City Week

Seuss-A-Thon

This Memorial Day, include dear old Dr. Seuss in your thoughts. The man who taught legions of children how to count multicolored fish, how to encourage dogs to Go, Dog, Go! and how to be the ultimate grouch on Christmas, would have been 100 years old that day. Because Dr. Seuss is sadly no longer with us, the Tucson Children's Museum is celebrating his life and writing career with a day-long marathon of stories and Seuss-isms, read by well-known local personalities and members of cultural arts organizations.

Included in the selected works are If I Ran the Zoo, read by Dave "Fitz" Fitzsimmons; Come Over to My House, read by Mayor Bob Walkup; I Can Lick Thirty Tigers Today, read by Councilman Fred Ronstadt; How the Grinch Stole Christmas, read by Congressman Raúl Grijalva, and many more. The Skinny will no doubt be interested in some of the reading choices.

In addition to the all-day storytime, arts and crafts activities provide kids with their very own Seuss souvenirs. From 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., kids can make zoo animals from If I Ran the Zoo. From 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Thing I and II masks from The Cat in the Hat are on the drawing board. From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., Truffula Trees from The Lorax can be made.

All activities are included in museum admission prices: $3.50 for children 16 and under, $5.50 for adults and $4.50 for seniors.

Safer Passage

As the weather heats up in the Sonoran Desert, it's inevitable that we will hear more and more news about men, women and children who die trying to cross the border into America. Or is it inevitable?

Not if No More Deaths has anything to say about it. No More Deaths is a coalition of individuals, organizations, faith communities, human-rights advocates and grassroots organizers who are dedicated to improving social and economic justice in the borderlands. Despite nationwide disagreements over immigration issues, they feel that the rampant loss of life--more than 2,000 men, women and children have died trying to cross the Mexico-U.S. border since 1998--is unacceptable.

The kickoff event begins a summer-long volunteer effort to create and maintain safe migrant centers, build awareness of the migrant plight, work on legislative issues and assist Humane Borders with water stations and Samaritan Patrol with rescues.

The event begins at noon with a vigil and a march at El Tiradito Shrine, just south of El Minuto Café. The short vigil will memorialize those who have lost their lives in the desert, and will be followed by a walk to Hotel Congress, the site of the main event.

At the hotel, 12 hours of continuous entertainment, relevant videos, information tables and invited speakers, including Rep. Raúl Grijalva, will inform participants about border issues. In addition, a unique, one-day-only exhibit of border art will be on display.

For more information about this free event, visit nomoredeaths.org.

Hot Chocolate

Chocolate. Eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. Even more chocolate. Who says there's nothing to do in Tucson on a Saturday night?

Choc-alot, probably one of the most cacao-fixated companies in town, uses "We make a lot of people happy" as its motto. In one way or another, they certainly do. For their 20th Chocolate Speed Dating event, Choc-alot invites singles ages 38 to 58 to enjoy an evening of speed dating under the influence of chocolate.

In between the five-minute speed dates, there will be a chocolate fondue break, which includes bottled water and a bag of their famous chocolate popcorn to go. Rose petals and chocolate-scented candles will adorn each table.

The price for this evening of excitement is $30 per person ($15 is nonrefundable in case of cancellation). Be sure to call ahead of time, as spaces for both men and women fill up quickly.

Sonoran Spirituality

To some, the Sonoran Desert is a harsh land to be escaped in favor of cooler climes. To others, it is a land of spiritual enchantment and hardy souls. This frequent polarization of opinion has yielded blissful desert denizens like Edward Abbey, just as it has produced desert destroyers in the form of developers. (Continue the alliteration, and you can guess who we're talking about.)

Phyllis Strupp, apparently a proud member of the pro-desert camp, has written a book to assist the spiritual searches of Sonoran citizens: The Richest of Fare: Seeking Spiritual Security in the Sonoran Desert. On Friday, she will read from and sign her new book.

The Richest of Fare offers to "help you paint the 'you are here' dot on the map of your spiritual life," according to Strupp's press release. Whether or not you are spiritually inclined in the first place, the book's 50-plus color photographs of the Sonoran Desert may well stir your soul, too.