Schools are in sessions, the last days of summer are finally upon San Jose, and all is seemingly quiet after what was one of the most heated few months that the city has known for some time. It seems that the gang violence this summer touched far too many people. Blame is a powerful emotion, but it is not what San Jose needs right now.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Party is attempting to make the political battlefield a bit more familiar this weekend with probably the largest day of action it has held since the 2008 election cycle. In particular, the event, which is taking place Saturday at the Labor Temple between 10am and noon, is going to focus on voter registration in “historically disengaged communities.” In other words, the county party is teaming up with local, community-based Democratic chapters to focus on Hispanic outreach in East San Jose.

High above, I looked down on a sea of deep blue. With my last few frenetic days back in Cambridge, Mass., done, I was a minute or so away from touching down at Mineta. It was Saturday, May 26, and only at that point did I make the connection that the mass of indigo I was witnessing was Bellarmine’s graduation ceremony, where five years earlier I had proudly walked across that stage. The San Jose I’ve came home to, however, seems remarkably different from the San Jose I remember leaving.