Monday, March 10, is National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. To mark the occasion, free HIV testing will be offered at several locations in Tucson (Theresa Lee Clinic, 332 S. Freeway Road; the Tucson Indian Center, 97 E. Congress St.; Native Images, 2016 E. Broadway Blvd.; and the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation, 375 S. Euclid Ave.).

Organizers will hold an event at 4:30 p.m. at the downtown library (101 N. Stone Ave.), to raise awareness of the disease; that will be followed by a candlelight walk downtown.

When Seh (pronounced Shay) Welch learned that women and girls are the fastest-growing population in terms of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the United States and Pima County, it seemed like a good idea to call attention to the problem in hopes that more women would get tested. Welch, director of HIV services at Native Images, is used to organizing awareness and education programs for American Indian women, but for National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, on March 10, she wanted to bring together numerous organizations that serve women. Welch says she learned that organizations need to cooperate more—but the silence from elected officials who are women provided her with her greatest lesson. For information on Native Images call 882-6120.

What is the point of a National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day?

We decided to (mark) this in Tucson, because we realized nobody has particularly focused on women and girls as a community event. Then I was looking at statistics and saw that Pima County has the highest prevalence of HIV disease in all of Arizona. Then I started calling other folks who provide services to women, and to my surprise, no one was organizing anything regarding women and girls. The number of women diagnosed with HIV in Pima County has increased 23 percent. That’s enough of a reason for us to get everyone together.

What is surprising about these women who are newly diagnosed?

So many women are infected through heterosexual contact, and they believe they are in a monogamous relationship. They very well may be, or they may not be. We’re trying to reduce any kind of barriers and also bring awareness to the fact that if you are an injection drug user, that is a co-factor, and if you are having sex with a man who has sex with men, then you have a higher risk factor, and if you are a sex worker, you have a risk factor. But 88 percent of women who are newly infected are infected through heterosexual contact—no other risk factor. They may not know their partner is having sex with men; they might not know their partner is an IV drug user; or they might not know what their partner’s history is.

Part of your work is to normalize testing. What do you mean?

Make HIV testing part of mammography and Pap smears. On March 10, we wanted to bring awareness and try to normalize it, because, look, we don’t know what our partners are doing; we don’t know what our partners have done, or what we have done to put ourselves at risk. But what we do know is if we get tested, we can prolong our lives.

What surprised you most as you began to organize the event?

Politics. We have 14 organizations that have never come together before around a women’s day. Pima County and Tucson have never had a day of awareness for women and girls. To have elected women officials confirm and then decide they have something else to do—it’s disappointing. Quite frankly, it hits the heart when so many women have worked so hard to get women elected, and you look and say, “Well, what women’s issues have they been addressing as our elected officials for x number of years?” … You can’t even send a statement? Representatives from the Pima County/Tucson Women’s Commission are coming and talking. Tucson City Councilmember Karin Uhlich is coming to speak. But it’s very interesting that (County Supervisor) Sharon Bronson, who had confirmed, has decided that something more important has come up. (Supervisor) Ann Day hasn’t responded. (City Councilmember) Nina Trasoff is not coming. Look, I’m not going to negotiate with these politicians to get them to come, because women and girls’ lives don’t get to be negotiated. This isn’t a political platform. This is about leadership and showing leadership, and maybe at events like these, women who are in the public eye inspire women to get tested.

Beyond local, you got a national company to donate free HIV tests.

Yes, OraSure just received FDA approval for this new test that is a mouth swab. We asked if they could provide tests, and they said, “Absolutely, we’ll help you in any way we can.” They provided us with 200 test kits. There is no blood involved, and you know right away, and we provided the test for free.

The event is ending with a candlelight walk. Why is that important?

When we began planning, we thought of calling it a candlelight march, but then the implication is we are protesting something. … We are bringing light to this issue and light to downtown Tucson, the city and county government. Maybe most elected officials didn’t come because they thought we’d ask for money, and it would become a budget issue. We’re not asking for money. We’re not asking for an increase in services, dollars or anything. We’re just asking them to think about women and girls’ health and say something to show us they care to be part of the solution to bring attention to this crisis.

