Yesterday I took a look at the amount of money that goes into the classroom in Arizona school districts in general. Today I'm taking a look at TUSD's numbers.

The Auditor General's Report of Arizona School District Spending for Fiscal Year 2015 has a two page spread for every school district in the state. The layouts are all the same, the only thing that changes are the numbers for each district. The TUSD numbers are on pages 392 and 393 if you want to look them over yourself.

The big pie graph, top left, shows the percent of the total district budget spent in various categories. The biggie is Instruction, the classroom component, which is at 48.7 percent for TUSD, well below the state average of 53.6 percent. The rest of the money is spread out over six categories: Administration, Plant operations, Food service, Transportation, Student support and Instructional support. On the second page is a graph showing how the spending percentages changed for the seven categories since 2001. In 2015, TUSD's Administration and Food services spending end up close to where they were in 2001, and the other four non-classroom categories are up between one and two percent. Classroom instruction, on the other hand, is down five percent.

Bottom line, TUSD should spend more in the classroom, no question. Why is the Instruction percentage down since 2001 while other areas either stayed even or increased? It's easy to use those numbers to condemn TUSD for its overall awful-ness or give reasons and rationalizations to explain the numbers. Instead, I want to ask, "Compared to what?" How do TUSD's numbers compare to what other districts are doing?

Each district is compared to what's called a "Peer average," and TUSD doesn't look good in the comparisons. Unfortunately, unless I missed something, the report doesn't name the "peer" districts. If I'm right that the "peers" aren't listed, we're relying on some formula the auditors used without knowing what it is. That being said, TUSD's "Peer average" districts put 56.5 percent of their budgets into instruction, three percent higher than the state average and eight percent over TUSD. Why, or how, are those districts devoting so much more to Instruction? Maybe they're doing a better job with their students than TUSD. Maybe they're better money managers. Or maybe their situations are different enough to explain some of the disparities. Without knowing the districts, I don't have the answer.

I created a head-to-head comparison between TUSD and Catalina Foothills district to see what I could learn from two known local quantities. Cat Foothills is on pages 88 and 89 of the report if you're following along. I chose Cat Foothills before I looked at its numbers, because it's a local district that's on the other end of the school district continuum from TUSD. Unlike TUSD, it's one of the highest performing districts in the state, it has a high income population and its facilities are reasonably new. So how do the percentages stack up? I put them in the table below. 

Goddammit, when is somebody going to ban gum chewing in movies? I’m a card carrying, unabashed Keanu Reeves fan, but he started the whole “Gum Chewing Action Star” thing with Speed, and it’s become such a visually distracting, cheap acting trick.

Knock it off, Hollywood actors! You will never surpass the gum-chewing prowess immortalized by Reeves in Speed. He is, always has been, and shall remain the gum-chewing-action-guy king!

The culprit this time out is Casey Affleck in Triple 9, the latest from super reliable director John Hillcoat. Affleck plays Chris, a new cop in a fleet of bad cops who distinguishes himself by, you guessed it, chewing gum a lot.

He doesn’t just chew that shit, either. Oh no. He cracks it, he pops it, he moves it all over his mouth and lets the white wad stick out of the corners, and he makes sure it gets in the way of his near every line delivery and near every shot he occupies in the movie.

If I should ever get to helm an action cop movie, what with my budding film career and all, I’m going for the gum chewing title. I will make sure to have my action cop guy constantly unwrapping pieces of gum and shoving them into his pie hole. I won’t stop at Wrigley’s either. Nope, I’ll get some Big Red in there, adding to the color palette. We’ll get some Bubble Yum and Bazooka for bigger, longer lasting bubbles. It’s going to make my action star so freaking tough looking.

Okay, so the actual movie is pretty good. Like the usual Hillcoat movies (The Road, The Proposition, Lawless) it’s a dark film with a bleak outlook on humanity. Nobody is happy in this flick, and they are going to let you know that for sure. Only this time, there’s a whole lot of gum chewing and some fast moving, impressive action scenes to go with all of the brooding.

Anthony Mackie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aaron Paul, Woody Harrelson and, yes, Affleck make this dirty cop thriller a worthwhile viewing. Hillcoat proves he knows his way around an action flick, and while this particular one is thin on plot, it’s strong with atmosphere and performances. And, yes, it has a lot of gum.

