Thursday, October 18, 2018
MEN on BOATS by Jaclyn Backhaus. They say truth is stranger than fiction, and that’s pretty evident when you consider what this play is based on: an 1869 expedition led by a one-armed captain and a crew of crazy volunteers who head out to chart the course of the Colorado River, and to discover the Grand Canyon. In Backhaus’ theatrical adaptation of this, she genderbends the story—all of the characters are women, and the events in the play, like so many facts today, are “mostly true.” It’s gone over well so far, receiving a Kilroys 2015 playlist choice for one of the best plays by women and being named a NYT Critics’ Pick. Why not check out this production by Something Something Theatre Company? 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays in October and 2 p.m. on Sundays in October. Temple Cabaret, 330 S. Scott Ave. $25, or $20 for students, seniors, teachers and military. Thursday, Oct. 18, and Thursday, Oct. 25, are “pay what you decide” nights. Details Here.
UA 6th Annual Downtown Series: Soundscapes Brought to you by the UA School of Social and Behavioral Sciences and hosted by Fox Tucson Theatre, they present to you visual aspects of music culture and the role of urban youth when it comes to shaping cross-culture and identity. Maurice Rafael Magaña will discuss a series of topics relating to art and music. From art in public spaces to cultures crossing borders and working together, he proves that the music and art scene is an important aspect in many different people’s lives. He will focus on youth and the way they use artistic and musical abilities to speak up about their identities and struggles; particularly across the border of Mexico. Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street. 6:30 p.m. Details Here.
Send Us Your Photos:
If you go to any of the events listed above, snap a quick pic and message it to us for a chance to be featured on our social media sites! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @tucsonweekly.
Events compiled by Brianna Lewis, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot, Ava Garcia and Jeff Gardner.
Tags: University of Arizona , UA , Tucson Events , Fox Tucson Theatre , MOCA , Image
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
What started as a quarantined Flu Infirmary is now UA's official campus health. In 1918 they first began to fight the Spanish Flu, which was going around campus causing people to become extremely ill. Certain sections of Old Main and the Forbes building were turned into quarantined spaces for infected students and soldiers. Today, Campus Health is one of the longest-serving units on the University, according to UA News.
In 2004, they moved into their current space on Highland Commons that now serves over 70,000 patients a year. Lee Ann Hamilton said in a release, that they see about half of the University population in a given year. Their return rates are high, as 99% of students would recommend it to their friends.
Hamilton says they are set apart in many ways, one being that their three main goals are outreach, education and prevention. She also added that they have a dedicated passionate staff that genuinely wants to help their students. According to the release they were the first credited college health service in the nation and they were ranked No. 2 in Princeton Review's Best Health Services.
Students taking one credit hour or more at UA are eligible for treatment from Campus Health; employees can also be seen. What began as a flu infirmary is now a health department with a multitude of outreach potential for its students. From a simple cold to mental health, UA Campus Health has got its students covered.
To continue the history lesson, Click Here.
Tags: UA Campus Health , University of Arizona , Centennial , Image
Spoiler alert! What do you call a haunted chicken? A poultry-geist. Welcome to The Gaslight Theatre’s Vampire, tricked out in the Gaslight’s beloved lowbrow, fabulously costumed retro style.
The incongruity of this production’s songs, always good for a laugh in the Gaslight’s music and dance revues, find an apotheosis in the Vampire cast’s Macarena. The adapted lyrics are side-splitting. Likewise, Phil Spector’s 'Then He Kissed Me' all but sums up the plot line. With Tea for Two (Teefer, get it?), this production may have achieved what sometimes seems like Gaslight’s perennial goal: the worst pun ever.
Wolfman Jack delivers more groaners in this production’s Olio, the short variety show that follows each performance.
But what fun! Gaslight now has more than 40 years’ experience making all ages laugh – heartily, scornfully, giggly, eye-rollingly, squealingly – all the same.
Vampire gets the stake the day after Halloween so the clock is ominously ticking for reservations. Visit thegaslighttheatre.com details.
Bewitched Blanches Vamp with Ghosts
Southern California comedians Anthony Desamito and Jimmy Callaway bring their Two Blanches tour to The Screening Room at 8:30 pm, Friday, October 19; $3 admission includes popcorn.
The duo perform as part of The Bewitched Comedy show hosted by local comics, Steena Salido, Marcus Gallego and Ali Musa. Musa, an alleged Ouija Board savant, brings jokes with its ghosts in an audience-participation game. Salido and Gallego join in the mystical fun with comedians Autumn Horvat, Brett J McCabe, Matt Ziemak, Molly Bridget Dean and Rich Gary.
