According to writer Swifty Lang, the genesis of his border crossing turned werewolf horror comic, Feeding Ground were the real life harrowing tales of the men, women, and children who daily attempt to cross over into the United States from both the documentary of his friend Thomas Peyton, 3 Men From 3 Valleys as well as Luis Urea's book, The Devil's Highway, and certainly the frequent newspaper headlines about the issue. The concept was also born, obviously enough, from conversations about werewolves. Not only was Lang interested in moving the classic monster away from the old tropes and limitations of silver and full moons, but he was interested in the metaphorical aspects of the creatures.

The series was recently released in hardcover in Spanish and English with a foreword from Urrea you can read on Lapinski's blog here. Here's a tidbit of the kindness Urrea bestows on Feeding Ground:

As huge as the craft has become, comic books retain enough outsider, underground cachet to tackle subjects many of us wouldn’t dare touch — not in polite company, not at Tea Party rallies. One shouldn’t approach such vile, filthy subject matter as the worth of a human life, the dignity of a human soul, or the value of, as Bob Dylan once sang, “these children that you spit on.” I’m talkin’ to you, Mr. Politician.

And, here is a series of books that leaps deep into the brilliant heart of darkness: the damned (in every sense) and glorious border. The place I write about. The place where I was born.

Swifty Lang and I share an interest in the exquisite horror and beauty of the wastelands through which the undocumented wanderers must struggle. It is a formidable region of unforgiving landscape and gods who rule with little mercy. In my book, THE DEVIL’S HIGHWAY, I stated that we are all aliens in this landscape, what I call “Desolation.” For fans of the occult, this comes from The Book of Enoch. Yeah, the lands wherein the fallen Watchers and their earth spawn, The Nephilim, are chained beneath the burning desert mountains. They wait to return for their revenge.

How stunned and delighted was I when these amazing comics arrived in my mailbox. As all great graphic novels do, these books create a literary work of searing poetry and awe. The art allows us to see things we might not be able to—or want to—imagine for ourselves. That my work has had even a little to do with the genesis of this epic is as cool as it gets. I laugh out loud in appreciation when I see the smugglers (Coyotes) and The Devil’s Highway itself, the sly gangsters come alive, as if they had jumped out of my book. But I don’t laugh because it’s funny. No. I’m whistling past the graveyard, amigos. This shit’s scary.

Ha, Chad Kroeger and the other three have a bit of a sense of humor, appearing in a Funny or Die video with Paul Scheer. However, they are still the band that made this song, so it's going to take a slightly more aggressive charm offensive, I think:

• Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Capt. Mark Kelly serve the holiday meal at Davis-Monthan AFB.

In her first event among constituents since January 8th, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is spending part of her Thanksgiving among the airmen of Davis-Monthan today.

From her office's press release:

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords helped serve a traditional Thanksgiving dinner today to airmen as well as military retirees and their families at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.

It was the first constituent event for the congresswoman since she was critically wounded in a Jan. 8 shooting. She was accompanied to the midday meal by her husband, Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain who also served as a NASA astronaut. Kelly retired from the Navy and from NASA last month.

More than 400 people were expected to attend the Thanksgiving meal at the Desert Inn dining facility at Davis-Monthan. The meal featured turkey and all of the traditional Thanksgiving fixings as well as prime rib, baked ham, shrimp, assorted cheeses and deserts.

Giffords and her husband are joining Brig. Gen. Jon A. Norman, vice commander of the 12th Air Force, and his wife for the event. Norman and Col James Meger, vice commander of the 355th Fighter Wing, will welcome the congresswoman to the event.

The congresswoman has been in Houston since January, undergoing therapy as part of her recovery from a shooting in which six people were killed and 12 — in addition to Giffords — were wounded. She traveled to Tucson on Tuesday evening to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family.

Base officials originally asked a member of the congresswoman’s staff to take part in the annual Thanksgiving dinner. But when the staff member told Giffords about the event, Giffords decided she wanted to go herself.

