Is it really a party if there isn’t an AFTER party? Haven’t had enough of meeting yourself at the Tucson Meet Yourself?

TMY is stepping up its game this year. In addition to a new location and new vendors, there is now an avenue to keep the party going after the event has ended on Sunday evening.

Just down the street from the main event, EXO Roast Co. will be hosting “Taconazo” which is sure to be a heel tapping good time. A lineup of intimate performances from TMY artists “that both reflect the rhythmic and vibrant art of zapateado, or the tapping of tacones, heels.”

Featured artists include:

- Son Jarocho Collective and Flamenco Tucsonense 

- Hector Vega (Hermosillo)

- Misael Barraza (Hermosillo)

- Olivia Rojas (El Paso)

- Fabian & Katrina Sisneros (Albuquerque)

Exo is located at

403 N. Sixth Ave. 

Doors open at 6:30 p.m and the event runs until 9:30 p.m. 

Tickets cost $10. 

The annual Tucson Meet Yourself Festival will be highlighting a Culture Kitchen to provide festival attendees with fresh samples of homemade cultural recipes from different countries around the world including Iraq, Lebanon, Congo and Turkey.

Culture Kitchen mainly features families showing off their cooking traditions in front of a live audience who afterwards will hand out samples of the dishes they prepared.

Some recipes that will be shared at the event include phyllo dough filled with fruit such as fig, prickly pear, and dates prepared by Janet Griffitts and Nahide Aydin, and Sonoran style enchiladas prepared by the Breckenfelds.

Nelda Ruiz, the Culture Kitchen organizer for this year, said that the kitchen is a great way to share stories of families by sharing traditional food recipes. The theme this year focuses on the importance of traditions learned from family, loved ones and friends.

"People can come every single day of the weekend and still see different things each day," Ruiz said. "That's also very telling of where we live, there is a wide variety of different cultures and communities here in Tucson."

On Sunday, Oct. 14, at 3:30 p.m., there will be a round table discussion organized by the Center of Regional Food Studies from the University of Arizona, discussing the histories of foodshed, which is the term that describes how food is grown, produced, and consumed.

The Culture Kitchen will be located outside the Jácome Plaza at the Tucson Meet Yourself Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12, Saturday, Oct. 13, and Sunday, Oct. 14.

Have you ever wondered about the facts and figures of the Tucson Meet Yourself festival? It takes a lot of people, a lot of time and a lot of food to put on one of Tucson's most loved events:

Interesting Factoids and Figures about TMY:

• Local officials estimate that there will be 120,000 people in total attendance
  
• There will be 100 performance acts
  
• 56 food vendors
  
• 100 folk artists
  
• 80 community agencies
  
• 750 volunteers
  
• $3.5 million in total economic impact expected
  
• 5,280 pounds of food waste to be composted
  
• 20,000 pounds of total waste was produced last year
  
• 50 percent landfill diversion rate at last year’s festival
  
• The event costs about $330,000 to put on
  
• 27 organizations sponsor the event to make it free to the public
  
• Last year a single booth made $10,000 over the course of three days
  
• $133,000 were withdrawn from nearby ATMs last year
  

So, pull out your cash early, recycle your trash and try to see as many performers as possible! For more information on the festival as a whole, click here.

One of many highlights of the upcoming 2018 Tucson Meet Yourself festival includes free showings from The Loft Cinema.

The films will be shown Friday, Oct. 12 and Saturday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Pima County Pavillion on Jácome Plaza.

Films include Selena, a sing-along to the 1997 musical drama written and directed by Gregory Nava about the life and career of Tejano (folk and pop music primarily of Mexican and Mexican American artists in Texas) music starring Jennifer Lopez as the late Tejano star Selena Quintanilla-Perez (127 min.) and RUMBLE: The Indians who Rocked the World, a 2017 feature documentary about the role of Native Americans in popular music history featuring music icons Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Robbie Robertson, Redbone, Randy Castillo, & Taboo (103 min).

This is the second year Tucson Meet yourself is in partnership with the Loft working with Loft directors Jeff Yanc and Zachary Breneman to choose films that have meaning and significance at a folklife festival.

Selena was known as the ‘Queen of Tejano’ and her music both was influenced by and has influenced music along the borderlands. This says a lot about the lasting interest in her as a musician and in the style of her music.

RUMBLE focuses on the influence of native musicians on rock and roll. This is an important story to tell at a folklife festival because “so often people think of "folklife" only as something that celebrate static traditions. That's not true,” said Kimi Eisele, Communications Director for Tucson Meet Yourself.

“Folklorists are interested how traditions are expressed and shared and passed on, and especially in how they change and evolve and make their way into contemporary expressions,” said Eisele.

She believes this film will open a lot of people’s eyes and ears to the influence of indigenous musicians on popular music and be a fun way to bring people together at the festival.

The films are free and open to the public. 

The Tucson Meet Yourself festival, on October 12, 13 and 14, will feature music groups from around the world. Headlining this year are Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers and Mono Blanco.

Nathan Williams jr., or Lil Nathan, started making music with his dad at the age of five playing the washboard. By 14 he moved to drums and accordion on his first album Zydeco Ballin. Williams went on to study Jazz at the University of Louisiana, where he now teaches traditional music.

Zydeco is a form of music originating in Southwest Louisiana by Creole speakers. It is a mixture of rhythm and blues, and the traditional music of Louisiana. Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers will play on Saturday, October 12 at 8 p.m.

Mono Blanco plays Son Jarocho music, which is categorized by a blending of indigenous, Spanish and African music styles, typically featuring a small guitar called a jarana. Lead by Gilberto Gutiérrez Silva, Mono Blanco has been revitalizing the Son Jarocho music since 1997. This particular style comes from the band’s home of Veracruz, Mexico. Mono Blanco plays at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 12 and 5 p.m. on Saturday, October 13.

Find more information about the Tucson Meet Yourself festival here.

The Annual Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival celebrates 45 years and will take place on Oct. 12 to 14, running on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Pima County Library’s Jácome Plaza and adjacent blocks of Church Ave., Stone Ave. and Pennington Street.

Festival organizers say while food is often what draws the public to the festival, it’s the music, dance and folk arts that keep them there.

This year there will be 56 food booths for dishes $12 and under representing Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Peru, Russia, Somalia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands, Laos, Hawaii, New England, the U.S. South, and the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui people who are indigenous to the Sonoran Desert region.

“Many of our vendors come from churches, clubs, and community groups. They cook and sell food that represents their culture and tradition and absolutely love to share that with the public. The money they make they keep. We keep their costs low and assist them with the logistics and organization to be successful. TMY is the largest grassroots entrepreneurial event in Tucson,” said Maribel Alvarez, Program Director of Tucson Meet Yourself and Associate Dean of Community Engagement at the University of Arizona’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Tucson Meet Yourself is produced by the Southwest Folklife Alliance and presented by Casino del Sol Resort. Special partnerships with AIDSWALK Tucson, The Loft Cinema and Low Rider Show & Shine will be sharing culture and heritage of our region.

Join the fun at this free, three-day festival for all ages and enjoy the music, food, films, arts, cultures and much more!

Keep an eye out for our festival highlights blogs coming up on The Range up until the festival!

Poet Roxy Runyan is in love with Tucson—its desert washes, its sunsets, its witchy women. She just released her first book of poems, Poems for Crones, from Ghost City Press, inspired by her search for unabashed, vulnerable truth and love.

Renowned poet Alice Notley said "Read Roxy Runyan's lovely, vulnerable Poems. She has ears, and a heart." And now, you lucky people can take Notley's advice and download a free copy of Poems for Crones here. A print copy is forthcoming, but if you donate to her, shoot her an email with your address at [email protected] and she'll send you one of her printed and hand-sewn physical copies.

The Tucson Weekly interviewed Runyan on what inspires her poetry and, in tandem, her love of life.

Why did you move to Tucson 12 years ago and what has kept you here?
I moved to Tucson when I was an over-achieving but low-funded 18-year-old from Phoenix disgruntled at having to go to U of A rather than some place further. I had a family member who lived there who made it look appealing enough—when I came out to her as a lesbian years later, she revealed her own mostly-closeted life spent as a lesbian, and smiled as she shared that Tucson has, for a while been, "sort of a lesbian mecca."

The queer community is what has kept me in Tucson—the peers here with whom I've grown relationships over the past decade have become my found family members, and it's been incredibly healing as someone who grew up always feeling out of place as a kid.

How does Tucson inspire your poetry?
I worked at Kore Press my last year of college and for a short time after, learning the
ropes of the literary world through the loving and talented, community-centered lens of Tucson's literary scene. The cozy monsoon days, winter weeks, and even oppressive summer heat of Tucson have all inspired my poetry and writing. Tucson remains, for me and many others, a place to be honest in the present moment, which is the place from which the best poetry comes. 

This place has held my heart through terrible grief and beautiful growth, and I thank long walks with my dog through Dunbar Springs, downtown, and the Santa Cruz wash for churning within me processes—emotional, mental, psychological, and artistic—that may have otherwise
stayed stagnant. Not being able to resist stopping to photograph a desert flower in bloom, or praise the brilliant bright red of a vermillion flycatcher against the otherwise brown and green
landscape, and praying to the sunset as I sit atop a roof or on a porch. These moments of being a radically present witness to the beauty of our world—apparent in Tucson unlike anywhere else—have made me the poet and heart-centered person I'm proud to be.

Poems for Crones has been described as "poems written for elder women—grandmothers, crushes, and lovers alike." At just 30-years-old yourself, why was it important for you to write about aging and elderly women?
As a child and the youngest in a family of "all girls," I felt a passionate devotion to and admiration of my older sisters and mother. It often came as a felt call-to-protection. I remember being 4
years old and feeling incredibly uneasy about the way certain men would look at my mother or sisters in the grocery store, or at the post office. The feeling would come over me anywhere really, just in response to the look in some men's eyes or the dishonesty I sensed in their voices.

After I came out as a queer and made peace with the fact that all of us have "issues," be them daddy issues or mommy issues or sister issues or brother issues, I was able to release the shame of my love and attraction for older women, and pursued whatever intimate relationships with them might naturally grow. I've found mentors, friends, and lovers. Oh, I love them so. In exploring romantic and physically intimate and affectionate relationships with women, I continue to feel an energetic pressure valve release every time I share my particular devotion and interest in older women with both queer peers and any older women I get a chance to share it with.

Our society devalues aging and elderly women in so many ways, when in fact they ought to be running the world. A council of queer grandmothers of color, for example, would serve this world with far more heart and wisdom than all the old white men who've been poisoning and harming the life on this planet for centuries with their ego-driven power and control issues. There is magic in an aging woman that ordinary language doesn't quite capture... so I wrote poems for them.

I didn't set out to write poems that would become this book, Poems for Crones, but I knew I needed to compile some of my poems into a book—I have hundreds of poems. It's long been time, and this is just my first—and after a year of picking out some of my favorites, and looking for common themes, and batting around about half a dozen other potential titles, I realized, of course, many of my poems were for older women, including my grandmothers who both passed in the last couple of years. This combined with my passion for reclaiming powerful, diversity-driven language, which patriarchy raises us to believe is "bad" ("witch," "crone," "lesbian," "queer," etc.) made the title and meaning behind the book come clear. My grandmothers were certainly flawed humans, but I've always sustained a felt reverence for their lives and stories, their commitments to joy, in spite of their positions in a world that offered them so few choices, as women.

Besides spending your 20s finding inspiration while wandering Tucson washes, how did you become a poet? What are other things you do to make a living or for fun?

I don't really believe someone sets out or sits down to write a poem or become a poet. For me, the poems I've written that other people seem to enjoy the most just seem to tumble out of my consciousness, byproducts perhaps, of living with my heart and eyes and throat open and my awareness present. I know I'm a poet because poems happen like this for me, and I've gained consistent and enthusiastic readers as time has gone on. I also know I'm a poet because I don't have much else concretely figured out. I have a bachelor's degree in English, so of course I'm  writing poems and working in cafes and figure modeling for art schools and artists, meditating on stillness, or dog-sitting and meditating on movement as I walk and walk and walk a lot of
different dogs. I've done landscaping work, hospitality work, even technical writing, literary marketing, copyblogging and editing gigs here and there. In college I majored in "English" rather than "Literature" or "Creative Writing" because I was too shy or perhaps fearful to admit aloud that I wanted to be a writer. But I've always been a poet. It's the way my heart leaps at the extraordinary
beauty and connection my consciousness finds in the most ordinary things. That makes me a poet. And that makes me committed to keep on living as best as I can. My other hobbies,  passions, and interest really just revolve around the arts and examining and building of integrity, especially within intimate relationships. I believe the most powerful legacy we leave is our impact on others.

Why do you call Tucson "the magical old grandmother" of all Sonoran cities.
I'm not sure why, but usually Tucsonans nod in wide-eyed agreement when they hear me say it. Maybe it is the wonderful elder women I've met here, maybe it's the hills and the trees and the cicadas and dust here that vibrates with a particularly nourishing and enduring tone. Maybe it's all the elder lesbians here (god bless y'all). It's probably all of this and more.

What writers/poets inspire you?

Alice Notley is important to name. Her book, Mysteries of Small Houses, turned me on to poetry in a big way when I was 18, and we've since met each other and are sort of pen pals, which is why I lucked out with such a huge name in poetry giving a recommending blurb to my little first book.

What are a couple of your favorite poems in the book and/or excerpts?
There have been a dozen or so times now that I've handed this book over to someone proudly, expecting them to leaf through it quickly, and instead they sit still for 20 minutes straight and read the whole thing front to back. This experience is what I am most proud of contributing to. Poetry being a medium these individuals admit rarely getting into, yet seeing them absorbed in it feels really special. I write from the heart because this world needs more heart, and I share my writing in order to connect more hearts, selfishly perhaps, to my own. But hey, isn't that all we've got? I'm proud I published poems with certain words and am even writing certain words in this interview which bring up a little fear for me. What will certain family members think when they see these things? But to let go of that, to not try to protect or shield anyone from parts of my  honesty is a growth process I am proud of.

The poems for my grandmothers are perhaps dearest to me. Calling my Grandma Ruth a gladiola, honoring my Grandma Mary Katherine's sense of sing-song joy. These things really feel special to me. I'm also really happy about the way I ended the poem for Hemmi—a very special dead
cat who I have no qualms about honoring as a crone, though Hemmi is the only non-human crone in the book—with the sentences "paint the fence green and tear the big ones down. walls are
for homes," which feels like an important reminder of priorities, especially at this time in history in these borderlands.

Do you have any future projects on the horizon?

I always have poems coming, and I'm working on my next collection while I continue to work on some epic poems and creative essays that feel very important. Central to my work is a focus on
honesty, integrity, and heart. I grieve for how misunderstood and abused the notion of love is, and seek through my writing to help lift up our consciousness around how we care for—how we love—each other and ourselves and all life.

Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries will hold a panel titled ‘1968: A Closer Look at Its Impact’ on Tuesday, October 2 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This event will be a panel discussion where activists, musicians, teachers and writers explore the art, conflicts and everyday life of 1968. The discussion will include stories about what life was like in Tucson for women and people of color, some of the popular protest music and the impact that Edward Abbey’s autobiographic work published in 1968, “Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness” had on this country.

The panel members include Guadalupe Castillo, retired educator and community organizer, Gregory McNamee, author and adjunct lecturer for Eller College of Management, Ted Warmbrand, folk singer and storyteller and Barbea Williams, Artistic Director of Barbea Williams Performing Company and adjunct faculty for UA School of Dance.

So, what happened in 1968?

1. On January 23, North Korea captured the USS Pueblo which threatened to worsen Cold War tensions.
2. On January 30, North Vietnam launched the Tet Offensive against the United States and South Vietnam which signified the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
3. On April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
4. On June 5, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
5. On September 30, Boeing introduced the first 747 “Jumbo Jet” which was the world's largest passenger aircraft.
6. On October 16, two African American athletes took a stand at the Summer Olympics by staging a silent demonstration against racial discrimination in the United States.
7. On November 22, “Star Trek” aired American television's first interracial kiss.
8. On December 24, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman became the first human beings to travel to the moon. 

For the month of October, the University of Arizona’s College of Social and Behavioral Sciences will be hosting a downtown lecture series entitled “Soundscapes: Music, Place, and Identity.”

The lectures will take place at the Fox Tucson Theatre on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. They are free to the public but seating is on a first come first serve basis. After each of the lectures, a special guest artist will play three songs for the audience.

The first lecture on October 4, is named “Music: All this Useless Beauty" presented by Jake Harwood, professor of communications. The second, on October 11, is entitled “From Little Richard to Beyonce: Cultural Blending in Music by UA historian Tyina Steptoe.” On October 18, Maurice Rafael Magaña, an assistant professor of Mexican American studies, will present “Hip Hop Culture and its Visual Impact in Mexico.” Celestino Fernández, Sociology professor emeritus, will finish the series on October 25 with “Norteño, Corridos, and Mariachi: Culture and Conflict in Border Music.”

This will be the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences sixth year of the Downtown Lecture series. Tickets can be reserved through eventbright. Learn more here.

Paint your very own Fall Harvest Water Color painting with Creative Tribe, a community of creative women that gather to be creative!

Creative Tribe will be hosting the watercolor workshop at Reforma Modern Mexican restaurant on Friday, Oct. 12 from 5:45 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Local artist, Alyssa Robinson, will be instructing the workshop and will teach beginners the basic fundamentals, styles and techniques of water color painting. Participants will also be able to take their water color art home. 


The Reforma Mexican restaurant venue is located on 4340 N. Campbell Ave., and will be serving up chips and salsa and alcoholic beverages including $6 margaritas, $6 sangrias, $6 house wine, and $5 cocktails!

Tickets for the workshops are $35.