Various personal and work obligations kept me outside of Tucson almost as much as I was in Tucson through July and August. Therefore, I am very happy to be spending virtually the entire month of September in town.

Here are a few things I’m looking forward to doing now that I will be home for a while (barring anything unforeseen):

• Enjoying downtown. Thanks to a mix of old (Hotel Congress, the Rialto Theatre) and new (Playground, Scott and Co., etc.), downtown has become my favorite part of town. (This was not always the case, folks.) I know for sure I’ll be spending some major time there in September—including the night of the TAMMIES show, at the Rialto on Sept. 5.

• Enjoying good Mexican food. It’s a cliché to fawn over Tucson’s Mexican food, I know, but I am fawning anyway. I’ll be eating plenty of carne seca cheese crisps from El Charro Café, chile verde from Taco Giro, and Sonoran hot dogs from the van/cart in the Food City parking lot at 22nd Street and Country Club Road.

• Enjoying Reid Park. The weather is (maybe … hopefully) starting to cool down, and I plan on spending plenty of time walking and jogging through the beautiful urban oasis that is Reid Park. After all, I need to work off the calories from those cheese crisps, chile verde plates and Sonoran dogs.

• Enjoying working with the folks at Weekly World Central. I will be spending plenty of time with my co-workers—including the awesome new interns who have started over the last two weeks. It’s a busy time of year—and I am excited about it.

Ah, Tucson. It’s good to be home.

This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2012.

7 replies on “Editor’s Note”

  1. Thank you Jimmy/Tucson Weekly. Yes, but dusk and dawn and shooting stars if you lived where I lived in 03 is what I miss most. Horse riding in under the moon light skies. Ahh, there’s the rub. Coming soon…Christmas

  2. Choose another Mexican food restaurant. El Charro’s owners support the Rosemont Mine. I used to eat at El Charro, particularly at UofA athletic events. Ya no mas! I will never eat in an El Charro again. The Rosemont Mine is a noxious proposal that will destroy a large part of the Santa Rita Mtns and will take value from privately owned real estate nearby. Ray and Carlotta Flores ought to reconsider their mistaken support for such an environmental disaster as the Rosemont Mine that will ship copper overseas, IF it is allowed to be dug.

  4. Hard to imagine anyone liking Tucson. But you came from Las Vegas, and that is not the best place to live either.
    One of the happiest days of my life was finally finding a buyer for my beautiful second home in the Tucson foothills. Took a year to find this person with cash and close Aug 10.
    I was so deperate to get rid of Tucson I took a low-ball offer and lost in six figures. But I don’t mind, so glad to never go back to the heat of Tucson, the citizens’ inability to drive sanely and accept that speed limits and red lights are not just suggestions you can heed or not, and the corruption of the police who give you tickets for no reason except you have out of state plates and no local address when someone admittedly speeding in a 25 mph zone runs in to you at about 45-50 mph and tears up your classic car.
    Hunter S. Thompson said “Just because they haven’t killed you yet in Arizona doesn’t mean they aren’t going it, it means they haven’t gotten around to you yet.” They almost got me the end of July by running in to my car.

    I had a journalism professor, Leon Hale, who said the worst place he has ever been in his life is Arizona, a state known for nothing more than having a big hole. He is 90 now and still writes a newspaper column and once in a while he mentions his dislike of Arizona and warns people away from there.
    I consider myself fortunate to be out of Arizona. Biggest mistake I ever made was buying real estate and wasting time and money there.
    I know a few good people in Tucson I will keep in touch with, some good writing I may read once in a while in TW, but I don’t ever want to see Arizona again. I truly despise the place.
    The only good thing I can say about my Tucson misdadventure is I got out of there before I was killed on the road, bitten by scorpions or rattlesnakes, felled by Valley Fever or deadly amoebas in the awful water, shot by a crazed gunman or died of heat stroke.
    Some predictions say S. Arizona will become uninhabitable within 15 years of so. In my opinion it already is unfit for human life. You are all being kept alive artificially now and don’t seem to know it.
    Happy Trails!

  5. Wow, sounds like TXJesse likes to blame all of his bad luck on where he’s living. Here’s a guy who could afford a house in the foothills and he still can’t find joy in life. I’m a happier person than him and I live in a cramped 2- bedroom apartment in what’s considered to be one of the worst neighbourhoods in the city. I guess money truly can’t buy happiness, but he can’t blame the city. Everything he described can & does happen in ANY city across the country. Time for this guy to re-examine himself by taking a deeper look in the mirror. Tucson has a lot to offer those who are receptive towards it. Just do yourself a favour & schedule any of your vacation time between late May & early September, hopefully somewhere way north of here. (Canada is great this time of year!)

  6. AZ/DC can’t read very well and perhaps can’t spell very well and meant AC/DC? My comment was one of joy at selling my second home in the Foothills, a beautiful home. And I was so glad to get out of it I took any offer and didn’t look back. I never lived in Tucson, it was a second home and I spent about six weeks a year there.
    Perhaps because you are poor you like to think rich people are unhappy.
    WRONG! You just like to think that. Poverty can’t buy happiness!
    I am happy not to ever go back to Tucson, but my Tucson friends are planning trips to visit me in better places. I love to entertain so looking forward to seeing them in more hospitable surroundings.
    But AC/DC you are right about Canada, it is beautiful this time of year, and yes, I have a home there too! I love Canada and Canadians. Their banking system is one of the best in the world because they demand better govt. than US citizens.

    And by the way,you assumed I am a man. I am a woman.
    Jesse is just a name I used when in Tucson to ward off unwanted attention and gold diggers couldn’t track me down. I like to dance and would give an assumed name so unwanted
    strangers would not be able to find me. And the people with me in the clubs would use my assumed name and would discourage strangers too, flat tell them to “go away, she’s ours.” These strangers may have been very nice, but I don’t want to take that chance.
    So I wish you well. You might do better somewhere other than Tucson, somewhere opportunities are better along with better weather. Think about it.

    “Jesse” NOT!

  7. To TXJesse:

    I’m sorry I assumed that you were a man, I’m willing to admit when I err, but you have erred also. First, AZ/DC indicates that I am an Arizonan & my initials are DC; maybe AZ/D.C. would be more appropriate, but it doesn’t look as good. Second, you claim I might do better elsewhere but being happy and/or content isn’t all about money;I do just fine thank you. I don’t think all rich people are unhappy, that is just the vibe your post gives off. Most people I know wouldn’t have the same kind of attitude you projected if they had enough money to own several homes across @ least two countries, owned classic cars and the like. No offense but you still come across as bitter in your rebuttal post, especially when you mention that poverty can’t buy happiness. Well, that’s where you’re wrong for the third time. I do not live in poverty, I just choose not to go beyond my means, I have amassed enough money to be comfortable and I consider myself wealthy when it comes to the friends, family and positive attitude I have towards life. Materially you have it better than me, but in the areas that truly count I feel as if I am wealthier than you.

    P.S. Sorry it took me so long to re-respond. I was looking for another article and just happened to stumble across this one and opened it up for nostalgia’s sake. Best of luck on building that stairway to heaven!

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