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09/19/2004 More from the My California tour: Edward Humes sends a dispatch from this weekend’s Santa Barbara Book and Author Festival:

We couldn’t have asked for a warmer, more enthusiastic reception than the one that awaited us Saturday in Santa Barbara, where hundreds of book lovers crammed De la Guerra Plaza and My California was a featured act. Sales of My California (all of which benefit arts education and the California Arts Council) exhausted the supplies on hand before our panel had even said a word — the books, literally, flew off the table (including my own copy)! Fortunately, Borders Books came to the rescue with an extra box of books after our host, the Book Den, sold out.

My California contributors Thom Steinbeck, Patt Morrison, Chryss Yost and I found an audience deeply interested in our project and in discussing additional ways to support the arts in our communities and our schools. One audience member suggested a check box on every state tax return designating $1 to the arts; another thought a legal requirement for arts education in every public school grade was called for. Thom had the most original suggestion: Make the arts illegal in California. “Then,” he explained, “we could be absolutely certain the arts would flourish as never before.”

I have to say my favorite part of the day, even better than the frosty Margarita waiting at Ruby’s when it was all over, was the gift I received from a grandmotherly reader and avid My California fan by the name of Harriet: She presented each of us with a handmade book mark, each one different, each one with a delightful few lines of verse, each one a testament to just how vibrant the arts are in our California.