Friday, January 12, 2018
It didn't take a soothsayer or an entrail reader to get that one right. It's what he always says.
Don Quixote, who sang about dreaming the impossible dream in a musical based on the great 17th century novel, had gone mad from reading too many stories about knights and chivalry. He put on a suit of dented armor and rode forth, determined to right the wrongs of the world. He honestly thought a peasant woman was a princess under the spell of a wicked enchanter. He believed with all his heart that windmills were evil giants he could joust against and defeat while riding on the worn-out nag he thought was a noble steed. He believed in his own beautiful folly. His audience has spent five centuries laughing at him and crying with him, wishing they could believe as well.
Governor, I read Don Quixote. I knew Don Quixote literarily and think of him as a friend of mine. Governor, you're no Don Quixote.
Ducey isn't deluded. He knows his promise to add significant education funding to the state budget is a con job, because there's not enough money in the budget for a serious increase, and he has pledged to the state's businesses and wealthiest individuals — and to his greatest benefactors, the Koch Brothers — that he would only lower taxes, never raise them. His only mention of taxes in the address was an increased exemption for military retirement pay.
Ducey spoke of holding the line on prison spending, then said,
"Let’s spend these dollars – tens of millions of dollars combined – where they can go to better use: In our public schools and for our teachers."Some simple math. We have about a million K-12 students in Arizona. "Tens of millions of dollars" translates to tens of dollars per student. In a 30 student classroom, that comes to $300 a year. Ducey knows it. Everyone who understands the size of the education budget knows it. But Ducey hopes he can con potential voters into thinking he promised something real.
Tags: Doug Ducey , State of the State Address , Don Quixote , Education Budget , Image
Watch This!
Connect the Dots: TEDx Tucson. If you spend your spare time (and maybe sometimes working hours) watching Ted talks and doing and redoing the math to see if you’d ever be able to afford an actual TED conference, then this TEDx conference might be the perfect event for you. With 10 speakers, bands, dancers, art exhibits, snacks, catered lunch and parking all for under eight bucks, or under a hundred for the full VIP shebang, it’s a TEDx-cellent way to spend a Saturday. 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13. Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Blvd. $75 GA, $65 students and 65+, $95 VIP.
The Zoppé Family Circus. Hardly anything is quite so magical as a circus. Everything is more colorful in a circus tent than in the outside world. The popcorn is saltier. The sounds are sharper and louder and more magnificent. And we’ve got a case of compounded magic at this event, as the Zoppé Family Circus is coming to Tucson for the seventh time, and everyone knows the number seven is lucky and magical. These guys have been doing their thing in the ring since 1842, so you know they know what they’re doing. Friday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. through Sunday, Jan. 21 at 1 and 4 p.m., with various days and times in between. MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida Del Convento. $20 to $90.
2018 Cactus Classic Invitational. If you’re into 18U through 12U girls’ volleyball and 18 Club and 16 Club Boys volleyball, you’re in the right place. This three-day tournament will be bringing about 165 volleyball teams from all over the Arizona region to serve and spike amongst the saguaros in town. Well, not literally amongst the saguaros. The whole thing is held under the Tucson Convention Center’s roof (and at Sporting Chance Center and the UA, if needed). Saturday, Jan. 13 to Monday, Jan. 15. Tournaments begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and Monday’s start time depends on bracket placement. Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave. $10 for one day, $20 for all three days. Free for kids 10 and under.
Art
Mementos. Etherton Gallery’s new exhibit features work by Rodrigo Moya, Graciela Iturbide and Masao Yamamoto, and highlights the ways that photographs—particularly the black and white work of these artists—can not only capture memories, but become memories themselves. Animals, architecture, people, desert scenery: You’ll see them all at this exhibit, because they’re all woven into the tapestry of our memory. The exhibition runs through March 3, and the opening reception is from 7 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Etherton Gallery, 135 S. Sixth Ave. Masao Yamamoto, whose small photographs of nature make you feel like you’re peeking into someone else’s memory, has traveled all the way from Japan to give a public lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 12 at the Center for Creative Photography Auditorium, 1030 N. Olive Road.Tags: TED , TEDx , circus , Zoppe family circus , cactus classic , mementos , Etherton Gallery , The Helios Ensemble , Twelfth Night , Gil Shaham , Arturo Sandoval , Tucson Symphony Orchestra , TSO , The Grapes of Wrath , RAPunzel , Tucson Fringe Festival , Wings over Willcox , Mini Time Machine Museum , David Fischer , Mineral Madness , rock and roll , rocks , Arizona Clogging Festival , Tucson Presidio , living history , Landscapes of migration , migration , Beyond Tucson , MLK , Yume Japanese Gardens , Petroglyphs , Tortolitas , run with the saguaros , run next to the saguaros , saguaros don’t run , senior Olympic festival , Nightcrawler , Cesar Ruiz , Railgun , The Lasso , Miracle Mile Gateway Car Show , Barry Smith , Trever Ducote , Image
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Happy Thursday, ladies and gentlemen of cyberspace. Boy, do we have an underrated doozy of a game at McKale Center tonight, with Oregon State traveling to Tucson to play the 17th-ranked Arizona Wildcats.
