• A sink full of greens freshly harvested from Dos Manos Farm in Marana.

I have a feeling I'm not alone on this one. Local farmers say many shoppers at local farmers' markets don't know what to do with greens. They say their job is equal parts growing the leafy vegetables and educating people about how to use them. Once introduced, however, people almost inevitably come back for more.

There are innumerable kinds of greens and countless ways to use them. Broccoli greens, mustard greens, wild greens and, yes, even purple greens. You can scramble them into eggs, or add them to a chicken casserole for a bit of extra texture. I usually take the purist route, cooking them with a little sautéed garlic and onion so the healthy, vibrant flavors can sing out loud.

The farmers' markets are full of greens right now, but that will taper off when the temperature starts rising. Grab a few bags the next time your at the market and give them a whirl. You might be in for a very tasty surprise.

Three Sonorans' blogger David Morales is supporting the recently launched recall campaign against Tucson Unified School District governing board member Michael Hicks, so maybe it's a good time to flood Tucson Citizen editor Mark Evans with calls in an effort to get rid of one of Mexican American Studies' most steadfast activists. At least it seems that's what Hicks is thinking, looking at a recent Facebook post of his (warning: spelling abominations ahead):

The paperwork for the effort to recall Tucson Unified School District governing-board member Michael Hicks was filed yesterday morning at the Pima County Elections office, and volunteers will be at the Tucson Festival of Books beginning today to start collecting the 24,000 signatures needed to put the recall on the ballot.

Members of a group of Tucson activists, parents and students calling themselves Citizens for Educational Excellence (CEE) said a Hicks recall isn't the only goal on their list of changes they want to bring to TUSD. While collecting signatures, which are due in July, the group plans to support a slate of candidates for the three-governing board seats up for re-election and currently held by Mark Stegeman, Alexandre Sugiyama and Miguel Cuevas.

Volunteers are meeting this morning at 11:30 a.m. to pick up petitions at the Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs Lounge, Room Chavez 205 (northwest of Old Main), where Chicano literature teacher Curtis Acosta is speaking about the banning of Latino literature in Tucson.

Why a recall effort against Hicks? The Tucson Weekly reported earlier that Hicks has spoken out against the Mexican-American studies classes, but it was an interview he did on the Garret Lewis show on KNST AM 790/FM 97.1 that motivated members of the community to organize a recall. During the radio interview, Hicks allegedly lied about where he was during the school board meeting on April 26, 2011, painting a picture that he feared for his life and felt intimidated by the student protest.

This is the school board meeting in which the student group UNIDOS took over the dais and prevented the school board meeting from continuing.

Hicks was filmed by Three Sonorans blogger David Morales that evening walking into the meeting room, talking to MAS supporters and the media.

But what angered others more were his additional comments about students who participated in a teach-in at the University of Arizona, comparing the event to the Penn State child molestation case. The community demanded an apology.

In reaction to Randy Parraz (a key figure in the recall of former state Senate President Russell Pearce) volunteering his time to come down from Phoenix on a Sunday (Feb. 26) to talk strategy about organizing a Hicks recall, Hicks sent out a press release that he won't be intimidated by well-funded "outside agitators."

“The locally elected Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted to follow the laws of the state of Arizona. The supporters of the Mexican-American Studies program, argued for local control in their complaints about the state’s Superintendent John Huppenthal’s actions in the matter of TUSD’ Mexican American Studies classes. Now these same individuals bring in a well funded activist from the state capitol, Mr. Randy Parraz. Apparently these individuals do not really have an interest in local control, but in their control.

The progressives behind this publicity stunt are determined to cast anyone as villains, who does not support their efforts to politicize our classrooms and exploit our district’s students. I refuse to be intimidated by these bullying tactics. I was elected into this position by an overwhelming number of TUSD voters; I will continue my
commitment to this position and to work diligently to promote student achievement for all students.”

Mr. Hicks questions the basis of the recall, saying that “I was genuinely concerned for my welfare, and more importantly for the welfare for the student’s during the takeover. I alone, can say what I was or was not thinking during this takeover".

Recall organizers are basing their recall on their claim that I lied when I said that I was concerned for my safety and that of others during the takeover last spring by organized protesters.

“I can assure Mr. Parraz and others that I am not concerned or fearful of this recall effort. It is unfortunate that Mr. Parraz will waste valuable energy, time and money, when the school kids in Arizona need the focused attention of all adults in these difficult times.”

Pima County Republican Party Chairwoman Carolyn Cox and Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers debate the issues of the week on tonight's Political Roundtable with Arizona Public Media's Christopher Conover and your host, Jim Nintzel. Among the topics: How the Republican primary in the Congressional District 8 special election to finish Gabrielle Giffords' term is shaping up; why the West University Neighborhood Association is upset with the Tucson City Council over the possibility of high-rise development on the west end of the UA near the Main Gate; and the latest news at the Arizona Legislature, including bills to defund Planned Parenthood, audit the Pima County bond program and more.

Said The Whale are playing Plush on Saturday night and if you enjoy super-charming indie rock, they're absolutely worth seeing live. They were the Juno award winner for New Group of the Year in 2011! They're known for their energetic live shows! If you like the Shins, but maybe wish they'd be a bit happier at times, Said The Whale should be right up your alley.

Gene Armstrong reviewed the band's new album for this week's issue:

The sometimes off-kilter and wholly adorable indie-rock songs of this Vancouver, British Columbia-based band are nothing short of effervescent. On its third full-length album, the tunes are like scrubbing bubbles for brains numbed by modern irony, depression and negativity.

If you're like to hear for yourself, the entire album is available to stream on Soundcloud, which we have helpfully embedded above.