Those of us in the alt-weekly newspaper world have been following--with a mixture of interest, amusement and horror--a trial putting the San Francisco Bay Guardian against S.F. Weekly.

The Cliff's Notes: The San Francisco Bay Guardian is one of the granddaddies of the alternative press; it's been around for more than 40 years ago. The S.F. Weekly was founded in the '80s and has been owned by the New Times chain (now known as Village Voice Media, with headquarters two hours up the road in a little place called Phoenix) since the mid '90s.

The SFBG claims that New Times/Village Voice has been using its out-of-town profits to support SF Weekly while selling below-cost ads--in an effort to put the Bay Guardian out of business. The New Times/Village Voice folks say that's a load of crud, that the lower ad prices have been the result of a horrible newspaper-business environment in the Bay Area for years--an environment that's even jeopardized the future of the dominant area daily, the San Francisco Chronicle.

The SFBG sued New Times/Village Voice, because California law says selling ads below-cost is illegal. And earlier this week, a jury agreed, awarding the SFBG more than $15 million (!) in damages.

The coverage of the trial by both newspapers has been, well, batshit insane. In any case, here's the SF Weekly side regarding the verdict; here's the SFBG side.

Compelling stuff.

FYI, our main Web site--tucsonweekly.com is down. Please, everyone, remain calm. NO PANICKING!!!!

Rest assured, our webmaster is on the case, and I am sure the Web site will be back up and running soon. Meanwhile, the blog is working fine (obviously, if you're reading this), although the teasers to the main Web site and the top navigation bar are hosed. And while TAMMIES.com, the URL, is not working, the site can be accessed via tammies.ning.com.

So, there ya go. And please, NO PANICKING!

UPDATE: As of 3:30 p.m., the Web site is back, we think, we hope, oh god we hope. It was down due to a midtown power outage that zonked out the office where our servers are located. So, feel free to stop panicking now, unless the site goes down again, in which case, feel free to just lose it completely. Thank you, and god bless.

The folks at the Meet Rack--by far one of the most interesting dive bars in Tucson, if not the world--removed the semi-famous sign that stood in front of the bar earlier today.

Meet Rack owner/former mayoral candidate Jim Anderson--aka God--was present for the removal, hugging the sign at one point before it was yanked down.

Meet Rack employee Leora Thompson said the city of Tucson was forcing the Meet Rack to take down the sign, which has been up, she said, since 1959.

Here are some photos of the sign, taken by Adam Kurtz, before it (the sign, not Adam) was yanked down.

Coming soon: A video report (!) from Jim Nintzel, showing the sign's demolition and featuring reaction from God.

A whole new issue o' the Weekly is online and ready for your attention, love and scorn. Check it out!

And here's this week's Ask a Mexican YouTube Edicion:

From a Ward 6 press release:

Vice Mayor Nina Trasoff, in partnership with the Tucson/Pima Women's Commission and Kore Press, invites you to the opening reception for a unique art show and poetry display in honor of Women's History month.

Who: The Tucson Women’s Commission and Kore Press

What: Art Show and Poetry Broadside Display

Where: Ward VI office, 3202 E 1st Street, Tucson

When: Thursday, March 6th, 2008 from 5:30 -7:30 pm

Tucson Women's Commission: The history of women and art is quintessential women's history. It is the story of amazing women’s accomplishments acclaimed at the time but written out of history. Join us in ensuring that their accomplishments are never forgotten. To honor the originality, beauty, imagination, and multiple dimensions of women’s lives, the Tucson Women's Commission has chosen Women’s Art: Women's Vision as the 2008 theme for National Women's History Month.

This year's theme provides a special opportunity to discover and celebrate women's visual arts in a variety of forms and mediums that help expand our perceptions of ourselves and each other.

Kore Press: As part of its 15th anniversary celebration, Kore Press, Tucson's own independent publisher of literature by women writers, has created an exhibit of poetry broadsides in celebration of Women's History Month. A broadside is an ancient form of communication, originally used to make public proclamations and political announcements. Over the centuries, publishers of poetry have carried on this tradition. In celebration of women's history month, Kore Press — one of only six women's presses in the United States — will display dozens of broadsides by nationally renowned poets and local luminaries.

Contact: Alex Hingle or Monique Martin at 791-4601