Tip of the hat — or should I say hermetically sealed on helmet — to former mayor Pat Burt for saying at the meeting tonight that there is an overlap between the arts commission and the human relations especially in the work of the people who want to create art opportunities for our youth.
I want to expand later but meanwhile calls to mind a classic (from the 1990s) song by Palo Alto’s own Dar Williams. Well, Dar does not live here but her sister Julie does! Dar has done at least four shows in Our Fair City, most of them benefits for schools or such: at St. Michaels Alley, at Cubberley, at Paly Haymarket and at Stanford. Here she explains that “Western New York wants to be Washington, DC”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53HcEfkkgZI
Plastic Alto with Mark Weiss 
ok see at 2:45 that even the mighty Dar does this sometime:
1) washington dc thinks atlanta integrated better AND
2) SOUTHERN CALIFORINIA WANTS TO BE WESTERN NEW YORK.
I also found myself trying to describe a Dar Williams interstice to young Gaby Castro of Castillleja or maybe her mom or Jade Chamness of Break The Static Saturday about a young girl in a circle at a Quaker gathering who was comparing herself to a fragile stemmed-flower. Will have to find the actual cite. It is at the very least, is on the Cubberley board tape from November, 1995.
i got it: Dar Williams for PATC and James Franco for Mayor!!! 2012!!