Friday, January 18, 2019
Yesterday Tucson Weekly published an article about the upcoming Tucson Women’s March on Jan. 20. The story did not include information about the communities that have felt mistreated during the creation of this event.
Summer Aguilera, a member of the Chukson Tucson Water Protectors, went to the first public organizers meeting for the Tucson Women’s March almost a year ago. From the beginning, she began to notice problematic behaviors from within the organization’s leadership.
She said the leaders, many of whom are white, gave titles but no real decision-making power to some of the groups they claim to represent. They wouldn’t allow Spanish-speaking women to give speeches at the march, claiming their accents were too thick. She said they tokenized women of color and LGBTQ+ groups by believing they had done their part just by scheduling people of those identities to speak at the event.
In response to these actions, a community statement was released in opposition of the march. The community members who drafted the statement made it clear they are not speaking for everyone, since there are women of color and LGBTQ+ folks who will participate in the event and have had different experiences with the leadership.
In December, Aguilera brought her concerns to the leaders of the Tucson Women’s March, but was told she was being “uncivil.” She was accompanied by white allies who repeated her exact concerns, to which the leaders welcomingly acknowledged. Aguilera said she and organizers like her were told they are the cause of the divide in the women’s march, and that they were creating the problem.
The national women’s march movement has struggled with inclusivity since the beginning. The public fallout of the Women’s March, Inc. organization over accusations of keeping organizers of color powerless and anti-Semitism beliefs echo similar rifts happening in women’s march organizations across the country. In some of the most liberal cities, women of color and LGBTQ+ folks have experienced pushback from the very organizations that claim to champion their daily struggles.
Here in Tucson, Aguilera believes the women’s march is not really for marginalized people, it’s for those with privilege to feel good about themselves. She said organizing an event makes them feel like they’re being allies, but by maintaining control of it they are only taking resources away from those who actually need it. She said they don’t talk about their own complicity and actions that perpetuate oppression or attend community events organized by the marginalized groups themselves, they only focus on putting together this symbolic march.
Local groups in support of this position include Black Lives Matter Tucson, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Chukson Water Protectors, Border Patrol Victims Network, Sustainable Nations, TYLO (Tierra Y Libertad Organization), Free the Children Coalition, Flowers and Bullets, Sex Workers Outreach Project, Bruv Luv, Pan Left, Split Seeds Production, O’odham Anti Border Collective, Alliance for Global Justice, Take Back the Night, Borderlinks, Tucson Lobaz, GLOO Factory, Green Party of Pima County Chair Sara Mae Williams (Tohono O’odham) and Tucson Brown Berets - Citlamina Xochitlquetzalli along with numerous local activists. Aguilera said the list has grown longer since they released it.
Cynthia Bistrain, the chair of the Tucson Women’s March, said she was very saddened to see their statement. She said this is a difficult space to be in and everyone is plagued by making their own assumptions, but she and the other leaders, many of whom are older women, are still willing to have those difficult conversations.
Marla Pacheco, a representative of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, said they have received support from across the country since they released the statement. Groups in other cities have had the same problems with women’s marches in their cities that claim inclusivity but don’t support it.
Their opposition to the women’s march has actually united communities that have equally been sidelined from the mainstream liberal movement, according to Aguilera.
She and others are planning their own demonstration for International Women’s Day in early March. She said they will give a genuine platform for marginalized groups to speak and will be a safe space for all. More details will be available in the near future.
Tags: Tucson Women's March , Coalicion de Derechos Humanos , Summer Aguilera , Marla Pacheco , Politics , Demonstration , Movement , Social Justice , Image
Thursday, January 10, 2019
The first time actor, director and Rincon High School drama teacher Maryann Green staged a play she’d written herself, she sold out the house. Twice. Those two shows were part of the 2013 Fringe Festival that hooked her on fringe for life.
Now she heads up a volunteer crew of 15 to produce the Tucson Fringe Festival 2019, from Thursday, Jan. 10, through Sunday, Jan. 13. The fest includes 50 performances in 12 local venues. Admission to each show is $10, but a range of multi-show options are available, from a $15, two-admission pass to a $95 all-access pass.
A growing phenomenon around the globe, fringe theater is unique in its artistic freedom. Fringe productions often radically disregard conventions of structure, space, physical language and audience engagement. Acts self-identify as Fringe, pay an artist’s fee and get their names drawn from a hat, or not, as luck will have it.
Green says, “The first week of September, we hold a party where guests take turns pulling shows out of the hat until we have a full line up.”
Tucson Fringe sometimes pays a price for that artistic freedom. “Comedy shows tend to do better, ticket-sales wise,” Green says. “But some of my favorite past shows have been thought-provoking, heavier pieces.
“I was also really happy to be able to offer The Esperanza Dance project a last-minute spot in the festival,” she adds. “They help victims of childhood sexual violence heal through dance and multi-media performance.”
For comedy, we especially look forward to the first entries we’ve seen whose subject matter is entirely about work life: Name Tag Blues, Shane “Scurvy” Spears’ send up of the ignominies along the path to a window office; and Moira Keefe’s, Life as An Associate ...AKA F**ing Cashier, about a retiree’s return to the workforce.
We also like the funny, full-frontal feminism of Mo Urban and Steena Salido’s C*nts vs C*nts Talking About C*nts variety show and Elaine Orion’s Delightfully Rude, winner of the “Best Comedic Performance” award at the 2018 Boulder Fringe Festival.
And we’re looking forward to the Tucson fest’s first straight-up stand up performance, Bill Santiago’s The Immaculate Big Bang, a parody of every deeply believed origin story of everything.
Complete descriptions and tickets for all performances are at squareup.com/store/tucsonfringe.
From 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, the Comedy Alliance of Tucson and the Tucson Fringe Festival co-host “What Are You Laughing At,” a free, audience-participation panel discussion about the comedy scene in Tucson. Details are at catcomedy520.org.
Tags: Maryann Green , Tucson Fringe Festival , Comedy Alliance of Tucson , CATcomedy520 , laugh every night in Tucson , Tucson comedy , Bill Santiago , Mo Urban , Steena Salido , Shane "Scurvy" Spears , Esperanza Dance Project , Moira Keefe , What Are You Laughing At? , The Immaculate Big Bang , C*nts , Delightfully Rude , Life as an associate , Name Tag Blues , Elaine Orion , Image
Thursday, November 8, 2018
According to The Guardian, The movement started in 2011 in Toronto, in response to a cop, Michael Sanguinetti, said: "I've been told I'm not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized."
This year's walk was organized by the UA's Women & Gender Resource Center (WGRC) and Feminists Organized to Resist, Create and Empower (FORCE). The march began from UA's Old Main and ended with a closing ceremony at the Rialto.
"We thought it was especially important this year with the #Metoo movement. Throughout every single march we have been tried to create a safe place and a place to speak out," said Lilly Cain, who helped organize the march. "We want it to be seen and known that we should be able to be safe in these streets, no matter how we dress. It shouldn't matter what time of day or night it is. We should not have to be surrounded by a crowd to feel safe in our own space, in our own bodies."
Tags: slut walk , protest , women , feminism , Slut Walk , Slut , WGRC , FORCE , UA , Tucson , Downtown Tucson , Slutwalk , Metoo , Slideshow , Image
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Anita Malik had never run for political office before, but the aftershock of the 2016 election – including the #MeToo movement and the Brett Kavanaugh hearings – pushed her to get her name on the ballot.
“Everything that was going on just made me want to step in and take that on,” said Malik, a Democrat, of her decision to challenge four-term Rep. David Schweikert, R-Fountain Hills, in a district where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by almost 70,000.
Malik is one of 90 women on the ballot for state or federal office in Arizona this year, accounting for a record-setting 39 percent of the candidates in the state.
That mirrored a national trend in what many national organizations have said would be the Year of the Woman in elections. Cronkite News was able to review ballots in 44 states and found that the number of women running for office ranged from 20 percent in West Virginia to 42 percent in Hawaii.
Most were above 30 percent and Arizona trailed only Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada and Rhode Island for the prevalence of women on the ballot.
In Arizona, the numbers have been steadily rising from 1974, when women made up just 14 percent of the candidates on the ballot. The change is most easily seen in the race to replace Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, where Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally are vying to become the state’s first female U.S. senator.
Arizona political analyst Jason Rose said more women taking a seat at the political table is “a great thing for American history and American democracy.”
“For too long, the American government has largely been ruled by old white men,” Rose said. “And old white men can tend to take a country club approach, a business as usual approach, and not appreciate or address issues of import to more than half the public.”
Rose said the influx of women would bring more moderate policies and a shift in priorities that could potentially bridge the gap between some more divisive political groups.
League of Women Voters CEO Virginia Kase said that the number of women on the ballot this year shows a clear trend of women “starting to realize that they can have it all.”
“They can be a mom, they can be a wife, they can be all of those things that they want to be, and be a great political candidate,” Kase said. “I think that that’s something that we’re starting to see more than ever before.”
But for Meghan Kelly, a Democrat running her first race against a Republican incumbent in the Delaware House of Representatives, the inspiration to run came when a male colleague tried to make a pass at her at work. She said she asked for professional help and he tried to initiate an intimate relationship with her.
“This is not a man’s world,” she said. “It’s our world to share, and men need to learn to respect and honor women too.”
Malik, likewise, said she ran to stand up for women’s rights.
“Really, women have almost become ‘the other’ again for this administration,” she said. “The idea of attacking women’s rights all across the board and just attacking women as a different class is unacceptable, and it put women in a place of, you know, ‘This is not OK.'”
Kase said the increased number of women on the ballot is likely to lead to more female office holders after Election Day. She sees that as a step in the right direction for the women’s movement as a whole, and the beginning of an exciting trend.
“There are always these little anthills … but sometimes those anthills feel like mountains for women,” Kase said. “But what we’re realizing is that we can overcome any obstacle that gets in our way, and we can move those mountains aside.”
Malik said that whether she wins or loses Tuesday, she does not think this will be “just a blip” in her life. She plans to stay involved in politics, whether that means running for office again or just getting more involved politically, and she expects the same in the rest of the country.
“I think 2016 really woke women up and fuelled that flame of, ‘You know what, if you’re not going to represent me, then I’m going to go ahead and do it,'” Malik said. “So this was the starting point, but it’s definitely not the ending point.”
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
Tags: politics , women , voices , elections , election day , women on ballots , women in politics , Image
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
The Equality Tour is coming to Tucson. The event is organized by Equal Means Equal, a charitable organization of the Heroica Foundation. The Equality Tour will feature speakers and comedic and musical performances all in support of passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the U.S Constitution that would guarantee equal rights to both men and women, which would work to eliminate gender pay gaps.
So far, 37 of the 38 states needed to amend the U.S Constitution to include women have voted to ratify, with Nevada and Illinois voting yes in just the past year and a half. Arizona has the potential to be a history-making state because the amendment will only be passed if one more state ratifies.
Speakers at the event will include Kamala Lopez, the executive director of Equal Means Equal, Pamela Powers, Arizona State Representative of District 9, Victoria Steele, candidate for Arizona State Representative District 9, Athena Salman, Arizona State Senator of District 26 and Natalie White, Co-Director of Equal Means Equal and Feminist Artist.
The musical performance is Voices for Change (VFC), a community organization that brings awareness to important social and political issues through music. Soloists will include Ali Handal, Jason Chu and Anthony Fedorov.
Also at the event will be Nobody's Funny, a team of stand-up comics. Performing comics include Samantha Baxley, Buffy Metler, Eugenia Kuzmin, Joel Marshall, Or Mash and Jessica Winther.
The free event will be on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m. and will be located at the MSA Annex Festival Grounds near the Mercado at 267 S. Avenida Del Convento.
To purchase free tickets for admission or for more information about Equal Means Equal, visit: http://equalmeansequal.org/
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
The 30th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference will take place on Oct. 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at JW Marriott star Pass Resort. The conference will feature keynote speakers Alejandra Y. Castillo, Jes Baker and Kelly Fryer. This event is hosted by YWCA Southern Arizona.
Jes Baker: An American writer, photographer and activist who is part of the body positive movement. She blogs about self-image at The Militant Baker. She founded the Body Love Conference and has authored two books: Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living and Landwhale: On Turning Insults Into Nicknames, Why Body Image Is Hard, and How Diets Can Kiss My Ass.
Kelly Fryer: CEO of YWCA Southern Arizona. She was a founding board member and is a teacher in the Eller Social Innovation program at the University of Arizona. She previously served as Associate Professor of Leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. She offered leadership training where she helped hundreds of organizations and thousands of leaders across the U.S. and Canada learn "to do what matters." She also served as Executive Director of Arizona List in 2012 where she helped 39 women get elected to state and local office. She also just completed her 6-month sabbatical to run as candidate for Governor of Arizona.
At the festival, along with the three keynote speakers, there will be two empowering workshop tracks, 14 workshops, live screen-printing by Cream Design & Print, LinkedIn headshots and interactive group activities and networking with 400 leaders. Find more information here and register for tickets here.
Tucson Local Media is a sponsor of this event.
Tags: women , leadership , conference , workshops , speakers , Southern Arizona , YWCA , network , Arizona , activities , Image
Friday, August 24, 2018
For an update on the Backpage.com shutdown and a deep dive into what led to the website's closure, check out Elizabeth Nolan Brown's great reporting.
Backpage started as the literal back page of the Phoenix New Times. Co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin started the weekly paper in 1970. And from the get-go, they were radical.
Nolan Brown speaks with the two men, arrested in Backpage's closure last spring, and looks at the case against the media moguls and the history of the Phoenix New Times and Backpage.
In Arizona, that meant taking ample swipes at Sheriff Joe Arpaio—who would eventually demand years' worth of personal data on New Times readers and have Lacey and Larkin jailed for writing about it—as well as anyone who cozied up to Arpaio, Republican Sen. John McCain, or his wealthy wife, Cindy. The paper would report on the McCains for their involvement with savings-and-loan scammer Charles Keating; dredge up Cindy's dad's connection to mobsters and murdered Arizona Republic journalist Don Bolles; and out Cindy as an opioid addict who forged prescriptions and stole pills from the children's charity she founded.
"We weren't trying to curry favor," says Larkin. "We didn't line up with the establishments in any city that we were involved in….We didn't really care what politicians saw in us. And that's come back to haunt us."
Tags: Backpage , Phoenix New Times , sex workers , Image
Thursday, August 23, 2018
But just as laws that hurt sex workers become more extreme, people are throwing more support behind political candidates who openly oppose such laws, support sex worker rights and even call for complete decriminalization of the industry.
A state Senate candidate in New York is doing just that. Twenty-seven-year-old Julia Salazar, who heads into a Sept. 13 primary against an eight-term incumbent, has attended sex worker advocacy meetings and even has a decriminalization platform on her website.
The Intercept goes deeper into Salazar's advocacy as well as looking at some of the other political candidates standing up for the human rights of sex workers.
Salazar’s platform outlines steps toward decriminalization that include
an end to raids on massage parlors; working with district attorneys to
stop charging sex workers with crimes; and creating a network of
optional social services to address workers’ needs, such as housing,
child care, syringe access, and job training. Her platform would also
make it easier for sex workers with criminal records to access housing
and jobs, along with repealing the exemption for sex workers under New
York’s rape shield law.
Tags: New York , Senate , Candidate , Julia Salazar , The Intercept , sex workers , rights , decriminalization , Image
Thursday, July 5, 2018
“I like how shocked people are when you say 'c*nt.' It's like I have a nuclear bomb in my underpants, or a mad tiger or a gun.” So says Caitlin Moran, London Times journalist and author of "How to Build a Girl." She recently confirmed that "Lady Bird" star Beanie Feldstein will play the lead in that bestseller’s film adaptation.
While we’re waiting for that, we can continue to enjoy Tucson comedy's celebratory riffs on a girl’s anatomy.
Mo Urban and Steena Salido present another in their series, C*nts being C*nts Talking About Their C*nts! at 8 p.m., Friday, July 13. The show is 21+ and admission is $5 at Can’s Deli, 340 North 4th Ave. A portion of the proceeds goes to the YWCA of Southern Arizona Project Period, a program that provides sanitary menstrual products to those who can’t afford them. Donations of sanitary products for the program are also welcome.
Standup comedians include imports Amy Blackwell, who performs regularly at the Scottsdale Laugh Factory; Phoenix area favorites Leslie Barton, April Walterscheid and Kerrilynn Gallagher plus Hannah Tighe of Gilbert and Nikki Dinnella of Chandler. Tucson newcomers Chinna Garza and Megan Gossen make their C*nts debut.
Tucson Storyteller Gina Grande Santos and music by DJ Plastic Disease round out the show.
Estrogen Hour Remembers J-Fin
On Sunday, July 15, The Estrogen Hour, launchpad for a dozen or so women now prominent in Tucson comedy, honors one of the funniest, Jennifer Finley, who died last month of cancer.
Organizers Nancy Stanley and Mary Steed launched the Estrogen Hour a decade ago to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. According to Stanley, “We're departing from our usual fundraising to celebrate the life and comedy of our late friend whose candor and creativity made her a crowd favorite.” Proceeds go to Finley’s family to help defray her funeral expenses.
Stanley will host the show, a lineup of top local women comics and one featured “Guestosterone,” Dominic DiTolla. Comedians include Amber Frame; KXCI’s Bridgitte Thum; Cindell Hanson; Edna Meza Aguirre; Jessica Stapp, who also performs with Tucson Improv Movement; Mo Urban and Steena Salido, co-hosts of C*nts being C*nts Talking About Their C*nts!; Noel Hennessey of FST (Female Storytellers); and Suzie Sexton, host of the annual Comedy for Charity show at the Fox Theatre.
The Estrogen Hour takes place at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, July 15 at Laff’s Comedy Caffe. Tickets are $15 and there is a two-item minimum. The show is 21+ All proceeds benefit Finley's family.
Tags: Dominic DiTolla , Amber Frame; Bridgitte Thum; Cindell Hanson , Edna Meza Aguirre; Jessica Stapp , Tucson Improv Movement , Mo Urban , Steena Salido , C*nts being C*nts Talking About Their C*nts!; Noel Hennessey , FST (Female Storytellers); Suzie Sexton , Comedy for Charity , Laff's Comedy Caffe , The Estrogen Hour , Jennifer Finley , (J-Fin) , Nancy Stanley , Mary Steed , Gina Grande Santos , DJ Plastic Disease , Amy Blackwell , Leslie Barton , April Walterscheid , Kerrilynn Gallagher , Hannah Tighe , Nikki Dinnella , Chinna Garza , Megan Gossen , Lady Bird , Beanie Feldstein , Image
Friday, February 9, 2018
Marga!
“I grew up thinking I'm an artist because I didn't know any other way,” says actor, stand-up comedian and writer Marga Gomez. “My parents were both creative. All their friends were performing artists, so I was very comfortable in this world.”Thus did Gomez become a Cuban Liza Minelli, only lesbian, del pueblo and a lot more savvy.
Her mid-century upbringing, although periodically rocky, surrounded Gomez with humor and filled her with drive. Her mother was a professional dancer; her father was a comedian and songwriter, and a producer of popular, Follies-scale variety shows for New York’s large community of Spanish-speaking immigrants. The hustle to stay on top of the entertainment business defined her family.
Between them, her parents have inspired half Gomez’ output of a dozen popular solo stage shows. The latest is Latin Standards, her tale of the father-daughter entertainer dynamic. Its title refers to the genre of her father’s music; “The comedy is a survival tool,” Gomez says. The New York Times named the show a Critic’s pick when it opened last year at The Public Theatre (Hamilton).
Borderlands Theatre presents Gomez performing Latin Standards February 14 through 18 at the Steinfeld Warehouse, 101 West 6th Street. The run opens with a Valentine’s day fiesta, including live music and food. Details and reservations are available at tinyurl.com/LatinStandards.
“I started writing solo shows because my parents were important but forgotten,” Gomez says. “I wanted the Latino community to know about these people and their times.
“At the end of the show, the great thing that people tell me is, even though I'm a Latina, I'm a lesbian, I'm from New York and I'm neurotic, people can totally relate to the father-daughter story, and they see their own father.”
Parts & Flowers
Mo Urban and Steena Salido bring their third C*nts Being C*nts Talking About C*nts Comedy Show to Flycatcher, free, at 9 p.m., Sunday, February 11 (after the Estrogen Hour benefit at Laff’s at 6). C*nts, etc., features seven comedians, including Genevieve Rice from Phoenix; poet Janet Spencer, and the all-woman rawk band, Sugar Stains. The event benefits the YWCA’s Project Period.For Valentine’s Day, Hotel Congress presents Rebecca Tingley’s talk-show-format comedy show, Let’s Talk About Sex Baby, also featuring Randy Ford and Tammy King. Local comedians play truth or dare and answer audience questions.
Also on Valentine’s day, comedy siren Lisa Landry headlines a show at Laff’s where every woman will get a rose. Visit laffstucson.org for details.
Tags: Marga Gomez , Willy Chevalier , Borderlands Theatre , Latin Standards , comedy , standup , Steinfeld Warehouse , Mo Urban , C*nts , Steena Salido , Rebecca Tingley , Randy Ford , Tammy King , Sugar Stains , Flycatcher , Club Congress , Valentine's Day , Lisa Landry , white roses , Estrogen Hour , truth or dare , Image