As if trying to drive on the freeways the day before Thanksgiving wasn't frustrating enough, the Arizona Department of Public Safety has decided to slow things down a bit.

To the speed limit, to be precise.

Operation Safe Passage, as it's been dubbed, will put a truckload of extra DPS officers on interstates 8, 10, 17 and 40 — what, no love for I-19 — the rest of Wednesday and overnight, all in hopes of cutting down on speed- and alcohol-related crashes.

According to DPS, last year's Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving saw 12 fatal wrecks, which killed 13 people.

DPS says it will have one of its vehicles stationed every 10 miles on the abovementioned freeways where they go through rural areas, while in the urban corridors that will drop to every two miles.

So, if you were planning on making the 100-mile drive from Tucson to Phoenix tonight in just over an hour ... well, you've been warned.

If you are looking for a place that's open on Thanksgiving and serves something in addition to turkey, check out Mr. K's Barbeque at 4911 N. Stone Ave. (It's on the southwest corner of River and Stone.)

They will be serving their regular menu and a holiday menu. Check out the regular menu here.

But if you really want some turkey and don't want to spend a lot, Mr. K's has a great deal:
Turkey, three sides and a slice of pumpkin pie for only $11.99. It's $6.99 for kids 12 and younger.

Mr. K's will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 408-RIBS (7427) for more information.

Organizers of the Tucson Food-Truck Roundup say they'll hold the next event on Monday, Dec. 5. It will be at the same place, Dinnerware Artspace at 119 E. Toole Ave., from 5 to 9 p.m.

MaFooCo will be back with kimchi quesadillas and Korean tacos, and Jamie's Bitchin' Kitchen will be on hand with Cuban sandwiches and the like. You'll also want to bring your sweet tooth to this one, being that three trucks that specialize in desserts have already signed up.

Monday nights are a down night, and this event fills that gap. Plus, where else can one find cake-pops, cupcakes, Cuban sandwiches, Korean-barbecue tacos and whoopie pies all in one place? (Answer: Nowhere.)

Check in over here for updates and more information.

Dan Gibson and Fook talk Thanksgiving by TucsonWeekly

As part of my weekly appearance on Fook's KFMA morning show, we discuss some ways to get away from the family this weekend.

I wasn't entirely sure how the online saviors of All My Children and One Life to Live were going to manage to produce the shows profitable without the help of some sort of traditional television partner, but it turns out they weren't sure either:

"After five months of negotiations with various guilds, hundreds of presentations to potential financial and technology partners, and a hope that we could pioneer a new network for the future, it is with great disappointment that we are suspending our aspirations to revive 'One Life to Live' and 'All My Children' via online distribution," the duo said in a statement. "It is now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get 'OLTL' on the air in a reasonable time period following its January 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible."

[...]

"We believed the timing was right to launch an Online TV Network anchored by these two iconic soap operas, but we always knew it would be an uphill battle to create something historical, and unfortunately we couldn't ultimately secure the backing and clear all the hurdles in time," they said. "We believe we exhausted all reasonable options apparent to us, but despite enormous personal, as well as financial cost to ourselves, we failed to find a solution."

Prospect Park said the economic challenges proved too difficult.

"In the end, the constraints of the current marketplace, including the evolution and impact of new media on our industry simply proved too great a match for even our passion," they said.

All My Children ended on September 23, replaced by the utterly terrible food talk show The Chew. One Life to Live is scheduled to air its last episode in January.

Mary Risley is something of a culinary phenomenon in that she's been teaching culinary-arts classes for 40 years while running a program that feeds the hungry in the San Francisco area. This has not gone unnoticed. She's been awarded the James Beard Humanitarian Award and was named cooking teacher of the year by Bon Appetit.

Here she shows off some slick dance moves while offering sage advice on turkey preparation. Happy Thanksgiving!