Audience members are encouraged to wear costumes. A contest rewards the funniest.
Sensitive Humor
Vern White’s Key da Life Entertainment presents Sensitive Humor, an evening of music and comedy at 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 20, at The O, 2000 North Oracle Road; free. Featured comedians are Rory Monserrat, Matt Ziemak and Chris Ryan. Wing lovers can get them for fifty cents all night.
She’s everywhere!
Every other Sunday you’ll find one-woman comedy haboob Salido now doing her own open mic and showcase at Welcome Diner, 902 E. Broadway Blvd. The next mic is Oct. 21. Sign up is at 6:30; showcase at 7; free
Mid Autumn Night’s Dream
TIM sketch team Baby Fish Mouth, which could be the best Halloween costume ever, performs its first scripted comic play, The Halloween Show, a name that belies its comic twists and deathly intent, at 9 p.m., Saturday, October 27 at Tucson Improv Theatre; $5 via tucsonimprov.com.
Tags: Gaslight Theatre , Steena Salido , Marcus Gallego , Ali Musa , Tucson Improv Movement , Baby Fish Mouth , Tucson sketch comedy , Tucson Improv Theatre , Welcome Diner , Rory Monserrat , Matt Ziemak , Chris Ryan , The O , Vern White , Key Da Life , Anthony Desamito , Jimmy Callaway , Autumn Horvat , Brett J McCabe , Matt Ziemak , Molly Bridget Dean , Rich Gary. , Image
Affectionately coined, "Tucson EAT yourself," the festival presents a unique opportunity to have nachos and pad tai, tacos and dumplings, fry bread and curry all in one sitting.
"Tucson Meet Yourself is a folklife festival. We focus on presenting artists and communities that carry on living traditions rooted in a group’s own definition of identity, artistry, and cultural significance," according the TMY's mission.Culturally based arts and crafts galore, performances from an array of artists and talks and tabling from various organizations are also a part of the heart of the festival.
Tucson Meet yourself just celebrated its 45th festival, and from us at the Tucson Weekly, thank you to all the volunteers that came together and make this weekend a success, even with all the rain!
Tags: Tucson Meet Yourself , TMY , food , music , arts , culture , booths , photos , children , families , good eats , rain , weekend , festival , Slideshow , Image
Tags: cartoons , comics , politics , Georgia , peach state , Image
Magic at the Mortuary. Magic Kenny Bang Bang has been spending all year creating the spookiest, most magical show possible for Tucson, and now that October is here, he can finally deliver! Magic Kenny and the bewitching Ms. Midnight are presenting their intimate, parlor-style magic performance at Owl’s Club every Wednesday throughout October. Enjoy the magic show, then take a tour of the former Bring’s Funeral Home embalming room and listen to some spooky stories about Tucson. What do you have to do on a Wednesday night that is more fun or important or timely than a macabre magic show? Every Wednesday throughout October at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. Owl’s Club, 236 S. Scott Ave. $20, 21+. Details Here.
Contrary History and Santa Cruz Valley Myths. Enjoy learning the truths and tales of the Santa Cruz Valley. Former president of the Tucson Presidio Trust for Historic Preservation, Rick Collins, is now a National Park Service Ranger. He will be guiding you all through the history and legends of the Santa Cruz Valley. The event is free but reservations are required. 12 pm. and 2 p.m. 12880 N. Vistoso Village Dr. Details Here.
Send Us Your Photos:
If you go to any of the events listed above, snap a quick pic and tag us for a chance to be featured on our social media sites! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @tucsonweekly.
Events compiled by Brianna Lewis, Emily Dieckman, B.S. Eliot, Ava Garcia and Jeff Gardner.
Tags: Tucson Events , Things to do in Tucson , Tucson Fun , Botanical Gardens , magic , stories , myths , art , Image
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
The area surrounding Tumamoc Hill is the longest continuously inhabited site in the United States, with evidence of maize cultivation from over 4,000 years ago. This was a leading factor in the UNESCO designation of Tucson as an international city of gastronomy.
The site was first studied by scientists from the Carnegie Institution in 1903 with the goal of learning how plants adapt to the arid environment. The area was purchased by the University of Arizona in 1956 and is one of the longest-running scientific observations in the world.
"The people that walk the hill today are only the most recent chapter in that history, the vantage point from this peak looking over the valley of Tucson continues to draw us up Tumamoc’s slopes," Wilder said. "Now, we have 115 years of science that is the baseline of knowledge of the Sonoran Desert.
Wilder described his new position as his dream job, and has come full circle since he began his journey at Tumamoc studying buffelgrass as an undergraduate student in 2004.
