Hmmm. Wonder what this could be about, and if Frank Antenori feels like Paton is infringing on his media turf?

In a press release sent out by Rep. Raúl Grijalva's office today, as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the U.S. congressman sent a letter yesterday to the feds asking for an investigation into the anti-Mexican American Studies Law:

Grijalva Leads Hispanic Caucus Letter to Dept. of Education Calling for Mexican-American Studies Support, Civil Rights Investigation

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) education task force, sent a letter yesterday to top federal education officials urging an investigation of whether an Arizona state law violates federal standards by targeting Tucson Unified School District’s successful Mexican-American Studies (MAS) program. The letter, sent to assistant secretary of education for civil rights Russlynn Ali and other Department of Education and Department of Justice officials and co-signed by CHC Chairman Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), calls Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 15-122 “bad public policy and fundamentally flawed,” especially as it has been applied in targeting and shutting down the MAS program.

ARS 15-122 forbids schools to encourage “overthrow of the U.S. government” or prioritize ethnic identity over teaching students as individuals. Despite a 2011 audit of the MAS program finding “no observable evidence [. . .] to suggest that any classroom within Tucson Unified School District is in direct violation of the law,” Arizona schools chief John Huppenthal deemed the program illegal last June. Schools in the area have subsequently canceled related classes.

“Using the law to attack the MAS Program, with its proven educational successes, will only serve to exacerbate the already harmful anti-Latino sentiment in Arizona,” the letter reads. “We urge you in the strongest terms possible to open an investigation of ARS 15-112 and to ensure state compliance with federal law.” A provision giving Huppenthal and his successors sole authority to withhold 10 percent of a district’s state funding if he determines a district violates the law has proven especially controversial, especially after Huppenthal ignored the results of the audit he had requested.

“This is not about one group of people wanting special treatment,” Grijalva said in sending the letter. “This is about a successful educational program with a high graduation rate being shut down for purely ideological reasons. Public education isn’t supposed to be politicized in this country, but that’s exactly what’s happened in Southern Arizona and the students are losing out because of it. The Department of Education would do a great public service by conducting a full and fair investigation into whether this power grab is authorized under federal law.”

“Attacking the Mexican American Studies program sends the wrong message to Arizona’s students and denies the state’s rich history,” Rep. Gonzalez said. “Policy makers cannot look at history the way they look at items at a cafeteria, selectively picking what works for their agenda. It is critically important to teach history that treats minorities as an integral part of states’ development and to understand the contribution of minority communities of the past and present day. ARS 15-122 only serves to intensify the sentiments against Hispanics and I urge the Department of Education to investigate this ill-conceived statute.”

The Earth Walk Performance Series kicks off tonight, at 6 p.m., at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. $12 to $22.

Storyteller, drummer and healing arts practitioner Brian Rohr will talk, drum and tell stories from the oral traditions of the world in his performance, "Stoking the Fire, Stringing the Harp."

"It is our time to heal our relationship with the sacred and the living world," says Rohr. "We need to dance with our fire and our shadows, for in this way we reveal our gold ... and the world is hungry for us to be living our gold. By doing this through story and in community, we find what is common and unique of our human condition. And in this way, we become more than just audience, we become participants in this ancient act, feeding our soul with the nourishment gifted by our ancestors."

Blown Seals, an up-and-coming local acoustic duo will perform, and leaders of Earthwalk will discuss the Soul Walk component of Earthwalk, which takes place in April.

For more information on Earthwalk, visit http://earthwalk2012.org.

We challenged the Project White House candidates to respond to the results of the South Carolina primary. Their responses—a bit delayed by some other breaking news in these parts—follow.

Green Richard Grayson:

Pinal County Greens Co-Chair & Presidential Candidate Richard Grayson Hails South Carolina Primary Results as a Victory for the Afro-Punk Movement

Apache Junction, Ariz., Jan. 21 —

Green Party presidential candidate Richard Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens, tonight hailed the results of the South Carolina Republican primary as "a tremendous victory for the Afro-Punk movement."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xim3950tmrQ&feature=player_embedded

Grayson, watching the primary results on a 13" black-and-white cathode-ray television in a trailer park in nothern Pinal County, told his supporter that Newt Gingrich's resounding defeat of Mitt Romney can be attributed to South Carolinians' historical support of the Afro-Punk movement going back a dozen years.
"I would like to congratulate the Carolina Afro-Punks on their capturing the hearts and minds of Palmetto State Republicans," Grayson said. "As a queer Muslim Afro-Punk from the Barrio and with Janelle Monáe as my candidate for Vice President on the Green Party ticket, we are going to remake America for alternative urban kids everywhere!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wht0-k-V8PM&feature=player_embedded

According to Politico, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be given the opportunity to vote on the vote she championed cracking down on ultralight aircraft used in cross-border trafficking. The bill, which failed in the last Congress due to rules issues, was introduced last night, with Rep. Jeff Flake and Rep. Giffords as co-sponsors.

