Cover Story
Banged Up
C.J. Dozier remembers having a headache, but he doesn’t remember the impact. He just heard the whistle and kept practicing. “Next thing I know, I was (feeling) more and more out of it,” he said. Arizona’s rising sophomore linebacker was practicing during fall camp in August 2013, just a couple weeks before the season opener…
Scarlett Johansson Loves Tucson, Does Not Care About New Jersey
She seems reasonable.
From “The Times They Are a-Changin'” (1964) to “Things Have Changed” (2000) and Beyond
The times have indeed a-changed. From Peanuts, 1971: To the current issue of the AARP Magazine: As Pete Townshend might say, I’m just talkin’ ’bout my [aging] generation.
Give Beading Divas Your Extra Bling for the Sake of Animals
If you’re sitting on mountains of beads at your house after a Gem Show spending spree, don’t worry. The Beading Divas are looking for bead donations to keep their bracelets for a cause operation running. From now until March 7, you can drop off your extra beads to one of many locations, including Silver Sea…
UA Undergrads Were Also Heard on National Adjunct Walkout Day: ‘We Hold a Great Deal of Power’
It was great to hear from some undergraduate students today at the UA’s participation in National Adjunct Walkout Day, asking the administration where exactly their tuition money heads to and demanding better working conditions for the adjunct, tenure track and graduate students who help educate them on a daily basis. More than 150 people (very…
Celebrate the Rialto Theatre and Gin on Feb. 28 in Vaudeville Style
Hey all you gin-thusiasts out there—it’s time to turn your love of the white botanical spirit into a show of support for Tucson’s historic (and nonprofit) Rialto Theatre this Saturday, Feb. 28. The Gin Joint Jubilee at Rialto will be part fundraising gala and part roaring ’20s theme party (yes, you can and should dress…
McSally Sidesteps Questions About Clean Funding Bill for DHS While Shutdown Looms
Congress remains deadlocked over funding for the Department of Homeland Security as a Friday deadline to prevent a partial shutdown of the agency looms. There’s movement today in the Senate to try to find a way out of the impasse, according to Talking Points Memo: On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Democrats…
Tucson Tandem Combines Viva La Local and Cyclovia Festivals in April
Get your planners out, folks, because the Heirloom Farmers Markets and Living Streets Alliance have announced the dates for this year’s Tucson Tandem weekends. The pair of two day events blend the Viva La Local Food Festival and Cyclovia Tucson into a weekend long celebration of two of the best things known to man: good…
Talking Comics: Zombies Vs Robots feat. Waka Flocka Flame!
This week in Talking Comics, Cynthia and Jenny review Zombies Vs Robots #1. The zombie apocalypse is here and the robots are on the humans’ side. How cool is that? Go Team Humans! This comic is made up of three stories by Anthony Diecidue, Ashley Wood, Chris Ryall, Steve Niles and Val Mayerik. Also: a…
At TUSD Board Meeting, State Sen. Steve Farley Tells Michael Hicks How It Is: You Should Resign
State Sen. Steve Farley and state Reps. Sally Ann Gonzales and Victoria Steele attended the Tucson Unified School District board meeting this evening to give a legislative update on a bill that seeks to defund desegregation programs at several state school districts, including TUSD, which would take the “biggest hit” at $64 million cut from…
UA Adjunct Walkout Happening Tomorrow: A Demand for Better Wages, Working Conditions & No More Bullshit
Here’s the thing about adjunct faculty and working graduate students who are teaching assistants: they save the University of Arizona good money. Last week, I reported that merely about 25 percent of the UA’s budget expenditures goes toward instruction: wages to TAs, adjunct staff, and others at the forefront of students’ education, who oftentimes work…
“We’re Planning to Keep Cutting Education Spending,” Conservatives Say
Conservatives have been talking for years about how our “failing government schools” waste money, but they didn’t start cutting K-12 education budgets in earnest until they had the 2008 financial crisis to blame. “It’s not our fault. We can’t afford to keep funding schools at the current level with our state revenues plummeting.” The implicit…
The Abbey’s Burger Makes Its Jackson Tavern Debut
You might still be reeling from The Abbey’s closure last year, but now you can have a taste of something familiar at Brian Metzger’s other joint Jackson Tavern. That’s because the Old Fort Lowell area restaurant is bringing back one of The Abbey’s signature dishes: the Abby Burger. Although other places in town serve up…
