Thursday 12
TUNE IN. The American Youth Choir, a select national honor ensemble of boy and girl singers, gathers for the first time in Tucson as it prepares to participate in the Children of the World in Harmony Festival 2001 in Germany and the Czech Republic.
The group of 40 hand-picked children came together under the direction of conductor Julian Ackerley, local director of the Tucson Boys Chorus, just two days before their free concert this evening at the UA.
Join the American Youth Choir for its U.S. debut and bon voyage concert at 7:30 p.m. at the UA School of Music's Crowder Hall, near the pedestrian underpass at Speedway Boulevard and Park Avenue. Sing the praises of the choir with a donation to help cover concert and travel expenses. Call 296-6277 for more information.
WILD AT HEART. Saunter down to Cinema La Placita for another installment in its classic movie series. This week features The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando as the leader of the Black Rebels, a bike pack cruising through California stirring up small towns and their sweethearts.
The show starts tonight at sunset (between 7:30 and 8 p.m.) on the La Placita Village lawn at the southwest corner of Church Avenue and Broadway Boulevard. Admission is by donation to the fund to support the Fox Theatre downtown. Bring a blanket, get comfortable and pray the monsoons don't come 'til later.
Friday 13
THANK HEAVENS. Sometimes heaven sends us a few monkey wrenches to test our faith and keep us on the straight and narrow.
Join Peter Sellers (as an Anglican priest!) as he tries to navigate the backwards workings of an upper-crust English country parish.
The 1963 black-and-white comedy Heaven's Above! is showing for free at the Palo Verde Room of the Parroquia building on the campus of St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. The public is invited to the 7 p.m. screening. A discussion will follow.
Saturday 14
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. Diversity is the buzzword of the 21st century. America, they say, is the most colorful of patchwork quilts, with a population that includes citizens and bloodlines from every crevice of this wide world.
What keeps this beautiful blanket together is the strength of community, and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University has joined forces with the local Center for Creative Photography to document stellar communities around America that are working to create positive change.
Indivisible: Stories of American Community is a national documentary project of photographs and oral histories of life in 12 communities from Alaska to Florida. Well-known photographers and interviewers recorded accounts of grassroots organizations that are seeking creative solutions to issues of housing, healthcare, the environment and race relations, to name a few. Featured are groups such as Diné bí' íína' (Navajo Lifeways) of the Navajo Nation, the Yaak Valley Forest Community of Montana, and the Southwest Youth Collaborative of Chicago.
One highlight is the postcard exhibitions, which feature an interactive computer station to record visitors' own stories of community and give 60 different cards away for free. There will be three more Indivisible postcard exhibitions in Arizona, the first of which is opening today with the museum exhibition in the lobby of the CCP. July 22-28 it will move to the Tucson Mall and a final installation will be on display at the Tucson International Airport from August 6 through September 28.
The CCP invites us to celebrate the opening of Indivisible with a free community breakfast open house Saturday morning from 8 to 11. Twenty of Tucson's grassroots organizations will be on hand to provide free information, including Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Tucson Arts Brigade, Women for Sustainable Technologies and more, all before the backdrop of local music. Refreshments will be provided by Raging Sage Coffee Roaster and Beyond Bread, and the event will be broadcast by community radio 91.3 FM KXCI.
The exhibition runs through September 30 at the CCP, at the UA pedestrian underpass at Speedway Boulevard and Park Avenue. Regular museum hours are Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Admission is always free.
AYE AYE. Pull into port at the "funnest toy store in town."
Join Mrs. Tiggly Winkle tonight for the pirate party of the year. Take to the high seas for an evening of tall tales with Captain Kidd, hunt for hidden treasure and watch the greatest pirate duel this desert's ever seen.
Grown sea wolves can climb aboard for $10, and sea dogs 12 and under sneak in for $6. Tickets are required and seating is limited, so pillage and plunder, whatever it takes, to get your place in line. Mrs. Tiggle Winkle will be waiting for you at 4811 E. Grant Road. Call 326-0188 for reservations and more information.