As the Range noted earlier today, I'll be moderating a panel of political writers—Rick Perlstein, Chris Mooney and Tom Zoellner—on Saturday at the Tucson Festival of Books. (You can get details here, but it's from 2:30 to 3:30 in Gallagher Theater and will be carried live on C-SPAN's Book TV.)

Zoellner has recently written A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State and Life in America. A former newspaper reporter who worked on Gabby's congressional campaigns, Zoellner wrote a piece for TW on the anniversary of the shootings in January. Here's an excerpt:

First, there's the mystery of what caused Jared Lee Loughner to buy a Glock from the Sportsman's Warehouse off of Thornydale Road and use it to try to kill his congresswoman. He may never be able to explain it himself. Paranoid schizophrenia is a disease that makes fantasy inseparable from reality, and Loughner had been suffering from it—in an agonizingly public way—for at least four years. He had been kicked out of Pima Community College for making nonsensical and semi-violent statements. All of his friends had deserted him. There was no job for him, no life, no hope, and the neurological equivalent of a tornado spinning in his mind.

We do know this, however: His choice for a target was inherently political. This was not a random selection. Nobody who lived through the 2010 congressional election will forget the way in which Gabrielle Giffords was publicly vilified. Her face had been cast in sinister shades in negative television advertisements and outdoor ads. Her opponent encouraged his donors to help him beat her by shooting an M16 rifle at a fundraiser. In Tucson that fall, she had become the embodiment of a federal government seen as wanting to raise taxes, open the border and kill jobs. You would have had to have been hiding under a rock not to have seen Giffords' distorted face peering out from everywhere like Big Brother. (Disclosure: Gabrielle has been a friend for many years, and I volunteered on her campaigns. Gabe Zimmerman, who lost his life at the Safeway, was also a friend.)

Jared Loughner was horribly sick, but he was certainly not hiding under a rock. This is a crucial point about schizophrenia that is not widely understood. Numerous studies show that the delusions of schizophrenic patients are powerfully influenced by the real-world stimulus that surrounds them. In China, for example, the delusions of paranoid-schizophrenia patients tend to center on themes of noble ancestry or the Communist party. In South Korean patients, there was a high degree of paranoia about secret agents sent by Kim Jong Il. In Taipei, it was the presence of gangsters. "Delusions regarding political themes were thus highly sensitive to the local political situation," wrote Dr. Kwangiel Kim, the lead researcher of one study.

Of course, there is nothing unique about angry politics, gun imagery and negative campaigning that is unique to Arizona. But to ignore the context of what was happening in the final days of his sickness is to miss one of the most-important lessons of the Safeway shootings, which is the way in which we failed to take even basic care of one of our neighbors. Tucson is an easier-than-usual place to get lost and forgotten. Our far-flung instant mega-barrios and our extremely rapid turnover of residents ("Three move in, two move out" has been the mantra for years among city planners) make it harder to form the lasting, informal social connections that make people take notice of fellow citizens in trouble.

A Gallup Poll two years ago showed that just 12 percent of Arizonans strongly agreed with the idea that "neighbors here care for one another." That this is the kind of state we've created for our children should give us all pause.

The guys down at Borderlands Brewing Company are adding some extra tasting hours to coincide with the regular 2nd Saturdays Downtown event that takes place Downtown each month.

Until now the tasting room was only open on weekdays, which has been a bit of an inconvenience for those who love Borderlands' beer but can't make it down there during the week. Now, all is right in the world.

The tasting room will be open from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 10, and every second Saturday of the month after that. See you there.

Electric Guest are one of 2012's most talked about new music acts and I'm not the only person saying that. MTV and the Guardian have raved about the band, Danger Mouse produced their forthcoming debut album, and they're playing a stack of high profile summer festivals. Lucky for us, they're scheduled to perform right here in our backyards at Club Congress on March 20th as part of the WXSW event.

Want to check out the band's postmodern take on 70's pop and soul? Enter our Electric Guest contest! One lucky entrant will win a pair of tickets to the show and their limited edition "Troubleman/American Daydream" 7" on white vinyl. Not only will you have the experience of the show itself, you'll have a memento to show off to your less-savvy friends.

A winner will be selected on March 15th at 5 pm and notified by email. Good luck!

Specialty cupcake shop Cup Quequitos is holding another event this Saturday, March 10, on the patio of Cafe Poca Cosa. If you like delicious and unique cupcakes you will not want to miss it.

Owner Shanali Zeballos says she'll have habanero-mango, jalapeno-cilantro-lime, Guinness-chocolate and other amazing cupcakes for sale at the event. You can check in over at the Cup Quequitos Facebook page for all the details.

An article on Politico makes it seem like a total bummer to be a Congressperson these days, yet there are so many people who want the job (at least in this state). It's all so confusing, outside of the fact that a former member of Congress can make a ton of money lobbying their former colleagues, I suppose. Oh, for the good old days of power and graft!

Take Rep. Dan Boren, an Oklahoma Democrat now in his fourth term. In the old days, the moderate Blue Dog would have been a sure bet to bide his time in Congress, win reelection by serving up earmarks to his constituents and, after a couple of decades, grab the prized gavel of the Armed Services Committee.

But Boren’s on his way out, contemplating work in real estate or energy development back in the Sooner State — retired from Congress at 39.

“If you go through all the things you have to do to get elected and you feel at the end of the day, you’re not pushing the ball forward, it’s time to go do something else,” he said in a telephone interview as he ate yet another in a long string of lunches at the T.G.I. Friday’s in Terminal C of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

“I’m used to being a player,” Boren said, fondly remembering his days in the state Legislature as he lamented the dim prospects of a moderate moving up the ranks at a time when ideological purity has supplanted seniority as the primary factor in gaining power.