US Congressman Raúl Grijalva issued a statement today on Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal and his letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calling for an investigation:

In light of revelations that Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal authored racist and offensive blogs, Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) reiterated his outstanding concerns about Huppenthal’s tenure as the state’s top education official.

Four months prior to Huppenthal’s acknowledgment of blog posts calling people who receive public assistance “lazy pigs”, comparing the work of the founder of Planned Parenthood to that of the Nazis, and advocating for the eradication of Spanish-language media, he raised suspicion of violating student privacy laws under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). At that time, private student/parent information had been made available to a third party, allowing them to place robocalls promoting private schools.

Congressman Grijalva, who sent a letter formally requesting U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan investigate Huppenthal over the allegations, released the following statement:

“There is a clear pattern of alarming behavior and terrible judgment characterizing Mr. Huppenthal’s tenure as Superintendent,” said Rep. Grijalva. “His actions are unbecoming of any elected official, but particularly egregious for the official charged with educating our kids.”

The Department of Education is currently reviewing the allegations Grijalva raised in February, and a groundswell of local voices has called for Huppenthal’s ouster.

“Children must not be exposed to the hateful and misguided sentiments expressed in Mr. Huppenthal’s blog posts,” Grijalva continued. “And we cannot allow the potential violation of student privacy by our top education official to be ignored. I look forward to the outcome of the Department of Education’s investigation, and stand with those calling for his resignation.”

Congressman Grijalva’s letter to Sec. Duncan can be read here.

The BBC's most popular series is returning for its eighth season. Here's a 18 second look at Clara and the new Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi. The high concept drama will return on Saturday, Aug. 23. Go here to keep up with the new, elderly Time Lord.

I feel sorry for the fool that doesn't catch an Amy Miller performance this weekend. Miller was voted Portland’s Funniest Comedian by the Willamette Week in 2013. She hosts a hilarious podcast titled Sorry About Your Dad. She has performed in comedy festivals all over the country. Miller is hosting four shows this weekend at Laffs Comedy Café, 2900 E. Broadway.

Here’s a brief interview with Miller. She was very candid about her writing process, why she moved to Portland and all the dads.

Henry Barajas: What are you doing in Tucson?

Amy Miller: I'm opening for Lisa Landry at Laff's. I have a friend in Portland who's worked at the club, and in a rash of writing booking emails to various comedy clubs, Laff's said yes.

Coincidentally, my newly discovered uncle (brother of biological dad / dead dad #2) lives in Tucson, so I'm killing two birds I suppose. I just hope I'll have time to get down to Bisbee or at least eat one of those hot dogs you guys like so much. If anyone wants to take me swimming, I'm down.

Henry: You have been holding out in Portland for a year now. Did you do it for your comedy career, and if so, how is that working out?

Amy: Yes, I mostly moved for comedy, although I also landed a pretty rad day job. (Brag). Portland is a small but growing scene, we have an awesome festival (Bridgetown), a great young comedy club, and supportive audiences. I saw a lot of opportunity for myself that it would have taken years to build in New York or LA. There's so much stage time, it's impossible not to grow.

Also: cheap apartments + dogs in vests.

Henry: How did you come up with your podcast, Sorry About Your Dad?

Amy: Part of the reason I started stand-up was I had a bunch of stressful life stuff happen all at once, including finding out that the father I thought I'd always had, who died when I was 9, was not in fact my dad. The new guy was dead too. And even as someone who had lived without any dad at all for 21 years without giving it much thought, I was surprised by how much this puts my identity into a tailspin.

And as I watched other comics, and listened to their podcasts, especially Marc Maron's WTF, I started to notice how often we all talk about our dads.

No matter what the topic, somehow in talking about our identities, even in jokes, it always comes back to our dads. Dads dads dads. So I figured, why beat around the bush when I can just get right to the dad stuff and work backwards. It's kind of a crazy thing, because in our society moms do most of the heavy lifting in raising us, and yet most of our emotional development, motivation, relationships with other people, and so much of the deep dark emptiness comes from our dads. I've learned a lot about myself and hopefully my interview subjects have too.

My mom is in the next episode! It's gonna be crazy!

Sam Kleiner, a third-generation Arizonan, a fellow at the Yale Law and Information Society Project and an occasional Tucson Weekly contributor, weighs in on the controversy over Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal's anonymous blog comments:

It is truly frightening that the man responsible for educating Arizona’s children grossly misrepresents the origins and nature of the Holocaust, the 20th Century’s greatest tragedy. For Jews living in Arizona, his anonymous blog post about Hitler hits particularly close to home; it borders on Holocaust denial. This awful rhetoric isn't the kind of thing that he should be able to just shy away from with antics at a press conference. he needs to be held accountable for this hatred.

In Huppenthal’s perverted worldview, Hitler was not uniquely evil. Huppenthal said, “It was Darwin, not Hitler, who named the Germans the master race” and started the push towards elimination of Jews. The reality is that Darwin was a scholar and that right-wing extremists, including a young Adolf Hitler, distorted his theory of evolution to justify heinous attempts to exterminate minorities. The attempt to link Darwin to Hitler has been a right-wing obsession to discredit Darwin’s theory of evolution. Professor Robert Richards has noted, “ it can only be a tendentious and dogmatically driven assessment that would condemn Darwin for the crimes of the Nazis.” Huppenthal is grossly ignorant of the horrible history of anti-Semitism in Europe that allowed Hitler to rise to power and for ordinary Germans to join in his campaign against the Jews.

