Cover Story
Checkpoint Trauma
Joshua Garcia’s pulse quickens every time he approaches a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.
Laughing Stock: The Gaslight’s Phantom Never Gets Old
Heather Stricker was still a rookie the first time she played Christine opposite Armen Dirtadian’s Phantom of the Opera. The year was 2001 and it was The Gaslight Theatre’s third run of Peter Van Slyke’s original comedy adaptation. Dirtadian had played in all of them, as had Joe Cooper, currently portraying a prat-falling Madame Giry.…
Cinema Clips: First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers
Angelina Jolie directs the memoir of Loung Ung (who also wrote the screenplay), a Cambodian woman who, as a child, survived the genocide brought upon her country by the Khmer Rouge in the mid-seventies, after the Vietnam War. The result is a triumph for Jolie and Ung, who succeed in telling the story through Ung’s…
Catalina Foothills Districts Earns Bragging Rights With Its AzMERIT Scores (Or Maybe Not)
In early September, it was an article in the Star praising Catalina Foothills District for having the highest AzMERIT scores in Pima County. Last week it was the same thing in the print edition of the Tucson Weekly. Both articles gave Cat Foothills’ Assistant Superintendent multiple paragraphs to pat herself and her district on the…
The Weekly List: 20 Things To Do In Tucson In The Next 10 Days
Your Weekly guide to keeping busy in the Old Pueblo. Theater and Shows Oro Valley Music Festival. Ring in October with this two-day festival full of music, food, drinks and vendors. Of course, the music is the main event, and Oro Valley is really delivering, with performances by big names like Train, LeAnn Rimes, Lee…
Sports Scandal Rocks UA Basketball Program
Longtime University of Arizona basketball assistant coach Emmanuel “Book” Richardson was one of four coaches arrested Tuesday by the FBI. Richardson’s arrest was for allegedly receiving more than $20,000 in bribes from former sports agent Christian Dawkins and financial advisor Munish Sood, in exchange for recruiting prospective and current Arizona players, according to the FBI’s…
Dusk Music Festival: Get Jazzy With DJ Jazzy Jeff
Coming up next weekend: It’s the second annual Dusk Music Festival, featuring more than a dozen acts on Friday, Oct. 6, and Saturday, Oct. 7. The Weekly is highlighting some of the performing artists ahead of the festival kickoff. Today: DJ Jazzy Jeff! “In west Philadelphia born and raised, on the playground was where I…
UA’s Latest Space Robot Stops By Earth, Sends Snapshot of the Planet
OSIRIS REx, Tucson’s favorite space bot, swung by the earth last Friday to say hello, take some pics, and to borrow some of the planet’s gravity in order to launch off toward the asteroid Bennu, the spacecraft’s destination site. “We made the decision to to use nature to help us to get us to our…
Can High School Athletes Take a Knee?
When the Friday night lights are turned on in high school football stadiums around the country, you can bet students, parents and staff will be asking themselves, “What should we do if some players decide to take a knee during the National Anthem?” Most probably, the right answer is, they should do nothing. Student athletes…
Sangria Needs a Home
Hi, I’m Sangria! I am a 3-year-old Dilute Tortie (DSH) looking for the purr-fect home! I came to HSSA with 3 little babies, and happily accepted a mother-less 4th little one back in April. I was a wonderful mom, but I am now ready for a home of my own. I am not feral but…
Film On Poisoned U.S. Soldiers Coming To Loft
Plastic, paint, chemicals, tires, trash, batteries, appliances, human waste and even some body parts. All of these were incinerated by the US military and private contractors in burn pits during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Thousands of soldiers who were exposed to the toxic smoke returned home and found themselves sick with respiratory diseases and…
Why Teachers Are Leaving (And New Teachers Aren’t Replacing Them)
Teacher shortages are a national problem. According to a recent survey, the number one reason teachers give for leaving the profession—55 percent of them—is dissatisfaction. By comparison, financial considerations are cited by 18 percent. Between the top and bottom are Financial/personal reasons, Retirement, and Pursuing another job, in that order. This isn’t new news. It’s…
McCain: “I Cannot in Good Conscience Vote for Graham-Cassidy”
I cannot in good conscience vote for Graham-Cassidy. A bill impacting so many lives deserves a bipartisan approach. https://t.co/2sDjhw6Era pic.twitter.com/30OWezQpLg — John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) September 22, 2017 Sen. John McCain, who torpedoed the last GOP healthcare bill in a surprise vote in July, says he’ll vote against the Graham-Cassidy healthcare legislation that GOP lawmakers are…
New TSO Director Kicks Off A New Season
Tucson Symphony Orchestra opens its 2017/2018 season with a program designed by new music director José Luis Gomez. “All of them, in a way, present me to Tucson,” Gomez said. “It’s like a way of saying, ‘hi, this is me.’” The lineup? Inocente Carreño’s “Margariteña” makes its TSO premiere to start off the night. Both…
Bathed in Light
Graves has found a game-changing new way to portray black people in America.
Where’s the Warhol?
Yellow, red and blue. The color scheme of simpler times.
Tucson Salvage
There’s something almost formal and studied in Del Hendrixson Jr.’s affect.
Editor’s Note
This week we give you an excerpt from a new book byTucson journalist Todd Miller on how climate change is driving global migration.
White Doesn’t Make Right
Banning Tucson’s Mexican-American Studies program was motivated by racial animus, a federal judge ruled last month.
Police Dispatch
A local man’s plan to wet his whistle was foiled by the fuzz
Ask a Mexican!
The best advice I can give you is to let your son grow into his ethnicity.
Reel Indie
Arizona Underground Film Fesitval highlights, and more!
Defiant Flow
Like all organisms struggling for life in the desert, hip hop has taken a weaponized form to survive, battle rap.
Know Your Product
1. T.Rex–Ride A White Swan. This was a cheap Music for Pleasure Woolworths compilation album that came out around 1972 to cash in on what the music press were calling “T.Rexstacy.” I imagine Bolan would have been really pissed off about its release, but the weird thing about it and the reason it was life-changing…
The Skinny
Does John McCain still have it in him to drive the final stake through the undead heart of this vampiric legislation?
Maternal Instinct
Writer-director Darren Aronofsky is a nut, and his latest film, Mother!, is one helluva nutty movie.
Reign in Tacos
Boca’s new home on Fourth Avenue, in the old Delectables spot, is barely open, but that hasn’t stopped the crowds from lining up.
Bad Grades
Arizona Department of Education released the state’s AzMerit scores earlier this month and the results aren’t surprising.
Police Dispatch
A college student was beyond scandalized when her car was vandalized.
Noodles of Fun
Classic Spaghetti Western Steakhouse in Tucson’s Bronx Park neighborhood starting serving fresh-made pasta and steakhouse specialties last week.
Reluctant Romance
The real smack in the head is when life gives us great gifts and great losses in the same moment.
High Time Hold Up
Marijuana federal protections are in place for now, at least until Dec 8th