Wilder returned to UA in 2015 to work with the Consortium for Arizona and Mexico Arid Environments. In 2016 he was appointed the interim director of Tumamoc Hill. Since then, Wilder has helped create Tumamoc Tour, a free app that tells the history of the Sonoran desert through the hill, rainwater harvesting at the Tumamoc Laboratory and modern storage for important fossils that are kept at Tumamoc.
Now, as director, Wilder said he plans to upgrade old buildings, labs
Wilder is positive about the years to come for the age-old Tucson favorite, saying "the work we do here is our history, but also our future."
Learn more about Wilder here.
Tags: Tumamoc Hill , Benjamin Wilder , University of Arizona , Sonoran Desert , Ecology , gastronomy , culture , anthropology , Desert , Tucson , Santa Cruz Valley , UNESCO , Cactus , Science , Image
"We are all incredibly grateful to the Frederick Gardner Cottrell Foundation for its transformative generosity," UA President Robert C. Robbins said after the Oct. 5 naming ceremony.
The gift was recognized at last week’s ceremony to rename the library to the Albert B. Weaver Science-Engineering Library. The donation and name change mark the renovation of the library which will add student collaborative spaces on two floors adjacent to the libraries 260-seat collaborative classroom, the largest at the university.
The Cottrell foundation is the philanthropic arm of Research Corporation Technologies, a Tucson-based technology investment firm. The library’s new name comes from Albert B. Weaver who was appointed the head of the UA physics department in 1958 and later moved up to provost of academic affairs and vice president of the University. Weaver passed away in 2012.
"This gift honors the accomplishments of a past UA leader and makes our future more promising. It shows how powerful philanthropy is in shaping our campus and our identity," said John-Paul Roczniak, president and CEO of the UA Foundation.
Tags: University of Arizona , Science and Engineering Library , Cottrell Foundation , Research Corporation Technologies , Albert B. Weaver , Library , grant , gift , renovation , collaborative learning , science , engineering , Image
Apologies to fellow teachers. (I know, I've been out of the profession for 15 years, but once a teacher, always a teacher, even after you lose your class [badum-ching!]). I know how much teachers hate being told what to do. I always did. I keep promising I won't give teachers advice, but I keep doing it anyway. My excuse is, I spent 30-plus years in the classroom, so I'm cutting myself a little slack.
My advice to teachers is, VOTE! If you have a mail-in ballot sitting around beginning to gather dust, pick it up, fill it out and mail it in. No stamp required. If not, there's early voting at the polls. And there's November 6.
Teachers, vote for education, whatever that means to you. More on that later.
Arizona has about 50,000 K-12 teachers. Roughly 40,000 of them work in school districts, and most of the remainder work in charter schools. That's a whole lot of people whose lives revolve around governmental decisions. Include an equal number of non-teaching staff, and it adds up to nearly 100,000 potential education-based voters in statewide races, 3,000 per legislative district. That's more than enough to make the difference in close races.
For some reason I've never understood, teachers aren't reliable voters. I've heard figures as low a 35 percent show up for elections, which astounds me. Anything lower than 80 percent from a group of people who dedicate themselves to serving the public interest, who perform their civic duty every working day, seems wrong. Maybe some teachers feel like they use up their quotient of public service in the classroom, then when it comes time to vote, they think, "Screw it, it's time for the rest of you to step up while I work on tomorrow's lesson plan for your kids!"
OK, so this year, don't think about voting as another civic chore to add to your physically and emotionally draining teaching schedule. This year, vote out of self interest.
Tags: Teachers , Voting , School funding , education , Image
Sinema used the debate, which was broadcast live on Arizona PBS, to portray herself as an independent, echoing the campaign ads supporting her candidacy. She painted herself as someone willing to step over party lines, embracing the fact that she had voted largely with President Donald Trump’s agenda since 2017.
“Over the past six years, I’m proud to say I’ve taken the time to learn and grow and occasionally even change my opinion,” said Sinema, who has served three terms in Congress. “Over time, I think it makes sense for individuals, who are willing, to learn and to grow.”
She attempted to dodge questions about how she would have voted during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, calling the event a “circus.” She expressed disappointment with the way the Senate handled the confirmation, but ultimately said she would have voted no because it appeared to her that Kavanaugh lied under oath.
On other issues, she attempted to downplay that some of her positions are Democratic, pointing them out as good for Arizona. She referenced the price of beer cans when saying she opposed the Trump administration’s tariffs on aluminum imports because they hurt the state’s people.
“That’s something I think we should all agree on, that beer shouldn’t cost more,” she said.
Tags: politics , senate , debate , Martha McSally , Kyrsten Sinema , state , Arizona , issues , Image
