A week ago, the Tucson Weekly editorial staff had a brief meeting to discuss the cover of this week's issue.
The question we pondered: Do we go with another somber (yet hopeful) cover related to the Jan. 8 tragedy, or do we go with the fun, silly movie-issue cover that we planned long ago?
Unanimously, we chose the fun, silly movie-related cover. Yes, the events and aftermath of Jan. 8 are still very much in our hearts and on our minds ... but we have to move on, as best we can.
The next day, we received the draft cover illustration—again, planned long ago—from artist Michael Grimm.
In the True Grit parody illustration, one character was pointing a gun at the others.
Yikes. We asked Michael to please remove that gun-pointing element from the cover; of course, he graciously agreed.
This is just yet another example of how, at least for now, things are a little bit different here than they were before Jan. 8; guns and other symbols have different and more powerful meanings to those of us in Southern Arizona. (For another example of this, check out Margaret Regan's piece here)
While we stuck with the silly movie cover—and, of course, the story that goes along with it—there's ample coverage of the aftermath of Jan. 8 throughout this issue, including an expanded Guest Commentary section and a special Currents section.
In particular, I recommend Mari Herreras' piece 'A Life of Heroism', focusing on the wonderful lives of the three retirees slain on Jan. 8. I also recommend keeping a hanky or a box of tissues nearby.