It's a matchup of opposites, with the Wildcats featuring a dizzying offensive attack spearheaded by a three-headed monster of Deandre Ayton, Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins—who score 20.4, 19.6 and 15.6 points per game, respectively.
The Wildcats (12-4) rank 28th in the nation in points per game (83.8), and rank sixth overall in offensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.com.
The Beavers (10-5), meanwhile, feature a slow-as-molasses offense that only averages 75.3 points per game, good for 161st in the country.
The great equalizer, as always, is on the defensive end—with the Beavers ranking first in the Pac 12 in points allowed (68.6). Arizona, by comparison, is 72.7 per game, which ranks 196th in the country (and fifth in the Pac 12).
The Beavers feature a sneaky-good trio of sophomore Tres Tinkle (son of OSU Coach Wayne Tinkle) and juniors Stephen Thompson Jr. and Drew Eubanks—who average 18.3, 16.5 and 13.8 points per game this season.
The trio came up big in the Beavers' 76-64 win over in-state rival Oregon on Jan. 5, with Tinkle scoring a game-high 19 points, while Thompson scored 16 and Eubanks added 15.
Arizona senior point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright, who's averaging 7.6 points per game and a team-high 4.9 assists, certainly isn't underestimating the Beavers, especially after their 80-77 loss to Colorado in Boulder last Saturday.
The senior knows how tough the 11 teams Arizona plays in conference play are, and knows that coming out flat is a death sentence against a quality opponent like OSU.
"You think of teams like Washington State and Oregon State. Those teams are playing tremendous," Jackson-Cartwright said. "Like I said, when you don't come out and you don't play hard, or you don't give great effort, you're vulnerable on any given night."
Coach Sean Miller hit a similar narrative, saying the Beavers are much better than their 116th spot in KenPom rankings, which is eighth-best of any team in the conference.
"They're a much improved team, not only from last year to this year, that's obvious, but I think they're a very much improved team from the beginning of the year to now," Miller said. "They seem to be hitting their stride, which makes sense ... I think you can see what I mean when I talk about that they're playing well."
How to watch: Arizona plays Oregon State at 7 p.m. tonight on the Pac 12 Network. They play Oregon at noon on Saturday on ESPN
How to bet: Vegas has Arizona as a 15-point favorite against Oregon State. The line for Oregon has not been posted
Who to watch: From Oregon State, keep an eye on sophomore Tres Tinkle, and juniors Stephen Thompson Jr. and Devin Eubanks. For Oregon, look for Peyton Pritchard, who scores a team-best 15 points per game, and teammate Troy Brown, who scores 12.3 per game and a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game for the Ducks
Tags: Deandre Ayton , Allonzo Trier , Sean Miller , Tres Tinkle , Parker Jackson-Cartwright , Rawle Alkins , Arizona Wildcats , Pac 12 , Wayne Tinkle , Oregon State University , Oregon Ducks , Dana Altman , Tucson , College Basketball , McKale Center , March Madness , Corvallis , Eugene , Oregon , Image
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Hi there. I’m Chico!
I am a 2 year old boy looking for my fur-ever family! I am a playful boy who is looking for an active family. I hope my new family gives lots of belly rubs and enjoys playing fetch!
I would do best in a home without cats, but would love to meet any female dogs or older kids that live in your home! Bring them to meet me at HSSA Main Campus at 3450 N. Kelvin Blvd. For more information you can give an adoptions counselor a call at 520-327-6088, ext. 173.
Doggie Kisses,
Chico (848534)
Instead, a decade later, I find myself writing on The Range and competing with the mainstream media and any number of educational professional and volunteer groups for attention. With politicians as well. The governor touts his focus on improving education. His potential Democratic rivals for the office, Steve Farley and David Garcia, can't bring up the sorry state of education funding often enough.
