to commemorate the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. In the 1930s, Diego Rivera was the major influence on the muralists of San Francisco when he made three extended visits to create murals for the city. The development of bright weather resistant acrylic paint aided in the Chicano movement's embrace of murals as a way of celebrating Hispanic culture. The Las Mujeres Muralists, a group of women muralists, created life affirming murals for San Francisco in the 1970s. Learning about all of these great murals, my wife and I went on a mural walk with two friends this May in the Mission District, where public murals first started in San Francisco.

I've always enjoyed reading comic strips. Since I discovered Peanuts as a five year old, I would enthusiastically get the latest newspapers just to read the latest of my favorite comic strips. In the late 1980s, though, I stopped regularly reading the comics page as my favorite 3 comics retired early: Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, and The Far Side. So during the following years, I missed some really good comic strips. One of the best comics of the past 10 years is Aaron McGruder's "The Boondocks". Many people have recommended that I read it, so I bought a few months ago the book All the Rage: The Boondocks Past and Present. It's a great collection of incisive cartoons.