This has to best summer of Michael Fay's life. National Public Radio premiered Prom Body's latest music video "Guttuggering" on Friday. The band has been slowly leaking new tracks with different media outlets (most of them can't seem to spell Tucson right) before Naughty By Natural ships on Aug. 1. You can pre-order the LP/cassette here.

Here's the latest music video featuring the Prom Body front man:


I just wanted to take a moment and admire Nika Kaiser's work on this high concept video. Check out her other works of art here.

The 8th Annual Iron Chef Tucson will be held at 6 p.m., Saturday, June 28, at the Westin La Paloma Resort. Two area chefs will compete: Chef Michael Bujold of Desert Diamond Casino Resort and Chef John Hohn from Bob’s Steak & Chop House at the Omni Tucson National.

Like the TV show of the same name, the Tucson Iron Chefs will have one hour to create fantastic dishes using a surprise secret ingredient. Their creations will then be sampled by three judges and scored based on flavor, presentation, creativity and the use of the secret ingredient. Commentators will be on hand to give play-by-play of the competition.

The Iron Chef Tucson competition is one part of the Culinary Experience, which will be held June 28 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Westin La Paloma Resort. Guests are encouraged to get involved in classes, learn cooking techniques and secrets from their favorite local chefs, and check out some of the most innovative kitchen equipment, culinary products and services.

Admission to the all-day Culinary Experience event is $10. Iron Chef Tucson general admission tickets are available for $30 and Iron Chef Tucson VIP admission is $75. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ironcheftucson.com or on site the day of the event. 

Last week, we celebrated Throwback Thursday with Sir Paul McCartney a day after his 72nd Birthday. Daniel Buckley, veteran journalist and filmmaker, shared a charming photo of himself and the legendary Dolly Parton on his Facebook page. He was kind enough to allow me to share it on The Range.

The photo was taken 34 years old when Buckley was a reporter for the long gone music tabloid, News Real.


Buckley said he hated getting his picture taken with musicians he was interviewing, but Dolly wasn't just any musician. “I was backstage with Dolly and she pulled me by the waist and demanded that we take a picture together,” Buckley said. “I couldn't refuse a picture The Dolly Parton.”

Here’s the dapper 27-year-old Buckley and beautiful Dolly Parton. After the jump, of course:

Here is the official statement from the Wingspan Board of Directors on the future of Tucson's LGBT community center

Wingspan has provided the Tucson and southeastern Arizona LGBTQ communities with an emotionally safe and discrimination free community center over the last 26 years. Wingspan has served thousands, providing advocacy, services and valuable programming to the community.

The Board of Directors recognizes and understands the responsibility it has to maintain the legacy of Wingspan and her programs. Given the current economic and financial situation that Wingspan is experiencing, the Board voted to begin collaborations with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation to discuss a transition that will allow for Wingspan’s programs and mission to continue. Discussions with other non-profits are also occurring.

Several advantages of this collaboration and merger include a continuation of services and programs for the Tucson and southeastern Arizona LGBTQ communities, offering the ability to exist within a stronger financial and administrative infrastructure. The Board anticipates using the Wingspan name and reputation to promote and leverage for stronger LGBTQ programming, for fundraising and for continued support of the LGBT community. The Board is very concerned about the welfare of current employees and volunteers and will work to protect their interests and well-being.

The Board is working towards making a decision and finalizing a strategic transition in the next few weeks, prior to the termination of our lease effective July 31st.

Yikes Toys! at 2930 East Broadway Blvd., the purveyor of fun toys, cool kids' books and quirky stuff (And Best of Tucson readers' favorite on and off over the years), is now selling online. Move over Archie McPhee, our own desert quirk-stop is now on the internets and preparing to take over the world.

At least we hope so.

We recognize it's early in this online adventure for this marvelous local store, but here's hoping it keeps this Tucson gem open and alive and absolutely local.

Visit and spread the good news: yikestoysonline.com.

For people who like drinking games, I have a new one for you. Watch Huppenthal's complete 30 minute press conference and take a sip every time you hear the words "hurtful," "renounce," "repudiate," "apologize," "love" and "heart." Only a sip, mind. Otherwise you won't make it past the first five minutes. And be sure to have a designated driver on hand, because you players won't be able to walk, let alone drive by the time the presser is over.

I must have read a dozen articles about Huppenthal's tearful Wednesday press conference. They reported the event accurately, but they didn't convey Huppenthal's carefully conceived strategy. If you watch the whole thing, with or without libation, here's what you'll see.

Huppenthal had a few memorized statements about his blog comments he repeated throughout the press conference. His comments were hurtful. He apologizes for them. He repudiates them. He renounces them. They don't reflect what is in his mind or the love that is in his heart. That's it, over and over. The rest was him praising the wonderful work he's done as Ed Supe.

Only once did Huppenthal's carefully built facade crumble, but before he could say anything that might have genuinely come from the heart — and therefore might have been hurtful to his career — he teared up, an official said, "All right, guys, we're gonna cut it off," and it was over. That was the potentially genuine moment, the golden moment when Huppenthal might have revealed what he really felt, kind of like he did in those "hurtful blog comments" of his. But it never happened, because he walked out.