Sunday 15
ARIZONA DREAMING. Support local authors and small presses this weekend while you collect a piece of regional history. Tucsonan Patrick Lavin, author of Arizona: An Illustrated History published by Hippocrene Books, signs copies of his book at Barnes and Noble at the Foothills Mall, 7325 N. La Cholla Blvd., today at 2 p.m. It's free and open to the public. Call 742-6621 for more information.
FINDING YOUR WAY. Feeling lost in the oppressive monsoon heat? The Tucson Orienteering Club will help you find your way.
Join this map 'n' compass brigade this Sunday at Greasewood park at Speedway Boulevard and Greasewood Road for a variety of courses for beginners to "line-O" level participants. There is a free beginners' clinic covering all the basics just before the event starts. The day costs $8 for individuals ($3 for members) or $10 per team ($5 for members). But dues are a mere $10 per year or, even better, $15 a year for the entire household. Why hold back?
Bring your compass and a whistle; even those can be rented for a mere dollar, so relax, bring your disoriented self down to the park and prepare to get your bearings back. The course and beginner's clinic all open at 7 a.m., and you can begin the course until 8:30 a.m.
Monday 16
WHAT COLOR IS YOUR FEAR? The ever-popular Unlearning Racism: The Color of Fear workshops continue to provide a forum for community members to explore racism in their lives. Since October of 1998 3,329 individuals have attended. This program has continually encouraged and taught participants how to come to a deep understanding of difference in their community and how to recognize the subtleties of racism. The powerful film The Color of Fear is featured in the four-hour seminar.
Participation costs $15 and registration is open to all. Today's workshop is sponsored by the YWCA and will be held at the Community Services Building of the United Way Complex, 310 N. Commerce Park Loop, just west of I-10. To register contact 884-7810 or jnichols@ywcatucson.org.
Tuesday 17
FLOWER POWER. For thousands of years people have been enchanted with the beautiful orchid. There are an estimated 30,000 kinds of wild orchids around the world, mostly in the tropics, and in the last few hundred years humans have created many more hybrids. "People get very passionate about orchids; they just seem to get hooked," says Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief, a tale of the orchid's remarkable history and biology and one man's obsession with the flowers.
For those of us who can't resist the orchid's magic despite dwelling in this desert pueblo, the Tucson Botanical Gardens brings How to Grow Orchids with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's Mark Dimmitt.
Learn about the major groups of orchids and how to grow and care for them even outside of a greenhouse tonight from 7 to 9:30. Admission is $22 for garden members, $28 for nonmembers. The Botanical Gardens await you at 2150 N. Alvernon Way. Call 326-9686 or visit www. tucsonbotanical.org for more information.
Wednesday 18
MYSTERY MAN. Before turning full-time to mystery writing, Michael McGarity was the deputy sheriff of Santa Fe County (where he established the first sex crimes unit), an instructor at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy and an investigator for the New Mexico Public Defender's Office. Drawing from his experiences, he has authored a series of modern mysteries revolving around investigator Kevin Kerney,
The fifth in the series, Under the Color of Law has Kerney back in Santa Fe, newly installed as police chief, when a U.S. ambassador's estranged wife is found murdered in her multi-million dollar home. When an FBI antiterrorism team takes control of the inquiry things go seriously awry.
Join the author for a discussion and signing of his latest at Clues Unlimited, 123 S. Eastbourne Ave., today at 5 p.m. The event is free, of course. Call 326-8533 for more information.
BAT TO BASICS. Learn about some sweet desert visitors with Bill Peachey this evening.
Peachey, a speliologist (shorthand for caveman) and bat researcher, lectures about two species of Mexican nectar-feeding bats that migrate north to our neck of the Sonoran desert.
He shares his observations at 7 p.m. at the International Wildlife Museum, 4800 W. Gates Pass Road. Admission is $3 and free for members. Contact Emilie Joyce at 629-0100, ext. 336 with any questions.