If it sounds like I'm complaining, far from it. I love seeing the increased attention education has been getting in the state. The more the better. And in case this all sounds like bragging, like I think my blogging has pushed the topic front and center, far from it. I don't take a scintilla of credit. Education has bubbled to the surface in Arizona as one of the most important issues facing our state on its own. Its time has come. That's why our schools are at or near the top of every survey of voters' most important concern.
Weekend articles had headlines like "Arizona Legislature begins Monday with focus on education funding" and "School funding is first priority in new legislative session." A preview of the Ducey's coming address to the legislature has the headline, "State opioid crisis and education funding expected topics, State of the State address." Drug addiction seems like the only topic important enough to share the billing with schools.
Tags: Education , Doug Ducey , State of the State Address , Image
Friday, January 5, 2018
The University of Arizona is tasked with finding said coach after ending its relationship with Rich Rodriguez, siting concern over the “Direction and climate of the football program,” as stated in a bombshell released on Tuesday night.
There are many names that will jump to the top of people’s lists, including former star athletes (cough, cough—Chuck Cecil), and big-names, like former Texas A&M and Houston coach Kevin Sumlin.
The bottom line is that whoever the next UA football head coach is will be tasked with the unenviable assignment of keeping the 16 players that signed their National Letters of Intent last week, while adding more by the Feb. 7 deadline.
It’s imperative that Director of Athletics Dave Heeke and President Robert C. Robbins find their man, and find him quickly, so that person can have ample time to lock down a solid recruiting class.
The Wildcats, fresh off a 7-6 season that ended with a disappointing 38-35 loss to Purdue in the Foster Farms Bowl, have a lot of young talent on both sides of the ball—with dynamic quarterback Khalil Tate on offense, and a defense spearheaded by rising sophomores Kylan Wilborn, Colin Schooler and Tony Fields, II.
There’s plenty of talent on both sides of the ball to build around for the next coach in The Old Pueblo, but the clock is ticking for Heeke and company to nail down a solid recruiting class.
Without further ado, here’s who I believe Heeke should seek out to be the 21st coach to roam the Arizona Stadium sidelines.
1. Kevin Sumlin: The former Houston University and Texas A&M coach should be Heeke’s main target, with an impressive 86-43 record in 10 seasons of work. Sumlin was chased away from College Station for “only” winning seven-to-nine games a year, and has recruited the state of Arizona exceptionally well, landing sure-fire first round NFL pick and Scottsdale native Christian Kirk—who’s hauled in 234 catches for 2,855 yards in his three seasons under Sumlin, as well as Tyler Bruggman and Priest Willis. It’s clear that Sumlin, who’s owed $10 million from Texas A&M regardless of whether he lands another job or not, will likely come cheaper than you’d expect. That extra money can be used to entice quality assistant coaches to come to Tucson, which would be a win-win for all involved.
2. Derek Mason: The 43-year-old Vanderbilt coach is a Phoenix native, and went to college at NAU, which bode well for his familiarity with the region. Mason has experience coaching in the Pac 12, working as the defensive backs coach, defensive coordinator and assistant head coach under David Shaw at Stanford from 2010 to 2013, and knows how to recruit west coast kids. Mason knows how to recruit players to unenviable locations, having led the Commodores to a bowl bid in 2016, and a respectable 5-7 campaign in a brutally tough SEC East this fall. He’s clearly an up-and-coming coach, and could likely be talked into moving back west, considering his paltry $2 million salary—less than the $2.1 million base salary Rodriguez received this year.
3. Jeff Monken: Monken has quietly built Army into a powerhouse program, making back-to-back bowl trips, with wins over North Texas and San Diego State in those games. Monken, who has lived a vagabond life, with assistant coaching jobs at Hawaii, ASU, Buffalo, Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech, as well as a three-year head coaching stint with Georgia Southern before taking the Army job. His Black Knights’ led the nation is rushing yards per game (362.3), and his run-first mindset would pick up where Rodriguez and offensive coordinator Rod Smith left off, with the Wildcats ranking third in the same category this season.
4. Lane Kfifin: The outspoken former Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Volunteers and USC Trojans coach has found his niche in Boca Raton, leading the Florida Atlantic Owls to a 11-3 record in which he won the Conference USA Championship, before knocking off Akron in the Boca Raton Bowl. It’d be awesome to see the “Lane Train” return to the Pac 12, and to see what Kiffin, who engineered the USC dynasty of the early-2000s as the Trojans’ offensive coordinator, could do with Tate at quarterback.