While this week’s Chow feature taught you all about the Carriage House’s culinary classes that began the last weekend of February, the multi-purpose space isn’t stopping there. With two classes scheduled for this upcoming week alone, the event space is also hosting one of the biggest dinner events in recent Tucson history.

On Sunday, March 6, the City of Gastronomy Downtown Chef’s Table will see ten of the Old Pueblo’s top chefs join forces for one dinner that will showcase some of why this city earned the UNESCO-designated City of Gastronomy title.

The second in the series (the first was held in Oct. 2014), the newly named event will again benefit Tu Nidito and Fox Tucson Theatre. This time around, though, Janos Wilder and Jerry Alday (Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails), Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco), Erika Bostick (Agustin Kitchen), Tyler Fenton (Reilly), Kris Vrolijk (Proper), Carlotta Flores (El Charro), Daniel Thomas (47 Scott), Marialine Bennen (Penca) and Michael Bryer (Maynards) will serve up the dishes and stories for the 150-person crowd. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails and paired appetizers, to be followed by a multi-course, local wine-paired dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Here's the night's planned menu:

Interested in supporting science education in Tucson? All aboard the Physics Bus!

The Physics Bus is a mobile platform chock full of do-it-yourself exhibits that awaken interest and creativity. We want to launch one out of Tucson and we need your help.

The non profit Physics Factory, started by a group of educators with a sense of adventure, has offered tens of thousands of kids eye-popping, mind-bending experiences in science for over 10 years. Recently, we’ve developed a more effective way of getting kids thinking about physics: we bring a bus full of science for kids to explore extraordinary phenomena with ordinary things.

Piloted in Ithaca, NY, and Gainesville, FL over the past year, our interactive museum-on-wheels has been received with overwhelming enthusiasm and high demand. Now our team in Tucson is eager to launch a Physics Bus Southwest.

The organization has started a crowdfunding campaign to reach their goal of $20,000.

$10,000 buys us a solid bus with wheelchair access and air conditioning
$2,000 gets us insurance, licensing and registration
$3,000 allows us to reclassify it, convert it, and outfit it
$5,000 covers the first year of fuel and volunteer support

They have raised $18,100 so far. Want to help them reach their goal or get some more information? Visit the Physics Bus West website.

The 2016 South By Southwest festival starts next week with the film and interactive sessions—and today, organizers announced that President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be keynote speakers. Nice get, SXSW!

Whether or not you're going to SXSW, you should lend your ears to the Austin 100, NPR's curated list of 100 of the artists that will be performing at the festival. It's always an eclectic collection of songs by some of the nation's best up-and-coming acts in just about every genre imaginable. You can stream or download the whole thing here.

Spend your Saturday learning more about urban farming through a special, self-driven tour event presented by the nonprofit Feeding Tucson. On March 5 from 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., the tour will take participants to a variety of small farming operations to showcase hydroponic, aquaponic, community-ran and other kinds of edible gardens.

The tour will end at the Mission Garden for a locally sourced lunch and discussion local food production. Maps, lunch and a donation to the Mission Garden is included in the $25 fee.

More information regarding the specific sites included in the tour will be given upon registration, which can be done on the Feeding Tucson website.

Time to start clearing out your closet: the Body Revolution called, and it wants you to attend a Pop-Up Clothing Swap this weekend.

Never been to a clothing swap? The basic idea is this: Go through your wardrobe and pull out the gently-used clothes you never wear these days—you know, the clothes you're always surprised to see Buffalo Exchange pass on. Bring 'em to the exchange, go through somebody else's former favorites and come home with a bunch of new-to-you goodies. 

Typically, clothing swaps are events organized between friends. The Body Revolution is taking it to the next level.

For starters, they're emphasizing inclusivity: clothing of any size or style, and the event is open to all genders. 

In addition to whatever clothes people bring to swap, local designers and retailers will be hanging out in a Pop-Up Shop. Among them will be Erin Cox of Southwestern Belle Alterations & Design and Elizabeth Denneau of Candy Strike—our first and second place 2015 Best of Tucson finalists for Best Local Designer. 

