Several local organizations are partnering up to distribute tampons and sanitary napkins to women throughout Pima County living in poverty.

Many women and girls in this community cannot even go to work or school when they get their period, because they cannot afford these products—which are quiet expensive, are taxed by state and local governments as "luxury" items, and not covered by food stamps. "This is both a health and economic issue," the YWCA says in a press release.

Project Period—to be launched by the YWCA of Southern Arizona tomorrow, Dec. 9, plans to tackle this issue starting next month, and they need you to donate feminine hygiene products. 

A statement to the media by Kelly Fryer, CEO of the YWCA:

This is an economic and equity issue that hinders the efforts of many women to provide for themselves and their families. It encumbers young women from getting to school and keeps them from their education—an education that will help them escape poverty. Project Period is a way to step up as a whole community—men and women both—to address this pressing problem.

Donations of sanitary napkins of all sizes, tampons, and reusable menstrual cups will be accepted at the YWCA's Frances McClelland Community Center, 525 N. Bonita Ave., starting tomorrow. Other locations will be announced in January. The launch event is taking place tomorrow at the YWCA as well, from 10 to 10:30 a.m.

Emerge! Center for Domestic Abuse, Primavera Foundation, Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network, and the Southern Arizona Community Food Bank are among the groups involved in the effort. 

All kinds of people out there think our classrooms are filled with rotten teachers doing a lousy job with their students. If teachers knew what they were doing, these folks say, if they were anything like what a good teacher should be, they'd get those kids whipped into shape in a hurry. Everyone would work hard, everyone would succeed—NO EXCUSES! Achievement scores would soar. "If I was a teacher, man, things would be different."

Sometimes I wish some of those folks could spend six weeks teaching. Not as student teachers under the watchful guidance of the classroom teacher, not as classroom assistants, not as guests who come in for a day and leave. As the person who runs a class of 30 to 40 students for six, on-their-own weeks. I'm not cruel. I wouldn't make them do it for a full day. Maybe in an elementary school, they'd work from the beginning of the day until lunch time. In a middle school or a high school, they'd teach two classes with different curricula needing two separate preparations. I'd not only pay them a full teacher's salary for their efforts, I'd pay them double to make them think they were making out like bandits. And if they could do what they think they could do in the classroom, if they were as good as those "real teachers" they dreamed up in their heads, if they could take low achieving kids and teach them, really teach them, how to read, write and do math—NO EXCUSES!—hell, I'd beg them to stay on as full time teachers at twice everyone else's salary. They'd be worth it, and maybe they could show all those other deadbeat teachers how it's done.

If a few of the blowhards took me up on it, they'd come out at the end of six weeks with different attitudes. They'd find out there's no magic teaching formula that turns every kid into a whiz kid, or even most of the kids into whiz kids, unless they started out with a class full of whiz kids. If they went into a school where most of the kids were a few years below grade level, they wouldn't figure out some amazing way to make those students "get it."

At the end of those six weeks, when they saw they hadn't turned their students into world beaters, some of them might leave cursing out the kids who wouldn't pay attention and all those teachers and parents who gave those kids bad attitudes. "It's not my fault someone else screwed those rotten kids up so bad. Give me a year, and believe me, I'd get them in shape. They may not like me, they may not think I'm their best friend, but by God I'd make those sons of bitches learn!" But if they were honest, they'd think back on their own efforts which didn't yield the results they'd hoped for. They'd remember dragging themselves home at the end of a teaching day—even half a day, even just a few classes—tired and confused, wondering why things didn't go better. They'd think back on the evenings they lay on the couch staring at the ceiling with the television in the background they weren't listening to, asking themselves, "What the hell am I going to do in class tomorrow?" And they'd admit, "OK, this is tougher than I thought it was. Much tougher. If I wanted to be a good teacher, it would take time, effort, commitment. And even then, there's no way I'd work those miracles I thought any competent teacher should be able to work without breaking a sweat."

Sometimes I wish I could get those cocksure teacher bashers into the classroom for six weeks. But then I think about what would happen in those six weeks, and I reconsider. No, it would be a bad idea. I wouldn't want to do that to the students.

Tucson's sole lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community arts space, Fluxx Studio and Gallery, is moving from its current location on 414 E. 9th St.—which has been Fluxx's home since opening in 2011—amid rising rent, financial struggles, and, well, because the locale is up for sale.

In April 2014, Dante Celeiro, executive director of Fluxx, announced the studios' "imminent closure," also due to money strains. However, they ended up staying open, mostly thanks to community support. This time around, the studio hasn't said anything about a closure, even though this year they took a huge financial fall over problems with the state's liquor license laws. Without a license, many of the entities that rented Fluxx for events stopped doing so, because they were not allowed to serve booze. In the past, Fluxx has said that they couldn't afford a license, which is what triggered their possible closure last year.

As they prepare to move to another place, Fluxx is raising funds to help with the costs on a Go Fund Me page. 

On Monday, Celeiro issued a letter to the community:

Through the commitment of countless passionate volunteers, donors, and collaborators like you, we have been able to continue to provide entertainment, art exhibitions, performances, workshops, classes, and more! In 2015 Fluxx made it possible for more than 6,000 people to connect to one another, to creativity, and to the community through our diverse events.
...
Now, we face a new and greater challenge: Fluxx has to move! The space we have loved and dedicated to our community for so long is for sale and, given rising rent and lack of financing options, we are unable to continue in the present space. 

Logs can poop gifts! Who knew?

Press release of the day is from Tucson's Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum and includes this detail:

Unique to the event is the Traditional Tio' de Nadal of Catalonia ("Pooping Log"), a Catalan tradition dating back several centuries. Beginning with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), the family brings a tio' (log) into the house, covers it with a blanket so he will not be cold and feeds it every night until Christmas Day. On Christmas Day the children continuously hit it with a stick while they sing a song so it will poop gifts (usually treats). If the child has been good, they get treats. If they were bad, it poops sardines. Hence the name Caga Tio' (Poop Log). Children (and children at heart) attending Luminaria Night will be able to hit the log to see if they were good or bad this year!

Here's the whole release, for the Living History Luminaria Night coming up this Saturday, Dec. 12:

It's a scenario most of us are familiar with: you're working at a restaurant or two or three, trying to make enough money to get through college or life in general, and flu season hits. One of your coworkers is out of town, the other is also sick and another just won't answer their phone. Even if they did answer, it's not like you can afford to lose out on tip money for the day. So, you go in, try your best not to cough on someone's quesadilla and hope the six or so hours of sleep you get after is enough for your body to repair itself. Not only is this a germ nightmare when food is involved, it's also unfortunately common when you work for an employer that doesn't offer paid sick leave.

Well, during today's study session for Tucson's City Council, which begins at 1 p.m., officials will be looking into a proposal to change it so all employers will be required to offer paid sick leave. According to supporting materials for the day's session, four states and 20 cities already have put measures into place to ensure earned sick and safe time is offered. 
 

"The purpose of these laws is to assist all workers in addressing their own health and safety needs and the health and safety needs of their families by requiring employers to provide a minimum amount of earned sick time, including time for the care of family members. Under Arizona Revised Statutes Section 23-364(I), the City of Tucson has authority to prescribe employee benefits related to earned sick time within the boundaries of Tucson." 

Jared Hess makes weird movies. Napoleon Dynamite remains his calling card, although Nacho Libre and the terrible Gentlemen Broncos also fall in that category.

Don Verdean is no different: it’s all quirk. However, it’s also borderline unwatchable. It also wastes so much talent, with Sam Rockwell, Amy Ryan, Danny McBride and Jemaine Clement foundering while Hess creakily moves his story along.

Rockwell, who executive produced—doubling his pain if not his blame—plays the titular character, a Biblical archaeologist on the hunt for Goliath’s skull who has to, shall we say, cut a few corners to “find” the artifact. While Hess’ oddball characters and fresh story could make for a good time at the movies, Don Verdean just isn’t funny.

It feels like all the lines intended to be funny were just dropped in as placeholders until they came up with something better. But, unfortunately, that never happened.

Hi I'm Charlie!

I'm a 1.5 year old box mix who looooves to play! I love treats and toy and snuggles. I'm a little bouncy boy and very silly but when it comes to treats I'm all business! I know how to sit, lay and shake on command! Everyone calls me a good boy!

If you want to meet me stop by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona,  3450 N. Kelvin Blvd. I'll be here waiting!

Love,

Charlie,  817034

This afternoon, after Democrats Shirley Scott, Paul Cunningham and Regina Romero were sworn in for new four-year terms on the Tucson City Council, Pima County Superior Court Judge Gus Aragon ruled that he would not order a new election or declare two of three Republican candidates to be the real winners of the election.

Aragon's basic reasoning: It was too late the challenge the election.

As the Weekly reported last week, GOP candidates Kelly Lawton and Margaret Burkholder had sought to have the election results tossed out because a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling had declared the city's system unconstitutional one week after the election was held and they had won their wards, even though they lost citywide. You can see the details here.

But Aragon said that the challenge to the election should have come before ballots were cast, saying that the court found that "plaintiffs' delay in filing this action after the general election was unreasonable. This delay in light of plaintiffs' knowledge of the existing system is unfair and prejudicial to defendants Cunningham, Scott and the City of Tucson."

City Attorney Mike Rankin said via email that the city "is pleased with the decision by Judge Aragon to dismiss the election contest. With respect to the Ninth Circuit decision that was the basis for this election contest, the City will be filing its Petition for En Banc Rehearing by the end of the week.

The GOP candidates could appeal today's decision.

Here's the complete ruling in case you want to run it by your attorneys.

Imagine I'm a public school math teacher, and I just gave my students a test worth 100 points. These classes of mine don't have strong math skills. With the students needing 50 points to pass, only 14 percent of them make it, and most of the passing students squeaked by just above the cut line, with between 51 and 59 points.

Next year I give the same test to my classes, which are basically identical in math skills to last year's batch. But this time I decide, damn it, 50 points shouldn't be enough to pass. I'm going to set the passing cut score at 60. That moves most of the students who would have passed with the previous cut score into the ranks of the failing. Only 2 percent pass.

The question is, should I be more concerned about the math skills of my classes with 2 percent passing rates than the previous classes where 14 percent passed? Obviously not. Their skill levels are basically identical. Only the score it took to pass changed. But while a 14 percent passing rate is met with shaking of heads and clucking of tongues, a 2 percent passing rate makes people crazy. Contact the media! Call out the public school haters! It's time to scream, "Oh my God, look at these scores! What happened? Shame on those kids! Shame on their schools! Shame on their parents!"

That, in a nutshell, is what's happening with the AzMERIT scores and the soon-to-come tsunami of shaming.

The process has already begun, though, believe me, it's only in its infancy. An article in Friday's AZ Republic, AzMERIT: Poor, rural districts feel burden of new test, is an example. It's a sympathetic, hand-wringing forerunner to the upcoming onslaught of shame. The article looks mainly at the AzMERIT scores on the San Carlos Reservation and in the Baboquivari Unified School District. In the San Carlos schools, 6 percent of the students passed the English section and 2 percent passed the math section. In Baboquivari Unified, 7 percent passed the English and 8 percent passed the math. The article talked about how difficult it it is for the districts to deal with these results, how hard both school systems have worked to boost their students' achievement. And yet, look at these disappointing passing rates, so much lower than the previous year.

But if you look back on last year's AIMS scores, you'll see that these new low scores are perfectly predictable. They're not a sign the students' achievement levels are lower this year, and they don't mean the students did worse on the AzMERIT test than on AIMS. What they mean is, the passing level — the cut score — was raised for the new test. If the students had been given one of the old AIMS test and the cut score was raised, like I raised the scores on my imaginary math test at the beginning of the post, pretty much the same thing would have happened. It's not about the students and it's not about the new test. It's all about raising the tests' cut scores.

In San Carlos, 14 percent of the students passed the 2014 AIMS math test, compared to 2 percent passing the AzMERIT. But if you look at the breakdown of the AIMS passing scores, you find that 13 percent simply met the math standard and only 1 percent exceeded it. So when you moved that bar up on the new test, what happened basically is, 12 of the 13 percent who just met the standards fell below the new line and only 1 percent joined that 1 percent that exceeded. If you go through the AIMS math and reading scores for the two districts, you find the same situation, between 10 and 47 percent meeting the standards and between 1 and 3 percent exceeding.