5. Chuck Cecil: I frankly don’t see why anyone would want to hire a man with zero college coaching experience, but everyone else keeps throwing Cecil’s name into the ring, so why not? Cecil, who returned to Tucson in an advisory role this fall, previously worked as an assistant in the NFL, as the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator and St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams’ secondary coach. He’s the go-to guy, if Heeke is looking to pull a page from ASU’s playbook, as the Sun Devils hired former NFL head coach Herm Edwards for their opening last month, despite the fact that Edwards hadn’t coached at any level since 2008.
Tags: Arizona Football , Rich Rodriguez , Kevin Sumlin , Jeff Monken , Derek Mason , Lane Kiffin , Chuck Cecil , Tucson , Pac 12 , College Football , Arizona Stadium , Arizona , Image
Arizona is spending less per student now than it was in 2008 using inflation-adjusted numbers. Exactly how much depends on how you crunch the numbers. AZ Schools Now says it would take a billion dollars, more or less, to get us back to 2008 levels.
A billion, more or less, to get us back where we were. The sad thing is, we've been beggaring our schools for so long, a billion is significantly less than we need. We're at or near the bottom of the country in per-student funding, and adding a billion dollars would only raise us two notches. We'd move past Oklahoma and pull even with Mississippi.
Even though it's not enough, an added billion would mean a hell of a lot to our teachers and students. If we boosted teacher salaries by a few thousand dollars, maybe we could hold on to teachers who are fleeing the state for better pay. And get some credentialed teachers who have left the profession to return to the classroom. And lure a few more college students into teaching programs to increase the future teacher pool. Add in a few dollars more for classroom supplies and equipment, and we'd move closer to giving our children the education they deserve.
But you can be sure our Koch-addicted Governor Ducey, who fancies himself the "education governor," will fight a substantial increase in education funding to his last breath, especially if any of the money comes from income or business taxes. In Ducey's world, if schools get any more money, it has to come from State Land Trust Funds, sales taxes or local taxes. His most solemn pledge is to keep income and business taxes moving downward. Not surprisingly, that's also the bottom line of the Koch Brothers donor network which Ducey counts on to pony up a big pot of money during campaign season.
At the end of last year, Trump and Republicans in Congress were told they had a choice: come up with tax breaks for the rich or No money for you. Ducey knows he's facing a similar ultimatum, and he also knows people are predicting a Democratic wave election in 2018. If the tsunami is big enough, even Arizona could see Republicans swallowed up, especially if they don't have dark money to keep them afloat.
Tags: AZ Schools Now , Education funding , Doug Ducey , Koch Brothers , Taxes , Image
Festival organizers had hoped to lure Green and her Rincon/University High theater students to the American High School Theater Festival portion of their month-long, 300-venue event the following year. That trip never happened, but Green’s first taste of fringe gave her the vision that now drives the eighth Tucson Fringe Theatre Festival, Jan. 11-14. Details are at tucsonfringe.org. The festival pass is $3; each show is $10.
Twenty-one artists each will perform one to three shows, and most are comical, Green says. “A lot of fringe artists are solo performers. I think it's hard to sell somebody on an hour of one person's tragedy, although for a good third of the artists that's their show. Most of them are very high-energy onstage. Almost all (the shows) are autobiographical, or semi-autobiographical, but there’s a story arc, and they’re very scripted.”
Two crowd favorites from prior Tucson Fringe events make a triumphant return. Beloved for his The Gay Uncle Explains It All To You, which filled the chairs for his Club Congress shows last year, Jeffrey Robert introduces The Gay Uncle’s Journey Through The Valley Of The Dolls. The set uses Jaqueline Susann’s hit novel as a launchpad for connecting a constellation of pop culture icons.
Catfish Baruni, harvested, via slideshows, the comic potential of a Mark Twain story about beef contracts and a catalog of European fairy tales in prior fringe outings. He’s lately plying his fascinatingly distorted worldview in partnership with fellow nerd Natalia Storie. When the pair started a busking enterprise to raise money, the result was Nickels and Dimes, a duo show which, we are told, may have won fictional awards at other fests.
Young parents, and anyone considering parenthood, might want to check out Tucson’s first foray into a common fringe fest format: Bring Your Own Venue. Feces on-da Face, by San Diego Playwright Joe Udall, features new parents in an Airbnb, where their notions about gender identification, relationships and roles play out over a hiking vacation with their seven-month-old daughter. The venue is their guest room at Elysian Grove Market.
We also like Confessions of a Delinquent Cheerleader, from St. Paul, Minnesota; Abeyance, an all-pantomime show by UA theater student Tyler West; and Audra Bachera’s A Glorious Day for Mrs. Sissy Fiz.