Cox is bringing something different to the mix—live alterations.

"That way, if you find something that doesn't quite fit, you can make some quick adjustments and still take it home," says Erin Jaye, one of the people leading the Body Revolution in Tucson. 

“In the spirit of playing in sacred spaces, which I'm known for,” says world flute artist Gary Stroutsos, “That space—not necessarily just the acoustics, but the atmosphere lends itself to being musical collaborator, a partner.”

As a member of Southside Presbyterian Church (317 W. 23rd St.), I’ve heard the sound of that room enrich mariachi, waila, gospel, Christian pop and every kind of cumbia: acoustic, electric and electronic. Its kiva-like Bob Vint design, circular floorplan, fieldstone floor and wooden structural elements support subtle dynamics in sound and spread them throughout the room.

Stroutsos is especially sensitive to such qualities. He is an expert in the sound of wooden flutes, employed the world over in spiritual, pursuits. He lectures frequently about the instruments, and his records are popular among yoga and meditation practitioners as well as world music fans.

His contributions to the soundtrack of a Ken Burns PBS documentary earned him a performance at the White House for President Bill Clinton. More recently, he scored the award-winning, wordless nature film, Desert Dreams. 

“I like to stay close to many different spiritual traditions,” Stroutsos says, “most American jazz, Afro-Cuban music and [what] I call serene and meditative folk music inspired by Asia.” He began as a jazz flutist, studying under master players and composers in American and Afro-Cuban transitions.


For the kiva program, he says, “I’m going to be playing some serene and meditative music and also, I'm going to do a tribute for someone that passed away that used to live in Rio Rico. He was a great jazz flute player. His name was Paul Horn.” He will perform a composition from Horn’s 1968 release, Inside the Taj Mahal, which was, in fact, recorded in the historic palace in India.

Far from a palace, Southside’s kiva and Stroutsos flutes will nonetheless offer an enchanting evening. Stroutsos will perform on Saturday, March 5, beginning at 7 p.m. A $10 to $20 sliding scale donation will be taken at the door. 

Okay, so you’re not going to fill up at this food-centric event, but UA’s Students for Sustainability have put together a series of unique pieces of art that focus conceptually on food in the desert and what it means to have a food system here.

The Plating the Desert exhibit, spearheaded by the Environmental Arts Committee’s Stephanie Choi, is a collaborative showing of 40 handmade ceramic plates that encourages its viewers to consider their connection to both food and art here in the Sonoran desert.


The plates will be on view from March 7 until March 25 at the Student Union Galleries (1303 E. University Blvd.) with an opening reception on Tuesday, March 8 from 6 until 8 p.m.

Just when you think things couldn't get any weirder with extremist Republican wannabe public officials, you come across a post by Slate that reads somewhere along the lines of, "A retired teacher who thinks Obama was a prostitute won big on Super Tuesday."

Her ever-so predictable anti-Muslim, climate-change-is-a-Marxist-hoax, and Obama-was-a-prostitute-when-he-was-in-his-20s rhetoric got Mary Lou Bruner, a candidate for the Texas State Board of Education, roughly 48 percent of votes in a three-way Republican race for the board's 15 seats, though. Something is working. The same thing that's pulling strings for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Texas has long been ground zero for wackazoid right-wing politicians, who seem to get more entrenched every year: The current agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller, is on a heaven-sent mission to put deep fryers and vending machines back into schools after a 10-year ban, and the attorney general, Ken Paxton, is obsessed with invalidating same-sex marriages, even on death certificates. (Paxton could be disbarred for encouraging clerks to ignore the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision, among numerous other ethically questionable acts.)

But Bruner, a retired teacher with 36 years of experience in Texas schools, is exceptional even by Lone Star standards. Earlier this year, she made headlines for claiming that President Barack Obama bankrolled his drug habit by plying his wares on the street, as first reported by Texas Freedom Network. She posted on Facebook:

Obama has a soft spot for homosexuals because of the years he spent as a male prostitute in his twenties. That is how he paid for his drugs. He has admitted he was addicted to drugs when he was young, and he is sympathetic with homosexuals; but he hasn’t come out of the closet about his own homosexual/bisexual background.