Cover Story
Free Nicoll
Juan Mariano Oreno and Nicoll Hernández-Polanco are the same age, briefly lived in the same city and are part of a tight community violently discriminated against in their native region. Yet, the two did not cross paths until both ended up in a Florence, Arizona immigration detention facility. In merely 15 days, they knew each…
The Drawing Studio Is Moving Out of Downtown to a Permanent Home
One of downtown’s top art galleries is no longer a downtown art gallery. That’s right folks, The Drawing Studio has moved from its place on Sixth Avenue, next to the future Johnny Gibson’s. Although it might seem like a loss to the downtown community, Chris Novak, business manager for the gallery, says the move will…
Talking Comics: Princess Leia #1 and we say Goodbye to Jenny
This week in Talking Comics we have the whole cast reviewing Princess Leia #1! Set right after the destruction of Aldeeran we see how Princess Leia handles the loss of her home planet in Rebel fashion. Written By Mark Waid, with art by Terry & Rachel Dodson Long time co-host Jenny Cake Sweigert is venturing…
State Rep. Victoria Steele Reveals She Was a Victim of Sexual Assault, Testifies Against Bill Prohibiting Abortion Coverage for Obamacare Insurance
This morning, State Rep. Victoria Steele testified that she was a victim of sexual assault as a child, during a hearing in the State House Committee. The Federalism and States’ Rights Committee went on to pass a bill that prohibits health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act from providing abortion coverage. “This bill would…
Pima Community College Debating Tuition Increase for Lack of State Funding
The state Legislature passed a budget Saturday that eliminates funding for Pima Community College. Now, PCC has to figure out how it will make up for that loss, which might mean students have another tuition increase coming their way. The PCC Governing Board is meeting this afternoon to discuss increases of $3, $5 and $10…
Immigration Rights Activists Have Upcoming Plans to Work with City to Issue IDs for Undocumented People
Now that the Tucson Police Department will not look into people’s immigration status (unless the person is a threat to national security, has gang affiliations or prior felonies), immigration rights advocates plan to focus more of their energy in working with the Tucson City Council and other officials to issue identification cards for residents regardless…
Jan. 8 Hero Bill Badger Passes Away
Bill Badger, who was one of the crowd members who helped subdue the crazed gunman who opened fire at Gabby Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner event on Jan. 8, 2011, has passed away. Giffords released this statement: I’m so sad to learn that Bill Badger has passed away. Bill was not only a great man…
The Melvins Are Coming to Club Congress
Mark your calendars, folks. The Melvins have booked a show at Club Congress on Saturday, June 6. Why am I telling you this now then? Well, if you want to go to the show, I’d suggest getting tickets now because I foresee that the experimental grungey doom punk band’s show will sell out well in…
The SAE Frat Song Apology: Using the Passive Voice to Dodge the Issue
This gets a little English-teacher, but it’s important. As a general rule, you want to avoid the passive voice when you’re writing. Not, “The ball was hit into center field,” but “Jim Smith hit the ball into center field.” The ball didn’t get there by itself. Usually, the passive voice is bad writing. But the…
Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion are (Finally) Here to Heal Your Firefly Wounds
You’re not over Firefly being cancelled, I’m not over Firefly being cancelled, and Nathan Fillion is super not over Firefly being cancelled. Luckily, Alan Tudyk is here for us and he’s gonna be making a spaceshow. A spaceshow! The thing is, everybody’s favorite spacepilot (and spacecaptain!) is hesitant to trust a network with this new spacebaby—After…
Let’s Watch a New They Might Be Giants Video by Alex Italics
In the Weekly’s recent profile of local filmmaker Alex Italics, we reported that he was working on a second music video for They Might Be Giants. It recently made its debut in all its K-Tel glory. Tune in—operators are standing by!
Review: Otherly Love’s “Hardly Groaner” Bounces Between Rock’s Stranger Sides
Last weekend local quartet Otherly Love released their third album in a four-year span. Stripping away some of the twangy country intros and crooning doo-wop vocal gimmicks from 2012’s “5+5=X,” the band has carved out a place for their latest release “Hardly Groaner” that looks much more like ’70s rock sensibilities than their previous ’50s…
Robin Thicke has to Pay $7 Million for Blurred Lines Even Though He Was too Stoned to be Musical
Or, as Gawker eloquently put it “Turning Good Song Into Shitty Mess Will Cost Pharrell, Thicke $7 Million.” Sounds like a fair tax to me. A jury in California ruled “Blurred Lines” was just too much of a Marvin Gaye ripoff to go unpunished, so now Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams owe $7.3 million to the…
Network for Public Education Supports Those Who Opt Out
The high stakes testing opt out bill, HB2246, sponsored by John (Chris) Ackerley (R, LD-2), passed the House 35 to 24 and is moving onto the Senate. It’s a Republican bill supported by Republicans, but actually, the idea of opting out of high stakes tests has national bipartisan support. Case in point: The Network for…
Here’s More Detail on Recent News That Pima Community College Was Removed from Probation
It was reported yesterday that, after nearly two years, Pima Community College is no longer on probation. Several issues, from alleged mismanagement of funds to corrupt hiring practices and sexual harassment, got the institution in trouble with its accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission, in April 2013. Since then, there’s a new chancellor on board,…
TUSD’s Cam Juárez Responds to Anonymous Letter: Focus on Budget Cuts to Education Not Attacking Us
TUSD board member Cam Juárez says the timing to release a fifth anonymous letter attacking the board is offensive and confusing. He wonders why waste so much energy was spent badmouthing him, board President Adelita Grijalva, board Clerk Kristel Foster and Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, the exact same week a very alarming budget deal that will cut millions…
Radical Geman Cinema Returns to Exploded View This Week
Noted German badass Helma Sanders-Brahm is known for her discussion of feminist issues and the female point of view in her films, among other things. Using both documentary and fictional narratives, Sanders-Brahm’s work spanned over three decades and was a stalwart for the social justice concerns and movements of the time. Exploded View will be screening…
Big Heap Vintage and Antique Festival is Finally Coming to Tucson
It’s time to get your hagglin’ boots on because Big Heap is finally expanding down from Flagstaff and Phoenix an down into the Old Pueblo this year. On April 11 and 12, the flea market festival will take over Old Tucson Studios, located at 201 S. Kinney Road, with vintage, antique and handmade goods. If…
MOCA Appoints Interim Executive Director Pending Anne-Marie Russell’s Departure
MOCA announced early this morning that Anne-Marie Russell’s temporary replacement at the helm of the museum would be Samuel Nohe Ireland. Beginning May 1, Ireland will take over for Russell after her ten-year run as executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art. As Russell moves onward to an executive directorship at Sarasota Museum of…
Pima Community College Gets Off Probation
Pima Community College is no longer on probation, after nearly two years in serious trouble with its accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission. The HLC placed Pima on probation in April 2013 over allegations of corrupt hiring practices, alleged sexual misconduct by the former chancellor, lack of collaboration between the board and the administration, wrongdoings…
How Recall Campaigns Work
A recall petition against Gov. Doug Ducey has been in circulation for two days. As of after 7 p.m., it has more than 7,600 signatures and counting. I did not mention earlier that this is symbolic, I assumed we all knew that. NO PETITION HAS BEEN FILED TO ELECTION OFFICIALS, and who knows if that…
One Petition, Two Facebook Pages: Can Arizona Recall Doug Ducey?
Two months into office and there is, already, a symbolic petition to recall Gov. Doug Ducey, along with two Facebook pages that I know of also trying to get that dude back in the ice cream business and out of the governing a state business. Nothing has been filed with state election officials, this isn’t…
First Starve the Beast, Then Starve Education and Social Services
It’s a longstanding policy of the Republican party. First starve the beast, as they refer to the government, by cutting taxes, especially for corporations and the rich. Then cry poor when it comes time to fund government services. That’s exactly what’s happening in Arizona and in Republican-led states around the country. Ducey explained his draconian…
We Escaped: Inside Tucson’s First Live Escape Room
Last weekend, my friends and I had the opportunity to test our problem skills in Tucson’s first live room escape game. The game was good, our skills were not. Nicolette Cusick, who runs the operation on her own, opened Will You Escape? in February. She heard about the concept in August, visited a few live…
State House Voting on Bill to Ditch Common Core Standards
The Arizona House is considering a bill to rid the state of the Common Core Standards, or the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards. HB 2190, sponsored by Oro Valley’s Republican state Rep. Mark Finchem, would also prohibit the state’s Board of Education from adopting any new standards. Instead, a new committee would arise, the Arizona…
EXO Roast Co. Is Now Selling Bottled Cold Brew—And It’s Great
If you’re anything like me, you like your locally-roasted coffee and you like it every day. Sometimes it’s hard to make that time commitment to the third wave on a busy day, but, luckily, EXO Roast Co. has a solution for you time-crunched, Type A coffee shop junkies. EXO just started selling two varieties of…
Bluefin Seafood Bistro Will Close in May
After 10 years of serving up seafood to Tucsonans, Bluefin Seafood Bistro is calling it quits at Casa Adobes Plaza. However, if you need to get one last taste from the oyster bar or some more of that Bluefin bouillabaisse, there is some more time to do so. The seafood-centric spot will be serving their…
Gio Taco in Downtown Is Closed
News came about mid-day yesterday via Facebook that the Metzger Family Restaurant group had decided to close Gio Taco. Located off at 360 E. Congress St., the taco joint had opened just 15 months ago in the heart of downtown. “Our take on tacos, inspired by the dynamic culinary traditions of the Americas, didn’t earn…
Legislature Passes Budget; Universities Still Screwed But At Least a Community College Will Receive Some Money
By 8 a.m. this morning, and after nearly 24 hours of debate, the state Legislature passed a $9.1 billion state budget that still greatly screws over universities, but that at least is giving some funds to community colleges and scratched a mandate to K-12 schools asking to cut 5 percent of their non-classroom money. Universities…
Zona Politics: Tucson Festival of Books Extravaganza!
Zona Politics Eps.20 from Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel on Vimeo. We’re excited to announce a brand-new look for Zona Politics with Jim Nintzel this week! We’ve got a fresh new set that our team at Brink have been putting together with the help of designer Kevin Crete and, while we’re biased, we think it…
The Star’s Unconscionable Slanting of the Ferguson Report
You can make errors of commission where you say something that isn’t true, and errors of omission where you leave out vital information. The Star news team is guilty of a serious error of omission in its coverage of the Justice Department’s Ferguson Report. The paper’s only article about Ferguson Thursday discussed the Feds’ decision…
The Culinary Side of This Year’s Tucson Festival of Books
If you’re a serious food lover, chances are you have a small stockpile of food-related reading materials collected already. Well, it’s time to add some more to the pile because the Tucson Festival of Books is happening next weekend and is presenting a full schedule of food-centric events on March 14 and 15. While you…
Anonymous Letter Blasts TUSD’s Majority for “Attacks” on Michael Hicks at Last Tuesday’s Board Meeting
This is the fifth letter a group of anonymous voices, the self-proclaimed Extremely Concerned TUSD Administrators; Teachers and Parents, have sent out since last September expressing their dislike (to say the least), for TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez and the way the governing board functions under President Adelita Grijalva. Our own David Safier was critical of…
The NRA Taunts Gabby Giffords
Gabby Giffords: Everyone Should Have to Pass Background Check My Attacker Passed http://t.co/UnVQNvuMLL #2A #NRA — NRA (@NRA) March 5, 2015 The National Rifle Association yesterday ridiculed the efforts of Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly to reduce gun violence with expanded background checks. Slate’s Alec MacGillis explains why the NRA’s disgusting strategy is off-base: But…
“Women Who Make Great Films” are Looking for Some Cash
The Hanson Film Institute recently held their annual Pitch Fest—an where UA students and other members of the community were pitch their film/TV ideas to industry professionals. Now, the women who took second and third place are trying to scrape together some cash to use the opportunity they’ve been given. From their Go Fund Me page:…
Basketball Ticket Time
Annnnnd, we have a winner. Thanks, ya’ll. Ohhhh, man. I’ve got two tickets for tomorrow’s basketball game against Stanford and I want you to have them. But you have to hurry. We are closing the office today at 2 p.m. So, before you enter, make sure you have the ability to get to our office…
Kyle Kinane Hits Club Congress on Sunday
Comedian Kyle Kinane has started off 2015 with a brand new stand up special and now he’s heading across the country on tour. With the release of his 40-minute special “I Liked His Old Stuff Better,” he’s going to be performing live at Club Congress on Sunday, March 8. Kinane has one of those H.…
Stone. Cold. Doug. Ducey.
Full disclosure. I’m so enraged by the budget Ducey and his cronies are trying to strong-arm through the legislature, hoping they can pass it before too many Republicans defect, I don’t have the composure to write a careful, fact-laden post about the budget. The proposed budget is awful. It’s immoral. It works against the best interests…
Pima County Education, Business Leaders Join Forces to Defend JTEDs Funding & Fight Against Further Cuts to Schools, Universities
Pima County school superintendents and local business leaders came together this afternoon to tell state lawmakers that enough is enough—the continuous cuts to education at all levels have a detrimental effect on Arizona’s children and the overall future of the state’s economy. At a press conference earlier this afternoon, there was a huge concern for…
Hang Out with Other Homebrewers This Weekend at Dragoon
If you fancy yourself a garage-side brewmaster and you’re looking to mingle with like-minded hop heads, mosey on over to Dragoon Brewing Co., located at 1859 W. Grant Road Suite 111, for a special meeting of the American Homebrewers Association. As part of a national series of AHA rallies, the homebrewing organization is dropping into…
Preservation Activists Fault the Arizona Inn
The palatial house dates back to 1924, and it shows. Paint is peeling, the roof is ramshackle, and beams are riddled with termites. But preservationists call this manse—built by Tucson rodeo founder Frederick Leighton Kramer—an irreplaceable Tucson treasure that deserves resurrection. The clock is ticking, however, and a demolition permit is already in hand. Oddly,…
St. Francis Theatre Stage Musical Based on Studs Terkel Book
Tucson’s vigorous population of theaters waxes and wains. Sometimes we actually lose what has seemed a stalwart organization with a good track record. And sometimes groups work together or even merge their efforts. St. Francis Theatre has been in the shadows for a few years. It actually is an entity operating under the umbrella of…
Sound Travel: A Place to Bury Strangers’ Tour Isn’t Just About Playing an Album, but Creating Something Unique for Themselves
To listen to A Place To Bury Strangers is to be overtaken by sound. The Brooklyn trio, known for a wall-of-noise approach since their 2007 self-titled debut, labored to capture the volume and the intensity of their live shows on record for their fourth album, “Transfixiation,” released last month on Dead Oceans. “This record was…
Media Watch
Shmonty and Carolina converge on Tucson’s morning alternative They grew up in the Eastern Time zone, and thus understand the concept of daylight savings time, and that’s about where the similarities end. Yet due to fortuitous circumstances Shmonty and Carolina are the new morning show team on alternative/new rock format KFMA 102.1 FM. Shmonty is…
Pleasure Activist
“It takes two people to continue a marriage* but only one to terminate a marriage.” [*or committed relationship] -Barry McCarthy I just finished re-reading an article from Psychology Today’s August 2012 issue called, “From Promise to Promiscuity,” by Hara Estroff Marano. The article discusses patterns, causes, ramifications, and lessons of extra-marital affairs. One of the interesting findings…
Danehy
My daughter Darlene is in San Francisco this week, taking part in one of the satellite celebrations of the sesquicentennial of the establishment of her alma mater, Cornell University. (She had considered going to the one on Hong Kong, but figured that the one in San Francisco would be just as culturally diverse and she…
Editor’s Note
This week’s cover story from our staff writer María Inés Taracena is an important story to tell, but I always find it interesting when people ask us or our writers why we write what we write—why we choose these stories to tell and why we feel they are important enough to put on the cover…
Police Dispatch
What the Devil? Foothills Area Jan. 2, 12:46 p.m. A mentally ill halfway-house resident badly assaulted a peer while believing the devil was chasing him, according to a Pima County Sheriff’s Department report. Sheriff’s deputies found the subject’s victim with a 3-inch-long abrasion on his forearm, oozing blood—the result of a wrestling match between the…
Basic Training
The menu at Lo Esencial (basics in Spanish) is small (usually a good sign) and concentrates on all the basics, such as hamburgers, sandwiches, steak, tacos, burros and the like (again, usually a good sign). One would think that with such simple parameters that the kitchen could concentrate on putting out great versions of their…
Border Book
Longtime Tucson Weekly contributor Margaret Regan is set to publish “Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire,” her second book about immigration’s impact on Arizona. Read an excerpt from the book here. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said that Regan captures “intimate and heartbreaking” stories in “an authentic look at people caught…
Quick Bites
MAMMA LLAMA COMEBACK Phoenix might have their llama drama, but down here in Tucson we have Mamma Llama back again. About two years ago, Mamma Llama Empanadas closed the door to the brick-and-mortar operation off of Craycroft and Grant roads. Vicki Sims and Kris Masalsky, the duo behind Mamma Llama, recently decided to license their empanadas…
Skinny
Homeland Insecurity A last-minute deal with Democrats saves Boehner, who caves on immigration fight It appears that the Homeland Security Department will remain open through the end of the fiscal year in September. Various news outlets were reporting on Tuesday morning that House Speaker John Boehner had finally caved, agreeing to allow a vote on…
Forbidden Pashtun Poetry
Human expression will always slither out through the cracks even in the worst oppression. Pashtun women living on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been repressed daily by a war society intent upon rendering its women mute. The UA’s Poetry Center, 1508 E. Helen St., will host an artist talk and screening on Thursday,…
Wild Storytellers
Odyssey Storytelling digs for the dirt in its show on Thursday, March 5, 7 p.m. in The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St. The theme for the night is wild. Each of the six people invited to share their personal stories has 10 minutes, relying not on memorization, but rather on spontaneity in recounting their…
Moonlit Sing Along
The magical Valley of the Moon, 2544 E. Allen Road, will host their third annual campfire sing along on Saturday, March 7 from 5 to 8 p.m. Tune in to the sing along for some family-friendly fun and the chance to bond with the community. The night emulates the coziness of camp beneath a wide-open…
Online Craft Savvy
Love making cool stuff that you’d like to sell but unsure if there’s a market for it? On Tuesday, March 10 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Pima Country Library’s Catalyst Café, 101 N. Stone Ave., will be hosting an information session dedicated to teaching locals how to get their crafts online and bringing in revenue.…
The Barber of Tucson
The first things visitors are drawn to at Robert Barber’s giant retrospective at MOCA-Tucson are the big, bright abstract paintings on the walls and the intricate color sculptures occupying the floor. Less noticeable are the tiny sketches in watercolor, gouache and pencil, stashed away by the dozens in glass cases. These color miniatures may be…
Laughing Virginia
Last weekend saw the opening of two plays pretty much at opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum. And that’s quite a spread. More impressively, perhaps, is that each one, within its own genre, is quite successful, although the pleasures they offer are about as different in quality as you can imagine. The Rogue Theatre is…
Lagging Vamp
Jemaine Clement is pretty recognizable from Flight of the Conchords (the band or the series, take your pick). But he’s embarking on this new chapter without musical partner Bret McKenzie, co-writing and co-directing a spotty mockumentary about vampires who share a flat in New Zealand. Clement is a very funny guy, but you may need…
B-Sides
SWEET AND SIMPLE If you love the Fiery Furnaces, you should know that half of the brother-and-sister indie duo is performing at Club Congress on Saturday, March 7. Eleanor Friedberger has more recently been known for her art pop solo work on her last two albums “Last Summer” and “Personal Record.” Tucson’s own Golden Boots…
Letters to the Editor
Disrespect is Unacceptable How much more disrespectful can some politicians be for the office of the presidency and how much longer will we all put up with it? “Obama doesn’t love us,” (that’s why he wants Americans to have health care and wants children who were born here to be citizens); Obama is a Muslim…
Honest Emotions
The Districts combine the rawness and enthusiasm of their youth with a rock ‘n’ roll savvy far beyond their years. The band began when its members were in high school, in the small Pennsylvania town of Lititz, 75 miles west of Philadelphia. After graduating, The Districts set off for Philly to start college. But the…
Heard on the Range
“Maker House to Close in April” (March 2, 2015) I am literally heartbroken. The Maker House was my home away from home, a place that enriched my life by meeting new people and providing new things to try. Ezekial Huerta Sign of the times…a great place like this closes, and probably another Frat Boy ‘Sup…
Electric Shake
As if clad in hot pink spandex, Electric Six boundlessly frolics through the most garish and overindulgent periods in 20th Century music, touching on hair metal, ’80s bubble gum pop, and, ick, New Wave. If disco really did die, Electric Six would be wearing its taut, withered skin while doing The Hustle. But despite being…
Ask a Mexican!
Dear Mexican: Recently, I visited a viejecita in an assisted living home. As I’m getting on in years myself, I wondered how I would fare in such a place. Fortunately I like to eat cottage cheese, but I would like some salsa with it, or better yet, an occasional jalapeño en escabeche. Are there places…
Not Satisfied
I have been involved in the Pro-Cannabis movement for quite some time. I am actively involved with an alphabet soup of drug policy reform organizations. I voted to legalize medical marijuana in Arizona in 1996 and 1998. With my help those medical marijuana initiatives were passed by a majority of the voters but never enacted.…