Giffords, who has spent the past year recovering from a failed assassin’s bullet, announced on Sunday that she will resign from the House this week in order to concentrate on her rehabilitation. She is expected to attend the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night and to be on the floor for Wednesday’s vote before submitting her resignation.

[...]

So, Flake, who has been working with Giffords’ aides to get it into law this year, introduced a fresh version with his colleague. Mark Kelly, Giffords’s husband, spoke with Cantor recently about trying to get the bill to the floor for a vote.

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) is working to get quick approval of the new House bill in the Senate so that it can be sent to the White House.

The day after several hundred students from Tucson, Pueblo and Cholla high schools walked out in protest of the Tucson Unified School District's dismantling of Mexican American Studies, the student-led group UNIDOS held a School of Ethnic Studies today at the El Casino Ballroom, 437 East 26th St. until 2:45 p.m. live streaming on Upstream this very moment.

Press release from UNIDOS:

Educators from our community, colleges, community organizations and alumni of Mexican American Studies will be presenting their messages and stories about why Ethnic Studies is still alive, active and transforming. Youth and community members are invited to be the first registered participants in our ongoing campaign to create autonomous learning environments for and within our community.

TUSD and the State of Arizona are unaccountable to our needs.

While the institution continues to fail us, the community continues to rise. Ethnic Studies is abolished inside the gates of our schools but not the streets of our community. Education is ours, from the roots our knowledge will continue to grow with autonomous education.

UNIDOS presents: School of Ethnic Studies, an important step to reclaiming our education!

By creating our own school, we will have the space to learn our history, culture and contributions. Our education will continue, with or without TUSD approval. Rincon High School Ethnic Studies alumni Mayra Rincon states, “We work to ensure that our culture and history live on. It is time for creation, taking our education into our own hands.”
Demands:

• We demand the State immediately withdraw the ban on Ethnic Studies!
• We have the right to culture, history, identity, language, and education!
• We want an educational experience where all cultures fit!

The MarchFourth Marching Band brings together a lively mix of bold costumes, trumpets, horns, guitars, fire and flag dancers, stliltwalkers, acrobats to the Rialto Theatre this Thursday.

Here's what Erika Fredrickson with the Missoula Independent says about the instrumental brass band, "M4":

M4's versatility and boldness is one thing, but part of the fun is focusing on the sheer size of the endeavor. It's not just about the spectacle of horns and crazy costumes, it's about taking people's assumption about what you can do in a bar for entertainment—a five-piece band, for instance—and multiplying that six times over. Now you've got a whole crowd entertaining you. It's like a joke about screwing in light bulbs or how many clowns can fit in a car: It's over-the-top.

For tickets and additional information, visit the Rialto's website.

• Photo by Martha from The Contained Gardener
• Growing Roses

It’s Time to Prune your Roses!

Pruners: Bypass pruners that work similar to scissors. Anvil type pruners will crush your rose stems.

Pruning:
• Remove the top 1/2 to 2/3 of the rose bush.
• Remove any dead canes and small twiggy growth.
• Remove any canes that are crossing through the middle of the bush or rubbing against other canes.
• Make your cuts about 1/4 inch above bud eye that is facing out from the center of the bush.
• Strip all leaves from the canes.

Cleanup:

• Clean up all the old dead leaves and throw them in the trash, not your compost pile. Dead leaves can often have mildew spores and other diseases on them that can infest your compost pile and create problems later on.

Feed:
Do not fertilize your roses this month.

Water:
Continue to water your roses, once or twice a week depending on the daytime temperatures. Be sure you are deep watering to a depth of 18 — 24 inches. Roses in pots typically need to be watered more often than roses in the ground.

So, Arizona has apparently made a splash by getting a verbal commitment from the son of one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

To play football.

Trey Griffey, son of baseball great Ken Griffey, Jr. — and, yes, grandson of Ken Griffey Sr. — is a standout wide receiver from Florida, and plans to be part of new UA football Rich Rodriguez's first recruiting class.

The Griffeys join a growing list of 'celebrity' families whose offspring have selected Tucson for their ... continuing education. That distinguished list includes, but is not limited to, the children of:

David Hasselhoff
Reba McEntire
Lionel Richie
Charles Barkley
Robert Kardashian

Mind you, that list includes two kids known far more for their non-intercollegiate efforts (ahem, Nicole Richie and Kourtney Kardashian) than anything related to academics.

Nevertheless, the UA's acquisition of a Griffey should be considered a PR coup. Here's hoping he inherited dad's propensity for making diving catches.

The editors of Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Year's (one of the seven books taken out of the Tucson Unified School District Mexican American Studies classrooms) ran a letter yesterday from Tucson High Magnet School's (former) Chicano literature teacher Curtis Acosta with an update on the district's continuing dismantling of Mexican American Studies: