Tucson Weekly: Opinion

Danehy

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Tom Danehy) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Despite the sudden death of his mother, Devonte Malcolm keeps going to school, on time, every day by Tom Danehy Devonte Malcolm was on time for his first class of the day at Buena High School in Sierra Vista a couple of weeks back. His classmates normally wouldn't have thought anything of it. Devonte was always in class and always on time; someone had convinced him of the veracity of that old saying that 90 percent of success in life is just showing up. He was proud of his perfect attendance. His mom would have been proud, too, except she…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Messina

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Irene Messina) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Transgender people face the challenge of matching mind and body by Irene Messina Imagine this scenario: You wake up tomorrow morning and realize your body has changed overnight. If you were male, you are now female. If you were female, you are now male. What would you do? "While you might be a little fascinated and a little curious, it would wear off pretty quickly," says Alison Davison. "You'd probably do whatever it took to get back to being yourself." Davison, the program director for the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, speaks from experience.…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Guest Opinion

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Vicki Hart) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

A battle between a 24-hour coffee shop and its frustrated neighbors rages on by Vicki Hart The Duncans moved into the Samos Neighborhood in 2002. The neighborhood that the Duncans and I live in is bounded by Campbell and Mountain avenues, and Grant Road and Glenn Street. The Duncans loved their home and found the Samos neighborhood to be friendly and eclectic. However, their feelings on the neighborhood would soon begin to change. Coffee X Change started keeping its doors open 24 hours a day—and a neighborhood nightmare began. Soon, the Duncans' sleep was disrupted on…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Ask a Mexican!

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Gustavo Arellano) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Gustavo Arellano Dear Mexican: Why, oh why, do most Mexican women in the United States cut their long, black hair after reaching the pivotal age of 40? Not only do they cut it short; they then proceed to dye it all shades of the most unnatural hair color for Mexicans: red. My own madre is guilty of this offense! Why is this the case? Why do women in Mexico tend keep their long flowing hair and trencitas, while women here in the…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Mailbag

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Our Nation's Health-Care System Offers Excitement! Renée Downing (Nov. 12) seems uncomfortable with our nation's health-care system, failing to realize how cliffhangingly exciting it is to live in the only great nation that looks with transcendent indifference upon its citizens bankrupted by medical expenses or sentenced to death because they don't qualify (can't pay) for care. It's been years since I tried to challenge a charge for $16 for one aspirin in a California hospital, but considering inflation, the $20…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Econ 101

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Jimmy Boegle) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Jimmy Boegle The big question indirectly posted by this week's issue: So, is the economy rebounding? I don't know the answer to that question, and, frankly, I don't think anybody else does, either. However, Stephen Phinny, the developer behind the controversial northwest-side Saguaro Ranch development, thinks his fortunes (Saguaro Ranch is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy) will be turning around after Thanksgiving. And they'd better, for his sake: Saguaro Ranch reportedly hasn't sold a lot since early 2008. Check out Mari Herreras'…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Danehy

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Tom Danehy) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Tom has opinions on the Wildcats, hospitals, vaccines and a white dude who can really sing by Tom Danehy Some stuff I need to mention before we get into the holiday season: • Is this a great time to be an Arizona Wildcats football fan, or what? Only one Pac-10 team is ahead of Arizona in the standings, and a home game with that first-place team is coming up. We need to bask in this right now, because the Cats will probably be underdogs in three of their last four games, and the one game they'll be favored in,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Downing

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Renée Downing) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Price tags: the elephant in the room in health care by Renée Downing My mom fell and broke a bone in her hand a couple of weeks ago. She was beautifully cared for at El Dorado Urgent Care, where we got in quickly—and where, as the nurse told us, they were thrilled to see somebody who didn't have the flu. They took X-rays, splinted her up and sent her on to the Tucson Orthopedic Institute, where she got a cast the next day. After a week, the cast started giving her trouble, so…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Guest Opinion

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Jonathan Thompson) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

More and more Native Americans are fighting tribal governments on behalf of the environment by Jonathan Thompson In late September, Joe Shirley Jr., president of the Navajo Nation, sent out a provocative press release charging that "environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty." Shirley made his attack while joining Northern Arizona's Hopi tribal council in "unwelcoming" conservation groups from those tribes' lands, which sprawl across portions of three Southwestern states. The national press played the story this way: Job-starved Indians were fed up with white urbanites who put flowers and bugs above…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Mailbag

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

MOCA 'Controversy' Yet Another Example of Republicans Trying to Control Personal Lives Over the past decade, I've been continually amazed by how members of the Republican Party concoct stories, with no basis in the truth, to further their political and social-control agenda. Now we have the national drama playing out in our own backyard ("Bunch of Dicks," Currents, Oct. 22). While extreme-right Republicans claim to want less government, they actually want more government control over our personal lives and values.…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Ask a Mexican!

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Gustavo Arellano) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Gustavo Arellano Dear Mexican: Whenever I see ads for Mexican ramera, they always describe themselves as "spicy." Are Mexican women hiding habaneros in their panochas? Concha Curious Dear Gabacho: "I wish I could say that 'Mexican Spitfire' Lupe Vélez was to blame for the 'spicy' epithet so often associated with Mexican femme pulchritude," says William Nericcio, author of Tex(t)-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America, "or that ersatz Latinas Rita Hayworth or Raquel Welch had conspired with the intrinsically hot movements…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Polish Up Those Kickin' Boots!

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Jimmy Boegle) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Jimmy Boegle Is there a person, a place or a thing that you think Tucson would be better off without? If so, let us know! We'll be publishing our seventh annual Get Out of Town! issue on Dec. 17, and alongside the list of ne'er-do-wells that we Tucson Weekly scribes are dispatching from the Old Pueblo, we'll publish reader Get Out of Town! submissions. A few ground rules: Please try to kick entities out of town that we have not already kicked…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Ask a Mexican!

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Gustavo Arellano) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Gustavo Arellano Dear Mexican: Why do beaners or gabachos deliberately try to ignore white people and act like they're not there? Or when you're walking by, why do the lady beaners laugh so hard with a repulsive fake laugh that makes you want to just punch them? Not only I have noticed this; a lot of other people say the same thing. Is it their secret way of saying, "Hey, notice me; I can have fun too!" It's just plain, right-out rude,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The Future

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Jimmy Boegle) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Jimmy Boegle Every so often, an unplanned theme seems to miraculously emerge from an issue of the Tucson Weekly. It's happened this week. The theme: The future of Southern Arizona. In Opinion, Tom Danehy weighs in with some thoughts on the future of city government and the arts, while Irene Messina makes the case that Tucson needs to stop pretending to be a small town. Meanwhile, in our Currents section, Leo W. Banks reports on what scientists fear buffelgrass could do to…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Danehy

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Tom Danehy) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

The City Council could learn a lesson from 19th-century Belgium by Tom Danehy By the time you read this, the Tucson city elections will be over, and we'll all know whether Steve Kozachik pulled the upset over Nina Trasoff, if Ben Buehler-Garcia came close enough to put a scare into Karin Uhlich, and if Shaun McClusky pulled even 30 percent against Steve Leal's anointed successor, Richard Fimbres. Then there's also that pesky Proposition 200, which would make the city of Tucson safer or bankrupt, or both. I'm writing this the weekend before the…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Messina

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Irene Messina) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Tucson needs to look in the mirror and see its true size by Irene Messina Review some of the Old Pueblo's rankings in various surveys, and the picture isn't pretty. In February of this year, Tucson was no. 18 in BusinessWeek's "America's Unhappiest Cities." This summer, we ranked no. 12 in the Old Spice "Sweatiest Cities" survey. And in October, the folks at The Daily Beast rated Tucson a mediocre 17 out of 36 on their "Best (and Worst) Cities to Meet Men" list. Yes, our high suicide rate is a serious issue; it's hard…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Guest Opinion

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Germar D. Townsend) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

These days, the Arizona Department of Economic Security is not fulfilling its mission by Germar D. Townsend They want you to give up and leave," someone shouted recently at a Tucson Arizona Department of Economic Security office. Those hopeful of receiving benefits and the chair-swiveling number-callers both seemed justifiably indignant. The language was R-rated, and the mood was bleak. The Arizona Department of Economic Security's Web site includes text that reads, "Every child, adult and family ... will be safe and economically secure." That is a bold statement, to say the least. It was my fourth such…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Mailbag

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Claim: The Damage Done by Illegal Immigrants Should Be a Censored Story I think you left out the biggest story not covered by the mainstream media in 2008 and 2009 ("Censored! Oct. 22). The damage done by illegal immigration is almost a taboo subject within the mainstream media. They filter the truth and facts through their political views rather than just report the news when it comes to immigration. Even during California's huge budget crisis earlier in the year, the…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Guest Opinion

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Jonathan Hoffman) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

TUSD seems to be focusing on 'social justice' rather than academic standards by Jonathan Hoffman Dr. Ben Chavis, a Native American from North Carolina who earned both a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in education from the University of Arizona, took over a failing charter school in Oakland, Calif. He instituted high academic standards and was a tough disciplinarian who passed out detentions freely. Dr. Chavis' American Indian Public Charter School (AIPCS) has been consistently rated as one the top five of the roughly 1,300 junior high schools in California. Back in the Old Pueblo,…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Online and Upcoming

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Jimmy Boegle) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Jimmy Boegle Stuff worth noting this week: • I am sure you'll just love our Yum! dining guide this week, and after that, we have a ton of other special issues coming up. Mark your calendars: Our Gift Guide hits the streets on Nov. 19, with its companion piece, our last-minute GASP! gift guide, coming out on Dec. 10. That will be followed by our year-end trifecta: Get Out of Town! (Dec. 17), Local Heroes (Dec. 24) and the Year in Review…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Mailbag

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Prop 401, 402 Supporter Is Disappointed in the 'Weekly' Many thanks to the Tucson Weekly for endorsing Propositions 401 and 402 to help improve funding for schools in the Tucson Unified School District (Oct. 8). I know the Weekly also understands the important role of our local print media in accurately describing the complexities of the school-funding issues underlying the need for these ballot measures. For this reason, I was disappointed that the Weekly's coverage ("Budget Boost?" Currents, Oct. 8)…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Ask a Mexican!

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Gustavo Arellano) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

by Gustavo Arellano Dear Mexican: For most of my life, I was oblivious to the hate that Mexicans have for Salvadorans. I became aware of it when I made the huge mistake of marrying a Salvi. Once I became engaged to my Salvi girlfriend, or whenever I would tell any Mexican that I married a Salvi, I was bombarded with so much hate! I'd get responses like, "Eww, a Salvi," or "Damn, I feel sorry for you—you married a salvi!" I've since divorced…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Danehy

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Tom Danehy) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Tom is a contender at the Bisbee 1000 Steps—a contender for last place by Tom Danehy I did the Bisbee 1000 Steps thing a couple of weeks ago. (See "Stairway to Heavin'," Oct. 15.) I can't really say that I ran it; that would be misleading, or, more correctly, hilarious. Neither can I say that I competed in it. "Competed" connotes that others were aware of my presence and had to put forth an effort to stay ahead of me. All I can say is that I did it. I actually finished just ahead of a…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Serraglio

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Randy Serraglio) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Yet another Warehouse Arts District stalwart faces eviction by Randy Serraglio You've probably never heard of Dwight Metzger or the Gloo Factory, but if you've been in Tucson for longer than a few hours, you almost certainly know of their work. You may have seen one of Dwight's stickers on the back of a car, his posters in a shop window, his fliers tacked to a bulletin board, his newsletters on a coffee table, his buttons on a backpack, his campaign signs in a neighbor's yard or his T-shirts on a…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Danehy

mailbag@tucsonweekly.com (Tom Danehy) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 -0700

The Pima County Sports Hall of Fame inducts a voice by Tom Danehy If you've lived in Tucson for any reasonable amount of time and are not a complete hermit, the chances are good that you've heard Dale Lopez's voice at one time or another. How's this for a partial résumé? He's been the public-address announcer for the various Tucson minor-league baseball teams for the past 25 years; he's also done Amphi football for more than 20 years, Pima College basketball for more than 20 years and Tucson High basketball for more than…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]