Tags: Tucson Fringe Festival , Maryann Green , Catfish Baruni , Tyler West , Gay Uncle , Jeffrey Rogers , Fringe Theater , Image
Thursday, January 4, 2018
The team, who went 93-66 a year ago, winning the National League's Wild Card game, is offering a 50 percent off, one-day special on Friday for Tucson-based fans.
Interested fans can snag their tickets at dbacks.com/spring, with the special running from 9 a.m. to midnight. General sale for all 17 of the team's Spring Training games go on sale on Saturday.
Enter the promotional code 18CACTUS in conjunction with a Pima County zip code when purchasing the tickets to receive the discount.
The Diamondbacks kick off Cactus League play on Feb. 23 against the Colorado Rockies, and host the Cleveland Indians the next day in its Spring Training home opener at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Scottsdale.
Tags: Arizona Diamondbacks , Major League Baseball , Spring Training , Cactus League , Image
Shows
The House of Blue Leaves. Live Theatre Workshop is kicking off 2018 with a run of The House of Blue Leaves, by John Guare, a play filled with relatable sentiments, historical events and gloriously dark humor. We’ve got Pope Paul VI visiting New York, the Vietnam War threatening to begin, the birth of Robert Downey Jr., and all of the other wonders of 1965. But this play centers around a zookeeper in Queens who dreams of making it to Hollywood to write songs for the movies. 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday from Thursday, Jan. 4 through Saturday Jan. 10. Live Theatre Workshop, 5317 E. Speedway Blvd. $15 on Jan. 4 and 5, $18 to $20 other shows.Odyssey Storytelling Presents: Memory. Let’s talk about pasts, ba-by. Let’s talk about mem-o-ries. LET’S TALK ABOUT ALL THE GOOD THINGS AND THE BAD THINGS in our his-tor-ies. Odyssey Storytelling is bringing together six storytellers to share 10-minute stories centered around the theme of “memory.” You’ll hear from a playwright, a writer, a holistic health coach, a comedian and a storyteller who works in (fittingly enough) memory care facilities. It’s sure to get you thinking about some of your favorite memories, so that you can be sure to carry the best parts of life forward with you into the new year. 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4. The Sea of Glass–Center for the Arts, 330 E. Seventh St. $10 regular, $7 students.
Murder in Paradise. Get ready to solve a mystery, because this show at the Gaslight is interactive as soon as you step in the door—every ticket comes with a new identity. Whodunnit? The weird wife? The sexy movie star? The wacky director? The straight-up bad son? Better bust out your old Encyclopedia Browns to get some practice in, because Detective Wes Chester is going to need your help to solve this heinous crime. First show is Monday, Jan. 8, and show runs through Monday, March. 26. 6 p.m. The Gaslight Music Hall, 13005 N. Oracle Road. $38.95 includes a three-course meal!
Music
Mozart Symphony No. 29. Start the new year off feeling classy by heading to the orchestra to hear one of Mozart’s finest early symphonies, composed for 20th century cello rockstar Mstislav Rostropovich. And, if your new year’s resolution involved productivity of any sort, then consider that Mozart composed this when he was only 17. Julian Schwarz will be making his TSO debut with the performance. 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 5. 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6. 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 2. Catalina Foothills High School, 4300 E. Sunrise Drive. $22 to $55.Tags: The House of Blue Leaves , Live Theatre Workshop , Odyssey , Odyssey Storytelling , storytelling , memories , memory , Murder in Paradise , Clue , theater , Gaslight Music Hall , Mozart Symphony No. 29 , Mstislav Rostropovich , Julian Schwarz , Kata Hay , Dan O’Rourke , indie folk , indie , Everything Bird , bird is the word , Madaras Gallery , Subspace , Lehman Noviello , First Fridays at the Arizona History Museum , first Fridays , Arizona History Museum , indigenous women , Valley of the Moon , first Saturdays , Uniting the City , car hop , barbecue , Individuals Car Club , Rocks & Ropes , free climbing , yoga , meditation , mysticism , baksana , beer , Dragoon , mystic messengers , psychics , oracles , numerologists , numerology , angel readers , pet psychic , moving into stillness , TMC , Tucson Community Meditation Center , Adoption Day , dogs , cats , St. Philip’s Plaza Farmers’ Market , HOPE Animal Shelter , Tucson Interfaith Packathon , pack lunches , do good , Garden Talks , Master Gardener , fruit , Himmel Park Library , Arizona State Home Show , AZ State Home Show , HGTV , Home Depot , remodeling , Jae Tilt , rapper , rap , Tucson musicians , Strangelove , Bugg , Image