Spend Your Thursday Night with Golden Boots, Ramen and Beer
If you’re already pining for the weekend, you can consider getting it all started a little early on Thursday when Tap & Bottle offers up the ultimate triple threat: free local music, a ramen food truck and an encyclopedic stock of craft beer. Starting at 5 p.m., Fat Noodle food truck will be slinging bowls…
Sue Sisley’s Medical Marijuana for PTSD Research Officially Rejected by 3 State Universities
Prominent Arizona medical marijuana researcher Sue Sisley has given up on any of the state’s public universities to house the research she’s been doing for years on the effects pot has on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Sisley brought that research to the University of Arizona close to five years ago, and got approval from the…
Paul Krugman Gets It Right About Education and Jobs
NY Times columnist Paul Krugman is an economist and a college prof, so he’s very qualified to talk about the intersection of education, economics and the job market. He gets it right in today’s column. His basic thesis: today’s weak job market and low wages aren’t the fault of a broken education system. Just to…
Take These UA Baseball Tickets, Please
Well, I’m giving you a little more notice than last week. We are giving away four tickets to the following UA Baseball games: Tuesday, Feb. 24 against Oakland at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25 against Oakland at 3 p.m. We’re drawing names for Tuesday’s game tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and we’ll draw Wednesday’s tickets three hours…
Let’s Listen to a New Calexico Single on SoundCloud
A second single from Calexico’s upcoming Edge of the Sun debuted on SoundCloud today. “Falling From the Sky” features Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell. Click play to give it a listen. Edge of the Sun, recorded at downtown Tucson’s WaveLab Studios and featuring a whole bunch of guest stars, drops on April 14.
Don’t Miss Tig Notaro at Rialto Theatre on Wednesday
Fans of the Professor Blastoff podcast already know that Tig Notaro’s performance is a must-see this Wednesday, but, in case you need convincing, consider one of the moments that rocketed Notaro into the national gaze: One night at LA’s comedy hotspot the Largo, Notaro took the stage and instead of carrying on with her normal…
Justice Department Files Appeal to Federal Judge’s Temporary Block of Obama’s Immigration Actions
Today, the Department of Justice filed an appeal and a request for a stay of a Texas federal judge’s preliminary injunction from last week that blocked President Obama’s Nov. 20 immigration actions. If granted, both would allow for two relief programs—one for parents of U.S. citizen and legal resident children and the other an extension…
Border Biz vs. Big Banks
Curt Prendergast of the Nogales International updates readers on the ongoing problem that Arizona’s international businesses are having with major banks pulling out of border communities: On Feb. 10, Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Arizona Republicans, called for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to examine the…
Spend the Afternoon Learning How to Survive in the Desert
Tucson has been extra beautiful the last few days, and that might have you wanting to spend sometime outside. But, if you’re the cautious type, Saguaro National Park West has you covered. This afternoon at 2:15 p.m., the park will lead a 45 minute Sonoran Secrets to Desert Survival walk, which will help “identify the most common…
(Is This a Joke?) Arizona Set to Appeal Driver’s Licenses for DREAMers
Attorney General Mark Brnovich is ready to continue the legal fight to strip DREAMers off driver’s licenses. Last month, U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell made permanent a December preliminary injunction that allowed young immigrants under President Obama’s DACA program, which in 2012 granted hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought here as children renewable…
No More AIMS; Diane Douglas Proposes “Thorough” Review of State Education Standards
Earlier today, Gov. Doug Ducey got rid of the requirement to pass the AIMS test in order to graduate high school, and this might have officially ended the beef for now between Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, because she was very happy about that decision. “I congratulate the Legislature and Governor Ducey…
Court: Feds Can’t Detain Central American Women, Minors Seeking Asylum to Deter Others From Coming
The federal government can’t detain Central American women and children seeking for asylum as a tactic to keep others from coming to the U.S., according to a federal court’s preliminary injunction in a class-action suit filed in December by the American Civil Liberties Union, brought on behalf of asylum-seeking mothers and children who are being held at…
Auggie Smith and Local Comedians Stand Up for a Cause at Borderlands
If you missed last night’s Arizona’s Funniest Comedian competition at Laff’s Comedy Caffe, you still have a chance to get some solid laughs in this weekend and this time it’s all for a good cause. On Sunday, Auggie Smith will be joined by six local comedians at Borderland’s Brewing Company for a comedy event to…
Anti-Abortion Bill Passes State Senate
The Arizona Senate voted 17-12 to advance a bill that prohibits women from buying health insurance coverage that covers abortion via the federal insurance marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act. The legislation, which I wrote about in this week’s Skinny, was amended to allow women to purchase policies that cover abortion in cases of…
You Can Buy a Tucson Hookah Lounge on Craigslist—No, Seriously
After less than a year of running Tru Vibe Lounge Hookah & Vapors, Adam Brock is putting his hookah and e-cigarette business up for sale, but not in the way that you might think. On Wednesday, Feb. 18, Brock posted an ad via Craigslist to help draw attention to the sale of his business, which…
We’ve Just Finished Giving Away Wildcat Tickets for Every Day This Weekend
Annnnnnd, we’re done! Thanks for playing, folks. I’ll try to give you a little more notice next time. Alright, folks! We only have this afternoon’s tickets left! If you want them, please specify you mean the tickets for today. — Alright, sports fans, hurry up! I was just handed a stack of Wildcat Tickets for…
Learn About Heirloom Fruit Trees at the Sonoran Desert Museum
Your backyard might be home to a fig, pomegranate or quince tree and chances are you have no idea what to do with it. You know the fruit on the tree is edible, but when it comes to growing, pruning and grafting these trees, well, you might need some help. Get a professional look at…
Manna from Heaven Serves Up Authentic Indian Frybread in Barrio Hollywood
A big plastic banner outside of an empty storefront read “Indian Frybread Coming Soon” on the corner of St. Mary’s Road and Grande Avenue. Well, that soon is now because Manna from Heaven is finally open and slinging up frybread, burritos, dorado tacos and more. The small stand is clean, modest and very welcoming, with…
Diane Douglas Quietly Visited TUSD Yesterday
Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas was in Tucson yesterday to meet, for the second time since stepping into office, with Tucson Unified School District Superintendent H.T. Sanchez and do some classroom visiting at Rincon High School. I imagine the visit was related to the notice of noncompliance sent to the district in January by…
That Was Fast. Who’s Behind the Douglas-Ducey Robopoll?
Two people told me they took a robocall poll a few days ago. Apparently there were four questions. Two were a variation on the question, “Do you think the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction position should be elected or appointed?” The other two asked what the respondent thinks of Diane Douglas and Doug Ducey. Well,…
Cruise, BBQ & Blues Car Show to Display Hundreds of Classic Cars
Barbecue, live blues music and a whole bunch of classic cars will be yours to experience on Saturday, Feb, 21 when the Cruise, BBQ & Blues Car Show takes over the Oro Valley Marketplace. Attendees can gaze longingly at hundreds of vintage rides as judges give out over 40 different trophies, including Best of Show, Best Interior, Best…
Cobalt Cranes Bring Lolipop Love to the Flycatcher
For all of you Lolipop Records devotees, it’s time to set aside your stacks of cassette tapes and head to the Flycatcher on Friday, Feb. 20. Cobalt Cranes are stopping into town and their recent album “Days in the Sun” is dark and moody neo-psych at its finest with a dash of grunge for good measure.…
Douglas Battles Ducey & Board of Ed: Republicans Hate It When Republicans Fight Against Republicans Like Republicans
Pass the popcorn, folks—or maybe the nachos and beer, depending on your choice of couch-side refreshments as you watch your favorite sport. For political junkies like me who prefer political sparring to sports, this looks like the first few minutes of a classic matchup. Ed Supe Diane Douglas fired two Board of Education employees. Then Ducey…
Scraps on Scraps Solves Your Compost Problems
Cooking for yourself at home can save you cash and it can also be a good outlet for your culinary creative energy. However, by the end of the meal, there’s a good chance you’ve built up a small pile of odds and ends off of veggies, fruits and more. Unless you’re an avid gardener and…
Inmates Win: State Prisons Are Gonna Have to Provide Good Health Care and Control Use of Solitary Confinement Now
Yesterday afternoon a federal court approved a settlement in a suit against state-run prisons’ health care and excessive and improper use of solitary confinement (which oftentimes resulted in deaths that could have been prevented) on behalf of more than 33,000 inmates. The hearing was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the decision was out by 6…
Danehy
Over the past year, this column has dealt with Riemann surfaces, Galois Theory, Direchlet boundary conditions, differential geometry and algebraic topology—topics in higher math that reflect the general intellectual level of our readers. However, every now and then, we have to take several steps back to some pretty basic concepts to help correct an oft-repeated…
Goodbye Will
Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble announced he plans to step down on March 3. Humble gave Gov. Doug Ducey his resignation on Friday, Feb. 13. The director was front and center in the implementation of the state’s voter-approved medical marijuana program, and while some marijuana advocates feel Humble did little to speed…
The Pleasure Activist
We’ve all heard of the “runner’s high” (operative words being: “heard of”).This is a euphoric state that some runners experience as their bodies flood with either endorphins or endocannabinoids (sounds like cannabis for a reason!). For those of you who simply do not have the taste for extended cardiovascular exercise, you’re possibly in luck—that is,…
Sichuan Sidepiece
Everyone has their go-to dining spots—the kinds of places you find yourself stumbling into on near autopilot time and time again. Then there are the backups—the places that aren’t necessarily your first pick, but they can get the job done in a pinch or add some much needed diversity into a stale dining routine. If…
Editor’s Note
We live in crazyland. Yes, I know, each of us has our own version of what that means standing on the left or right. However, there’s only so much a governed populace can take being governed by the same unforgiving, private prison-loving and anti-public education philosophies year after year. If we disagree there’s not much…
Quick Bites
SEASONS CHANGE Bad news came for fans of Mexico in Season. The owners posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page on Thursday, Feb. 5 that that Saturday would be the last day guests could come and enjoy their fresh Mexican food offerings. Despite owner Priscilla Teran’s attempts to stay open with a Kickstarter fundraiser, with less…
Dust Devils
Tucson, a Magical Valley. Surrounded by beautiful mountains, in just the perfect configuration to create the perfect winds, to create the perfect weather. Occupied for thousands of years by people who believed their land to be part of their religion. The hearts and words of many prayers still linger in this desert. If thoughts are…
Deconstructing the Creative Block
Tucson is a city pulsing with creative energy. Behind every reading, gallery, film and performance are the makers and shakers that prioritize creative expression. Without their dedication to creating, even when they face obstacles in the creative process, the imaginative spirit that we all cherish would ebb. But what if creators didn’t have that block…
Police Dispatch
A Real Snot-Nosed Brat Foothills Area Jan. 16, 9:24 a.m. A rebellious teenager vandalized his mother’s bedroom and personal bathroom with mucus and eggshells when she deprived him of technological toys and entertainment, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. Deputies were called to the youth’s house, where his mother said he’d recently dropped…
One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure
Over the past few years this nationwide phenomenon has been growing steadily in Tucson. On Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. at the Hilton Tucson East, the community awareness group The Tribe-Tucson will be hosting a workshop that teaches attendees how to crochet mats out of plastic grocery bags. The mats are then given to…
Naval Salute
Penny Welch didn’t expect to find herself sitting in the living room of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, but there she was last week. Welch, 60, and her husband, David Welch, were visiting the former congresswoman and the retired astronaut to pick up the U.S. Navy uniform her father, LeRoy James Vacovsky, wore during his…
GMOs! What Are They Good For?
Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have been a buzzword since the “going green” trend swept the country. Organic choices at grocery stores and in restaurants boast being GMO free, but what does that mean, exactly? On Wednesday, Feb. 25 from 5:50 to 7:30 p.m. Science café Environmental Health on the Rocks is bringing in two…
Fed Up
There are imminent budget cuts, once again, coming to the University of Arizona. If this trend follows the same pattern it’s laid out since 2007, another tuition and fees hike may hit some students in the face, although the head of the Arizona Board of Regents, which oversees the three public universities, has said ABOR…
Intuitive Creation
Art therapist Deborah Purdy believes in a direct connection between meditation, mindfulness and creativity. She prefers art methods that aim at unlearning the critical voices instilled in us through social learning. Purdy will host an interactive workshop on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Murphy-Wilmot Branch Library, 530 N. Wilmot Road.…
Letters to the Editor
You Don’t Understand While the “News of the Weird” is not the only reason I read the Tucson Weekly, it was certainly one of the most entertaining segments of your paper. I honestly looked forward with anxious anticipation to reading the “News” every time I picked up the paper. It was absolutely the first thing…
Off The Vine
The time to go to the second annual Off the Vine Arizona Wine Festival is ripe once again. It will be on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 12 to 5 p.m. in Oro Valley at the historic Steam Pump Ranch, 10901 N Oracle Road. Attendees can try 20 local wines, meet the winemakers, and learn some…
Mark Klett at Etherton Feb. 19
A young mining engineer named Raphael Pumpelly ventured into the Arizona wilderness back in 1860. “Above us the sky was clear, but over the mountains we had left all was dark and gloomy,” he later wrote. “As the thunder rolled in peal after peal, and lightning broke in great columns, its sudden light impressing on…
Theater Form
“I’m sorry … I’m sorry … I’m sorry . . .” The litany of “I’m sorry’s” are pervasive, sprinkled around with regularity by a whole lot of characters. The play, “This,” by Melissa James Gibson, garnered great gasps of delight from reviewers when it opened in New York. But the production I saw, although it…
Life and Death
When Kati Standefer was staring down the barrel at her own death, many of her friends and family found it too painful to talk with her about the possibility of her dying. At 24, Standefer had not expected to be ghosting the shadowy edges of life and death. Her Congenital Long QT Syndrome diagnosis, a…
Dom Limits
This is still bad, but it’s better than it should be. You go into something like “Fifty Shades of Grey” with a mental Venn diagram plotting a point where “Unbelievably Stupid Horseshit” dances incoherently with “Hot, Filthy Sex,” but this is not quite either, so it cannot quite be both. While the book—a runaway bestseller…
Ask a Mexican!
What’s with the surge in restaurants, from other grupos like Filipinos, Chinese, Salvadorian, and other Latin Americans, that advertise Mexican food to their menu? They go as far as add “And Mexican Food” to their logo! Isn’t it hard enough to make authentic food for a respective native country, let alone add a second subgroup…
B-Sides
SWEET RELEASE Sedona’s Brandon Decker (a.k.a. Decker.) is ready to release his new album “Patsy” and he’s bringing the party to the Old Pueblo on Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. Now, this isn’t your ordinary CD release show because with seven Arizona acts spread across two stages at Club Congress (311 E. Congress St.),…
Media Watch
Lee Enterprises is still cutting its workforce Quarterly reports are a morass of numbers, dollar signs, percentages and trends designed to provide investors with some general perspective on the progress of the company. Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises, the Davenport, Iowa outlet that operates the Arizona Daily Star, has been very good with its PR in…
Collective Sounds
Once the solitary outpost of a songwriter far from home, Human Behavior has grown to a double-digit collective of musicians, bending folk music to their will. And for Andres Parada, the central figure in this difficult-to-define musical, visual and communal art project, losing a bit of control over his creation is a thrill. “Now there…
The Skinny
Assault on Abortion Rights New anti-abortion legislation doesn’t make exceptions for rape or incest There’s not a lot that state lawmakers can do about abortion at this point. They’ve passed a lot of restrictions since 2009, when Jan Brewer took over the governor’s office. Some of them have been blocked by the courts; others have…
Silver Linings
Casual fans of Surfer Blood likely know at least two things about the Florida band. First, they likely all agree that the song “Floating Vibes” off of the band’s first album is a damn fine tune and very catchy one at that. However, the other bit of Surfer Blood info that most people know is…
